Month: February 2018

NEWSWATCH: “External Interference Narratives in Russian and U.S. Politics: Conspiracy Theorizing Meets Whataboutism” [Excerpt]

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Arm and Torso of Person in Brown Sweater Placing Paper Ballot into Ballot Box

(PONARS Eurasia – ponarseurasia.org – Serghei Golunov – February 2018) Serghei Golunov is Professor at the Center for Asia-Pacific Future Studies at Kyushu University, Japan. [Full text ponarseurasia.org/memo/external-interference-narratives-russian-and-us-politics-conspiracy-theorizing] (PONARS Policy Memo) Conspiracy theories about covert external interference play significant roles in the political discourses of many countries worldwide. In Russia, conspiracy theorizing about U.S. clandestine interference is a long-time, long-term […]

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Russia Lacks Basic Preconditions for Democracy, Inozemtsev Says

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Kremlin Aerial View, adapted from .gov source

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, February 27, 2018) This week, as Russia enters yet another pseudo-electoral campaign, two Moscow newspapers, Yezhednevny zhurnal and Novyye izvestiya have taken the highly unusual step of publishing an October 2015 address by Vladislav Inozemtsev on why Russia has never been, is not and won’t likely ever become a democracy. The speech, […]

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January data a ‘pleasant surprise’, Russian seasonally adjusted GDP up 0.6% – VEB

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade
Diverse Paper Currency, Coins, Line Graph

MOSCOW. Jan 28 (Interfax) – January was an unexpectedly successful month for the Russian economy, which slackened at the end of 2017, and the year got off to a “very good start” even despite the compensatory nature of the uptick and non-representative character of January as a month with fewer working days, Vnesheconombank (VEB) said in a report. According to […]

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What to Expect From Putin’s Federal Assembly Address; The speech will hint at Putin’s political program for his fourth term in office

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 28, 2018) On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin will give his annual state of the nation address to the Federal Assembly. Traditionally held in December, the address to members of both houses of parliament usually serves as a roadmap for policymakers and the Russian elite on what to expect in the year ahead. This year’s […]

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The struggle for new blood and the future of Russia’s Left; A new candidate is helping to reinvigorate Russia’s left-wing politics ahead of the presidential election, but what space will there be for voices and movements from below? (excerpt)

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(opendemocracy.net – Christopher Moldes – February 28, 2018) Christopher Moldes got his MA in Slavic and Eurasian Studies, and is a writer and translator living in the Washington, DC area in the United States. He is a contributor to Global Voices’ RuNet Echo project. [Full text opendemocracy.net/od-russia/christopher-moldes/struggle-for-new-blood-and-future-of-russia-s-left] In a televised interview broadcast before the Communist Party of the Russian Federation’s […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-37 :: Wednesday, 28 February 2018

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News
St. Basil's Domes

To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net [check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#37 Wednesday, 28 February 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s […]

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Russia’s Syria Policy: The Hard Path of Military Disengagement

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Syria Map

(PONARS Eurasia – ponarseurasia.org – Ekaterina Stepanova – February 2018) Ekaterina Stepanova is Lead Researcher and Head of Peace and Conflict Studies at the National Research Institute of the World Economy & International Relations (IMEMO), Moscow. (PONARS Policy Memo) On December 11, 2017, two and a half years after the start of Russia’s military campaign in Syria, President Vladimir Putin, […]

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NEWSWATCH: “‘Russia’s Arctic military construction bigger than other countries’ – Shoigu” – Interfax-AVN

Arctic, Budget, JRL NewsBlog, Military, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Arctic Highlighting Permafrost, adapted from image at nasa.gov

With regard to Russian military construction in the Arctic: “[Says] Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu … ‘Since 2013, we have built 545 installations on over 710,000 square meters under Far North conditions. No other country in the world has carried out such massive construction on the Arctic latitudes’” Apparently with regard to broader Russian military infrastructure: “‘The geography of construction […]

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NEWSLINK: “Ukrainian Association of the Kennan Institute Alumni: ‘We are deeply concerned by the Kennan Institute’s growing pro-Kremlin policies'” – Kyiv Post/Ukrainian Association of the Kennan Institute Alumni

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Newslinks, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File of Reagan Building, adapted from image at archives.gov

“The following is an open letter of the Ukrainian Association of the Kennan Institute Alumni published on Feb. 27.”

