NEWSLINK Newsweek: Mystery of Ukraine’s Richest Man and a Series of Unlikely Suicides

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

Feuding oligarchs are battling to retain or increase their influence in the new order, and their lieutenants are turning up dead. Melnychuk was a prosecutor in the southern port town of Odessa, governed by Kolomoisky ally Ihor Palytsia. He is just one of at least eight officials appointed by the Yanukovych regime, ousted by pro-democracy protesters in February last year, […]

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NEWSLINK Los Angeles Times: Ukrainian president says any vote on ceding power to rebels will fail

Petro Poroshenko file photo, with additional men in background, adapted from image at state.gov

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday signaled a readiness to let Ukrainian voters decide whether to decentralize their government but denounced the demands of pro-Russian separatists for independence as an “infection” spread from Russia. Los Angeles Times: Ukrainian president says any vote on ceding power to rebels will fail.

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NEWSLINK Atlantic Council: Former Putin Advisor [Andrei Illarionov] on Kremlin’s Big War

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

Western sanctions on Russia are not working and a proposal to provide defensive weapons to Ukrainian security forces will not deter the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, according to Andrei Illarionov, a former advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Atlantic Council: Former Putin Advisor on Kremlin’s Big War. (Andrei Illarionov)

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NEWSLINK Interfax-Ukraine: Fortification work on demarcation line in Donbas to cost UAH 1 bln – ATO deputy commander

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

The Ukrainian authorities intend to spend about UAH 1 billion on the fortification work on the demarcation line in Donbas, deputy commander of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) Colonel Valentyn Fedychev said on Wednesday, the press service of Donetsk Regional Military and Civil Administration reported. Interfax-Ukraine: Fortification work on demarcation line in Donbas to cost UAH 1 bln – ATO deputy […]

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NEWSLINK Ukraine Today: Former U.S. Ambassador [John Herbst] says Putin’s ultimate goal is to destabilise Ukraine

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

Former US ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst has called on the west to extend sanctions against Russia because the ceasefire agreed to by Ukraine and Russia is not holding. Herbst believes that the status quo is contributing to Putin’s ultimate goal, which is to destabilise Ukraine. Ukraine Today: Former US Ambassador says Putin’s ultimate goal is to destabilise Ukraine. (John […]

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NEWSLINK AICGS: Ostpolitik Reset; How Germany is Re-Evaluating its Relationship with Russia

Map of Germany

The Chancellery recently announced that Angela Merkel will not attend the May 9 Moscow celebration to mark the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II. She will, however, lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin the following day. This dual message symbolizes where German-Russian relations are today: reluctance to […]

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NEWSLINK New York Times: Lawmakers Take Step to Remove Putin Critic [Ilya V. Ponomarev]

Russian State Duma Building file photo

Russian lawmakers took a major step on Tuesday toward ousting Ilya V. Ponomarev, the only member of Parliament who opposed the annexation of Crimea last year and one of the few elected officials who have repeatedly dared to challenge President Vladimir V. Putin publicly. New York Times: Lawmakers Take Step to Remove Putin Critic. (Ilya V. Ponomarev)

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NEWSLINK Forbes: Here’s Where Russia Shipped Oil Last Year As Ukraine, Europe Diversified.

Oil Wells File Photo

Russian oil companies are diversifying slowly away from their dependence on the European Union, just as the E.U. does the same with its long-time supplier of oil and natural gas. As a result, Russian exports to Germany — its most important market — fell between 2014 and 2013. And Ukraine shipments have fallen by nearly half.   Forbes.com: Kenneth Rapoza, […]

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NEWSLINK Washington Post: Closing the doors on a museum of political repression in Russia

The only museum of political repression set in an old Stalinist labor camp has closed, the latest casualty of the Russian government’s effort to silence independent voices. After a three-year struggle with the government of the Perm region, in the western foothills of the Ural Mountains, the nongovernmental organization that operated the museum, known officially as the Memorial Historical Center […]

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NEWSLINK New York Times: Greece Should Be Wary of Mr. Putin

Ancient Temple Ruins in Greece with Tourists

The Greek government is facing a series of daunting challenges. It has to come up with money to pay off maturing debts, revive its devastated economy and renegotiate its loan agreements with other countries in the eurozone. Given those difficulties, it might be tempting — though misguided — for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to seek financial or other support from […]

