Category: Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Consumer-Rights Advocate Calls Putin ‘Paranoid’ After ‘Foreign-Agent’ Slur

Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW, June 24, 2015) A Russian consumer-protection group lambasted by President Vladimir Putin as a “foreign agent” after giving cautionary advice to Russians traveling to annexed Crimea has accused Putin of “paranoia” and called him “badly informed.” Mikhail Anshakov, chairman of the Moscow-based Society for the Protection of Consumer Rights (OZPP), said his […]

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Moscow Edges Closer to First Referendum Since Soviet Collapse

History, Soviet Union, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Spies, Spy Allegations
FSB Building file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Daria Litvinova – June 23, 2015) Moscow looks set to get its first referendum in post-Soviet times – and one of the burning issues on the ballot will be the restoration of a monument to the founder of the secret police to central Moscow. On June 11, the Moscow election committee approved the Communist Party’s […]

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Russia Is Biggest Force Against Democracy In Eurasia, Report Finds

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Eurasia Map

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Patricia Hill and Ron Synovitz – June 23, 2015) Russia saw its biggest loss of democracy in a decade last year, while it and other authoritarian states took aggressive action to block efforts to form new democracies elsewhere in Europe and Eurasia, a new report by Freedom House finds. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s moves to annex […]

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DOD TRANSCRIPT: Media Availability with Secretary Carter En Route to Berlin, Germany

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Ashton Carter File Photo

(US Department of Defense – June 21, 2015) Presenter: Secretary of Defense Ash Carter SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASHTON CARTER: So the purpose of this trip, the focus of it, this particular trip to Europe, is NATO. And as to take it from the top again, we’ll be going now to Germany, and talking about — to the German defense minister […]

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Russian Economic Path Is in Eye of Beholder for Putin Allies

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Diverse Paper Currency, Coins, Line Graph

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Olga Tanas, Paul Abelsky – June 19, 2015) The Russian economy is sailing along — in the eye of the storm or toward calmer waters, depending on who’s looking. Gauging the health of the economy during the first two days of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum were President Vladimir Putin’s confidantes, past and present. Things […]

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Kremlin Weighs Early Presidential Vote as Economic Worries Mount

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Arm and Torso of Person in Brown Sweater Placing Paper Ballot into Ballot Box

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ott Ummelas, Henry Meyer – June 18, 2015) The Kremlin said experts will study the idea of calling early presidential elections, a move that could give Vladimir Putin a fresh term while his approval rating remains near a record high. “This is a new proposal,” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told reporters on a conference call just […]

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#120 :: Thursday 18 June 2015

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#120 Thursday 19 June 2015 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 homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php Support for JRL is provided in part by a […]

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Interfax: Over 40 per cent of Russians do not believe corruption could be defeated – poll

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Hand Pulling Cash from Envelope

  (Interfax – June 17, 2015) A public opinion poll conducted by the independent pollster Levada Centre has shown that two thirds of Russians believe that President Vladimir Putin is making progress in fighting corruption, but, at the same time, more than 40 per cent believe that it will be difficult to defeat it because corruption cannot be eradicated in […]

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Putin’s unrealizable dream vs. his all too-real nightmare

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – June 15, 2015) That Vladimir Putin lives in a different reality than do other world leaders is now more or less common ground. Now, two commentators have described respectively what the Kremlin leader dreams about and what his worst nightmare might turn out to be. In a commentary of Kyiv’s “Novoye vremya,” Yury […]

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EU’s Belarus dilemma

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
EU Map

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – MINSK BLOG: Sergei Kuznetsov in Minsk – June 16, 2015) Minsk’s recent efforts to shepherd peace talks between the EU, Russia and Ukraine have borne fruit – Brussels has shown that it is ready to renew its dialogue with Belarus, a country that has been a pariah in recent years. However, this process will […]

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Russians’ Social Bonds Increasing, Giving Them Resource for Protest, Schulmann Says

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, June 16, 2015) Social networks among Russians have grown and deepened over the last two years, according to a poll conducted by the Russian Academy of Economics and State Service, thus creating the basis for the rise of civil society and more protests by making Russians less dependent on the state. In […]

