MOSCOW, December 13 (RIA Novosti) Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted a US bill targeting alleged Russian human rights violators as an “unfriendly act,” but said Russia’s response should be “adequate and not excessive.” “We certainly have to have an appropriate response. The State Duma has taken the initiative, which in my opinion is absolutely correct. But we need to […]
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(Kennan Institute – http://www.wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute/ – William Pomeranz – Acting director of the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars – December 2012) The reset policy was originally conceived by President Barack Obama’s administration as a means of reinvigorating the U.S.-Russian relationship and placing it on more solid and pragmatic ground. President Vladimir Putin’s first few months in office, however, […]
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Johnson’s Russia List 2012-#220 13 December 2012 davidjohnson@starpower.net A World Security Institute Project JRL homepage: www.russialist.org JRL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: http://russialist.org/funding.php Your source for news and analysis since 1996 In this issue POLITICS 1. Moscow Times/Vedomosti: Russians Show That They Are What They Eat. 2. BBC Monitoring: Putin Ends Parliament Address With Promise of […]
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(RIA Novosti – Dec. 10, 2012) Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks that Russia must find its place in the geopolitical transformation (of the world), but not on conditions of confrontation. “In this geopolitical transformation, we must find our place. Can we do it? Of course we can, with our vast territory, with our traditions, with our growing economy. But, without […]
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[Dialogue with the Taliban unavoidable: New approaches are needed to regulate Afghanistan post-2014 – Russia Beyond the Headlines/VPK Daily – Anatoly Kulikov – Anatoly Kulikov is an army general and chairman of the Military Chiefs Club of the Russian Federation. – Dec. 10, 2012 – http://rbth.ru/articles/2012/12/10/dialogue_with_the_taliban_unavoidable_20987.html] Russia Behind the Headlines features commentary by Gen. Anatoly Kulikov discussing the situation on […]
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[Kazakhstan seeking to withdraw the Baikonur cosmodrome from Russian jurisdiction – ITAR-TASS – RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW – Dec. 11, 2012 – http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c142/596443.html] Itar-Tass covers plans by Kazakhstan to end its lease to Russia of the the Baikonur space port: The legendary Baikonur complex which Moscow is operating on lease from Kazakhstan, may be withdrawn from Russian jurisdiction. The resounding statement […]
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[PM’s Envoy to Meet Russian Diplomat ‘Informally’ – Civil Georgia – Dec. 12, 2012 – http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=25533] Civil Georgia covers plans for Georgia and Russia to have informal diplomatic talks, possibly in Switzerland. The two sides apparently are already in direct contact, for the purpose of setting up the meetings: Georgian PM’s special representative for relations with Russia, Zurab Abashidze, said […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Stephen Bierman & Anna Shiryaevskaya – Dec. 12, 2012) The world’s most profitable energy company is being punished by investors who are concerned it’s also the biggest spendthrift. OAO Gazprom (OGZD), Russia’s natural-gas export monopoly, will beat Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) to earn $37.9 billion in 2012, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Yet its shares […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax) – Russian economic growth will pick up in 2013 and reach 4.2%, while inflation will go down to around 6%, Yaroslav Lisovolik, a senior economist at Deutsche Bank Russia, says. Lisovolik told the press on Tuesday that one of the main reasons for such a relatively high rate of GDP growth in 2013 would be high […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax) – The majority of Russians are discontent with the government although the share of happy persons has grown from 6% to 8% over the past years, Levada Center told Interfax on Tuesday. Fifty-two percent blame the government for inability to curb down inflation and to stop a decline in personal incomes. The respondents were polled in […]
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MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti) – The recognition by the United States of Syria’s opposition coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people shows that Washington is gambling on a military victory by the coalition, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday. “I was somewhat surprised to learn that the US, through its president, has recognized the national […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – Dec. 12, 2012) Five months after Moscow finalized an agreement with NATO to use Ulyanovsk’s airport for transporting military equipment from Afghanistan, not a single flight has been carried out. National media have speculated that money is an issue and that Volga-Dnepr, the freight company that would handle the flights from […]
