(Interfax – July 22, 2014) The “scenario” that has been used in Ukraine by “external” forces will not happen in Russia, President Vladimir Putin has said. He made these remarks at a meeting with the Russian Security Council, as reported by privately-owned news agency Interfax. Speaking about the so-called “colour revolutions” and in particular Ukraine, Putin said: “This is absolutely […]
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MOSCOW. July 23 (Interfax) – An overwhelming majority of Russians surveyed by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) (88%) believe there is currently a threat to Russian-speaking people in Ukraine and the Russian administration should protect their interests. Seven percent of the respondents said they do not believe such a threat exists in Ukraine. Eighty-four percent of the respondents […]
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KIEV, July 23 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian parliament speaker Oleksandr Turchynov announced that the Communist Party, who occupy 23 seats in the Verkhovna Rada, would be dissolved on Thursday. On Tuesday, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, made changes to its rules that would allow the speaker of the house to dissolve the Communist party. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a […]
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KYIV. July 23 (Interfax) – Petro Symonenko, leader of the Ukrainian Communist Party faction, was attacked by parliamentarians during the Wednesday morning parliament session. After a proposal was made to remove Symonenko from the hall, deputies from the Svoboda faction began pushing him from the hall for his statements “on the killing by Ukrainian military of the country’s citizens for […]
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BRUSSELS, July 23 (RIA Novosti) – Kiev received Moscow’s list of potential risks that Ukraine’s association with the European Union could present to Russia’s economy, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told journalists. “Just yesterday, we received Russia’s perception of the potential risks,” Klimkin said on Tuesday. Ukraine signed the agreement on its association with the EU on June 27. Russia […]
» Read moreMOSCOW. July 23 (Interfax) – Recordings of conversations between Ukrainian air traffic controllers and Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 have yet to be transferred to aviation specialists for an objective analysis. An informed source in Kyiv told Interfax last Friday, “Recordings of tower conversations with the Boeing crew have been seized and kept by the Ukrainian Security Service.” “They are still […]
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MOSCOW, July 23 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow will have to resort to protective measures if Ukraine’s association deal with the European Union poses risks for the Russian economy, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday. «We believe that the risks remain quite serious, especially concerning technical regulations and standards of sanitary and phytosanitary control. That’s why we are conducting consultations […]
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MOSCOW, July 23 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow has received «clear signals» from US and European companies about their intention to continue work in Russia, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday. «We have received quite clear signals that European and American companies are set to continue work with Russian partners. Time is ripe now to use non-political formats and pay attention […]
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(RIA Novosti – Dmitry Babich – July 22, 2014) The latest breaking news about the agreement of the insurgents in eastern Ukraine to permit Dutch forensics experts on Monday to search the wreckage of the downed Malaysia Airlines jetliner and to transfer the bodies of the victims, as well as the plane’s flight recorder boxes to the Malaysia government – these news […]
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… 38. Russian Military Reform: Dmitry Gorenburg, Who shot down MH 17?
39. CNN.com: Andrew Kuchins, Act now, or face war in Ukraine.
40. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: Convinced of His Own Exceptionalism, Putin is Both ‘a Pragmatist and a Fool,’ Milshtein Says.
