Tag: Putin

Interfax: Great feast of Easter brings joy and hope to millions of Christians – Putin

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Religion
File Photo of Russian Orthodox Church at Kremlin, adapted from defense.gov Image

Moscow, April 13, Interfax – President Vladimir Putin has greeted Orthodox Christians and all Russian citizens celebrating Easter, the Kremlin press service reports. “The great feast of Easter brings joy and hope to millions of believers, introduces them to the sources of spirituality and traditions of forefathers,” the presidential message says. “The Russian Orthodox Church plays an enormous constructive role […]

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Former U.S. Ambassador: Putin Has No Interest in Resolving Ukraine Conflict

Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Ambassador Mike McFaul file photo

(Voice of America – voanews.com – April 10, 2015) Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul tells VOA that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no interest in resolving the conflict in Ukraine because it serves his interest. McFaul said Thursday that Putin likes the open-ended, low grade military confrontation in the former Soviet republic because it works to undermine the government in Kyiv. The […]

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Chart – Putin ratings defy grim economic outlook

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Diverse Paper Currency, Coins, Line Graph

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Henry Kirby in London – April 10, 2015 – bne.eu/content/story/bnechart-putin-ratings-defy-grim-economic-outlook) 25 years after Ronald Reagan left the White House, it would seem that Russia has its own ‘Teflon President’ in Vladimir Putin. The Russian president’s consistently high ratings show that his and Reagan’s similarities go beyond a Hollywood penchant for horse riding and rifle-toting, […]

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NEWSLINK Financial Times: What Russians really think. Many in the west see Russia as aggressive and brainwashed. But its citizens have a different view.

Newslinks
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

… Since the start of his third presidential term in 2012, Putin has identified patriotism and a hero cult as the necessary glue for his disoriented nation. ‘There is a great work under way now for the patriotic education of the youth,’ says Nadezhda Malinina, granddaughter of General Mikhail Malinin, Marshall Zhukov’s chief of staff ….   http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/505bfd22-de2e-11e4-8d14-00144feab7de.html#slide0

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Russia launches new version of president’s website

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) – A new version of the Russian president’s website launched on Wednesday took a year to develop within the current budget, no extra funds were allocated, the Kremlin said. “An updated version of the official website of the Russian president has been opened. The previous version was launched more than five years ago, in September 2009. […]

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RIA Novosti: Putin’s remarks on Ukraine were distorted, says Russian business union head

Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(RIA Novosti – April 6, 2015) Aleksandr Shokhin, the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE), has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks during a meeting with the union’s administrative office have been distorted in an article by Forbes magazine, RIA Novosti (part of the state-owned International News Agency Rossiya Segodnya) reported on 6 April. According […]

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Moscow Times: Putin Refused Poroshenko’s Offer to ‘Take Donbass’ – Forbes

Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 7, 2015) President Vladimir Putin in February turned down an offer from his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko to “take the Donbass” – the area in the country’s east that is currently partly controlled by pro-Russian insurgents – and asked Poroshenko whether he was “out of his mind,” Forbes magazine reported Monday. […]

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NEWSLINK Atlantic Council: Former Putin Advisor [Andrei Illarionov] on Kremlin’s Big War

Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

Western sanctions on Russia are not working and a proposal to provide defensive weapons to Ukrainian security forces will not deter the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, according to Andrei Illarionov, a former advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Atlantic Council: Former Putin Advisor on Kremlin’s Big War. (Andrei Illarionov)

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NEWSLINK Ukraine Today: Former U.S. Ambassador [John Herbst] says Putin’s ultimate goal is to destabilise Ukraine

Newslinks, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

Former US ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst has called on the west to extend sanctions against Russia because the ceasefire agreed to by Ukraine and Russia is not holding. Herbst believes that the status quo is contributing to Putin’s ultimate goal, which is to destabilise Ukraine. Ukraine Today: Former US Ambassador says Putin’s ultimate goal is to destabilise Ukraine. (John […]

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NEWSLINK New York Times: Lawmakers Take Step to Remove Putin Critic [Ilya V. Ponomarev]

Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Russian State Duma Building file photo

Russian lawmakers took a major step on Tuesday toward ousting Ilya V. Ponomarev, the only member of Parliament who opposed the annexation of Crimea last year and one of the few elected officials who have repeatedly dared to challenge President Vladimir V. Putin publicly. New York Times: Lawmakers Take Step to Remove Putin Critic. (Ilya V. Ponomarev)

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Will Putin Rescue Greece’s Tsipras?