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MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti) President Vladimir Putin warned against foreign interference in Russia’s domestic affairs during his state-of-the-nation address Wednesday, casting local political actors who get money from abroad as a fifth column serving foreign interests. “Direct or indirect interference from outside in our internal political processes is unacceptable,” he said. Someone “who receives money from abroad for […]
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(RFE/RL – Brian Whitmore – Dec. 12, 2012) In a meeting with supporters on December 10, President Vladimir Putin insisted the Kremlin’s anticorruption campaign was the real deal and not just for show. Arrests would be made, he added, and punishment for crooked officials was “inevitable.” Should we believe him? There are, of course, plenty of reasons for skepticism. First […]
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(Interfax – Dec. 11, 2012) Sources for Russian opposition activists being questioned about an alleged plot to incite mass disorder have denied that they went to Lithuania to be taught how to seize power, Interfax news agency reported on 11 December (see “Russian investigators question new witnesses in coup plot case”, published by BBC Monitoring on 11 December). The whole […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Alina Lobzina – Dec. 12, 2012) Investigators successfully appealed on Wednesday to prolong the detention of opposition figure Leonid Razvozzhayev for nearly four more months. The activist is accused of staging mass unrest in Moscow. The decision to allow investigators to continue work on the case until April 1 was made by Moscow’s Basmaniy Court, […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – Dec. 12, 2012) In his first address to parliament as president on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin is likely to reiterate that improving Russia’s demographic situation will be one of the key targets of his six-year term. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Friday praised a first small rise in natural population growth in 20 […]
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MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti) Russia risks entering a new demographic crisis unless it acts to capitalize on recent successes, President Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday. “There should be more of us, and we should be better,” Putin said during his first state of the nation address since being reelected for a third term as president last March. Putin […]
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Johnson’s Russia List 2012-#219 12 December 2012 davidjohnson@starpower.net A World Security Institute Project JRL homepage: www.russialist.org/wordpress JRL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: http://russialist.org/funding.php Your source for news and analysis since 1996n0 “We don’t see things as they are, but as we are” In this issue POLITICS 1. Reuters: Population, Russian values key to our future – […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Lena Smirnova – Dec. 11, 2012) As innovative as Skolkovo might be, it may not be unique for much longer. Professional artistic visionaries are summoning all their creative energies to design their own innovation hubs, which could become a reality in just a few years. Moscow has experience with creating artistic districts, such as the […]
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MOSCOW, December 10 (RIA Novosti, Alexandra Odynova) Amid last year’s large-scale opposition protests in Moscow, Russian leader Vladimir Putin jokingly compared himself to the powerful python Kaa from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book.” Since then, Kremlin critics have certainly felt a squeeze, with authorities employing anti-opposition tactics that have ranged from counter-rallies and media campaigns to tough new legislation […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Alina Lobzina – Dec. 11, 2012) Obesity has become a problem for over 25 percent of Russia’s population, head of the Nutrition Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences said on Tuesday. After an annual examination of 1,500 people across the country, dieticians found that 55 percent of Russians had problems with excessive weight, Viktor […]
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(RIA Novosti – Dec. 10, 2012) President Vladimir Putin has rejected suggestions that Russia’s drive for closer ties with other former Soviet republics is an attempt to rebuild the Soviet Union. Speaking on 10 December at a meeting in Moscow with his “authorized representatives”, who acted as his election agents during this year’s presidential election campaign, Putin dismissed such claims […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – Dec. 11, 2012) President Vladimir Putin spoke to supporters Monday about the recent wave of high-profile official corruption cases, saying they are not a “show-off campaign” but part of a systemic fight against government fraud. Addressing a group of more than 500 of his official representatives who campaigned for him ahead of […]
