(Interfax – Moscow, February 11, 2014) The head of the Russian Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee, Mikhail Margelov, has accused the European Union of employing double standards. Margelov told Interfax that during his work in PACE he and his colleagues from the Russian delegation acquired strong immunity to double standards in assessments of the same events that are used by […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Justin Lifflander – February 12, 2014) [Photos here http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/10-unlikely-candidates-to-replace-michael-mcfaul-photo-essay/494297.html] While U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul cited personal reasons for his departure, no one would dispute that his role as Washington’s top representative in Moscow was challenging. With thorny issues remaining on multiple fronts, chances are slim that relations will warm significantly between the two […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – February 11, 2014) International expansion is the new watchword for the Russian venture market’s movers and shakers. As the latest ranking of the country’s internet millionaires indicates, the winners are those who invest abroad. The magazine Sekret Firmy (meaning “company secret” in Russian) has conducted a study together with the BrandSpotter agency to […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 12 (Interfax) – The Federal Migration Service and the Economic Development Ministry have drawn up a law, which facilitates naturalization of foreign citizens, Kommersant wrote on Wednesday. The simpler naturalization procedure will be primarily granted to businessmen who invest at least ten million rubles in Russia and foreign alumni of Russian colleges and universities who work in Russia […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Yezhova – February 12, 2014) A slew of announced layoffs is rattling the domestic labor market, threatening to further undermine a weak economy. Russia’s two largest banks, state-owned Sberbank and VTB, have joined the country’s biggest carmaker, AvtoVAZ, in declaring significant staff reductions in the upcoming months. VTB Group disclosed last month that it […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Phoebe Taplin, special to RBTH – February 11, 2014) The tradition of literature exploring conflict in the Caucasus began with the great stories by Lermontov and Tolstoy, and is carried on by today’s writers: RBTH presents 5 contemporary authors, each with military experience and individual views on duty, violence and the casualties of […]
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(Interfax – February 12, 2014) This year’s first planning conference of Vigilant Eagle 2014, the command post antiterrorist exercise involving Russia, the United States and Canada, has begun in the city of Colorado Springs (the state of Colorado, the U.S.), Eastern Military District (EMD) spokesman Lt. Col. Alexander Gordeyev told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday. “The Russian side is represented at the […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – February 12, 2014) Ukraine’s opposition calls their allies in Rada to act on urgent return to 2004 Constitution. The leader of the Batkivschyna parliamentary faction Arseniy Yatseniuk said on February 11 that his party has asked all its opposition partners to support with 150 signatures the text of the Constitution of 2004 so that […]
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KRASNOYARSK, February 12 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday dismissed as “utter nonsense” online rumors that the Russian armed forces are virtually non-existent. At a meeting with students in the Siberian city of Kransnoyarsk, Shoigu was asked to comment on online rumors that “there is nothing left, our army is a total wreck and we can […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 12 (Interfax) – Most Russians (74%) see no serious chance to investigate corruption at Oboronservice, Levada Center sociologists said. Some 41% of 1,603 respondents polled in 45 regions on January 24-27 presumed that Oboronservice and similar cases would be soft-pedaled. A third (33%) said scapegoats would be punished and senior officials would skip punishment, and only 11% expected […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – D. Garrison Golubock – February 12, 2014) A statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky or Iron Felix, a Bolshevik revolutionary and founder of the Cheka, the predecessor of the KGB, will not be restored to its erstwhile location on Lubyanskaya Ploshchad, the Moscow Duma’s committee on monuments announced Tuesday. “Restoration of the monument is impractical at the […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – February 12, 2014) More than 14,000 Russians have been illegally prosecuted in the last three years, according to Prosecutor General Yury Chaika. “People are sitting in jail illegally for years,” RIA Novosti quoted Chaika as saying during a planned address before the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. According to Chaika, […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – February 12, 2014) When Russian anti-government activists look over the border at the political standoff in Ukraine, they can not help but feel pangs of envy. While the anti-Kremlin protests that began in late 2011 sputtered and faded over the course of the year, with few tangible results, Ukraine’s Euromaidan movement has […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – SOCHI – February 12, 2014) President Vladimir Putin has relished his role as the host and driving force behind the Sochi Winter Games as media criticism over corruption and flawed facilities was replaced by praise from visitors and athletes. Despite seemingly ominous reports of construction blunders and foreign leaders being unable or […]
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[“The Russian National Hobby-to Build Potemkin Village” – Carnegie Moscow Center – Lilia Shevtsova – February 11, 2014 – http://carnegie.ru/eurasiaoutlook/?fa=54483] Lilia Shevtsova comments on the public relations impact of the Sochi Olympics, and some of the challenges facing Russia: … the opening ceremony was indeed a fairy tale — an artists’ myth of Russia that does not exist. … … […]
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[“Shape Up Sochi” – Wall Street Journal – Betsy McKay – SOCHI – February 11, 2014 – http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2014/02/11/shape-up-sochi/] The Wall Street Journal covers efforts to use the Sochi Olympics to encourage health and fitness among Russians. The Olympics are supposed to inspire people to shape up and go for their inner gold, right? In Russia, that’s a big “if.” A […]
