RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-18 :: Tuesday, 26 January 2016

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#18
Tuesday 26 January 2016
A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs
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RUSSIA

1. www.rt.com: Half of Russians trust news they read on internet, poll shows.
2. Interfax: Putin says he likes Communist ideas echoing Bible’s.
3. Kremlin.ru: Meeting of the Russian Popular Front’s (ONF) interregional forum.
4. www.rt.com: Russia to overcome corruption slowly but surely – Putin.
5. www.rt.com: Lavrov: Policy of restraining Russia continues, high time to drop it.
6. Bloomberg: Russian Entente Nears as Allies Give Ukraine Sanctions Hint.
7. AP: Putin Denounces Soviet Founder Lenin.
8. www.rt.com: ‘Won’t forgive’: Communists lash out at Putin for comparing Lenin’s policies to ‘bomb under Russia’
9. www.rt.com: ‘Pure fiction’: Kremlin comments on BBC’s probe about ‘Putin’s money’
10. RFE/RL: U.S. Official Says Putin Is Secretly Wealthy, Corrupt.
11. TASS: Press secretary refuses to discuss possibility of Putin’s marriage.
12. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, Russia’s Demographic Recovery Might Have Peaked.
13. TASS: Putin moderately optimistic on future of Russian economy.
14. Moscow Times: Russians’ Real Wages Fall 9.5% in 2015.
15. Moon of Alabama: NYT Finds Troubles In Russia Which Are Already Cured.
16. TASS: Russia to cut oil production amid low oil prices – deputy PM.
17. Carnegie Moscow Center: Mikhail Krutikhin, The Russian Oil Industry in the Era of Cheap Crude. A recent slight increase in Russia’s oil output is likely to be short-lived. Oil production may decline almost twofold by the end of the year due to a lack of financing for new field exploration and development.
18. www.rt.com: Pepe Escobar, Rumble in the ruble, fire in the markets.
19. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, How a liberal bastion is persevering in an increasingly illiberal Moscow. The Andrei Sakharov Center, one of the last safe spaces for Russia’s liberal community, has been fined and fined again for its purported ‘political activity.’ But celebrity support and crowdsourcing have kept it alive.
20. CBCNews (Canada): Russia’s bleak winter: Protests grow as ruble weakens and Kremlin makes painful cuts.
21. Interfax: Inquiry against 5 people charged over Nemtsov’s murder completed.
22. Wall Street Journal: Conflict-of-Interest Query Resurfaces in Russian Money Laundering Case. (re William Browder)
23. Russia Direct: Unrest in Moldova, Litvinenko case and highlights from Davos. Weekly media roundup: Unrest in Moldova, the Litvinenko KGB case, events in Chechnya and the World Economic Forum in Davos were in the spotlight of Russian journalists last week.
24. European Leadership Network: Joseph Dobbs, Why the West, especially Europe, needs Russia.
25. Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Yevgeniy Shestakov, London burns bridges. Results of investigation into ‘Litvinenko case’ in Britain not trustworthy.
26. Washington Post editorial: Vladimir Putin’s poison tea.
27. Russia Direct: Ivan Tsvetkov, The KGB saga: Putin and the Litvinenko case. Accusations of complicity in the murder of a former KGB agent in the UK won’t be able to deal Vladimir Putin any serious political damage.
28. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Vzglyad: Are Russia and the U.S. building military bases in Syria? The global media are increasingly reporting that the U.S. and Russia are building military bases in Syria.
29. Russia Direct: Nikolay Kurkov, Will Russia sacrifice Assad as part of its Syrian endgame? If Assad steps down as head of Syria, it will come with a high price. Recent leaks to the media suggest that Russia continues to maneuver for the best possible outcome to a difficult situation.
30. Russia Beyond the Headlines: How Russians react to BBC’s War and Peace.
31. Moscow Times: Moscow’s Art Exhibition for the Record Books.
32. Valdai Discussion Club: GEORGY MIRSKY HAS PASSED AWAY.

UKRAINE

33. RFE/RL: It’s been two years since Euromaidan in Ukraine. What does polling and economic data show?
34. Ukraine Today (Kyiv): Ukraine’s healthcare ministry announces flu epidemic as more than 80 people die.
35. RFE/RL: Ukraine To Get Up To $10 Billion In Foreign Aid In 2016.
36. UNIAN (Kyiv): Ukraine gets $266 mln from U.S. over two years – Pyatt. (military)
37. Forbes.com: Kenneth Rapoza, American In Charge Of Ukraine’s Finances Thinks Russia Debt Deal Doable.
38. TASS: Ukrainian forces shell DPR territory 75 times over last 24 hours – DPR defense ministry.
39. https://dninews.com: Donbass offers Ukraine a peaceful divorce like that of Czech Republic and Slovakia.
40. http://readukraine.com: Mark Adomanis, Perfect, Non-Corrupt European Police. The idea that Europe has “solved” governance is badly out of date, and Ukraine’s reformers should take note.
41. Counterpunch.org: Luciana Bohne, Faking History.
42. Sputnik: Ukraine Needs Stable Oil Prices Almost as Much as Russia Does.
43. Reuters: Breaking the Bribe Culture Is Still a Challenge for Ukraine.
44. TASS: Russia’s security chief: World should thank Russia for preventing bloodshed in Crimea.
45. Sputnik: Ukrainians Realize Futility of EU Free Trade, But It’s Too Little, Too Late.
46. Vesti (Kyiv): Ukraine said considering “autonomy” for Donbass, shared rule over Crimea.
47. Reuters: Lucian Kim, A dangerous moment for Ukraine’s fragile ceasefire.
48. Facebook: Ivan Katchanovski, Minsk agreement.
49. Kyiv Post: Timothy Ash, Moscow desperate to get Western sanctions lifted.
50. https://davidrmarples.wordpress.com: David Marples, Decentralization: Pros, Cons, and Prospects.