“The political and administrative dispersion of governance is under way in Russia: regulatory functions are being scattered among government and near-government players, which will inevitably result in the formation of first moderate and then increasingly pronounced polycentricity within the state. Initiative will eventually stop being punishable. …”
» Read more
“Russia’s recovery from the recession of 2015-16 suffered an unexpected setback at the end of 2017. After registering modest but uninterrupted growth from the end of 2016 to the middle of last year, and despite rising oil prices, seasonally adjusted GDP fell in the final quarter of 2017, according to Rosstat data, due to an unexpected decline in fixed investment […]
» Read more
“… on the one hand, senior Russian officials, including the president, are publicly declaring the existence of a range of advanced new weapons systems, while on the other hand, spending plans suggest that the defense burden should decline into the early 2020s. … While official rhetoric in relation to military modernization – and in particular to the development of new […]
» Read more
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-#95 :: Friday, 25 May 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington […]
» Read more
U.S. sanctions have created new difficulties for American businesses working in Russia, a recent survey of companies has said. Last month, the United States sanctioned several Russian companies and businessmen for alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and other “malign activities.” Russia vowed to inflict “precise and painful” damage to the U.S. in response, this week passing a bill […]
» Read more
“… Siluanov says Russia has no plans to change its tax system in the next six years, but there will be ‘adjustments.’ … the government is once again considering measures to simplify the tax code, in order to encourage more businesspeople to stop working in the economy’s ‘gray sector’ …. Russian media has repeatedly said the government is discussing major […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. May 24 (Interfax) – Ivan Zhdanov, a lawyer working for Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, has been detained for organizing an unauthorized opposition rally on May 5, Leonid Volkov, the head of Navalny’s headquarters, said. “Ivan Zhdanov was just detained while leaving the office. The very same Article 20.2 [of the Russian Administrative Offense Code], they found another ‘organizer of […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, May 21, 2018) The “new” Medvedev cabinet Vladimir Putin has approved both by its large number of holdovers and by a smaller number of new people represents a significant move toward the establishment of an obscurantist autocracy with few chances of any technological breakthrough, according to Aleksandr Golts. The first “signal” the […]
» Read more
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-#94 :: Thursday, 24 May 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington […]
» Read more
“Graduates of the Class of 2018 at SUNY New Paltz … were encouraged to preserve democracy by not buying into fake news coming from an apparent Russian propaganda campaign. James Ottaway Jr., president of Ottaway Newspapers, raised the urgency during his commencement address, saying there is a responsibility for people to avoid taking a shallow approach when reviewing information that […]
» Read more
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-#93 :: Wednesday, 23 May 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington […]
» Read more
“… Russia’s petro-driven economic model was already clearly broken in 2013 when GDP growth dropped to zero at a time when oil prices were still over $100 per barrel. … the geopolitical showdown over first the fate of Ukraine and then the tussle in Syria meant that Putin postponed more prosperity as he redirected every spare penny into modernising Russia’s […]
» Read more
Subject: Correction to my note on Pipes Date: Tue, 22 May 2018 From: Ira Straus <irastraus@aol.com> I’d like to clarify that my note was not meant to be a comprehensive appraisal of Richard Pipes and his work, and all the good and bad points I might find in it. I do note with concern that I’ve been taken to task […]
» Read more
“The Kremlin-funded news channel RT is facing an existential threat in one of its most important target markets. An onslaught of 10 simultaneous investigations into alleged breaches of impartiality laws leave it in serious danger of losing its broadcasting license in the United Kingdom. After years of broadcasting a pro-Russian take on the day’s news to a small but loyal band […]
» Read more
Volodymyr Ishchenko is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. (PONARS Policy Memo) Ukraine today faces a vicious circle of nationalist radicalization involving mutual reinforcement between far-right groups and the dominant oligarchic pyramids. This has significantly contributed to a post-Euromaidan domestic politics that is not unifying the country but creating divisiveness and damaging Ukrainian relations […]
» Read more
“Oil has … [surpassed] $80 a barrel for the first time since November 2014. OPEC’s inventory target for output cuts has been met. … even though [Russian] oil companies want to turn on the taps and its finance ministry may be worried about prices rising too far, Russia won’t [end] its output deal with the group … when … participants […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. May 21 (Interfax) – About half of Russian citizens are confident that Russia maintains the status of a great power; about a quarter of those polled identified the army as one of the key factors of power, while 17% of respondents named the president’s activities, according to the Russian Public Opinion Research Center’s (VCIOM) poll, the results of which […]
» Read more
