Month: November 2015
Putin Needs a Victory and Annexing Belarus on the Cheap Could Give Him One, Oreshkin Says
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, November 10, 2015) Having suffered increasingly obvious “fiascos” in Ukraine and Syria, Vladimir Putin now needs “a victory,” Dmitry Oreskhin says. “And it turns out that Belarus and Lukashenka are the most suitable variant whom he could defeat with minimal costs” because “Belarus could not hold out for two weeks” if Moscow […]
» Read moreActivist Says Russia Using ‘Hybrid Warfare’ In Syria
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tony Wesolowsky, Mark Krutov – November 11, 2015) The head of a team of Russian cybersleuths who have uncovered what they argue is a much more robust Russian military role in Syria than officially claimed, says the Kremlin seems to be following the “hybrid warfare” playbook perfected in eastern Ukraine. Activists from the Moscow-based Conflict Intelligence […]
» Read moreWhen In Doubt, Blame The West
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – November 9, 2015) So Russia went there after all. The crash of Metrojet Flight 9268 in Egypt on October 31, which killed all 224 people on board, was more than the worst aviation disaster in the country’s history. Once it became clear that the cause of the crash was probably terrorism, it also […]
» Read moreHow the Unshackled Ruble Has Changed Russia’s Economy Forever; The weaker currency has hit consumers hard but helped oil producers
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Anna Andrianova, Andre Tartar – November 9, 2015) [Charts here http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-10/how-the-unshackled-ruble-has-changed-russia-s-economy-forever] Today marks the one-year anniversary of the freeing of the ruble for the first time in its post-Soviet history. In five charts, we show how the central bank’s decision to stop depleting international reserves to prop up the currency has upended every facet of the […]
» Read moreRussia’s Way of Managing Responsibility or Why the Kremlin Will Have To Escalate in Syria
(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Maxim Trudolyubov- November 9, 2015) Maxim Trudolyubov is a Senior Fellow at the Kennan Institute and the Editor-at-Large of Vedomosti, an independent Russian daily. The cause of the most terrible plane crash in Russian history has not yet been named. Officially, there is still a possibility that the crash of the Russian passenger plane that […]
» Read moreKremlin’s Campaign against Russophobia Threatens both Russia and the West, Polish Experts Say
(Paul Goble – Staunton, November 11, 2015) The Kremlin’s revival of a campaign against what it calls “Russophobia” constitutes a threat not only to Western countries but to Russia’s future as well, according to two Polish experts. As such, they argue, it can properly be described as “a weapon of mass destruction.” In a new study, “Russophobia in the Kremlin’s […]
» Read moreCongress Passes Bill Giving Lethal Aid To Ukraine
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – WASHINGTON – November 10, 2015) Congress has passed a defense policy bill that authorizes up to $50 million in lethal military aid for Ukraine and mandates a White House response if Russia is deemed to be violating a key arms control treaty. The White House said hours after the $607 billion bill was passed by the […]
» Read moreThe Pentagon’s Lonely War Against Russia and China
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Josh Rogin – November 11, 2015) At last weekend’s Reagan National Defense Forum, top Pentagon officials warned about the coming great power battles with Russia and China. But the U.S. approach to both countries shows that other parts of the administration view those relationships in a very different way. Before Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s keynote speech […]
» Read moreRUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#219 :: Wednesday 11 November 2015
[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#219 Wednesday 11 November 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 on […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK Stanford University Freeman Spogli Institute: “Stanford’s new European Security Initiative focuses on changing geopolitical landscape”
NEWSLINK Army.Mil: “Milley: Russia No.1 threat to U.S.”
NEWSLINK Foreign Affairs/ Valerie Sperling: “A Case of Putin Envy. Behind the Obsession With Russia’s Leader”
NEWSLINK Ukraine Today: “The Monster Is Dead: How Mikhail Lesin managed to kill Russian journalism.”