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NEWSLINK Reuters: Ukraine challenges oligarchs’ grip on energy companies

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

Ukraine’s judicial authorities launched actions on Tuesday challenging tenders that gave big businessmen control over key power companies under ousted president Viktor Yanukovich in a new move by the government to curb the influence of the so-called oligarchs.   Reuters: Ukraine challenges oligarchs’ grip on energy companies

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NEWSLINK AFP: On anniversary of Ukraine war, shelling still shattering lives

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

More than 6,000 people have died since pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine seized government buildings on April 6, 2014, sparking a conflict that has divided the country in two and triggered an economic and humanitarian crisis. AFP: On anniversary of Ukraine war, shelling still shattering lives

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NEWSLINK AFP: Ukraine far-right leader made army advisor in move to control militias

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

The controversial leader of Ukraine’s ultra-nationalist Pravy Sektor paramilitary group, which is fighting pro-Russian rebels alongside government troops, was made an army advisor Monday as Kiev seeks to tighten its control over volunteer fighters. Coming on the anniversary of the start of fighting in Ukraine, the move marks a key step in government efforts to establish authority over the several […]

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NEWSLINK New York Times: Ukrainian Leader Is Open to a Vote on Regional Power

Petro Poroshenko file photo, with additional men in background, adapted from image at state.gov

President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine on Monday denounced calls for “federalization” of the country, which Russia has endorsed as a way of granting political autonomy to the areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Establishing greater local autonomy and governmental authority is widely viewed as crucial to settling the nearly yearlong war in the eastern regions of Donetsk […]

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NEWSLINK IMF: The Case for Supporting Ukrainian Economic Reforms

International Monetary Fund Logo Over Ukraine Flag

While the IMF Spring Meetings are just around the corner, we are not here to talk about the global economy. Rather, our focus today is Ukraine. Going into the meetings, many will want to have a clear picture of the situation in that country as they seek to understand the risks facing the world, and Europe in particular.   IMF: […]

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NEWSLINK Kyiv Post: A group of lawmakers wants Yatsenyuk corruption charges investigated

Verkhovna Rada File Photo

A group of lawmakers blocked the parliament’s rostrum in the morning of April 7 to demand a probe into the work of the Cabinet and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Serhiy Kaplin, a member of Ukrainian parliament representing Petro Poroshenko Bloc, also initiated a rally in front of the parliament, where people could sign a petition to create a temporary investigative […]

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NEWSLINK Wall Street Journal: As Tensions With West Rise, Russia Increasingly Rattles Nuclear Saber. Bellicose rhetoric has soared since start of Ukraine conflict to rival Cold War levels

Russian Mobile ICBM Parade File Photo

Amid the wave of bellicose rhetoric that has swelled in Moscow since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, officials as high up as President Vladimir Putin have been making open nuclear threats, a public saber-rattling with weapons of mass destruction largely unseen even in the days of the Cold War. Remarks about Russia’s nuclear strength play well to Mr. […]

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Soviet-Style Censorship Returns to Russian Arts

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman, Moscow Times Theater Critic – April 3, 2015) How many bulls does it take to trash a china shop? We may have an answer by the time the dust settles in a seemingly self-refueling controversy that keeps swirling around an opera house in Novosibirsk. Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said this week on […]

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NEWSLINK Los Angeles Times: Russian middle class watches relative prosperity fade away

Cash, Calculator, Pen

Like many Russians who climbed into an emerging middle class in recent years, Miller is watching his relative prosperity vanish. The plummet in global oil prices since last summer and Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its seizure of Ukrainian territory last year have cut deeply into the national budget, which depends on hydrocarbon exports for more than half of […]

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NEWSLINK Reuters: Russian court refuses to rehabilitate Soviet-era commissar Yagoda

Joseph Stalin file photo

Russia’s highest court on Thursday refused to legally rehabilitate Genrikh Yagoda, the head of the Soviet-era NKVD secret police who oversaw Stalinist purges in the 1930s and set up the GULAG forced labor camps. Yagoda ran the NKVD between 1934 and 1936, was dismissed in 1937 and executed in 1938 for treason and conspiracy, becoming one of millions of victims […]

