(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova, Anatoly Medetsky – April 18, 2013) The Cabinet came under attack from State Duma deputies Wednesday as Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev addressed the lower house of parliament for the first time since taking office. The annual speech, which prime ministers have given since 2009, came as the country teeters on the brink of […]
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[check back for updates, including more live links] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#72 :: 18 April 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org 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 POLITICS 1. Moscow Times: […]
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(Interfax -MOSCOW. April 16, 2013) The closed part of the list of U.S. citizens prohibited to visit Russia is longer than the open part, a source at the Russian Foreign Ministry told Interfax on Tuesday. “Concerning the Russian list, its closed part carries more names than the open one,” he said. The source said he did not know how many […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 17, 2013) The State Duma was scheduled on Wednesday to discuss a bill to lift the ban on U.S. parents adopting Russian children, even as Russian investigators accused another U.S. couple of failing to protect their child. The bill’s authors, Just Russia Deputies Dmitry Gudkov, Ilya Ponomaryov and Valery Zubov, said the ban needed […]
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(RIA Novosti – TBILISI, April 17, 2013) Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Tuesday he was not against mending diplomatic relations with Russia that were severed several years ago. “I am one of those supporting the improvement of these relations. It was my initiative to lift the visa regime with Russia so that more Russian tourists could visit Georgia,” Saakashvili […]
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(Interfax – TBILISI. April 16, 2013) If Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili does not want to be questioned on the South Ossetian-Georgian conflict in August 2008, then he cannot be, Georgia’s chief prosecutor Archil Kbilashvili said. “The president is untouchable and there are no judicial mechanisms which would permit him to be interrogated,” Kbilashvili told reporters on Tuesday. Georgian Prime Minister […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Nathan Gray – April 15, 2013) One of the most famous and secretive features of the Soviet Union, closed cities – known today in Russian as ZATOs – still dot the country, though in far fewer numbers than during the Cold War. The cities, which numbered upward of 100 throughout the different republics in the […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – By Irina Granik, Moskovskiye Novosti – April 15, 2013) Analysts call for reform of state institutions, while the government demands action from private and state companies The forecast for socio-economic development of the country through 2030, recently published by the government, has come straight into the depths of discussions flaring up in connection with the […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 16, 2013) Civil Platform leader Mikhail Prokhorov has criticized the state of the Russian economy on the eve of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s report in the State Duma. “The economy is in recession. Fulfilling the taken social obligations is at risk – the deficit of regional budgets is over 500 billion rubles. There are no […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Halia Pavliva – April 16, 2013) Russia is probably already in a recession and monetary policy should be eased to ignite growth, said Ksenia Yudaeva, President Vladimir Putin’s representative to the Group of 20 nations. “The first two months were really bad, external demand change had an impact on Russia and this is why we’ve seen […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 17 , 2013) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday he would offer a state prize for anyone who could find a method of ridding the Russian economy of its dependence on raw materials in the next few years. “I cannot but agree with you that the raw materials model … has driven our […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Julia Reed in Moscow – April 17, 2013) “A case against Navalny is a case against all of us,” insist the friends and supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is due to go on trial for corruption in the regional city of Kirov on April 17. Unfortunately, many other Russians appear not to […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, April 16, 2013) Opposition representative Aleksandr Navalnyy has published his income declaration for the year 2012, according to which his income from his work as a lawyer amounted to nearly R7.5m (about 183,000 dollars). Navalnyy posted his declaration on his webpage in Live Journal (http://navalny.livejournal.com/789792.html). According to the documents, the income from his activities as a lawyer […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – April 17, 2013) The State Duma on Tuesday passed in a first reading a bill that would reintroduce a mixed voting system for parliamentary elections, despite a heated argument on the Duma floor that it favors pro-Kremlin forces. In voting late Tuesday afternoon, 296 lawmakers voted in favor of the bill, 148 […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 17, 2013) A website leaked a video on Wednesday showing President Vladimir Putin apparently criticizing senior politicians at a meeting with ministers and governors the previous day, just hours before Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev addressed the Russian parliament. The video of the meeting on housing issues, published by Russia’s Life News website, shows Putin asking […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 17, 2013) Moscow Times reporter Anatoly Medetsky is providing a live blog of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s visit at noon to the State Duma, where he will recap the Cabinet’s activities for the past year and offer an account of his upcoming plans. 3:45 p.m.: Medvedev wrapped up his Duma appearance after a closing […]
