(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Howard Amos – April 13, 2015) Clutching two plastic bags full of clothes she had just collected from a charity center in central Moscow, Svetlana Burkutskaya said that rising prices were making it harder for her to find enough money to put food on the table for her three school-age children. “There is not sufficient […]
» Read moreJohnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#71 :: Sunday 12 April 2015 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php 1. Carnegie Moscow Center: Dmitri Trenin, From Greater Europe to Greater Asia? The Sino-Russian Entente. 2. Financial Times: Kathrin Hille, What Russians […]
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(Voice of America – voanews.com – April 10, 2015) Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul tells VOA that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no interest in resolving the conflict in Ukraine because it serves his interest. McFaul said Thursday that Putin likes the open-ended, low grade military confrontation in the former Soviet republic because it works to undermine the government in Kyiv. The […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Henry Kirby in London – April 10, 2015 – bne.eu/content/story/bnechart-putin-ratings-defy-grim-economic-outlook) 25 years after Ronald Reagan left the White House, it would seem that Russia has its own ‘Teflon President’ in Vladimir Putin. The Russian president’s consistently high ratings show that his and Reagan’s similarities go beyond a Hollywood penchant for horse riding and rifle-toting, […]
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“Crimea is ours!” has become a rallying cry for Russian nationalists overjoyed at the “return” of land which they have always thought was part of Russia. And it wasn’t just nationalists. Apparently, Crimea’s entry into the Russian Federation struck a nerve among most ordinary Russians. Judging by opinion polls somewhere between 70 and 80% of total population expressed approval. http://readrussia.com/2015/04/09/russians-think-seizing-crimea-will-pay-off/
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Ukrainian civil society has become something of a paradox over the past year. Following former President Yanukovych’s ouster in February of 2014, civil society organizations successfully guided the country through a difficult transfer of power. From February to April 2014, it was the Maidan self-defense groups that fought back separatist uprisings and a Russian-backed invasion, and maintained order in Ukrainian […]
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On Friday, Standard & Poor’s cut Ukraine’s long term foreign debt rating to CC from CCC-. The rating of CC is one notch above C, which is used when a debtor is in the process of filing for bankruptcy protection. Standard & Poor’s kept Ukraine’s short-term foreign credit rating at C with a negative outlook. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2015/04/10/ukraine-debt-rating-now-super-duper-junk/
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The Minsk II accord is not a peace deal. It is a cease-fire agreement, and a fragile one at that. Beyond suspending large-scale hostilities, pulling back heavy weapons and exchanging prisoners of war, Minsk can hardly be implemented. http://nationalinterest.org/feature/europes-nightmare-ukraines-massive-meltdown-12597
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On April 9 Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada adopted four laws pertaining to Ukraine’s recent history, two of which at least are highly contentious, with the manner in which they were presented to parliament and voted on also grounds for concern. At a time when Russia is waging undeclared war against Ukraine, the need for unity is paramount. Instead, a majority in […]
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The Herald and David Pratt examine some of the human costs of the conflict in Ukraine. Those who could afford it, or had somewhere else to go, got out when they could. But often the most vulnerable — the elderly; infirm; poor; disabled — had no choice but to sit out the violence engulfing their community. Nadezhda Kalashnikova’s husband, […]
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… Since the start of his third presidential term in 2012, Putin has identified patriotism and a hero cult as the necessary glue for his disoriented nation. ‘There is a great work under way now for the patriotic education of the youth,’ says Nadezhda Malinina, granddaughter of General Mikhail Malinin, Marshall Zhukov’s chief of staff …. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/505bfd22-de2e-11e4-8d14-00144feab7de.html#slide0
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Feuding oligarchs are battling to retain or increase their influence in the new order, and their lieutenants are turning up dead. Melnychuk was a prosecutor in the southern port town of Odessa, governed by Kolomoisky ally Ihor Palytsia. He is just one of at least eight officials appointed by the Yanukovych regime, ousted by pro-democracy protesters in February last year, […]
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Carnegie Moscow’s Dmitri Trenin considers shifting relations between Russia and China amidst tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine. He argues that, regardless of how close Russia gets with China, a rupture between Russia and the West could mean Russia is more energetic at seeking stronger connections beyond the West generally, especially in Asia. The rupture between Russia and […]
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It is far too early to assume last week’s framework agreement between Iran and the six world powers will lead to a permanent deal governing how Iran develops its nuclear industry. But while all sides acknowledge the difficulties still to be tackled, there is a very good chance that a permanent deal may be put in place in the summer and sanctions against the country may start to unwind from later this year […]
» Read moreJohnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#70 :: Wednesday 8 April 2015 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php DJ: There may be no JRLs the next few days. Lots of reading for you to catch up on. I hope you […]
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(stratfor.com – Geopolitical Weekly – Reva Bhalla – April 7, 2015) When a group of weary diplomats announced a framework for an Iranian nuclear accord last week in Lausanne, there was one diplomat in the mix whose feigned enthusiasm was hard to miss. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov left the talks at their most critical point March 30, much to the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – April 8, 2015) The rhetoric of the Ukraine crisis has amplified long-standing apprehensions in Moscow and Washington and halted progress on arms control for the time being. Five years after the United States and Russia signed the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty, the spirit in which it was signed is dead. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – April 8, 2015) Russia’s Investigative Committee has reportedly demanded explanations about government subsidies to media that support opposition positions after a pro-Kremlin daily accused a government agency of supporting publications that pursue “clearly anti-state” policies. The report by the pro-government newspaper Izvestia on Tuesday named some of Russia’s best-known remaining independent-minded media […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, April 8, 2015) Just as the notion of a liberal Soviet Union proved to be a contradiction in terms, so too the Russian Federation in its current borders cannot become a democracy, according to Lech Walesa. It must first disintegrate and then some parts of it might be able to come back […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 8, 2015) While the Russian federal government’s burgeoning reliance on the Russian Orthodox Church is a tool aimed at consolidating society, in using it the authorities risk giving the clergy too much power, an issue that may eventually backfire against the Kremlin, experts told The Moscow Times on Tuesday. Recent public […]