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[“Russians Return to Religion, But Not to Church” – Pew Research – pewforum.org – February 10, 2014 – http://www.pewforum.org/2014/02/10/russians-return-to-religion-but-not-to-church/] The Pew Forum examines data on Russian religious trends. The number of Russians declaring an affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church and other faiths has risen, but church attendance is low. Over the past two decades, since the collapse of the […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Harriet Salem and Graham Stack in Kyiv – February 11, 2014) Ukraine’s ruling Party of Regions is controversially deploying hired muscle to back up police units against opposition protestors. Nicknamed “titushki”, the activity of the hired hands is undermining the government’s already precarious legitimacy. bne spoke to a member of the titushki. There is […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 11, 2014) Even before he was chosen to lead the CPSU and hence the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev in December 1984 said he opposed the kind of megaprojects Soviet leaders had used up to then and favored instead more balanced development, a shift in attitude that informed his subsequent decision to block […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 11, 2014) The Communications and Press Ministry has submitted a draft bill to the government that would reorganize Russian Post and pave the way for the flotation of the company’s shares, Interfax reported Tuesday. The move is part of an overall strategy that would not only make Russian Post financially independent by 2018, but […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – February 11, 2014) Irina Rodnina, the famed figure skater who lit the Olympic flame at the Sochi opening ceremony, has said that a racially insensitive tweet sent from her account and featuring U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle was posted by hackers. The doctored – and, in the eyes of […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 11 (Interfax) – A senior Israeli diplomat has complained about an alleged upsurge of anti-Semitism in Ukraine. “In the last few years – I mean before this crisis – there was a decline in anti-Semitic sentiments in Ukraine. Now, of course, with the situation being as heated as it is, everything is bubbling over there,” Anna Azari, Foreign […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – George Feifer, special to RBTH – February 10, 2014) George Feifer is the author of many acclaimed books, including “Moscow Farewell” and “The Girl from Petrovka.” Thank you, Edward Snowden, for telling us how badly reform is needed. It would have been impossible without the knowledge you gave us. If Edward Snowden ever […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – February 11, 2014) Moscow is home to much of Russia’s wealth and has always been treated as a country and an investment destination in its own right. But over the last decade a handful of regions have got their act together and now are emerging as even more attractive […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, February 10, 2014) The scandals and nerve-wrecking events surrounding the Olympics have faded into the background, replaced with pride for the facilities constructed, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitriy Peskov has said. “This is an utterly extraordinary event. I am looking at what is happening and a sense of pride overtakes me. And all the nerve-wrecking things, all the […]
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SOCHI. Feb 11 (Interfax) – Ice hockey is drawing special interest at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, International Olympic Committee’s Director of Communications Mark Adams announced. The presence of National Hockey League players is the brightest chapter in the Games, he said, adding that the Russian team is brilliantly prepared. “Undoubtedly, it is a rare chance for Russians to watch […]
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(Stratfor.com – George Friedman – February 11, 2014) The struggle for some of the most strategic territory in the world took an interesting twist this week. Last week we discussed what appeared to be a significant shift in German national strategy in which Berlin seemed to declare a new doctrine of increased assertiveness in the world — a shift that […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Charles Recknagel – February 11, 2014) The Russian natural-gas giant Gazprom has long had its way in Europe, dominating the continent’s energy market and, according to critics, flaunting its rules with impunity. But that all might be about to change. A long-standing showdown between Gazprom and the European Union over alleged price fixing and monopoly practices […]
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(Interfax – February 11, 2014) The Russian branch of Transparency International has started studying the transparency of Russian non-governmental organizations (NGO) receiving EU grants, head of Transparency International office in Russia, Yelena Panfilova, said. “Due to the fact that Russia has many organizations receiving not just Russian budget funds but also EU budget funds, which are distributed by the European […]
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MOSCOW, February 11 (RIA Novosti) – Almost half of Russians are currently in love, although men with romantic feelings outnumber women, according to a new poll released Tuesday. Some 48 percent of Russians admitted to being in love, 4 percent less than in 2011, the survey by the independent Levada Center found. But, implying some emotional drama, the figure for […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 11 (Interfax) – The Moscow City Duma’s monumental art commission unanimously decided on Tuesday not to return a monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky, a prominent Soviet statesman and founder of the Soviet security services, to Lubyanskaya Square in central Moscow. “Taking into account the current circumstances in society, I propose refraining from returning the monument. This is more of […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova, Ivan Nechepurenko – SOCHI – February 11, 2014) Security concerns over terrorist attacks have declined since the Sochi Winter Olympics kicked off over the weekend, and visitors say they have not been inconvenienced by security measures despite the presence of thousands of law enforcement officers. The issue of security dominated international headlines in […]
