RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2016-213 :: Wednesday AM, 16 November 2016

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#213
Wednesday AM, 16 November 2016
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1. www.opendemocracy.net: Tatyana Dvornikova, Inside Russia’s beleaguered vocational education sector. Changes in educational funding make vocational education Russia’s Cinderella sector.
2. www.rt.com: Two-thirds of Russians want Putin to remain president after 2018 – study.
3. Moscow Times: Global Conflict ‘Russians’ Greatest Fear’ – Poll.
4. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Experts puzzled by bribery charges against Economy Minister Ulyukayev. Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev has been accused of extorting $2 million for a deal between oil companies Rosneft and Bashneft. Ulyukayev, who first took the detention as a joke, has been arrested, while experts point to strange inconsistencies in the case.
5. Bear Market Brief: Rosneft Took Leading Role in Ulyukayev Takedown.
6. BBC Monitoring: Russian press examines implications of minister’s arrest.
7. Russia Direct: Ekaterina Grobman, Russia’s top economic minister faces criminal charges for bribe solicitation. Russia’s high-profile Economic Development Minister, Alexei Ulyukaev, has been arrested on corruption charges. Who or what is behind this new anti-corruption probe?
8. Moscow Times: The Loyalty of Fear. Putin sends a message to the elite with the arrest of Russia’s economic development minister.
9. http://theduran.com: Alexander Mercouris, First thoughts on arrest and sacking of Russian economy minister. Former Russian Economy Minister Ulyukaev has been dismissed in disgrace after being arrested on corruption charges. Though there is probably no political motive behind his arrest and dismissal, more will become clearer when Putin names his successor.
10. TASS: Kudrin sees no political aspect in Ulyukayev’s arrest.
11. www.rt.com: ‘Not politics, corruption’: Russian officials comment on economy minister’s detention.
12. Stratfor.com: The Fate of Russia’s Liberals.
13. Sputnik: Russian Election Commission Head Says Wants to Reorganize Election System.
14. AP: Russian Opposition Leader Navalny’s Case Sent for Retrial.
15. Wall Street Journal: Russia to Withdraw From the International Criminal Court. Move follows a report by the ICC describing Russia’s annexation of Crimea as an international military conflict.
16. TASS: Kremlin comments on Russia’s decision not to ratify International Criminal Court Statute.
17. www.rt.com: Bryan MacDonald, Eurocrat fantasies are keeping EU-Russia relations frozen.
18. Moskovsky Komsomolets: Kremlin cautions against “exaggerated expectations” from Trump. (interview with Dmitry Peskov)
19. Moskovsky Komsomolets: Mikhail Rostovsky, America, you’ve gone stupid: What Trump’s triumph means. Fact that new US president is totally outside system is horrifying.
20. Gazeta.ru: Russia should show “tact” with USA on Ukraine – editorial.
21. Indian Punchline: MK Bhadrakumar, Trump and Putin begin work on US-Russia reset.
22. New York Times editorial: New Presidents Who Tilt Toward Russia.
23. Wall Street Journal: Watch Out for Putin, Senators Warn Trump. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers express concern over president-elect’s foreign-policy ambiguity.
24. Washington Post editorial: The United States is giving Putin the green light for atrocities. Obama will not act in Syria to stop Russia or the Assad regime, and Trump seems indifferent at best.
25. Washington Post: David Ignatius, In our new Cold War, deterrence should come before detente. Behind the scenes, the Obama administration has worked to check Vladimir Putin’s cyber-meddling in U.S. affairs.
26. Financial Times: Trump v Putin: is the spectre of nuclear war back after 25 years? Moscow’s posturing and potential for loose talk in the US alarm Nato defence chiefs.
27. Russia Direct: Sergey Markedonov, How Russia could revive its ties with Moldova. Following the victory of Igor Dodon in Moldovan elections, Moscow has a real chance to boost its relations with the former Soviet republic. However this task is not so easy.
28. AFP: Tired of graft, foreign reformers flood out of Ukraine.
29. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Can Russia regain its place at the top of world chess? Twenty-six-year-old Sergey Karjakin may become Russia’s first world chess champion since 2007. Yet, in the match for the world chess crown that kicked off on Nov. 11, the Russian grandmaster has so far been viewed by most as an underdog.