Johnson&#039;s Russia List

(Moscow Times editorial – themoscowtimes.com – July 22, 2014) Despite hopes that the tragedy of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 would be a game-changer in Ukraine’s simmering conflict, days later it is clear that this is highly unlikely. Nothing will be dramatically altered by the results of the investigation into the catastrophe. No matter who –

Stratfor: Can Putin Survive?

July 22, 2014 JRL Russia List Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine No comments

(Stratfor.com – George Friedman – July 21, 2014) There is a general view that Vladimir Putin governs the Russian Federation as a dictator, that he has defeated and intimidated his opponents and that he has marshaled a powerful threat to surrounding countries. This is a reasonable view, but perhaps it should be re-evaluated in the

King’s gambit: Can Russia remain a world leader on the chessboard?

July 22, 2014 JRL Russia List Politics, Government, Protests, Elections No comments

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Svetlana Korneva, special to RBTH – July 20, 2014) July 20 is International Chess Day. Chess is practically the only sport in which Russia has managed to preserve its leadership since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Although public interest in chess has waned in recent years, chess

Why Putin Can’t Afford to Dump the Ukrainian Separatists

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexey Eremenko – July 22, 2014) While Russia’s support of Ukrainian separatists has led to its worst standoff with the West in post-Soviet history, the Kremlin cannot afford to disown them because that would spell a major geopolitical defeat and alienate the jingoistic masses at home, Russian pundits said. The

RIA Novosti: U.S. Could Unveil Intelligence Data on Downed Boeing 777 in Ukraine

WASHINGTON, July 22 (RIA Novosti) – The United States could unveil intelligence assessment on the crash of a Malaysian passenger plane in eastern Ukraine, White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest said Monday. “I’m not in the position to offer a specific intelligence assessment. It’s certainly possible that we may be in the position to do that

Interfax: Moscow expects Boeing flight recorders to be given to ICAO experts – Russian Foreign Ministry

July 22, 2014 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Ukraine No comments

MOSCOW. July 22 (Interfax) – Moscow is satisfied with the southeastern Ukraine militia giving flight recorders of the crashed plane to Malaysian representatives and expects they will be transferred in the future to the international expert group under the aegis of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Russian Foreign Ministry posted a statement on

Interfax: Patrushev says Russian decision-makers must heed opposition

July 22, 2014 JRL Russia List Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine No comments

MOSCOW. July 22 (Interfax) – The Russian Security Council Secretary, Nikolai Patrushev, has spoken of the need to draw conclusions from what is going on in Ukraine and heed the opinion of the Russian opposition. “The events occurring in Ukraine – their role for us is this: we must draw the right conclusions from them,”

Ukrainian Cows Kidnapped, Trafficked to Russia, Police Say

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 18, 2014) Against the backdrop of blistering diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Kiev, a 172-head herd of cows has been illegally trafficked across the Russian border, the Luhansk region branch of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry claimed Thursday. The herd went missing Wednesday night from a farm in Luhansk region’s Belovodsky

RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2014-#158 contents with links :: Monday 21 July 2014

July 22, 2014 JRL Russia List JRL Tables of Contents, News, Ukraine No comments

1. Financial Times: Thomas Graham, To stop Putin the west should repair Ukraine’s economy. Those who want Russia punished with tougher sanctions are misguided.
2. Carnegie Moscow Center: Dmitri Trenin, Midsummer Blues.
3. Euromaidan Press/Ukrainska Pravda: The Klimkin interview: terrorism, war, EU, Merkel and Putin. (new Ukraine foreign minister)
4. Reuters: Fighting flares in Ukraine as crash investigators arrive …

Interfax: Russia did not provide Buk missile systems to Donbas militia – Gen. Staff

MOSCOW. July 21 (Interfax) – Russia did not provide the militia in southeastern Ukraine with Buk missile systems, the Russian Defense Ministry said. “The Russian Federation did not hand Buk missile systems, or other kinds of weapons or military hardware, to the militia,” said Gen. Andrei Kartopolov, chief of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operations