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(RIA Novosti – April 7, 2015) Aleksey Kudrin, Russia’s finance minister from 2000 to 2011, has said he still receives offers to return to the government but has turned them down because of “half-hearted” reforms, RIA Novosti (part of the state-owned International News Agency Rossiya Segodnya) reported on 7 April. “My leaving the government, as is well-known, was related to […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexei Lossan, RBTH – April 8, 2015) A report released by the World Bank projects no economic growth in Russia either in 2015 or 2016. This forecast is at odds with the figures from the Russian Ministry of the Economy, which predicts an economic growth of 2.3 percent as early as in 2016. […]
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MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) – The decline in Russia’s GDP in 2015 will not exceed 3%, industrial production will drop 1%-1.5%, and investment in fixed assets will fall 11%, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said. “We assume that this year under the most conservative estimate of the oil market situation – $50 per barrel – we will have a decline […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Howard Amos – April 8, 2015) The Russian currency strengthened rapidly Wednesday as a recent rally driven by greater confidence in the ruble and easing international tensions overpowered the downward pressure of a sliding oil price. The ruble jumped over 3 percent in morning trading to 53.4 against the U.S. dollar before weakening slightly to […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 8, 2015) While the Russian government is trying to involve itself in more economic spheres, the state is failing to perform its basic functions and corruption has swelled to levels “unimaginable” during the heydays of previous administrations, the head of Russia’s second-largest bank said at an international conference on economic development conference on Tuesday. […]
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MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) – A new version of the Russian president’s website launched on Wednesday took a year to develop within the current budget, no extra funds were allocated, the Kremlin said. “An updated version of the official website of the Russian president has been opened. The previous version was launched more than five years ago, in September 2009. […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Marina Obrazkova, RBTH – April 7, 2015) Russia has come 15th out of 69 countries for the friendliness of its customer service, according to data from the Smiling Report, an annual evaluation of how warmly shoppers are greeted around the world. Analysts and industry insiders say that Russia’s approach to customer service has drastically changed in […]
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(RIA Novosti – Moscow, April 7, 2015) Moscow has no intention of hindering the work of Ukrainian media outlets in response to Kiev’s actions against Russian journalists, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitriy Peskov has said. “Responding in an uncivilized manner to uncivilized behaviour is not something we are in the habit of doing in Moscow. You know that foreign media […]
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MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) – The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) is ready to participate in the activity of joint working groups, which will address concrete areas of the peace process in southeastern Ukraine. “We have done more than enough to prepare operations of the joint working groups. We are fully prepared, for instance, we have legal teams studying nuances […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Anna Yalovkina – April 7, 2015) The closure of the border between Ukraine and the Donetsk People’s Republic has divided communities, leaving people short of food and medicines. In January, after spending months trying to secure Donetsk’s airport, the Ukrainian authorities closed off all roads into the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). Now residents of the towns and […]
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(Interfax – April 6, 2015) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s statements on maintaining the unitary system of state governance and the Ukrainian language remaining the only state language in the country are unacceptable and contradict the Minsk Agreements, Andriy Purhin (Andrey Purgin), the speaker of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) people’s council, has said, as reported by privately-owned Russian news […]
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(Interfax – April 6, 2015) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he is ready to hold a referendum regarding Ukraine’s state system. “I am ready to launch a referendum on the issue of the state system, if you see a need for that,” Poroshenko said at a meeting of the constitutional commission in Kiev on Monday. Poroshenko earlier said he is ready […]
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(RIA Novosti – April 6, 2015) Aleksandr Shokhin, the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE), has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks during a meeting with the union’s administrative office have been distorted in an article by Forbes magazine, RIA Novosti (part of the state-owned International News Agency Rossiya Segodnya) reported on 6 April. According […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 7, 2015) President Vladimir Putin in February turned down an offer from his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko to “take the Donbass” – the area in the country’s east that is currently partly controlled by pro-Russian insurgents – and asked Poroshenko whether he was “out of his mind,” Forbes magazine reported Monday. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 7, 2015) Ukrainian rocket manufacturer Yuzhmash has agreed to service two launches of a Ukrainian-built rocket from the Russia-controlled Baikonur cosmodrome, despite Moscow’s moves to curtail space cooperation with Kiev, newspaper Izvestia reported Monday, citing the company’s general director. With Russia and Ukraine at loggerheads over Crimea and eastern Ukraine, Yuzhmash had previously not responded […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Yulia Surkova – April 7, 2015) Deep behind rebel lines in eastern Ukraine, cash machines on garbage-covered streets have long run out of bills and residents are turning to fixers to survive. A pro-Russian insurgency that erupted a year ago has killed more than 6,000 people, with economic desperation permeating what was once Ukraine’s industrial heartland. Residents of […]
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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday signaled a readiness to let Ukrainian voters decide whether to decentralize their government but denounced the demands of pro-Russian separatists for independence as an “infection” spread from Russia. Los Angeles Times: Ukrainian president says any vote on ceding power to rebels will fail.
