RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents & links :: JRL 2020-#28 :: Tuesday, 18 February 2020

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

Support the JRL: russialist.org/funding.php
Donate Online: click here for direct link at GWU

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

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2020-#28 :: Tuesday, 18 February 2020
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 Home: 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.

1. www.rt.com: Visitor numbers to Russia jumped by 20.5% last year – major e-visa liberalization planned for 2021 – rt.com/russia/481105-russia-e-visa-tourism-boom/
2. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, Russia becomes a safe haven in an increasingly turbulent world. As geopolitical fears fade, investors are increasingly looking at Russian securities as a safe haven.
3. Reuters: Russia to consider making ex-presidents immune from prosecution: RIA.
4. Dances With Bears: John Helmer, THE CON IN THE CONSTITUTION – KREMLIN LOSES CONTROL OF THE AMENDMENT PROCESS, DELAYS DUMA VOTE, ORDERS ELECTION COMMISSION TO STOP ANSWERING TELEPHONE – johnhelmer.net/the-con-in-the-constitution-kremlin-loses-control-of-the-amendment-process-delays-duma-vote-orders-election-commission-to-stop-answering-telephone/print/
5. The Barents Observer (Norway): Authors of new Constitution eye special place for Arctic. Far northern territories, border areas and closed military towns should be directly subjected to the federal government in Moscow, says a leading member of the group now authoring Russia’s new Constitution.
6. Reuters: Russian blogger’s HIV documentary reaches millions, draws Kremlin praise.
7. Meduza: No complaining. Moscow officials reject allegations by cemetery workers of extortion and corruption against municipal funeral enterprise.
7a. Intellinews.com: Moscow links 100,000 security cameras to powerful facial recognition system.
8. Meduza: New statistics say Russia’s economy has grown more dependent on oil and gas.
9. Bloomberg: Putin Wants to Start Spending Again. Here’s How He’ll Do It.
10. Intellinews.com: ING: Russian budget spending plays catch up in January.
11. Interfax: Kudrin doubts 1.9% economic growth forecast due to coronavirus.
12. New York Times: Pessimistic Outlook in Russia Slows Investment, and the Economy. Growth in Russia has slowed to well below the global average as economists point to low spending by the government and the private sector.
13. TASS: Coronavirus is significant uncertainty factor for oil prices in 2020 – Bank of Russia.
14. Forbes.com: Russia’s Aeroflot Cancels Flights As China Traffic Collapses.
15. MarketWatch: Ordeal of U.S. investor in Moscow may end – but that wouldn’t mean Russia has turned business-friendly.
16. www.rt.com: European court reinstates order for Russia to pay $50 billion for oligarch’s lost oil assets – rt.com/business/481089-court-russia-pay-yukos/
17. TASS: Dutch court ruling in Yukos case won’t lead to seizure of Russia’s assets abroad – expert.
18. The Hill: Richard Sawaya, Russian sanctions will boomerang.
19. Los Angeles Times: Russian Tatars feel threatened as Putin pursues nationalist agenda.
20. The Maritime Executive: Norway Clarifies Svalbard Treaty After Russian Complaint.
21. Valdai Discussion Club: Timofei Bordachev, Greater Eurasia: Are There New Challenges on the Horizon? – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/greater-eurasia-are-there-new-challenges/
22. TASS: Izvestia: European Union insists on extending New START.
23. New York Times: Madeleine Albright and Igor Ivanov, A Plea to Save the Last Nuclear Arms Treaty. Two former diplomats, from Russia and America, call for extending the nuclear arms limitation pact called New START, to make the world more secure.
24. Russian International Affairs Council: Alexander Yermakov, The Countdown for New START – russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/analytics/the-countdown-for-new-start/
25. Riddle: How the world could have been different. Ivan Kurilla considers what mistakes the West has made in its relations with Russia – ridl.io/en/how-the-world-could-have-been-different/
26. www.rt.com: Russian GRU agents prowl undersea internet cables off Irish coast in the Times’ latest spy thriller – rt.com/op-ed/481038-russian-agents-ireland-cables/
27. Valdai Discussion Club: Andrey Sushentsov, Strategic Consequences of ‘Memory Wars’ in Eastern Europe – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/strategic-consequences-of-memory-wars/
28. Awful Avalanche: Soviet Wartime Archives De-Classified – Part V – awfulavalanche.wordpress.com/2020/02/18/soviet-wartime-archives-de-classified-part-v/
29. TASS: Kremlin says new data on MH17 crash in Ukraine demonstrates that Russia was right.
30. TASS: No Buk missile systems detected near MH17 crash zone – leaked document – tass.com/world/1121137
31. Euromaidan Press/Radio Liberty: Serhiy Zhadan on the war with Russia & Zelenskyy’s promises.
32. OffGuardian: Joseph Altham, Fascism in Ukraine: the conspiracy of silence. The rise of the far right in Ukraine is one of the most disturbing trends in 21st century Europe. But it’s a story you rarely get to read about in the British press.
33. Consortiumnews.com: Part Four of ‘UkraineGate – Inconvenient Facts’ – consortiumnews.com/2020/02/17/part-four-of-ukrainegate-inconvenient-facts/
34. Facebook: Fred Weir, Re “2020 Election Is a Choice Between Democracy and Putinism”
[links to finance.yahoo.com/news/2020-election-choice-between-democracy-133012747.html]
35. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions during the 56th Munich Security Conference, Global Disorder – Other Opportunities for a New Agenda, Munich, February 15, 2020 – mid.ru/en/press_service/minister_speeches/-/asset_publisher/7OvQR5KJWVmR/content/id/4043519
36. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answers to media questions following the 56th Munich Security Conference, Munich, February 17, 2020 – mid.ru/en/press_service/minister_speeches/-/asset_publisher/7OvQR5KJWVmR/content/id/4046843