(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 10, 2013) Russia plans to offer Chinese investors participation in joint natural resources projects and is ready to give Beijing access to Russian mineral deposits, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said on Wednesday. In an interview with Chinese media ahead of a visit by a Russian delegation on April 15, Shuvalov said Russia […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 9, 2013) A recent poll has shown that Russian citizens had less favorable opinions towards the United States and European Union as well as to Ukraine and Belarus. Currently, 48% of Russians give generally positive comments about the United States, against 53% in January. Thus, the share of those opposed to the United States grew from […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – April 10, 2013) The White House has urged Moscow to do more to restrain saber-rattling North Korea, but despite historically strong ties with its nuclear-armed neighbor, Russia does not have special influence that could help defuse growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, experts said Tuesday. “Russia doesn’t have any exclusive ways to […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 10, 2013) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused North Korea of blatantly violating a UN Security Council resolution and warned that Moscow will consistently seek to calm the situation down. “Certainly, it is unacceptable when a state – in this particular case the DPRK, a UN member – openly and blatantly violates a UN Security […]
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(RIA Novosti – April 9, 2013 – Fyodor Lukyanov) Fyodor Lukyanov is Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal, authoritative source of expertise on Russian foreign policy and global developments. The world is once again looking toward the Korean Peninsula with apprehension, though at this point it should be used to Pyongyang’s routine threats to wipe its enemies off […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Andrei Ilyashenko, special to RBTH – April 10, 2013) The negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue in Kazakhstan allowed sides to discuss specific mutual demands in an earnest exchange of opinions The new round of negotiations on the Iranian issue failed to bring any tangible results. Still there is obvious progress the […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Helena Bedwell – April 10, 2013) Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili wants to question President Mikheil Saakashvili over the country’s five-day war with Russia in 2008, a probe that may lead to legal proceedings against Saakashvili. The president and the government “acted inadequately” and the Georgian army acted before Russian forces crossed the border during the […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yevgeny Shestakov, special to RBTH – April 9, 2013) Yevgeny Shestakov is international politics editor at Rossiyskaya Gazeta. International politics analyst Yevgeny Shestakov considers Russia and the U.S. should not resolve their differences via international conflicts like the Syria crisis. Events in civil war-torn Syria have demonstrated the lamentable inability of Russia and […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 9, 2013) Russian citizens recently interviewed by the Levada Center said they now have a better opinion of South Korea than North Korea, expressing concern over Pyongyang’s recent belligerent rhetoric and plans. Forty-nine percent of respondents to the March survey said they had a positive attitude toward North Korea, and 26% spoke of the country negatively. […]
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(RIA Novosti – Alexey Eremenko – MOSCOW, April 9, 2013) Radioactive fallout from South Korean nuclear plants blown up by enemy saboteurs could be, for Russia, the worst consequence of a possible Korean war should one happen, Russian analysts said. “You could have five or six Chernobyls take place over a relatively small territory,” said Alexander Zhebin, who heads […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 8, 2013) North Korea does not want to become another target for the U.S. after Syria and therefore it needs reliable security guarantees, a North Korean diplomatic source said in reply to a question from Interfax concerning reasons for Pyongyang’s increasingly militant rhetoric in relation to the U.S. and South Korea of late. “Washington has often […]
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(Interfax – TBILISI, April 8, 2013) The return of Georgian wine, mineral water, fruit, vegetables and other produce to Russia is going successfully and supplies might resume by June, Georgian Minister of Agriculture David Kirvalidze said at a briefing on Monday. “We have stepped forward in both directions,” Kirvalidze said when commenting on the second inspection the Russian consumer rights […]
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(RIA Novosti – Carl Schreck – WASHINGTON, April 8, 2013) Russian officials who are slapped with Magnitsky Act sanctions this week may have seen their dim prospects for recourse in US courts brighten thanks to US President Barack Obama. In what the White House called a “routine delegation” of responsibilities, Obama on Friday formally tasked the US Treasury and […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 9, 2013) The government has allowed the Economic Development Ministry to obtain visas for the employees of big foreign companies that invest in the Russian economy from the country’s diplomatic missions and consulates abroad, a news report said Monday. The rules also apply to firms involved in the implementation of the Skolkovo project and […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 8, 2013) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said production growth slowed down in Russia in early 2013 and called for the formation of a new economic growth model. Medvedev recalled at a Finance Ministry collegium on Monday that the positive growth of the Russian economy, which has been observed since 2009, seriously slowed down in the […]
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(Interfax – HANOVER, April 8, 2013) The European economy remains strong, despite the problems facing selected euro zone countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “We’re sorry such things are happening on Cyprus, but the foundations of the European economy, of the German economy – and Germany is demonstrating very good rates of growth and economic reliability – (are strong). Therefore […]
