RUSSIA – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#192 :: Monday AM 5 October 2015

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#192
Monday AM – 5 October 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. Moscow Times October 8, 1993: Russia Mourns Victims of Uprising.
2. Kremlin.ru: Meeting of Council for Civil Society and Human Rights. (further excerpts)
3. Kremlin.ru: Meeting with Government members. Vladimir Putin met with Government members to discuss measures to overcome economic recession in 2016. The situation in Syria and the fight against international terrorism were discussed separately.
4. Russia Insider: Patrick Armstrong, I Wasn’t Really Wrong When I Said Putin Would Retire. Here’s my rationalisation.
5. The Guardian (UK): Mary Dejevsky, Putin wants to preserve Syria – this is not about Russia-US relations.
6. Russia Direct: Nikolay Pakhomov, Was Putin’s UN speech a failure? Western experts is still puzzled in understanding Russian foreign policy, as evidenced by initial reaction to Vladimir Putin’s UN speech.
7. Business New Europe: Ben Aris, Spelling out Putin’s UN speech in a ‘word cloud’
8. Interfax: Russian prime minister warns of tough financial situation, back to 3-year budget.
9. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Medvedev: Russia must cut dependence on oil revenues. Speaking at a forum in Sochi, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has revealed that oil and gas revenues have provided for less than half of the federal Russian budget for the first time, and said the country must focus on reducing its dependence on oil through reforms, stimulating domestic manufacturing and cutting spending.
10. Moscow Times/Vedomosti: Nikolai Apple, Who Benefits From Russia’s Bankruptcy Law?
11. Russia Insider/Expert: The Purges Begin – Secret Russian Police Unit SMERCH Nails Corrupt Officials. This time they are serious. Russian security structures create a special unit tasked with a total sweep of regional elites.
12. NTV (Moscow): Talk show discusses corruption in Russia.
13. TASS: Will Russia’s air strikes against IS stir domestic radicals into activity?
14. RIA Novosti: Syria air strikes intended to “protect Russians from terrorism” – PM.
15. Government.ru: Dmitry Medvedev’s interview with Rossiya 1 TV Channel.
16. Valdai Discussion Club: Georgy Mirsky, Russia is Returning to the Middle East.
17. www.rt.com: Moscow ready for contact with Free Syrian Army – FM Lavrov.
18. Russia Direct: Andrei Tsygankov, The Kremlin’s Syria gamble is risky, but could have a big payoff. Putin’s decision to bomb ISIS in Syria is a calculated risk designed to break Russia’s isolation from the West and prevent radical Islamic elements from further destabilizing the North Caucasus and Central Asia.
19. The Guardian (UK): Lindsey Hilsum, In Assad’s heartland, villagers see Russians as saviours.
20. Moscow Times/Chatham House: James Nixey and Xenia Wickett, Russia and the West Must Compromise on Syria.
21. The Independent (UK): Patrick Cockburn, Syria crisis: Let’s welcome Russia’s entry into this war.
22. http://readrussia.com: Mark Adomanis, Russia Isn’t Going to Take Over the Middle East.
23. The American Conservative: Leon Hadar, The Logic of Putin’s Syria Campaign. Russia’s president cuts through the Beltway groupthink in explaining his county’s interests.
24. Sputnik: Russia vs ISIL: Timeline of What the Media Got Right and Wrong.
25. New York Times: Steven Lee Myers, In Putin’s Syria Intervention, Fear of a Weak Government Hand.
26. Consortiumnews.com: Ray McGovern, The Hope Behind Putin’s Syria Help.
27. The National Interest: Michael O’Hanlon, America and Russia in Syria: Superpower Showdown or Opportunity? “We may be able to find a better path forward that eventually finds more points of accord than disagreement between Moscow and Washington.”
28. Fort Russ: Donald Trump: “The Middle East would be safer with Saddam, Qaddafi and Assad” and “We are giving Syrian rebels billions of dollars, and they could be worse than Assad!”
29. Politico.com: The hotline to Moscow goes cold.
30. Hidden Harmonies China Blog: The “follies” of Russia’s pivot to China.
31. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Venezuelan state television, Moscow. (excerpt)
32. Moscow Times: Moscow Opera Season Preview: A Great Year.
33. http://catherinebrown.org: Catherine Brown, Whataboutism in the Gulag.