(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Daniel Kozin – July 9, 2018) Tears, pride and regret were the dominant emotions after Russia’s dramatic exit from the World Cup on Saturday. In the rollercoaster match against Croatia, the team was on the cusp of progressing to the semifinals of the competition for the first time since 1966 but had its fairytale run […]
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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-#124 :: Monday, 9 July 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Huseyn Aliyev – July 5, 2018 – https://www.russiamatters.org/blog/ukraines-creeping-advances-win-win-tactic) Soon after the start of Russia’s official military involvement in Syria, another army, hundreds of miles away, ramped up its activity: Ukraine’s armed forces became emboldened in their war with separatists in the east. Under the radar, they have been retaking control of a narrow strip of contested, […]
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“Russia will meet Croatia in the quarterfinals Saturday in Sochi, where it will play in a stadium built to stage the opening and closing ceremonies of those now-discredited Winter Olympics. And though there is no evidence of any wrongdoing with the soccer team, its performance here — including a round of 16 win over Spain, the World Cup champion eight […]
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“… Putin turned directly to McFaul and berated him for trying to ruin United States-Russia relations. * * * … McFaul concluded that [Putin] was ‘paranoid,’ a man of ‘fixed and flawed views’ who ‘saw us as the enemy,’ … that so long as he ruled Russia, ‘strategic partnership was impossible.’ … [But McFaul’s] relentless focus on Putin’s individual role […]
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“… Russia’s host nation status had been met with resistance by some in the West … suggest[ing] the tournament could be unsafe and play into the hands of Putin … accused by Washington of conducting ‘malign activities’ around the world. … the month-long tournament … has so far been without major security incidents. Concerns about racism and hooligan violence … […]
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“… Putin’s bet that the World Cup will produce a win for his government is a big gamble. The global political climate of 2018 is very different than the environment that existed when Russia was awarded the World Cup eight years ago, or even four years ago when Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed the Crimean Peninsula after hosting the 2014 […]
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“Tetiana Protorchenko, the press secretary of Ukrainian Member of Parliament Nadiia Savchenko, who has been arrested on charges of plotting a coup, has said the lawmaker is kept in a single confinement cell of a detention center. ‘Nadiia is in an individual cell, she takes a shower once a week. She ceased her hunger strike two weeks ago for taking […]
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“[Sources claim that] Russian authorities are considering ways to soften a plan to raise the pension age … following protests and a slide in … Putin’s popularity ratings. The government announced its plan last month to raise the retirement age for men to 65 from 60 and for women to 63 from 55 to ease pressure on state coffers from […]
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“… the Russian World Cup isn’t Berlin all over again. First, Putin isn’t as evil and ambitious as Hitler. Second, he’s a much better-known quantity than Nazism was in 1936. Hitler at that point had said disturbing things but few foreigners took him either literally or seriously. He hadn’t lifted a finger against other countries. Many Jews were still living […]
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“… Wages in Russia have fallen for four consecutive years as the Russian economy reeled from a crash in oil prices in 2014, along with international sanctions imposed over … Ukraine. Putin’s approval ratings slumped by a record 14 percentage points according to a state pollster following a government proposal to raise the state pension age to 65 for men […]
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“… The researchers cautioned, however, that Russian young people should not be misunderstood as a homogeneous “unit.” The scholars identified two broad camps among the country’s youth. One side holds conservative views, supports Russia’s regime and values the importance of the Russian “nation,” while the other subscribes to a more liberal view in favor of cosmopolitanism and opportunity equality. …”
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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-#123 :: Friday, 6 July 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, July 4, 2018) Previous American presidents in their dealings with Moscow have typically moved from progress in one area to progress in others, Andrey Kortunov says; but Donald Trump is different: he will treat each “‘deal’” with Moscow separately; and thus any forward movement on Syria won’t make an agreement on Ukraine […]
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MOSCOW. July 5 (Interfax) – An overwhelming majority of Russians disapprove of raising the retirement age and believe that the current age is optimal for both men and women, the Levada Analytical Center said in a statement obtained by Interfax on Thursday. Eighty-nine percent of respondents said they do not want to postpone their retirement. The current retirement age for […]
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(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Tony Wesolowsky – July 2, 2018 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/team-russia-strikes-unexpected-goal-national-unity/29333415.html) Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev secured the biggest upset of the 2018 World Cup, and arguably in Russia’s soccer history, with his two massive saves in a penalty shoot-out with Spain on July 1. And the euphoric after-party he has sparked […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 4, 2018) The Russian public’s trust in President Vladimir Putin has dropped below 50 percent for the first time in five years, according to a survey by an independent research body. The results come as popular discontent grows over a planned pension reform that would set the retirement age past the life expectancy of […]