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‘Almost No One in Russia Wanted Real Democracy with Division of Powers,’ Gudkov Says

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Arm and Torso of Person in Brown Sweater Placing Paper Ballot into Ballot Box

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, June 14, 2015) Vladimir Putin and his regime are a logical reflection of the fact that “almost no one [in Russia] wanted a real democracy with division of power and a vital civil society,” according to Levada Center head Lev Gudkov. Consequently, it is possible to say that “Russians have received what […]

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Dasha Zhukova: Russian Public Now Less Skeptical About Contemporary Art

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

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Lili Rosboch – June 12, 2015) The founder of Moscow’s Garage Museum of Contemporary Art speaks on the occasion of its grand re-opening, and discusses politics, the ruble, and Russia’s approach to experimental work Founded in 2008 by art autodidact Dasha Zhukova, Moscow’s Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is the first philanthropic institution in Russia with […]

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What will happen if Ukraine defaults?

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
International Monetary Fund Logo Over Ukraine Flag

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Graham Stack in Berlin – June 12, 2015) With Ukraine edging closer to the world’s first unilateral sovereign default since Argentina’s in 2001, analysts are grappling with the question of how this might impact on the ex-Soviet republic as its strives for deeper integration with the EU and the West. Ukrainian default on $23bn […]

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Banned if they do, banned if they don’t; Unable to change things in their own country, Russians are quietly leaving for good – but they will still check out Crimea

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

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Julia Reed in Moscow – June 11, 2015) Each week in Russia some obscure Duma deputy no one has ever heard of before proposes a new law. Usually, the proposal gets instant and almost unanimous approval of the legislative body and within days becomes law, signed by the head of state. Usually it’s a […]

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Medvedev Promises No Blacklist for Foreign Journalists Working in Russia

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Dmitri Medvedev file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Houssam Alissa – June 12, 2015) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev condemned foreign countries who blacklist Russian journalists Thursday and said Russia has no intention of setting up its own blacklist, RIA Novosti reported, despite a series of recent incidents in which Western journalists have been prevented from working in Russia. Medvedev said the barring of […]

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Russia Day Holiday Important for only 3% of Russians

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

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – June 11, 2015) Only 3 percent of Russians consider the upcoming Russia Day national holiday, celebrated on June 12, among the important celebrations of the year, according to a recent poll by the analytical Levada Center. By far the most significant holiday for Russians is New Year’s, which more than 80 percent […]

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Moscow demands answers from USA on alleged plans to place missiles in Europe

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Anatoly Antonov and Others Facing U.S. Official with U.S. and Russian Flags on Table

(Interfax – June 9, 2015) Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoliy Antonov has demanded an explanation from the USA regarding alleged plans to deploy ballistic and cruise missiles in Europe, which he has said would mean a US “exit” from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, privately-owned Russian military news agency Interfax-AVN reported on 9 June. “The measures the American sources […]

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‘Russians are the Soviet Slaves of Today,’ Panfilov Says

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

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, June 10, 2015) The Soviet system transformed the population of the USSR into slaves of a particular type, and “the present-day Russian slave is a direct descendent of the Soviet ones,” according to Oleg Panfilov, the director of the Center for Extreme Journalism (2000-2010) and now a professor at Georgia’s Iliya State […]

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Interfax: Russians like Belarus and China, have aversion to U.S., EU and Ukraine – poll

Belarus, China, Europe, EU, Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Russia & the West, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Mercator Projection Satellite Image of Earth

(Interfax – June 8, 2015) Most Russians speak ill of the United States, the European Union and Ukraine and see Belarus, China and Kazakhstan as friends, the Levada Center has told Interfax. Seventy-three percent of 1,700 respondents polled in 134 populated localities on May 22-25 expressed negative feelings for the U.S., 15 percent said the opposite, and 12 percent were […]

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Interfax: Russia proves it can feed itself – Medvedev

Agriculture, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Dmitri Medvedev file photo

ROSTOV-ON-DON. June 5 (Interfax) – Over the ten months after it introduced the embargo on food from the European Union, Russia has proved that it can feed itself on its own, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. “The past ten months, from the moment the special economic measures were introduced, have shown or proved, if you will, the main thing: […]