41. Stratfor.com: George Friedman, Can Putin Survive?
42. Moscow Times editorial: Moscow Won’t Back Down on Ukraine. …
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, July 22, 2014) In a commentary entitled “Forewarned and Armed,” Ilya Milshtein argues that tragically “there are no particular reasons to hope that Putin will change his approach” in Ukraine. Instead, the Moscow analyst says, he will proceed in ways that reflect his beliefs in his own exceptionalism and in his ability […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 22, 2014) Britain is planning to hold a public inquiry into the death of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko while in exile in Britain, news agencies reported Tuesday. Home Secretary Theresa May confirmed that the public inquiry will be held, Reuters reported. The inquiry will open the way for an investigation of whether the […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Marina Starodubtseva, Nikolai Litovkin, RBTH – July 22, 2014) The Boeing 777 tragedy, which claimed the lives of 298 people, has seriously changed the course of the political game surrounding Ukraine. We asked the leading Russian experts to assess how the political situation changed after the events of July 17 and how relations […]
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(Moscow Times editorial – themoscowtimes.com – July 22, 2014) Despite hopes that the tragedy of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 would be a game-changer in Ukraine’s simmering conflict, days later it is clear that this is highly unlikely. Nothing will be dramatically altered by the results of the investigation into the catastrophe. No matter who – Ukrainian military or pro-Russian separatists […]
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(Stratfor.com – George Friedman – July 21, 2014) There is a general view that Vladimir Putin governs the Russian Federation as a dictator, that he has defeated and intimidated his opponents and that he has marshaled a powerful threat to surrounding countries. This is a reasonable view, but perhaps it should be re-evaluated in the context of recent events. Ukraine […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Svetlana Korneva, special to RBTH – July 20, 2014) July 20 is International Chess Day. Chess is practically the only sport in which Russia has managed to preserve its leadership since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Although public interest in chess has waned in recent years, chess players and officials are trying […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexey Eremenko – July 22, 2014) While Russia’s support of Ukrainian separatists has led to its worst standoff with the West in post-Soviet history, the Kremlin cannot afford to disown them because that would spell a major geopolitical defeat and alienate the jingoistic masses at home, Russian pundits said. The rebels are Moscow’s last remaining […]
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WASHINGTON, July 22 (RIA Novosti) – The United States could unveil intelligence assessment on the crash of a Malaysian passenger plane in eastern Ukraine, White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest said Monday. “I’m not in the position to offer a specific intelligence assessment. It’s certainly possible that we may be in the position to do that in the days ahead,” he […]
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MOSCOW. July 22 (Interfax) – Moscow is satisfied with the southeastern Ukraine militia giving flight recorders of the crashed plane to Malaysian representatives and expects they will be transferred in the future to the international expert group under the aegis of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Russian Foreign Ministry posted a statement on its website. “We express satisfaction […]
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MOSCOW. July 22 (Interfax) – The Russian Security Council Secretary, Nikolai Patrushev, has spoken of the need to draw conclusions from what is going on in Ukraine and heed the opinion of the Russian opposition. “The events occurring in Ukraine – their role for us is this: we must draw the right conclusions from them,” Patrushev told journalists after a […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 18, 2014) Against the backdrop of blistering diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Kiev, a 172-head herd of cows has been illegally trafficked across the Russian border, the Luhansk region branch of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry claimed Thursday. The herd went missing Wednesday night from a farm in Luhansk region’s Belovodsky district, Tatyana Pogukai, the head […]
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1. Financial Times: Thomas Graham, To stop Putin the west should repair Ukraine’s economy. Those who want Russia punished with tougher sanctions are misguided.
2. Carnegie Moscow Center: Dmitri Trenin, Midsummer Blues.
3. Euromaidan Press/Ukrainska Pravda: The Klimkin interview: terrorism, war, EU, Merkel and Putin. (new Ukraine foreign minister)
4. Reuters: Fighting flares in Ukraine as crash investigators arrive …
MOSCOW. July 21 (Interfax) – Russia did not provide the militia in southeastern Ukraine with Buk missile systems, the Russian Defense Ministry said. “The Russian Federation did not hand Buk missile systems, or other kinds of weapons or military hardware, to the militia,” said Gen. Andrei Kartopolov, chief of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operations Department.
