(Voice of America – James Brooke – November 3, 2012 – James Brooke is VOA Moscow bureau chief, covering Russia and the former USSR) Vladimir Putin is suffering back pains and is cancelling foreign trips and his annual November press conference marathon. He may also be suffering from a foreign policy migraine: multi-party democracy is alive and well in the […]
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Subject: Romney Russia prospects From: Ira Straus <irastraus@aol.com> Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2012 Despite a lot of speculation on Romney’s policies toward Russia, basic points have been missed. 1. Every new President has made a reset with Russia since 1989. Every one of them positive. But every one of them falling short of results sufficient to make the relationship self-sustaining. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 2, 2012) Russian children adopted by U.S. families will remain Russian citizens so that they can “return to the motherland in case of a conflict situation,” the office of the children’s ombudsman said Thursday as a new U.S.-Russian adoption accord came into effect. “The U.S. is a lingering pain for us, as literally every […]
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(Valdai Discussion Club – Nikolai Zlobin – November 2, 2012 – Nikolai Zlobin is Senior Fellow and Director of Russian and Asian Programs, World Security Institute, USA) The presidential campaign in the United States has entered the home stretch. In just a few short days, Americans will elect their next president, setting the country’s course for the next four years. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm – November 2, 2012 – Michael Bohm is opinion page editor of The Moscow Times) Those nostalgic about the Soviet Union got a nice treat on Oct. 22 when the Foreign Ministry released its report on U.S. human rights violations. Reading just a few pages of the report was enough to bring back […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Luka Oreskovic – November 2, 2012) Without water, humans can only live for a few days. Yet only about 1 percent of the earth’s water is suitable for human consumption. Rising GDP brings increases in demand for food production, including meat, which demands the greatest amount of water. Treating water is therefore a key utility. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – November 2, 2012) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday rejected a government plan to develop science and technology after describing its reliance on a surge in private funding as “absolutely unrealistic.” The proposal, reviewed at a Cabinet meeting, envisioned that private companies would increase spending on research tenfold by 2020, compared to […]
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(Interfax Moscow, 1 November) Vladimir Ryzhkov, co-chairman of RPR-PARNAS (Republican Party of Russia – Party of People’s Freedom), has said that he has mixed feelings after hearing the news that the Velsk Town Court in Arkhangelsk Region on Thursday (1 November) reduced the prison sentence of Platon Lebedev, former MFO Menatep head (and business partner of jailed former Yukos oil […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 1 (Interfax) – Forty percent of Russians, mostly women and religious people, believe in the supernatural beings, the Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) said, following a nationwide poll held before Halloween. Some 22% believe in omens, 21% in horoscopes, 8% in palm reading and spells, 6% in aliens, and 2% in zombies, the center said. Fifty-seven percent […]
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Johnson’s Russia List 2012-#187 24 October 2012 davidjohnson@starpower.net A World Security Institute Project www.worldsecurityinstitute.org JRL homepage: www.russialist.org JRL wordpress homepage: www.russialist.org/wordpress JRL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: www.russialist.org/funding.php Your source for news and analysis since 1996 In this issue POLITICS 1. Vedomosti: THREE SCENARIOS. Results of a special study show growing distrust in all institutions of […]
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Johnson’s Russia List 2012-#186 22 October 2012 davidjohnson@starpower.net A World Security Institute Project www.worldsecurityinstitute.org JRL homepage: www.russialist.org JRL wordpress homepage: www.russialist.org/wordpress JRL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: www.russialist.org/funding.php Your source for news and analysis since 1996 In this issue POLITICS 1. Moscow Times: First Frost Forecast for This Week. 2. Moscow Times: Russians Say State Institutions […]
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Johnson’s Russia List 2012-#185 19 October 2012 davidjohnson@starpower.net A World Security Institute Project www.worldsecurityinstitute.org JRL homepage: www.russialist.org JRL wordpress homepage: www.russialist.org/wordpress JRL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: www.russialist.org/funding.php Your source for news and analysis since 1996 In this issue POLITICS 1. Financial Times: Kremlin tightens the screws. 2. Christian Science Monitor: Vladimir Putin joins pajama workforce, […]
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(Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 9, Issue 200 – Pavel Felgenhauer – November 2, 2012) Last week, the public standing of one of President Vladimir Putin’s most powerful cohorts — Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov — was seriously undermined when Russia’s Investigation Committee (Slyedstvenny Kommitet RossyeSKR) publicly accused the defense ministry-controlled holding company “Oboronservis” of corruption and […]
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(Moscow Times – Rachel Nielsen – November 2, 2012) The law giving government agencies the power to order Internet companies to block material the state deems illegal came into force Thursday. Ostensibly aimed at protecting children from pernicious content online, the measure allows material to be blocked if officials determine that it includes child pornography, solicits children for porn, encourages […]
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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 […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – November 2, 2012) Fresh speculation that President Vladimir Putin has health problems was swirling Thursday, when a media report said the 60-year-old was suffering from an exacerbated back injury. The injury flared up after the president’s latest outdoor stunt when he flew a hang-glider with rare Siberian cranes, Vedomosti reported, citing […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, 1 November) The majority of Russians are trying to plan their lives (60 per cent), but mainly over the short term (43 per cent), and 39 per cent of those polled are not inclined to plan for the future, sociologists have found. Among the groups most likely to try to plan for the future are young Russians […]