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Europe, EU
Ancient Temple Ruins in Greece with Tourists

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Howard Amos – April 7, 2015) As Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras prepares for talks with President Vladimir Putin during a visit to Moscow beginning on Wednesday, experts, officials and European leaders have been left guessing whether the two men might hammer out an economic deal. The meeting was announced less than a month ago […]

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Dmitry Oreshkin: “In the light of Nemtsov’s murder, Putin looks like a weak and dependent politician”

Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Nemtsov March of Mourning

(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Leonid Martynyuk – April 6, 2015 – article also appeared at imrussia.org/en/opinions/2222-dmitry-oreshkin-in-the-light-of-nemtsovs-murder-putin-looks-like-a-weak-and-dependent-politician) The Institute of Modern Russia continues its series of interviews with Russian and Western experts on the situation in Russia, its relationship with the West, and the future of its political system. Journalist Leonid Martynyuk speaks with prominent Russian political scientist Dmitry Oreshkin […]

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Few in the Russian Intelligentsia Oppose Putin Even if They Don’t Support Him, Kirillova says

Education, Academia, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, April 7, 2015) Many members of the Russian intelligentsia do not support Vladimir Putin and his repression at home and aggression abroad, but a significant and surprising number of them do, the result of a complex combination of their experiences over the last generation and Putin’s actions as well, according to Kseniya […]

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NEWSLINK New York Times: Greece Should Be Wary of Mr. Putin

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Europe, EU, Greece, Newslinks
Ancient Temple Ruins in Greece with Tourists

The Greek government is facing a series of daunting challenges. It has to come up with money to pay off maturing debts, revive its devastated economy and renegotiate its loan agreements with other countries in the eurozone. Given those difficulties, it might be tempting — though misguided — for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to seek financial or other support from […]

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NEWSLINK Wall Street Journal: As Tensions With West Rise, Russia Increasingly Rattles Nuclear Saber. Bellicose rhetoric has soared since start of Ukraine conflict to rival Cold War levels

Europe, EU, NATO, Newslinks, Nuclear, Missile Defense, Russia & the West, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Russian Mobile ICBM Parade File Photo

Amid the wave of bellicose rhetoric that has swelled in Moscow since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, officials as high up as President Vladimir Putin have been making open nuclear threats, a public saber-rattling with weapons of mass destruction largely unseen even in the days of the Cold War. Remarks about Russia’s nuclear strength play well to Mr. […]

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NEWSLINK: AFP: A year on, Putin’s Ukraine gamble brings mixed results

Newslinks, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

A year since the start of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, Vladimir Putin may not have emerged the winner in his showdown with the West but he has not lost either, analysts say. http://news.yahoo.com/putins-ukraine-gamble-brings-mixed-results-054245483.html

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Putin’s Propaganda Industry Tightens Its Belt

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – January 23, 2015) “One does not economize on ideology” — so, according to historian Roy Medvedev, went a favorite saying of Mikhail Suslov, the man responsible for maintaining the purity of Marxism-Leninism in 1970’s Soviet Union. While high oil prices held, Russian President Vladimir Putin acted in full accordance with this adage, building an expensive, […]

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Sanctions-Strapped Russia Outguns the U.S. in Information War; Moscow drowns out Voice of America, and facts are a casualty

Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Nicole Gaouette – April 2, 2015) The troubled U.S. agency responsible for delivering news around the world is being outgunned in Eastern Europe by Russian outlets unrestrained by notions of fact-based journalism. The unequal competition raises fears among U.S. officials that Moscow is winning the information war about events in Ukraine, even as the Russian economy […]

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NEWSLINK Wall Street Journal: Putin’s Disinformation Matrix

Britain, UK, United Kingdom, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Satellite Dishes

Russia Today, the Kremlin’s English-language TV organ, launched a U.K. edition earlier this month. Headquartered near Westminster, the channel will beam RT’s signature blend of propaganda and tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorizing into millions of British homes. Welcome to Vladimir Putin’s disinformation matrix. RT is merely one part of the Kremlin’s aggressive media effort, as a new Institute of Modern Russia report […]

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Earth Hour 2015 is over as spring thaw in Siberia begins … Natural Disaster Response in “Putin’s Russia”