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MOSCOW. July 4 (Interfax) – State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin has suggested that Russia and the United States forsake “blacklists” and “iron curtains” of all kinds to promote cooperation between the two countries. “As for the blacklists, this is what our counterparts from the [U.S.] Congress thought up in their hot heads – we have to cool down and walk […]
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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-#122:: Thursday, 5 July 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s […]
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“…. Increasing taxes, raising the retirement age, even starting another war because Russia is doing so well in soccer are the recurring jokes on Moscow’s streets. People compete in creativity in trying to imagine what else the government can do to them while everyone is distracted by the World Cup. One of the jokes is that Putin will now present […]
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(Oilprice.com – Tsvetana Paraskova – June 28, 2018) The U.S. shale boom and the massive Russian expansion of natural gas pipelines will make the United States and Russia the dominant spenders on oil, petroleum products, and natural gas pipelines through 2022, data and analytics company GlobalData says in a new report. The other big spenders between 2018 and 2022 will […]
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(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – July 1, 2018 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/russians-rally-against-retirement-age-increase/29330242.html) Thousands of people have taken to the streets across Russia to protest against the government’s plan to raise the retirement age. Labor unions, political parties, and opposition politician Aleksei Navalny had called on Russians to demonstrate on July 1 against a bill […]
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(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Pete Baumgartner – June 30, 2018 – article also appeared at rferl.org/a/russia-world-cup-team-no-multiethnicity-swiss/29329228.html) While there is a splash of ethnic diversity on virtually every team playing in soccer’s 2018 Russia World Cup, many cite the Swiss national team for setting the standard for being multicultural. Known affectionally by its fans […]
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“… Question: Foreign Minister, the summit is happening in Helsinki. Russian President V.Putin and US President D.Trump together. Is this the post-West world order that you have talked of in the past? Has it now arrived? …”
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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-#121:: Tuesday, 3 July 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s […]
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“… There are possibilities for … a larger negotiation on … get[ting] Iranian forces out [of Syria] …. * * * [T]he Russians are always saying to us they want to cooperate on international terrorism …. * * * I had meetings … with … Putin and his foreign minister … defense minister and … diplomatic adviser … the [U.S.] […]
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(Jack Matlock – Jackmatlock.com – June 29, 2018) About: Jack Matlock is a career diplomat who served on the front lines of American diplomacy during the Cold War and was U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union when the Cold War ended. Since retiring from the Foreign Service, he has focused on understanding how the Cold War ended and how the […]
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“… [when] FIFA’s 22-person executive committee awarded both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups … victories by Russia and Qatar … risky bids, were met with immediate speculation of vote bartering and outright bribery. … rumors of a Russian scheme to bribe referees on Spain’s behalf in the 2010 World Cup …. FIFA sent investigators to look into it … […]
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“… Trump has been consistent in his desire to make a ‘deal’ with … Putin …. ‘Russiagate’ investigations [have impacted that prospect] …. Given the tense state of U.S.-Russian relations and the paucity of high-level contacts, there are strong arguments for Trump to hold a summit with Putin. … it makes sense for the world’s two nuclear superpowers to … […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Andrei Muchnik – June 29, 2018) Ksenia Sobchak, recent presidential candidate, TV host and socialite, and director Vera Krichevskaya, known for her documentary about Boris Nemtsov’s life “The Man Who Was Too Free,” just released a film about Sobchak’s father Anatoly Sobchak, a controversial liberal democratic politician and the first mayor of St. Petersburg. The […]
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“Now that the world has digested the Horowitz report, notice how much of the story it doesn’t tell. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is treated as a closed loop when, in fact, much of its decision making was based on intelligence and advice supplied by other agencies. …”
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“… Trump will meet … Putin next month in Helsinki …. The president should approach the summit with a realistic assessment of Moscow’s capabilities and intentions. Putin is no friend of Western-style liberalism, but then, many U.S. allies are no less authoritarian. There is no evidence that he bears any ideological animus toward America or Europe. KGB officers were among […]
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:… Shamlikashvili … [is] the owner of Indigo Hotel which opened in 2014 as the first of InterContinental Hotels Group’s Indigo brand of boutique hotels in Russia. Like many entrepreneurs in the U.S., Shamlikashvili is an outsider and has arrived at her venture in a circuitous way. She grew up Jewish in Tbilisi, Georgia, and received both an MD from […]