NEWSLINK Forbes/Melik Kaylan: “ISIS, Ukraine, Georgia: In Putin’s World, It Is All Connected”
NEWSLINK Stanford News: “NATO commander calls for recalibration in Europe”
NEWSLINK Wall Street Journal: “Back in the U.S.S.R.. Russia reverts to Cold War-type with its doping of athletes”
NEWSLINK The Daily Telegraph (UK): “Vladimir Putin’s use of sport for political ends is grotesque – but grimly effective”
NEWSLINK New York Times: “In Russia, Doping Accusations Are Taken in Stride”
NEWSLINK New York Times/ Jon Hunt letter: “Beware Putin’s Russia”
NEWSLINK Wall Street Journal: “Ukraine: Cyberwar’s Hottest Front; Ukraine gives glimpse of future conflicts where attackers combine computer and traditional assaults”
NEWSLINK ChristianToday.com: “U.K. lumps Russia together with ISIS and Ebola virus as major threats to its national security”
NEWSLINK Reuters: “The embroiderer strikes back. Meet Ukraine’s Darth Vader”
NEWSLINK YaleGlobal Online: “Wanted: Competent Foreigners to Work for Ukrainian Government. Ukraine welcomes foreigners for cabinet posts – ending bureaucracy for other sectors could break corruption, encourage innovation”
NEWSLINK NPR: “A Post-Soviet Baby Bust Comes Back To Bite Russia”
NEWSLINK Carnegie Europe/Jan Techau: “Ukraine’s Fragile Status Quo”
NEWSLINK CNN: “Billionaire investor: Russia faces demographic disaster”
NEWSLINK Washington Post: “Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina and the Republican quest to know Vladimir Putin”
NEWSLINK Atlantic Council/Stephen Blank: “Putin’s Victories in Syria”
NEWSLINK BBC: “EU resists Russian overtures on Ukraine”
UN refugee agency delivers aid to eastern Ukraine for first time in months
(United Nations – UN News Centre- un.org – November 9, 2015) [Reprinted with the permission of the United Nations.] The United Nations refugee agency has managed to deliver aid for the first time in over two months to areas of eastern Ukraine beyond Government control where two million people are in urgent need of assistance, reaching 12,000 people – a […]
» Read moreInterfax: Cooperation with USA, Saudis against ISIS possible – top Russian diplomat
(Interfax – Moscow, November 9, 2015) Russia, Saudi Arabia and the USA can cooperate to fight ISIS and other terrorists in the Middle East if there is mutual interest in this, says special envoy of the Russian president for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Bogdanov. “As regards the trilateral format of cooperation […]
» Read moreInterfax: Russia set to work constructively at Vienna meeting; calls for regime change in Syria will not lead to success – Lavrov
BOCHAROV RUCHEI (Sochi). Nov 10 (Interfax) – Adherence to abstract ideas about the need to change the regime in Syria will have no success at the Vienna meeting; Russia is nevertheless expecting it to be constructive, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. “If, instead of concrete work on these two issues (forming a list of terrorist organizations and a […]
» Read moreRussian Justice Ministry Accuses Memorial Of Calling For Regime Change
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – RFE/RL’s Russian Service – November 10, 2015) Russia’s Justice Ministry has accused the prominent nongovernmental organization Memorial of “undermining the foundations of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation” and of calling for “a change of political regime” in the country. The ministry sent the Memorial Human Rights Center notification of the accusations on November 9 […]
» Read moreRussia Fears Islamic Terror Blowback Over Syria After Sinai
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ilya Arkhipov – November 9, 2015) As evidence grows that a bomb may have downed a Russian passenger jet over Egypt, the Kremlin is focused on countering the threat of terrorism at home from sympathizers of Islamic State. Officials insist they were prepared for the risk of terrorist reprisals after President Vladimir Putin ordered air strikes […]
» Read moreUkraine: Europe’s forgotten refugees
While the world focuses on refugees arriving in Europe from warzones in the Middle East, the plight of those fleeing war in Ukraine has been forgotten. (opendemocracy.net – Sara Cincurova – November 20, 2015) Sara Cincurova is a freelance journalist focusing on human rights. She is a former family support worker and holds a Master’s degree from the Paris Descartes […]
» Read moreMoscow laying groundwork to annex Belarus, open second front against Ukraine next year
(Paul Goble – November 9, 2015) For Vladimir Putin, Viktor Kaspruk argues, “Ukraine is the key to a future Russia or more precisely a future Russian Empire,” and consequently, even if he has lowered the temperature in the Donbas in recent weeks, the Kremlin leader is likely to renew his attacks on Ukraine next year having first moved to annex […]