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73% of Russians Believe Military Has Achieved Syria Goals

Middle East, North Africa, Military, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Syria
Syria Map

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 27, 2018) A state-run poll has shown that nearly three-quarters of surveyed Russians believe their military has achieved its stated goals in Syria. Russian warplanes have been engaged in air raids in support of the Syrian government against rebels since October 2015. Late last year, President Vladimir Putin declared victory and ordered Russian troops […]

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NEWSLINK: “On Russia, we need more reason and less frenzy” – Washington Post/Katrina vanden Heuvel

Cybersecurity, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Newslinks, Spies, Spy Allegations, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Stylized Artist's Depiction of Shadowy Figures in Dark Coats and Dark Hats, One Carrying a Briefcase

“… Finding a way back from the brink won’t be easy, but less hysteria and more reason would be a useful first step. … Those who care about our democracy should be particularly wary of stoking a new Cold War. Worsening relations only feed the worst forces on both sides – militaries expand, the space for dissent closes, nationalist fervor […]

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NEWSLINK: “Russia stuck in a groove as Putin faces existential quandary” – Asia Times/Sergey Aleksashenko

Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Vladimir Putin Sitting at Desk

“Vladimir Putin will be elected to another six-year term on March 18 – and his country’s economic and political environment will continue to deteriorate. What remains to be seen is whether he will change the constitution to stay in power beyond 2024 …”

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NEWSLINK: “COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE” – Irrussianality/Paul Robinson

Europe, EU, Newslinks, Russia & the West, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Photo of G7 Leaders and other Officials Around Round Table at the Hague, with Flags

“… I participated in a conference in Copenhagen to launch a book entitled ‘The New Cold War’, edited by Danish MP Marie Krarup and consisting of interviews she conducted with 17 experts about Russian-Western relations. … I spoke straight after the defence minister. I made three main points … “

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-36 :: Tuesday, 27 February 2018

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News
St. Basil's Domes

To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net [check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#36 Tuesday, 27 February 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Democrats for Eavesdrop Abuse; Their intel memo confirms the FBI used Clinton research to spy on Carter Page” – Wall Street Journal Editorial

JRL NewsBlog, Spies, Spy Allegations, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

“… the memo confirms … the FBI used an opposition-research document paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee as part of its application to surveil Carter Page … associated with the Donald Trump campaign. … the Democrats do not dispute that the Steele dossier was the FBI’s only source in its initial FISA application for its […]

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Russia’s Opposition Leaders Come Together, Briefly, in Nemtsov March; But with three weeks until the presidential election, political analysts don’t see a viable strategy

Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Boris Nemtsov file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 25, 2018) For the third year running on Sunday afternoon, the disparate political movements in opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin came together – if only for a brief few hours – to march in the memory of murdered Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov. “The march is symbolically important for the entire democratic opposition,” one […]

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Russian interference in the virtual world is not the problem; If there were no Russian “influence operations” in the virtual world, no disinformation campaign spearheaded by Russian bots and trolls, would the western world look much different today?

Cybersecurity, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Spies, Spy Allegations, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Montage of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Logos, adapted from image at nps.gov

(opendemocracy.net – Tom Junes – February 22, 2018) [Text with links opendemocracy.net/od-russia/tom-junes/russian-interference-in-virtual-world-is-not-problem] Tom Junes is a historian and post-doctoral researcher focusing on protest movements in eastern Europe. He is a member of the Human and Social Studies Foundation Sofia and currently a visiting fellow at European University Institute in Florence, Italy. He is the author of Student Politics in Communist […]

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NEWSWATCH: “State Department launches $40 million initiative to counter Russia election meddling” – USA Today/Oren Dorell

JRL NewsBlog, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
State Department Building and U.S. Flag

“The State Department … unveiled a new program to counter Russian meddling in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. The $40 million initiative will battle state-sponsored disinformation and propaganda targeting the U.S. and its interests …. run from the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) … starting with a new $1 million Information Access Fund, that on Monday issued a request […]

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NEWSWATCH: “The Russia Probe Has Turned The News Into ‘Ancient Aliens’; The news media’s rush to judgement on the Russia probe has left them looking like ancient astronaut theorists: entertaining but wrong.” – The Federalist/David Marcus

JRL NewsBlog, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Satellite Dishes

“… Trump is absolutely aware of how eager the news media is to bring him down. … he has made … ‘Fake News’ his number-one nemesis. …. When indictments against Russian nationals came down last week for interfering with the election, it came with the caveat that no Americans had any knowledge of it. Even so, many in the news […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-35 :: Monday, 26 February 2018

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News
St. Basil's Domes

To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net [check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#35 Monday, 26 February 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Opposition activist Alexei Navalny will spend Russia’s presidential elections in jail” – bne Intellinews/Ben Aris