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Vedomosti reports declining reported polling numbers for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, following announcements of pension reform. According to polling numbers published June 22, 2018, FOM [Public Opinion Foundation] indicates: Putin’s electoral rating fell from 62% to 54% in one week those trusting Putin fell from 75% to 67% Putin performance approval ratings fell from 75% […]
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“… Obama thought very similar to the way I did. There was hardly any daylight, both on substantive issues and analytic framework. …”
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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-#120:: Sunday, 1 July 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, June 27, 2018) Vladimir Putin has succeeded in putting his own people, often outsiders, in as heads of the federal subjects; but neither he nor they have ended the dominance of clans, typically consisting of a mix of government officials and businessmen, at the next level down. Indeed, their dominance in many […]
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“Дача: country cottage … Visitors to Moscow and other large Russian cities will notice two curious things in the summer: enormous traffic jams leading out of the cities on Thursday and Friday evenings, and empty cities on the weekends – with the exception of die-hard football fans, that is. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Grand Dacha Exodus. …”
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“… Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other officials insist that the Trump administration has been tougher toward Russia than the Obama administration was. They cite American sanctions, arming of Ukrainian troops, expulsion of diplomats and vocal public shaming of Russia for its cyberattacks. …”
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(Interfax – June 27, 2018) U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton visited Moscow on June 27 to lay the groundwork for the first full-fledged meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump. While in Moscow, Bolton was received by Putin and held meetings with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Security Council First Deputy Secretary Yury Averyanov. […]
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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-#119:: Friday, 29 June 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s […]
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“… Trump is set to hold the first [formal] summit of his presidency with … Putin on July 16 in Helsinki … White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the leaders would meet to discuss relations between their two nations and a ‘range of national security issues.’ The Kremlin … announced the details of the meeting at the same time […]
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(PONARS Eurasia – ponarseurasia.org – Richard Arnold – June 26, 2018) Richard Arnold is Associate Professor of Political Science at Muskingum University, where he teaches courses in comparative politics and international relations, including courses on Russian politics and the politics of sport. He is the author of Russian Nationalism and Ethnic Violence: Symbolic Violence, Lynching, Pogrom, and Massacre (2016, Routledge) […]
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MOSCOW. June 27 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has shared with United States President’s National Security Advisor John Bolton some of the ideas that he had intended for the U.S. leader personally, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said after Putin and Bolton met at the Kremlin on Wednesday. Today’s meeting focused on the priority issues to be discussed at […]
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(Kremlin.ru – June 27, 2018) Vladimir Putin received John Bolton, national security adviser to the President of the United States of America, in the Kremlin. Russian participants at the meeting included Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. The discussion focused on the prospects for developing Russian-US relations, disarmament, the Syria and Ukraine crises, […]
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“… The White House is planning a Trump-Putin meeting in Moscow that likely would occur around the same time as the World Cup final July 15. …”
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“… Nestled between Lithuania to the north and east, Poland to the south, and the Baltic Sea to the west, Kaliningrad is today an “exclave” of Russia. But the region was once at the centre of European history and culture. …”
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“… Putin is not the only decision-maker regarding Russian foreign policy. Internally, there are bureaucratic politics, interest groups, and even economic actors who lobby the Kremlin. After 15 years in the Kremlin, however, Putin has become increasingly isolated from other foreign policy advisors and more confident in his individual talents to conduct Russian foreign policy. …”
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“Silicon Valley companies and law enforcement are starting to talk about how to ward off meddling by malicious actors including Russia on social media in the November midterms, an attempt at dialogue and information-sharing that was absent during the 2016 presidential elections. …”
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“… In our psychology research, we’ve noticed a striking difference in how often people smile in the United States when compared to Russia. To Americans, it might be easy to assume that this says something about Russians – that they’re an unfriendly, callous people. … that’s not the case …. there are two likely explanations …. Different cultures have different […]
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