(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH – December 6, 2013) Foreign entrepreneurs talk about the pros and cons of working in Moscow. In an effort to find more ways to attract foreign investors to Russia’s capital, Moscow authorities asked several current expat businessmen to give their assessment of the pros and cons of starting a business […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 9, 2013) The Economic Development Ministry plans to relax requirements for board approval of various business deals and transactions, Interfax reported Monday. The changes are a part of the ministry’s effort to create an international financial center in the Russian Federation, said an explanatory note that came with a bill amending the existing federal […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Lena Smirnova – December 9, 2013) Moscow will get a new master plan by 2015 to reflect its forthcoming transformation into a polycentric city, in which peripheral areas become alternative hubs for work and cultural activities, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said at the third annual Moscow Urban Forum. Wrapping up on Saturday, the forum brought together […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, December 6, 2013) Academician Valery Tishkov, director of the Moscow Institue of Ethnology and Anthropology, argues that divisions within the elites of Russia rather than any challenges from outside constitute the main threat to the country and, if unchecked, could lead to its “degradation and disintegration.” Tishkov, an advisor on ethnic affairs […]
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MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti) Russian law enforcement officials are considering bringing new charges against jailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other figures over alleged money laundering, Vedomosti daily reported on Monday. Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Zvyagintsev told Russian media last week that “several cases against former Yukos CEO Khodorkovsky and other people are being probed,” fuelling speculation […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) – The presidential Human Rights’ Council believes that the amnesty expected to be declared on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the constitution should be full-fledged and broad while attempts to change the constitution are impermissible. “We regard with bewilderment and concern the increasingly frequent attempts to change the constitution, in particular, its preamble and […]
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BARNAUL. Dec 8 (Interfax) – Amendments related to the confiscation of bribe-takers’ property could be added to the law, Russian presidential administration head Sergei Ivanov said. “I will not anticipate the events but certain amendments could probably be added to the law,” Ivanov said in an interview with the NTV TV channel on Sunday. The confiscation institution in Russia does […]
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(Kremlin.ru – December 5, 2013) Vladimir Putin took part in a conference, the Action Forum, organised by the Russian Popular Front. Conference participants discussed key issues concerning the implementation of the main presidential policy lines in healthcare, the economy, housing and utilities, education and culture. PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, dear friends. I am glad to be able […]
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[Putin dissolves state news agency, tightens grip on Russia media – Reuters – Timothy Heritage – December 9 – http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/09/us-russia-media-idUSBRE9B80I120131209] Reuters covers Russia President Vladimir Putin’s decision to dissolve RIA Novosti and absorb its operations into new entity called Rossiya Segodnya, with a mission of promoting Russia abroad: President Vladimir Putin tightened his control over Russia’s media on Monday by […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Ilya Dashkovsky, special to RBTH – December 9, 2013) Higher taxes on tobacco products has forced more Russians to quit smoking. Tobacco users in Russia decreased by more than 5 percent in 2013, and experts expect a new higher excise taxes to reduce further the sale of cigarettes. Every Russian smoker knows the […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Ajay Kamalakaran, RBTH – December 6, 2013) As the world mourns the death of the great statesman, RBTH looks back at the role Russia and the Soviet Union played in the struggle against apartheid. When Nelson Mandela turned 95 in July, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave one of the most glowing tributes to […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Kateryna Choursina, Daryna Krasnolutska & Ilya Arkhipov – December 9, 2013) Russia cast doubt that Ukraine may soon join its customs bloc, a plan that have sparked the ex-Soviet republic’s biggest protests in almost a decade and fueled calls for President Viktor Yanukovych to resign. Riot police and stick-wielding protesters squared off in central Kiev a […]
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MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti) The Kremlin announced Monday the dissolution of RIA Novosti, the country’s major state-run news agency, amid a significant reorganization of state-owned media assets. News agency RIA Novosti and the state-owned Voice of Russia radio will be scrapped and absorbed into a new media conglomerate called Rossiya Segodnya, according to a decree signed by President […]
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[The Stakes in Ukraine: The U.S. should warn Putin not to stoke violence in Kiev. – Wall Street Journal editorial – December 9, 2013 – http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304014504579246330793547224] The Wall Street Journal covers the protests in Ukraine, noting that even with divisions within the country, the majority of Ukrainians want a closer relationship with Europe and a Ukraine with greater democratization: Ukraine […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych met in Sochi on Friday to discuss the agenda of the bilateral interstate commission, which is to hold a session in Moscow on December 17, and they did not discuss Ukraine’s possible accession to the Belarusian-Kazakh-Russian Customs Union, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Interfax. “Special […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Graham Stack in Kyiv – December 9, 2013) Hundreds of thousands of pro-EU protestors took to the streets again in Kyiv December 8, filling Kyiv’s central Maidan square to demand the resignation of Ukraine’s government, and erecting barricades sealing off the government district. Not only is the administration of President Viktor Yanukovych losing the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Delphine d’Amora – December 9, 2013) The Russian diplomats and their spouses charged with fraudulently claiming a total of $1.5 million from a U.S. government health care program are all to return to Russia, a news report said Monday. Only 11 of the 49 defendants are still on American soil, and they too will soon […]