Human Rights, JRL NewsBlog, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

“Anti-corruption blogger and opposition activist Alexei Navalny and his chief of staff were arrested on February 22 and will be held for 30 days, taking them out of circulation for the March 18 presidential elections. Navalny has been touring the country for most of the last year and is calling for a boycott of the elections. While President Vladimir Putin […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Russia on the Eve of its Presidential Election: How Long Can Change and Stasis Coexist?” [Excerpt] – PONARS Eurasia/Nikolay Petrov

JRL NewsBlog, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

[Full text: ponarseurasia.org/memo/russia-eve-its-presidential-election-how-long-can-change-and-stasis-coexist] Nikolay Petrov is Professor of Political Science at the Higher School of Economics (Russia). He was previously Chair of the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Society and Regions Program. (PONARS Policy Memo) At last, Vladimir Putin has decided that he will indeed be a candidate in the 2018 presidential election. Considering how long he has been in charge, it […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine four years after the Maidan” – Brookings/Steven Pifer

JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… February 2014, following three months of demonstrations on Kyiv’s Maidan … (Independence Square) … Yanukovych fled … ultimately … to Russia. … February 22, 2014, Ukraine’s parliament appointed an acting president and acting prime minister … announc[ing] … intention[s] to press reforms and bring Ukraine closer to Europe. Four years later, Ukraine [is] in a low-intensity but still very […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Averting the U.S.-Russia Warpath; Even as U.S.-Russian tensions have risen, fundamental shifts in the military-technological environment threaten to erode strategic stability between the two nations.” – The National Interest/ James N. Miller, Richard Fontaine, Alexander Velez-Green

JRL NewsBlog, Military, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

“For nearly twenty years following the end of the Cold War, military confrontation between the United States and the Russian Federation seemed implausible. … Before the first decade of the new century had passed, however, Russian officials were accusing the United States of working to isolate Russia. Such apprehensions have mounted steadily in Russia …. Russian behavior, including interventions in […]

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NEWSLINK: “A So-Called Expert’s Uneasy Dive Into the Trump-Russia Frenzy; Is it possible to express skepticism about the impact of Kremlin interference in the 2016 election without the Internet turning you into a pro-Trump propagandist?” – The New Yorker/Adrian Chen

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Newslinks, Spies, Spy Allegations, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Montage of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Logos, adapted from image at nps.gov

“… The thing is, I don’t really want to be an expert on the Internet Research Agency and Russian online propaganda. I agree with my colleague Masha Gessen that the whole issue has been blown out of proportion. …”

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-34 :: Saturday, 24 February 2018

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News
St. Basil's Domes

To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net [check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#34 Saturday, 24 February 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Countering Adversary Threats to Democratic Institutions: An Expert Report” – Center for Strategic and International Studies

JRL NewsBlog, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Stylized Artist's Depiction of Shadowy Figures in Dark Coats and Dark Hats, One Carrying a Briefcase

“American democracy is under attack from Russia. This is a long-term campaign that did not begin or end with the 2016 election. Putin’s objective is to weaken us by sowing chaos and discord, and to undermine the appeal of democracy itself. If he can show that American-style democracy, both in the United States and in other liberal democracies, is incompetent, […]

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Interfax: Opposition reports authorization of Nemtsov memorial event in central Moscow on Feb 25, authorities confirm it

Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Nemtsov March of Mourning

MOSCOW. Feb 14 (Interfax) – The Moscow mayor’s office has granted the request made by Solidarnost seeking authorization of a memorial march for politician Boris Nemtsov on February 25, Ilya Yashin, a member of the movement, told Interfax on Wednesday. “The mayor’s office granted our request and authorized the route from the Stastnoy Boulevard along the boulevards to Prospekt Sakharova,” […]

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NEWSLINK: “The Russian government blocks Navalny’s website, as Instagram caves to the censor’s demands and YouTube wavers” – Meduza

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Montage of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Logos, adapted from image at nps.gov

“When the dust finally settled, the morning after Valentine’s Day, it was Instagram – not YouTube – that had complied with orders from Russia’s federal censor to delete content flagged as a privacy violation by a court in Ust-Labinsky. On February 9, Instagram was given three weekdays to delete 14 posts uploaded by a self-described escort who calls herself ‘Nastya […]

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NEWSWATCH: “The Curious Case of the Television Star Running Against Vladimir Putin” – The New Yorker/Masha Gessen

Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, JRL NewsBlog, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Ksenia Sobchak file photo

“… A wave of discomfort washed over the room when Sobchak said, ‘Russia is the biggest European nation ….  We are Europeans, we are not Asians.’ Another wave came after an audience member noted that Sobchak has risked alienating voters by voicing support for L.G.B.T. people and even same-sex marriage; Sobchak lamented that Russian television would surely now disregard all […]