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Western sanctions on Russia are not working and a proposal to provide defensive weapons to Ukrainian security forces will not deter the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, according to Andrei Illarionov, a former advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Atlantic Council: Former Putin Advisor on Kremlin’s Big War. (Andrei Illarionov)
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The Ukrainian authorities intend to spend about UAH 1 billion on the fortification work on the demarcation line in Donbas, deputy commander of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) Colonel Valentyn Fedychev said on Wednesday, the press service of Donetsk Regional Military and Civil Administration reported. Interfax-Ukraine: Fortification work on demarcation line in Donbas to cost UAH 1 bln – ATO deputy […]
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Former US ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst has called on the west to extend sanctions against Russia because the ceasefire agreed to by Ukraine and Russia is not holding. Herbst believes that the status quo is contributing to Putin’s ultimate goal, which is to destabilise Ukraine. Ukraine Today: Former US Ambassador says Putin’s ultimate goal is to destabilise Ukraine. (John […]
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The Chancellery recently announced that Angela Merkel will not attend the May 9 Moscow celebration to mark the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II. She will, however, lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin the following day. This dual message symbolizes where German-Russian relations are today: reluctance to […]
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Russian lawmakers took a major step on Tuesday toward ousting Ilya V. Ponomarev, the only member of Parliament who opposed the annexation of Crimea last year and one of the few elected officials who have repeatedly dared to challenge President Vladimir V. Putin publicly. New York Times: Lawmakers Take Step to Remove Putin Critic. (Ilya V. Ponomarev)
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Russian oil companies are diversifying slowly away from their dependence on the European Union, just as the E.U. does the same with its long-time supplier of oil and natural gas. As a result, Russian exports to Germany — its most important market — fell between 2014 and 2013. And Ukraine shipments have fallen by nearly half. Forbes.com: Kenneth Rapoza, […]
» Read more[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#69 :: Tuesday 7 April 2015 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php 1. Kyiv Post: A group of lawmakers wants Yatsenyuk […]
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Subject: The Russian Sociological Review Date: Mon, 06 Apr 2015 12:47:05 -0500 From: Nail Farkhatdinov (farkhatdinov@gmail.com) The Russian Sociological Review (sociologica.hse.ru/en), an international peer-reviewed academic journal published by the National Research University – Higher School of Economics (www.hse.ru), invites contributions from philosophy, social sciences and cognate fields for the special issue entitled State of War: Human Condition and Social Orders. […]
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Subject: new Orthodox journal The Wheel Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2015 From: Andrei Zolotov (andrei.zolotovrp@rian.ru) I would like to forward to you information about a pretty amazing new project – an English-language journal of Orthodox Christian thought, The Wheel, that has been put together by my friends. It seems to me The Wheel, and in particular its first issue on the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Howard Amos – April 7, 2015) As Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras prepares for talks with President Vladimir Putin during a visit to Moscow beginning on Wednesday, experts, officials and European leaders have been left guessing whether the two men might hammer out an economic deal. The meeting was announced less than a month ago […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – April 6, 2015) Talks between Iran and the P5+1 in Switzerland on Tehran’s nuclear program ended on April 2 with a joint accord aimed at paving the way for a comprehensive agreement and the eventual lifting of sanctions on Iran. While Moscow sees the compromise as a triumph for international diplomacy, experts believe […]
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(RIA Novosti – April 6, 2015) The US is trying to curb the relations of “all the countries without exception” with Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. He was speaking in an interview with Dmitriy Kiselev, director-general of the state-owned International News Agency Rossiya Segodnya, as reported by RIA Novosti (part of Rossiya Segodnya) on 6 April. “The […]
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(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Leonid Martynyuk – April 6, 2015 – article also appeared at imrussia.org/en/opinions/2222-dmitry-oreshkin-in-the-light-of-nemtsovs-murder-putin-looks-like-a-weak-and-dependent-politician) The Institute of Modern Russia continues its series of interviews with Russian and Western experts on the situation in Russia, its relationship with the West, and the future of its political system. Journalist Leonid Martynyuk speaks with prominent Russian political scientist Dmitry Oreshkin […]
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