RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2017-78 :: Friday, 21 April 2017

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2017-#78
Friday, 21 April 2017

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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1. BBC: Why is Russia so good at encouraging women into tech?
2. Interfax: Russians have started smoking less, dying of alcohol poisoning less – govt report.
3. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Be fertile and multiply: How to spur a baby boom, a la Russe? After an upswing from 2005 to 2015, Russia’s birth rate is once again declining. Meanwhile, mortality continues to grow, and the government needs innovative ideas and reforms to rectify the situation. Proposed measures, however, primarily benefit women and ignore the interests of men.
4. www.rt.com: Only the Russian people can determine successor to their president – Putin.
5. Kremlin.ru: Meeting of the Pobeda (Victory) Organising Committee.
6. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Putin once again makes Time’s list of the 100 most influential people. Russia’s president has long been a top figure in the global ranking.
7. Time.com: Mikhail Gorbachev, Vladimir Putin.
8. www.rt.com: Jehovah’s Witnesses banned as ‘extremist’ in R ussia, property to be seized – court decision.
9. Russia Insider: Marko Marjanovic, Russia’s Jehovah’s Witnesses Ban Is an Assault on the Dignity of Each and Every Russian. If these are ‘extremists’ the world could use a few million more.
10. Interfax: Over 265,000 people receive Russian citizenship in 2016, renunciation cases exceptional – Interior Ministry.
11. Intellinews.com: US banks led by Goldman Sachs gain in Russian capital markets revival.
12. www.bearmarketbrief.com: Aaron Schwartzbaum, WEEKLY WRAP-UP.
13. TASS: Putin’s spokesman dismisses rumors about plans to appoint Kudrin as prime minister.
14. www.bearmarketbrief.com: Oreshkin and Kudrin Lay Out Growth Plans…Vaguely.
15. Interfax: Kudrin sees sanctions as primarily negative for Russian economy.
16. Washington Post: David Filipov, The latest protest Moscow is trying to ignore: Thousands of angry truckers.
17. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Forbes ranks Russia’s wealthiest titans of business. While Russia’s economy continues to struggle under pressure from low oil prices and western economic sanctions, the country’s richest businesspeople continue to do very well and see their fortunes grow.
18. www.opendemocracy.net: Is the anti-corruption agenda all that it’s cracked up to be? The fight against corruption is often sold as the pill to end all postsocialist ills. Activists and researchers in Poland, Russia and Ukraine give their views on why we need to challenge it.
19. Moscow Times: The Man Who Definitely Didn’t Kill Boris Nemtsov. As the murder trial comes to an end, Vladimir Putin seals his political pact with Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov.
20. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russian IT exports grow rapidly as tech startups go global. The volume of Russia’s IT exports exceeded $7 billion in 2016, almost three times more than eight years ago. Russian tech startups are targeting Asia and Latin America, gradually leaving established markets, such as the U.S. and Europe.
21. Business of Fashion: Opening Russia’s Retail Frontiers. While Moscow and St Petersburg account for most of Russia’s fashion retail spend, its provincial cities are an increasingly interesting opportunity.
22. Valdai Discussion Club: Yaroslav Lissovolik, GLOBAL RECOVERY: NOT MUCH GROUND FOR OPTIMISM.
23. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, Another Reason to Avoid Rushing on Russia’s Election Role.
24. RISS Director M. Fradkov gives reply to Reuters’ publication.
25. Moscow Times: Where Old Spooks Are Sent to Retire: Russia’s Institute of Strategic Studies. The Russian think tank suspected of masterminding Russia’s election hacking efforts is a crackpot outfit, not a trusted institution.
26. www.rt.com: Danielle Ryan, Why is US media ignoring all dissenting expert voices on the Khan Sheikhoun attack?
27. http://theduran.com: Alexander Mercouris, OPCW investigation of Khan Sheikhoun attack collapses before it starts.With the stakes impossibly high and an independent investigation compromised before it starts by Western declarations of President Assad’s guilt, the OPCW investigation into the Khan Sheikhoun attack is already the subject of recrimination and conflict between the Western Powers and Russia.
28. Russian Council on International Affairs: What does Trump’s team actually believe about Russia? A Guide to the West Wing’s true feelings about their counterparts in the Kremlin.
29. The National Interest: Daniel McCarthy, The Strange Carter Page Saga: More Heat Than Light. Were it not for the violent emotions that Trump excites among his critics, this would hardly be a topic of hot coverage.
30. Pew Research: Share of Democrats calling Russia ‘greatest danger’ to U.S. is at its highest since end of Cold War.
31. https://thinkprogress.org: Jessica Goldstein, The Russians are coming: Unpacking America’s favorite villain. In Hollywood, the Cold War never ends.
32. Interfax: Liberal reforms are not for Belarus – Lukashenko.
33. The Economist: More than a poet. Obituary: Yevgeny Yevtushenko died on April 1st. The Russian poet was 83
34. Kyiv Post: Russia satisfied by International Court of Justice ruling.
35. Stratfor.com: The Economic Ramifications of Conflict in Ukraine.
36. www.rt.com: Ukrainian city leaves almost half a million residents without hot water for 6 months.
37. Facebook: Jeffrey Burds, Attack on Kyiv activist.

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