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(Interfax – AMSTERDAM, April 8, 2013) Russian authorities will continue to make effort to improve investment climate in the country. “We will do our best to create favorable business environment,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Russian and Dutch businessmen in Amsterdam on Monday. “We are doing our best to improve business climate in Russia. Probably, there […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 6, 2013) Russians are split in their perception of the acid attack on Bolshoi Theater Ballet Art Director Sergei Filin in January and the way it characterizes the situation in the theater, the Levada Center public survey organization found after conducting a poll in 130 communities of 45 regions of Russia in March. The poll showed […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 6, 2013) Authors of a research on the level of anti-Semitism in Russia in 2011-2012 concluded that animosity toward Jewish people in the country is fairly uncommon, although they mentioned worrying manifestations of it among some nationalists, Muslims and government officials. “The level of crimes motivated by anti-Semitism continued to be relatively low in 2011-2012. Five […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 8, 2013) The historical and enlightenment society Memorial and human rights center Memorial filed a lawsuit on Monday with the Moscow Zamoskvoretsky Court against the unscheduled inspection by prosecutors. “The Memorial center challenged the unscheduled inspection by the Moscow prosecutor’s office in court, in association with the Justice Ministry and tax experts, which began on March […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 9, 2013) NGO representatives on Monday questioned the validity of President Vladimir Putin’s comment to German television that NGOs in Russia had received about $1 billion from abroad since the “foreign agent” law was adopted in 2012. In the interview broadcast Friday, Putin said there were 654 active NGOs in Russia […]
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(RIA Novosti, MOSCOW, April 9, 2013) Angels and demons do really exist, but are often mistaken for “so-called aliens” by those who encounter them, a senior Russian Orthodox Church clergyman said. “They are real creatures, humans come into contact with them as they sometimes reveal themselves,” Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who oversees the Church’s public relations, told RIA Novosti in […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 8, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-70-major-russian.html) Slightly more than one in every six Russians — some 24.5 million people — lives in a company town facing serious economic and demographic decline, with 68 of these 799 places rated as being high risk of complete depopulation unless a new five-year government program can reverse […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 9, 2013) Income declarations of Russian President Vladimir Putin and officials of his administration will be released in mid April in line with previous plans. “Formally (in accordance with the president’s decrees from April 2) we don’t have to do it in April. But income declarations have already been submitted to the administration and nothing prevents […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – April 9, 2013) The corruption market in Russia is estimated at $300 billion a year, with most of this money circulating in the public finance, state property and natural resource industries, according to estimates released Monday by the National Anti-Corruption Committee, an opposition-minded think tank. But experts worried that the majority of […]
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[check back for updates including active links] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#65 :: 9 April 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net 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. Moscow Times: Corruption Market Estimated at a Whopping $300Bln. 2. ITAR-TASS: Medvedev approves state program Justice. 3. Interfax: Income declarations of Putin, his administration to be […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Inna Soboleva, RBTH – April 8, 2013) NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow hopes that dialogue of deployment of an ABM system in Europe can be activated in the coming months. NATO hopes that, in light of the U.S. decision to cancel the fourth phase of its ABM system in Europe, a dialogue […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Ben Aris – April 7, 2013) Deepening economic ties with the new leadership in Beijing are evidence that Russia is increasingly looking towards Asia. A multibillion-pound raft of deals struck during new Chinese president Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Moscow demonstrates a strengthening of ties between the two countries. As does the fact […]
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(Interfax – Zelenograd, April 5, 2013) The Skolkovo (science park) project will be carried out despite the doubts in its viability circulating in society, the deputy PM and government Chief of Staff, Vladislav Surkov, has said. “Despite various opinions and discussions in society we will have our own way and will still continue building Skolkovo,” he said at the meeting […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Nathan Gray – April 8, 2013) The ongoing financial crisis may be hitting European economies hard, but the continent retains a good deal of interest for Russian customers looking to invest in property abroad. Reasons vary according to country, of course: prestige in Britain, skiing in Switzerland and Austria, warm climates in Spain, Italy and […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Marina Maximova, special to RBTH – April 8, 2013) Many do not follow in their parents’ footsteps, setting up their own businesses instead. The children of Russia’s billionaires do not all choose to take up their parents’ wealth and business empires. In fact, many have started to make names for themselves with separate […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Olga Tanas – April 8, 2013) Russia agreed to restructure a 2.5 billion-euro ($3.3 billion) loan granted to Cyprus in 2011, bowing to a request by the European Commission, President Vladimir Putin said. “We are making our own contribution” to help the island, Putin told reporters today at a joint briefing in Hanover with German Chancellor […]
