(Interfax – May 3, 2013) The opposition forces who are organizing a rally in Bolotnaya Square in central Moscow on May 6 have accused the organizing committee of a protest, which is expected to take place in the same venue on May 5, of planning a provocation. “Our organizing committee has a strongly negative attitude to the May 5 protest action. […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Anna Sevortian – May 1, 2013) Anna Sevortian is an independent expert who was formerly the Director of Human Rights Watch Russia. Gogol’s government inspector was a figure of fun. Russia’s new government inspectors are anything but funny. At a meeting with FSB leaders on 14 February, Vladimir Putin put an end to any doubts about his intention […]
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(Moscow Times – moscowtimes.com – May 3, 2013) An international media watchdog has called President Vladimir Putin a “predator” of free press and lumped him together with the likes of new Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Italian Mafia. The France-based Reporters Without Borders released an updated list of 39 “Predators of Freedom of Information” for World Press Freedom Day […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Jake Rudnitsky – May 2, 2013) Russia, the world’s biggest oil producer, boosted crude and condensate production 1.5 percent in April from a year earlier to 10.47 million barrels a day, close to a post-Soviet era record. Daily output grew 0.2 percent from March, according to preliminary data sent by e-mail today from the Energy Ministry’s […]
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(Interfax – BUDAPEST, May 2, 2013) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has described problems between Russia and the European Union stemming from the EU’s Third Energy Package as “artificial” and expressed confidence they will be solved. “We anticipate that the problems with the Third Energy Package that some of our partners are artificially trying to create will be resolved, and […]
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(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 83 – Pavel Felgenhauer – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – May 2, 2013) Speaking to reporters after last week’s (April 25) lengthy, televised, national question-and-answer (Q & A) session, President Vladimir Putin declared he “was optimistic this tragedy [the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing] will facilitate greater security cooperation, benefiting both America and Russia” […]
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Subject: Jackson Diehl on Extremists From: John Evans <evansinusa@aol.com> Date: Thu, 2 May 2013 Jackson Diehl’s attempt to conflate the Chechen rebels with the Syrian rebels (“Extremists of Putin’s Own Making,” Washington Post op-ed, April 29, JRL #80) and then blame it all on the Russian President risks misleading readers into imagining that Russia, not Islamist extremism, is our current […]
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(Kremlin.ru – April 25, 2013) (transcript conclusion) Moscow MARIA SITTEL: Friends, I want to draw your attention to the fact that we have been on the air for over four hours. Shall we take it into the home stretch? VLADIMIR PUTIN: Let’s. MARIA SITTEL: Mr President, we would like to propose a quick question and answer session, which has become […]
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[check back for updates, including links; links also posted to twitter and facebook] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#84 :: 3 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: […]
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(Cato Institute – cato.org – Andrei Illarionov – May 1, 2013) It is challenging to calculate the industrial output for post-socialist transition economies. However, through meticulous work based on internationally recognized statistical standards over two decades, two Russian economists currently associated with the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Eduard Baranov and Vladimir Bessonov, were able to produce a statistical […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ilya Arkhipov & Henry Meyer – May 1, 2013) Six blocks from the Caspian Sea, on Kotrova Street in central Makhachkala, sits a mosque being watched by undercover Russian agents charged with preventing acts of terror. As worshipers spill out into the streets, American investigators are watching now, too, as they try to reconstruct the events […]
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(RIA Novosti – London, May 2, 2013)(Dateline as received) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov hopes that social network VKontakte will continue despite the problems surrounding its founder, Pavel Durov. Social network VKontakte has recently found itself at the centre of several scandals. Information has appeared in the media about Durov’s involvement in a high-profile road accident in central St […]
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(RIA Novosti – WASHINGTON, May 1, 2013) US Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that Washington supports Georgia’s aspirations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), ambitions that Moscow has repeatedly warned will only inflame tensions in the South Caucasus. “We are very supportive of Georgia’s aspirations with respect to NATO and Europe,” Kerry said ahead of […]
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(RIA Novosti – London, May 1, 2013) The political system in Russia is steady and capable of transformation, it is changing in parallel with changes in society, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov believes. “The system is not broken, this is someone’s invention. The system of which I have to honour to be a co-author exists, and it survived the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 2, 2013) Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov told students in London that the political system that he helped create had beat the opposition and suggested that he had been one Russia’s top businessmen when he worked for jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Surkov also insisted that Russia was open for foreign investment and expressed longing […]