Disasters, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

By Sarah Lindemann-Komarova (echosiberia@gmail.com) Founder, Siberian Civic Initiatives Support Center 1995 – 2014. Helped to establish this as the hub for the first civil society development support network in the former Soviet Union. (This is an edited version of “The Flood: A tree is best measured when it is down”, full version is available with photos at: https://medium.com/@ECHOSiberia/the-flood-a-tree-is-best-measured-when-it-is-down-1-e8c98cbc6ac5) At 8 […]

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Experts: Putin’s New Ethnic Affairs Agency Aims to Thwart Political Threats

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 2, 2015) President Vladimir Putin’s recent decision to launch a government agency charged with maintaining interethnic and interfaith harmony in Russia is a bid to prevent foreign powers and internal opposition factions from seeking to exploit a weak spot in Russia’s power structure, analysts told The Moscow Times. Since the collapse of the […]

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NEWSLINK New York Times: A Russian TV Insider Describes a Modern Propaganda Machine

Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Satellite Dishes

“It was shocking,” said Mr. Pomerantsev, speaking over coffee in London last month. “They really saw television and news as a movie, and talked about it as a movie.”

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NEWSLINK New York Times: Sunday Book Review: ‘Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible,’ by Peter Pomerantsev

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Tower and Building Inside Kremlin

The name “Vladimir Putin” is almost impossible to find in “Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia.” He usually appears only as “the President,” lording over and lurking behind the tales of tragedy and absurdity in Peter Pomerantsev’s captivating new book about modern Russia and its discontents.   http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/books/review/nothing-is-true-and-everything-is-possible-by-peter-pomerantsev.html?_r=0

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NEWSLINK Newseum Event: Journalism/Works: Putin: Power, Persuasion and Propaganda

Events, Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Newseum and Environs Aerial View

Anti-American sentiment and a nationalist fervor in Russia are rated higher today than at Cold War peaks – and at the heart of those twin developments is a master of propaganda, media control and mass audience appeal: Russian president Vladimir Putin. This year is the 30th anniversary of the launch of perestroika and glasnost under Mikhail Gorbachev – and the […]

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NEWSLINK Washington Post: Book Review: ‘Nothing is True and Everything is Possible,’ by Peter Pomerantsev

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and River

In Russia — a country that constitutes one-seventh of the world’s landmass, spans eight time zones and has a population of 143 million — television unites the nation. It is “the only force that can unify and rule and bind this country,” writes Russian-born British journalist Peter Pomerantsev. “It’s the central mechanism of a new type of authoritarianism, one far […]

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NEWSLINK BBC: Russia’s global media operation under the spotlight.

Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Mercator Projection Satellite Image of Earth

The Kremlin’s international media operation appears to be going from strength to strength with two recent high-profile launches and more in the pipeline. But it is also coming under increased scrutiny over its lack of editorial balance and accusations that it is deliberately using disinformation to counter and divide the West. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30040363

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NEWSLINK Institute for War & Peace Reporting: How Russia Fights its Information War

Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Military, Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

The Kremlin is committing huge resources to extending its influence through spin rather than soldiers. As the Ukraine crisis continues, IWPR editor Daniella Peled talks to writer and regional expert Peter Pomeranzev about how Russia is using the media as an extension of its military power. Russia is devoting great resources to the information war – how effective is this […]

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Is There a Feud Over a New Tsar in the Kremlin?

Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Chechnya, Dagestan, North Caucasus, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Spies, Spy Allegations
File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Donald N. Jensen – April 1, 2015 – article also appeared at imrussia.org/en/analysis/politics/2217-is-there-a-feud-over-a-new-tsar-in-the-kremlin) Vladimir Putin’s ten-day absence from the public eye has become the most discussed event in Russia this past month, and also highlights the country’s crisis of governance. According to Donald Jensen, resident fellow of the Center for Transatlantic Relations, keeping the increasingly […]

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Putin approves three-month extension of Ukraine’s gas discount

Oil, Gas, Energy, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Gas Flame file photo

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – bne IntelliNews – April 1, 2015) Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a request by Gazprom to supply discounted natural gas to Ukraine for three more months on March 31, saying the arrangement would be reviewed later as oil prices changed. Ukraine in the first quarter of 2015 paid $329 per thousand cubic metres […]

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Russians Identify with Putin to Cope with Unpredictability He Causes, Moscow Psychologist Says

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Vladimir Putin Sitting at Desk

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, April 1, 2015) The overwhelming support Russians currently give to Vladimir Putin has less to do with approval of his policies than with their need to find a way to cope with the unpredictability and sense of powerlessness his regime and the world around them have produced, according to Marina Arutyunyan, a Moscow […]

