RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2020-#185 :: Wednesday, 14 October 2020

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2020-#185 :: Wednesday, 14 October 2020
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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1. TASS: Izvestia: Clashes in Karabakh return to pre-ceasefire level of escalation.
2. The National Interest: Pietro Shakarian and Artyom Tonoyan, Nagorno-Karabakh: Turkey Instigates An Old War With Older Ambitions. There is significant evidence that Turkey is the main instigator of the current Karabakh war. The country has been involved in every step of the way from the preparation to the execution of the Azerbaijani war plan.
3. Bloomberg: Russia Approves Second Covid-19 Vaccine Before Phase 3 Trials.
4. BMB Russia: Coronavirus.
5. CNBC.com: ‘Very unethical’: Russian sovereign wealth fund chief slams criticism of his country’s coronavirus vaccine.
6. Paul Goble: Russians’ Unwillingness to Take Responsibility Found Wherever They Feel They can’t Affect Outcomes, Levada Center Sociologist Says.
7. Riddle : The split in Putin’s regime. Tatiana Stanovaya on how dreams of greatness can in fact erode the Russian state – ridl.io/en/the-split-in-putin-s-regime/
8. rt.com: Russian natural gas exports to Europe recovering from coronavirus energy slump.
9. Meduza: ‘Man’s role is insignificant’. Scientist Tatyana Orlova explains the ‘red tide’ wreaking havoc off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka.
10. Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Russian state paper calls for ‘rebranding’ of soft power.
11. TASS: Russia must distance itself from Western assessments of its policy. says Lavrov.
12. TASS: ‘Can’t tango solo’: Russia’s pursuit for dialogue with West was disregarded, says Kremlin.
13. Valdai Discussion Club report: Oleg Barabanov, Timofei Bordachev, Yaroslav Lissovolik, Fyodor Lukyanov, Andrey Sushentsov, Ivan Timofeev, History, To Be Continued: The Utopia of a Diverse World – valdaiclub.com/a/reports/history-to-be-continued-the-utopia-of-a-diverse/
14. Valdai Discussion Club: Is Anarchy the Mother of Order? The Valdai Club Report deserves a read, and its authors deserve gratitude for their intellectual courage. It would not be an exaggeration to say that their work is a breath of fresh air in the stifling atmosphere of contemporary Russian discourse on world politics, writes Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/is-anarchy-the-mother-of-order/
15. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to questions at the presentation of the Valdai International Discussion Club analytical report “History, To Be Continued: The Utopia of a Diverse World,” Moscow, October 13, 2020 – mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4380725
16. Moscow Times: Russia Returns to UN Human Rights Council After 4-year Absence.
17. Sputnik: Why Without Russia or China, UN Human Rights Council Could Quickly Degrade Into a ‘Lynch Jury’ – sputniknews.com/analysis/202010131080756121-why-without-russia-or-china-un-human-rights-council-could-quickly-degrade-into-a-lynch-jury/
18. Sputnik: Russia Ready to Include 2 Out of 5 New Weapons in New START Treaty, FM Lavrov Says.
19. Bloomberg: Russia Dismisses Trump Hope of Nuclear Deal Before U.S. Vote.
20. The National Interest: Daniel DePetris, New START Tussle: Why Trump and Biden Will Address a Critical Missile Treaty Differently. Whether the Trump administration will agree to extend the New START accord with Moscow is still very much an open subject. Meanwhile, Joe Biden is on record supporting a five-year extension of the treaty.
21. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, Karabakh War 2020: 16 Days – unz.com/akarlin/karabakh-war-2020-update-16/
22. The National Interest: Michael Rubin, Critical Junction: Why America Should Explore a Relationship With Artsakh. The West might recognize Artsakh and guarantee that it remains its own country. Such a U.S. diplomatic gesture would be the right response and would also send a diplomatic signal to Turkey that its regional aggression will backfire.
23. gilbertdoctorow.com: Gilbert Doctorow, Nagorno-Karabakh and unrelenting, mounting US/EU pressure on the Kremlin – gilbertdoctorow.com/2020/10/13/nagorno-karabakh-and-unrelenting-mounting-us-eu-pressure-on-the-kremlin/
24. Antiwar.com: Danny Sjursen, The US Military’s ‘Lessons’ From Nagorno-Karabakh: God Help Us! – original.antiwar.com/Danny_Sjursen/2020/10/13/the-us-militarys-lessons-from-nagorno-karabakh-god-help-us/
25. NYU Jordan Center: Fiona Bell and Ekaterina Olson Shipyatsky, A Spectre is Haunting Russia, or A Chilling Journey from Ulyanovsk to Silicon Valley, Part I
26. Moscow Times: Jennifer Eremeeva, Pushkin House Shortlisted Books Tackle Authoritarianism. The winner will be announced at the end of October.
27. Financial Times: Alexander Lukashenko changes tack in Belarus stand-off. Meeting imprisoned opposition leaders is departure from previous hardline approach.
28. rt.com: Exiled Belarusian opposition politician Tikhanovskaya issues ultimatum to Lukashenko: Quit within 2 weeks or face mass unrest – rt.com/russia/503420-exiled-tikhanovskaya-ultimatum-lukashenko/
29. Foxnews.com: FBI declassifies spreadsheet used to try to corroborate Steele dossier.
30. New York Times: David Enrich, No, There Isn’t Evidence That Trump Owes Money to Russia
31. The Pitt News: Russian studies podcast explores our attraction to the “enemy”. Sean Guillory, the digital scholarship curator in Pitt’s Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, started the SRB Podcast – short for Sean’s Russia Blog – in 2015.
32. The Guardian: Jonathan Steele, Stephen Cohen obituary. US historian who argued that the Soviet Union could have been reformed and need not have ended when it did.

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