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(“The Putin Crackdown: First he went after the punk rockers. Then the activists.” – Wall Street Journal Editorial – November 1, 2012 – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204840504578087152147315198.html) A Wall Street Journal editorial calls for Congresss to pass the Magnitsky Act: Congress should get over its gridlock and pass the Magnitsky Act that bars Russian human-rights offenders from traveling to or banking in the […]
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(“Georgia Appoints Special Envoy for Relations with Russia Civil Georgia” – Civil Georgia – November 1, 2012 – http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=25407) Civil Georgia reports that Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has created a new post of Special Representative for Relations with Russia, appointing Zurab Abashidze, former ambassador to Moscow, to the position. Abashidze is to report directly to Ivanishvili. Ivanishvili touts the […]
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(Natalia Yudina – opendemocracy.net – Natalia Yudina is chief expert at the Moscow based SOVA hate crime monitoring agency – October 30, 2012 – charts here: http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/natalia-yudina/runet-hate-crime-and-soft-targets-how-russia-enforces-its-anti-extremism-la) The internet is a tool that can be used for good, but it can also be manipulated by fanatics preaching violent hate propaganda. Policing is never going to be easy, but the Russian […]
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MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) – Civil Society Development Fund Head Konstantin Kostin thinks there is no reason to criticize the latest amendments to the Law on State Secrets. He called the negative reaction of certain human rights activists “emotional.” “I have seen nothing extraordinary in these amendments. Any country wants to protect its interests, including state secrets,” he told Interfax […]
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MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) – The procedure for registering NGOs – foreign agents proposed by the Justice Ministry is comparable to Stalinist methods, head of the Agora human rights association Pavel Chikov said. “The document forms are reminiscent of Soviet documents for confessing guilt of spying for the benefit of foreigners in the 1930s – when, where, under what circumstances, […]
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(What the Papers Say, Nov. 1, 2012 – Moscow Times/BBC Monitoring – http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/what-the-papers-say-nov-1-2012/470826.html) The Moscow Times and BBC Monitoring summarize news from Russian-language print newspapers; click here for full report: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/what-the-papers-say-nov-1-2012/470826.html
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(Interfax – Novo-Ogarevo, 31 October) Russian President Vladimir Putin does not intend to abandon the format of “direct-line” (live phone-in conversations) and, in addition, is going to resume the practice of holding big traditional news conferences, the president’s press secretary Dmitriy Peskov has said. “There will be no direct line this year. This does not mean, as some mass media […]
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(GM Russian Car Venture Is Pleasant Surprise – Wall Street Journal – Lukas I. Alpert – November 1, 2012 – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203922804578080972277444736.html) The Wall Street Journal reports on General Motors efforts to build cars in Russia, specifically 4-wheel-drive Chevrolet Niva SUV’s for the Russian market. A joint venture with Russian carmaker OAO AvtoVaz, the enterprise struggled at first, during GM’s reorganization […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Howard Amos – November 1, 2012) Russia placed 39th on a list of global financial systems compiled by the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, with no improvement on last year’s position and three places lower than 2008. The goal of turning Moscow into an international financial center and making the ruble a reserve currency has […]
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(Interfax – October 31, 2012) Nearly a quarter of Russians has no doubt about the emergence of a new wave of political repressions in the country, Russian news agency Interfax reported on 30 October, quoting a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM). According to the survey carried out on 21 October among 1,500 people in 100 villages and […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, 31 October) According to sociological surveys, Russians support the president, emphasize the need for reforms in the country and believe that there will be improvements in the political and economic life in the near future. Vladimir Putin’s work as president is currently approved of by 67 per cent of those surveyed, a third of citizens (32 per […]
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MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) – Russians support the country’s president, stress the need for reform and believe that there will be changes for the better in political and economic life in the nearest future, sociological studies indicate. Currently 67% of Russians support the efforts of Vladimir Putin as president while 32% don’t and the rest are undecided, Interfax was told […]
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MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) – An inquiry into the abduction of Russian opposition figure Leonid Razvozzhayev in Ukraine has begun, Moscow Public Oversight Commission head and Moscow Helsinki Group member Valery Borshchev said. Commission members again visited Razvozzhayev at the Lefortovo detention facility on Wednesday. “A detective has been assigned to investigate the abduction. Razvozzhayev has met with him,” Borshchev […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – November 1, 2012) The Federation Council on Wednesday passed amendments to the law on treason that could make it possible for law enforcement officials to target people collaborating with international organizations. The changes, which were passed by the State Duma earlier this month, were approved by 138 of 166 senators, despite appeals […]
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(Prospect of show trial stirs some Russians’ memories of Stalinism; Some Russian activists are drawing parallels between a potential ‘mega-trial’ for leftist leader Sergei Udaltsov and Stalin’s show trials in the 1930s. But the comparison remains controversial. – Christian Science Monitor – By Fred Weir – October 30, 2012 – http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/1030/Prospect-of-show-trial-stirs-some-Russians-memories-of-Stalinism) The Christian Science Monitor reports on concerns by some onlookers […]
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(“‘Love of dead tyrants a common human error’ – Medvedev” – Russia Today – October 31, 2012 – http://rt.com/politics/love-dead-human-error-654/) Pro-Kremlin Russia Today reports on Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s criticism of Soviet Dictator and Mass Murderer Joseph Stalin, and Medvedev’s critique of those nostalgiac for the Stalin era: It is safe to be a Stalinist when you know that […]
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