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(RIA Novosti – London, May 1, 2013) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov does not agree with those who believe that Russia is undergoing a period of stagnation. “I cannot see any stagnation; life in Russian is very boisterous and dynamic, very volatile. We have many problems, we have many troubles. Frankly speaking, I would have been glad: it would […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, May 1, 2013) A rally promoting European electronic music in Russia was the first event held at the “Hyde Park” (speakers’ corner) that opened in Moscow’s Gorkiy Park on Wednesday (1 May), the creator of Hardcore Russia TV, Yuriy Markin, has said. “We are pioneers, the first people who held an action in this ‘Hyde Park’. We […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 2, 2013) The Russian government commission for legislative work has approved a bill defining the procedure and sites of conducting religious events. The bill amending the law on the freedom of conscience and on religious associations was drafted by the Justice Ministry by way of enforcing a December 2012 judgment of the Constitutional Court, the government […]
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(Interfax – Brussels, May 1, 2013) In the Russian-US agreements on missile defence, transparency and confidence-building measures should be part of a package of solutions that could satisfy the Russian side, Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoliy Antonov has said. Antonov was in Brussels today answering journalists’ questions on proposals, allegedly contained in US President Barack Obama’s letter handed over to […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Ekaterina Zabrovskaya, RBTH – April 30, 2013) Russians in the United States believe the reaction of ordinary Americans to reports of a “Russian connection” in the Boston attack has shown how little people in the U.S. know about Russia and how weak Russia’s “soft power” is in the country. However, they do not […]
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(RIA Novosti – TBILISI, May 2, 2013) Georgia will not boycott next year’s Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi after the country’s National Olympic Committee voted unanimously Thursday in favor of taking part. The question of a boycott has repeatedly arisen in Georgia as a result of the 2008 war with host national Russia. The two countries still […]
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(Kremlin.ru – April 25, 2013) (transcript continued) Moscow MARIA SITTEL: We have a culture-related question from Moscow now. Ms Antonova, director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, is here. You have the floor. DIRECTOR OF THE PUSHKIN STATE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS IRINA ANTONOVA: Mr President, my question also concerns St Petersburg. The matter is that 65 years […]
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[check back for updates, including links; links also posted to twitter and facebook] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#82 :: 1 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: […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – April 30, 2013) SOCHI The problems on Ruslan Zokhidov’s mind are not typical for a young man of his age: he is the least likely person to be found nattily dressed at a trendy night club or entering a university lugging a pile of books. Instead, Zokhidov, 19, lugs building materials […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – April 29, 2013) Excerpt from Leslie Woodhead’s ‘How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin: The Untold Story of a Noisy Revolution,’ Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2013 Andrei Makarevich opened his school book. As he turned the pages they crackled, releasing the fusty smell of a Soviet classroom a quarter- century ago, and triggering memories of his boyhood […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 30, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to consider by June 15 the expediency of restoring a contemporary Western art museum in Moscow. “To consider the expediency of restoring a new (contemporary) Western art museum in Moscow,” say Putin’s instructions given after the Direct Line with Russians. The government’s report on the subject […]
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[check back for updates, including links; links also posted to twitter and facebook] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#82 :: 1 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: […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 30, 2013) Massive injections of government money into the Russian economy will do more to fuel inflation than to accelerate growth in production, the government should act to extend greater economic freedom, former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who now chairs the Civil Initiatives Committee, believes. “When the government starts going in with its money through development […]
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(Interfax – May 1, 2013) The decision of the U.S. side to postpone the fourth stage of the adaptive program of missile defense increases the window of opportunities for reaching an understanding on missile defense that would suit both sides, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov has said. “The cancellation of the fourth stage is not the problem. Essentially nothing […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Robert LaFranco & Alex Sazonov – May 1, 2013) Alisher Usmanov, Russia’s richest person, moved control of most of his $20 billion fortune last year to a holding company based in the British Virgin Islands, a collection of more than 60 isles 5,600 miles away from Moscow. The company, USM Holdings, controls the billionaire’s most valuable […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Pavel Koshkin, RBTH – April 30, 2013) While the Russian authorities sum up the results of their large-scale inspections of NGOs, pundits make their guesses as to whether it is possible to reach a compromise on this issue. The large-scale inspections of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have puzzled both experts and NGO representatives. While […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Dmitri Travin – April 30, 2013) Dmitri Travin is Research Director at the European University in St. Petersburg’s Centre of Modernization Studies Vladimir Putin has long paid lip service to the notion that his government should address the problem of corruption. Is his new campaign for real, or will it be more of a shootout between corrupt officials […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 1, 2013) Hundreds of thousands of people rallied across Russia on Wednesday to mark Labor Day with events ranging from Soviet-style state-endorsed marches to campaigns for promotion of European techno and single ladies’ rights. Moscow saw seven rallies, the biggest of them being a march of labor unions in Moscow, co-organized by the ruling […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 1, 2013) Tens of thousands of people marched in central Moscow on Wednesday at a May Day rally billed as a show of support for President Vladimir Putin. But the turnout amounted to about half the number who showed up for a similar event last year. About 90,000 people participated in the march down […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Viktoriya Semioshina, special to RBTH – May 1, 2013) In early May, Russians have two bank holidays in quick succession, both inherited from the former Soviet Union. This sometimes translates into as many as nine days off work plenty of time to head for warmer climes, though many will opt to stay […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Liz Fuller – April 30, 2013) The Boston Marathon bombings have served to corroborate many observers’ previously unsubstantiated hunch that one reason for the Russian security services’ inability to contain the North Caucasus insurgency is that the various agencies responsible fail to share information among themselves. In this particular case, Daghestan’s Center for the Struggle Against […]