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[Rushing for the Arctic’s Riches – New York Times – Michael T. Klare – December 8, 2013 – http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/opinion/sunday/rushing-for-the-arctics-riches.html] Michael Klare and the New York Times address Russia’s temptation to exploit Arctic energy resources: While many existing oil and gas reserves in other parts of the world are facing steep decline, the Arctic is thought to possess vast untapped reservoirs. […]
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[transcript concluded. 1st part in JRL #221, December 6; click here for Part 1] (Government.ru – December 6, 2013) The traditional annual live interview with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on the round-up of the Government’s work over the year. Asking the questions were Irada Zeinalova (Channel One), Sergei Brilyov (VGTRK), Marianna Maksimovskaya (Ren TV), Vadim Takmenyov (NTV) and Mikhail Zygar […]
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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#221 :: 6 December 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: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php POLITICS 1. RIA Novosti: ‘Everything’s OK’ Between Putin and Me - Medvedev. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – December 6, 2013) President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the government would have to improve the country’s economic performance in order to fulfill his campaign promises. He also complained that his tap water was sometimes brown from rusty pipes. Putin’s decrees from May last year, which seek to raise living standards, have […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 5 (Interfax) – President Vladimir Putin has stressed the legal equality of all citizens of Russia regardless of their ethnic origin or religion. “More than 80% of our population are ethnic Russians, and they are without a doubt a nation-building people both culturally and simply from the point of view of demographics. But what makes Russia strong is […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 5 (Interfax) – Russia jumped 14 places in Forbes’ list of the Best Countries for Business in 2013, to 91st place between the Philippines and Paraguay. Forbes noted significant improvement in trade freedom (78th place) and innovation (74th) in Russia. On the other hand, “Russia’s long-term challenges also include a shrinking workforce, rampant corruption, and underinvestment in infrastructure,” […]
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KYIV. Dec 6 (Interfax) – Ukrainian opposition leaders – Vitali Klitschko of the UDAR party, Arseny Yatsenyuk of Batkivshchyna (Fatherland), and Oleh Tyahnybok of Svoboda (Freedom) – have met with the U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, Victoria Nuland. “We call upon the leaders of the European Union and the United States to resolutely condemn violent […]
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(RIA Novosti/Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 6, 2013) Russia’s top brass are not immune from the same problems faced by ordinary Russians, it turns out, after the president and prime minister admitted to having rusty tap water from time to time. “Can you imagine: Even my tap water is sometimes rusty,” President Vladimir Putin said Thursday at a conference […]
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MOSCOW. December 6 (Interfax) – Immigration may partially compensate for the decline in Russia’s population, Federal Migration Service head Konstantin Romodanovsky said during his lecture at Moscow State University on Friday. “New estimates were posted this year saying that the Russian able-bodied population would fall by almost 10 million by 2025, alongside a reduction of the total population and an […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 5 (Interfax) – The Russian civil rights organizations that have won in a tender for government grants are not going to abandon foreign financing. “These are our projects. We are pursuing them regardless of financing sources. We are not carrying out projects ordered by Russian or foreign funds,” Memorial historical and civil rights society head Arseny Roginsky told […]
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(Government.ru – December 6, 2013) [Complete transcript in Russian here: http://government.ru/news/8790] The traditional annual live interview with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on the round-up of the Government’s work over the year. Asking the questions were Irada Zeinalova (Channel One), Sergei Brilyov (VGTRK), Marianna Maksimovskaya (Ren TV), Vadim Takmenyov (NTV) and Mikhail Zygar (TV Rain). Transcript: Sergei Brilyov: Good afternoon. TV […]
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MOSCOW, December 6 (RIA Novosti) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Friday during a televised interview that there were no problems in his relationship with President Vladimir Putin. “Everything’s OK between the president and me,” Medvedev said in response to a question about an apparent disagreement with Putin over the powers of criminal investigators. While Putin and Medvedev are close […]
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KYIV. Dec 5 (Interfax) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has assured German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle that Ukraine is determined to continue its efforts on the path towards European integration, noting, however, that extremists and neo-Nazis are obstructing this process. Azarov and Westerwelle met during the 20th session of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Kyiv on Thursday, and the […]
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MOSCOW, December 6 (RIA Novosti) Russia’s Finance Ministry predicted serious difficulties Friday for the budget in 2016 and 2017 as slowing economic growth means there will be insufficient funds available to honor spending commitments. Short term and long term growth forecasts for the Russian economy have been cut repeatedly this year, with officials warning Russia is entering a period […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Nathan Gray – December 5, 2013) While freedom of movement for Russian citizens is enshrined in the Constitution, practical social and economic factors often impede its full implementation. The development of regional air travel, abetted by a series of state subsidy programs and last month’s launch of Aurora, the Far Eastern subsidiary of national carrier […]