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NEWSWATCH GordonHahn.com: Rusology’s Georgian War Fail and its Implications for Ukraine Today

Kremlin and River

Such falsification of data is the direct result of Western, but especially Amercian rusology’s transformation from a scholarly field into one dominated by activists. … http://gordonhahn.com/2015/02/20/another-rusological-fail-u-s-experts-continue-to-lie-about-russia-and-ukraine/

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NEWSLINK International Business Times: Ukraine War Forces A Nation To Talk About A Taboo: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

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

Many Ukrainians, including soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) associated with a yearlong war that’s killed more than 6,000 people, are leery of going to psychologists. There is still a large stigma attached to seeking psychological care. Some of the field’s practitioners here see a connection to the legacy of Soviet medicine, which focused on treating external ailments, while psychology […]

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NEWSLINK: AFP: A year on, Putin’s Ukraine gamble brings mixed results

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

A year since the start of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, Vladimir Putin may not have emerged the winner in his showdown with the West but he has not lost either, analysts say. http://news.yahoo.com/putins-ukraine-gamble-brings-mixed-results-054245483.html

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NEWSLINK New York Times: A Russian TV Insider Describes a Modern Propaganda Machine

Satellite Dishes

“It was shocking,” said Mr. Pomerantsev, speaking over coffee in London last month. “They really saw television and news as a movie, and talked about it as a movie.”

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NEWSLINK New York Times: Russia’s Ideology: There Is No Truth

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

IMAGINE if you grew up lying. Not a little bit, for convenience, but during every public moment of your life: at school, at work, at social events. You had to lie to survive, because the punishment for telling the truth was the loss of your academic or professional career, or even prison. For Russians who came of age before 1991, […]

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NEWSLINK New York Times: Sunday Book Review: ‘Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible,’ by Peter Pomerantsev

Tower and Building Inside Kremlin

The name “Vladimir Putin” is almost impossible to find in “Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia.” He usually appears only as “the President,” lording over and lurking behind the tales of tragedy and absurdity in Peter Pomerantsev’s captivating new book about modern Russia and its discontents.   http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/books/review/nothing-is-true-and-everything-is-possible-by-peter-pomerantsev.html?_r=0

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NEWSLINK Washington Post: Book Review: ‘Nothing is True and Everything is Possible,’ by Peter Pomerantsev

Kremlin and River

In Russia — a country that constitutes one-seventh of the world’s landmass, spans eight time zones and has a population of 143 million — television unites the nation. It is “the only force that can unify and rule and bind this country,” writes Russian-born British journalist Peter Pomerantsev. “It’s the central mechanism of a new type of authoritarianism, one far […]

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NEWSLINK BBC: Russia’s global media operation under the spotlight.

Mercator Projection Satellite Image of Earth

The Kremlin’s international media operation appears to be going from strength to strength with two recent high-profile launches and more in the pipeline. But it is also coming under increased scrutiny over its lack of editorial balance and accusations that it is deliberately using disinformation to counter and divide the West. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30040363

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NEWSLINK Institute for War & Peace Reporting: How Russia Fights its Information War

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

The Kremlin is committing huge resources to extending its influence through spin rather than soldiers. As the Ukraine crisis continues, IWPR editor Daniella Peled talks to writer and regional expert Peter Pomeranzev about how Russia is using the media as an extension of its military power. Russia is devoting great resources to the information war – how effective is this […]

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NEWSLINK Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Kremlin says Russians are drinking less and exercising more. Are they? Only to a degree, say analysts

Medical Symbol with Pole, Serpents, Wings, adapted from image at lanl.gov

The Kremlin says Russians are drinking and smoking far less and exercising far more than just a few years ago. Has Russia finally gotten the upper hand on the chronic health problems that have caused its demographic decline? Maybe not. Experts warn that while Russians do appear to be living healthier lives now, the improvement shown in figures gathered by […]

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NEWSLINK AP: US forces to hold exercises in Ukraine

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

The United States plans to send soldiers to Ukraine in April for training exercises with units of the country’s national guard. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a Facebook post on Sunday that the units to be trained include the Azov Battalion, a volunteer force that has attracted criticism for its far-right sentiments including brandishing an emblem widely used […]

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NEWSLINK Washington Post: Russia – perhaps more restrained and less powerful than you think?

