Month: February 2016
NEWSLINK Kyiv Post/Paul Niland: Poroshenko, Shokin — clean up your act or get out
NEWSLINK The Motley Fool: “Ukraine’s Biggest Plane Maker Shuts Down — and Boeing and Lockheed Breathe a Sigh of Relief. The Antonov Aviation Company is no more.”
NEWSLINK empr.media: “Interview. Aivaras Abromavicius: ‘Reshuffling old methods is not reform'”
NEWSLINK Interfax-Ukraine: “Abromavicius achieves partial success, has no conceptual strategy for economic policy”
NEWSLINK: “Defense Think Tank Pushes for New Talks Between Russia and NATO” – Wall Street Journal
NEWSLINK: “Yatseniuk proposes to reset Ukrainian administration” – Interfax-Ukraine
NEWSLINK: “UKRAINE AND THE LETHAL HAND OF HISTORY. Whatever the ambitions of Putin, his interference in Ukraine would have come to little without the country’s charged history of internal division.” – The Wilson Quarterly/Robert Thurston
NEWSLINK: “Ukrainian Corruption Could Endanger IMF Loan” – Transitions Online
Kyiv Post: Brian Bonner, Poroshenko becoming another Yanukovych.
NEWSLINK: “On which side of the reform fence does Poroshenko sit?” – Kyiv Post/Timothy Ash
NEWSLINK: “No reform, no aid” – Kyiv Post
NEWSLINK: “Ukraine Struggles to Recruit Soldiers for War in East” – Reuters
NEWSLINK: “How NATO’s Military Buildup Will Test Russia. More weapons are on their way to Moscow’s neighbors.” – The National Interest/Nikolas Gvosdev
NEWSLINK: “Government Approval Drops as Russians Start to Feel Economic Sting” – Center for Global Interests/Sergey Aleksashenko
NEWSLINK: “Life after sanctions: What kind of future awaits Russia and the EU? With calls for EU economic sanctions against Russia to be lifted growing, it is time to consider what kind of future awaits relations between Moscow and Europe – is the idea of close co-operation dead and buried, or can both sides bury the hatchet and move toward a more meaningful and trusting relationship?” – RBTH/Gazeta.ru/Fyodor Lukyanov
NEWSLINK: “Putin outlines conditions for privatization of state assets.” – RBTH/RBC Daily
NEWSLINK: “Primakov Lecture by Henry A. Kissinger at the Gorchakov Fund in Moscow.” – Gorchakov Fund
Rose Gottemoeller: Washington, Moscow could settle INF problem in 2016
(Interfax – February 5, 2016) U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security State Rose Gottemoeller has given an interview to Interfax in which she speaks about U.S.-Russian issues over the INF Treaty and states that the United States is not going to return to the IV stage of its missile shield in Europe and not going […]
» Read moreReview: Arkady Ostrovsky’s ‘The Invention of Russia’
This new history tells a compelling, if normative, story of how Russia’s journalists and entrepreneurs threw off their former shackles, only to put them back on again. (opendemocracy.net – Maxim Edwards – February 3, 2016) Maxim Edwards is Commissioning Editor at oDR. He writes on nationalism, inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations, with a focus on post-Soviet countries. His articles have appeared […]
» Read moreUkrainian Bonds Plummet as Government Unity Efforts Stumble
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Natasha Doff, Daryna Krasnolutska – February 5, 2016) Ukrainian government bonds plunged as efforts faltered to shore up the ruling coalition after a key reformer quit and accused presidential party members of corruption. Notes issued in November after a $15 billion restructuring are poised for their worst week in the wake of comments from the parliament […]
» Read morePutin vs. Erdogan – This Time It’s Personal
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – February 4, 2016) On Feb. 2, Turkish President Recep Erdogan urgently sought an audience with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The Turkish ambassador in Moscow relayed the message, but has, it seems, yet to receive a response. It was the second time Erdogan has been rebuffed by Putin following Turkey’s downing of […]
» Read moreMicromanaged Democracy: Russia’s Ruling Party Schools Candidates On Campaigning
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – February 3, 2016) Elections for Russia’s State Duma, as well as a large number of local contests, are scheduled for September. And the ruling United Russia party wants to make sure its candidates are prepared for any awkward encounters with voters or journalists. The party has created a largely closed section on its […]
» Read moreRussia’s latest anti-crisis plan: How will it work?
