RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2017-26 :: Friday, 3 February 2017

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2017-#26
Friday, 3 February 2017

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1. Moskovsky Komsomolets: Mikhail Rostovsky: Trump’s dark side: What makes new US president detrimental to Russia; he and backbone of his team act impulsively and unthinkingly.
2. Forbes.com: The Countries Shrinking the Fastest: Large countries-#1 Ukraine.
3. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, How uncertainty over Trump is fueling Ukraine’s latest deadly violence. Though their explanations differ, Kiev, Moscow, and the rebels in the restive Donbass region all point to the new US administration’s ambivalence about Ukraine as cause for the spate of fighting.
4. Kremlin.ru: Joint news conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. (excerpt re Ukraine)
6. Russia Direct: Who is behind the recent military flare-up in Ukraine? Debates: Experts discuss the renewed military escalation in Eastern Ukraine, trying to determine the possible motivations for both sides.
7. www.foreignpolicy.com: Alexander Motyl, Kiev Should Give Up on the Donbass. As conflict rages again, Ukraine needs to understand that winning the war would be more trouble than it’s worth.
8. www.rt.com: ‘Not a single tank’? Kiev rep draws own picture of E. Ukraine town despite OSCE, BBC evidence.
9. AP: US Condemns Russia’s ‘Aggressive Actions’ in Eastern Ukraine .
10. Indian Punchline: MK Bhadrakumar, If US throws Ukraine under the bus, will Moscow reciprocate?
11. Interfax: Russia has not recognized DPR, LPR passports – Peskov.
12. Sputnik: Ukraine Will Not Get Into NATO ‘No Matter How Many Referendums They Hold.’ (Andrei Kortunov)
13. Vedomosti: Daily views potential factors determining Putin’s re-election strategy. (Pyotr Kozlov)
14. Moscow Times: Double Jeopardy: Why Kremlin Opponent Navalny is Back in Court.
15. TASS: Court to examine Russian activist’s appeal against prison transfer. (Ildar Dadin)
16. Carnegie Moscow Center: Andrey Movchan, Decline, Not Collapse: The Bleak Prospects for Russia’s Economy. (excerpt)
17. Financial Times: Investors warm to Russian assets. Higher crude prices and improving US relations prompt thaw in attitude.
18. Moscow Times: American Business Lobby In Moscow Sees Sympathetic Ally In President Trump. The American Chamber of Commerce in Moscow isn’t happy about sanctions. But don’t call it a policy position.
19. TASS: Experts say lifting of US sanctions on FSB as senseless as their imposition.
20. Russia Beyond the Headlines: 5 issues on which Putin and Trump might find common ground. Now that Donald Trump is in the White House, Russians are discussing the expected détente with the U.S., and they’re speculating on which issues and under what conditions Moscow and Washington might find common ground. RBTH and various international affairs experts discussed the possible issues and how they might be solved.
21. Sputnik: ‘Tillerson is Not Pro-Russian’, but Unlikely to Seek ‘Confrontation’ With Moscow.
22. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Will Trump push China to form a military alliance with Russia? Under President Donald Trump, Washington is unlikely to change its policy towards China and Asia. On the contrary, Trump seems to be more decisive in pursuing goals set by previous administrations. Vasily Kashin writes on the implications of Trump’s China policy and whether it would lead to a de facto military alliance between Beijing and Moscow.
23. Interfax: Border regime with Belarus was not introduced, at issue are border zones to regulate trips by citizens of third countries – Kremlin.
24. The Russian Reader: Civilization Won’t Be Destroyed by Extraterrestrials: On the Possible Merger of Russia’s Two Largest Libraries. The consequences of merging Russia’s two largest libraries would be disastrous, argues the Russian National Library’s Tatyana Shumilova.
25. www.rt.com: Fresh ‘Fancy Bear’ hacks show McLaren report lacked evidence, prompted IOC questions.
26. https://gordonhahn.com: Gordon Hahn, Towards a Realist American Russia Policy . PART 2: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR U.S. RUSSIA POLICY.
27. www.rt.com: Russian ‘Pentagon’: RT unveils mysteries behind walls of Russia’s MoD management center. (VIDEO)
28. The National Interest: Michael Kofman, The ABCs of Russian Military Power: A Primer for the New Administration. What the new Pentagon needs to know.
29. Washington Post editorial: An activist is mysteriously ill in Russia, and the U.S. needs to speak up. Russian civil society activist Vladimir Kara-Murza may be the victim of a second poisoning attempt.
30. The Guardian (UK): Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza in hospital after falling ill. (May 2015: “Kara-Murza’s father ruled out deliberate poisoning.”)

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

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