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Subject: On Mark Adomanis in JRL #28 Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 12:48:37 -0600 From: David Stone <stone@ksu.edu> Mark Adomanis’ piece from Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/markadomanis/2014/02/09/why-pussy-riot-failed-in-one-chart/) that you included in JRL 28 uses Russia’s increasing religiosity to explain Pussy Riot’s failure. I don’t buy it. Adomanis refers to a study from the Levada Center (http://www.levada.ru/24-12-2013/rossiyane-o-religii) which measures Russians’ REPORTED religiosity. As should […]
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MOSCOW, February 10 (RIA Novosti) – A reporter for Russia’s leading television channel admitted lifting huge chunks of a nationalist report about the Sochi Olympics’ opening ceremony for use in her own report, which aired over the weekend. Irada Zeinalova said she quoted a report by Kremlin-bashing web resource Sputnik & Pogrom without attribution for a broadcast on Channel One. […]
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(Kremlin.ru – February 10, 2014) Vladimir Putin met with representatives of the Public Council for the Preparation of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. The Council was established on the initiative of Sochi residents to voice their opinions on the issues of greatest importance for the city. The meeting was held at the Sochi Media Centre, which was opened […]
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(Interfax – February 11, 2014) The Russian academic community reacted with shock and alarm to the recent decision by the Washington, D.C.-based Woodrow Wilson Center to shut down the Moscow office of the Kennan Institute. The oldest of the Wilson Center’s programs, the Kennan Institute brings together “scholars and governmental specialists to discuss political, social, and economic issues affecting Russia,” […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Des Brown – February 10, 2014) The Economist’s Feb. 1 issue led with President Putin and the Winter Olympics as its cover story, saying that “the message of the Games is simple: Russia is back.” Western commentators never fail to mention that the Winter Olympics are a showcase for Putin’s modern Russia, while highlighting Sochi’s […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#29 :: 11 February 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 […]
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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#28 :: 10 February 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. Moscow Times: Richard Lourie, 10 Good Things About Putin’s Russia. […]
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[“Awaiting Russia’s Next Move in Ukraine” – The International New York Times – Celestine Bohlen – February 11, 2014] The International New York Times covers efforts by the West to address the crisis in Ukraine. Russia is expected to step up efforts to bring Ukraine more firmly into the Russian sphere, once the Sochi Winter Olympics are concluded: … in […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – February 10, 2014) Renault Russia sales chief Sergei Kuteishchikov had to shave his head last month, having lost what seemed a sure bet. He gambled that in 2013’s declining market, his dealers would beat the previous year’s sales results, but not by much. A recent message he sent to the dealers included […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Andy Potts, special to RBTH – February 9, 2014) Andy Potts is a sportswriter and RBTH freelancer who is attending the Sochi Games as part of the International Ice Hockey Federation. Despite teething troubles over the last week, the Sochi Olympics have already shown that Russia is determined to present a new face […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 10, 2014) Vladimir Putin would view drawing Ukraine into a single economic and political arrangement with Russia as an enormous geopolitical achievement, but if he were to succeed initially, the Kremlin leader would be setting the stage for the demise of the Russian Federation itself, according to a Moscow commentator. In […]
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(Interfax – February 10, 2014) Ecology is to become the most sought-after, most funded field of Russian science over the next few years, Russian Presidential Aide and former education minister Andrei Fursenko said. “I think ecology will be a very interesting area (of research) for Russia. I believe that over the next five to ten years the problem of the […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – eonid Bershidsky – February 10, 2014) Leonid Bershidsky writes on Russia, Europe and technology for Bloomberg View. The Sochi Winter Olympics may have cost seven times as much as the Vancouver ones four years ago, but they are achieving President Vladimir Putin’s goal: Russians, including many of his fiercest opponents, have united in a powerful upsurge […]
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MOSCOW, February 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russian investigators have reopened a probe into an alleged multimillion-ruble fraud at the Defense Ministry on the basis of one of the suspect’s testimonies, Kommersant newspaper reported Monday. One of the key figures in the case has claimed that the defense officials accused of masterminding the scheme were not behind it, and has pointed […]
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(Interfax – February 10, 2014) Russia’s oldest human rights organization, the Moscow Helsinki Group, has been forced to cut its staff size by several times due to the notorious law on NGOs, Russian privately-owned news agency Interfax reported on 10 February, quoting the veteran rights champion, Lyudmila Alekseyeva, who heads the organization. “In connection with the new law there are […]
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MOSCOW, February 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s major satellite provider stopped broadcasting Dozhd independent television channel Monday after the network became embroiled into a controversy over an opinion poll about World War II. Tricolor TV, Russia’s biggest satellite TV provider, said a week ago that its board of directors had unanimously decided to exclude the liberal Dozhd channel from all […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman, Moscow Times theater editor – February 10, 2014) I once wrote most of what I planned to be a book about Russia. I got as far as sending chapters out to publishers. One of the few editors who was kind enough to reject me personally explained why my proposal was not of interest. […]
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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#27 :: 9 February 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. The Guardian: Sochi is to Putin what Berlin in 1936 […]
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