The Russian government is making fresh attempts to lead the economy out of the crisis, primarily by investing in industry. RBTH analyzes the Kremlin’s latest anti-crisis plan and offers three alternative strategies for overcoming the crisis. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – ALEXEI LOSSAN, RBTH – February 4, 2016) At the beginning of 2016 the signs for the Russian […]
» Read moreRussia sees 1% January inflation, annual falls to single figures – Rosstat
MOSCOW. Feb 5 (Interfax) – Russia had 1% inflation in January 2016, compared with 0.8% in both December and November 2015, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said. Analysts told Interfax in a consensus forecast at the end of January that they thought inflation for the month would be 1%. Inflation soared to 3.9% in January 2015 – the highest […]
» Read moreMore Than Half of Russians Negative on State of Economy – Poll
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 5, 2016) More than half of Russians have a negative outlook for the economic situation, the highest amount since the country’s financial crisis began, the Kommersant newspaper reported Friday, citing a recent poll. According to the results of the poll carried out by the Obshchestvennoye Mnenie (Public Opinion) Foundation, 54 percent of Russians now […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “NATO Expected to Approve Expansion of Troop Deployments on Eastern Flank. Russia has repeatedly said any additional deployments are deeply destabilizing and a threat to its security.” – Wall Street Journal
NEWSLINK: “After four months, Russia’s campaign in Syria is proving successful for Moscow” – Washington Post
NEWSLINK: “Russian State Assets for Sale: The Privatization Delusion” – Moscow Times/Mark Adomanis
Putin Using Specter of Russia’s Disintegration to Avoid Reform, Rogov Says
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, February 4, 2016) Vladimir Putin is talking about the disintegration of the Soviet Union in order to promote among Russians that their country is at risk of the same fate, an idea that as it gains currency will drive off the political agenda all other issues, including the failures of the current […]
» Read moreRussia’s year of cinema, or a return to silent films
In Russia, 2016 has been designated the Year of Cinema. But any new films are likely to be ‘silent’, lacking any voice of their own. (opendemocracy.net – Eleonora Zbanke – February 3, 2016) Eleonora Zbanke is a filmmaker, videographer, producer, human rights activist and a speaker at the 2015 World Forum for Democracy on “Freedom vs Control”. Russia’s cinema industry […]
» Read moreRussia’s Got Talent: Kadyrov’s Electoral Politics
(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Maxim Trudolyubov – February 3, 2016) Maxim Trudolyubov is a Senior Fellow at the Kennan Institute and the Editor-at-Large of Vedomosti, an independent Russian daily. Mr. Trudolyubov was the editorial page editor of Vedomosti between 2003 and 2015. He has been a contributing opinion writer for The International New York Times since the fall of […]
» Read moreWhat Do Russians Really Think? The Truth Behind the Polls
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Eva Hartog – February 4, 2016) [Charts here http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/what-do-russians-really-think-the-truth-behind-the-polls/558537.html] The champagne corks were already popping for New Year’s Eve celebrations when several thousand Crimeans received an unexpected phone call. The voice on the end of the phone was a pollster from the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM). The pollster had just two questions:”Do you […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Putin’s Chechen enforcer. The alarming world of Ramzan Kadyrov.” – The Economist
RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2016-26 :: Friday, 5 February 2016
Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#26 Friday, 5 February 2016 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 on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist – JRL on Twitter: @JohnsonRussiaLi Support for JRL is provided in part […]
» Read moreVIDEO & ARTICLE: ‘I Love Russia. I Am A Patriot:’ Pussy Riot Strikes At Prosecutor
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Anna Shamanska, Michael Scollon – February 3, 2016) They have made a scene at the altar, crashed the Sochi Olympics, and taken numerous lumps for taking on Putin’s Russia. Pussy Riot, the Russian punk rock collective of fierce Kremlin critics, is now going after the man that lords over Moscow’s version of justice — Prosecutor-General Yury […]
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