Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#121 :: Friday 19 June 2015

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#121
Friday 19 June 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.
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RUSSIA

1. Reuters: Putin says Russia is weathering sanctions storm.
2. TASS: No deep economic crisis occurs in Russia – Putin.
3. TASS: Putin advises US against dictating decisions to Russia.
4. www.rt.com: Putin: Unilateral US withdrawal from ABM treaty pushing Russia toward new arms race.
5. Moscow Times: Lack of Action Questions Forum’s Reform Agenda.
6. TASS: Experts say foreign business’s wide participation in economic forum means Russia’s success.
7. Bloomberg: Russian Economic Path Is in Eye of Beholder for Putin Allies.
8. CNBC.com: Russia faces ‘serious challenges’ and must push reforms.
9. New York Times: Despite Tensions, U.S. Company Officials Attend Russian Economic Forum.
10. www.rt.com: Ex-Russian finance minister Kudrin suggests early presidential elections to speed up reforms.
11. Sputnik: Jim Rogers: ‘Russia has Changed, Russia is Rising, I’m Investing’
12. TASS: Russia may be second-division economy in five years – ex-minister Kudrin.
13. Bloomberg: Kremlin Weighs Early Presidential Vote as Economic Worries Mount.
14. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, Early Election Would Benefit Putin, Not Russia.
15. Interfax: Russia basically contented with hydrocarbon prices, says Putin.
16. Moscow Times: Russia’s Middle Class Won’t Return to Pre-Crisis Spending – Report.
17. CNBC.com: Russia sanctions helping businesses to thrive.
18. Business New Europe: The long decline in Russia’s international reserves has stopped.
19. Interfax: Chechen leader on Nemtsov murder, investments, oil, Ukraine, marriage. (Ramzan Kadyrov)
20. Carnegie Moscow Center: Richard Sokolsky and Paul Stronski, Don’t Overreact to Russia and its Forty “New” Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.

UKRAINE

21. TASS: West’s support for state coup in Ukraine prime cause of crisis in Ukraine – Putin.
22. www.theblogmire.com: Russian non-Invasion Causing Concern in European Capitals.
23. Wall Street Journal: Edward Lucas, Buttressing the Front Line Against Putin. The U.S. must compel Nordic and Baltic states to put aside old prejudices and link arms against the Russian threat.
24. RFE/RL: UN Says Ukraine War Made Russia Top Asylum Destination.
25. TASS: Russia’s leverage to influence Ukraine’s self-proclaimed republics not 100% – Lavrov.
26. Moscow Times: Pyotr Romanov, Losing Patience With Ukraine Mess.
27. World Affairs: Alexander Motyl, Should Kyiv Blockade the Donbas Enclave?
28. AFP: Ukraine creditors reject ‘haircut’ despite default threat.
29. Kurier (Austria): Deputy head of OSCE mission in Ukraine “cautiously optimistic” on Minsk deal.
30. TASS: Ukraine’s Tornado battalion fighters threaten to use weapons against Kiev operatives.
31. Kyiv Post: SBU Chief Fired After Flap With Poroshenko.
32. www.opendemocracy.net: Mikhail Minakov, The unlikely return of Yulia Tymoshenko. The success of post-Maidan Ukraine depends on the effectiveness of the ruling coalition. Does Yulia Tymoshenko want to join the party or spoil it?
33. New Statesman (UK): Jana Bakunina, In Kiev, after the revolution, what do ordinary Ukrainians really think? A new police force, rising prices and hope for the future on the streets of Ukraine’s capital.
34. www.globalresearch.ca: Israel Shamir, Kiev: Chestnuts Blossom Again.
35. The Economist: Ukraine and Russia. Putin the uniter. The war has made most Ukrainians see Russians as enemies, not friends. [DJ: Some might suggest that this has something to do with the relentless anti-Russian news spiel in Ukraine that exceeds RT’s efforts.]
36. Kyiv Post editorial: New arms race. The last time that the West got into an arms race with the Kremlin, the Soviet Union collapsed.
37. www.foreignpolicy.com: John Hudson, The Undiplomatic Diplomat. Russia hawks on Capitol Hill love Victoria Nuland, the State Department’s point person for Ukraine. Many Europeans can’t stand her.

 

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

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