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(RIA Novosti, MOSCOW, April 17, 2013) The number of corruption related crimes recorded in Russia rose by almost 25 percent in 2012, according to a report by the Prosecutor General’s Office submitted to parliament on Wednesday. A total of 49,513 such crimes were registered last year, compared to 40,407 in 2011, Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said. Over 13,500 individuals […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 17, 2013) The federal weather bureau announced on Wednesday that all the snow in the capital had finally melted, giving Muscovites the go-ahead to cheer the arrival of spring. On Wednesday morning, the snow cover at the weather station at the All-Russia Exhibition Center in Moscow had fallen to zero centimeters from Tuesday’s measurement […]
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[check back for updates, including more live links] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#71 :: 17 April 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org 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 POLITICS 1. Moscow Times: […]
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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#70 :: 16 April 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org 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 POLITICS 1. Moscow Times: Putin Offers to Assist in Boston Bombing Probe. […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Kristen Blyth – April 15, 2013) When a journalist dies in Russia, people may pay attention, but the crime usually goes unsolved. According to some observers, this may not change for a long time. When Mikhail Beketov, a journalist who was brutally attacked in 2008, died in a hospital last week, Oleg Kashin, a journalist […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Lena Smirnova – April 16, 2013) If you wonder why Russians don’t smile in the metro, what they really think about corruption, how many of them fought bears and how many of these brave souls were drinking vodka at the time, now you can satisfy your curiosity. A Moscow-based team of market researchers has recently […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – April 16, 2013) The Economic Development Ministry of Russia proposed another five large privatization transactions in addition to the sale of 14% of ALROSA and an additional issue of VTB worth RUB100bn, Minister Andrei Belousov said, Vedomosti reported. The Ministry proposes to privatize in 2013 up to 19% of Rosneft, state-owned stakes in Aeroflot […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Agnes Lovasz – April 16, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the government to come up with a plan to revive the flagging economy after a minister warned that a recession is possible as companies cut investment and export demand wanes. Putin told Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who will address lawmakers tomorrow, to devise steps to […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 16, 2013 – windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-russians-leaving.html) There are now more than 15,000 Protestant congregations in the Russian Federation, according to a Moscow expert, a figure that surpasses the total of Russian Orthodox parishes and reflects in part Russian flight from the latter because of growing anger about the policies of the Moscow Patriarchate […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 15, 2013) The official portals of the Gorky Park (www.park-gorkogo.com) and Sokolniki Park (www.park.sokolniki.com) have opened the Hyde Park division, which are accepting applications to hold public rallies. The Gorky Park portal says that the site to hold public rallies can take up to 2,000 people. Public meetings can take place between 7 a.m. and 10 […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Claire Bigg – April 15, 2013) A helmeted policeman drags a woman down a barricaded street, one arm tightly locked around her neck. Dozens of riot police in full gear look on as the young woman, wearing a short black dress, gasps for air. The scene is captured in a dramatic snapshot taken at a sanctioned […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 16, 2013) Pavel Chikov, a member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, said on Monday that a clear set of rules for inspections of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is required. “There are no rules for prosecutors’ checks. In my opinion, this is the main lesson that we should learn from all these […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 15, 2013) The information on the multi-billion funding of non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Russia coming from abroad voiced by the president only partially refers to the NGOs whose activities are controlled by the Justice Ministry. “Of course, not all NGOs that are reported by banks to receive such funding according to the NGO legal status belong […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, April 15, 2013) The Interior Ministry has received no complaints against police with regard to checks of non-commercial organizations, Deputy Minister Mikhail Vanichkin has said. “Since the start of the checks, there has not been a single complaint to date from heads of non-commercial organizations against the actions of the police,” Vanichkin told a special meeting of […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 16, 2013) Russian prosecutors have opened a case against a regional non-governmental organization accused of not registering as a “foreign agent” in the wake of a wave of inspections of NGOs, a rights group reported on Tuesday. Alexander Zamaryanov, director of the Kostroma Public Initiatives Support Center, is suspected of being involved in political […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Mikhail Loginov – April 15, 2013) Mikhail Loginov is a journalist and novelist based in St Petersburg. He is the author of the recently published bestselling political thriller “Battle for Kremlin”. Broadcaster Vladimir Posner’s ‘slip of the tongue’, calling Russia’s parliament the Dura (fool) instead of the Duma, added yet another slur to the already emasculated body. A […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, April 15, 2013) Only 4 per cent of Russian do not care what incomes State Duma deputies have, while the vast majority (92 per cent) would like to know this and therefore support the use of such measures as mandatory declaration of incomes and spending for the elected representatives of the people. Some 90 per cent of […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Elena Bobrova, RBTH – April 16, 2013) Russian students from a prestigious world politics program get diverse American perspectives first-hand. A more intense spotlight shines on educational cooperation as Russia and the United