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Kudrin to Putin: Use Your Popularity to Save Russia’s Economy

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Alexei Kudrin file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Apri 1, 2015) President Vladimir Putin should use the sky-high rating he has earned on the back of the Ukraine crisis to reform the economy, former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin was quoted as saying Tuesday. “Global leaders’ high ratings are a basis for trust and to conduct reforms,” Kudrin said, news agency RBC reported. “If this […]

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Interfax: Spokesman sings praises to Putin at forum reviewing 15 years of his rule

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Dmitry Peskov file photo adapted from image at kremlin.ru/wikimedia commons

(Interfax – Moscow, March 31, 2015) The Russian president’s press secretary, Dmitriy Peskov, believes that the more the Russian leader defends the country’s interests in the world, the more he comes under attack from the West. “Let me remind you words by Putin himself, who said that in the case of any leader of our country, the more dogged he […]

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Fear Makes People Support Putin, But They Will Demand More – Experts

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 1, 2015) President Vladimir Putin’s sky-high approval ratings are often puzzling to Western politicians and pundits. Some refuse to believe that the president’s policies, which have turned Russia into a pariah on the international stage, could really be so popular at home. Russia’s leading sociologists, economists and political scientists attempted to explain […]

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NEWSWATCH AP: Former Putin allies question his political course

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, JRL NewsBlog, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

[“Former Putin allies question his political course” – AP – NATALIYA VASILYEVA – March 31, 2015] As Russian President Vladimir Putin marks 15 years in power, former advisors such as Alexei Kudrin are raising concerns over the impact of his current policies, such as the economic fallout of Putin’s aggressive foreign policy. … in a rare show of dissent several long-time […]

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Nemtsov Allies Plan to Publish ‘Putin.War’ Report on Russian Soldiers in Ukraine

Military, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Boris Nemtsov file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – March 31, 2015) A report being prepared by supporters of slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov claims that Moscow has started discharging its soldiers from the army before sending them to Ukraine and then denying compensation to the families of men who were killed in order to cover up Russia’s involvement in the […]

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Worker Strikes Will Only Boost Kremlin’s Popularity, Say Analysts

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber – March 31, 2015) Withheld salaries, unforeseen firings and pay cuts have amplified discontent in an array of Russia’s economic sectors, leading to a handful of strikes political analysts said Monday were more likely to bolster workers’ support for the Kremlin than weaken it. A scattering of Russian teachers, builders and factory workers […]

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NEWSLINK Reuters: Americans see Putin as only slightly more imminent threat than Obama, poll says.

United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Putin and Obama with U.S. and Russian Flags

People in the United States feel under threat, both from beyond our borders and within them. In fact, when asked about both U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, it was a pretty darn close call — 20 percent saw Putin as an imminent threat compared to 18 percent who said the same about Obama.     http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/03/30/americans-see-putin-as-only-slightly-more-imminent-threat-than-obama/

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The Russian politics of multiculturalism

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia, Religion
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(opendemocracy.net – Anna Alekseveva – March 30, 2015) The relationship between religion and ethnicity on the one hand, and civic assimilation on the other, is far less harmonious than Putin’s magniloquence asserts. Much has been made in the last several years of Vladimir Putin’s close alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). With charges of corruption, laundering, and a now […]

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NEWSWATCH BBC: Vladimir Putin’s formative German years

Germany, History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Spies, Spy Allegations
Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

[“Vladimir Putin’s formative German years” – BBC News – Chris Bowlby – Dresden, March 27, 2015] The BBC covers some of Vladimir Putin’s experiences earlier in life, including his first foreign posting as a KGB officer, in East Germany during the collapse of Soviet Communism in eastern Europe. They also explore speculation about the lasting impact of those experiences upon Putin’s perspective towards […]

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NEWSWATCH BBC: Brand Putin: Russia’s president still in fashion 15 years on

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Russia & the West, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

[“Brand Putin: Russia’s president still in fashion 15 years on” – BBC News – Sarah Rainsford – Moscow, March 27, 2015] The BBC examines Russia President Vladimir Putin’s personal notoriety and power as political symbol. Fifteen years ago, Vladimir Putin was elected promising to make Russia strong again: a country its citizens could be proud of and that the world would respect. * […]

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NEWSWATCH Moscow Times: Predicting the Future With Russia’s Economic Nostradamus

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, JRL NewsBlog, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

