RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-50 :: Thursday, 15 March 2018

St. Basil's Domes

To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net

[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter]

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#50
Thursday, 15 March 2018
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.

JRL homepage: russialist.org – JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist – JRL on Twitter: @JohnsonRussiaLi
Support for JRL is provided in part by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York to the George Washington University and by voluntary contributions from readers.

Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.phpDonate Online: direct link

1. Russia Beyond: 8 things you can do to better understand Russia.
2. CNN.com: Russia vs. US: Where is life better?
3. www.rt.com: ‘I slept with a pump-action shotgun beside my bed’: Putin reveals details of life in 1990s Russia.
4. TASS: Putin divulges details about decision to storm terrorist-seized theater in 2002.
5. Reuters: Russian Voters Left Guessing at Putin’s Economic Plan.
6. Russian Politics: Unvarnished and Undiluted: Analytical Bulletin No (1) 13 MARCH 2018. (Tatiana Stanovaya)
7. Reuters: Putin Rides ‘Russia First’ Wave Toward Election Victory.
8. BBC Monitoring: Putin thanks Crimeans for ‘historic decision’ to return to Russia at rally.
9. TASS: Vedomosti: More Russians agree with Crimea’s reunification in run-up to presidential election.
10. Wall Street Journal: The Real Drama in Russia’s Election: How Many Voters Will Show Up? Putin is poised to win another term as president, and efforts to boost turnout recall Soviet-era elections.
11. The Nation: Nadezhda Azhgikhina, In Russia, Everyone Is Tired of National Politics. But at the local level, citizens can embark on a path to improvement and local dialogue.
12. www.rt.com: Russian reality star/presidential hopeful bursts into tears in live debate chaos. (VIDEO)
13. http://usforeignpolicy.blogs.lalibre.be: Gilbert Doctorow, Second Thoughts: How the Russian Presidential Election Race Looks in its Final Days.
14. Financial Times: The rise of Putin’s young technocrats. Russia’s president is promoting a new generation to prepare for an eventual transition.
15. Wall Street Journal: Why Foreigners Love Vladimir Putin’s Bond Market. Russian elections highlight the strange economic attraction investors have shown for the country’s financial markets.
16. Rethinking Russia: Andrei Korobkov, A Wake-Up Call: What Are the Implications of a New Russia-West Confrontation.
17. www.foreignpolicy.com: Trump’s Man in Moscow. Most of Washington is scared to meet with Russians. Jon Huntsman wants to meet as many as possible.
18. Valdai Discussion Club: Dmitry Suslov, THE LIMITS OF GLOBAL CONTAINMENT: HOW TO WIN IN A NEW COLD WAR.
19. Russia Matters: Daniel Treisman, Putin’s Pivot: 4 New Features of Russian Foreign Policy.
20. New Statesman: Lawrence Freedman, Putin’s new Cold War. Assassination attempts, cyber-attacks, military interventions – Russia is once again playing a deadly game with the West. Yet beneath the bravado is a nation riddled with insecurities.
21. BBC: Sarah Rainsford, Does Putin’s Russia reject the West?
22. The National Interest: Lyle J. Goldstein, Artyom Lukin and Georgy Toloraya, Why Trump Should Meet Kim in Vladivostok. Russia’s proximity to North Korea will remind all concerned that potent external powers have very significant security assurances to offer Pyongyang.
23. AP: Ukraine Lawmaker Says Speaker Was Involved in 2014 Killings.
24. Facebook: Ivan Katchanovski, Maidan killings.
25. www.rt.com: Maidan icon Savchenko faces arrest after claiming top Ukraine official ‘led snipers to central Kiev’
26. The National Interest: Daniel Davis, What Does America Gain by Arming Ukraine?
27. www.rt.com: Moscow will ‘definitely’ expel British diplomats in wake of UK’s reaction to Skripal case – Lavrov.
28. TASS: Lavrov expects Skripal himself to clarify Salisbury incident.
29. Interfax: Russia ready to probe Skripal’s poisoning together with UK – Nebenzya.
30. Interfax: UK acting out political drama using Skripal case – Lavrov.
31. Irish Times: Seamus Maratin, Unlikely that Vladimir Putin behind Skripal poisoning. Attack would have been counterproductive for Russia and jeopardise future spy swaps.
32. Facebook: Dmitry Gorenburg, “brazenly discarding the rulebook”
33. Washington Post editorial: Britain is punishing Putin. America should join in. Or his poison will continue to spread.
34. New York Times: Steven Lee Myers, BOOK REVIEW. Was the 2016 Election a Game of ‘Russian Roulette’? (re RUSSIAN ROULETTE The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump by Michael Isikoff and David Corn)
35. Financial Times: British accusations stir Russian defiance against the west. Kremlin uses stand-off to galvanise nation ahead of presidential vote.
36. Sputnik: Viktor Marakhovsky, Big British Punishment for Russia: Why the World is Bewildered. There’s been no watching and waiting in the scandal of the Russian spy poisoned in the UK – the high profile case has escalated at breakneck speed from the start. Only nine days elapsed between the incident in the town of Salisbury and the terrible international retaliation. Now, let’s take a breath and recall the signposts so far of this turboscandal.
37. Moon of Alabama: Are ‘Novichok’ Poisons Real? – May’s Claims Fall Apart.
38. www.craigmurray.org.uk: Craig Murray, The Novichok Story Is Indeed Another Iraqi WMD Scam. (excerpt)
39. http://theduran.com: Alexander Mercouris, Skripal crisis: Theresa May fires a blank shot. Measures announced today will bounce off Russia but will hurt Britain.

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

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

Map of CIS Central Asia and Environs

Eurasia Map

Comment