NEWSLINK: “Russia Seen Adopting New Tactics in U.S. Election Interference Efforts” – Reuters

Montage of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Logos, adapted from image at nps.gov

“Russian agents believed to be connected to the government have been active in spreading divisive content and promoting extreme themes ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. mid-term elections, but they are working hard to cover their tracks, according to government investigators, academics and security firms. Researchers studying the spread of disinformation on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other platforms say the new, subtler […]

» Read more

NEWSLINK: “VLAD’S KGB SPIES: Vladimir Putin has up to 75,000 Russian spies in Britain, shock report reveals; Dr Andrew Foxall revealed up to half of the 150,000 Russian ex-pats in Britain are feared to be spy service ‘assets'” – The Sun (UK)

Stylized Artist's Depiction of Shadowy Figures in Dark Coats and Dark Hats, One Carrying a Briefcase

“Russia has up to 75,000 spies on our streets, a shock report claimed yesterday. Vladimir Putin’s army of spooks has risen five-fold in eight years, with 200 ‘case officers’ each handling hundreds of agents, it warned. …”  

» Read more

NEWSLINK: “No Significant Foreign Interference Seen on Midterm Vote” – Wall Street Journal

Multilingual Polling Place Sign from U.S. Election Polling Place

“U.S. security officials and social media firms said Tuesday they spotted a limited amount of deliberate disinformation targeting the midterm election, but that they hadn’t observed any significant efforts to directly breach election infrastructure with cyberattacks. …”

» Read more

NEWSLINK: “Russia and the 2018 Midterms: Laying Out the Publicly Available Evidence” – RussiaMatters/ Mari Dugas, Natasha Yefimova-Trilling

U.S. Capitol in Bright Sunlight

“This week’s midterms offer a good opportunity for a status update on the latest evidence of Russian meddling in U.S. elections. Over the past six months, there has been no shortage of alarming warnings. In August, five of the country’s top national security officials spoke to reporters at the White House about the threat posed by Moscow and efforts to […]

» Read more

RUSSIALINK: “Peskov sees no prospects Russian-U.S. relations to improve after U.S. elections” – Interfax

Dmitry Peskov file photo adapted from image at kremlin.ru/wikimedia commons

MOSCOW. Nov 7 (Interfax) – Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said following the midterm elections in the United States that relations between the two countries are unlikely to improve but that Russia still wants a dialogue with the U.S. “It can be assumed with a high degree of certainty that, of course, there are no rosy prospects of the […]

» Read more

Political Repressions Increasing Not Only Because of Putin But Also Because of Russian People, Vishnevsky Says

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 31, 2018) Boris Vishnevsky, an opposition deputy in St. Petersburg’s assembly, says that political repressions in Russia are on the rise not just because Vladimir Putin views them as the only way to keep power but also because “the majority of society is completely indifferent” to this development. Few Russians show […]

» Read more

RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-195 :: Wednesday, 7 November 2018

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 Support the JRL: russialist.org/funding.php Donate Online: click here for direct link at GWU [check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#195 :: Wednesday, 7 November 2018 A project sponsored through […]

» Read more

NEWSLINK: “Mystery of the Midterm Elections: Where Are the Russians?” – New York Times/ David E. Sanger

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

“… From the cyberwar room that the Department of Homeland Security runs round the clock in a bland office building in Arlington, Va., to Microsoft’s threat-assessment center at the other end of the country, in Redmond, Wash., every form of digital radar is being focused on America’s election infrastructure — and particularly on the Russian military intelligence agency once known […]

» Read more

NEWSLINK: “Why It’s Still in Russia’s Interest to Mess With US Politics” – AP

Multilingual Polling Place Sign from U.S. Election Polling Place

PARIS – Sweeping accusations that the Kremlin tried to sway the 2016 U.S. election haven’t chastened Russian trolls, hackers and spies – and might even have emboldened them. U.S. officials and tech companies say Russians have continued online activity targeted at American voters during the campaign for Tuesday’s election, masquerading as U.S. institutions and creating faux-American social media posts to […]

» Read more

Russia Needs Not Gray Unity but a Bright Alliance of Diverse but Equal People, Kurbangaleyeva Says

Russia Regions Map

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, November 4, 2018) The Day of Popular Unity, Ekaterina Kurbangaleyeva says, should be recast, no longer as a celebration of gray uniformity of people but as a bright alliance of diverse by equal people in various regions and republics. Indeed, it may be best not to celebrate it as an all-Russian event […]

» Read more

RUSSIALINK TRANSCRIPT: “[Putin at] Reception marking National Unity Day” – KremlinRu

Kremlin and River

(Kremlin.ru – November 4, 2018) A reception to mark National Unity Day has been hosted at the Kremlin. As part of the event, the President presented the Russian Federation state decorations. The ceremony for presenting Russian Federation state decorations. Mayor of Malaga Francisco De La Torre Prados receives the Medal of Pushkin. Linguist, academician and president of the Russian Academy […]

» Read more

RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-194 :: Monday, 5 November 2018