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Kremlin Critic Emerges From Coma

Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Chechnya, Dagestan, North Caucasus, Human Rights, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(RFE/RL – June 2, 2015) Friends and allies of prominent Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, Jr., who mysteriously fell ill with poisoning symptoms in Moscow, say he has regained consciousness after a weeklong coma. “Vladimir has come out of a coma,” former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky said in a June 2 tweet. Kara-Murza, 33, is a coordinator for Open […]

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Interfax: Probable Nemtsov murder weapon found

Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Nemtsov March of Mourning

(Interfax – June 3, 2015) The police have found a handgun which probably killed opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, a source familiar with the situation has told Interfax. “The murder weapon has been found and enclosed in materials in the proceeding, examinations are in progress,” he said. The source added that the detectives had found several handguns, each of which was […]

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Interfax: Book on Kremlin history since 12th century brought out in Russia

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Aerial View of Kremlin and Environs

(Interfax – June 2, 2015) A book, titled ‘Moscow Kremlin. Monuments and Shrines’ was presented in Moscow on June 2. The author, spokesman for the Federal Security Guard Service Sergei Devyatov, said that he had worked on the book for about six years. The book has been released with a print run of 1,350 copies. It has more than 2,000 […]

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Transnistria: West Berlin of the post-Soviet world

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Verkhovna Rada File Photo

(opendemocracy.net – Sergei Markedonov, Associate Professor at the Russian State University for the Humanities – May 27, 2015) How to play hardball: Ukraine’s parliament has revoked the agreement between Russia and Ukraine on the movement of Russian troops through Ukrainian territory to Transnistria. Fresh intrigue is afoot in the Transnistrian ‘frozen’ conflict. On 21 May, Ukraine’s parliament the Verkhovna Rada […]

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Election Shifts Show Kremlin Wary Of Fallout From Recession

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sanctions
File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW, June 1, 2015) The Kremlin is moving to bring next year’s parliamentary elections forward and set up snap gubernatorial votes in several provinces this year, maneuvering that analysts say shows the authorities fear a deepening recession could weaken them and galvanize the opposition. The State Duma elections in December 2011 catalyzed the […]

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Leading Russian liberal economist does not rule out he may come back to power

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

(Interfax -June 1, 2015) Head of the Committee for Civil Initiatives, former Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin does not rule out he may come back to power structures if the country is going to carry out reforms, political among them. In his interview to the Russian privately-owned news agency Interfax on 1 June he said: “I’ve never ruled out a comeback […]

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Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin Sets Conditions for Return to Government

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

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber – June 2, 2015) Former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who left his position over personal disagreements with the Kremlin in 2011, said in an interview with the Interfax news agency Monday that if the authorities would undertake sweeping reforms, he would be willing to return to the government. “I have never ruled […]

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Moscow Times: Putin’s Approval Rating Remains at 86% Unfazed by Economic Crisis, Ukraine Conflict

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sanctions, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jennifer Monaghan – May 29, 2015) President Vladimir Putin continues to enjoy the approval of a staggering 86 percent of the Russian public, a poll revealed Thursday, indicating levels of support that many Western leaders could only dream of. Putin’s approval rating, announced by independent Moscow-based pollster the Levada Center, sat at the same level […]

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NEWSLINK International New York Times/Michael Khodarkovsky: Putin’s Disunited Nation

Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Vladimir Putin file photo with VOA logo; screen shot from video still

During those tense days in early March when Vladimir Putin disappeared from public view, the Russian president issued only one official statement: He instructed his prime minister to prepare a blueprint for a new federal agency that would work toward ‘consolidating the unity of the multiethnic nation of the Russian Federation.’The move passed relatively unnoticed, but it raises provocative questions. […]

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Russian Rights Activist Alexeyeva Returns to Kremlin Council

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – May 28, 2015) One of Russia’s best-known human rights advocates and the founder of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Lyudmila Alexeyeva, has rejoined the Kremlin’s human rights council, saying she intended to look into the persecution of nongovernmental organizations under the country’s “foreign agents” law. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Tuesday appointing […]

