RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2016-68 :: Friday, 8 April 2016

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#68
Friday, 8 April 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. Science: A renaissance for Russian space science.
2. Russia Beyond the Headlines: 6 Russian writers to watch at the London Book Fair. A delegation of Russian authors is coming to London on April 11-14 for the city’s international book fair.
3. Moscow Times: Michele Berdy, Office Affairs and Chit-Chat Around the Russian Water Cooler.
4. Kremlin.ru: Truth and Justice regional and local media forum.
5. TASS: Putin says he liked UK version of War and Peace series.
6. Moscow Times: Putin: Obama ‘Personally’ Invited Russian President to Nuclear Summit.
7. Russia Direct: How can the Kremlin turn the Panama Papers to its advantage? Despite the controversial allegations within the Panama Papers, there are nonetheless a number of flaws – such as the failure to list any high-profile U.S. officials – that the Kremlin might be able to exploit as proof of the West’s information campaign against Russia.
8. TASS: Kremlin spokesman claims US officials apologized to Putin before Panama Papers publication.
9. Brookings: Clifford Gaddy, Are the Russians actually behind the Panama Papers?
10. www.rt.com: Panama dilemma: Washington doesn’t know if leak was ‘theft,’ but approves of ‘independent journos’
11. Rethinking Russia: Bryan MacDonald, Kremlin and the Panama Papers: Lots of Icing, but No Cake.
12. Sputnik: Pepe Escobar, Hybrid War, From Palmyra to Panama.
13. US-Russia Business Council: Report: No Improvement In Russian Corporate Governance Since 2012.
14. TASS: Russian Energy Minister says sector’s strategy till 2035 will be adopted this year.
15. Valdai Discussion Club: Ivan Timofeev, SOFT POWER, ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION AND DILEMMAS FACING RUSSIAN UNIVERSITIES.
16. Russia Insider/Izvestia: Sergey Karaganov, A Realistic Appraisal of Future Prospects for Russia-West Relations. “Strategic considerations imply that a significant recovery of Russia-US relations will be a long process”
17. Interfax: Russia lost faith in Western leadership due to abuse of its trust – Pushkov
18. Russia Direct: Russia is still searching for a new normal in its relationship with Europe. Russian diplomat Andrey Kelin, director of the Department of European Cooperation at Russia’s Foreign Ministry, gives his take on why Moscow and Brussels continue to struggle to find common ground on the most pressing questions of European security, including the Ukrainian crisis.
19. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Vladimir Mikheev, NATO reinforcement: Why turn Europe into a theater of potential war? Washington and London have intensified their anti-Kremlin rhetoric with recent statements, followed by the announcement that the U.S. is to deploy three fully-manned military brigades to Eastern Europe to counter Russian “aggression.” Foreign affairs analyst Vladimir Mikheev says this is reckless and short-sighted action that only heightens the risk of conflict in Europe.
20. Wall Street Journal: NATO, Russia to Hold Ambassadorial Meeting. NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says talks aren’t a ‘return to business as usual’
21. Washington Times: Amid new cold war, memorial recalls a time of U.S., Russia coming together.
22. The National Interest: Kenneth Yalowitz and Vincent Gallucci, Can the U.S. and Russia Avoid an Arctic Arms Race? Rivalries are less tense above the Arctic Circle-for now.
23. New York Times: Thomas de Waal, Solve the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Before It Explodes.
24. Lowy Interpreter: Matthew Dal Santo, Russia’s success in Syria signals an emerging multipolar world order. The silence from Western capitals as ISIS fled Palmyra was as deafening as it was understandable. In Syria, history has refused to follow the script.
25. www.rt.com: ‘Impossible to belittle Russia’s role in Syrian settlement’ – Putin.
26. USNews.com: Stephen Blank, Russia’s Cease-Fire Fiction. The Obama administration has once again failed to understand Putin’s game. He’s dictating the terms, not Washington.
27. The Nation: Stephen Cohen, US ‘Information War’ and the Embryonic Kerry-Lavrov Détente. Is the recent tsunami of anti-Putin news reports meant to undermine US-Russian negotiations on Syria and Ukraine?
28. Financial Times: Kathrin Hille, Russia: Putin’s balance sheet. Sanctions and a falling oil price threaten to derail economic progress amid fears of a return to the chaos of the 1990s.
29. Chris Westdal, A Way Ahead With Russia. (former Canadian ambassador to Russia and Ukraine)

UKRAINE

30. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, For Ukraine’s Poroshenko, a growing crisis hits a critical juncture. Amid plunging public trust, the Panama Papers revealed this week that the struggling Ukrainian president holds offshore accounts, and the Dutch resoundingly voted against accepting Ukraine into the EU.
31. Sputnik: Poroshenko Calls Dutch Referendum on Ukraine an ‘Attack on European Values’
32. Moscow Times: Russia Wins Silent Victory Against Ukraine With Dutch ‘No’ Vote.
33. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Dutch vote on Ukraine: Result will force Europe to ‘restrain’ ambitions. Most Russian media have welcomed the Dutch rejection of an EU association agreement with Ukraine, hoping that the results may not only affect the attitude of Europeans to Ukraine but also to force the EU to “restrain” its ambitions.
34. Consortiumnews.com: Gilbert Doctorow, Dutch Voters Reject Ukraine Deal.
35. Kyiv Post editorial: Panama Petro.
36. Kyiv Post: Poroshenko, after disclosure of his firm in Caribbean tax haven, promises renewed attack on offshores.
37. TASS: DPR: Kiev troops getting prepared for offensive, move headquarters closer to contact line.
38. New York Times: Oliver Bullough, The West Is Enabling Graft in Ukraine.
39. AFP: Attackers torch office of Ukraine judge in Russian troops’ trial.
40. Russia International Affairs Council: Anton Naychuk, Development Scenarios for the Conflict in Eastern Ukraine: A View from Kiev.

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

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