(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexey Eremenko – August 13, 2014) Concerns voiced by Kiev and the West that Moscow’s humanitarian convoy to Ukraine’s battle-scarred east is nothing more than a Trojan Horse are – most likely – unfounded, Russian military analysts said. Pundits told The Moscow Times on Tuesday that the limited scope of a “peacekeeping” operation would be […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#176 :: Wednesday 13 August 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. Reuters: Ukraine crisis death toll doubles in two weeks to […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 13, 2014) Fewer Russians are concerned about inflation than they were a month ago, a new poll published Tuesday showed, even as analysts warned recession was inevitable and that a ban on many foreign food items would push up prices for consumers. The state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center found that between June and […]
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MOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Wednesday that a possible food shortage and a resulting imbalance in food prices that could occur in the country’s westernmost exclave could easily be compensated by Belarus. “There is a case in particular [of price imbalance] and that’s the Kaliningrad region, which is extremely close to Belarus, […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Concorde Capital – August 13, 2014) The Russian government has agreed upon the route of the humanitarian convoy and hopes that the Ukrainian government will ensure its safety on its controlled territory, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in an Aug. 12 statement. The two governments agreed that the humanitarian aid will be delivered to […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Ilya Slastenov, Nikolai Litovkin, RBTH – August 13, 2014) Moscow’s decision to send an aid convoy to eastern Ukraine has been received with mistrust by the U.S. and a number of European countries. RBTH interviewed a number of Russian experts on how the political scenario in relations between Russia and the West will […]
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Subject: People from the Donbass seen from other Ukrainians Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 From: Antony Penaud <antonypenaud@yahoo.fr> Below is part of an email from a Ukrainian girl (she is a pretty 30yrs old girl from Zaporizhya and lives in London): “As for Donbass region – if you do some research you might understand a bit more about the population […]
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Subject: Ferapontov Monastery Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 From: William Brumfield <william.brumfield@gmail.com> My current article for Russia beyond the Headlines is devoted to the radiant frescoes created at in 1502 by the artist Dionisy and his two sons. The monastery and its frescoes are on the UNESCO World Heritage list: rbth.com/travel/2014/08/08/ferapontov_monastery_sublime _beauty_in_the_russian_north_38893.html For best results with the slide show (full […]
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… 7. Wall Street Journal: Russian Aid Convoy Leaves for Ukraine. Kiev Had Demanded Aid be Coordinated Through Red Cross.
8. Business New Europe: Russian and Red Cross convoy leaves Moscow for Ukraine, bearing humanitarian aid.
9. Reuters: Kerry says hopeful Russia and Ukraine can work together. …
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, August 12, 2014) Aleksey Levinson, a Levada Center sociologist, says that iron curtains like the one now being erected around Russia are a political strategy that reflects weakness rather than strength and that its appearance is not the end of the story but somewhere much earlier. In an interview published in this […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Vladimir Abarinov – August 11, 2014) When Nadezhda Tolokonnikova arrived at penal colony IK-14 in August 2012, a deputy warden proudly announced: “As far as my political convictions go, I am a Stalinist.” Tolokonnikova soon learned what that meant in practice. One year into her sentence for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred,” the Pussy Riot activist launched a hunger strike […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Anastasia Vityazeva, special to RBTH – August 12, 2014) New legislation requires Russians with passports of two or more countries to inform the migration service on their own initiative, with those who intentionally conceal dual citizenship being criminally liable. A government representative claims that Russians who are a citizen of more than one […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – August 12, 2014) The Kremlin’s historic building complex in the heart of Moscow is undergoing a series of changes to make it more accessible to tourists, and the presidential administration’s unused offices may be torn down to restore the world heritage site’s “historic look.” Most of the presidential administration has already been […]
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(RIA Novosti – August 11, 2014) Russia is not planning at present to stop western airlines from flying across Siberia, Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov has said. “Do not worry, there is no decision being taken on this just yet,” he replied when asked by journalists, RIA Novosti news agency reported on 11 August. The newspaper Vedomosti reported last week that […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 12, 2014) About one in every 10 Russians wants to emigrate from the country, a recent poll has shown, and while few seem to be actively pursuing their wish, the number is significant because it represents mostly young and educated professionals. Among those who said they wanted to leave Russia, 47 percent were motivated […]
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KYIV. Aug 12 (Interfax) – Ukrainian forces, pushing towards Donetsk, have seized control of a stretch of the motorway between Horlivka and Donetsk, the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council spokesman said. “Forces involved in the counterterrorism operation have captured a stretch of the motorway between Horlivka and Donetsk, cutting Horlivka from the main forces,” Andriy Lysenko said at a […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – August 12, 2014) Russia in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will send a humanitarian convoy to Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said in a telephone conversation with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday. An enormous Russian convoy of about 280 trucks carrying humanitarian aid has left Moscow for […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#174 :: Monday 11 August 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 Ukraine 1. Moscow Times: Fyodor Lukyanov, Putin Has Stumbled in Ukraine. […]