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

Debates about the origins of Russia’s intervention into Ukraine have typically taken as given Russia’s position as a muscular, capable regional power, engaged in what Realists regard as power maximization. This perspective suggests the moves by Russia were caused by external forces and NATO’s move east, with conquest of the former Soviet space an inevitable response. Critics of this perspective suggest that […]

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NEWSLINK Forbes: 10 Charts That Explain Russia

Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

For reasons that are far beyond my ability to explain, Russia is a place that attracts clichés in much the same way that a bright flame attracts moths. Having always found the place confusing, contradictory, and vaguely mysterious, Westerners have settled upon a few choice quotes that supposedly summarize Russia in its entirety. Even today, with the welcome rise of […]

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NEWSLINK Moscow Times: What Will the Kremlin Do Next in Ukraine?

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

With the Minsk II agreement stalled and EU sanctions tied to its full implementation, it is getting increasingly hard to see Moscow’s endgame in Ukraine. Minsk II contains a set of conditionalities that provided the Kremlin with non-lethal means to realize its objectives in Ukraine — a new constitutional setup that would give the Donbass republics a special status with a veto over Kiev’s policies. But this will not materialize. … http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/what-will-the-kremlin-do-next-in-ukraine/518190.html

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NEWSLINK Central European Policy Institute: CEPI Ukraine Watch

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

Week of March 20-27 Insider and Ukrainska Pravda reconstructed six days which lead to dismissal of Ihor Kolomoisky as governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Zerkalo Nedeli has reported that hot phase of the conflict has subsided due to the intervention from West and effective mediation of Boris Lozhkin. However, it seems premature to conclude that de-oligarchization process has started in Ukraine, […]

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NEWSLINK GordonHahn.com: Coopting Neo-Fascism: Yarosh, Poroshenko, and the State’s Monopoly on the Organs of Coercion.

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

Dmitro Yarosh, one of the Ukrainian parliament’s neo-fascists and leader of the Right Sector (RS) party and volunteer battalions, has suggested “deportation, deprivation of civil rights, etc.” for the residents of the Donbass who oppose “ukrainization” in the breakaway region. Without coercion, the next stage of “soft ukrainization,” in which “sovok” or the alleged remnants of ‘Soviet’ (read: Russian) culture […]

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NEWSLINK ReadRussia: How Not to Influence People. Russia’s “tough” posturing just makes it look ridiculous

Russian Mobile ICBM Parade File Photo

“Russia threatens Denmark with nuclear missiles” isn’t the most intuitive headline in the world. Indeed it sounds like something from a parody magazine or from a clumsy remake of Dr. Strangelove. If Denmark is famous for anything (a contentious proposition, but indulge me) it’s precisely because it is inoffensive and non-threatening. It’s a small, rich, tolerant country sandwiched between Germany […]

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NEWSLINK AFP: Feud on Earth but peace in space for US and Russia

International Space Station file photo

Hundreds of kilometres below on Earth, their governments are locked in a standoff over Ukraine — but up in space, Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts are still working together side by side. The International Space Station (ISS) is one of the rare areas of US-Russian cooperation that has not been hit by the Ukraine crisis and in the latest show […]

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NEWSLINK Carnegie Moscow: A Chechen Dragon Splits Moscow

Caucasus Map of Chechnya and Caucasus Environs

… In any case, the Chechen connection has split the ruling elite. Putin faces a backlash from those who object to his reliance on Kadyrov. Anti-Chechen racism is only part of it. Kadyrov’s enemies in the FSB and other places suspect, for good reasons, that the loyalty of the Kadyrovtsy to the Russian state is provisional. They recall that many […]

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NEWSLINK Moscow Times: Is the Worst Over for the Russian Economy?