Subject: Fw: from a chance meeting in Widener to today (re Richard Pipes) Date: Sat, 19 May 2018 From: Gilbert Doctorow <gdoctorow@yahoo.com> Since you carried the obits of Richard Pipes yesterday, my exchange with Francis Boyle may be of interest to you. No one, NO ONE has raised the issues about Pipes as an historian of Russia that flagged. They […]
» Read more
“… it became clear that my family and I were being followed. I had been in Moscow as ambassador then for less than a year. As I wrote to the head of our security team on October 7, ‘My guards informed me that I was followed today while attending my son’s soccer game. And they then kept with us as […]
» Read more
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-#92 :: Tuesday, 22 May 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington […]
» Read more
(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Michael Corbin – May 18, 2018) Michael Corbin has nearly twenty years of experience in the international financial services and trade arena, the majority with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Finance and Insurance Industries. On August 22, 2012, the Russian Federation officially joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) after almost 18 years of […]
» Read more
(PONARS Eurasia – Keith Darden – May 2018) Keith Darden is Associate Professor in the School of International Service at American University. (PONARS Policy Memo) After two decades of dramatic reduction and deliberate neglect, the nuclear arsenals that were at the center of security relations between the Cold War superpowers are reaching the ends of their operational lives. Rather than […]
» Read more
(Oilprice.com – Irina Slav – May 17, 2018) OPEC and Russia are meeting in a little more than a month to discuss the progress of their oil production deal and what’s next. On the face of things, there will be no surprises: every country taking part in the deal is still committed to the cuts until the end of the […]
» Read more
Subject: Trump-Putin petition Date: Thu, 17 May 2018 14:20:17 -0400 From: Edward Lozansky <lozansky@gmail.com> A group of activists will post a petition on the White House website to call for the urgent Trump – Putin summit “to find the way out of the most dangerous security crisis facing both nations and the world.” Petition urges President Trump to follow in […]
» Read more
KYIV. May 21 (Interfax) – A medium-size Antares rocket developed and built in Ukraine has been successfully launched to the International Space Station (ISS) from a space center in the United States under a NASA contract. “The Orbital ATK Antares rocket with Cygnus spacecraft lifted off Monday, May 21, at 4:44 a.m. EDT on a contracted cargo resupply mission to […]
» Read more
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, May 20, 2018) Vladimir Putin’s driving a truck across the Kerch Bridge, Aleksey Roshchin says, highlighted both the secret of the Kremlin leader’s popularity and the failure of his opponents to understand that reality, a failure that precludes their ability to cut into his support let alone challenge his leadership. “For the […]
» Read more
Subject: Richard Pipes RIP Date: Fri, 18 May 2018 From: Ira Straus <irastraus@aol.com> Richard Pipes, who passed Thursday May 17, was a great scholar and thinker who served America well. He was a prophet whom we should honor today, the more so as he was not honored for it when it counted by the America he served. In his two […]
» Read more
From: Francis A Boyle <fboyle@illinois.edu> Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2018 Subject: NYT Obit on Dick Pipes [Francis Anthony Boyle is a professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law] I took Imperial Russian History with Dick Pipes at Harvard and got an A, which I was grateful for and deserved. So this is not a case […]
» Read more
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-#91 :: Monday, 21 May 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington […]
» Read more
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, May 17, 2018) Many assert that Russian society is both patriarchal and traditional as if this is something self-evident, Dimitry Savvin says; but in fact, Russian society is neither. Rather, it is something that, while externally similar to traditional and patriarchal society, in fact is the direct opposite. That is because, the […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 18, 2018) Russian President Vladimir Putin endorsed a new government line-up on Friday at the start of his new term in office, sticking in most cases with the incumbents but elevating two newcomers with ties to the intelligence services. Dmitry Medvedev, whom Putin had already reappointed as prime minister, proposed the new cabinet at […]
» Read more
“… Talks to construct the 100-story building continued …. The tower — a sheer, glass-encased obelisk situated on a river — would have soared above every other building in Moscow …. the sharply angled skyscraper would have climaxed in a diamond-shaped pinnacle emblazoned with the word “Trump,” putting his name atop the continent’s tallest structure. …”
» Read more
“One year into the Russia investigation … Mueller … works away, mostly silent. … Trump and his allies have been anything but, and they’ve had some success in undermining public confidence in the sprawling inquiry. Though the investigation has reached deeper into his inner circle, Trump’s approval ratings lately have ticked slightly higher, despite remaining at historic lows for a […]
» Read more
“Since the merits of David Johnson and his, in my opinion, indispensable Johnson’s Russia List is such a hot topic of debate, I point readers to his interview in the Moscow News. It is rare that we actually hear what the man behind JRL actually thinks about Russia. Most of the time critics infer his views from the copious numbers […]
» Read more
