RUSSIALINK: “Russia-U.S. relations far cry from Trump’s ‘getting along with Russia’ – Peskov” – Interfax

Dmitry Peskov file photo adapted from image at kremlin.ru/wikimedia commons

MOSCOW. Oct 8 (Interfax) – U.S. President Donald Trump has not explained the meaning of his wish to get along with Russia, and the reality does not align with his statements, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press on Tuesday. Journalists asked Peskov to comment on criticism of Trump’s friendly attitude to Russia, which had been voiced in the United […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin’s Success Masks Russian Weakness” – Wall Street Journal/Walter Russell Mead

Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

“Despite … Putin’s successes, Russia remains weak, and its leverage over other nations is limited. China can woo its neighbors with multibillion-dollar projects like its ‘One Belt, One Road’ trade initiative. Russia has much less to offer: If China is a tiger, Russia is a pussycat on stilts. … Putin can obstruct Germany’s faltering European project, but he lacks the […]

» Read more

NEWSWATCH: “Russian Kudrin sets goals following his appointment as head of the Audit Chamber” – Intellinews/Vadim Dumes

Alexei Kudrin file photo

“… Kudrin set out … four main goals following his appointment as … new head of Russia’s Audit Chamber, a state agency …. Russian watchers have been disappointed by Kudrin’s appointment to the … relatively toothless body …. there is a chance that the intention is to beef up the Chamber’s role …. [but the appointment o]n balance … is […]

» Read more

NEWSLINK: “U.S. Special-Operations Forces Have Quietly Moved Onto the Russian Border; The percentage of special operators deployed to Europe quadrupled last year” – The Nation/ Nick Turse

Globe Highlighting NATO Members

“… Since 9/11, U.S. Special Operations forces (SOF) have grown in every conceivable way from funding to manpower, the pace of operations to geographic sweep. On any given day, about 8,000 special operators – from a command numbering roughly 70,000 in total – are deployed in around 80 countries. Over the course of a year, they operate in about 70 […]

» Read more

RUSSIALINK TRANSCRIPT: “[Vladimir Putin and Fyodor Lukyanov at] Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club” – KremlinRu

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Valdai Club 2013 Meeting, Adapted from Screenshot of Valdai Club Video at youtube.com

(Kremlin.ru – Sochi, October 19, 2017) [Video with English translation: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/55882] Vladimir Putin took part in the final plenary session of the 14th annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club titled The World of the Future: Moving Through Conflict to Cooperation. The general topic of the Valdai Club this year is Creative Destruction: Will a New World Order Emerge […]

» Read more

Interfax: Russian Foreign Ministry: UNSC’s inability to condemn attack of terrorists on Russian embassy to Syria encourages them to new attacks

UN Building file photo

MOSCOW. Aug 4 (Interfax) – The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) of blocking Russia’s suggestion to condemn shelling of the Russian embassy in Damascus, saying that it encourages terrorists to new attacks. “The most outrageous thing is that the Security Council’s inability to condemn terrorists’ actions encourages them to new provocations and […]

» Read more

NEWSLINK: “PUTIN AND TRUMP ESTABLISH BILATERAL CHANNEL TO MOVE FORWARD” – Richard Sakwa/ Valdai

Vladirmir Putin and Donald Trump Sitting in Chairs with Flags Behind, adapted from image at whitehouse.gov

“The first face-to-face meeting of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump finally took place on 7 July 2017 at the G20 summit in Hamburg. Not since the days of superpower summits during the Cold War has a meeting been more eagerly anticipated, or so assiduously impeded by its opponents. In the context where normal practices of diplomacy have so far degenerated, […]

» Read more

RUSSIALINK RT/Russia Today: “Russia sets out its policy on terrorism, nuclear war & global ties in new Foreign Policy Concept”

Kremlin and River

“… Putin has signed a decree approving Russia’s new Foreign Policy Concept. The document specifies Moscow’s position on key global issues, highlighting its relations with the US, EU, China and other countries. … the concept is now in force, replacing the previous one from 2013. Moscow’s ‘views on core principles, priority directions, aims and tasks of the Russian foreign policy’ are […]

» Read more

RUSSIALINK RBTH: “Can Russia repopulate its Far East with the offer of free land?”

File Photo of People Working on Car in Siberian Woodlands

The government plans to tempt Russians with a complimentary hectare in one of the country’s most remote regions – but the initiative faces a number of problems that need to be solved if it is to become a success. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – OLGA VLASOVA, RBTH – November 4, 2016) Have you ever dreamed of acquiring land […]

» Read more

Despite Recession, Russians’ Support for Space Program High as Ever

International Space Station file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – April 12, 2015) Popular support for Russia’s space program is as strong as ever, even as an economic crisis pushes greater numbers of Russians into poverty, according to a poll published Friday. The survey by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) found that 47 percent of respondents wanted the nation’s space […]

» Read more

RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2014-#265 table of contents with links :: Monday 29 December 2014

St. Basil's file photo

[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#265 :: Monday 29 December 2014 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George  Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist  JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php  1. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russians still ‘happy’ despite economic difficulties, say sociologists. […]

» Read more

China Favored to Win U.S.-Russia Showdown

China Map

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – November 12, 2014) In what appears to have been an expertly crafted demonstration of Eastern diplomacy, Chinese President Xi Jinping walked into the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Monday flanked by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama. Obama and Putin maintained equally icy demeanors, while Xi – the host of this […]

» Read more

Ukraine Says Up to 200 Rebels Killed in Donetsk Fighting

Ukraine Map and Flag

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Kateryna Choursina, Daryna Krasnolutska – November 7, 2014) Ukraine’s military said its forces killed as many as 200 rebels in fighting in Donetsk as dozens of tanks and other military vehicles crossed the border into Ukraine from Russia. “Insurgents who were shelling Ukrainian troop positions at Donetsk Airport yesterday were killed by government troop artillery strikes,” […]