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MOSCOW, December 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russia ranks highest in the world among upper-middle-income countries affected by terrorism and ninth overall, according to a new report by an Australian think-tank. Other former Soviet republics ranked considerably lower in the Global Terrorism Index*, a new measure of the impact of terrorism, released last week by the Institute for Economics & Peace […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – Dec. 10, 2012) Doctor Marat Gunashev didn’t even have time to change his slippers when masked law enforcement officials led him out of the surgery room on the morning of Nov. 28 and placed a bag over his head. The patient he was administering anesthesia to was left lying on the table. […]
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(Interfax – Dec. 10) The majority of Russians are aware of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (86 per cent), but, just as 10 years ago, they do not tend to support any particular side and accuse the USA of stirring up the conflict in the region, sociologists have found out. Twenty-five per cent of Russians sympathize with both peoples, 31 per cent […]
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(Interfax – Dec. 11, 2012) The United Russia faction at the State Duma has proposed to name the bill retaliating against the Magnitsky Act after 18-months-old Dima Yakovlev who died after his adoptive American father left him in a locked car in a parking lot for nine hours on a hot day. “They named their act after Magnitsky and United […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – Dec. 11, 2012) In a widely expected response to the passage of the U.S. Magnitsky Act, State Duma deputies on Monday introduced a bill that would make Americans suspected of mistreating Russians personae non gratae. The bill bans Americans from traveling or investing in Russia if they are deemed to have “illegally” […]
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[to inquire about a subscription to the e-mail newsletter click here to e-mail David Johnson] Johnson’s Russia List 2012-#218 11 December 2012 davidjohnson@starpower.net A World Security Institute Project www.worldsecurityinstitute.org JRL homepage: www.russialist.org JRL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: http://russialist.org/funding.php Your source for news and analysis since 1996 “We don’t see things as they are, but as we are” In this […]
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MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti) Russia is concerned about a possible repeat of “color revolutions” that caused regime change in several post-Soviet republics in the mid-2000s with ambiguous results, a senior Russian official said on Sunday. “Events are in motion in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Ukraine; we’re dealing with it every day. Are these [events] a danger for us? Yes,” […]
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(Interfax – Dec. 9) Russia does not have any concerns about China’s growing political influence, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. “I know that many people have been expressing concerns about this trend. We have no such concerns. We believe that it is always better not to try to restrain the growth of someone’s influence, but to find common ground. […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 10 (Interfax) – Concern expressed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the danger of the “sovietization” of Eastern Europe and Central Asia suggests that she probably wants to continue her political career, a high-ranking source in Moscow told Interfax on Monday. “Hillary Clinton’s tough statements about the alleged threat of the ‘sovietization’ of Eastern Europe and […]
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(RIA Novosti Moscow, 9 December) First deputy head of the Kremlin administration Vyacheslav Volodin believes that no other country, including the USA, has the kind of democracy that Russia has. “It is not just that we have maximum democracy, it is also a fact that other countries have not had it, and still don’t. You know, if we take the […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) – Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) General Director Valery Fyodorov claims that protest movement has broken down in Russia and the political situation has stabilized. “The election campaign ended several months ago. Protest movement experienced a crisis and actual breakdown against the backdrop of de-politicization of the society. Everyone can see its signs: preparedness to […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) – Social activity is not a subject of the law on “foreign agent” NGOs, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told President Vladimir Putin’s election agents on Sunday. “Concerning the recent lawa(euro) There is no change with regard to social affairs, such as hospices. They are unrelated to political activity,” he said. Such organizations are not subject to […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – Dec. 10, 2012) In a live television interview, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev expressed support for a range of legislation that critics say is part of a crackdown on the political opposition, including a law requiring certain NGOs to register as foreign agents. But the former president also conveyed liberal positions on several […]
