Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#20 :: Thursday, 30 January 2014

Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#20 :: 30 January 2013
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POLITICS

1. Interfax: Poll shows 65% of Russians approve Putin’s performance – poll.
2. Moscow News: Natalia Antonova, Russian State Duma: ‘Possessed printer’ or executor of the people’s will?
3. www.russiatoday.com: Private enterprise could help revive Soviet-era ‘sobering stations’
4. BBC: Russian poetry-lover ‘stabs’ prose champion.
5. RFE/RL: Ice Age Thrives In Southern Siberia.
6. Moscow Times: What the Papers Say, Jan. 30.
7. ITAR-TASS: NGOs to be allowed to take foreign money. Russian Press Review.
8. ITAR-TASS: HRC head: No list of foreign funds prepared to give money to NGOs.
9. Business New Europe/Think Russia: Russian government launches a new anti-corruption initiative.
10. RIA Novosti: Russian financial watchdog says regions lack funds to implement Putin’s orders.
11. Moscow Times: Nikolai Petrov, Davos and Russia’s Regions.
12. RIA Novosti: Russian Prosecutors Check TV Channel Over WWII Poll.
13. RFE/RL: A Quarter Century Of Rights Activism: Memorial Turns 25.
14. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Sochi: New beginnings when the party is over. Alexander Yakovenko, Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, ponders how the Olympics will affect international diplomacy and tackles some of the misunderstandings surrounding the Games.

ECONOMY

15. ITAR-TASS: Russian government ready to consider long-term development plans for strategic enterprises.
16. Moscow Times: Russia is No. 3 in Attracting Foreign Direct Investment.
17. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Chris Weafer, A Russia investor’s wish list for 2014. Lower rates and higher standards along with more transparency could attract more FDI this year.
18. Wall Street Journal: Russia Prepared to Let Ruble Slide. Moscow Won’t Hike Interest Rates, Says Finance Minister.
19. Bloomberg: Putin Uses Oil Giant Rosneft to Tighten Grip on Economy as Sochi Nears.
20. Moscow Times: Chubais Unveils New-Look Rusnano.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

21. ITAR-TASS: Foreign Ministry: Russian deputy FM presents proposals on G8 work to counterparts.
22. Russia Beyond the Headlines: No decisions, but progress at EU-Russia summit. Two sides move towards new partnership agreement despite low expectations for recent meeting.
23. ITAR-TASS: Civil Platform party favors Russia-EU economic integration.
24. Russia Direct: Christopher A. Hartwell, Whistling Past the Graveyard: Russia, the US, and the Results from Davos. Although this year’s meeting in Davos was less focused on economic crisis than previously, it highlighted some of the economic challenges of Russia and other countries.
25. Russia Direct: What should Russia expect from Munich conference? Ahead of the annual Munich security conference, Russia Direct discussed the meeting’s agenda with Igor Yurgens, chairman of the Institute for Contemporary Development, taking into consideration current geopolitical challenges such as the crisis in Ukraine and the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I.
26. New York Times: U.S. Says Russia Tested Missile, Despite Treaty.
27. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Amid ‘civil war’ talk, Kremlin keeps wary eye on Ukraine.
28. BBC: Is Ukraine’s ‘decisive battle’ still ahead?
29. Business New Europe: Yanukovych kills off amnesty bill compromise as oligarch rebellion grows.
30. ITAR-TASS: Dynamo Kiev’s president calls for reconciliation match to restore peace in Ukraine.
31. Russia Direct: Igor Gretskiy, Ukraine: Resolving the deadlock with structural reform? Both sides in Ukraine’s political crisis are digging in and neither looks unlikely to yield soon. Broad-reaching political reforms are being discussed as potential solutions to the deadlock, but these, too, risk more instability. Of these options, a transition to an outright parliamentary system seems best.
32. Bloomberg: Ukraine at Impasse on Amnesty After Russia Warns on Aid.
33. www.russiatoday.com: Russia’s emergency loan to Ukraine on hold until govt forms.
34. http://www.president.gov.ua: President’s address to Ukrainian citizens.
35. Reuters: Ukraine’s Yanukovich goes on sick leave in midst of political crisis.
36. Reuters: U.S. readies financial sanctions against Ukraine – congressional aides.
37. RIA Novosti: EU Lawmakers Pass Ukraine Resolution, Prompting Russian Ire.
38. Levada Center: Russian poll shows outrage most common feeling towards protesters in Ukraine.
39. Moscow Times: Georgy Bovt, Scaring Russians With Ukraine.
40. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: Russian TV Promoting ‘Permanent Hysteria’ about Ukraine, Commentator Says.
41. Quartz: Steve LeVine, Perhaps Europe won’t want to rescue Ukraine from Russia’s grip.
42. New York Times editorial: Time for a Deal in Ukraine.
43. www.russiatoday.com: William Engdahl, US, EU meddling in Ukraine battle.