(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 30, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to consider by June 15 the expediency of restoring a contemporary Western art museum in Moscow. “To consider the expediency of restoring a new (contemporary) Western art museum in Moscow,” say Putin’s instructions given after the Direct Line with Russians. The government’s report on the subject is due on June 15. Pushkin State Museum of Fine
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – March 21, 2013) Health officials are complaining that Russia is becoming increasingly dependent on the West for medical supplies and top-flight treatment, as a growing number of Russians choose overseas clinics over state medical care. Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova told regional health authorities on Wednesday that instead of traveling either abroad or to Moscow and St. Petersburg for medical care as many
[Sergei Magnitsky: The enemy within: A saga that has been a parable of the self-mutilating way Russia is governed - The Economist - Editorial - March 9, 2013 - http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21573119-saga-has-been-parable-self-mutilating-way-russia-governed-enemy-within] The Economist issues an editorial on the Magnitsky saga and its aftermath, and what it shows about brutal, deadly elitism in Russia: Martyred human rights activists; fatally brave journalists: Russia, alas, has plenty of other cases of violent death that
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 28, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-from-upper-volta-with.html) Twenty-five years ago, German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt characterized the Soviet Union as being an “Upper Volta with missiles.” Now, Russian analysts, in response to findings of a Swiss firm, have suggested that a better analogy might be between the Russian Federation and a “Nigeria with snow.” The three differences between these declarations tell a great deal about
(RIA Novosti – Moscow, 18 February 2013) The West’s capabilities to dominate global politics continue to dwindle, the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation, whose text was posted on the website of the Foreign Ministry today, reads. [http://www.mid.ru/bdomp/ns-osndoc.nsf/e2f289bea62097f9c325787a0034c255/c32577ca0017434944257b160051bf7f] “The capabilities of the historically established West to dominate the global economy and politics continue to decline. The global potential of strength and growth is dispersing and shifting eastwards, particularly towards
(www.opendemocracy.net – Ivan Krastev – February 7, 2013) Ivan Krastev is chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia, and permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna (IWM). The incompatibility of an anachronistic and arbitrary regime with the modern world is leading many to consider that democratic change is possible likely even in Russia. But those expecting that a new ‘democratic’ government would somehow take
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Jason Corcoran – February 4, 2013) Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (G) has been hired by the Russian government to burnish the nation’s image overseas and attract more institutional investors. The bank has signed a three-year agreement with the Economy Ministry and the Russian Direct Investment Fund to advise on issues such as communicating government decisions and setting up meetings with investors, according to Sergei Arsenyev, Goldman
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 1, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-putins-anti-western.html) Vladimir Putin’s support for “the conservative wave in contemporary Russia” is not just part of his broader effort to set the country’s “silent majority” against the opposition, Aleksey Makarkin says. It is also a reflection of the Russian president’s disappointment in the foreign policy course he pursued earlier. In an essay in today’s “Yezhednevny zhurnal,” Makarkin, first
(Interfax – January 31, 2013) The Russians like the European Union more than the USA and believe that in its foreign policy Moscow should gravitate towards Western Europe and the CIS countries, Russian Interfax news agency reported, quoting an opinion poll carried out by the Levada Centre in January. In the poll, 64 per cent of the participants said they liked the EU (56 per cent in 2012), and 22
MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) – Presently, Russians think better of the European Union than of the United States and believe it would be best for Russia to follow foreign policy objectives in Western Europe and CIS, a poll indicates. During a poll in January, 64% of the respondents said they held a positive attitude to the EU, and 22% a negative. Last year the correlation was worse at 56:25%, Interfax
