Russian Businessman Lashes Out At Kremlin, Becomes Cause Celebre

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(RFE/RL – Carl Schreck, Mumin Shakirov – December 11, 2015) Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Potapenko’s address to a recent economic roundtable in Moscow began routinely enough, with a snapshot of his retail and food businesses at home and abroad. Things escalated quickly from there. With a Kremlin-loyal federal lawmaker looking on, the plainspoken Potapenko proceeded to upbraid the Russian government for […]

» Read more

Russia still interested in attracting foreign investors despite economic, political problems – PM

File Photo of Outdoor Electronic Sign with Russian Exchange Data

MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax) – Russia is still interested in attracting foreign investors despite the economic and political problems, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, opening a meeting of the governmental commission on the control of foreign investments in Russia. “Despite certain internal economic difficulties, foreign political problems, the exacerbation of the international situation, it is obvious that Russia is still […]

» Read more

Majority of Muscovites Support Truck Driver Protests – Poll

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 11, 2015) More than 70 percent of Moscow residents aware of the ongoing protest by truck drivers support their action, a poll released Wednesday by the independent Levada Center indicated. While the majority of Muscovites are familiar with the protest, 21 percent of the capital’s residents said they had heard nothing about it, while […]

» Read more

Putin’s Russia on the Way to Complete and Proud Barbarization, Regnum Commentator Says

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, December 13, 2015) Russia didn’t succeed in modernizing itself, Sergey Shelin says; instead, “on all fronts, archaic forms and values are triumphing;” and Russia is achieving ever greater “successes in the construction of feudalism” and the promotion of ignorance as a value to the point that one can speak of the formation […]

» Read more

Russian Finance Minister Siluanov expects oil price to go under $30 per bar

Anton Siluanov file photo

(Interfax – December 12, 2015) Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov anticipates that price for oil in some periods of time in 2016 could drop to $30 per barrel. “We had hardly passed the budget before we saw that the macroeconomic situation was changing. It’s changing not for the better. We based our budget on the presumption that the price would […]

» Read more

Over one-third of Russians expect big changes in country following ‘shift to the East’ – poll

Asia Map

MOSCOW. Dec 14 (Interfax) – Russians believe that Russia and Asian countries are being drawn together primarily through common interests in political (20%) and economical (25%) areas, a public opinion poll conducted by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) suggests. However, almost half of the respondents (47%) could not decide what mostly gives a common ground to Russia and […]

» Read more

Number of Orphaned Russian Children Falls by Half

File Photo of Russian Orphans with Mr. and Mrs. Dmitry Medvedev

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 11, 2015) The number of children in Russian orphanages has decreased by half over the past three years, the Interfax news agency reported, citing deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets. “In 2012, we had 119,000 orphans in our database, … now there are 73,000 orphaned children in Russia,” Golodets said, Interfax reported Friday. Despite a […]

» Read more

Moscow School Teaches Russian Boys to Look Up to Cavemen

Cave Art File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Eva Hartog – December 11, 2015) When Ruslan Goncharov, 25, refers back to the Stone Age, it is not for history’s sake, but as an example of better days. “Man goes out, kills a mammoth, brings the mammoth home to his wife, the wife prepares it and then saves the leftovers, salts them and so […]

» Read more

Russian Women: Obey Thy Father, Husband, Son

Two Babushkas file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Daria Litvinova – December 11, 2015) Russia remains a conservative country where traditional gender paradigms dominate. Rather than being admired for its progressive gender dynamics, Western society is seen as degenerate and ultimately doomed. As Russia has isolated itself from the West politically and economically, traditional values have been heralded as a hallmark of Russian […]

» Read more

RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#243 :: Monday 14 December 2015

[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#243 Monday 14 December 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 more

Interfax: U.S. to never recognize ‘annexation’ of Crimea – Biden

Joe Biden Speaking in Front of U.S. Flags and Ukrainian Flag

KYIV. Dec 8 (Interfax) – U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden has reaffirmed the unwavering position of his country and said the United States will never recognize Crimea’s accession to Russia. The United States will never recognize attempts to ‘annex’ Crimea, Biden said in Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday. [featured image is file photo]

» Read more

Putin orders resumption of coal supplies to Ukraine

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

(Interfax – December 9, 2015) Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered that the government resume coal supplies to Ukraine in response to Kiev resuming electricity flow to Crimea. “They [Ukraine] might only have gotten only one line up and running, but it’s still one line [of power transmission]. It is necessary to resume coal supplies,” Putin said at a meeting […]

