(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Lottie Millington in London – September 14, 2015) Moscow has been voted the unfriendliest city in the world by readers of the US magazine Travel and Leisure. The third unfriendliest was Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg, with cities in America, Western Europe and China also appearing in the list of 15 cities. Even so, […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, September 14, 2015) The current lull in the fighting in the Donbas is “one of the tactical elements in the Kremlin’s efforts to get out of open confrontation with the West and offer the West a new deal – the idea of a global anti-terrorist coalition,” Liliya Shevtsova says; but it does […]
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Memories of the Soviet Army’s failure in Afghanistan still haunt the Russian public – making a major deployment to Syria almost unthinkable, Russian experts say.
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MOSCOW. Sept 13 (Interfax) – The obsession of the West with sanctions and not only with regard to Russia will become one of the subjects of the speech of President Vladimir Putin at the jubilee session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has announced. “We assume that Putin will express our principled evaluations […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – September 10, 2015) As we prepare for the new theater season, a note of alarm can be heard in the air. Consider the titles of three of the season’s biggest new shows – “The Suicide,” “Russian Blues” and “Who Lives Well in Russia?” But beyond that clear, thematic hum of consternation, there […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Graham Stack in Odesa – September 10, 2015) 47-year-old Sasha Borovik is one of the most colourful and controversial of Ukraine’s new team of radical reformers parachuted in to revamp the country’s corrupt and dysfunctional institutions. In early 2015 he broke off a high-flying career abroad as an IT lawyer with Microsoft and other […]
» Read more[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#177 Friday – 11 September 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 The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or the George Washington University. JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL […]
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KYIV. Sept 11 (Interfax) – The past 24 hours were the first day in the past 18 months that saw no casualties and heard no shooting in eastern Ukraine, the country’s President Petro Poroshenko said. “I want to say that today is the first day in the past 18 months on which there were no casualties and no shooting during […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Daryna Krasnolutska and Anton Doroshev – September 11, 2015) Russia said the deadline to implement a peace accord between Ukraine and the Kremlin-backed separatists it’s battling may be extended, as the conflict’s first day in 18 months without shelling raised hopes of progress. The suggestion contradicted the message from Ukrainian officials as President Petro Poroshenko and […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 11 (Interfax) – The Central Bank of Russia updated the forecast that was made earlier on the average annual price for oil and now is considering it being close to $50 a barrel in the next three years as the baseline scenario. “Going forward, the economic situation will depend on the global energy prices and the economy’s ability […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Chris Weafer of Macro-Advisory – September 11, 2015) Chris Weafer is a founding partner of Macro-Advisory, which helps investors cut though the noise & focus on underlying trends, real political risks, & opportunities in Russia/CIS, Eurasia Union, & Mongolia. Follow him on @ChrisWeafer One of the slogans now regularly deployed to describe Russia’s current […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Daria Litvinova – September 11, 2015) On Sunday, the governors of 21 Russian regions and more than 1,300 heads of small city administrations will be elected, together with deputies for 11 regional parliaments and 25 city legislatures. The nationwide elections, known as unified election day, are considered by some analysts to be a final rehearsal […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yana Pchelintseva, special to RBTH – September 11, 2015) Russian scientists have found about 700 “methane holes” in the Arctic shelf. The scale of emissions shows that the permafrost has degraded severely, and researchers think the thawing is irreversible. A team of Russian scientists spent over 20 years examining thermokarst lakes – bodies […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – September 11, 2015) Four years after the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) was founded, the startup university has finally moved into its own purpose-built campus, and has succeeded in luring accomplished Russian diaspora scientists back to Russia after periods of up to 20 years abroad. Some of them say they […]
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(Interfax – September 10, 2015) The head of the Russian Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee, Konstantin Kosachev, has said that he believes that a Russia that challenges the American theory of exclusive leadership will always be a problem for the USA, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 10 September. Russia to be problem for USA for as long as […]
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Mikheil Saakashvili came to Ukraine to be Odessa’s governor at President Poroshenko’s request. But now he’s picking a very public fight with PM Yatsenyuk.