“Richard Pipes, the author of a monumental, sharply polemical series of historical works on Russia, the Russian Revolution and the Bolshevik regime, and a top adviser to the Reagan administration on Soviet and Eastern European policy, died on Thursday at a nursing home near his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 94. …”
» Read more
MOSCOW. May 17 (Interfax) – Russia is not phasing out a dialogue on Syria, and it is still quite intensive, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. While talking to journalists on Thursday, Ryabkov was asked whether there were any concerns about Russian-U.S. dialogue on Syria in light of the absence of a U.S. delegation at the last round of […]
» Read more
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-#90 :: Friday, 18 May 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington […]
» Read more
(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – May 17, 2018 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/russia-duma-amends-one-antisanctions-bill-postpones-vote-on-another/29232439.html) The lower chamber of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, has amended and approved in its second reading a bill that provides for countermeasures against the United States and other countries that imposed sanctions against Russia. A third and final reading is […]
» Read more
Subject: Comment on Keith Gessen’s “The Quiet Americans Behind the U.S.-Russia Imbroglio” Date: Wed, 16 May 2018 From: Sean Guillory <seansrussiablog@gmail.com> Sean Guillory, host of the SRB Podcast (http://seansrussiablog.org/), a weekly podcast on Eurasian politics, culture and history and Digital Scholarship Curator at the Center for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. I read Keith Gessen’s […]
» Read more
(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Mike Eckel – May 16, 2018 – article also appeared at rferl.org/a/putin-vs-pensions-will-his-reelection-finally-free-him-to-tackle-looming-crisis-/29229857.html) It’s been the third rail of Russian politics for years, if not decades, but now an increasingly fragile economy appears to have forced the Kremlin to finally reckon with the country’s pension crisis. Russia’s pension system — […]
» Read more
[Link to UN Report: https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/] (Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 17, 2018) Russia’s population will shrink by 11 million people by 2050 and will increasingly be concentrated in cities, according to the latest United Nations estimates. Russia has been in the midst of a generational demographic crisis, which newly inaugurated President Vladimir Putin said he would seek to reverse […]
» Read more
“As … Mueller’s probe hits the one-year mark … Republicans in midterm elections have started to see an opportunity to use the Trump controversy to their advantage … appealing to voters tired of the never-ending investigation. Candidates in some GOP primaries this year already have worked to woo Trump supporters by arguing it’s time to end the Russia probe. Other […]
» Read more
“Michael McFaul provides an insider’s perspective on Russia during his time as U.S. ambassador, including his analysis of Russia’s foreign policy from the end of the cold war to the presidency of Vladimir Putin and the future of U.S.-Russia relations. * * * MCFAUL: … people who just look at Russia, they think everything in Russia is sui generis and […]
» Read more
“… Ukraine should now destroy elements of the bridge. While that course of action would be an escalation against Putin and … almost certainly spark Russian retaliation, this bridge is an outrageous affront to Ukraine’s very credibility as a nation. … from Putin’s perspective that’s the whole point. The bridge cost Russia’s near-bankrupt government billions of dollars, but it offers […]
» Read more
(opendemocracy.net – Ivan Chesnokov – May 16, 2018) Ivan Chesnokov is a Russian freelance journalist specialising in social issues and conflicts. His work has appeared in Takie Dela, the Moscow Times, RBTH, and other publications, and he is engaged in several multimedia journalism projects. [opendemocracy.net/od-russia/ivan-chesnokov/behind-the-wire] A shabbily dressed older man in a cap with ear flaps, looking like a character […]
» Read more
“… Kudrin set out … four main goals following his appointment as … new head of Russia’s Audit Chamber, a state agency …. Russian watchers have been disappointed by Kudrin’s appointment to the … relatively toothless body …. there is a chance that the intention is to beef up the Chamber’s role …. [but the appointment o]n balance … is […]
» Read more
(Government.ru – May 16, 2018) Dmitry Medvedev attended a plenary session titled Future of the Legal Profession. The St Petersburg International Legal Forum was launched in 2011 and is a major platform for dialogue between politicians, lawyers, economists and researchers representing all the main economic and legal systems. The forum seeks to promote ways to modernise the law in the […]
» Read more
SIMFEROPOL. May 17 (Interfax) – The article published in a U.S. weekly calling for the bombing of the Crimean Bridge is a reflection of the opinion of the U.S. political elite, Sergei Aksyonov, the head of Crimea, said. “Essentially, the U.S. media outlet is disseminating calls for terrorist activities under the guise of freedom of speech. Unfortunately, it is not […]
» Read more
“On May 9, at a public event jointly sponsored by Columbia University’s Harriman Institute and NYU’s Jordan Center for Advanced Russian Studies, Cohen and McFaul – a Stanford University professor and previously President Obama’s top Russia adviser in the White House and then his ambassador to Moscow – debated a crucial historical but also urgent contemporary subject:’ The New US-Russian […]
» Read more
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-#89 :: Thursday, 17 May 2018 A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington […]
» Read more