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(Interfax – Hanover, April 7, 2013) The Economic Development Ministry will lower in its revised socio-economic development forecast its estimate for gas exports from the Russian Federation (in natural units), for the increase in investment in the Russian Federation, and for GDP rise, Minister Andrey Belousov has said. “I can definitely say that the forecast for 2013 will have lower […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Kristen Blyth – April 8, 2013) A few years ago, an autistic boy named Anton wrote an essay about life. “People rush. People swear,” it reads. “Now happy. Now serious. People bang and rattle. They’re not shaggy. They get lost. Ginger. Deep. They skin things. People renovate houses and barns. People will endure a bit […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – April 8, 2013) “Do you dare come to the square where the regiments are waiting … between the Senate and Synod?” These lines, though written by Russian poet Alexander Galich in 1968 about the Decembrist revolt of 1825 on St. Petersburg’s Senatskaya Ploshchad, express the spirit of the art inspired by Russia’s […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 8, 2013) A controversial interview with Konstantin Ernst, general director of state-owned Channel One, has caused a scandal in social networks and the media, raising questions of press freedom and journalist ethics. The interview was taken in 2008 by Yevgeny Levkovich, who was a freelance correspondent for the Russian edition of Rolling Stone magazine. […]
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(Interfax – April 8, 2013) Moscow City Court Chairman Olga Yegorova believes the sentences handed down on former Yukos CEOs Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev are fair, but the sentence on the members of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot could be softened. “It would be a shame if the Supreme Court changes the sentence handed down on Mikhail Khodorkovsky. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – April 8, 2013) Anti-Kremlin leader Alexei Navalny walks methodically past a crowd of protesters standing behind metal barricades on Bolotnaya Ploshchad, heading for a stage. Two baby-faced police officers step out of his way, blank expressions on their faces. “We’re with you,” a man in sunglasses says to Navalny. “Thanks,” Navalny answers […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 8, 2013) Lyudmila Alekseyeva, the elder human rights activist in Russia and the head of the Moscow Helsinki group, believes the figures given in reports on foreign funding received by NGOs in Russia are overestimated. “This is being done to show that these organizations allegedly have money to burn. Everyone influences public opinion in the way […]
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(RIA Novosti, HANOVER, April 8, 2013) The recent wave of inspections of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Russia is not aimed at restricting their activity but rather at controlling their foreign funding, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “All our actions are not designed to shut down or ban [the operation of NGOs in […]
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(Interfax – April 5, 2013) Russians have shown a more positive attitude towards the work of the country’s ministers for the last few months, a survey by the pro-Kremlin All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM) has found, the Interfax news agency reported on 5 April. The poll is available on the VTsIOM website, at http://wciom.ru/index.php?id=459&uid=113822 Respondents were asked to assess […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 5, 2013) Corruption levels in Russia are high, in the opinion of 80% of citizens. Some 43% argue corruption rates are growing, 40% say there is no change, and only 6% see a downward trend. The Public Opinion Foundation polled 1,500 respondents in 100 towns and cities in 43 regions in late March. Most Russians (68%) […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova – April 8, 2013) The Graduate School of Urban Studies and Planning at the Higher School of Economics here in Moscow has come out with a report that says that most Muscovites want little to do with their neighbors. A recent poll conducted by the graduate school revealed that less than a third […]
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[check back for updates including active links] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#64 :: 8 April 2013 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net 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. Moscow News: New poll reveals lack of community in Moscow. 2. ITAR-TASS: RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW. Political analysts discuss ideology and political preferences of the Russian society. […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Oleg Fomichev, RBTH – April 5, 2013) Russian experts disagree on whether or not a political solution in Syria is still possible. This April marks the second anniversary of the Syrian uprising. Unlike the other Arab revolutions, it can be characterized by its deep involvement of Russian interests. While Moscow remains critical of […]
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(Interfax – TBILISI, April 4, 2013) Akhmed Zakayev, formerly known as a Chechen separatist emissary, has accused Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s entourage of arming and training a group of Chechen saboteurs and planning to send them to Russia in 2012. “People from Saakashvili’s inner circle brought a group of Chechens from Europe, organized their training, provided them with weapons and […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Pavel Koshkin, RBTH – April 3, 2013) While Russia struggles to improve its image abroad, the U.S. model of “soft power” sets a good example to follow. How many cultural and educational centers does Russia have in the United States? This was the very question that preoccupied my thoughts when I first visited […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – April 5, 2013) Without warning or explanation, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow has rejected an unprecedented percentage of Russian university students applying for visas to take part in the State Department’s popular Summer Work and Travel program this year, dashing hopes and placing the program’s future in doubt. About 80-90 percent of […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Viktor Litovkin, RBTH – April 4, 2013) A recently released report by International Institute for Strategic Studies has noted that Russia’s defense spending increased in 2012. Analyst Viktor Litovkin argues that Russia’s defense spending is nowhere close to the numbers put up by Western nations. The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 4, 2013) All Russian government officials should be obligated to invest their money in the securities of Russian issuers, deputy Central Bank chairman Sergei Shvetsov said. “Today a large number of officials disclose their assets, and we see vehicles, dachas and land there, we very rarely see mutual funds, Russian securities. The presence of securities in […]
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