(RFE/RL – Brian Whitmore – August 8, 2013) There’s just no escaping Aleksei Navalny. Whether one thinks he’s Russia’s greatest hope, or the most dangerous man in Russia, he is absolutely dominating the conversation right now. The ruling United Russia party is complaining about his online fundraising, as is Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Television personality Ksenia Sobchak is worried about his aggressive […]
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(Interfax – August 7, 2013) Sergey Ryabkov, deputy head of the Foreign Ministry of Russia, who is responsible for Russo-American relations and nonproliferation in the Russian foreign-policy department, speaks in an interview with Interfax about the influence of the Edward Snowden situation on bilateral relations, outlines the prospects of a settlement of the Iranian nuclear program following Hasan Ruhani’s assumption […]
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(Interfax – August 8, 2013) A number of political analysts interviewed by Interfax are of the view that U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to cancel his one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September will not be followed by Washington’s skipping other forums hosted by Moscow, and the situation itself will be played down. “In this situation, the matter […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. Aug 8, 2013) Most of Russians like Ukraine and a fifth of them say the bilateral relations are improving but a half asserts the pro-Western policy of Kyiv, the Public Opinion Foundation said. The number of respondents partial to Ukraine has grown from 30% to 53% in the past four years, while the percentage of those expressing […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, August 2013) Former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden is legally free to travel around Russia and occupy any non-state job in the country, a senior migration official said on Friday. Last week Russia granted Snowden – who is wanted by the United States on espionage and theft charges after leaking classified information about the US […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Richard Solash – August 9, 2013) They share a border running 4,300 kilometers, but have long been divided by mistrust. However, if the past several months are any indication, China and Russia are enjoying a distinct warming in relations. A historic oil deal in June and a major joint military exercise in July are the clearest […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, August 9, 2013) The number of Russians who are disappointed in President Vladimir Putin has more than doubled since his first year in power, according to the latest in a series of nationwide polls that started in 2000. Twenty-two percent of respondents professed disappointment in the country’s long-standing leader last month, compared to 10 percent […]
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(Interfax – August 7, 2013) Further steps towards nuclear arms reduction are impossible unless Russia and the USA come to an agreement on ABM, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has told Interfax news agency as reported on 7 August. “The whole of factors affecting strategic stability lead us to conclusion that today there is very few real and serious prospects […]
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(Interfax – August 7, 2013) Russian political analysts believe that the cancelation of plans of U.S. President Barack Obama to have a one-on-one meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin stems from strong pressure on the U.S. president on the part of hawks in the Congress and Senate. “This indicates that Obama is failing to lead relations with Putin toward […]
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(The White House – Office of the Press Secretary – NBC Studios – Burbank, California – August 7, 2013) For Immediate Release Q Now, were you surprised that Russia granted Snowden asylum? THE PRESIDENT: I was disappointed because even though we don’t have an extradition treaty with them, traditionally we have tried to respect if there’s a law-breaker or an […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, August 8, 2013) At the present time, there are approximately 30 territorial disputes among Russia’s federal subjects, a situation that makes changing borders anywhere a such an extremely dangerous proposition that one Moscow commentator calls these conflicts “a slow acting bomb under Russian sovereignty” as a whole. Indeed, Ruslan Gorevoy argues in […]
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(Interfax – August 7, 2013) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitriy Kozak has said that there can be no infringement of the rights of people of nontraditional sexual orientation during the Sochi Winter Olympics, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 7 August. “There will be no infringement of (the rights of) persons on the grounds of sexual orientation during the […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, August 7, 2013) A senior Russian Foreign Ministry official on Wednesday deflected Western criticism of the so-called anti-gay law, saying the recently adopted legislation did not violate the rights of sexual minorities in the country but was aimed at protecting minors. “As to the criticism of our law banning homosexual propaganda we have to reiterate […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, August 8, 2013) Deputies from Russia’s State Duma and senior officials could be questioned by investigators looking into a decade-old case against jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, sparking renewed fears that fresh charges against the once powerful businessman are imminent, Vedomosti newspaper reported Thursday. Legal experts were first questioned in September last year in connection with […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 8, 2013) New amendments purport to fix constitutional issues with the 2012 law on public demonstrations, but legal experts say the measure can still be used to infringe on Russian citizens’ freedom of assembly. The amendments, drafted by the Justice Ministry and headed to the State Duma, were based on the results of a […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 8, 2013) The performance of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s government, which was appointed a little more than a year ago, continues to draw criticism from quite a large number of Russian citizens, Levada Center sociologists told Interfax on Wednesday, referring