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(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 80 – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Valery Dzutsev – April 29, 2013) On April 27, the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta published an article on the dead Boston bomber suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, based on information it received from the Russian security services. It cited officers of the Dagestani Center for Combating Extremism who said […]
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(Andranik Migranyan testimony – House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade – April 26, 2013 – http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/joint-subcommittee-hearing-islamist-extremism-chechnya-threat-us-homeland) Joint Subcommittee Hearing: Islamist Extremism in Chechnya: A Threat to the U.S. Homeland? Prepared Testimony of Andranik Migranyan Director of the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, New York U.S.-Russian relations on Chechnya have a […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 29, 2013) Achieving agreements on the missile shield issue between Russia and the United States will bring the Russian-U.S. ties to a new allied level like during World War II, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “We are convinced that doing it together – doing it together with the United States and the Europeans – would […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Nathan Gray – April 29, 2013) The American Chamber of Commerce cleared the decks straightaway at its annual investment conference last week, in the wake of a difficult year in Russian-U.S. political relations. “One of the purposes of this conference is to emphasize the fact that basically it’s business as usual, despite some of the […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Andrey Kostin – April 29, 2013) Andrey Kostin is chairman of VTB Group, Russia’s second- largest lender. He is also chairman of the B20 financial- stability task force. Russia’s central bank is about to get a new chairman and, as at the Bank of England, the imminent arrival of a new broom has raised expectations of […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 29, 2013) The Russian economy could be in a position to achieve 6% annual growth in 2014-2016 with structural modernization, Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov said. “The use of these reserves (structural modernization mechanisms) will enable us to enter a trajectory of 6% growth in 2014-2016 and almost 7% a year in 2017-2020. This level is […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – April 30, 2013) Russia is beefing up its western border’s defence with plans for a new airbase in Belarus and sales to the government there of one of its most sophisticated surface-to-air missile systems. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu announced April 23 a new deal with Minsk that will see Russia deploy fighter jets […]
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(Interfax – TBILISI, April 29, 2013) Georgia will not establish diplomatic ties with Russia while 20% of its territory is occupied, Georgian Foreign Minister Maya Pandzhanikidze told reporters on Monday. “While 20 percent of the Georgian territories are occupied by Russia, establishing diplomatic ties is impossible. Another reason is that Russia recognizes two Georgian regions as independent states. Until this […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – April 27, 2013) Irakli Alasania served as Georgia’s UN ambassador before resigning in late 2008 and joining the opposition to President Mikheil Saakashvili. He is now defense minister in Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili’s coalition government. RFE/RL correspondent Brian Whitmore caught up with Alasania in Tbilisi to discuss the new government’s approach to Russia. RFE/RL: Since the new […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 9, 2013) Dmitry Demushkin,, the leader of the “Russians” political movement, says that “even Russian nationalists do not support the slogan ‘Russia for the Russians’ because it has to be qualified in so many ways that it is useless as a mobilizing tool and dangerous it if is applied in a […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – April 29, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is an editor and correspondent at themoscownews.com As the head of an organization that helps people suffering from cystic fibrosis, an incurable genetic disorder that affects the lungs, Olga Alekina, of the Aid to Patients with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, wasn’t exactly daunted when prosecutors demanded an explanation for […]
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(Interfax – April 29, 2013) More than ten members of the Russian Public Chamber have signed a statement in support of yet another NGO being checked in Russia in which they slammed the ongoing mass checks of non-profit organizations in the country in general, saying they lead to significant infringement of civil liberties, Russian news agency Interfax reported on 29 […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 30, 2013) Prosecutors in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan have ordered the Agora human rights group, which has provided legal assistance to people detained at anti-Kremlin protests, to register as a “foreign agent,” a demand it has dismissed as “unlawful.” Under a controversial law approved by President Vladimir Putin last year, NGOs funded from abroad and […]
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(Interfax – April 30, 2013) The inspections of non-governmental organizations (NGO) are not large-scale and the results will be summarized in late May, Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Grin wrote in a letter to Chairman of the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council Mikhail Fedotov. “The inspection does not pursue limiting NGO activities, it is preventive and aimed at forcing organizations […]
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