RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#211 :: Thursday 29 October 2015

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#211
Thursday – 29 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. RFE/RL: Reclusive Russian Family’s Last Survivor Toughs It Out In The Taiga.
2. www.rt.com: No firsthand info on alleged Russian ‘airstrike’ on hospital in Syria – Red Cross top executive.
3. Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Matthew Dal Santo, The real Vladimir Putin: More complex (and normal) than you think.
4. Fort Russ: Confessions of a recovering Russian liberal. (Denis Gutsko)
5. Russia Insider: Ex-Soviet Dissident: Putin Offers a ‘Win-Win’ Strategy to the World. 1980s consultant to the US Republican administrations believes that today Russia is on the move, while America is losing its grip on the world. (Dmitry Mikheev)
6. Business New Europe: Julia Reed, MOSCOW BLOG: The autumn of indifference.
7. TASS: Russia’s Soldiers’ Mothers NGO excluded from foreign agents list.
8. Moscow Times: Russian Justice Ministry Proposes Further Checks to ‘Foreign Agent’ NGOs.
9. Reuters: Russian media take climate cue from skeptical Putin.
10. TASS: Russia to improve performance on doing business in 2016 – First Deputy PM. (Igor Shuvalov)
11. Reuters: Russian Economic Slump to Persist as Oil Price Languishes.
12. Bloomberg: Russia Oil Production Poised for Record as Industry Defies Slump.
13. Seeking Alpha: Is The Russian Bear Out Of The Woods?
14. Russia Direct: Nikolay Shevchenko, Three ways Russian foreign policy could change international law. Moscow’s recent bold foreign policy moves in Ukraine and Syria might have a significant impact on the future direction of international law.
15. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, What Putin got wrong. (re missile defense)
16. Huffingtonpost.com: Alastair Crooke, Why Russia Perceives Syria as Its Front Line.
17. TASS: Russia does not indulge in replacing governments in other countries – Foreign Ministry.
18. Russia Beyond the Headlines: ‘We must face down the ISIS threat in Syria together.’ Nobody wants to deploy ground forces in Syria, says Russian Ambassador to the UK. (Alexander Yakovenko)
19. Consortiumnews.com: Ray McGovern, Seeing Syrian Crisis Through Russian Eyes.
20. Interfax: Diplomat: Buildup of NATO’s presence near Russian borders has no prospects.
21. Wall Street Journal: NATO Looks at Stationing More Troops Along Eastern Flank. Alliance seeks to deter Russia in wake of aggression in Ukraine.
22. Stars and Stripes: Army chief: Russia threat demands review of Europe. (“a revanchist Russia”)
23. www.opendemocracy.net: Bakar Berekashvili, Georgia’s grotesque democracy. Neoliberal dogma has taken root and, ahead of parliamentary elections next year, our political elites have nothing else to offer us.
24. Times Higher Education (UK): On Stalin’s Team: The Years of Living Dangerously in Soviet Politics, by Sheila Fitzpatrick. Book of the week: Lara Cook lauds a study of the comrades who kept the Man of Steel company for 30 years.

UKRAINE

25. AP: As it cuts Russia ties, Ukraine can expect years of dependency on West before economy recovers.
26. Mashable.com: Christopher Miller, Humanitarian crisis looms in eastern Ukraine as winter approaches.
27. TASS: Ukrainian opposition accuses authorities of trying to falsify election results.
28. www.opendemocracy.net: Why I didn’t vote in the Ukrainian local elections. Anton Dmytriiev, a journalist based in Kyiv, believes the recent elections in his country were pointless.
29. Interfax: Ukraine is nostalgic about Yanukovych presidency – Azarov.
30. TASS: Ukrainian command in Donbas does not control 2,000 volunteer battalion fighters – DPR.
31. TASS: DPR ombudsperson says 1,354 people held prisoner by Ukraine.
32. Interfax: DPR, LPR obstructing verification of withdrawn armaments – OSCE mission.
33. TASS: Ukraine may consider a complete ban on transit flights of Russian airlines – ministry.
34. Russia Direct: Yulia Karabkina, The Russia-Ukraine sanctions war takes to the skies. With Russia and Ukraine now having imposed mutual sanctions on each other’s airlines, the implications could affect the struggling economies of both countries and lead to similar types of tit-for-tat measures.
35. Wall Street Journal: IMF Plans to Alter Lending Policies to Keep Ukraine Bailout on Track. Proposed IMF lending changes sidestep concerns about $3 billion in debt Ukraine owes Russia.
36. Kyiv Post: West sets more anti-graft, reform conditions for Kyiv to further unlock dollar loans.
37. UNIAN (Kyiv): Ukrainian police say investigating 400 offences against Maydan protesters.
38. http://usforeignpolicy.blogs.lalibre.be: Gilbert Doctorw, Dupes of Putin. (re Crimea)
39. PONARS: Elise Giuliano, The Origins of Separatism: Popular Grievances in Donetsk and Luhansk.
40. Academia.edu: Ivan Katchanovski, Interview with Jyllands-Posten (Denmark) Concerning Investigation of Svoboda Involvement in the Maidan Massacre in Ukraine.