Interfax: Water supplies to Donetsk stopped, city has water to last five days at most

File Photo of Water Facet with Drop of Water Coming Out

KYIV. July 21 (Interfax) – Donbas Water Company has stopped three pumping stations bringing water to the Seversky Donets – Donbas channel due to damage inflicted during battles, the press office of DTEK energy holding company of Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov said. “Due to the three pumping stations which have stopped pumping water to the

Russian Billionaires in ‘Horror’ as Putin Risks Isolation

July 21, 2014 JRL Russia List Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Europe, EU, Terrorism, Ukraine, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations No comments

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Henry Meyer, Irina Reznik, Ilya Arkhipov – July 21, 2014) Russia’s richest businessmen are increasingly frantic that President Vladimir Putin’s policies in Ukraine will lead to crippling sanctions and are too scared of reprisal to say so publicly, billionaires and analysts said. If Putin doesn’t move to end the war in

United States Assessment of the Downing of Flight MH17 and its Aftermath

File Photo of U.S. Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, with U.S. Flag on Pole and U.S. Military

Embassy of the United States, Kyiv Ukraine July 19, 2014 We assess that Flight MH17 was likely downed by a SA-11 surface-to-air missile from separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine. We base this judgment on several factors. Over the past month, we have detected an increasing amount of heavy weaponry to separatist fighters crossing the border

New Post on Russian Guilt; “Here Are The Intercepted Transcripts Indicating Russian Rebels Shot Down Malaysian Flight MH17″

July 21, 2014 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine No comments

[featured image is file photo] Subject: FW: new post on Russian guilt Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 From: Anders Aslund <AAslund@PIIE.COM> David: Another version of the same evidence. Best, Anders From: paul roderick gregory [pgregory@stanford.edu] Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2014 3:27 PM To: Anders Aslund; Gregory Paul Subject: new post on Russian guilt http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/07/19/what-more-smoking-guns-are-needed-for-mh17-the-worlds-first-sam-terrorism/ Forbes.com

The truth about MH17

[featured image is file photo] Subject: The truth about MH17 Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 From: Anders Aslund <AAslund@PIIE.COM> David: I hope you will lead with this excellent SBU video with English text next time. You can hardly get a better view of the reality of the MH17. http://www.sbu.gov.ua/sbu/control/en/publish/article?art_id=129088&cat_id=35317 Best, Anders [note from JRL web

The Nightmare of Being a Russian-Language Ukrainian Playwright

July 21, 2014 JRL Russia List Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Theater, Music, Ukraine No comments

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – July 21, 2014) “I don’t know what to do about it, John. It is a nightmare and it is hell. And something in me has been broken irreparably.” Thus responded Maksym Kurochkin, a Ukrainian Russian-language playwright, to my question about what he is experiencing these days. As

RIA Novosti: Kiev Says Needs Almost $780 Million to Continue Special Operation

MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine’s Finance Ministry has asked the parliament to earmark 9.1 billion hryvnia ($780 million) to finance the special operation against independence supporters in the country’s east, the ministry’s press service said. Finance Minister Oleksandr Shlapak said some 6.8 billion hryvnia ($583 million) was allocated for the operation in March.

Moscow Times: Malaysia Airlines Tragedy Not a Game Changer in Ukraine

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – July 21, 2014) Despite lofty predictions to the contrary, the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17 will not change the game in Ukraine, analysts told The Moscow Times on Sunday. “Rather than pushing for reconciliation and negotiation, the West has used this tr agedy to consolidate against Russia,

Putin Calls for International Access to Airliner Crash Site

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – July 21, 2014) President Vladimir Putin called for international access to the crash site of a Malaysian airliner in rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine, while the leaders of the U.S. and EU nations accused him of failing to back up his words with action and warned of additional sanctions