» Read more

Re: 2014-#220-Johnson’s Russia List (Adomanis on Applebaum)

Map of Russia

Subject: Re: 2014-#220-Johnson’s Russia List (Adomanis on Applebaum) Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 From: Martin Dewhirst <martin.dewhirst@googlemail.com> Anne Applebaum (whom I read but do not know personally) does not need a low-profile person like myself to spring to her defense, but I would guess that she is too busy, and would consider it beneath her dignity, to respond to ill-informed comments on her […]

» Read more

RIA Novosti: Geopolitics Poses Risks to Russian Financial Stability – Bank of Russia

Elvira Nabiullina file photo

MOSCOW, April 2 (RIA Novosti) – A review of ratings of Russian borrowers and the threat of their exclusion from international capital markets may affect Russia’s financial stability, the head of the Central Bank of Russia said Wednesday. “The geopolitical risks are large, especially if our banks and companies run into limitations on refinancing in Western markets, and a review […]

» Read more

RIA Novosti: European Union Says Not Ready to Embrace Ukraine

Ukraine Map and Flag

BRUSSELS, March 27 (RIA Novosti) – The European Union is not ready to offer its membership to Ukraine, although such a posibility may arise in the future, President of the European Commission Jose Barroso said Thursday. Barroso said the membership had not been offered because the EU member-states were not ready “to integrate at this stage a country like Ukraine.” […]

» Read more

Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#20 :: Thursday, 30 January 2014

St. Basil's file photo

Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#20 :: 30 January 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php POLITICS 1. Interfax: Poll shows 65% of Russians approve Putin’s performance – […]

» Read more

Echoing Soviet Era, Putin Uses Oil Giant Rosneft to Tighten Economic Grip

File Photo Rosneft and Russian Flags Next to Rosneft Banner

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Irina Reznik, Stephen Bierman and Henry Meyer – January 30, 2014) The record stretched across the history of the party and its socialist predecessor — from the first meeting in March 1898 to the last one in July 1990, a year and a half before the Soviet Union collapsed, Bloomberg Markets will report in its March […]

» Read more

Interfax: Pussy Riot’s Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina plan to support women held in Nizhny Novgorod prison

File Photo of Pussy Riot Members in Courtroom Enclosure, With Man Showing Papers to One While Female Guard Looks On

(Interfax – January 14, 2014) Two performers of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who were released from prison at the end of 2013 under an amnesty, are going to the city of Nizhny Novgorod, where they plan to meet inmates of Correctional Institution for Women No.2. “Tomorrow [on January 14], Masha and I are […]

» Read more

Interfax: Superiority complex lets down EU in its relations with Ukraine – Pushkov

Alexei Pushkov file photo

MOSCOW. Dec 23 (Interfax) – The European Union did not have enough strength and willingness to help Ukraine recover from an economic crisis and to convince Kyiv to sign the association agreement, State Duma International Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov said. “Why did the EU set such unattractive conditions for signing the association agreement for Ukraine and make political demands […]

» Read more

Interfax: Russia has no wish to restore USSR though integration has benefits for former Soviet republics – Matviyenko

Valentina Matviyenko file photo

MOSCOW. Dec 20 (Interfax) – The statements of people accusing Russia of imperial ambitions or aspiration to restore the Soviet Union are groundless, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said. “No one wants to restore anything and it is impossible already, so such statements are absolutely baseless,” Matviyenko said at an integration club meeting in the Russian Geographical Society. It […]

» Read more

Interfax: EU countries’ reaction to Ukraine’s refusal to sign association agreement with EU is “hysteria” – Lavrov

EU Map

KYIV. Dec 5 (Interfax) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called the Western countries’ reaction to Ukraine’s refusal to sign an association agreement with the EU “hysteria.” “This situation is connected to some Europeans’ hysteria, which was caused by the fact that Ukraine exercised its sovereign right in deciding not to sign an agreement that Ukrainian experts and the […]

» Read more

RIA Novosti: Human Rights Groups Critical of Kremlin Win State Funding

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

MOSCOW, December 5 (RIA Novosti) ­ State grants worth 200 million rubles ($6 million) allotted by Russian President Vladimir Putin for human rights initiatives have been distributed among 124 projects, including some organizations critical of the Kremlin. In early September, Putin ordered the Civil Dignity movement to hold a grant competition for socially important initiatives amid Russia’s efforts to decrease […]

» Read more

Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#120 :: 2 July 2013

Map of Russia

Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#120 :: 2 July 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org JRL homepage: www.russialist.org JRL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: http://russialist.org/funding.php POLITICS 1. Moscow Times: Luc Jones, Russian Reply Is Often Short, Simple […]

» Read more

Kremlin rejects bill on amnesty for economic crimes; Why the Kremlin is not rushing to pardon 100,000 businessmen.

Russian Jail File Photo Showing Outer Wall, Windows, Barbed Wire

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Viktor Kuzmin, RBTH – June 3, 2013) Vladimir Putin has rejected a “draft” of the parliamentary bill on amnesty for economic offenses. Authorities fear that genuine crooks and thieves might get out of jail under the pretext of improving the investment climate. When he reassumed the role of president one year ago, one […]

» Read more

Foreign agents and pollsters: Research held hostage?

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan & Kristen Blyth – May 27, 2013) Life as a pollster is hard enough. For the Levada Center, considered Russia’s only independent polling organization, life just got harder. “Imagine if someone comes to you and says, ‘I’m a foreign agent, please answer some questions,’” Levada Center Director Lev Gudkov told The Moscow News. […]

» Read more