RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2020-#164 :: Wednesday, 9 September 2020

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2020-#164 :: Wednesday, 9 September 2020
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1. TASS: Russia is halfway through coronavirus pandemic, most Russians say.
2. Moscow Times: Putin Cancels Annual Q&A Marathon Due to Coronavirus.
3. Intellinews: Only 31% of Russians willing to vote for ruling United Russia Party, says Levada Center.
4. Financial Times: Elections in Russia’s regions will be test of Putin machine. Voters go to polls as stagnant economy and mishandling of Covid crisis stoke anger.
5. TASS: Russian economy hedged from global volatility-related risks, says Kremlin.
6. Intellinews: Ben Aris, Ruble slides to RUB76 to dollar on Navalny poisoning, new sanctions fears and falling oil prices. Economists say the ruble should be at RUB67 to the dollar, but it has already slid to RUB76 and could fall to RUB80 by year-end on renewed tensions with the West.
7. rt.com: Could Russia introduce universal basic income? Former President Medvedev, now leader of governing United Russia, supports idea – rt.com/russia/500167-russians-emigrating-immoral-study/
8. Oilprice.com: Russian Fuel Oil Is A Hit In The U.S.
9. rt.com: ‘Wrong, dishonest & unpatriotic’: Majority of Russians think that emigrating is immoral, new study suggests.
10. Paul Goble: Young Russians Patriotic But in Very Different Way than Their Parents, VTsIOM’s Fedorov Says.
12. Russian and Eurasian Politics: Gordon Hahn, Navalnyi Poisoning Scenarios.
13. Financial Times: The Kremlin’s nameless foe cannot be ignored much longer. ‘Alexei Navalny’ may not be spoken by Russia’s political leadership, but his influence is impossible to deny.
14. Infobrics: Navalny, Novichok, and Nord Stream 2 – infobrics.org/post/31749/
15. Science: Richard Stone, How German military scientists likely identified the nerve agent used to attack Alexei Navalny.
16. Wall Street Journal editorial: Navalny and Nord Stream 2. The poisoned Russian dissident opens a door for a Trump priority.
17. TASS: Are Russia’s relations with Belarus on the skids? Less than a third of Russians think so.
18. Valdai Discussion Club: Nikolay Mezhevich, Belarus-Russia: Is It a Real Brotherhood? – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/belarus-russia-is-it-a-real-brotherhood/
19. TASS: Despite sparring on many issues, Lukashenko stands with Putin on security.
20. TASS: Lukashenko does not rule out snap presidential election in Belarus.
21. RFE/RL: Tsikhanouskaya Urges Belarusian Opposition To ‘Remain Peaceful’ Amid Fears Another Leader Detained.
22. TASS: Izvestia: Belarusian protest movement on the rocks due to lack of unified leadership.
23. Foreign Affairs: Michael Carpenter and Vlad Kobets, What Russia Really Has in Mind for Belarus. And Why Western Leaders Must Act.
24. Paul Goble: Russian Elites So Integrated in the West that Western Gvoernments Aren’t Prepared to Take Tough Action against Moscow, Shevtsova Says.
25. spglobal.com: Rising temperatures leave Russia’s Arctic ambitions on thin ice.
26. TASS: Media: Arctic zone in NATO’s crosshairs.
27. “Etched in Stone: Russian Strategic Culture and the Future of Transatlantic Security,” Eugene Rumer and Richard Sokolsky, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
28. “Russia in the Asia-Pacific: Less Than Meets the Eye,.” Eugene Rumer, Richard Sokolsky and Aleksandar Vladicic, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
29. “Ukraine-Then and Now,” Interview with Steven Pifer, Center for National Security.
30. Eurasianet.org: Saakashvili winds back the clock in return to Georgian politics. The former president is now his party’s candidate for prime minister. But analysts say his presence on the ballot isn’t going to help.
31. rt.com: Glenn Diesen, Most Western reporters have prioritised winning the ‘information war’ over covering Russia objectively & it’s destroying the media – rt.com/russia/500226-west-information-war-russia/