RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-7 :: Wednesday 13 January 2016

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#7
Wednesday 13 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. Russia Insider: Alexander Mercouris, Congrats Germans! This Is How You Do a Putin Interview. Charlie Rose take notes.
2. www.rt.com: Russia wants rapprochement with Europe. (Medvedev)
3. Interfax: How Russians see themselves and Russia’s role in world – poll.
4. Transitions Online: Russian Outlook Among World’s Worst in 2016 – Bloomberg Survey.
5. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Kommersant: Up to 1/3 of Russia’s population could join the army of the poor. Economic crisis in Russia is being accompanied by an unprecedented decline in household incomes as well as rising poverty levels.
6. TASS: PM Medvedev: Russia’s economy stable despite Western sanctions.
7. TASS: Russian government considering ambitious privatization plan for 2016 – deputy PM. (Shuvalov)
8. Sputnik: Russian Government Made ‘No Major Mistakes’ in 2015. (Shuvalov)
9. Moscow Times: Russian Ruble Crashes to 77 Per Dollar Amid Oil Price Slump.
10. Interfax: Russian Finance Minister: Oil prices could continue to slide.
11. Wall Street Journal: Russia Mulls Budget Cuts and Bank Stake Sales. Low oil prices prompt Moscow to consider privatizing its top lenders.
12. www.rt.com: Russia prepares stress test as oil slides below $30.
13. Reuters: Despite oil spending cuts in 2016, Mideast and Russia race on.
14. TASS: Ex-finance minister calls 10% budget spending cuts optimistic forecast for Russia. (Kudrin)
15. Russia Direct: With fall of ruble, Russia’s economy trying to find a new bottom. Debates: The expectations of Russian officials that the country’s economy had reached its lowest point failed to come true in 2016, given the recent fall of the ruble and selloff on Russia’s stock exchanges. So what can be done to resolve the economic situation? Russia Direct asked the experts.
16. Russia Insider: Jacob Dreizin, Russia’s Economic Woes Are Just Beginning. Holding one’s breath for a 2016 recovery may be hazardous to health. Radical measures may be needed.
17. Interfax: Pamfilova criticizes Kadyrov’s words about non-system opposition.
18. Bloomberg: A Fallen Russia Oligarch Sends Warning to Rest of Putin Insiders. (Vladimir Yakunin)
19. www.rt.com: Opposition parties draft bills banning civil servants’ relatives from business activities.
20. Russia Beyond the Headlines: What’s new with the Russian army? RBTH has investigated how public attitudes to army service have changed and what kinds of reforms to military training, procurement, research and military education have been carried out in the last three years.
21. Moscow Times: Russian-Chinese Trade Plummets in 2015.
22. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Press Digest: Trade wars continue between Russia and Ukraine. RBTH presents a selection of views from leading Russian media on international events, featuring reports on the continued worsening of trade relations between Russia and Ukraine, the effects that the weakened Chinese economy is having on Russia and an unexpected boom in domestic Russian consumption.
23. Washington Post: Afghan forces to receive Russian arms as Moscow seeks expanded role.
24. TASS: Russia has no plans for quasi-state in Syria, contrary to Erdogan’s claims.
25. Washington Post: David Ignatius, America may be doomed to cooperate with Putin.
26. Interfax: Russia to take no part in Nuclear Security Summit in Washington – Foreign Ministry.
27. Wall Street Journal: U.S. Presses Forward with Missile Defenses, Despite Russia Concerns.
28. www.rt.com: Russia concerns won’t restrict NATO missile defense – US official.
29. Antiwar.com: Justin Raymond, The Biggest Threat.
30. The National Interest: Dave Majumdar, U.S. Air Force Fears Russia’s Lethal S-400 in Europe.
31. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Why Vladimir Putin won’t go to Davos. The Russian delegation at the Davos Forum will be headed by Yury Trutnev, a deputy prime minister and the Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far East. According to experts, this means that Russia will primarily focus on the presentation of Asian projects at the forum. Neither the president nor the prime minister will travel to Switzerland.
32. Russia Direct: Ranking of Russian Studies programs in the US 2016 to be released in March. Spread the word: Our new Russian Studies ranking for 2016 is in the works, with a release scheduled for March 2016.
33. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Aleksandra Efimova, What’s so Russian about Russian food? Blogger offers cultural insights to the country’s cuisine.
34. The Calvert Journal: Grand designs: can a Stalinist propaganda park become an appealing public space? VDNKh, a vast Soviet-era exhibition space in the north of Moscow, is undergoing major regeneration. Could it be the next Gorky Park-style success story, or will the ghosts of the past prove too strong?
35. Gazeta.ru: Head of Russian watchdog interviewed on tightening control over media, internet. (Interview with Aleksandr Zharov, head of Roskomnadzor)
36. Gazeta.ru: Website sees Gryzlov’s “sudden” visit to Kiev as “symbolic step” by Kremlin.
37. Interfax: DPR supports Poroshenko’s proposal to set specific deadlines for Minsk agreements.
38. Paul Goble: Putin’s Power Failure: He’s had Time and Resources to Transform Russia but has Failed to Do So, Inozemtsev Says.