» Read more

UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#242 :: Friday PM 11 December 2015

[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#242 Friday PM 11 December 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 […]

» Read more

Number of troops in NATO contingent in Baltic republics, Poland, Romania grows 23-fold, number of planes up 8-fold over past year – Shoigu

Sergei Shoigu file photo, adapted from image at defense.gov by Steven C. Welsh, www.stevencwelsh.info :: www.stevencwelsh.com

MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax) – The number of troops deployed in the Baltic republics and Central Europe has grown manifold over the past year, and modernization of U.S. nuclear air bombs is pending. “Over the past year alone, the NATO contingent in the Baltic countries, Poland and Romania has grown eight-fold in terms of planes and 23-fold by the number […]

» Read more

Revolution in Russia ‘Inevitable and Necessary,’ Khodorkovsky Says

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, December 10, 2015) Yesterday, exiled Russian oligarch and opposition leader Mikhail Khodorkovsky gave an online press conference in which he said that a revolution in Russia is both “inevitable and necessary, a declaration that has attracted broad attention in the Russian segment of the Internet. But he said a number of other […]

» Read more

EU Council divided on procedure for prolonging sanctions against Russia

EU Map

(Interfax – December 11, 2015) The EU restrictive measures against Russia may not be prolonged on Dec. 14, a high-ranking EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters in Brussels on Dec. 11. The source assumed that the sanctions will be prolonged fully, but not necessarily on Dec. 14. The source said such a decision does not have […]

» Read more

The Year Of The Troll

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – December 10, 2015) For much of the year, Russian bombers, warships, and submarines played chicken with NATO with provocative incursions into member states’ sea and airspace. And as the year drew to a close, Moscow finally got burned when Turkey’s air force shot down a Su-24 warplane. The incident, which has led to […]

» Read more

RUSSIA – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#241 :: Friday AM 11 December 2015

[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#241 Friday AM 11 December 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 […]

» Read more

RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#240 :: Thursday 10 December 2015

[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#240 Thursday 10 December 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 more

Putin’s 86 Percent Approval Rating is True but Doesn’t Mean What Either His Supporters or Opponents Think, Volkov Says

Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, December 9, 2015) Many people now say that they do not believe the findings of pollsters that 86 percent of Russians approve of Vladimir Putin, Denis Volkov says; but in fact, the figure is correct – it has been replicated many times – although it does not mean what either the Kremlin […]

» Read more

How much do we know about contemporary Russian writers?

Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – PHOEBE TAPLIN, SPECIAL TO RBTH – December 9, 2015) As December 2015 sees another week of Russian literary events in New York City, RBTH asks Anglophone readers and publishers about their favorites and bestsellers among 21st-century Russian fiction. When English-speaking readers talk about Russian novels, they generally mean Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, Bulgakov and […]

» Read more

NEWSWATCH Moscow Times/Sergei Alexashenko: “Russia’s Economy Slows Amid Investment Woes”

Diverse Paper Currency, Coins, Line Graph

Writing in The Moscow Times, Sergei Alexashenko assesses trends in the Russian economy and some of the factors impacting them. Russia’s economy is faring poorly …. Gross domestic product has swung back to a level last seen in the first of 2008 and the economy has essentially stagnated over the last seven years. * * * The situation in Russia is not […]

» Read more

2015: A mixed bag for Russia’s Asian ‘Pivot’; Ties with ASEAN and China grow, but relationship with Japan remains frosty

Asia Map

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – AJAY KAMALAKARAN, RBTH – December 10, 2015) Russia’s strategic and economic push towards Asia achieved mixed results in 2015, with Moscow strengthening ties with ASEAN countries and China, while its ties with Japan and Australia remained frosty. “When it comes to Asia, the biggest strategic economic gains came to Russia from the ASEAN […]

» Read more

Interfax: West unfoundedly accuses Russia of INF breach to deflect similar accusations against itself – Naryshkin

Russian State Duma Building file photo

MOSCOW. Dec 10 (Interfax) – The West, including the United States, is breaching the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) and is accusing Russia of doing so in order to deflect accusations against itself, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin has said. “Political speculations aimed at deflecting lawful accusations and at misleading the global public on the subject of Russia have become […]

» Read more

Russia prepared to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 70% by 2030

