RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#225 :: Wednesday 18 November 2015

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#225
Wednesday 18 November 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. www.thedailybeast.com: Michael Weiss, Russia Is Sending Jihadis to Join ISIS. (excerpt)
2. Russia Beyond the Headlines: The heat is on to meet the climate challenge. The UN climate conference in Paris later this month may determine Russia’s policies for years to come.
3. TASS: Russian economy is quite stable, despite current conditions – PM Medvedev.
4. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Why is Russia’s Central Bank planning to print 1 trillion rubles?
5. TASS: There are no systemic risks in Russian banking sector – Deputy Finance Minister.
6. Forbes.com: Kenneth Rapoza, Putin’s ‘Strategic Blunder’ In Syria May Be A Boon For Investors.
7. Ekho Moskvy: Russian rights ombudsman voices concern at Justice Ministry charges against NGO.
8. Interfax: Russian ombudsman probes into high-profile prisoners’ complaints.
9. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russia’s doping scandal: Keeping politics out of the arena. With Russia currently at the center of an international outrage over the results of a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigation alleging large-scale doping among its athletes, there is a very real possibility that the country may be barred from participating in the 2016 Rio Olympics. But while Russia’s doping problem clearly needs to be addressed, punishing the entire nation would also deprive innocen
10. Wall Street Journal: Russia Still Has Time to Comply for Rio.
11. The Guardian: Mehdi Hasan, We accept that Russian bombs can provoke a terror backlash. Ours can too. Vladimir Putin’s intervention in Syria would fuel radicalisation, David Cameron warned. The Paris attacks show western military action has the same effects.
12. Moscow Times: Russia Increases Pressure on Islamic State in Syria.
13. TASS: Expert: Involvement of long-range planes in Syria raids shows Russia’s potential.
14. www.thedailybeast.com: Russia Pounds ISIS With Biggest Bomber Raid in Decades. Putin’s air force just used its nuclear bombers to lay waste to the capital of the ‘Islamic State.’
15. Washington Post: Why Russia is sending airstrike information to this military nerve center in Qatar.
16. Kremlin.ru: Meeting on Russia’s Armed Forces actions in Syria.
17. Kremlin.ru: Meeting on investigation into the crash of a Russian airliner over Sinai.
18. TASS: Foreign minister says terror act downing A321 is equivalent to attack against Russia.
19. Sputnik: A321 Crash in Egypt: Bomb Apparently Planted by Airport Employee – Media.
20. The National Interest: Nikolay Pakhomov, What Does Russia Really Want in Syria? By demonstrating boldness, Moscow is forcing the rest of the Middle East to act decisively.
21. Wall Street Journal: Global Anti-ISIS Alliance Begins to Emerge. Paris attacks spur cooperation between Russia and U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State.
22. The BRICS Post: Danielle Ryan, We may be about to witness a big Western narrative shift on Russia’s Syria policy.
23. TASS: Russian, foreign partners’ lists of terrorists in Syria largely coincide – Lavrov.
24. The Brookings Institution: Jeremy Shapiro and Laura Daniels, The U.S. plan to counter Russia in Syria.
25. www.rt.com: US intentionally spare ISIS in Syria, want terrorists to weaken Assad – Russian FM.
26. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Georg Mirzayan, Syria breakthrough: An end to the slaughter in sight? The country’s future depends on balancing interests among regional players.
27. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Gazeta.ru: ‘After ISIS loses its support base in Syria, all these people will scatter.’ Vladimir Akhmedov, a senior fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies and an Arabist and diplomat who has worked in Syria and Saudi Arabia, spoke about Russia and Iran’s goals in Syria and what awaits the country in the future.
28. Valdai Discussion Club: Georgy Mirky, ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST KEEPING BASHAR AL-ASSAD AS SYRIA’S PRESIDENT.
29. Moskovskiy Komsomolets: Moscow paper blames US policy “mistakes” for ISIL growth. (Mikhail Rostovskiy)
30. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, Translation: Egor Kholmogorov – A Cruel French Lesson.
31. RFE/RL: Steve Gutterman, Parsing Putin: Russia Sends Signals To The West In Statement On Jet Attack.
32. TASS: G20 summit promotes unanimity in struggle with terrorism.
33. Russia Direct: Ruslan Kostyuk, The ghost of Paris haunts the G20. The recently concluded G20 Summit in Turkey took place against the backdrop of the terrorist attacks in Paris that shocked the world. As a result, even economic issues appeared to take on an inherently different quality at the summit.
34. Atlantic Council: Anders Aslund, Putin Transformed from Stubborn Holdout to Star at G20.
35. Dances With Bears: John Helmer, THE BARBARIANS ARE AT THE GATE OF CIVILIZATION, BUT WHICH EMPIRE IS FALLING?
36. The Unz Review: Philip Gerald, Someone Wants War with Russia. Victoria Nuland is not alone.
37. US Department of State: Remarks at the Berlin Security Conference. Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
38. www.rt.com: NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps to test ‘simulated’ troop deployment near Russian borders.
39. www.nato.int: Deterrence for the 21st Century. Opening remarks by NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow at the Berlin Security Conference 2015.

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