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Graham Stack in Luhansk, Ukraine – July 21, 2014) While the world has been transfixed by the crash site of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, just an hour and half away dozens died from shelling in Luhansk on July 18. And while the guilt of Russian-backed rebels seems close to certain for downing the MH17 […]
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KYIV. July 21 (Interfax) – Donbas Water Company has stopped three pumping stations bringing water to the Seversky Donets – Donbas channel due to damage inflicted during battles, the press office of DTEK energy holding company of Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov said. “Due to the three pumping stations which have stopped pumping water to the Seversky Donets – Donbas channel, […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Henry Meyer, Irina Reznik, Ilya Arkhipov – July 21, 2014) Russia’s richest businessmen are increasingly frantic that President Vladimir Putin’s policies in Ukraine will lead to crippling sanctions and are too scared of reprisal to say so publicly, billionaires and analysts said. If Putin doesn’t move to end the war in Ukraine in the wake of […]
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Embassy of the United States, Kyiv Ukraine July 19, 2014 We assess that Flight MH17 was likely downed by a SA-11 surface-to-air missile from separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine. We base this judgment on several factors. Over the past month, we have detected an increasing amount of heavy weaponry to separatist fighters crossing the border from Russia into Ukraine. Last […]
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[featured image is file photo] Subject: FW: new post on Russian guilt Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 From: Anders Aslund <AAslund@PIIE.COM> David: Another version of the same evidence. Best, Anders From: paul roderick gregory [pgregory@stanford.edu] Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2014 3:27 PM To: Anders Aslund; Gregory Paul Subject: new post on Russian guilt http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/07/19/what-more-smoking-guns-are-needed-for-mh17-the-worlds-first-sam-terrorism/ Forbes.com July 19, 2014 Here Are […]
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[featured image is file photo] Subject: The truth about MH17 Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 From: Anders Aslund <AAslund@PIIE.COM> David: I hope you will lead with this excellent SBU video with English text next time. You can hardly get a better view of the reality of the MH17. http://www.sbu.gov.ua/sbu/control/en/publish/article?art_id=129088&cat_id=35317 Best, Anders [note from JRL web editor: the article linked to […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – July 21, 2014) “I don’t know what to do about it, John. It is a nightmare and it is hell. And something in me has been broken irreparably.” Thus responded Maksym Kurochkin, a Ukrainian Russian-language playwright, to my question about what he is experiencing these days. As his comments starkly suggest, recent […]
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MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine’s Finance Ministry has asked the parliament to earmark 9.1 billion hryvnia ($780 million) to finance the special operation against independence supporters in the country’s east, the ministry’s press service said. Finance Minister Oleksandr Shlapak said some 6.8 billion hryvnia ($583 million) was allocated for the operation in March. The operation later prompted an […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Mark Lammey – July 21, 2014) Russia is planning to complain to the World Trade Organization, or WTO, abou t sanctions imposed by the U.S. over Russia’s perceived failure to help de-escalate the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, media reports said. The U.S. on Wednesday let rip with its third and harshest round of sanctions against […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – July 21, 2014) Despite lofty predictions to the contrary, the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17 will not change the game in Ukraine, analysts told The Moscow Times on Sunday. “Rather than pushing for reconciliation and negotiation, the West has used this tr agedy to consolidate against Russia, while Putin remains unable to […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – July 21, 2014) President Vladimir Putin called for international access to the crash site of a Malaysian airliner in rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine, while the leaders of the U.S. and EU nations accused him of failing to back up his words with action and warned of additional sanctions when an EU panel convenes […]
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… 2. The Guardian: Masha Alekhina, Russian media is covering up Putin’s complicity in the MH17 tragedy.
3. Anders Aslund: The truth about MH17. (SBU video)
4. Forbes.com: Paul Robert Gregory, Here Are The Intercepted Transcripts Indicating Russian Rebels Shot Down Malaysian Flight MH17.