RIA Novosti: OSCE Monitors Inspect Train with Bodies of MH17 Air Crash Victims

July 20, 2014 JRL Russia List Ukraine No comments

TOREZ (Ukraine), July 20 (RIA Novosti) – Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have arrived at the railway station near the crash site of the downed Malaysia Airlines jet to inspect the train that is due to transport the victims’ bodies to Donetsk, a RIA Novosti correspondent reports on the

Ukraine crisis rending the globe

July 20, 2014 JRL Russia List Ukraine No comments

(Business New Europe MOSCOW BLOG – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – July 17, 2014) The crisis in Ukraine is tearing at global relations on several levels. The tension in the West was highlighted yet again by the lopsided sanctions imposed on Russia on July 16. While Washington targeted Russian banks and oil companies,

RIA Novosti: All Passengers’ Belongings Safe in Place of Malaysia Airlines Plane Crash – OSCE

July 20, 2014 JRL Russia List Ukraine No comments

MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) – The belongings of the passengers killed in a Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 crash in eastern Ukraine have been safely preserved, a representative of the special mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Ukraine, Michael Bochurkiv, said Saturday, adding that no distortion by the militia in

RIA Novosti: US Conclusions on Boeing Crash in Ukraine Resemble Statements on Iraq’s Weapons – Rogozin

July 20, 2014 JRL Russia List Ukraine, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations No comments

MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin compared Washington’s hasty conclusions on the cause of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 crash in Ukraine to its statement on Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction made years ago. “The White House has established the guilty even before the investigation of the Boeing

How will new round of sanctions affect Russia?

July 19, 2014 JRL Russia List Ukraine, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations No comments

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexei Lossan, RBTH – July 18, 2014) The U.S. Department of the Treasury has included large Russian companies in its list of sanctions, including the main institute of development VEB (Vnesheconombank), the major oil company Rosneft, and several defense-industrial enterprises. Experts consider these to be the most serious

RIA Novosti: EC Unsure Why US Believes Missile Shot Down Malaysian Plane in Ukraine – Source

BRUSSELS, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – The European Commission does not know on what basis the United States concluded that a Malaysian Airlines passenger plane, which crashed in eastern Ukraine, was shot down by a missile, a source in the EC told RIA Novosti on Friday. “One must ask them. The European Commission does not

RIA Novosti: Medvedev Says U.S. Sanctions against Moscow Won’t Bust Russian Economy

LIPETSK, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – US sanctions imposed on Russia are restraints but will not cripple the country’s economy, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Friday. “This is a program of limiting our country, or as is accepted to say, restraining [Russia],” Medvedev told students at a metallurgical plant in Lipetsk. “Sanctions won’t cripple

RIA Novosti: Donetsk Leader Calls for Ceasefire with Kiev to Investigate Malaysia Airlines Crash

MOSCOW, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – The authorities from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine are discussing a ceasefire with Kiev in order to investigate the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane disaster, the republic’s prime minister told RIA Novosti by telephone Friday. DPR Prime Minister Alexander Borodai said that a meeting would be held

Interfax: Putin blames Ukraine for Boeing crash

MOSCOW. July 18 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin believes Ukraine is responsible for the Malaysia Airline plane crash on Thursday. “Definitely, the state in whose airspace this has happened bears responsibility for this terrible tragedy,” the Russian chief of state said late on Thursday night at a conference on economic issues. He proposed to

Interfax: Russia confirms operation of Ukrainian long-range defense systems on day of MH17 crash

July 19, 2014 JRL Russia List Military, Ukraine No comments

(Interfax – July 18, 2014) The route and crash site of yesterday’s downed Malaysian Boeing 777 jet falls within the zone targeted by two Ukrainian squadrons operating a S-200 long-range air defense system and three squadrons operating a Buk-M1 medium-range air defense system, a spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry told Interfax-AVN on Friday. Throughout

Interfax: No sign of U.S. wanting to signal to Kyiv in favor of negotiated solution of Ukrainian crisis – Lavrov