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Russia Could Use Prison Labor For 2018 World Cup

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Sports, Olympics, World Cup
Men Sitting Around Long Oval Boardroom Table, File Photo of FIFA Officials Meeting with Vladmir Putin

(RFE/RL – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW, May 25, 2015) A prominent member of parliament for the ruling United Russia party has drafted a bill to allow enterprises to employ thousands of convicts as a cheap workforce to build infrastructure for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The legal amendments reported on May 25 in leading business daily Kommersant create a mechanism […]

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Russia Is Using Mobile Crematoriums to Hide Ukraine’s Dead

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Josh Rogin – May 26, 2015) Josh Rogin is a Bloomberg View columnist who writes about national security and foreign affairs. He has previously worked for the Daily Beast, Newsweek, Foreign Policy magazine, the Washington Post, Congressional Quarterly and Asahi Shimbun. Russia is so desperate to hide its military involvement in Ukraine that it has brought […]

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Rights Groups Condemn ‘Dangerous’ Russian Undesirables Law

Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW, May 26, 2015) Rights groups named as potential targets of a new law allowing the government to brand international organizations “undesirable” and shutter their Russia operations have criticized the legislation, calling it a “dangerous” new weapon in a Kremlin campaign to suppress civil society. Activists expressed concern on May 26 that the […]

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Putin Faces New Kind of Parade of Sovereignties in Degraded Russian Regions

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Russia Regions Map

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, May 27, 2015) Russian governors, “even the most loyal” to the Kremlin, as a result of the intensification of the economic crisis, find themselves between a rock and a hard place and are beginning to complain about Moscow’s failure to articulate an anti-crisis strategy which takes the interests of their regions into […]

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NEWSLINK Washington Post: Legally silencing Russia’s undesirables

Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Newslinks, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Russian State Duma Building file photo

Russia has just taken another step toward pernicious use of the law to buttress the authoritarian whims of its leader. Both houses of parliament recently passed legislation that would allow the government to label as “undesirable” — in effect, to outlaw — any foreign or international organizations deemed a threat to the “defensive capabilities or security of the state, to […]

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Shoigu at 60: The Man Who Would Be Russia’s King?

Military, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Sergei Shoigu file photo, adapted from image at defense.gov by Steven C. Welsh, www.stevencwelsh.info :: www.stevencwelsh.com

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – May 22, 2015) Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, a close ally, friend and rumored potential successor of President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, turned 60 on Thursday. “A servant to the tsar, a father to soldiers,” political pundits say of Shoigu – one of the country’s longest-serving government officials – citing Mikhail […]

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NEWSLINK Wall Street Journal: Move to Shift Vote for Russian Duma Seen Benefitting Putin. Support grows for holding parliamentary elections three months earlier, in September 2016

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

Senior ruling-party politicians are throwing their weight behind a proposal to move Russia’s next parliamentary elections up three months to September 2016, a shift that could put opposition candidates at a further disadvantage by relegating the campaign to vacation season.

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Interfax: Over 80% of Russians against same-sex marriages

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

(Interfax – May 18, 2015) The percentage of Russians who are positive about the law banning the propaganda of homosexuality is increasing and is now 77 percent against 67 percent in 2013, Levada Center told Interfax. Fifteen percent of the respondents do not support this law and 7 percent said they are not interested, a poll surveying 800 people conducted […]

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NEWSLINK Christian Science Monitor: Spurred by Western criticism, Russians experience something new: patriotism

Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Russia & the West
Tower and Building Inside Kremlin

In the past, Russia was an empire, then a communist colossus, then a ‘defeated’ power expected to adopt Western ways. But current tensions with the West are fostering what may be the birth of a distinct Russian nationalism.

