RUSSIALINK TRANSCRIPT: “[Putin at] Meeting on establishing cultural and educational centres in Russian regions” – KremlinRu

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

(Kremlin.ru – January 8, 2019) Vladimir Putin held a meeting on the creation of cultural, educational and museum centres in Vladivostok, Kaliningrad, Kemerovo and Sevastopol. The President set the goal to create theatre, concert, museum and educational centres in the Russian regions in his Address to the Federal Assembly in 2018, with details codified in the Presidential Executive Order On […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2019-8 :: Monday, 14 January 2019

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-#8 :: Monday, 14 January 2019 A project sponsored through […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Managing Russia’s dissolution” – The Hill/ Janusz Bugajski

Russia Regions Map

“Russia’s ongoing attacks on Ukraine and … persistent subversion of Western states demonstrates that Washington and Brussels have failed to restrain Moscow’s imperial ambitions. Engagement, criticism and limited sanctions have … reinforced Kremlin perceptions that the West is weak and predictable. To curtail Moscow’s neo-imperialism a new strategy is needed … [to] nourish[] Russia’s decline and manages the international consequences […]

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‘Only Estonians Here’: Outrage After Election Poster Campaign Singles Out Russian Minority

Map of Baltics and Environs, Including Kaliningrad

(Article ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Matthew Luxmoore – January 10, 2019 – article also appeared at rferl.org/a/estonia-election-posters-russian-minority-outrage/29702111.html) A set of posters in Estonia appearing to advocate ethnic segregation has stoked anger among members of the country’s Russian minority and caused dormant ethnic tensions to resurface ahead of parliamentary elections in March. The six posters […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “‘The art of rejection’ A new report reveals the hidden mechanisms authorities use to restrict protests in Russia” – Meduza

Moscow Protest File Photo

“Article 31 of the Russian Constitution states that citizens of the Russian Federation ‘shall have the right to assemble peacefully.’ However, when protests are not approved by local authorities, those who join them can face arrest, professional consequences, and even criminal charges. The anti-corruption protests that swept Russia on March 26 and June 12, 2017, as well as the Voters’ […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia to resume forex purchases after sanctions hiatus; Moscow will spend Rbs265.8bn between next Tuesday and early February” – Financial Times/ Max Seddon

Diverse Paper Currency, Coins, Line Graph

“Russia’s finance ministry said it is resuming foreign currency purchases on open markets after fears over U.S. sanctions saw it halt them last year to head off a slide in the rouble rate. … Rbs265.8bn … next Tuesday and February 6, the ministry said in a statement on Friday. … the first since the central bank … stopped them in […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia’s GMO debate looks a lot like America’s – with more geopolitics” – Christian Science Monitor/ Fred Weir

File Photo of Wheat Field in Kenya, adapted from image at usda.gov

“… faced with something new, Russian lawmakers have generally found it easier to ban it than … debate it, even if such prohibitions often prove dysfunctional …. case in point: Russia’s legislation banning … production of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) … nominally implemented … to keep Russia’s food supply ‘pure.’ The passage two years ago of the law … prohibit[ing] […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Russian town that might save the world; Torzhok is experiencing a resurgence because of one woman’s activism” – Christian Science Monitor/ Mark Sappenfield

“… Before Ms. Sokolova intervened, why had Torzhok been forgotten? The simplest answer is that it had grown mentally stale. … Sokolova’s ideas for new festivals and civic renewal projects were not rocket science. Yet they have begun to push Torzhok into an entirely new orbit, symbolized by restored train service from Moscow and St. Petersburg. …” Click here for: […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2019-7 :: Friday, 11 January 2019

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-#7 :: Friday, 11 January 2019 A project sponsored through […]

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Growing Russian Nostalgia for Soviet Past Far More Dangerous than It Appears, Kirillova Says

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, January 7, 2019) New polls show that the share of Russians who would like to go “back to the USSR” is at its highest levels over the last 15 years, a development many find troubling because it will make the future evolution of Russia toward a normal state far more difficult. But […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Europe is fast-becoming a natural gas battleground for Russia and the U.S.” – CNBC/ Holly Ellyatt

Gas Flame file photo

“With 28 countries and a combined population of around 512 million people, the European Union is something of a prized market – and political battleground – for the world’s largest energy exporters …. Russia has long been the dominant source and supplier of natural gas to Europe’s mass market but the U.S. is looking to challenge Russia … [with] U.S. […]

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Blacklisted Russian Space Chief Says ‘Victim’ Of Trump-Congress Rivalry