WASHINGTON, January 30 (RIA Novosti) The United States and Europe should work to persuade Russia’s leadership to let their country become more “integrated” with the West despite challenges in relations with Moscow, outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview published Tuesday. “It’s going to have to be a mutual effort, Europe and the United States both bilaterally and together, working to try to persuade Russia and
(opendemocracy.net – Jonas Parello-Plesner – January 24, 2013) Jonas is Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He served as Denmark’s Senior Advisor on China and North East Asia from 2005-2009. Russia-watchers have long been interested in her place on the international arena. Now, with China at the centre of the growing power game, the question is how Russia will seek to position herself in the
(A revolution in space but calmer streets at home; Pundits predict a loss of momentum for the protest movement at home and see little scope for improvement in relations with the West – Russia Beyond the Headlines – Artem Zagorodnov – January 4, 2013 – click here for google cache version of article) Russia Beyond the Headlines takes a look at predictions for 2013: A cool relationship between Russia and
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Patrick Reevell – December 26, 2012) A policeman says in Russian: “I work a lot, sometimes even too much. … Winter or summer, rain or shine, I go from a bank to a store, from a store to a restaurant, from a restaurant to a market, looking for where to take money.” What’s wrong with this passage? Is there a grammatical error or a moral
(Dmitri Trenin – www.opendemocracy.net – Dmitri Trenin, Director of the Carnegie Moscow Center; Counselor of the Commission on Euro-Atlantic Security – December 24, 2012) A year is a very long time in politics. Over the past year Russia’s relations with the West have deteriorated, not helped by events in Syria and the Magnitsky Act. A new beginning and a desire to cooperate are essential: not the ‘reset’ button, but completely
MOSCOW. Dec 18 (Interfax) – Anti-western rhetoric has stopped the establishment of an International Financial Center (IFC) in Russia, former finance minister and now chairman of the Civil Initiatives Committee, Alexei Kudrin, said. Instead of dialogue between the authorities and the public, legislation is being passed that is hitting protestors. One myth is the assertion that almost all civil activity in Russia is inspired and financed from abroad. “This is
(Interfax – November 19, 2012) Leading Russian NGOs intend to ignore the legislative amendments which require the registration as “agents of foreign influence” of non-governmental organizations with Western backing. The law will enter into force on Nov. 20, Tuesday. “I do not know a single human rights organization, which has appealed for being registered as a “foreign agent,” said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of Russia’s oldest human rights organization Moscow Helsinki
MOSCOW, November 2 (RIA Novosti) Moscow city officials plan to target tourists and English-speaking residents in a whole new way: with a new English-language radio station. Moscow FM, which will be hosted on the 105.2 frequency, is expected to hit the airwaves on November 12, the Kommersant daily newspaper reported Friday. Igor Shestakov, chief editor of the Moscow Media group, which owns Moscow FM, told the paper his company
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – October 31, 2012) Exactly 200 years ago this month, Napoleon rode out of Moscow with what was left of the Grande Armée, having failed to crush the Russian army, only to be famously defeated himself by the Russian winter. Given the love of round number anniversaries by the press and governments I am surprised more has not been made
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – October 26, 2012) OVO-OGARYOVO President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Thursday that he had to make a difficult choice when he approved the purchase of TNK-BP by state behemoth Rosneft, as the decision contradicts the government’s policy to reduce its presence in the economy. But he made it clear that the government had to intervene after numerous requests from BP to help resolve
Hand-wringing at dinner with Putin – Financial Times – Neil Buckley – October 25, 2012 – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ced25a3a-1deb-11e2-901e-00144feabdc0.html The Financial Times examines growing limitations on Russian economic prospects, and the resulting impact on the latest “Valdai Discussion Club” dinner: … the event, and the context, has changed a lot. In Valdai’s early years, Russia was growing at 7 per cent a year. Oil prices and Russia’s oil output were
(Interfax – October 24, 2012) The resolution on the Magnitskiy (Magnitsky) list passed by the European Parliament is “designed to undermine contacts between Russia and Europe”, Russian Interfax news agency reported on 24 October, quoting head of the State Duma International Affairs Committee Aleskey Pushkov. Politicians On 23 October the European lawmakers passed a resolution requiring the EU to draw up a list of officials implicated the 2009 death of
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