MOSCOW. Feb 22 (Interfax) – President Vladimir Putin’s representative in the State Duma Garri Minkh has acknowledged that government executives may have problems selling their assets and foreign company shares in compliance with the president-proposed bill. “The procedure of selling shares is not so easy. Not so easy as selling a glass of sunflower seeds,” Minkh said during the first […]
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(Governent.ru – February 23, 2013) Question: We know that Russia’s relations with Latin America are on the ascendant and we are happy that they have reached a peak. Do you consider them to be strategic or are they governed by pragmatic and transient considerations, as well as the competition over the region between the United States and Russia? Dmitry Medvedev: […]
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(Government.ru – February 22, 2013) Transcript: Correspondent (via interpreter): I know we have little time and will try to be succinct. I’ll start with Syria right away. Do you think Bashar al-Assad will remain in power for a long time to come? We know that Syria has been in this situation for a long time already, and it is still […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – February 25, 2013) U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul has condemned “sensational exploitations” of the recent death of a Russian toddler in the United States and said he is “troubled” by portrayals of the U.S. legal system, government and the American people in the Russian press. “It is time for sensational exploitations of human […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 25 (Interfax) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believes the U.S. administration in the past few weeks has manifested a wish to influence the administrations of the U.S. states to resolve problems of Russian children adopted by U.S. citizens. “They have a wish to do it. We have seen some attempts to influence the administrations of the states. […]
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MOSCOW, February 25 (RIA Novosti) – The proportion of Russians who are positive about Russian-US relations has fallen from 53 percent to 39 percent since last fall, according to an opinion poll by the state-run All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Study (VTsIOM). According to the survey, 55 percent of Russian nationals perceive the United States positively, a 2 percent rise. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – February 25, 2013) Russia has agreed to cancel most of Cuba’s $30 billion Soviet-era debt the country’s biggest debt cancellation in years, according to an agreement reached during Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to the Caribbean island late last week. Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov, who accompanied Medvedev during his […]
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(RIA Novosti – Moscow, February 21, 2013) Up to 300 adopted children die in Russia every year but practically no-one has faced criminal prosecution over these deaths, head of the State Duma Committee on Affairs of Family, Women and Children Yelena Mizulina (representing A Just Russia party) said on Thursday (21 February). “According to the figures available to the committee, […]
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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#38 :: 25 February 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. Wall Street Journal: Russia Signs Anti-Smoking Law. 2. Government.ru: Dmitry Medvedev’s interview with the Brazilian newspaper O Globo. 3. Governent.ru: Dmitry Medvedev’s interview with Prensa Latina news agency, Cuba. 4. Washington Post: In […]
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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#37 :: 22 February 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. Scientific American: Siberian Caves Reveal Advancing Permafrost Thaw. Melting of significant portions of Arctic permafrost could accelerate climate change into a catastrophe. 2. Interfax: Medvedev says Russia is not autocracy. 3. Interfax: Chelyabinsk […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – February 22, 2013) The resignation of senior United Russia lawmaker Vladimir Pekhtin following accusations from opposition leader Alexei Navalny that he owned undeclared property in the U.S. triggered speculation that more lawmakers would quit their seats, throwing the ruling party into crisis. Pundits said Thursday that with lawmakers facing an increasing barrage […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – February 22, 2013) The Kremlin’s drive to crack down on corruption in the government has escalated dramatically in the last week and moved into a new phase. In addition to several high profile investigations into both government departments and large state-owned companies, senior officials have come out in recent days to indicate that the […]
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(Moscow Times – themocowtimes.com – February 22, 2013) In an interview with the Brazilian daily O Globo, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said talk of Russia as a human rights violator was “frivolous” and suggested prison sentences received by Pussy Riot band members could have been less strict. “I do not believe that we are an absolutely perfect, model society and […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 21, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-russia-faces-same.html) The Russian economy today despite some very positive numbers over the last year suffers from four macro-economic problems that not only will be difficult to correct but also resemble those the Soviet leadership faced in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the rector of the Presidential Academy […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) – Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said he was concerned with groundless interference of police in commercial disputes. “The practice of opening groundless criminal cases, arresting enterprises’ accounts and assets hasn’t been eradicated,” Chaika said during his speech at the all-Russian prosecutors’ conference on protecting rights of businessmen. Chaika said that “the number of operational procedures […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) – McDonald’s plans to open at least 150 restaurants in Russia in the next three years, the company’s president for Russia and Eastern Europe, Khamat Khasbulatov, told a press conference. The company opened 46 restaurants in 2011 and 37 in 2010. It opened its first diners in the Lipetsk region and cities of Saransk, Izhevsk and […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, February 21, 2013) The Russian Foreign Ministry has opened an official account in the social network Facebook, says a report published on the ministry’s website today. “Topical information about the Russian foreign policy, archive materials