File Photo of Smokestacking Spewing Cloud of Discharge

(Interfax – December 10, 2015) Russia is prepared to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by another 5 percentage points, or to 70 percent of the 1990 level by 2030, the Russian Natural Resources and Environment Ministry reported Minister Sergei Donskoi as saying at the UN climate conference (COP21) in Paris. Donskoi sai that combating climate change is a national priority […]

» Read more

Medvedev: Russia is capable of surviving recession without aid

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

In his annual interview to five of the country’s leading television channels on Dec. 9, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev tackled topics ranging from the economy to defense, corruption, Crimea, and Ukraine’s $3 billion debt. RBTH presents a selection of highlights from the interview. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Igor Rozin – December 9, 2015) On economics “The […]

» Read more

NEWSWATCH Deutsche Welle: “Activists or Kremlin agents – who protects Russian-speakers in the Baltics? Moscow has been financing Russian-language NGOs in the Baltic states for years. Security authorities there are suspicious of the organizations, but the NGOs deny there is any cause for concern.”

Map of Baltics and Environs, Including Kaliningrad

Deutsche Welle covers Russian government financing of NGO activity in the Baltics. Authorities have long had these NGOs in their sights. In its annual report, Latvian police stated that the Russia-backed organizations are tasked with the distribution of “biased and distorted information” on domestic procedures in Latvia. According to Estonian and Latvian authorities, the violation of the rights of Russian […]

» Read more

How to Ignore a Corruption Scandal, Kremlin Style

Yury Chaika file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Peter Hobson- December 10, 2015) Alexei Navalny has spent years publishing revelations of the ill-gotten luxuries of Russia’s elite and seeing them ignored by authorities. But when the blogger and opposition politician’s anti-corruption fund unveiled an investigation linking colleagues of Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to the bloodiest bandits of recent years, Navalny thought they […]

» Read more

NEWSLINK Christian Science Monitor: “Kremlin’s beef with Turkey hits Russians at home – and on holiday”

Turkey and Environs Satellite Image

The acrimony between Moscow and Ankara over the downing of a Russian bomber in Syria has cut Russians off from Turkish produce, and reduced their vacation options to boot.

» Read more

NEWSWATCH The New Yorker/Masha Gessen: “Boris Yeltsin Quietly Challenges Putin”

Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin

Writing in The New Yorker, Masha Gessen reports on the first three major exhibits at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Centre opening in Yekaterinburg. The core exhibit’s organizational principle is called ‘The Seven Days That Changed Russia,’ and it takes the visitor through a series of rooms that recall the earth-shattering events of the Russian nineteen-nineties. Click here for The New […]

» Read more

NEWSWATCH AP: “Russians Read Tolstoy’s War and Peace in 60-Hour TV Marathon”

Leo Tolstoy file photo

AP covers a televised reading of War and Peace. More than 1,300 Russians are reading Leo Tolstoy’s notoriously lengthy novel “War and Peace” aloud in a 60-hour marathon on national television. The public readings, pre-recorded at locations all over Russia, from the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to remote Arctic islands, have been coordinated by Tolstoy’s great-great-granddaughter and feature Russians […]

» Read more

NEWSWATCH CNN: “Russia’s middle class: We don’t blame Putin.”

Diverse Paper Currency, Coins, Line Graph

CNN reports on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political standing and the reaction by the Russian citizenry to the impact of sanctions, embargoes and economic downturn. Russia’s middle class has had a tough time recently, but they aren’t blaming … Putin for it. [In addition to restrictions on certain travel and imports] … The ruble has lost more than half its […]

» Read more

UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#239 :: Wednesday PM 9 December 2015

[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#239 Wednesday PM 9 December 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 […]

» Read more

Arctic winter temperature rose 3 degrees since 1990

Arctic Satellite Image and Map

(Interfax – December 8, 2015) The average Arctic winter temperature has risen three degrees Celsius since 1990, Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Sergei Donskoy told a seventh High-Level Assembly of the Climate and Clean Air coalition. The average ice cover in the Arctic sea has halved since 1980, he said. “Already this region is characterized by a three-degree […]

» Read more

Putin Majority Breaking Down But Elite Splits and Mass Protests Won’t Come Immediately, Solovey Says

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, December 8, 2015) The truck drivers’ strike and the seriousness with which the Kremlin has reacted to it show that “the Putin majority, the Putin consensus and Putin stability are all beginning to break down, Valery Solovey says; but that does not mean that more mass protests are likely to occur in […]

» Read more

RBTH: Cable wars: Can Russia really cut the jugular?