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MOSCOW. Aug 11 (Interfax) – Russian year-on-year GDP growth slowed to 0.8% in Q2 2014, from 0.9% in Q1, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said in a preliminary estimate. The Economic Development Ministry estimated the economy would grow 1.1% in Q2. Rosstat will unveil more details in the middle of September. The Econ Ministry thought GDP would grow 0.1% […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW, August 7, 2014) Moscow’s upmarket food shoppers are reacting variously with patriotic approval and gloomy resignation at the prospect of going without some of their favorite foreign foods for a year. The Russian government on August 7 approved a lengthy shopping list of foods and produce that cannot be imported from countries that have imposed […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 9, 2014) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree Friday instructing public Wi-Fi network operators to require user identification – but only in certain spots. The decree was almost immediately greeted with outrage from many residents of Moscow, where Wi-Fi is widely available in parks, cafes, schools and on some forms of public transportation. […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Igor Rozin, RBTH – August 11, 2014) A government decree demanding that Russians show their passports when accessing public Wi-Fi has agitated Russian society. A few hours after the decree was issued, the Moscow Mayor and the Ministry of Communications’ press offices explained that the decision did not concern all networks Public Wi-Fi […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 9, 2014) [Missing photos here themoscowtimes.com/news/article/8-things-that-will-make-you-jealous-of-russians-and-their-dachas/504792.html] In summer, the dacha becomes the focal point of Russian existence. Children and grandparents live there while school is out, and those who still have to work head out for their own bit of greenery once Friday afternoon rolls around. It doesn’t have to be a luxury building […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, August 11, 2014) The notion that the West has a strategy for Ukraine is “a myth of Kremlin propaganda,” Vladimir Pastukhov says. “What is happening in Ukraine is the result not so much of the application of a mistaken strategy by the West as much as it is the sad consequence of […]
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SOCHI, August 11 (RIA Novosti) – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow has a wide range of possible responses to Western sanctions under the rules of the World Trade Organization that can be used by any member. “There is a whole range of measures and defined tools within the WTO which, of course, each WTO member state has the right […]
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(Interfax – August 11, 2014) As of Monday morning, the situation in Lugansk remains critical – the city is completely cut off from power, the Lugansk city council press office said in a statement. “About 250,000 Lugansk residents, who stayed in the city, have no power and water for nine days already, cellular and landline service do not operate,” the […]
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(RIA Novosti – Alexander Mercouris – August 9, 2014) There is always going to be a gap between people’s understanding of what is just/unjust and formal court rulings. Law will always strive to catch up with changing societal attitudes to “justice” and “injustice.” But law will always more or less miserably fall behind, unless some “progressive” minds decide to use […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Andrey Sobolevsky – August 6, 2014) The reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences is not popular with scientists. Especially in Siberia. The Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in May 1957. The new scientific centre in the east of the country was intended as a counterweight to Moscow and Leningrad (St Petersburg). Fundamental and […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – August 11, 2014) While the world’s attention is focused on the fighting in Iraq and Ukraine, a threatened resurgence of the long frozen conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh looks to have been averted. Following several small-scale clashes around the separatist republic in recent weeks, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed at a meeting hosted by […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – August 7, 2014) What a year. Drama. Histrionics. Villainy. Hubris. Intrigue. Tragedy. And I haven’t even begun considering the 2013-2014 theater season. You guessed it. It is time for the annual Moscow Times Theater Awards. For the 22nd year running, I take a look back at why I will remember the last […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexey Eremenko – August 11, 2014) Many extreme sports, from snowboarding to air racing, are known health hazards. But only one can lead to indiscriminate beating, allegations of terrorism, jail and even self-imposed exile – and all you need to do is take a stroll through supposedly public land. Dozens of Russian officials, from President […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Kateryna Choursina and Volodymyr Verbyany – August 11, 2014) Ukraine told residents of separatist strongholds in its easternmost regions to flee as government troops close in after dismissing a cease-fire offered by the militants. Inhabitants of Donetsk and Luhansk, cities that were home to 1.5 million people before the pro-Russian insurgency began, can leave via humanitarian […]
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(Interfax – August 10, 2014) A senior figure in the Donetsk people’s republic has set out terms for a cease-fire with Ukraine, which Kiev has rejected, Interfax news agency reported on 10 August. “The main condition for a cease-fire is the Ukrainian army doing exactly the same. A cease-fire has to be reciprocal,” the self-proclaimed republic’s prime minister, Aleksandr (Oleksandr) […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, August 10, 2014) Ever more people around the world want Vladimir Putin to leave the scene but very few have asked themselves what Russia will be like after his departure. One who has, Sergey Klimovsky, suggests that Russia will either be a fascist state even worse than the current regime or a […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Olga Tanas – August 8, 2014) From his perch as Vladimir Putin’s adviser for building ties with fellow former Soviet republics, Sergei Glazyev perceives the world shifting to a war footing. There’s a war waged against Russia with economic sanctions and military conflicts roiling Ukraine to Iraq, according to Glazyev, 53, an academician and a native […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#173 :: Sunday 10 August 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. Handelsblatt (Germany): Gabor Steingart, The West on the wrong path. […]