Diverse Paper Currency, Coins, Line Graph

For investors, business owners and everybody else with an interest or involvement in the Russian economy, this is now a period of waiting; waiting to see whether the relatively good start to 2015 for the ruble, investment returns and some segments of the economy mean that we can all breathe a huge sigh of relief that the predictions of doom and gloom in late 2014 have not materialized, or whether this is just the eye of the storm and another battering […]

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NEWSLINK Washington Post: An interview with Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny file photo

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny recently spent about a year under house arrest, barred from most contact with journalists. He spoke to The Washington Post about his aspirations for Russia, about his fears after the killing of ally Boris Nemtsov and about how Ukraine’s allies can persuade the Kremlin to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine. …     http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/03/18/a-rare-interview-with-kremlin-critic-alexei-navalny/ […]

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NEWSLINK Reuters: Putin says no reason for confidence in economy, officials say worst over

Diverse Paper Currency, Coins, Line Graph

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday it was still too soon to feel confident about the country’s economy, although his ministers said the worst is over. Speaking to a conference of Russian businessmen, Putin said the central bank’s main interest rate, now at 14 percent, remains high but that the level was warranted by the situation. …     […]

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NEWSLINK Time: Theft of Ukraine’s ‘Golden Loaf’ Reflects the Revolution’s Failings: The disappearance of a symbol of the revolution comes as President Poroshenko’s approval rating crumbles.

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

When revolutionaries stormed the mansion of Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych one year ago, a few of them ran up the winding staircase to the master bathroom, expecting to find the golden toilet that was rumored to be in the house. Instead, as they rifled through the gaudy rooms that day, they found something better, or at least more bizarre: a […]

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NEWSLINK Interfax-Ukraine: Center for Russian Studies created in Ukraine

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

An analytical organization, the Center for Russian Studies (CRF), has been created with the participation of state figures and experts. The center will research events and processes in Russia, and its foreign policy. …     http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/255943.html

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NEWSLINK: Valentin Rasputin, Russian Writer Who Led ‘Village Prose’ Movement, Dies at 77

Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

Valentin Rasputin, a patriarch of the so-called village prose writers who emerged in the Soviet Union in the 1960s to address moral and environmental issues and depict the remains of a rural Russia about to be consumed by industrialization, died here on Saturday. He was 77. …   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/world/europe/valentin-rasputin-russian-writer-who-led-village-prose-movement-dies-at-77.html?_r=0

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NEWSLINK Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Ukraine crisis: Inside the Mariupol base of the controversial Azov battalion.

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

The first thing you notice as you walk through the corridors of the Azov battalion’s base in Mariupol are the swastikas. There are many — painted on doors, adorning the walls and chalked onto the blackboards of this former school, now temporary headquarters for the Azov troops. … http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-13/inside-the-mariupol-base-of-ukraines-azov-battalion/6306242

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NEWSLINK: Remembering Ned Keenan

Lit Candle with Reflection and Dark Background

(March 11, 2015) It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Edward L. Keenan, a medieval Russian historian, who died on March 6, 2015. The obituary below, sent out by the chair of the History Department at Harvard University, was written by Jan M. Ziolkowski, Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Medieval Latin, and Director of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and […]

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NEWSLINK AP: Ukraine’s grinding war stains innocence of childhood

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

Seryozha colors in his drawing of a tank, lost in thought. Like many 7-year-olds in eastern Ukraine, he has trouble recalling a time before the war. “They’ve always been shooting,” he says, vigorously scratching with the brightest of pencils.   http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_UKRAINE_CHILDREN_OF_WAR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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NEWSLINK Moscow Times: Q&A: Drawing Foreign Firms to Russia [interview with Kaluga governor Anatoly Artamonov]

Diverse Paper Currency, Coins, Line Graph

The Kaluga region, an hour’s drive southwest of Moscow, has become a haven for investors. International giants in industries ranging from automotive to pharmaceutical have built plants, trained and employed thousands of locals, and turned a once-depressed region heavily dependent on federal subsidies into a donor to the national budget. …   http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/qa-drawing-foreign-firms-to-russia/517581.html

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NEWSLINK Wall Street Journal: U.S. Delays Ukraine Military Training, General Says; Washington wary of giving Moscow excuse to scrap truce

Gen. Ben Hodges, USA file photo

The Pentagon is delaying a training program for Ukrainian soldiers so as to avoid giving the Kremlin an excuse to scrap the tenuous peace deal struck last month between Kiev and Moscow-backed separatists, a top U.S. general said Tuesday. Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of U.S. Army in Europe, said U.S. officials wanted to make sure such training—which would involve […]

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