(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 21, 2015) Guzel Ulumbekova, the head of the Russian Association of Professional Medical Societies, says that the health and life expectancy of Russians is directly related to the amount of government spending on health care and that as this amount is falling, their health is suffering and their life expectancies are […]
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MOSCOW. Oct 22 (Interfax) – The Russian Finance Ministry has increased the parameters for the revenue and spending of the 2016 federal budget to 13.738 trillion rubles and 16.098 trillion rubles, respectively, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told journalists. “Revenue is 13.7385 trillion and spending is 16.0987 trillion rubles,” he said. Earlier the draft budget envisaged revenue of 13.57 trillion […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – October 22, 2015) Things are pretty grim in the Russian economy, but some of the country’s leading economists are wondering if Russia Inc has turned the corner some 10 months after the biggest devaluation of the ruble since the 1998 crash. “September seems to have been the starting point […]
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Subject: To Post: ASN 2016 World Convention Call for Papers (Deadline Reminder: 29 October) Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2015 00:30:09 +0000 From: Dominique Arel <darel@uottawa.ca> To: davidjohnson@starpower.net <davidjohnson@starpower.net> Dear David: could you post this Deadline Reminder on JRL? Thanks, Dominique [A PDF of this announcement can be accessed at http://nationalities.org/uploads/documents/ASN16_Call_for_Papers.pdf] Call for Papers 21st Annual World Convention of the Association […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Guido de Boer – October 21, 2015) [Photos here http://www.themoscowtimes.com/arts_n_ideas/article/the-sakharov-centers-direct-view-on-real-life/540002.html] With all the big exhibitions that opened this autumn as part of the 6th Moscow Biennale or as museum season openers, one small but interesting show might have been overlooked. It is an exhibition of photographs at the Sakharov Center called “Direct View.” The 11 […]
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KRASNAYA POLYANA, Sochi. Oct 22 (Interfax) – Moscow is not inclined at the moment to make optimistic forecasts regarding the developments in settling the conflict in Ukraine, as the Minsk agreements have yet to be fulfilled, and Kyiv needs to arrange contacts with Donetsk and Luhansk representatives, Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov says. “I would be cautious about making […]
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(Interfax – October 20, 2015) A memorandum on flight safety in Syria, which was signed between Russia and the United States on Oct. 20, regulates all aircraft and drone flights in the Syrian airspace and aims to ensure flight safety, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov has said. “We consider it a positive step that the Russian Defense Ministry and […]
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A recent meeting between a Russian presidential envoy and a Syrian opposition leader in Cairo has sparked much rumor and speculation. RBTH has polled Russian observers for their views on the reasons behind the meeting with opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Nadezhda Ustinova, Yekaterina Sinelschikova, RBTH – October 20, 2015) Speculation of […]
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Syrian president thanks Russian leader for assistance in fight against ‘terrorists’. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Igor Rozin, RBTH – October 21, 2015) Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad made an unexpected visit to Russia on Oct. 20 to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov revealed on Oct. 21. “The negotiations were rather long and […]
» Read more[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#206 Thursday – 22 October 2015 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or the George Washington University. JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Jason Corcoran in Moscow – October 21, 2015) Dedicated-Russia funds have become a rare species in the years following the 2008-2009 economic crisis. The country’s subsequent low growth, its current recession along with tumbling commodity prices and political isolation over Ukraine have almost led to their extinction. But what has become of these fund […]
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(Interfax – October 20, 2015) Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn is planning to prolong the electricity import contract with Russia that expires on 31 December 2015, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on 20 October. “We are planning to prolong the contract. Everything depends on further talks and contract conditions,” he said. Ukraine will need Russian electricity to meet peak demand […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Peter Hobson – October 21, 2015) Russian air strikes in Syria are costing Moscow up to $4 million per day, data collated for The Moscow Times by a defense think tank showed. The figures by IHS Jane’s show that bombing raids, supply runs, infrastructure and ground personnel – along with a salvo of cruise missiles […]
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MOSCOW. Oct 21 (Interfax) – The Russian authorities know how to take inflation under control; by the end of 2015 it will reach planned levels, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said at the State Duma on Wednesday. “I can say that in terms of growth rates and inflation – which concerned us most of all within the macro […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Vasily Kolotilov – October 21, 2015) Russia has only one organization that exists specifically to help victims of sexual assault, and today, its fate hangs in the balance. The Sisters sexual assault recovery center in Moscow is eking out an existence, depending on modest donations and barely able to cover the rent and phone bill […]
