JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine scrambles to fill U.S. funding gap” – Financial Times

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Kyiv in talks with Japan and Canada for extra aid as Zelenskyy government considers spending cuts and tax hikes” “… [D]eadlock in … Congress over a $60bn aid package for Ukraine has left Kyiv desperately looking for alternative donors …. Ukraine has allocated nearly half of its $87bn budget … to defence-related expenditure, but its domestic revenues are just $46bn, […]

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Russia in Review, June 30-July 7, 2023 – 5 Things to Know

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) The U.S. has included cluster munitions in its latest $800 million package of military aid to Ukraine. More than 100 countries have signed onto the Convention on Cluster Munitions, vowing to never use them, but the U.S. is not one of them. A significant percentage of the submunitions often fail to detonate, effectively turning them into […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Pentagon Is Freaking Out About a Potential War With China (Because America might lose.)” – Politico

File Image of Taiwan Map and Taiwanese Urban Landscape, adapted from image at export.gov

“… [A war-game scenario envisions] early morning … massive [Chinese] bombardment … of Taiwan’s navy and air force as the People’s Liberation army and navy mount a massive amphibious assault …. Having taken seriously … Biden’s pledge to defend the island, Beijing also [strikes] pre-emptively at U.S. and allied air bases and ships in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. … even[s] […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin, Ukraine and the revival of the west” – Financial Times

File Photo of G7 Meeting, with Persons at Round Table and Long Table, with Flags and Windows Overlooking Green Space in Background

“The strength and unity of the response to Russia’s invasion surprised the Kremlin but some have accused the west of hypocrisy.” “… The speed, strength and unity of the western response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine surprised the Kremlin …. [and] may even have surprised western leaders. … ‘[T]he west,’ as a geopolitical concept, is no longer defined by geography. […]

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Russian Plane Draws Shots from South Korea in First Air Patrol with China: Belfer Experts Weigh In

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – RM Staff- July 25, 2019) South Korean fighter jets fired over 300 warning shots at a Russian Air Force A-50 Mainstay Airborne Early Warning aircraft on July 23 after the Russian plane twice violated South Korea’s airspace above the East Sea, according to South Korean authorities cited by The Aviationist. Earlier that day, Russian and Chinese […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “No end to World War II in sight in the Kuril Islands; As Abe and Putin prepare to deal, a dispute that dates back to the final hours of World War II looks unlikely to be resolved” – Asia Times/Giovanni Pigni

Map of Northern Japan, Kurill Islands, Sea of Okhotsk, Portions of Russian Far East

“… Japanese-Russian negotiations over the disputed Southern Kuril islands took place … in Moscow, ahead of … [a] summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and … Putin. … the only obstacle preventing the two nations signing an official peace agreement to end World War II. … The Kuril archipelago … [includes] 56 islands stretching from the Russian peninsula of […]

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Moscow Said Using Polls to Prepare Russians for Giving the Kuriles Back to Japan

Map of Northern Japan, Kurill Islands, Sea of Okhotsk, Portions of Russian Far East

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, November 30, 2018) Seventeen percent of Russians are now ready to support the handing back to Japan of some of the Kurile Islands, up from only four to eight percent a decade or more above. This trend suggests, Yevgeny Rychkov of Nakanune says, “the powers that be using polls to prepare” Russians […]

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RUSSIALINK TRANSCRIPT: “Eastern Economic Forum plenary session; Vladimir Putin took part in the Eastern Economic Forum. The President spoke at a plenary session of the Forum” – KremlinRu

Asia Map

(Kremlin.ru – September 12, 2018 – en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/58537) Speech at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, Mr President of the People’s Republic of China, Mr President of Mongolia, prime ministers of Japan and South Korea, ladies and gentlemen, friends, I would like to welcome you all to the 4th Eastern Economic Forum. It […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Moscow prefers G20 to G8, has not asked to return – minister” – Interfax

File Photo of G7 Leaders and other Officials Around Round Table at the Hague, with Flags

(Interfax – June 9, 2018) Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Russia has never asked to be readmitted to the G8, and considers the G20 group a more promising format for the future, Interfax news agency reported on 9 June. “We’ve never asked to come back,” Lavrov said on Russia’s state-owned Channel One TV, the report said, noting that […]

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Will the Russia-Japan “tug-of-peace” yield any results?

