RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2016-75 :: Wednesday, 20 April 2016

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#75
Wednesday, 20 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
The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or the George Washington University.
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1. Government.ru: Government report on its performance in 2015.
2. TASS: Russian PM wants National Wealth Fund used on life-changing projects support.
3. Reuters: Russia Won’t Rush With Structural Reforms-PM.
4. www.rt.com: Russia to return to long-term budget plan.
5. Russia Insider: Jon Hellevig, Positive-Sounding Medvedev Rejects Cuts ‘at the Expense of the People.’ Russia PM says social spending cuts are not warranted by state of economy which is better than the doom and gloom brigade insists.
6. Russia Insider: Alexander Mercouris, Russian Economy Exiting the ‘Grey Zone.’ Growing statistical evidence confirms likely onset of recovery.
7. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Georgy Bovt, Why are Russians so eager to talk to Putin in person? A constant feature of Vladimir Putin’s reign as Russian leader, his “Direct Line” TV phone-in may appear to be inconsistent with his image as an inaccessible ruler. But the president’s annual Q&A session is merely a modern-day incarnation of an ancient tradition.
8. TASS: Russian government approves Paris climate agreement.
9. Moscow Times: Growing Number of Russians Think State Has Failed in Duties to Citizens – Poll.
10. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, Caught with its pants down, Russia’s opposition blows up
11. Rethinking Russia: Promoting the Presidential “Daisy.” Interview with Alexei Zudin.
12. Gazeta.ru: Russian election chief hits back at critics. (Ella Pamfilova)
13. TASS: Kudrin: Without reserves Russia would’ve been forced to cut military spending by half.
14. TASS: Central Bank Chief: Russian economic contraction rates slow down.
15. Carnegie Moscow Center: Andrey Movchan, What Would Economic Disintegration in Russia Look Like?
16. Moscow Times: Russians Spend Half Their Incomes on Food For First Time Since 2008.
17. Forbes.com: Tim Worstall, Yes, Russia Is Poor–But It’s Not That Poor.
18. Forbes.com: Kenneth Rapoza, Nearly Two Years Into Sanctions, Can Russia Live Without Europe?
19. AP: Dutch court quashes $50 billion Yukos shareholders’ award.
20. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Oil prices remain stable despite lack of progress in Doha. While the recent talks between the world’s oil exporters of crude were inconclusive, the preceding two months have seen verbal interventions send oil prices up, while fundamental factors have revived demand for crude.
21. Russia Insider/True Economics: Actually Break-Even Price for Russia Oil Producers Is Just $9. Russian production costs are some of the lowest in the world.
22. Russia Direct: Pavel Koshkin, What the failure of the Doha oil summit means for Russia. An inability of the world’s oil exporters to come to an agreement on future production levels is further evidence that Russia can no longer rely on higher oil prices as an easy cure for its economic ills.
23. Russia Direct: Russia might be the first casualty if nuclear terrorism becomes reality. RD Interview: Alexey Arbatov, the head of the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Nonproliferation Program, discusses nuclear security challenges and the risk of terrorist groups getting access to nuclear weapons.
24. Huffingtonpost.com: Jonathan Adelman, Thinking the Unthinkable: Russia Has Re-Emerged As a Great Power.
25. Valdai Discussion Club: Anatol Lieven, OBAMA’S FOREIGN POLICY DOCTRINE. UKRAINE AND RUSSIA. PART 2
26. Russia Beyond the Headlines: How Russia is moving ahead with its Asian pivot. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently visited Mongolia and Japan. His goal was to initiate a real “Eastern turn” in Russian foreign policy.
27. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Gazeta.ru: Russian general: ‘We never send notes to the U.S. State Department.’ General Pyotr Deinekin, former chief of the Russian air force, talks about the latest incidents involving Russian warplanes and U.S. ships and aircraft.
28. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Bilateral trade: Russia and U.S. must ‘avoid the point of no return.’ Commodity turnover between Russia and the U.S. has declined by 50 percent since the introduction of sanctions However, Russia is not losing hope and is offering attractive conditions for small and medium-sized American businesses looking to invest in the country.
29. Moscow Times: Poll Shows Russians Want Trump to Win U.S. Presidential Election.
30. The Nation: Pietro A. Shakarian, Why Do Neo-Cold Warriors Want Another Proxy Fight With Russia? The recent conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a case study in how anti-Putin rhetoric obscures what is really going on.
31. Washington Post editorial: The U.S. props up Syria’s sham cease-fire. As long as Mr. Obama counts on Mr. Putin to cooperate, violence will continue.
32. Rethinking Russia: New book. Surprising Russia: Sentiments, Opinions and Values of Ordinary Russians.
33. TASS: Russian party leader says Christ was first Communist.
34. Interfax: Positive attitude to Lenin in Russia tops 50% – poll.
35. www.rt.com: RIP after 92 years? Majority of Russians want Lenin’s body buried poll shows.
36. www.rt.com: Most Russians regret USSR collapse, dream of its return, poll shows.
37. Consortiumnews.com: Jonathan Marshall, The New Propaganda War.
38. The German Marshall Fund of the United States: Stefan Meister, Isolation and Propaganda: The Roots and Instruments of Russia’s Disinformation Campaign.
39. Deutsche Welle: Putin’s ‘secret sleepers’ waiting for a signal.
40. AP: Jewish Leader Thanks Putin for Fighting Anti-Semitism.
41. Russia Insider: William Wedin, ‘You Take Risks’ – What Putin’s Life Stories Tell Us About Him. What do stories told in Putin’s 2000 autobiography – such as concerning the sweet smell of hay – reveal of his true character?
42. Vox.com: Mark Galeotti, The Putin myth: the Russian leader isn’t nearly as powerful as you think.

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