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MOSCOW, December 6 (RIA Novosti) Ukraine decided independently to abandon a long-anticipated trade deal with the European Union, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Friday, denying that Moscow pressured its neighbor into changing direction. “They realized that at the moment, they’re not ready for this,” he said in a televised interview on Russia’s state TV channel Rossiya 1. “In all […]
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KYIV. Dec 5 (Interfax) – Moscow supports the idea of the Internet’s international regulation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “I think our organization should think about its role in ensuring the people’s rights in cyberspace,” Lavrov said at a ministerial session of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Kyiv on Thursday. “This concerns the problem […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 6 (Interfax) – Russia must be prepared to confront international rivalry in the Arctic, which is a priority of its geopolitical agenda, Federation Council International Affairs Committee Chairman Mikhail Margelov told Interfax. “This is a topical agenda considering the expected effects of global warming on the Arctic zone. It is necessary to maintain the combat potential of the […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org –Brian Whitmore – December 5, 2013) The latest threat to Vladimir Putin’s autocratic rule may be coming not from the Russian opposition but from the Ukrainian street. As tens of thousands continue to protest in Kyiv against Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to scuttle a pact with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Moscow, […]
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MOSCOW, December 5 (RIA Novosti) Ukraine owes Russia some $2 billion for gas supplies and no plan is in place to settle the debt, the head of Russia’s Gazprom said Wednesday. Alexei Miller, chief executive of state-owned Gazprom, said it was in discussions with Ukraine’s national energy company Naftogaz to find a solution. “We are seeking variants to resolve […]
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KYIV. Dec 5 (Interfax) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called the Western countries’ reaction to Ukraine’s refusal to sign an association agreement with the EU “hysteria.” “This situation is connected to some Europeans’ hysteria, which was caused by the fact that Ukraine exercised its sovereign right in deciding not to sign an agreement that Ukrainian experts and the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – December 5, 2013) BRUSSELS At a meeting with NATO counterparts on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slammed NATO’s response to recent protests in Ukraine and said last month’s deal on Iran’s nuclear program renders the need for missile defense in Europe obsolete. In response to a joint resolution issued by […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Marina Maksimova, special to RBTH – Deccember 5, 2013) The Russian Central Bank has revoked the license of several large banks as part of what it says is a fight against corruption and a shadow economy. Banking industry experts are worried that the Central Bank’s efforts to clean up Russia’s shadow economy could […]
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NOVO-OGARYOVO. Dec 4 (Interfax) – President Vladimir Putin criticized the slow pace at which planned improvements to business conditions in Russia are being implemented. “Unfortunately, one-third of the measures in the approved road map have not been implemented on time. A whole host of proposals from business are stuck undergoing inter-ministerial coordination. Occasionally, the ministries propose limiting themselves to purely […]
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NOVO-OGARYOVO. Dec 4 (Interfax) – President Vladimir Putin ruled out the idea of boosting the tax burden on ordinary citizens in order to resolve problems facing entrepreneurs. The president criticized a proposal to collect additional budget funds to create infrastructure for housing construction, for example, by introducing an excise tax on soda pop. “Don’t do that. This means that a […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Lena Smirnova – December 5, 2013) Environment ministers and delegations from the five countries bordering the Arctic met in Moscow on Wednesday to voice continuing support for polar bear conservation and outline steps for saving the species, which activists and officials say is increasingly vulnerable to the effects of global warming and resource extraction. Representatives […]
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MOSCOW, December 5 (RIA Novosti) Investigators plan to formally charge a former Russian defense minister with negligence on Friday, according to a police source familiar with the situation. Investigators said last week they were opening a criminal case on negligence charges against Anatoly Serdyukov over claims he caused 56 million rubles ($1.7 million) of damage to the state by […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – By Anna Arutunyan – December 4, 2013) The Louis Vuitton pavilion controversy highlighted lack of transparency in managing areas surrounding the Kremlin As workers dismantled a giant Louis Vuitton suitcase that went up suddenly on Red Square last week, just who authorized the project and who issued orders for it to be taken down remained […]
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(RIA Novosti – Moscow, December 4, 2013) A member of the public council at the Russian Interior Ministry, former Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin, has announced that according to his data, the number of recorded crimes committed in Russia is understated at least by a factor of four. He told this journalist after the first meeting of the new composition of […]
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(RIA Novosti – December 4, 2013) Crimes of corruption in Russia cost the state more than R9bn (about 270m dollars at the current exchange rate) over two years, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported head of the Russian Investigations Committee Aleksandr Bastrykin as saying on 4 December. Damage to state, need to extend investigation period “As for damages inflicted […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – December 5, 2013) President Vladimir Putin has turned down proposals to amend the Constitution so that an official state ideology can be established, though the rebuff doesn’t signal the end of his search to find a “national idea” to unite Russians, the Kremlin’s spokesman said. The proposal, put forward by United Russia […]
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MOSCOW. Dec 5 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is convinced that the targets set by his decrees issued in May 2012 can still be achieved despite today’s recession and a slow pace of economic growth. “I am certain that we can and should fulfill them,” Putin said at the Russian Popular Front’s conference. “These decrees are […]
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