to the results of a recent public opinion survey. Twenty-three percent of respondents said in July […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, August 7, 2013) Only 16 percent of Russians think that the federal government could improve the country in the foreseeable future (down from 45 percent in July 2010 and 21 percent in July 2011), while 42 percent think it could not, according to a poll published Wednesday. Only 5.9 percent of respondents to a survey […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Terry Atlas & Margaret Talev – August 8, 2013) President Barack Obama’s decision to snub Russian President Vladimir Putin sends their relationship to a new low. In effect, Obama is replacing his effort to “reset” relations between the two nations with Cold War-style realpolitik, after a series of Russian actions contrary to U.S. interests. Even before […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – August 8, 2013) Georgia has been marking the anniversary of the 2008 war with Russia over its separatist South Ossetia region. A series of events to commemorate the victims of the war and a military parade in the Georgian town of Gori were held on August 8. On the same day, South Ossetia’s de facto foreign […]
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(Interfax – August 7, 2013) Ahead of the fifth anniversary of the so-called “five-day war” between Russia and Georgia back in August 2008, more Russians show a positive attitude towards Georgia, Russian privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 7 August, quoting the results of a recent poll conducted by an independent pollster, the Levada Centre. The full results of the […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#144 :: 8 August 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support […]
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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#143 :: 7 August 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php POLITICS 1. Interfax: Medvedev has no doubt about decision to force Georgia […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – August 7, 2013) Azerbaijan is arming to the teeth. Armenia is growing increasingly disillusioned with Russia, its main protector. And the potential for armed conflict in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region appears higher than it has been in years. The increased tensions surrounding the Armenian-controlled separatist enclave inside Azerbaijan — where there have been […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – August 6, 2013) The Federal Migration Service has drafted a bill to set up 83 new detention centers for illegal immigrants across the country as Moscow’s three holding facilities run out of space following a week of raids on city markets. Some 1,400 alleged illegal immigrants from Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Syria, Morocco, Kyrgyzstan, […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 6, 2013) The number of Moscow citizens intending to vote in the upcoming Moscow mayoral elections for Sergei Sobyanin is growing, while the share of those planning to support his main rival Alexei Navalny is decreasing, the research center of Superjob.ru portal said. “Over a half (53%) of those who have already decided on their votes […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 6, 2013) Russians tend to blame their diseases on themselves, while low living standards and bad environmental conditions are deemed less significant, sociologists said. Daily stress and fears top the list of causes of diseases, Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) told Interfax. Other essential factors are bad environmental conditions (26%), age (24%), a shortage of […]
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(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 145 – Roger McDermott – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – August 6, 2013) Moscow’s highly ambitious military rearmament plans to 2020 always appeared destined to encounter major setbacks linked to the capacity of the domestic defense industry to deliver the modernization of weapons and equipment for the Armed Forces. However, on July 31, within […]
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(Interfax – ST. PETERSBURG. Aug 6, 2013) The Federal Security Service (FSB) department for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region has reopened an investigation into the 1998 assassination of State Duma deputy Galina Starovoitova, Ruslan Linkov, Starovoitova’s former aide, told Interfax on Tuesday. “The investigation was reopened on August 1. It was done because certain investigative procedures can be conducted […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – August 7, 2013) The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to cut the sentence of former oil tycoon and Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev by two months, but their supporters called the move a “pathetic gesture” and their lawyers promised to appeal the court’s decision. Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – August 7, 2013) One of Russia’s most revered priests, widely considered a “dissident priest” for his strong criticism of the Russian Orthodox Church, was stabbed to death on Monday night in the northwestern town of Pskov. Pavel Adelgeim, 75, was found dead by his wife late Monday, with the suspect still at […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, August 7, 2013) A group of 37 CEOs and entrepreneurs from Russian internet companies and start-up businesses have announced their backing for opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s bid to become mayor of Moscow, in a rare intervention in favor of opposition politics by Russian business. Their support for Navalny at the upcoming election, at which he […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, August 7, 2013) Two-thirds of the territory of the Russian Federation is covered by permafrost, and the melting of this ice is rapidly “converting a large part of Russia into a swamp,” according to studies by British and Russian scholars reported and discussed this week in Moscow’s “Novyye izvestiya.” Researchers at the […]
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(Kremlin.ru – August 2, 2013) Vladimir Putin visited the Seliger 2013 National Youth Education Forum, taking place in Tver Region on July 14-August 5. The President met with the Seliger-2013 forum participants and examined the best youth projects and public initiatives. This was Vladimir Putin’s fourth visit to Seliger. He previously visited the forum in 2009, 2011, and 2012. Seliger […]