Japan Map

The upcoming Russia-Japan summit might mark the beginning of an actual compromise on the Southern Kuril Island territorial dispute, but this can only be the first of many steps, writes a Russian Japan expert. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – NIKOLAY MURASHKIN, SPECIAL TO RBTH – November 21, 2016) The writer is a doctoral candidate, at the faculty of […]

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NEWSLINK Asia Times/M.K. Bhadrakumar: “Japan and Russia subject each other to shock therapy”

Japan Map

“The common practice in inter-state diplomacy is to hype up forthcoming high-level visits by dignitaries to foreign capitals. President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Japan is due to take place on December 15 and the general expectation is that it will be a historic milestone in Russo-Japanese relations and a defining moment in the politics of the Asia-Pacific region. …”

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TRANSCRIPT: [Putin] Interview to Bloomberg. Part One

Asia Map

(Kremlin.ru – September 2, 2016) [More complete Russian text here: http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/52796] On September 1, Vladimir Putin gave an interview to the international media company Bloomberg in Vladivostok. John Micklethwait: Mr President, thank you very much for talking to Bloomberg. We are in Vladivostok, at the border of Russia, practically the Pacific Coast is its border, and this is already the […]

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Is the U.S. behind Japan’s reluctance to sign a peace treaty with Russia?

Japan Map

In the second part of this series on Russia-Japan ties, Rakesh Krishnan Simha looks at how the two countries are finding common cause in many areas, despite being unable to settle the over 70-year old dispute over the Southern Kuril Islands. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – RAKESH KRISHNAN SIMHA, SPECIAL TO RBTH – May 25, 2016) The Russia-Japan […]

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How Russia is moving ahead with its Asian pivot

Asia Map

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently visited Mongolia and Japan. His goal was to initiate a real “Eastern turn” in Russian foreign policy. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – GEVORG MIRZAYAN, RBTH – April 20, 2016) At first glance Russia made an Eastward turn a long time before the West imposed sanctions on the country. However, until now we […]

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2015: A mixed bag for Russia’s Asian ‘Pivot’; Ties with ASEAN and China grow, but relationship with Japan remains frosty

Asia Map

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – AJAY KAMALAKARAN, RBTH – December 10, 2015) Russia’s strategic and economic push towards Asia achieved mixed results in 2015, with Moscow strengthening ties with ASEAN countries and China, while its ties with Japan and Australia remained frosty. “When it comes to Asia, the biggest strategic economic gains came to Russia from the ASEAN […]

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Putin: Russia has no relations with G7 but ready to cooperate with its members bilaterally

File Photo of G7 Leaders and other Officials Around Round Table at the Hague, with Flags

(Interfax – June 10, 2015) Russia currently does not maintain any relationship with the G7, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “We have no relations with the G7, what relations could there be?” Putin told journalists following negotiations with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on June 10. At the same time, “if our partners want it, we will be developing active […]

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Japan-Russia Ties/Johnson’s Russia List 2014-#34

Japan Map

Subject: RE: Johnson’s Russia List 2014-#34/Japan-Russia Ties Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2014 From: Joseph Ferguson <jodyferg@earthlink.net> Regarding an article posted on the JRL on the 18th of February (#34) from the Moscow Times, “Japan-Russia Ties: An Opportunity for the U.S.” by Jeffrey Mankoff, I wanted to post the following comments. I know this topic seems peripheral at best given current […]

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NEWSLINK: Japan-Russia Ties: An Opportunity for the U.S.

Japan Map

[“Japan-Russia Ties: An Opportunity for the U.S.” – Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jeffrey Mankoff – February 18, 2014 – themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/japan-russia-ties-an-opportunity-for-the-us/494786.html] A Moscow Times commentary by Jeffrey Mankoff, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, suggests that Russian relations with the United States and the European Union are at an impasse, but that Russian Relations with Japan have been […]

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Gazprom Completes First Solo Offshore Project

Map of Northern Japan, Kurill Islands, Sea of Okhotsk, Portions of Russian Far East

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – October 25, 2013) Gazprom has started to operate the first offshore field that it has developed on its own, in a test of its power to perform the challenging task without foreign partners. Sitting off the Pacific island of Sakhalin, the Kirinskoye field will feed natural gas to Asia, as demand from […]

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Kuril island may be named after Soviet diplomat Gromyko

Map of Northern Japan, Kurill Islands, Sea of Okhotsk, Portions of Russian Far East

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK. Feb 11 (Interfax) – The Russian Foreign Ministry’s office in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk has suggested to the Sakhalin division of the Russian Geographic Society naming an unnamed Kuril island after Soviet diplomat Andrei Gromyko. The Sakhalin division backed the proposal and submitted it to the Moscow office of the Russian Geographic Society for approval, Vladimir Nosov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s representative […]

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Jets Scramble on Japan’s Northern Territories Day

Map of Northern Japan, Kurill Islands, Sea of Okhotsk, Portions of Russian Far East

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – February 8, 2013) Japan scrambled four fighter jets to intercept two Russian fighters it said invaded Japanese airspace near Russia’s Kuril Islands for about 11 seconds on Thursday, as Japan celebrated a national day of commemoration calling for the disputed archipelago seized in World War II to return to the Japanese. Russia’s […]

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