» Read moreRUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#218 :: Tuesday 10 November 2015
[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#218 Tuesday 10 November 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 on […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK New York Review of Books/ Amy Knight: “Egypt: Why Putin Needs the FBI”
NEWSLINK Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs: “The Putin Worldview, Russia in Syria, and the Ukraine Elections” [interview with Nicolai Petro]
Ukraine Is in Danger of Becoming a Failed State
(Bloomberg – Leonid Bershidsky – November 6, 2015) The most effective thing Russian President Vladimir Putin did to destabilize Ukraine was the one thing the West was demanding: He leaned on pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east to cease fire. Left without the much-used cover of a war, the internal divisions and dysfunctional core of the Ukrainian political elite didn’t […]
» Read moreA Cookbook to Rehabilitate Soviet Cuisine
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michele A. Berdy – October 29, 2015) If you think of the Soviet period in Russia as a culinary desert, a new book in English by the country’s most prominent food historians, Olga and Pavel Syutkin, may change your mind. “CCCP Cook Book: True Stories of Soviet Cuisine” was commissioned especially for an English-speaking audience […]
» Read moreMember of Sever battalion Mukhutdinov charged in absentia in Nemtsov murder – lawyer
MOSCOW. Nov 9 (Interfax) – Investigators have charged in absentia Ruslan Mukhutdinov, a member of the Sever battalion, in the killing of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov. “Last Friday, investigators charged Mukhutdinov in absentia with organizing the Nemtsov murder. He was put on the federal wanted persons list,” Vadim Prokhorov, a lawyer for the victims, told Interfax on Monday. A source […]
» Read moreRussian imports from non-CIS plummet 38% in 10M – Customs Service
MOSCOW. Nov 9 (Interfax) – Russia’s merchandise imports from outside the CIS plunged 37.9% year-on-year in January-October 2015 to $132.84 billion, the Federal Customs Service (FCS) said, citing preliminary data. In October alone, imports from non-CIS countries totaled $14.375 billion, down 35.9% year-on-year. Imports declined 36.5% in October 2015 year-on-year for food goods and raw materials for their production to […]
» Read moreRussian Economy Set to Take Another Hit – A Much Smaller Labor Force in the Future
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, November 8, 2015) To the extent that falling prices for natural resources will force Moscow to rely on the development of other sectors, the Russian economy faces another and perhaps even more serious hit in the near term – a dramatically smaller workforce, each of whose members will have to support significantly […]
» Read moreRIA Novosti: One in six Russians overwhelmed by debts – poll
(RIA Novosti – Moscow, November 6, 2015) The majority of Russians are unsatisfied with their financial situation, and nearly each one in six is overwhelmed by a large amount of debts, according to a survey conducted by the National Financial Research Agency. Some 17 per cent of citizens complain about an enormous amount of debts. The percentage of those having […]
» Read moreRussian Students to Get Paid Foreign Education – If They Return Home Afterward
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 9, 2015) Russia will pay for its students to study at elite foreign universities, provided they return home to work after graduation, Education and Science Minister Dmitry Livanov was cited as saying by news agency TASS. The program, titled “Global Education,” was signed into force in June 2014 and is designed to send 1,500 […]
» Read moreInterfax: Poll: Russians continue to lose interest in protests
(Interfax – November 9, 2015) Seventy-seven percent of Russians call unlikely mass protests against declining living standards and in support of their rights. This is the largest index since the end of last year (68 percent in December 2014), Levada Center told Interfax. The percentage of Russians who deem demonstrations focused on economic demands possible has reduced from 24 percent […]
» Read moreRUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#217 :: Monday 9 November 2015
[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#217 Monday 9 November 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 on […]
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