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Johnson’s Russia List
JRL 2014-#172 :: Friday 8 August 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
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, August 7, 2014) During the Cold War, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists rated the level of danger of a nuclear war in terms of the number of minutes the clock was running before midnight. Now, Russian historian Yury Feltshtinsky has told a Polish newspaper that Vladimir Putin has set the world’s […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – August 8, 2014) Ukraine has claimed that pro-Moscow separatists downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 after mistaking it for a Russian Aeroflot plane that they supposedly wanted to shoot down to provide Moscow with a pretext for invading Ukraine. The latest theory in an array of conflicting claims about the possible causes of […]
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MOSCOW, August 8 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has alternative routes to deliver oil to Europe if Ukraine decides to stop transit via its territory, but Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic will sustain losses, a spokesman for Russia’s oil transit monopoly Transneft said Friday. Russia delivers about 14 million tons of oil to European consumers via the Druzhba pipeline laid through […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – August 8, 2014) While the ban on many food imports imposed by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday has sparked fears of Soviet-era shortages among some sections of Russian society, political analysts told The Moscow Times that it will have little effect on the level of support for the government among the public. […]
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(Interfax – August 8, 2014) As of Friday morning, Lugansk is completely disconnected from power, the city does not have water, landline and cell service for six days already, the Lugansk city council press office said in a statement. “Yesterday gunfire continued on the territory of the regional center, in which 250,000 residents remain. During the armed clashes Lugansk sustained […]
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KIEV, August 8 (RIA Novosti) – The activists still occupying Kiev’s Independence Square are protesting the new Kiev authorities and the government’s military operation in eastern Ukraine, a Euromaidan representative said Friday. “Why are factories and plants being closed? Why is the war underway? Nothing has changed under the new government; there is still no work and corruption is flourishing,” […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, August 8, 2014) Putinism, Igor Eidman says, is “a combination of the practice and ideology of the authoritarian regime of Putin, which operates on a corrupt bureaucratic oligarchy and is in many respects close to a fascist dictatorship,” with its “aggressive annexationist foreign policy, state-monopoly capitalism, force structures, and chauvinism and traditionalism” […]
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WASHINGTON, August 7 (RIA Novosti), Lyudmila Chernova – Russia’s food embargo is a smart move on Moscow’s part that is set to show the United States and its allies that Russia is not going to give in to Western pressure, an American economist and co-director of a US-based research center told RIA Novosti Thursday. “It is smart of Moscow to […]
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MOSCOW. Aug 8 (Interfax) – Russia’s response to the anti-Russian measures taken by the West was forced and further unwinding of the “sanctions spiral” is absurd and dangerous, Russian State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said. “As to the measures taken by Russia on the countries that initiated or support anti-Russia sanctions, they are a response aimed at protecting our citizens […]
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… 33. NBCNews.com: Winging It: Putin Has No Master Plan for Ukraine Crisis, Officials Say.
34. Financial Times: Russia stirs fears of repeat Georgia war in Ukraine.
35. www.foreignpolicy.com: Emile Simpson, Give Putin a Way Out. With Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border, the talk of war is getting louder. But it doesn’t have to happen.
36. Foreign Policy Journal: Masha Mitaeva, Ukraine Crisis: Ceasefire Anyone? A Memo for Europe.
37. Reuters: Ian Bremmer, Putin’s Ukraine invasion threat is more than a bluff – but not his preference.
38. CNN.com: What is Putin’s endgame in Ukraine? …
MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax) – The countries from which Russia has just banned food imports supply over 10% Russia’s pork, fish and fruit, Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov told a briefing. Russia consumes 2.345 million tonnes of beef, but the embargoed suppliers, the EU, United States, Australia, Norway and Canada supply 59,000 tonnes of this. The figures for pork are 3.415 […]
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The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release August 06, 2014 Remarks by the President at Press Conference After U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit [excerpt re Russia] Q Thank you, Mr. President. Russia said today that it is going to ban food and agricultural product imports. That was about $1.3 billion last year. At the same time, Defense Secretary […]
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MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax) – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said that Russia is considering a potential ban on European and U.S. air carriers using trans-Siberian routes as a possible retaliatory step against Western sanctions targeting Russia’s low-cost airline Dobrolet. “The government of the Russian Federation is considering a number of retaliatory steps. But it does not mean that […]
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