about the history of the Russian diplomatic service, helpful information for countrymen and Russians staying abroad will be posted there. We expect […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Alexey Dolinskiy, special to RBTH – February 21, 2013) In 2013, Russia will host the G-20 summit for the first time ever. Russia’s official presidency started in December 2012, but high-level meetings, culminating in the September 2013 St. Petersburg summit, are just beginning. Leading a global institution of the world’s most powerful countries […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – February 21, 2013) The International Monetary Fund took an optimistic stance at Russia’s prospects Wednesday, saying that its economy could demonstrate a faster pace of growth over the next few years than the annual goal of 5 percent set by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. To attain those growth rates, the government should […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 20, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-putins-nationality.html) Both the five specific planks of his nationality policy that Vladimir Putin outlined yesterday and problems underlying his entire approach to this issue guarantee that the Russian president will offend both Russians and non-Russians and produce the very outcome he says he is trying to avoid […]
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(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 32 – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Richard Arnold – February 20, 2013) New recruits to the Russian police will soon undergo mandatory polygraph tests in order to gain admission to the force. The requirement, introduced in June 2012 as part of a comprehensive reform of the police, will now be introduced in practice […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) – Support of the Russian public to President Vladimir Putin’s bill banning foreign bank accounts of civil servants is practically unanimous, the Public Opinion Foundation said. It polled 1,500 respondents in 100 towns and cities in 43 regions on February 16-17. Seventy-three percent heard about the bill, and 26% learned about it during the poll. From […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) – The fight against corruption intensified in Russia in 2012 and the damage from corruption is estimated at more than 20 billion rubles, Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said. “We have determined over 49,000 (corruption) encroachments, which is almost one-fourth more than was registered in 2011, and the number of people found to have committed corruption […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) – Russia’s prosecutor general has accused law enforcement agencies of increasingly ineffective action against bribery. “It is for the second year running that we have been expressing anxiety at a decrease in the number of registered instances of bribery. Instances of offering bribes have not only been going down in number – by 21% – but […]
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MOSCOW, February 21 (RIA Novosti) – Representatives of the four factions in the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, on Wednesday requested an extremism probe into an article on a Russian Orthodox Church reform by political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky. In the article published by the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily on February 15, Belkovsky says that the Russian Orthodox […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) – Sixty-five percent of Russians approve of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s work, the Levada Center told Interfax on Thursday, following a nationwide survey conducted on February 15-18. Levada Center sociologists said that the approval rating of the Russian president gained three points, as compared to 62% in January. The approval rating of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev […]
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NOVO-OGARYOVO. Feb 20 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said the living conditions of orphans in Russia are much more important than the current debate on adoptions. “We are now actively discussing the work with foreign adoptions, which is, of course, an important thing, but not the main thing. What is more important is the way children, who have been […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – February 21, 2013) NATO and Russia pride themselves on cooperation over Afghanistan and the fight against terrorists and pirates, but a planned logistics hub to transport military hardware from Afghanistan is not taking off. Moscow and the Western military alliance will conduct a range of exercises this year, including a joint […]
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(Interfax – February 21, 2013) The results of the autopsy performed on Russian child Maxim Kuzmin who died in the U.S. have not been made public yet, Acting U.S. Consul in Russia Bill Bistransky said. Bistransky told Kommersant FM, commenting on the statement made by Russian envoy on human rights, democracy and supremacy of law Konstantin Dolgov saying that the […]
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(The Heritage Foundation – www.heritage.org – Ariel Cohen – February 20, 2013) Ariel Cohen, PhD, is Senior Research Fellow in Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, at The Heritage Foundation. Since Vladimir Putin’s third […]
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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#36 :: 21 February 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: Irina Ratushinskaya, What to Do If Something Explodes in Russia. 2. Izvestia: Rogozin Warns Prime Minister of Asteroid Threat. 3. Interfax: Situation with orphans in Russia is more important than debate […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Sergey Sumlenny, special to RBTH – February 20, 2013) Russia and the EU are losing the ability to conduct effective political dialogue, say experts. While Russia still appeals to European businesses, it is also under unwelcome pressure to conform to European ideals of democracy and human rights. Meanwhile, Germany could be the key […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Nikolay Surkov, special to RBTH – February 19, 2013) Nikolay Surkov is an assistant professor at Moscow State Institute of Foreign Affairs While Western actors push for the creation of an interim government in Syria, Russia is pessimistic about chances for improvement in the situation. Moscow sees no state willing to guarantee such […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – February 20, 2013) Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, re-elected in a landslide victory Monday, is expected to keep the promotion of Russian ties a priority during his second five-year term, as his country moves closer to clinching an Association Agreement with the European Union. Flare-ups in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, seized by Armenia […]