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(Interfax – October 20, 2015) Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets has said that the Russian government is not yet planning to raise the pension age. “We are not planning this over the period of time we use for planning. No, we are not,” Golodets told journalists on Tuesday [20 October] when asked when the government was planning to resume discussions […]
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MOSCOW. Oct 21 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday will attend the final plenary session of the twelfth annual session of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi, the Kremlin has said. The topic of this year’s Valdai conference is “Societies Between War and Peace: Overcoming the Logic of Conflict in Tomorrow’s World,” the Kremlin press office said. […]
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Three weeks after Russia began bombing runs in Syria, American and Russian officials continue their disagreement about the goals of the campaign. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Ilya Krol, Yekaterina Sinelschikova, RBTH – October 21, 2015) On Sept. 30, Russia’s air force began bombing targets in Syria. Since that day, Russian planes have made hundreds of sorties dropping […]
» Read more[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#205 Wednesday – 21 October 2015 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or the George Washington University. JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – bne IntelliNews – October 19, 2015) Large investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the Russian market, according to a report by Global Counsel, which shows that some are reducing their exposure. Although some groups are holding their options open, and some are even seizing counter-cyclical opportunities, unless the business environment improves more groups […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Peter Hobson – October 20, 2015) Unpredictable lawmaking is undermining Russia’s ability to attract foreign investors, the Foreign Investment Advisory Council (FIAC) – a group of the biggest foreign companies working in Russia – told Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday. A report by financial services group and FIAC member EY (Ernst & Young) into […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 20, 2015) “Poshlost’” a virtually untranslatable Russian word connoting self-satisfied vulgarity has become the defining characteristic of Russia under Vladimir Putin, according to commentator Aleksey Shiropayev, something that unites and infects all those living under his regime. Indeed, Putin’s country should now be called “Poshlandia.” Despite what some think, the Russian […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Daria Litvinova – October 20, 2015) A month after news broke about the American Center sponsored by the U.S. Embassy being shut down in Moscow’s Library of Foreign Literature, the embassy announced its resurrection – this time inside the embassy. “The American Center will continue its work at new premises in the U.S. Embassy in […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Editors of OpenDemocracy Russia – October 19, 2015) oDR introduces a new series devoted to reporting and comment on Islamic life in the post-Soviet space. The Ummah, the worldwide community of Muslims, comprises millions of members across the post-Soviet space. The inhabitants of five republics in Central Asia-Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan-have enthusiastically embraced their ancestral faith […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 20, 2015) Neither sanctions, nor international isolation nor the domestic opposition will lead to the fall of “the harshly authoritarian and semi-totalitarian regime” that is Vladimir Putin’s, according to Andrey Illarionov. It was pass from the scene only “as the result of a military defeat abroad. After such a defeat, “the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Galina Stolyarova – October 20, 2015) If you ask the average person what comes to mind when they think of Yekaterinburg, they’ll probably say that it’s a highly polluted industrial city and the site where the Romanov family was executed. But the truth is quite different. This town in the Urals has established itself as […]
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GENEVA. Oct 19 (Interfax) – Russian State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin has said it would be useful for Kyiv to familiarize itself with Switzerland’s experience as a federal republic. “It seems to me that the experience of state-building in Switzerland would be useful for our Ukrainian colleagues as well. At least they could learn not to be afraid of this […]
» Read more[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#204 Tuesday – 20 October 2015 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or the George Washington University. JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL […]
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Stratfor covers the Russo-Ukrainian War and prospects for a political and diplomatic solution. While arguing that there are some signs of lessening conflict, a broader settlement does not seem imminent. After a year of slow-burning conflict in eastern Ukraine, the relationship between Kiev and Moscow seems to finally be improving. Fighting on the ground has dissipated, there have been positive […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – October 19, 2015) A Ukrainian television channel has published a statement by its former producer, claiming officials from President Petro Poroshenko’s administration banned the channel from broadcasting footage of a handshake the Ukrainian leader exchanged with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at a recent meeting. The handshake took place at the start […]
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