Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#30 :: Wednesday, 12 February 2014

Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#30 :: 12 February 2013
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POLITICS

1. Moscow Times: Putin Revels in Sochi Spotlight as Olympic Criticism Wanes.
2. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Putin sees ‘containment’ in West’s Sochi criticism. Does he have a point? The foreign coverage of Sochi has been full of reports of ephemeral foibles, spurring Putin’s complaints. But the media have also raised serious issues that Russia has yet to address.
3. ITAR-TASS: Sochi Olympics – symbol of Russia’s economic revival.
4. New York Times: U.S. Center for Russian Studies to Shut Moscow Office. (Kennan Institute)
5. Salon.com: Jennifer duBois, Why our stories about Russia are stuck in the past. From “The Americans” to “Iron Man 2,” TV and films look back to the Cold War. They’re missing out on Russia today
6. The International New York Times: Mikheil Saakashvili, Czar Vladimir’s Illusions.
7. Moscow Times: What the Papers Say, Feb. 12.
8. The Daily Mail (India): Kanwal Sibal, Why must the West blame all Russia’s ills on President Putin?
9. The American Conservative: William Lind, Russia’s Right Turn.
10. ITAR-TASS: New parliamentary election law to boost political competition.
11. Moscow News: Russia’s top prosecutor slams illegal detention.
12. Moscow Times: Russian Opposition Envies Ukrainians’ Willingness to Face Bullets.
13. Chatham House: Andrew Monaghan, Can Russia Ever Extract Itself From Corruption?
14. Moscow Times: Moscow Duma Says Dzerzhinsky Will Not Return to Lubyanka.
15. ITAR-TASS: Ekho Moskvy radio not to apologize for host Shenderovich’s statements.
16. Interfax: Russians doubt Oboronservice suspects will stand trial – poll.
17. RAPSI: ECHR turned down 90% of complaints against Russia in 2013.
18. Moscow Times: Georgy Bovt, Nothing to Stop the Pain.
19. RAPSI: Prosecutor general cautions media against mentioning criminals’ ethnicity.
20. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Literature on the front lines: Russian writers in the Caucasus conflicts. The tradition of literature exploring conflict in the Caucasus began with the great stories by Lermontov and Tolstoy, and is carried on by today’s writers: RBTH presents 5 contemporary authors, each with military experience and individual views on duty, violence and the casualties of war.
21. Carnegie Moscow Center: Thomas de Waal, In Sochi Don’t Mention the Word “Caucasus”
22. Wall Street Journal: And the Sochi Crowd Goes Mild. Russians Have Been Subdued in Praising the Home Team; More Bolshoi Than Boston Garden.
23. Der Spiegel: Benjamin Bidder, Sochi Schadenfreude. ‘Ha Ha, The Russians Screwed It Up Again!’
24. The New Republic: Julia Ioffe, Two Russian Women on a Sochi Train.
25. The National Interest: Graham Allison, Putin’s Olympic Gamble.
26. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Ivan Savvine, A gay Russian-American examines Sochi protest.

ECONOMY

27. Moscow Times: Big Companies Cutting Staff in Gloomy Economy.
28. www.businessinsider.com: Everyone Who Is Gloomy About Russia’s Economy Has The Story All Wrong.
29. Reuters: Russia expects 2014 oil output to renew post-Soviet record.
30. Interfax: Large investors, alumni of Russian universities to enjoy easier naturalization – newspaper.
31. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russian web millionaires go West. International expansion is the new watchword for the Russian venture market’s movers and shakers. As the latest ranking of the country’s internet millionaires indicates, the winners are those who invest abroad.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

32. RIA Novosti: Shoigu Says Rumors of Russian Military Downfall “Nonsense”
33. Carnegie Corporation of New York: Mikhail Troitskiy, Setting expectations right. On U.S.-Russia Relations and Sochi.
34. PBS Newshour: What will it take for U.S. and Russia to have a productive partnership? (interview with Angela Stent)
35. Moscow Times: 10 Unlikely Candidates to Replace Michael McFaul (Photo Essay).
36. Interfax: Vigilant Eagle 2014 first planning conference gets underway in Colorado Springs.
37. The National Interest: Nikolai Sokov and Miles A. Pomper, Is Russia Violating the INF Treaty?
38. St. Petersburg Times: ‘Stalingrad’ Lands in U.S.
39. Reuters: Insight: In Ukraine standoff, echoes of U.S.-Russia Cold War tensions.
40. Interfax: Russian senator slams EU over “double standards” on Ukraine.
41. ITAR-TASS: Ukraine’s acting FM: No concrete proposals from EU on financial aid.
42. ITAR-TASS: Ukrainian opposition leader refuses to take part in public debates with Yanukovich.
43. Business New Europe: Ukraine’s opposition demands to restore 2004 constitution urgently.
44. Business New Europe: Poll shows most Russians support Yanukovych in Ukrainian standoff.
45. RIA Novosti: Judge Who Sentenced Protesters Shot Dead in Ukraine.
46. Moscow Times: Ivan Katchanovski, Role of Far-Right Nationalists in Ukraine Protests.
47. Financial Times: Lviv’s café revolutionaries: feeding the protests in Kiev.
48. Moscow Times: Vladislav Inozemtsev, Yanukovych Is Resisting the Irresistible.
49. www.opendemocracy.net: Oleksander Andreyev, Power and money in Ukraine. Protest in Ukraine initially seemed to reveal a country sharply divided into the pro-Europe west and pro-Russian east. But there are signs that shared issues of civil rights and democracy are gaining ground on traditional differences.
50. Business New Europe: I am Ukrainian.
51. ITAR-TASS: Pentagon studying Soviet troops’ Afghan war experience ahead of coalition withdrawal.
52. ITAR-TASS: Possible meeting between Russian-Georgian leaders needs to be worked through.