Space in Low Earth Orbit with Partial Sun

(Article ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Jan. 9, 2019 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/blacklisted-russian-space-chief-says-victim-of-trump-congress-rivalry/29699713.html) The head of Russia’s Roskosmos space agency, an official who has been targeted by U.S. and European Union sanctions, has criticized President Donald Trump and U.S. lawmakers over the cancellation of his planned visit to NASA facilities in the United States. Dmitry […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Enforce the Monroe Doctrine on Russian Moves in Latin America; The Trump administration needs to adopt a firmer policy toward Moscow’s intrusions into Latin America” – The National Interest/ Ted Galen Carpenter

Latin America Map

“… Moscow[ has sent] two nuclear-capable bombers to Venezuela to show support for Nicolas Maduro’s leftist regime. Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu said … Russia would continue to send military aircraft and warships to visit Venezuela as part of … bilateral military cooperation. … The Trump administration increasingly is concerned about the Maduro regime’s ugly authoritarianism, the meltdown of the […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia in Africa: Is it becoming a key player?” – BBC/ Kumar Malhotra

Africa Map

“Russia’s recent activities in Sudan and the Central African Republic have been the subject of intense speculation. … along with renewed economic ties, private Russian military contractors are reported to have been active in both countries. … particularly sensitive in Sudan, where there have been widespread, often violent anti-government protests. Moscow has been increasingly turning its attention to sub-Saharan Africa, […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “In former Soviet states, a new tech-savvy resistance is stirring; From Russia to Armenia to Belarus there has been a surge in online justice campaigns. And it’s making a difference”- The Guardian/ Barbara von Ow-Freytag

File Image of Laptop Computer, Tables and Mobile Device, adapted from image at energy.gov

“… innovative activism is emerging across the former Soviet Union. I work for an organisation that supports civic activists and I see a new energy, self-belief and creativity that defies the pessimism permeating western debates about civil society in the region. … these Generation Z activists … [have] linked … with designers, tech experts and artists to test new forms […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russian inflation, growth to remain low in 2019 says World Bank” – bne Intellinews

Diverse Paper Currency, Coins, Line Graph

“Russian inflation is in focus for 2019 as prices began to rise at the end of 2018 and ended the year slightly above the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) target rate of 4%. … the World Bank says that inflation will remain low this year and growth will be 1.5%, the same as in 2018 …. The U.S. government has […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Soldier, spy: more details of Vladimir Putin’s past revealed; Russian president, on a visit to a fortress, says he commanded a howitzer artillery battalion” – The Guardian/ Marc Bennetts

FSB Headquarters Building file photo

“… Putin has revealed that he commanded an artillery battalion during the Soviet period, a detail of his shadowy biography … previously unknown. … Putin’s official biography makes no mention of [it] …. According to the Kremlin, Putin joined the KGB immediately after graduating [in law] from … Leningrad State University in 1975. … [spending] 16 years … rising to […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2019-6 :: Wednesday, 9 January 2019

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-#6 :: Wednesday, 9 January 2019 A project sponsored through […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Curious Story of an American Arrested by the Kremlin” – Stratfor/ Scott Stewart

Kremlin and River

“Highlights Russia has arrested an American corporate security director, Paul Whelan, but he doesn’t have the profile befitting a non-official cover intelligence officer, even though there are elements in his background that would bring him to the attention of the Kremlin’s security services. Russian authorities arrested Whelan not long after Russian citizen Maria Butina pleaded guilty in a U.S. court […]

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WADA to Inspect Moscow Lab for Doping Violations

Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 8, 2019) With the clock ticking towards new sanctions, Russian authorities said on Monday they would allow a World Anti-Doping Agency inspection team to return to a Moscow laboratory to retrieve data it had earlier been denied. Russia’s Sport Minister Pavel Kolobkov said WADA officials would return to Moscow on Wednesday. WADA also confirmed […]

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Russia’s Lower Classes Far More ‘Soviet’ than Its Elites and That is a Big Problem, Inozemtsev Says

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, January 7, 2019) Russian commentator Vladimir Pozner argument that Russia will change only when the last member of the Russian elite educated in Soviet times passes away (echo.msk.ru/blog/pozner/2346625-echo/) is fundamentally wrong, Russian economist Vladislav Inozemtsev says (echo.msk.ru/blog/v_inozemcev/2347259). Not only is Pozner’s analysis mistaken in serious ways, despite being shared by many, the […]

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More In The Tank: Russian Film Extends Trend Of Patriotic World War II Epics

File Photo of Reel of Film

(Article ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Matthew Luxmoore – Jan. 8, 2019 – article also appeared at rferl.org/a/more-in-the-tank-russian-film-extends-trend-of-patriotic-world-war-ii-epics/29697503.html) Yet another patriotic war movie has taken Russia by storm. T-34, a high-octane tribute to the Soviet tank that played a key role on the Eastern Front of World War II, is the latest in a series […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2019-5 :: Tuesday, 8 January 2019

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-#5 :: Tuesday, 8 January 2019 A project sponsored through […]