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NEWSLINK American Enterprise Institute: Putin’s Russia: How it rose, how it is maintained, and how it might end

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

Vladimir Putin’s Russia faces not only international sanctions due its aggression in Ukraine and low oil prices that threaten its economy, but also several underlying crises that are not frequently discussed outside of expert circles. On Thursday, nine leading Russian scholars who contributed chapters to the just-released volume “Putin’s Russia: How it rose, how it is maintained, and how it […]

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NEWSLINK American Enterprise Institute: Political values in ‘Putin’s Russia’: A Q&A with Mikhail Dmitriev

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

In 2013, the demand for political change began to shift from Moscow to other regions. At times, other regions even surpassed Moscow in their aspirations. Thus, a political system other than liberal democracy was the preferred option for 46% of Moscow’s residents, but for only 32% nationwide. The greatest demand for democracy was in St. Petersburg (69%) and other cities […]

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Putin Declares War on Russians’ Health

Budget, Health, Epidemics, Substance Abuse, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Medical Symbol with Pole, Serpents, Wings, adapted from image at lanl.gov

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Marc Champion – May 14, 2015) At what point will Russians begin to question the choices being made by their government? Maybe when those choices start killing them. As Bloomberg’s Ilya Arkhipov and Henry Meyer report, Russia’s health system has suffered a severe reversal as a lower oil price has reduced government revenue and spending. Forced to pick […]

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NEWSLINK Daily Bruin: Former ambassador speaks at Anderson as part of lecture series. (Michael McFaul)

Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Ambassador Mike McFaul file photo

A former U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation argued domestic Russian politics are the main cause of renewed tensions between the United States and the Russian Federation at a lecture at the Anderson School of Management Tuesday

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NEWSLINK Washington Post: Boris Nemtsov’s last act of courage

Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Human Rights, Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Nemtsov March of Mourning

IN THE final years of his life, Boris Nemtsov never gave up on politics in Russia, even when many others were discouraged or frightened away from standing up to President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Nemtsov, once in the front ranks of Russia’s post-Soviet reformers, in the last decade and a half became a persistent Putin critic. To some, he was a […]

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NEWSWATCH Reuters: Russian Court Quashes Latest Bid to Jail Kremlin Critic Navalny.

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, JRL NewsBlog, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Alexei Navalny file photo

Reuters covers the latest attempt to jail Russian lawyer, whistleblower and opposition figure Alexei Navalny. A Moscow court on Wednesday rejected a bid by law enforcement officials to have Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny jailed for violating the terms of his suspended five-year sentence on embezzlement charges. Navalny, who led mass street protests against President Vladimir Putin in 2011-2012, denies any […]

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In Putin’s Russia, Universal Health Care Is for All Who Pay

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Health, Epidemics, Substance Abuse, Human Rights, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Medical Symbol with Pole, Serpents, Wings, adapted from image at lanl.gov

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ilya Arkhipov and Henry Meyer – May 13, 2015) Expectant mothers in Moscow must wait as long as six weeks for ultra-sound scans, up from three days last year. Hospital outpatients pay for blood tests and X-rays that were free 12 months ago. And Marif Alekberov, a 27-year-old fireman with leukemia, is being told to find […]

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Interfax: Poroshenko statement on Russian troops in Ukraine is unfounded – Kremlin spokesman

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

MOSCOW. May 14 (Interfax) – The Kremlin sees Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s statement on the presence of 11,000 Russian troops in Ukrainian territory as unfounded and not conducive to any positive developments. “I don’t see fit to repeat such unfounded accusations, without any concrete information and proof, which are not conducive to anything positive, to put it mildly,” Russian presidential […]

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Russian Polluters Evading Huge Environmental Fines

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Environment, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Hand Pulling Cash from Envelope

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anastasia Bazenkova – May 12, 2015) Russia’s environmental protection watchdog is failing to collect penalties imposed on polluters worth tens of millions of dollars per year. Penalties worth 2 billion rubles ($40 million) ordered by the Federal Service for Supervising Natural Resources, or Rosprirodnadzor, went unpaid in 2014, Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov told […]

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Nemtsov Report Says More Than 200 Russian Soldiers Killed In Ukraine War

Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Human Rights, Military, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Spies, Spy Allegations, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – May 12, 2015) [Report here https://openrussia.org/] More than 200 Russian military personnel have been killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine, according to a report based on research begun by slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. The estimated death toll is one of the main findings of the much-anticipated report on Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict, which […]

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