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 Support the JRL: russialist.org/funding.php Donate Online: click here for direct link at GWU [check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#194 :: Monday, 5 November 2018 A project sponsored through […]

» Read more

NATO’s Trident Juncture Exercise as a Deterrence Signal to Russia

Globe Highlighting NATO Members

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Dmitry Gorenburg – November 1, 2018 – russiamatters.org/analysis/natos-trident-juncture-exercise-deterrence-signal-russia) Dmitry Gorenburg is a senior research scientist in the strategic studies division of CNA, a nonprofit research and analysis organization based in Virginia. He is also an associate of Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and the editor of Problems of Post-Communism. This week, NATO […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia Reaches Out to Afghan Leaders for Taliban Talks, Angering Kabul” – Reuters

Afghanistan Map of Ethnicities

“Russia has quietly invited a group of senior Afghan politicians to talks with the Taliban in Moscow, bypassing President Ashraf Ghani’s government in a move that has angered officials in Kabul who say it could muddle the U.S.-backed peace process. … confirmed … by six of the eight leaders, who include former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, or their aides, and […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Pentagon Has Prepared a Cyberattack Against Russia; U.S. military hackers have been given the go-ahead to gain access to Russian cybersystems as part of potential retaliation for any meddling in America’s elections.” – Center for Public Integrity/ Zachary Fryer-Biggs/ The Daily Beast

Aerial Photo of Pentagon and Environs

“The U.S. intelligence community and the Pentagon have quietly agreed on the outlines of an offensive cyberattack … if Russia electronically interferes with the 2018 midterm election [according to unnamed officials] …. U.S. military hackers have been given the go-ahead to gain access to Russian cybersystems … needed to let the plan unfold quickly …. one of the first major […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. overtakes Russia to become the world’s biggest oil producer” – bne Intellinews

Offshore Oil Rig file photo

“The U.S. overtook Russia to become the world’s biggest producer of oil in August …. Russia has been the biggest single producer of oil in terms of barrels produced a day for several years, but the shale oil revolution in the U.S. has seen production there skyrocket …. As average oil prices rose to over $65 in the first quarter […]

» Read more

RUSSIALINK: “Kremlin not considering cancellation of ‘municipal filter'” – Interfax

Russia Regions Map

MOSCOW. Nov 2 (Interfax) – The Kremlin does not deem the cancellation or liberalization of the “municipal filter,” the assignment of another date for the unified elections day, or other drastic modifications of the electoral system to be necessary, a source close to the presidential administration told Interfax. “Drastic modifications of election laws are not on the agenda of the […]

» Read more

RUSSIALINK: “Patriarch Kirill speaks out against Western-style globalization” – Interfax

Patriarch Kirill file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 1 (Interfax) – Following the Western model of globalization would be a mistake because it has no room for traditional values, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said. “The narrow paradigm of the New Time speaks of globalization as an inevitable process. Hidden underneath the word ‘inevitability’ is the western principle of global development which features liberal […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Americans Are Easy Marks for Russian Trolls, According to New Data; A Daily Beast analysis of Twitter data shows the Kremlin troll farm’s English-language propaganda is nine times more effective than its disinformation in Russian.” – Daily Beast/Kevin Poulsen

Montage of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Logos, adapted from image at nps.gov

“… Best estimates trace the founding of the Internet Research Agency to August 2013, and for eight months of its existence the Saint Petersburg troll farm was focused on influencing citizens in Russia and Russia’s near abroad. Then in April 2014 the Kremlin-linked organization launched ‘Project Lakhta,’ according to federal prosecutors, aimed squarely at the United States. The IRA’s first […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Trump’s plans to scrap a nuclear pact with Russia could heighten tensions in Asia” – CNBC/Nyshka Chandran

File Photo of Nuclear Weapon, B61 Gravity Bomb

“If the U.S. exits the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia, Washington will be free to develop and install weapons on its military bases around Asia. That’s unlikely to sit well with China, who may look to compete with the U.S. Any reaction from China to U.S. provocation, however, could spill over into India and Pakistan.” “Washington’s plans to withdraw […]

» Read more

Can Russia Relieve The Iranian Oil Crisis?

Iran Map and Flag

(Oilprice.com – Vanand Meliksetian – October 30, 2018) Charles de Gaulle once said: “no nation has friends, only interests.” Cooperation between Russia and Iran has been increasing over the years. The countries are drifting towards each other due to shared interests over topics such as Syria and opposition to a unipolar world led by the U.S. Although Moscow and Tehran […]

» Read more

RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-193 :: Friday, 2 November 2018

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 Support the JRL: russialist.org/funding.php Donate Online: click here for direct link at GWU [check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#193 :: Friday, 2 November 2018 A project sponsored through […]

» Read more

RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-192 :: Thursday, 1 November 2018

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 Support the JRL: russialist.org/funding.php Donate Online: click here for direct link at GWU [check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#192 :: Thursday, 1 November 2018 A project sponsored through […]

» Read more
1 2 3