RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#243 :: Monday 14 December 2015

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#243
Monday 14 December 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. Euromaidanpress.com: Paul Goble, New calls for dialogue with Moscow show West has learned nothing, Linkevicius says.
2. The National Interest: Matthew Dal Santo, Putin’s Popularity, Explained.
3. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, Most Russians Consider Themselves “Free”.
4. TASS: Medvedev suggests adopting Internet behaviour code as soft law.
5. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, Russia’s Recession Hasn’t (Yet) Had Much Of A Demographic Impact.
6. Interfax: Over one-third of Russians expect big changes in country following ‘shift to the East’ – poll.
7. Consortiumnews.com: Alastair Crooke, Cornering Russia, Risking World War III.
8. Valdai Discussion Club: Igor Makarov, COP21 CONFERENCE IN PARIS: CONSENSUS ON NEW RULES OF THE GAME.
9. www.opendemocracy.net: Gleb Paikachev, We need to find the common ground between climate change and civil society. To combat Russia’s industrial polluters, public indifference and limits on NGO activity, we need to link climate change and civil society.
10. www.rt.com: Russian Prosecutor General names Browder as man behind latest smear campaign.
11. Moskovskiy Komsomolets: Russian PM’s comments on prosecutor corruption row seen indicating regime split. (Andrey Kamakin)
12. Interfax: Russian Finance Minister Siluanov expects oil price to go under $30 per bar.
13. Forbes.com: Kenneth Rapoza, Fearless Investors Should Seriously Consider These Three ‘Putin-Land’ Stocks.
14. http://readrussia.com: Louise Dickson, Russian Central Banker Cares More About the Price of Milk Than the Ruble.
15. Wall Street Journal: How Russia Gets Back Into the Rio Games.
16. Sputnik: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev begins his four-day official visit to China on Monday.
17. Government.ru: Dmitry Medvedev’s interview with Renmin Ribao.
18. Politico.eu: Michael Crowley, Obama officials are talking to Putin more than ever. But do they have anything to show from their stepped-up dialogue?
19. The Unz Review: The Saker, Week Ten of the Russian Intervention in Syria. The “Assad must go” policy implies war with Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.
20. Russia Direct: Shah Rukh Hashmi, Russia-Turkey relations are slipping into chaos. A confrontation between Russia and a NATO member once seemed unthinkable. But the Syrian conflict threatens to drag in regional actors in ways that were not originally foreseen.
21. TASS: Pressure on Transdniestria is meant to harm Russia.
22. Washington Post: Russia’s TV talk shows smooth Putin’s way from crisis to crisis.
23. The Kremlin Stooge: Mark Chapman, Admiral Kirby Buys a Farm.
24. http://off-guardian.org: RT parody video: How Kremlin propaganda works.
25. Paul Goble: Putin’s Russia on the Way to Complete and Proud Barbarization, Regnum Commentator Says.
26. Russia Beyond the Headlines: 3 major Russian books of 2015. The Big Book Prize has been presented in Moscow.

UKRAINE

27. Interfax-Ukraine: Poroshenko welcomes initiative to deprive citizenship of Ukraine for separatism.
28. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, ‘THE ALTERNATIVE REALITY OF PROPAGANDA’
29. The Daily Telegraph (UK): Brawl erupts in Ukrainian parliament as MP attempts to carry out prime minister.
30. Russia Insider/Yurasumy: In Kiev Biden Was Talking, But Was Anyone Listening? The US Vice President told the Ukrainians to accept decentralization and local differences, but the post-Maidan parliament dominated by chauvinist extremists has other ideas.
31. Interfax-Ukraine: Poroshenko speaks for preserving current coalition in parliament.
32. Washington Post editorial: Ukraine’s leadership skirmishes undermine its efforts for true democracy.
33. Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Pavel Dulman, Biden comes to judge between them. Maydan completely places Ukraine under America.
34. Sputnik: US Has Sent More Than $250Mln in Weapons to Ukraine – Senior NATO General.
35. Carnegie Europe: Jan Techau, Ukraine’s Fragile Status Quo.
36. Reuters: The embroiderer strikes back. Meet Ukraine’s Darth Vader.
37. BBC: EU resists Russian overtures on Ukraine.
38. The Independent (UK); Josh Losh Pisky, Ukraine crisis: Nostalgia leads rebel-held region back to Soviet era. The collapse of industry and descent into civil war have left people longing for old certainties.
39. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russian analysts: IMF response to Ukraine debt hurts global finance system. The International Monetary Fund has allowed lending to countries that are in arrears on their debts to sovereign creditors. This decision will allow the fund to continue the program of assistance to Ukraine, even if the country does not return the $3 billion it owes to Russia. Russian experts claim the new policy undermines the foundations of the global financial system.
40. Reuters: Russia-annexed Crimea faces long road to power security.
41. Land Destroyer Report: Tony Cartalucci, Crimea Loses Power Temporarily, Ukraine Loses Crimea Forever.
42. Russia Insider: The Donbass Diary: Kiev Is Gearing up for a New Offensive. But all it wants is to blame Russia and see new sanctions imposed.
43. Interfax: Ukrainian National Security, Defense Council head dismisses Russia’s accusations on Ukraine’s violation of Minsk agreements.
44. Facebook: Ivan Katchanovski, Maidan Snipers.
45. Facebook: Ivan Katchanovski, More unreported revelations from the Maidan massacre trial.
46. www.thedailybeast.com: Anna Nemtsova, Putin Puts Heroic Female Pilot on Trial.