Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#135 :: 25 July 2013

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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#135 :: 25 July 2013
E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net
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POLITICS

1. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, ‘Dying’ Russia’s Birth Rate Is Now Higher Than The United States’
2. Moscow Times: Anniversary of Russia’s Baptism Exalted.
3. Interfax: Russians switch from vodka to whiskey – sociologists.
4. Moscow Times: Russian Attitudes Toward Emigration Softened, Poll Says.
5. Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Polls Indicate That ‘One in Every Four or Five’ Russians Dream of Leaving Country.
6. BBC Monitoring: Russian internet users trust traditional media more than blogs – poll.
7. Reuters: John Lloyd, Where is Russia headed?
8. RIA Novosti: Majority of Russians Approve of White Lies – Poll.
9. Moscow Times/BBC Monitoring: What the Papers Say, July 25, 2013.
10. ITAR-TASS: RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW. ONF to become alternative source of information for Kremlin.
11. Yezhednevnyy Zhurnal: New Media Seen Giving Navalnyy Real Chance To Challenge Putin.
12. Slon.ru: Commentator Belkovskiy Queries Navalnyy Moscow Mayoral Election Program.
13. Jamestown Foundation Eurasia Daily Monitor: RIchard Arnold, Navalny and the Moscow Mayoral Election. Far-right nationalist group throws its support behind Navalny in Moscow mayor race
14. Global Voices: Andrey Tselikov, Ethnic Slurs Haunt Alexey Navalny.
15. Vedomosti: Editorial Views Russian Protest’s ‘Intellectual’ Nature.
16. Kommersant: Nonprofits Formerly Receiving Overseas Financing Now Applying for Presidential Grants.
17. ITAR-TASS: RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW. Human rights activists ask to review beating cases of rally participants.
18. Reuters: European court says Russia’s Khodorkovsky case not political.
19. Interfax: Lawyer wants first conviction of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev annulled.
20. The Voice of Russia: Dmitry Babich, Navalny case: who needs terrifying stories about Stalinism?
21. Moscow Times: Kim Iskyan, Sri Lanka Is Good Example for Russia to Follow.
22. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russian army responds to problems seen in drills.
23. Pravda.ru: Soviet ruble was destroyed brutally, in one day.
24. RIA Novosti: Sharapova Tops Forbes’ Russian Celebrities List Again.

ECONOMY

25. RIA Novosti: Medvedev Blasts Weak Competition in Russian Economy.
26. Business New Europe: Credit card fraud in Russia 10-times less than elsewhere.
27. Business New Europe: Ben Aris, Russia typifies link between high interest rates and corruption.
28. Marketing Week: Reaching Russia’s lucrative layer. Russia’s middle class is undergoing phenomenal growth.
29. Moscow Times: Spending Abroad by Russians to Hit $42 Billion in 2013.
30. New York TImes: Polar Thaw Opens Shortcut for Russian Natural Gas.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

31. ITAR-TASS: Russian Deputy Defense Minister: Russia and NATO must find solutions to problems dividing them.
32. Interfax: NATO exercises in Poland have “an aura of the Cold War” about them – Russian Defense Ministry.
33. Interfax: Russians get over 111,000 U.S. visas in Jan-June 2013 up 20% year-on-year.
34. Interfax: Russia has no legal grounds to extradite Snowden – official.
35. Reuters: Fugitive Snowden’s hopes of leaving Moscow airport dashed.
36. ITAR-TASS: RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW. Snowden to be able to leave airport transit area.
37. The Voice of Russia: US pushing Russia towards double standards, human rights violations – Kucherena.
38. Moscow Times: Lilia Shevtsova, Putin Comes Out Ahead in Snowden Affair.
39. Russia Direct: Andrei Tsygankov, What have the U.S. and Russia learned from the Snowden Affair? Both nations adjust to the realities of diplomacy in a post-Cold War era.
40. Russia Direct: Sergey Rogov, Viktor Yesin, Pavel Zolotaryov, Valentin Kuznetsov, Military defense to determine the future of U.S.-Russia relations. If September talks in Moscow fail, will we be thrown back into a new Cold War and arms race?
41. Interfax: Metropolitan Hilarion believes that Western countries tend to dictatorship.
42. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: South Osetia Wants to Join Russia but Moscow Unlikely to Agree.
43. William Dunkerley: Litvinenko: Massive Media Fraud Uncovered.