5. Embassy of the United States, Kyiv Ukraine: United States Assessment of the Downing of Flight MH17 and its Aftermath. …
TOREZ (Ukraine), July 20 (RIA Novosti) – Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have arrived at the railway station near the crash site of the downed Malaysia Airlines jet to inspect the train that is due to transport the victims’ bodies to Donetsk, a RIA Novosti correspondent reports on the ground. Leonid Baranov, a senior […]
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(Business New Europe MOSCOW BLOG – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – July 17, 2014) The crisis in Ukraine is tearing at global relations on several levels. The tension in the West was highlighted yet again by the lopsided sanctions imposed on Russia on July 16. While Washington targeted Russian banks and oil companies, Europe was unwilling to follow […]
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MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) – The belongings of the passengers killed in a Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 crash in eastern Ukraine have been safely preserved, a representative of the special mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Ukraine, Michael Bochurkiv, said Saturday, adding that no distortion by the militia in the region has been noted. […]
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MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin compared Washington’s hasty conclusions on the cause of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 crash in Ukraine to its statement on Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction made years ago. “The White House has established the guilty even before the investigation of the Boeing accident. Earlier, the White House […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexei Lossan, RBTH – July 18, 2014) The U.S. Department of the Treasury has included large Russian companies in its list of sanctions, including the main institute of development VEB (Vnesheconombank), the major oil company Rosneft, and several defense-industrial enterprises. Experts consider these to be the most serious sanctions ever to be leveled […]
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BRUSSELS, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – The European Commission does not know on what basis the United States concluded that a Malaysian Airlines passenger plane, which crashed in eastern Ukraine, was shot down by a missile, a source in the EC told RIA Novosti on Friday. “One must ask them. The European Commission does not have the data of where […]
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LIPETSK, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – US sanctions imposed on Russia are restraints but will not cripple the country’s economy, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Friday. “This is a program of limiting our country, or as is accepted to say, restraining [Russia],” Medvedev told students at a metallurgical plant in Lipetsk. “Sanctions won’t cripple our economy, everything will be […]
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MOSCOW, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – The authorities from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine are discussing a ceasefire with Kiev in order to investigate the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane disaster, the republic’s prime minister told RIA Novosti by telephone Friday. DPR Prime Minister Alexander Borodai said that a meeting would be held Friday afternoon with the participation […]
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MOSCOW. July 18 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin believes Ukraine is responsible for the Malaysia Airline plane crash on Thursday. “Definitely, the state in whose airspace this has happened bears responsibility for this terrible tragedy,” the Russian chief of state said late on Thursday night at a conference on economic issues. He proposed to start the conference with a […]
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MOSCOW, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Defense Ministry says it had intercepted the activity of a Ukrainian radar system on the day the Malaysian plane went down in eastern Ukraine, the ministry’s press service said Friday. “Throughout the day on July 17, Russian means of radar surveillance intercepted the operation of the Buk-M1 battery’s Kupol radar station located […]
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(Interfax – July 18, 2014) The route and crash site of yesterday’s downed Malaysian Boeing 777 jet falls within the zone targeted by two Ukrainian squadrons operating a S-200 long-range air defense system and three squadrons operating a Buk-M1 medium-range air defense system, a spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry told Interfax-AVN on Friday. Throughout July 17, Russian aviation systems […]
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MOSCOW. July 18 (Interfax) – Moscow does not see any sign of the U.S. authorities wanting to facilitate a negotiated solution of the Ukrainian crisis, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. “We are not feeling a U.S. desire to send signals to Kyiv in favor of a negotiated resolution,” he said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 television channel. […]
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[“IHS Jane’s analysis of the capabilities of Ukraine’s missile systems” – IHS – press.ihs.com – July 17, 2014] The IHS Jane’s Missiles & Rockets editor considers the shoot-down of the Malaysian civilian airliner in eastern Ukraine. An airliner cruising at around 30,000 ft altitude would be well above the coverage of shoulder-fired man-portable missile systems … * * * Downing an airliner flying […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#156 :: Friday 18 July 2014 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 1. ITAR-TASS: Militias do not have Ukrainian Buk missile system – […]
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[“World leaders demand answers after airliner downed over Ukraine with 298 dead” – Reuters – Anton Zverev – July 18, 2014] Reuters covers the shoot-down of the Malaysian civilian jumbo jet in eastern Ukraine and its aftermath, including calls for an international investigation. World leaders demanded an international investigation into the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner with 298 people … over eastern […]
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