[“Predicting the Future With Russia’s Economic Nostradamus. (Mikhail Dmitriyev)” – The Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – March 18, 2015] The Moscow Times talks with former Putin Deputy Economy Minister Mikhail Dmitriyev about unfolding changes in the Russian economy, as well as the interaction between foreign and military policy, economic pressures, political trends and public attitudes towards the Russian government and the […]

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Sanctions and Regime Survival

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Europe, EU, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sanctions, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Tower and Building Inside Kremlin

(PONARS Eurasia – ponarseurasia.org – Mark Kramer, Director, Cold War Studies Program, and Senior Fellow, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University – March 11, 2015 – article also appeared at ponarseurasia.org/article/sanctions-and-regime-survival) Some debates never die; they just get replayed. After the Soviet Army invaded Afghanistan in late December 1979, the United States imposed economic sanctions against the USSR. The Russian Federation since […]

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Putin Urges FSB: Harder, Faster, Stronger

NATO, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Russia & the West, Spies, Spy Allegations
FSB Building file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – March 27, 2015) Western governments will attempt to discredit and destabilize Russia, but their efforts will be futile, President Vladimir Putin told Russia’s top security officials Thursday. “We have always had and always will have a proper response to all internal and external threats to national security,” Putin told senior officers of the […]

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Putin marks 15 years in power with harangue against West

Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, NATO, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Spies, Spy Allegations
Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – MOSCOW BLOG: Ben Aris in Moscow – March 27, 2015) Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 26 marked 15 years since he was elected as Boris Yeltsin’s successor by summoning the heads of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and warning them sternly that there was a western conspiracy to undermine and contain Russia. Putin struck a dark […]

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New team on the way?

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Tower and Building Inside Kremlin

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – MOSCOW BLOG: Ben Aris in Moscow – March 26, 2015) A rumour was doing the rounds in Moscow on March 25: Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to hold a big press conference on March 26 and will sack the entire cabinet – presumably including Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev – and appoint a […]

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Vladimir Putin: A Reincarnation of Dracula?

Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(©2015 Ukrainian Magazine (Chicago) – ukrainianchi.com – Rev. Myron Panchuk, M.A. – March 24, 2015 – article also appeared at ukrainianchi.com/vladimir-putin-reincarnation-dracula/ – reprinted with permission) In August of 1991 a miracle occurred: Ukraine declared its independence. I remember the joy, the euphoria felt in our Ukrainian-American community in Chicago. People greeted each other in the streets as if it was Easter Day, and on […]

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BOOK REVIEW: “Mr Putin: Operative in the Kremlin” – an updated version

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Timothy Ash, Head of EM Research, ICBC-Standard Bank, London – March 23, 2015) “Mr Putin: Operative in the Kremlin”, new and expanded, by Fiona Hill and Clifford G. Gaddy, Brookings Institute Press, Washington, 2015. This book is sold as a biography, but if you want a standard chronological recap of the life of Vladimir Putin […]

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Paul Grenier: “A Conservative Russia? This Means War! (The Tragedy of American Ideology)”

Education, Academia, History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Religion, Russia & the West
Tower and Building Inside Kremlin

Subject: A Conservative Russia? This Means War! (The Tragedy of American Ideology) Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2015 From: Paul Grenier <psgrenier@gmail.com> A Conservative Russia? This Means War! (The Tragedy of American Ideology) By Paul R. Grenier Paul Grenier is an essayist and translator who writes regularly on political-philosophical issues. After advanced study in Russian affairs, international relations and geography at […]

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NEWSWATCH Georgetown Journal of International Affairs: Inequality: The Ukraine Invasion and Public Opinion

Europe, EU, NATO, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

[“The Ukraine Invasion and Public Opinion” – Georgetown Journal of International Affairs –  Harley Balzer – March 20, 2015]  Writing in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Professor Harley Balzer examines various aspects of Russian involvement in the Ukraine conflict, such as Ukrainian and Russian public opinion, foreign policy considerations and the relevance of Russian public opinion to Russian policymaking. […]

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NEWSLINK New York Times: Chechen’s Ties to Putin Are Questioned Amid Nemtsov Murder Case

Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Chechnya, Dagestan, North Caucasus, Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Caucasus Map of Chechnya and Caucasus Environs

Ramzan A. Kadyrov, the strongman leader of Chechnya, has been at the center of intrigue surrounding the murder of Boris Y. Nemtsov, a prominent critic of the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. So before a busy weekend that included a night out with the boys to watch cage fighting, Mr. Kadyrov wanted to clear something up. “I am utterly devoted […]

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