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Interfax: Ryabkov predicts countermeasures in response to new U.S. sanctions on Russia

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Sanctions, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Sergei Ryabkov file photo

MOSCOW. Feb 15 (Interfax) – Russia will respond to new sanctions from the United Sates if they are imposed, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. “If the threats are followed by real actions, we will act as before, staying calm and reserved – that is, ensure alternative forms and ways of achieving the tasks faced by our economic operators, […]

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Interfax: Medvedev: U.S. seeks to oust Russian companies from European market by putting them on different lists

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Europe, EU, Oil, Gas, Energy, Sanctions, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Dmitri Medvedev file photo

SOCHI. Feb 15 (Interfax) – The United States is seeking to oust Russian companies from European market by including them in different lists, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. “Why are they doing so? For purely pragmatic reasons, this is because they want to promote their companies to European market, but, saying it straightforwardly, Europe and the U.S. are now […]

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RUSSIALINK TRANSCRIPT: “[Putin at] Meeting with Mentor forum participants” – KremlinRu

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Empty Chair and Desk with Computer, adapted from image at osha.gov

(Kremlin.ru – February 14, 2018) The President met with participants of the Mentor national forum held in Moscow on February 13-15. The forum brought together several thousand people involved in mentoring, including active mentors at businesses, representatives of HR departments of major public and private corporations, federal and regional authorities, employees of non-profit organisations and educational institutions, and is designed […]

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NEWSLINK: “Expansion, Sanctions, and Opposition-Promotion: the West’s Failed Russian Transformation Strategy” – Russian and Eurasian Politics/ Gordon M. Hahn

Europe, EU, Russia & the West, Sanctions, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Photo of Kremlin Aerial View, adapted from .gov source

“… The West’s post-Ukraine crisis sanction meanwhile are intended to undermine the regime from above. The hope in Washington and Brussels is that by pressuring state and private oligarchs close to Putin or the Kremlin, some may withdraw their support and seek either to remove Putin in a coup or join the opposition and remove him in a revolution or […]

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NEWSLINK: “Richard Sakwa: The Key Challenge for Russia is to Avoid Inflicting Damage on Itself” – Rethinking Russia/Richard Sakwa Interviewed by Pavel Koshkin

Europe, EU, Newslinks, Russia & the West, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

“Rethinking Russia sat down with University of Kent’s Professor Richard Sakwa to discuss his new book Russia Against The Rest, its relations with the West, its role in a new world order as well as its greatest challenges in 2018. … On Jan. 30, The U.S. Treasury released the Kremlin Report, which contains a list of 220 Russian officials and […]

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NEWSLINK: “Teaching Activities for: ‘Russia Sees Midterm Elections as Chance to Sow Fresh Discord, Intelligence Chiefs Warn'” – New York Times/The Learning Network/Caroline Crosson Gilpin

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Newslinks, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Montage of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Logos, adapted from image at nps.gov

“… Russia is using fake accounts on social media — many of them bots — to spread disinformation, the officials said. European elections are being targeted, too, and the attacks were not likely to end this year, they warned. …”

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-33 :: Thursday, 15 February 2018

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News
St. Basil's Domes

To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net [check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#33 Thursday, 15 February 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s […]

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NEWSWATCH: “The Deep State Has Long Abused Its Power; From Eisenhower to Trump, the intelligence community has always struggled with its political role.” – The National Interest/George Beebe

JRL NewsBlog, Spies, Spy Allegations, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
FBI Headquarters File Photo

“Few questions have greater import for the health and integrity of any republic than the question of whether important parts of its government’s national-security apparatus are abusing their power for political purposes. … particularly … in the United States, where … the Intelligence Community (IC) ha[s] grown so large and capable, where faith in the integrity of our democratic institutions […]

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Russia Gets $41.5 Billion Boost From OPEC Deal

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Middle East, North Africa, Oil, Gas, Energy
Oil Well file photo

(Oilprice.com – Tsvetana Paraskova – February 13, 2018) Since the start of the OPEC-Russia production cut deal, Russia’s oil companies and government have received the equivalent of around US$41.5 billion more in proceeds, thanks to the higher oil prices, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday. Due to the higher oil prices as a result of the pact, Russia’s […]

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Roskomnadzor threatens to block sites that don’t delete info from Navalny film by Wed night

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Image of Laptop Computer, Tables and Mobile Device, adapted from image at energy.gov