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(Interfax – Dec. 9) Criminal cases on more than 16,500 corruption-related crimes by Russian officials were passed on to courts in the first nine months of 2012. “The number of corruption-related crimes committed by officials in the criminal cases passed on to courts is 16,603 (compared with 11,137 in 2011),” official spokesman for the Russian Investigations Committee (RIC) Vladimir Markin […]
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MOSCOW, December 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s effort to blacklist harmful websites can only be effective if broad sections of civil society are involved in the process, Russian media and communications watchdog Roscomnadzor said on Monday. According to a recent poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation, only 43 percent of web users, which translates into 23 percent of the […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) – Rumors of corruption in Russia are exaggeratory and opponents take advantage of the Russian image of a highly corrupt country, Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov told President Vladimir Putin’s election agents on Sunday. “Corruption rumors are exaggeratory. This does not mean we have no such problem, but I will be honest: the idea of Russia […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – Dec. 10, 2012) VARVAROVKA, Krasnodar Region President Vladimir Putin on Friday kicked off construction for the route to deliver Russian gas to Europe. A ceremony in which two pipes were welded together marked the South Stream pipeline’s graduation from the phase of talks between governments and corporations and drew the […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 10 (Interfax) – Russian Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov has forecasted that the country’s GDP may grow 3.5%-3.6% this year. “This year we are coming to 3.5-3.6%. Next year, according to fairly optimistic estimates, we will approach 4%,” he said at a Sunday meeting of Cabinet members and Kremlin administration officials with President Vladimir Putin’s election agents. The […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – Dec. 10, 2012) Buoyed by the U.S. Senate’s endorsement of the Magnitsky Act, Russian opposition leaders and some European lawmakers are calling on the European Union to adopt similar legislation that punishes presumed human rights offenders. Mikhail Kasyanov, Vladimir Ryzhkov and Boris Nemtsov, the chairmen of the “Republican Party of Russia […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 10 (Interfax) – Former Russian Prime Minister, Academician Yevgeny Primakov thinks that the Magnitsky Act will not have a serious effect on Russia-U.S. relations. “We can make a similar list, but I do not think things will go further and have a serious effect on our relations with the United States,” he said on Friday while answering questions […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – Dec. 10, 2012) Historical mistrust and relatively weak trade links could amplify the Magnitsky Act’s damage to U.S.-Russian relations, although Washington will likely use caution in applying sanctions to Russians suspected of human rights violations, analysts said. “In the absence of a solid background of trust and partnership, even relatively insignificant episodes […]
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MOSCOW, December 8 (RIA Novosti) More than twice the number of Russians approve of recent US legislation imposing sanctions on Russian officials deemed to have violated human rights than disapprove, according to a nationwide poll released this week by the respected Levada Center. The center found that 39 percent of Russians fully or mostly agree with the Sergei Magnitsky […]
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[Medvedev’s interview with Russian TV stations ends awkwardly – ITAR-TASS – RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW – Dec. 10, 2012 – http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c142/595374.html] Itar-Tass covers Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s “hit mic” comments disparaging of Russian security services raiding the home of a media figure: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s interview with five Russian television stations ended awkwardly Russia Today placed a […]
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[Getting His Goat: Open criticism of Russian officials is allowed only when it is part of a plan – Masha Gessen – Masha Gessen is the director of Radio Liberty’s Russian Service and the author of “The Man Without a Face,” a biography of Vladimir Putin – New York Times – Dec. 10, 2012 – click here for full article] […]
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[Post-interview ‘hot mic’ catches Russia’s Medvedev – AFP – Dec. 10, 2012 – click here for full article] AFP covers Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s recent remarks against security services, caught after a televised press conference was supposed to be over, but when at least one live feed was still running (from state-controlled Russia Today): Stark divisions within Russia’s elite […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – Dec. 10, 2012) Television channels were passing the blame Monday after unofficial footage from an interview with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was leaked Friday. Footage that appeared on YouTube showed the prime minister just after the end of an hour-and-a-half interview, chatting freely with the journalists from the five channels that […]
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