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BRASILIA, February 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has arrived in Brazil’s capital Brasilia, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported Wednesday. During his visit to Brazil on February 20-21, Medvedev is expected hold talks with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and co-chair with Vice-President Michel Temer the sixth meeting of the Russian-Brazilian high-level bilateral cooperation commission. The Russian premier […]
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(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Donald N. Jensen – February 19, 2013) With the unraveling of its “reset” with Moscow, the Obama administration is seeking new ways to engage the Russian leadership, relying on the time-tested issue of arms control. According to Donald N. Jensen, Resident Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins School […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Aleksandras Budrys – February 20, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country should not return cultural property confiscated by Bolshevik and Soviet authorities after the 1917 revolution to its previous owners. “If we now agree that such property of the Russian state will be transferred to someone, we will open a Pandora’s box. […]
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WASHINGTON, February 19 (By Maria Young for RIA Novosti) The January death of a young boy adopted from Russia last year by American parents was called “suspicious” on Tuesday by Texas authorities investigating the case, but they stopped short of confirming the graphic evidence of abuse some Russian officials have claimed and said the parents have not been charged with […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – February 20, 2013) With striking unanimity and furor, senior officials and lawmakers on Tuesday condemned the latest death of an adopted Russian child in the United States, saying the incident vindicates the government’s controversial decision to ban U.S. adoptions. “The death of one more Russian child in the United States has at […]
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(Interfax – February 20, 2013) The Federation Council’s meeting on Wednesday began with the issue of the death in the U.S. of Maxim Kuzmin, 3, who was adopted by U.S. citizens. Senators did not hide their outrage with what has occurred, and each of them tried to communicate his position on the matter. Nikolai Kondratenko, former governor of the Krasnodar […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) – Russia would form a reserve of oil and gas fields in its Arctic zone under a proposal contained in the Strategy for Development of Russia’s Arctic Zone and Ensuring National Security to 2020 published on the government website on Wednesday. The fund would help guarantee the nation’s energy security and ensure the steady development of […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) – The government program for the Social and Economic Development of the Far East and Baikal Region for the Period to 2025, drafted by the Far East Development Ministry, was discussed at a meeting held by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, business daily Vedomosti reported on Wednesday. “The document was not officially submitted to the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – February 20, 2013) Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich got in the spotlight Tuesday amid rumors that he might have to resign in the wake of the recent scandals in the energy sector, which he oversees. In comments posted on his Facebook account late Monday, Dvorkovich unequivocally dismissed speculation in social networks that […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) – Russia should not boost domestic demand more quickly than it increases the economy’s productive potential, Senior Resident Representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Russia Odd Per Brekk told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday. On the basis of its latest research, the IMF has arrived at the conclusion that the Russian growth model of […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 19 (Interfax) – The long-term forecast for Russia’s social and economic development in the period to 2030 will be the foundation for the country’s long-term budget strategy, as well as federal and regional programs, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. “Long-term budget strategy, federal and regional programs should be formed on the basis of this document, but we need […]
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Moscow, February 18, Interfax – The inaugural congress of the Russian Ten Commandments Party took place in Moscow. The total of 134 delegates from 45 Russian subjects, including Christians of different confessions, Muslims, and Jews, participated in the inaugural congress on February 17. The political council, the decision making body of the party, was headed by Sergey Mezentsev, Ph.D. “I […]
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(RIA Novosti – February 19, 2013) The number of convicts charged with corruption of all sorts is constantly declining, RIA Novosti news agency reported on 19 February, quoting the head of the Russian Supreme Court, Vyacheslav Lebedev. According to Lebedev’s data, a total of 10,000 people were charged with corruption in 2010, 7,500 people – in 2011, while in 2012 […]
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MOSCOW, February 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Investigative Committee (IC) initiated criminal proceedings against more than 800 state and government officials last year, including about 600 lawmakers on different levels, committee chief Alexander Bastrykin said on Wednesday. “Last year we took legal action against some 600 deputies and elected heads of municipalities and local self-government bodies, 19 deputies of regional […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 19, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-having-released.html) President Vladimir Putin’s decision to give official support to some of the most reactionary and vicious groups in Russian society in order to counter the increase in the number of the middle class who are appalled by his policies in this regard carries with it great risks […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – February 20, 2013) Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is among the few politicians capable of appeasing warring factions within the ruling elite and becoming President Vladimir Putin’s successor, a report released Tuesday said. The report, drafted by the influential Minchenko Consulting Group, said that although there exists a broad consensus within Putin’s inner […]
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