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, September 9, 2015) Vladimir Putin not only doesn’t want to annex the Donbas but can’t do so, according to Yevgeny Ikhlov; and that means the region will become another edition of Transdniestria, creating ongoing problems for both Russian and Ukraine but opening the possibility Kyiv will be able to follow the Baltic […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – BOOK REVIEW: Chris Weafer in Moscow – September 10, 2015) Chris Weafer is a founding partner of Macro-Advisory, which helps investors cut though the noise & focus on underlying trends, real political risks, & opportunities in Russia/CIS, Eurasia Union, & Mongolia. Follow him on @ChrisWeafer A great many books about Russia are published each […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Daria Litvinova – September 8, 2015) Media reports of a Russian military presence in Syria have stirred high-profile accusations that Russia is reinforcing its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, President Vladimir Putin’s long-term ally who has been battling opposition forces in his country since 2011. The reports, which are sketchy and not substantiated by […]
» Read more[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#176 Thursday – 10 September 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 The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or the George Washington University. JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – TROIKA REPORT: Sergey Strokan, Vladimir Mikheev – September 3, 2015) 1. Engaging the West Negotiations on Ukraine: a marriage of convenience amid new crisis A stormy session in Ukraine’s parliament this week while debating the proposed decentralization of governance in the eastern Donbass region, followed by a bloody riot in Kiev, signaled a […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexander Bratersky, special to RBTH – September 3, 2015) As Russian students head back to school, the country’s continued economic downturn and decline in real income is forcing some parents to make difficult decisions about educational expenses. Victoria, a single mother of a 13-year-old son, used to make enough money to live comfortably […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – MOSCOW BLOG: Anna Kravchenko in Moscow – September 4, 2015) [Photos here bne.eu/content/story/moscow-blog-what-crisis-moscow-marks-868th-birthday-glam-metal-and-plenty-make] There is an old Moscow joke about continuous road repair in the city: When leaving his post in 2010, former mayor Yury Luzhkov said he buried treasure under one of the pavements, hence all the digging. This summer the joke is […]
» Read more[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#175 Friday – 4 September 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 The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or the George Washington University. JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – September 3, 2015) Donald Trump might hope that he will have a great relationship with President Vladimir Putin if he gets elected into the White House, but the problem is that Russia’s relationship with the United States is driven by political elites in the two countries who have their own divergent interests, […]
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(Interfax – September 3, 2015) With one year to go, half of Russian citizens have said they intend to vote in the next parliamentary election in Russia scheduled for 13 September 2016, according to an opinion poll conducted by Levada Centre. Thirty-one per cent have said they are “very likely” to vote and 19 per cent said they will “definitely” […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – September 4, 2015) Only five acting governors taking part in elections in 21 Russian regions next week have published electoral manifestos, the Petersburg Politics think tank said in a report published Thursday. The lack of manifestos attests to a deficit of clear vision among potential heads of Russian regions – as well […]
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After 14 years, Moscow is renewing an effort to claim a vast territory on the outer margin of the continental shelf abutting Russia’s land mass in the Arctic. What are the economic benefits of acquiring the legal rights to this underwater area and is Russia’s claim likely to be approved? (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexei Lossan, RBTH […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – September 3, 2015) Gifted young Russians should “most importantly” work for the glory of their country, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday at a new center for gifted students in the southern city of Sochi. The center, which has been named “Sirius,” after the brightest star in the night sky, offers special programs […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Daria Litvinova – September 3, 2015) In a streak of measures designed to impose stricter control over the Internet in Russia, the law that requires all Internet services store the personal data of Russian users on Russian territory – in effect from Tuesday – will be the most difficult to implement due to its vagueness […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Howard Amos – September 2, 2015) President Vladimir Putin will be one of the most noteworthy guests at Chinese celebrations to mark the end of World War II when he arrives in Beijing on Wednesday, even as fraying economic ties between the two giant countries undermine the Kremlin’s “pivot to the East.” The Russian delegation […]
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