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(Government.ru – August 6, 2013) Dmitry Medvedev’s interview with Nino Shubladze, host of the political talk show Position, broadcast by Georgia’s Rustavi 2 TV network on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the war in South Ossetia. Nino Shubladze: Thank you very much, Mr Prime Minister, for granting us an interview. There are, of course, very many important topics […]
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[links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#142 :: 6 August 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php POLITICS 1. Moscow Times/BBC Monitoring: […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Mikhail Loginov – August 5, 2013) Mikhail Loginov is a journalist and novelist based in St Petersburg. He is the author of the recently published bestselling political thriller “Battle for Kremlin”. As the saying goes: ‘Russia has two misfortunes: the fools and the roads.’ Aleksei Navalny is just about still standing for election as Mayor of Moscow, but, […]
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(Voice of America – James Brooke, VOA Moscow Bureau Chief, covering Russia and the former USSR – July 30, 2013) RIO DE JANEIRO In 1990, an American anthropologist wrote a controversial book: “Is Latin America Turning Protestant?” Two decades later, that same provocative question can be asked of Russia. Who will win: The Church of the Golden Domes? Or […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova, Acting Editor-in-Chief – August 6, 2013) It was a bit of throwaway news last week: A young man behind the wheel of a Ferrari had struck and killed a pensioner in Moscow in early July. The young man in question, rumored to be the son of a well-known businessman, was let go under […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Dan Wisniewski – August 6, 2013) Moscow’s efforts to develop its eastern regions over the last couple of centuries could be encapsulated in the rallying cry “Go east, young Russians!” But perhaps nowadays that might be rephrased as “Go east, young Uzbeks,” according to EurasiaNet’s Evgeny Kuzmin. Kuzmin notes that more and more Central Asian migrants […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Joy Neumeyer – August 5, 2013) Across from the sprawling Gazprom offices on Moscow’s southern fringes, there is a forest. It is quiet, full of mushrooms and dead leaves. The only people usually there are a pair of monks, who live by a church built on the property. The forest is part of a village […]
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(RIA Novosti – Moscow, August 5, 2013) Under its new president Hasan Ruhani, Iran will have to make concessions to the international community over its nuclear programme, but specific results of negotiations will not become apparent any time soon, experts polled by RIA Novosti have said. Yesterday, after being officially inaugurated, President Ruhani said that the only way to interact […]
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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#141 :: 5 August 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php POLITICS 1. Civil Georgia: On Fifth Anniversary of August War, Medvedev Speaks […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – August 5, 2013) The performance of popular U.S. rock band Bloodhound Gang was canceled over the weekend after one of its musicians shoved a Russian flag into his underpants at a concert in Ukraine, prompting outrage from Russian officials and calls for an investigation into the possibility that the flag fiasco was […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, August 5, 2013) Russia has not received any official notification that US President Barack Obama intends to cancel a planned bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next month, Putin’s spokesman said Monday. “We haven’t received any changes, or any notifications. We don’t, therefore, have any information,” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told Russian […]
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(Interfax – August 2, 2013) The Russians’ attitude toward the USA is gradually getting worse, Russian Interfax news agency reported on 2 August, quoting a poll carried out by Levada Centre sociologists in July. Compared with 2010, positive views of the USA have dropped from 60 per cent to 53 per cent, and negative views grown from 27 per cent […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – August 5, 2013) Every few years, the specter of Russian nationalism rears its head, sending people who think they understand a thing or two about this country screaming in horror in all directions. The reason, I think, is that in Western democracies, “nationalism” is understood as a chauvinistic sense of supremacy that […]
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(Interfax – August 5, 2013) Russians are not enthusiastic about new parties and the only interest they take is that in the very fact of their appearance, Public Opinion Foundation General Director Alexander Oslon concluded from their sociological studies. “People do not expect any concrete results from the appearance of large number of political parties. I would say they are […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, August 4, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin’s love of sport means that, from a medical point of view, he is “much younger than his age,” the Kremlin’s chief doctor, Sergei Mironov, said in an interview to be published Monday. “He is a very sporty person. Not everyone at such a mature age starts to play […]
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(Interfax – SELIGER, Tver region, August 2, 2013) The attempts to plunge Russia into chaos will lead to the situation as in some Middle Eastern countries and Russia does not need new priests Gapons (Georgy Gapon was a Russian priest and a popular working class leader before the Russian Revolution of 1905), Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the Seliger […]
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(Kremlin.ru – August 2, 2013) Vladimir Putin visited the Seliger 2013 National Youth Education Forum, taking place in Tver Region on July 14-August 5. The President met with the Seliger-2013 forum participants and examined the best youth projects and public initiatives. This was Vladimir Putin’s fourth visit to Seliger. He previously visited the forum in 2009, 2011, and 2012. Seliger […]
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