States seek fresh perspectives on bilateral relations despite recent shadows cast on the reset. The Center for International and Security […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 15, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-russians-want.html) In January 1917, Lenin thought that he and members of the older generation of revolutionaries might not live to see a revolution but by the end of that year, he and the Bolsheviks were in power in Petrograd. Now, the Russian opposition believes that there must be […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 16, 2013) Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama will meet twice in the upcoming months for talks aimed at easing tensions amid differences over human rights and other issues. The two presidents have agreed to hold talks on the sidelines of a Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland in June and to meet […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 16, 2013) The Kremlin said the United States has sent Russia a “positive signal” by dispatching a high-profile delegation to Moscow headed by U.S. National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon, who delivered a letter Monday with “concrete measures” on missile defense, nuclear arms reduction and trade. The meeting occurred amid ongoing strains […]
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(RIA Novosti -LONDON, April 16, 2013) Russia’s strategic forces are capable of penetrating the US missile shield and it poses no military threat to the country, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Tuesday. “We have solved the issue of penetrating the missile shield. We regret that the United States waste their money on missile defense and compel us […]
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(RIA Novosti – Carl Schreck – WASHINGTON, April 15, 2013) The United States and Russia struck a conciliatory chord Monday following tit-for-tat blacklists of alleged human rights violators, but the contentious US legislation that sparked the diplomatic dust-up appears set to become a permanent fixture in ties between Washington and Moscow. “There is no sunset clause on the Magnitsky […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Vladimir Chukov, Stepan Serdyukov, Anna Laletina, special to RBTH – April 15, 2013) RBTH continues its coverage of the U.S. Work & Travel program by asking three former participants about their experiences. The Summer Work and Travel program, created as a public diplomacy tool in 1963, allows foreign university students to work and […]
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(Interfax – TBILISI, April 15, 2013) A vast majority of Georgians approve of the government’s plan to resume exports of wine, mineral water and agricultural produce to Russia, an opinion poll suggests. Current Georgian-Russian talks on the resumption of such exports were acceptable to 84% of respondents and unacceptable to only 3% of respondents in a recent survey by the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 16, 2013) President Vladimir Putin has expressed his sympathy and offered to assist in a U.S. investigation into twin bomb blasts that killed three people and injured more than 140 others during a marathon in Boston. A senior Russian lawmaker said the tragedy should remind countries to work together rather than create divisive blacklists, […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Mark Galeotti, special to RBTH – April 15, 2013) Mark Galeotti is Professor of Global Affairs at New York University. His blog, ‘In Moscow’s Shadows,’ can be read here: inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/ The result of the Syrian crisis is likely to affect Russia’s positions in the world and influence in the Middle East. At the […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines/Interfax – April 15, 2013) Russia, which is chairing the G20 in 2013, does not want to discuss the management of the exchange rates of national currencies and the bank crisis in Cyprus during the G20 meeting in Washington on April 18-19. Russia, which is chairing the G20 in 2013, does not plan to propose that the […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Andrei Lankov, special to RBTH – April 15, 2013) In early April, North Korea’s top leadership was shaken up top military officers retired, civilian bureaucrats have taken over and a reform-minded premier has been reinstated. Korean historian Andrei Lankov argues that, while it is too soon to confidentially say North Korea is […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 15, 2013) The Russian Economic Development Ministry expects GDP growth to accelerate to 2.1% in Q2 2013, from 1.1% in Q1, and to around 3% in H2 2013, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach told reporters. “The slowdown in economic growth is here for all to see. But we work on the basis that there’ll be […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 12, 2013) The Russian Audit Chamber has looked into the observance of Russia’s obligations and the realization of Russia’s rights in its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and suggests providing more support for exports and agriculture, the Public Chamber said in a press release. Participants in the Public Chamber collegium held on April 8 […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 12, 2013) Poverty in Russia has shrunk thrice since the 1990s but higher salaries of public sector employees remain a key objective of the government, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting of the Labor Ministry board on Friday. “Compared with the 1990s, the poverty level has reduced thrice. The decline is directly related to […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 12, 2013) The rare Siberian cranes that took a migration flight with President Vladimir Putin’s motorized deltaplane in the autumn of 2012, have not reintegrated with the wild over diplomats’ failure to come to terms on their hibernation in Uzbekistan, Vedomosti wrote on Friday citing the Flight of Hope project director, Alexander Sorokin. “Uzbekistan’s border service […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 15. 2013) Days before the much-anticipated trial of opposition leader Alexei Navalny is scheduled to begin, an Investigative Committee spokesman has suggested that Navalny’s constant criticism of the government caused investigators to “accelerate” work on the case against him. When someone “uses all his energy to bring attention to himself” and “provokes the government,” […]
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