RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#191 :: Friday 2 October 2015

[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter]

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#191
Friday – 2 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.
JRL homepage: russialist.org
JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist
JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi
Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php
Support for JRL is provided in part by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Open Society Foundations to the George Washington University and by voluntary contributions from readers.

RUSSIA

1. Moscow Times: Putin Promises to Rewrite ‘Foreign Agents’ Law.
2. Interfax: Putin urges Russian businessmen to support rights NGOs.
3. http://gordonhahn.com: Gordon Hahn, Russian Military Intervention in Syria (UPDATE): Attacks Against ISIS and Other Jihadists.
4. Politico.com: Vali Nasr, Only Russia Can Bring Peace to Syria.
4a. Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs: David Speedie, Messrs. Obama and Putin: Put Syria and Syrians First.
5. Fair.com: No ISIS Where Russia Is Bombing-Except Last Week, When ISIS Was Killing Gay Men There?
6. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russia goes up in global competitiveness ranking.
7. Reuters: Russian economic slump to be worse than expected: poll.
8. Wall Street Journal: Russian Oil Output Rises to Post-Soviet High. Adds to global glut keeping crude oil prices lower.
9. www.rt.com: Good and bad news day for Gazprom.
10. TASS: Sberbank CEO does not rule out even big banks going bankrupt in short-term in Russia. (German Gref)
11. Reuters: Russia’s import-substitution drive will take years – and may be misguided.
12. Business New Europe: Goldman Sachs finally trusts Russians to run its Moscow operations.
13. Moscow Times: Russians Start Filing for Bankruptcy as New Law Enters Force.
14. Interfax: Most Russians see food embargo as appropriate response to Western sanctions – poll.
15. www.opendemocracy.net: Natalya Yakovleva, Finding a place for Zhenya. Natalya’s youngest son Zhenya will soon be six. He is a child with a difference, and Natalya needs to make a choice about where to send him to school.
16. www.rt.com: Gorbachev calls for Russia-Germany alliance ‘for common European good’
17. http://buchanan.org: Patrick Buchanan, The Mind of Mr. Putin.
18. Russia Direct: Artem Kureev, What are the risks of Russian military involvement in Syria? It remains to be seen if Russia will be able to contribute to fighting ISIS in Syria through a more intensive military involvement in the conflict. However, the risks from such operation remain high.
19. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Press Digest SPECIAL: What are the scenarios for Moscow’s Syrian campaign? RBTH presents a selection of views from leading Russian media on Russia’s air campaign against targets in Syria, featuring analysis of the potential scenarios for further air strikes, as well as reports on the sites being targeted and the controversy over whether these sites are actually in areas held by Islamic State (ISIS) militants.
20. Russia Direct: Sergey Markedonov, Syria 2015: Echoes of Afghanistan 1979? In the aftermath of Russian airstrikes against ISIS, there have been increasing warnings that Syria could be to Russia what Afghanistan was to the Soviet Union. Is that really the case?
21. www.mcclatchydc.com: Mitchell Prothero, For Putin, fight in Syria also a struggle with bitter domestic enemies.
22. Gazeta.ru: Air strikes in Syria risk drawing Russia into “big Muslim war” – editorial.
23. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, RUSSIA’S ‘HOLY WAR’ IN SYRIA.
24. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Gwynne Dyer, Russia goes to war in Syria. Putin takes action while Obama parses words.
25. RIA Novosti: Russia’s Lavrov speaks against “demonizing” Syrian president.
26. New York Times editorial: Russia’s Dangerous Escalation in Syria.
27. Washington Post: David Ignatius, Russia and the “facts on the ground” in Syria.
28. The Economist: Russia in Syria. A new spectacle for the masses. Vladimir Putin embarks on a risky campaign to prop up the Syrian regime and embarrass America.
29. www.rt.com: Neil Clark, Insult to our intelligence: New information war against Russia.
30. Government.ru/Voprosy Ekonomiki: Dmitry Medvedev, The new reality: Russia and global challenges.

UKRAINE

31. Business New Europe: Graham Stack, Fragile calm holds in East Ukraine before four-way peace talks in Paris.
32. The Guardian (UK): Shaun Walker, As Russia enters war in Syria, conflict in Ukraine begins to wind down. The conflict in Ukraine sees less shelling each week, while hawks and rebel leaders are being told by Moscow to pipe down and toe the line.
33. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, As Russia enters Syria’s war, Ukrainians ask what it means for theirs. Moscow has shifted its foreign policy gaze to the defense of Syria’s regime amid a lull in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Some worry that the US could downplay Ukraine’s plight in order to cooperate with Russia in Syria.
34. AP: Russian, Ukrainian leaders to hold talks in Paris.
35. Valdai Discussion Club: Dmitry Suslov, “NORMANDY FOUR”: THE BEST POSSIBLE FORMAT.
36. TASS: Donetsk republic hopes Kiev will change stance after Paris summit.
37. RIA Novosti: Russia accepted refugees from Ukraine “quietly” – senior MP.
38. Russia Direct: Dmitry Polikanov, The food blockade of Crimea only hurts Ukraine, not Russia. Attempts at a food blockade of Crimea appear to be nothing more than a stunt coordinated by the Kiev authorities that may actually end up hurting Ukraine more than it hurts Russia.
39. www.rt.com: Russian bridge to Crimea going up at lightning speed.
40. The Economist: Ukraine economic update. The patient awakes.
41. Newsweek.com: Serhiy Lyovovchkin, Voters in Eastern Ukraine Must Be Given a Choice.
42. www.rt.com: ‘Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko is failing on all sides.’ (interview with James Petras)
43. TASS: Traffic police officer tells court former Ukrainian pilot Savchenko hitchhiked in Russia.
44. Kyiv Post editorial: Bombs Away. (re “Putin, the megalomanical dictator”)
45. Fort Russ: Ukrainian authorities assisted in violent seizures of thirty churches of Moscow Patriarchate by the radical nationalists.
46. Russia Insider: US Satellites Work In Syria, But Not Ukraine. We have crystal clear color images of Russian equipment in Syria but only grainy black & white photos with little dots on them to prove “Russian aggression” in Ukraine.
47. http://ask.fm: Why do you say Ukraine is a Communist invention? It was created in 1917 by the February Revolution. Its precedent is the Kyivan Rus. (Anatoly Karlin response)
48. Dances With Bears: John Helmer, MH17 – WHY THE INVESTIGATION WILL NEVER END, THE EVIDENCE NEVER SEEN.

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

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

Comment