RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#168 :: Wednesday 26 August 2015

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#168
Wednesday – 26 August 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. TASS: Victoria Nuland: We do want to be able to communicate clearly with Russia. (interview)
2. Interfax: Putin’s job approval rating exceeds 80% – poll.
3. Vedomosti: Economic reality fails to dent Putin’s approval ratings – daily.
4. Moskovskiy Komsomolets: Open Russia coordinator interviewed on return to work after suspected poisoning.(Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr)
5. The Quarterly Review: Hold the Heart. Gregory Slysz considers the causes of Russo-Western antagonism.
6. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, Russia Won’t Suffer the Soviet Union’s Fate.
7. Russia Beyond the Headlines: ‘Black Monday’ inflicts further damage on Russian markets. Amid turmoil on global financial markets, the Russian ruble fell to a historic low against the U.S. dollar on Aug. 24, while the key stock market index, the RTS, dropped 6 percent. Russian analysts say that there is little room for optimism while oil prices remain low.
8. Russia Direct: Christopher Hartwell, Will the freefalling Chinese market take Russia with it? Russia looks exceedingly vulnerable to further dramatic swings in China’s financial markets and any weakening in Chinese demand for Russian energy.
9. Deutsche Welle: Employers skeptical about Russia sanctions.
10. Business New Europe: Russian poll on nationalism and xenophobia produces worrying results.
11. Levada.ru: Poll tracks change in Russians’ take on ethnic conflict, racial groups.
12. Paul Goble: Russians More Optimistic about Ethnic Problems at Home But Have Little Reason to Be, Experts Say.
13. Izvestia: Russian daily reports on research into online media consumption.
14. Moscow Times: By Blocking Wikipedia, Russian Government Shows its Power Over Web.
15. Interfax: Russian ombudsman slams ex-Defence Ministry official’s parole as “elite” justice.
16. Moscow Times: Mark Galeotti, Museums Show Russia’s Big Security Problem.
17. Bloomberg: Russia Faces Reality With Prediction of Deeper Economic Slump
18. TASS: Sberbank CEO Gref does not expect oil to drop below $40 per barrel.
19. Oilprice.com: A Winter Of Discontent For Russia.
20. Russia Insider: Alexander Mercouris, Why Criticism of Gazprom and the Chinese Pipeline Deals Is Wrong. Contrary to Western media reports Gazprom is in pretty good shape and Russia’s two big gas deals with China both make political and economic sense.
21. Reuters: Russia’s biggest air show hurt by economic crisis, sanctions.
22. Interfax: Diplomat: Rise in NATO activity in Europe near Russian borders is provocative.
23. Reuters: Russia, NATO need new rules to cut risk of war, ex-ministers say.
24. RIA Novosti: Russian deputy foreign minister interviewed on Middle East. (Mikhail Bogdanov)
25. New York Observer: Mikhail Klikushin. Anti-American Sentiment Surges in Russia as US Officer Taunts From Perch at Fox News. Retired General who called for US to ‘start killing Russians’ says he bought a polonium detector.
26. Washington Post: Katrina vanden Heuvel, The danger of ‘Foreign Policy by Bumper Sticker’
27. Washington Times: Edward Lozansky, A Russian In Search of Western Values.
28. Antony Penaud: Dom Knigi: Quotes from a bookshop, what people read, what people believe, and the Guardian.
29. World Affairs: Alexander Motyl, Preparing for Russia’s Upcoming Collapse. (February 2013)

UKRAINE

30. Al Jazeera: Ukraine: Going underground to escape the conflict. Short on funds and wary of looters, many are sheltering in basements in the warzone – and paying an emotional price.
31. AFP: EU-Russia ties at new low ahead of Ukraine talks.
32. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, Left Wing Economic Views Are Alive And Well In Ukraine.
33. Transitions Online/Slon.ru: Taras Bogdan, The Right Sector Phenomenon: Between Patriotism and Banditry. Nationalist militias are the government side’s best fighters in the Donbas war. On the home front, they could also become its greatest liability.
34. Kyiv Post editorial: Khaki lies.
35. UNIAN (Kyiv): Rada investigative commission: About 1,000 soldiers killed in Ilovaisk battle.
36. Interfax: DPR claims 30 truce violations by Ukrainian army, says large calibers being used.
37. TASS: Russia’s 37th Donbas aid convoy to include textbooks, foodstuffs.
38. Huffington Post: Nikolas Kozloff, Ukraine: The Consequences of Far Right World War II Revisionism.
39. http://newcoldwar.org: Letter From Alexander Mercouris: ‘Changing the government in Ukraine is the only way to save Ukraine’
40. www.foreignpolicy.com: Taras Kuzio, Money Still Rules Ukraine. President Poroshenko talks big about reform – but he’s missing what may be his only chance to break the power of the oligarchs.
41. Vice.com: Christopher Allen, Meet the European Fighters Who Have Gone to War in Ukraine.
42. Sputnik: Don’t Allow Kiev to Rewrite the Holocaust, Warns Israeli Publicist.

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

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