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One Russian in Four Lacks an Indoor Toilet, One of Many Signs There are Now ‘Four Distinct Russias’

Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, January 7, 2019) According to a new report by Russia’s state statistical agency, Rosstat, 35 million Russians live in houses or apartments without indoor toilets, 47 million do not have hot water, 29 million don’t have any running water inside their residences, and 22 million do not have central heating (ehorussia.com/new/node/17679). In […]

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Why Russia Isn’t Worried About Lower Oil Prices

Oil Wells File Photo

(oilprice.com – Nick Cunningham – Dec 27, 2018 – oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Why-Russia-Isnt-Worried-About-Lower-Oil-Prices.html) Even as Saudi Arabia has scrambled to prevent a bust in the oil market, so far failing to head off a dramatic price slide, Russia seems just fine with prices where they are. Russia is a key piece of the oil price puzzle. OPEC, once a coalition of oil-producing members […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Steele dossier was planned as Hillary’s insurance policy” – Washington Times/ Larry O’Connor

FBI Headquarters File Photo

“… highly damaging text messages between FBI agent Peter Strzok and his paramour, FBI lawyer Lisa Page … [revealed] petty, vitriolic political diatribes while making decisions on the most sensitive investigations of the 2016 political season. Their hatred toward then-candidate … Trump … [and] contempt for his supporters gave reasonable observers every reason to question whether the Hillary Clinton email […]

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[SATIRE] NEWSLINK: “Pelosi Says She Will Skip Trump and Negotiate Directly with Putin” – The New Yorker/Andy Borowitz

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Seated at Desk

“In a bold gambit to end the government shutdown, the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said on Saturday that she would bypass Donald J. Trump and negotiate directly with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. ‘I owe it to the American people to bring this shutdown to the swiftest possible conclusion, and so I’m avoiding the middleman,’ she said. Pelosi, who is […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2019-4 :: Monday, 7 January 2019

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-#4 :: Monday, 7 January 2018 A project sponsored through […]

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‘No Place for Russia’: How Much Are Old U.S. Ambitions in Europe to Blame for Russia-West Tensions Today?

Globe Highlighting NATO Members

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Joshua Shifrinson – January 3, 2019) Joshua Shifrinson is an assistant professor of international relations at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. [Article also appeared at: russiamatters.org/analysis/no-place-russia-how-much-are-old-us-ambitions-europe-blame-russia-west-tensions-today]   BOOK REVIEW “No Place for Russia: European Security Institutions Since 1989” By William H. Hill Columbia University Press, August 2018 [Amazon: https://amzn.to/2AwEbkW] Why have relations […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Spy or Not? American Who Loves Russia Ensnared in New Cold War” – New York Times/ Julian E. Barnes, Neil MacFarquhar

File Photo of Russian Food and Nesting Dolls

“He loved to travel around Russia by train, collected tea glass holders stamped with Russian historical scenes and maintained social media friendships with ordinary Russians, from a hairstylist to retired members of the country’s military.  … Paul N. Whelan … former [U.S.] Marine and current security chief for [auto parts manufacturer] BorgWarner … has been accused of espionage by Russia […]

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Circumstances Have Changed Since 1991, but Russia’s Core Foreign Policy Goals Have Not

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

(PONARS Eurasia – Dmitry Gorenburg – January 2019) Dmitry Gorenburg is Senior Research Scientist at CNA Corporation and Associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. [ponarseurasia.org/memo/circumstances-have-changed-russias-core-foreign-policy-goals-have-not] (PONARS Policy Memo) Since the Ukraine crisis, the dominant Western perspective on Russian foreign policy has come to emphasize its increasingly confrontational, even revanchist, nature. Experts have focused […]

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NEWSLINK: “American Charged in Russia Also Holds British, Canadian and Irish Citizenship” – Wall Street Journal

File Photo of British Parliament Building, Big Ben, Thames, adapted from image at loc.gov

“A former U.S. Marine arrested on espionage charges in Russia was removed from the military for trying to steal more than $10,000 in government cash while deployed at a base in Iraq, according to details of Defense Department court records released Friday. …”

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2019-3 :: Friday, 4 January 2019

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-#3 :: Friday, 4 January 2018 A project sponsored through […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Is there a glimmer of hope for the INF Treaty?” – Brookings/ Steven Pifer

File Photo of Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan at Table Signing Documents

“… Russian officials said they would like to discuss INF Treaty compliance concerns. … Washington should test whether those suggestions represent just more Kremlin posturing or a serious effort to save the treaty. … NATO foreign ministers stated that … the 9M729 constituted a material breach of the INF Treaty. Secretary of State Pompeo … said that, if Russia did […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Real Incomes ‘Barely Budged’ in 2018, Chief Auditor Says” – Moscow Times