Both the U.S. and Russia have the means to clip undersea cables but don’t worry, unless there’s a full on war, your internet surfing won’t be interrupted. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – RAKESH KRISHNAN SIMHA, SPECIAL TO RBTH – December 9, 2015) There are more than 285 cables crossing the world’s oceans, with the entire network spanning over […]

» Read more

RBTH: “Russia and the EU: United by the refugees’ tragedy; Similar approach to border controls is key to managing migration.”

Europe Map

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – DMITRY BABICH, SPECIAL TO RBTH – December 8, 2015) Dmitry Babich is a political analyst at Sputnik International. In recent years, Russia and the European Union have developed a taste for stressing what divides them, particularly the “differences in values” which presumably make us two worlds apart. But there is at least one […]

» Read more

RIA Novosti : “Russian envoy: Raised focus on relations with China predates Western sanctions”

Asia Map

(RIA Novosti – December 8, 2015) Russian ambassador to the People’s Republic of China Andrey Denisov has denied that Russia’s “eastward turn” – its visible attempt to improve relations with countries in the Asia-Pacific region, primarily China – was a response to the introduction of sanctions against Russia by several Western countries; rather, he said, it had been mooted over […]

» Read more

TRANSCRIPT: [Putin] Meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu

Sergei Shoigu file photo, adapted from image at defense.gov by Steven C. Welsh, www.stevencwelsh.info :: www.stevencwelsh.com

(Kremlin.ru – December 8, 2015) Vladimir Putin had a working meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. In particular, the Defence Minister informed the President on the discovery of the flight data recorder from the Russian fighter jet shot down in Syria by the Turkish Air Force. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: How is work proceeding, Mr Shoigu? You and I […]

» Read more

RBTH: Russian economy moves out of recession

Alexei Ulyukayev file photo

Economic crisis: After a year of unprecedented economic turmoil, the country is in calmer waters but there are still challenges ahead. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – DARIA LITVINOVA, SPECIAL TO RBTH – December 9, 2015) In the wake of sharply declining oil prices, a ruble that almost halved in value and the imposition of economic sanctions, many believed […]

» Read more

NEWSWATCH CNBC: “Ex-Russia Fin Min [Kudrin]: We need ‘painful’ structural reforms”

Alexei Kudrin file photo

CNBC covers remarks by former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, citing the ongoing impact of oil prices while also noting a need for Russian economic reforms, stymied by political considerations. … Kudrin acknowledged the ongoing impact of … commodities … ‘The drop in GDP (gross domestic product) this year mainly has to do with the drop in oil prices – […]

» Read more

Peskov: No restrictions for [quick data] messengers planned

Dmitry Peskov file photo adapted from image at kremlin.ru/wikimedia commons

(Interfax – December 9, 2015) The Kremlin said that no restrictions for the quick data transmission systems, the so-called messengers, are planned to introduce. “I am aware that the issue is really being worked on, but not in the aspect of restrictions. As far as I am concerned, there are no restrictions there, but the issue is being worked on, […]

» Read more

RBTH: “Russia can now ignore rulings by European human rights court”

European Court of Human Rights Building file photo

The Russian State Duma has passed a law making it possible to recognize, upon a motion from the president or the government, some rulings by international courts as unenforceable in Russia. While critics say the law is aimed at limiting the powers of the European Court of Human Rights, an RBTH source says the state is merely defending its sovereignty […]

» Read more

Tax system in Russia to remain unchanged for next few years – PM

Cash, Calculator, Pen

MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) – The Russian government is not planning to raise taxes in the country in the next few years, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. “Currently a decision has been made, it was supported by the president, that we in the next few years will not touch the tax system in general and we will not touch […]

» Read more

TRANSCRIPT: In Conversation with Dmitry Medvedev: Interview with five television channels

Dmitri Medvedev file photo

(Government.ru – December 9, 2015) Prime Minister answered questions from TV anchors Irada Zeinalova (Channel One), Sergei Brilyov (Rossiya), Kirill Pozdnyakov (NTV), Yelizaveta Osetinskaya (RBC TV) and Mikhail Fishman (TV Rain). Sergei Brilyov: Good afternoon. On behalf of the media holding that hosts this broadcast it is my pleasure to welcome you on Rossiya 1, Rossiya 24 TV stations, as […]

» Read more
1 2 3 4 5