MOSCOW. Feb 14 (Interfax) – Roskomnadzor has given websites that have yet to delete the information contained in the film made by Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation until Wednesday evening to do so, saying they will be blocked if they do not comply. “The monitoring of the sites that have failed to delete the prohibited information and remain in the Unified […]

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Why Trump’s Bid to Improve U.S.-Russian Relations Backfired in Congress

United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
U.S. Capitol in Bright Sunlight

(PONARS Eurasia – ponarseurasia.org – PONARS Policy Memo – Mikhail Alexseev – February 2018) Mikhail Alexseev is Professor of Political Science at San Diego State University. One of Donald Trump’s 2016 keynote foreign policy pledges was to improve relations with Russia. Few would have predicted that after a year in office, his plan would not only stall or fizzle out, […]

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NEWSLINK: “Russia Sees Midterm Elections as Chance to Sow Fresh Discord, Intelligence Chiefs Warn” – New York Times/MATTHEW ROSENBERG, CHARLIE SAVAGE, MICHAEL WINES

Cybersecurity, Newslinks, Spies, Spy Allegations, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Multilingual Polling Place Sign from U.S. Election Polling Place

“Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats: ‘We’re not going to allow some Russian to tell us how to vote, how we ought to run our country.’”  

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NEWSWATCH: “Carter Page, Useful Idiot; The demonization of Carter Page highlights the most alarming aspect of our recent domestic political turmoil – a disturbing conviction that basic standards of truth or fairness must not be allowed to deflect from the paramount objective of toppling Trump” – The American Interest/Kirk Bennett

United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Vladirmir Putin and Donald Trump Sitting in Chairs with Flags Behind, adapted from image at whitehouse.gov

“… Reading some of the recent hyperventilating headlines (‘Carter Page admits to advising the Kremlin’), one could be forgiven for wondering whether Page’s years in Moscow were spent working from an office adjoining Putin’s. The reality is disappointingly pedestrian. What Page actually wrote in a 2013 letter is that, ‘over the past half year, I have had the privilege to […]

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Interfax: Situation in Donbas deteriorating – LPR

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

LUHANSK. Feb 14 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian Armed Forces fired almost 80 mortars and grenades at the territory of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) over the past 24 hours, Andrei Marochko, the spokesman for the LPR militia, said. “The situation in the zone of responsibility of the LPR militia has drastically deteriorated. The enemy attacked positions of our units […]

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NEWSLINK: “A Literary Road Trip Into the Heart of Russia; In the land of Tolstoy, Turgenev and now Putin, what are the stories Russians are telling themselves?” – New York Times Magazine/Karl Ove Knausgaard

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Newslinks
File Photo of Car on Road in Siberian Town

  “… Russia is still an enigmatic country to me. Every day there is news from Russia – we hear about Putin, about his imprisoned dissidents, about his meddling in the elections of his rivals – all of it serving the notion that ‘Russia’ is a singular, comprehensible, clear-cut entity. But what do the people who live inside of that […]

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NEWSLINK: “Russian network TV can show Oliver Stone’s ‘The Putin Interviews,’ but election officials wish they’d wait until after the March 18 vote” – Meduza

Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Photo of Screenshot of Vladimir Putin in Twitter Video of Trailer of Oliver Stone TV Film Regarding Russia

“Update: Pervyi Kanal has canceled the broadcast of the fourth and final installment of Oliver Stone’s “The Putin Interviews.” The state-run TV network has already aired the miniseries’ first two episodes, and a third broadcast on February 14 will go ahead, given that it’s already aired in Russia’s Far East, said a spokesperson for Pervyi Kanal. …”  

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-32 :: Wednesday, 14 February 2018

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News
St. Basil's Domes

To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net [check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#32 Wednesday, 14 February 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s […]

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Ukrainians Abroad: The Economics and Politics of Labor Migration

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Migrants, Population Disaster, Demographics, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Brian Milakovsky – February 7, 2018) [Text with links kennan-focusukraine.org/ukrainians-abroad-the-economics-and-politics-of-labor-migration/] Brian Milakovsky works on economic recovery issues at a humanitarian organization in Luhanska Oblast, Ukraine . He has been in Ukraine or Russia since 2009, working in both the ecological and humanitarian sectors. In December, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan made a statement that raised […]

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Moscow Far More Worried about Trump than Many in the West Think, Shevtsova Says

United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Vladirmir Putin and Donald Trump Sitting in Chairs with Flags Behind, adapted from image at whitehouse.gov

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, February 12, 2018) Many Russian and Western analysts dismissed “the Kremlin list” the Trump Administration released two weeks ago as a bad joke or worse and thus failed to recognize the extent to which its contents in fact have made Moscow far more afraid of the US president than they were before, […]

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