(Business New Europe – bne.eu – May 21, 2013) The Russian government has no plans to break up the state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told the state-owned paper Rossiiskaya Gazeta on May 20. Speculation has been mounting that the state will break the inefficient behemoth up in its quest to make Russias biggest tax payer more […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 20, 2013) The first day of broadcast of the Russian Public TV (OTR), which was launched on 19 May, has received extensive feedback from pundits and journalists. The channel’s vague prospects and the coverage of non-topical issues have become the main points of criticism. “The project envisages the appearance of a discussion platform. But to make it […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH – May 20, 2013) You may have never watched Soviet television in the 1980s, but if you’re curious and would like to get a flavor, tune in to the newly launched Public TV channel. Across the political spectrum, commentators agree that many of the Russian government’s initiatives over the past […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – WASHINGTON, May 20, 2013) Russia is among several countries around the world including Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, and China that imposed restrictions on freedom of religion last year, according to an annual report released Monday by the US State Department. “This report is a clear-eyed, objective look at the state of religious freedom around […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 21, 2013) The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday urged the European Union to abstain from “ideology-based” remarks on the issue of non-governmental organizations in Russia. The statement, posted on the ministry’s website, was made in the wake of the May 17 meeting between the Foreign Ministry’s Special Representative for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – May 21, 2013) Russia is facing a renewed barrage of international criticism, led by the European Union, over its human rights record in connection with an ongoing clampdown on non-governmental organizations and a State Duma proposal to ban so-called “homosexual propaganda.” The EU on Friday expressed growing concerns about the situation, including […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimews.com – May 21, 2013) Former deputy prime minister Vladislav Surkov has ridiculed the English version of the government’s new official website presented by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday. Surkov posted in his Twitter blog a screenshot of the new site’s introductory page with comments pointing to obvious grammatical errors as well as awkward translation into […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 20, 2013) Russia’s Communist Party sees the government’s performance for the past year as “purely negative,” one of the party leaders said. “It’s not just that we in principle have different views on what social and economic course to take. On top of that, they haven’t even addressed what they themselves declared to be priority tasks,” […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – NEW YORK, May 21, 2013) Russian police reforms have proved so successful that, in some areas, Moscow outperforms New York on safety, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev has boasted while on a visit to the United States. Kolokoltsev made the claims during a meeting in New York late on Monday with New York City Police Commissioner Raymond […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – May 20, 2013) If Russian President Vladimir Putin ever actually appoints Aleksei Kudrin as his prime minister, we’ll know that one of two things happened: Either Putin decided to radically change course or Kudrin shamelessly sold out. In the weeks since Kudrin made a surprise appearance at Putin’s annual live call-in program with […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – Anna Arutunyan – Anna Arutunyan is a correspondent and editor at themoscownews.com – May 20, 2013) It’s been two weeks since Vladislav Surkov left the government amid a swirl of subterfuge and guesswork. The man himself was soon off fishing with Ramzan Kadyrov in Chechnya, but the questions of why he left and what will happen now […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 20, 2013) The new bill on mixed elections to the Russian State Duma will become the basis for the development of the political system in the country, however it is difficult to forecast what this system would be like in five years, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said on Monday. “In my point of view, this […]
» Read more
(opendemocracy.net – Grigorii Golosov – May 20, 2013) Grigorii Golosov is Professor of Political Science, Project Director, Center for Democracy and Human Rights Helix, St. Petersburg Recent protest rallies and continuing opposition sentiment have provoked the Kremlin into reform. The first part of the process sees the partial return of regional governor elections, abandoned nine years ago in favour of […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 21, 2013) The Internet audience in Russia has been growing year on year and most of users believe the worldwide web has nothing but advantages, the Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) said after having polled 1,600 respondents in 42 regions of the country on March 30-31. At present 65 percent browse the Internet daily, weekly or […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 21, 2013) A total of 59 percent of Russians use Internet, up three percentage points since last year, according to the results of a survey published on Monday by an independent pollster, Levada Center. The figure was only five percent when Levada Center first polled Russians on the issue in 2001. The percentage varies greatly […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 20, 2013) Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is the most popular and one of the most influential members of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s government, a survey among prominent figures in the media and politics suggests. First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are the others in the top troika on a 28-name […]
» Read more
[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#91 :: 21 May 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: www.russialist.org JRL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support […]
» Read more
Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#90 :: 20 May 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: www.russialist.org JRL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: http://russialist.org/funding.php POLITICS 1. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, Russia’s Internet Use Is Exploding. 2. ITAR-TASS: […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 17, 2013) Corruption in Russia is a threat to national security, and cooperation with international organizations must be stepped up to fight it, Russian Prosecutor-General Yuriy Chayka said on 17 May. He was speaking at a meeting with a delegation from the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) in Moscow, as reported by Russian […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Elena Shipilova, RBTH – May 20, 2013) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich talks to RBTH about the country’s current economic problems, investment climate, energy sector and upcoming St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Arkady Dvorkovich, speaks to Russia Beyond The Headlines about the problems of the Russian economy, access […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – May 20, 2013) The ruling United Russia party kicked off a massive two-day forum with members from regional branches in Moscow on Friday, where it lauded its social and infrastructure projects, some three months before September regional and municipal elections. Raising the forum’s profile, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who chairs the party, […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 20, 2013) Former Russian Finance Minister and head of the Fund for Civil Initiatives Alexei Kudrin has said that the law on NGOs as foreign agents does not promote civil society in Russia. “The law on NGOs as foreign agents that the Duma has passed is a clear restriction of civil society,” he said at the Open […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 19, 2013) Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich has highly appraised the government’s performance in its first year and said interaction between the Cabinet and the Kremlin administration was efficient enough. “I think a large amount of work has been done over the year and results have been achieved in some areas, although not in all,” Dvorkovich […]
» Read more
(Interfax – SOCHI, May 19, 2013) Normal macroeconomic indices, the budget rule and privatization deals are the main results of the year that has passed since the government started working, said Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. “A year has passed, and it was filled with so many different events. However different opinions may be, the country kept developing, credit for which […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 17, 2013) Homophobia is rather common in Russian society and attitudes toward the LGBT community have been changing slowly throughout the past year, sociologists said. The same as a year ago, three-fourths of Russians brand gays and lesbians as morally loose (43%) or mentally deficient persons (35%). Only 12% acknowledge homosexuality’s right to existence, the Levada […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Kristen Blyth – May 20, 2013) “Homosexuality is not a perversion. Perversion is hockey on grass and ballet on ice!” reads one picket sign, held aloft by a middle-aged man. “Against all forms of discrimination,” proclaims another, held by a young woman. “My gender is my choice,” says a third. The scene was Moscow Pride. […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 18, 2013) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has lashed out against legal initiatives that may discourage private enterprise. “It is a completely unacceptable situation that, as a result of some decisions, the total number of those who see entrepreneurial activities as their future occupation should decline,” Medvedev said at a meeting of the leadership of the ruling […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Guennadi Moukine – May 20, 2013) Greater cooperation between tax authorities from 45 countries, including more extensive information sharing to help catch evaders, was the result of an international conference in Moscow that was hosted by the Federal Taxation Service and ended on Friday. “The message to tax evaders and those who facilitate tax evasion […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW – May 20, 2013) Russia’s biggest company turned 20 this year. But at Gazprom, there appears to be little cause for celebration. The state-controlled natural gas monopoly, which was established as a publicly traded corporation in 1993, recently announced that its net profits fell by 11 percent last year and its valuation […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 17, 2013) Russia and NATO are boosting their cooperation in a number of areas, however Russia still has concerns about US and NATO European missile defence plans, Russian Deputy Chief of General Staff Col-Gen Aleksandr Postnikov-Streltsov has said. Interfax news agency carried the comments that Postnikov-Streltsov made after a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council (RNC) in Brussels […]
» Read more
(Interfax – ST. PETERSBURG, May 17, 2013) The state catastrophe in Libya shows that lawful methods of resolving the issue have been substituted for use of force and this creates chaos in most parts of Africa, Russian Constitutional Court Chairman Valery Zorkin said. “Researchers and experts acknowledge a very dangerous destruction of the international legal system, more and more frequent […]
» Read more
(Government.ru – April 17, 2013) [completion of transcript/earlier part in JRL#73] Dmitry Medvedev’s speech: Regional, municipal governance I have already said that the standard of regional managerial teams is a key ingredient of success. You know as well as I do the regions that every year report considerable growth of GRP while not having oil or gas resources. That deserves […]
» Read more
Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#89 :: 17 May 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: www.russialist.org JRL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: http://russialist.org/funding.php POLITICS 1. ITAR-TASS: Some 200 mln roubles spent to build helicopter pad […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, May 16, 2013) In thinking about Russia’s future, most of the country’s opposition figures remain trapped in the old debate about whether Russia is fundamentally European or really Asiatic, but, one Moscow commentator argues, it is time to recognize that “the successful Russia of the future” can and must be a country […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 16, 2013) A poll conducted by the Levada Center shows that the majority of Russians are confident that Russia does not need a monarchy and Russia’s last emperor Nicholas II was not the best leader. The 145th anniversary of the birth of Russia’s last Emperor Nicholas II will be marked on May 19. The study shows […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Julia Reed in Moscow – May 17, 2013) In an April 5 interview to the German channel ARD, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that in the four months after the July law on non-government organisations (NGOs) that brands those that accept donations from aboard as “foreign agents” has been adopted, 654 Russian NGOs received […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – May 16, 2013) The Russian government will take a number of steps to make the country’s legal system suitable for new entrepreneurs by making the rules of doing business simple and clear, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at the International Legal Forum in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. “We’re aiming to enter the […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – May 17, 2013) Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series on state initiatives to promote patriotism. The State Duma has ordered an evaluation of a comment made by opposition politician Leonid Gozman in which he compared a Soviet intelligence agency to Adolf Hitler’s SS on the grounds that the comment […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – St Petersburg, May 16, 2013) Inspections of non-commercial organizations in Russia will continue but they will become more balanced and systematic, Justice Minister Aleksandr Konovalov has said. “Over the last year, legislation on NCOs has been seriously renewed. These inspections had not been carried out for a long time. Now, somehow too many were planned and inspected, […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – thesmoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – May 17, 2013) Rights activists on Thursday ridiculed the notion that Russia is a secular state, saying draft legislation seeking tougher penalties for offending believers’ feelings shows the country is returning to 18th-century morals. “Officials and religious leaders are leading us back to Peter the Great’s times,” Viktor Bondarenko, founder of rights […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 16, 2013) Some 57% of Russians polled by the Superjob.ru portal support the idea of banning children younger than 13 from social networks. Another 17% expressed their support but said the age limit should be higher (49% stand for 16 years and 21% for 18). Fourteen percent were against and 12% could not answer the question. […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – May 16, 2013) Russian Public TV (OTR) programme director Stanislav Arkhipov has said that the television channel, which is set to launch on 19 May, will concentrate on news but will try to avoid emphasis on “know-it-all Moscow”, Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported on 16 May. According to the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), 50 per cent […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 16, 2013) A leading Russian human rights group has called for a judicial inquiry into the activities of Stalin-era security services after a high-profile public figure accused a Soviet counterintelligence service that existed during World War II of methods similar to those of Nazi Germany’s security agencies. Leonid Gozman, head of humanitarian projects at state corporation […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 16, 2013) The current trend of slowed economic growth in Russia might be reversed this quarter, according to the Russian Economic Development Ministry. “We anticipate that there will be a turning point in negative trends already in the second quarter and that economic growth will surpass 3% in the second half of the year,” Economic Development […]
» Read more
(Interfax – BRYANSK, May 16, 2013) 3.4% GDP growth in Russia is good, but there is still income inequality that proves the Russian economy has some flaws, Rosstat head Alexander Surinov told a press conference in Bryansk. “GDP growth rates have shrunk but there is still 3.4% growth. I have been in the statistics business for a long time. 3% […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – May 17, 2013) A bribery scandal at French lender Societe Generale’s Russian entity Rosbank shows that stricter measures should be implemented by both Western and Russian companies to enforce compliance with their codes of conduct, experts said. The Investigative Committee said Thursday that they have opened a criminal case into Rosbank chief […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Fedor Kikta, special to RBTH – May 15, 2013) Europe’s auto exporters are irked by Russia’s “scrappage tax” amid mounting environmental pressure. When Russia’s record 18-year-long bid to join the World Trade Organization finally concluded successfully last year, one of the last major stumbling blocks concerned car important tariffs. For the last decade […]
» Read more
(Interfax – TBILISI, May 16, 2013) The Georgian presidential administration believes the investigation into the 2008 war and the attempts to accuse the previous government of Georgia increase the risk of South Ossetia and Abkhazia being recognized as different countries. “The attitude adopted by the new administration may lead to a catastrophic result for our country, and responsibility for it […]
» Read more
Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#88 :: 16 May 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: www.russialist.org JRL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/russialist JRL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: http://russialist.org/funding.php POLITICS 1. RIA Novosti: Moscow Weather Sets Another Temperature Record. 2. Interfax: […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 17, 2013) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday responded to a New York Times report that Russia has sent advanced antiship cruise missiles to war-torn Syria by saying that Russian arms deliveries do not change the balance of power, are fully legal and take place under existing contracts. Citing unidentified American officials, The […]
» Read more