Diverse Paper Currency, Coins, Line Graph

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 3, 2019) Russians saw virtually no change in their purchasing power as prices outpaced growth estimates in 2018, the country’s chief auditor has said. Economists say 2018 was the fifth consecutive year of falling real disposable personal incomes in Russia. They are set to drop again this year. “Citizens’ real incomes increased by decimal […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “How to Hit Russia Where It Hurts; A Long-Term Strategy to Ramp Up Economic Pressure” – Foreign Affairs Magazine/ Peter Harrell

“… [S]anctions have done little to change Moscow’s ways. … Any economic pressure … has to starve the country’s military-industrial complex. The United States and Europe know this: they adopted export controls against Russian defense industries … and … Congress passed a law sanctioning foreign companies and governments … [for] ‘significant transactions’ with the Russian defense sector. These sanctions threaten […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Russia Disbands the Concept of ‘Dacha'” – Moscow Times

Russian State Duma Building file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jan. 3, 2019) The New Year has ushered in a slew of new laws in Russia, including one that disappears the very concept of country cottages, known as dachas, where many Russians spend their summers. More than 60 million Russians are estimated to own dachas nationwide. What kind of dacha they own, though, was previously […]

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Alexander Domrin: RE: 2019#1 (#4 Moscowexile – On New Year’s Eve, TV channel “Rain” showed a speech made by Akhedzhakova instead of Putin)

File Image of Laptop Computer, Tables and Mobile Device, adapted from image at energy.gov

Subject: RE: 2019#1 (#4 Moscowexile – On New Year’s Eve, TV channel “Rain” showed a speech made by Akhedzhakova instead of Putin) Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2019 From: Домрин Александр Николаевич <domrin@hse.ru> To: davidjohnson@starpower.net Dear David – Happy New Year to you and JRL readers! “Panorama” is a satire web site. The same web site has just reported that on […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2019-2 :: Thursday, 3 January 2019

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-#2 :: Thursday, 3 January 2018 A project sponsored through […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russian oil output reaches record high in 2018” – Reuters/ Vladimir Soldatkin

Oil Well file photo

“Russian oil production rose to a post-Soviet record high of 11.16 million barrels per day (bpd) last year on an annual average basis, data from its energy ministry showed …. surpass[ing] the previous annual record average of 10.98 million bpd … in 2017. Russian oil output reached 555.838 million tonnes last year, against 547 million tonnes in 2017. Reuters uses […]

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Michael McFaul: “Not a great foreign investment promotion strategy to arrest an American without explanation. Who in their right mind would invest in Russia right now if they had a choice to invest elsewhere?” – @McFaul on twitter

Ambassador Mike McFaul file photo

[Arrest of American in Moscow] (Michael McFaul – Twitter – @McFaul – Jan. 2, 2019) “Not a great foreign investment promotion strategy to arrest an American without explanation. Who in their right mind would invest in Russia right now if they had a choice to invest elsewhere?” [embedded live feed of tweet should load below] Not a great foreign investment […]

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WADA ‘Bitterly Disappointed’ At Russian Failure To Meet Anti-Doping Deadline

Olympic Rings Lit at Night, adapted from image at state.gov

(Article ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Jan. 1, 2019 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/wada-bitterly-disappointed-at-russian-failure-to-meet-anti-doping-deadline/29687033.html) Russia faces the possibility of renewed sporting sanctions after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed that Russian officials failed to hand over data from its anti-doping laboratory by December 31. WADA President Craig Reedie said on January 1 that he was “bitterly […]

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19 Events — Almost Certain to Occur — Russians Will Be Talking About in 2019

New Year's Eve on Red Square with Fireworks, Kremlin, Saint Basil's, Crowds

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, January 1, 2019) The events likely to be the most important in the coming year are likely to be things no one can predict accurately or with any degree of confidence, including the passing of leaders, the start of new wars, and developments that in and of themselves seem minor but nonetheless […]

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Only Three Percent of Young Russians Want to Work in Private Sector, Study Finds

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

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, December 30, 2019) Only three percent of young Russians want to work in the private sector with more than 60 percent saying they would prefer the stability offered by employment in major companies linked to the government or even the government itself, according to a new sociological study of young people in […]

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RUSSIALINK TRANSCRIPT: “[Putin] New Year Address to the Nation” – KremlinRu

Kremlin and River

(Kremlin.ru – Dec. 31, 2018) President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Citizens of Russia, friends, A new year, year 2019, is right around the corner. Behind us is the busy month of December, when we rushed to complete all our urgent tasks, finalised our plans for the future, and of course, got ready for New Year celebrations. Filled with excitement and […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2019-1 :: Wednesday, 2 January 2019

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-#1 :: Wednesday, 2 January 2018 A project sponsored through […]

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