Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#225 :: Friday, 13 December 2013

Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#225 :: 13 December 2013
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POLITICS

1. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Russians have grown angrier and ruder, study says. New psychological research shows an increase in aggressive characteristics of the average Russian. But scientists say the trend can reverse itself.
2. Moscow Times: Putin, Facing Sputtering Economy, Declares a Tax Crackdown.
3. Business New Europe: MOSCOW BLOG: Putin calls for liberal reforms.
4. RIA Novosti: Fyodor Lukyanov, Putin Embraces Conservatism as His Ideology.
5. www.russiatoday.com: What Putin did and didn’t say in his annual address. (Aleksey Pushkov and Vyacheslav Nikonov)
6. Moscow Rossiya 1 TV: Putin: Russia Shows Demographic Growth for the First Time Since 1991.
7. Moscow Rossiya 1 TV: Putin Defends ‘Traditional’ Values Against ‘Barbarity’, ‘Regress’
8. Interfax: Putin calls for bolstering local self-government system in Russia.
9. Moscow Rossiya 1 TV: Putin Voices Discontent Over Way his Decrees are Implemented.
10. Kremlin.ru: Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly. (partial transcript)
11. Moscow Times: Ruling Elite Largely Inspired by Putin Speech.
12. Interfax: Communists unhappy with Putin advocacy of “liberal economic model”
13. Interfax: United Russia: economic focus of presidential address derives from challenges faced by Russia.
14. Ekho Moskvy News Agency: Putin’s address gets mixed response from Russian politicians, pundits.
15. Moscow Times: What the Papers Say, Dec. 13, 2013.
16. Moskovsky Komsomolets: Commentator says Russia’s Medvedev seeking to retain PM post. (Mikhail Rostovskiy)
17. Interfax: Lukin: amnesty bill to be passed in first reading on Dec 17, in final reading before Dec 25.
18. New York Times: Serge Schmemann, Editorial Observer. The Kremlin, the Press and the Protesters: A Case Study of Rule by Paranoia.
19. Reuters: Greenpeace says Russia won’t let activists go home.
20. Interfax: Russia’s Memorial regional branch branded “foreign agent”
21. Reuters: Top Russian court orders review of Pussy Riot case.
22. Russia Direct: For Russia and the US, it’s time to focus on immigration. RD Exclusive: Prominent sociologist Jack Goldstone, organizer of the first-ever international conference on political demography in Moscow, explains why Russia and the U.S. should be concerned with issues like immigration and population growth.
23. Kennan Institute: Hands off the Constitution. (interview with Viktor Sheinis)
24. Institute of Modern Russia: Ekaterina Mishina, Lost Cause: On the 20th Anniversary of the Russian Constitution.

ECONOMY

25. Reuters: Russian central bank holds rates, sees inflation falling in 2014.
26. Reuters: INTERVIEW-Don’t delay Russian economic reforms, Sberbank CEO warns. (German Gref)
27. Interfax: Ineffective federal programs could be discontinued – Medvedev.
28. Interfax: Companies registered offshore will pay Russian taxes, receive no govt support – Putin.
29. Interfax: ‘De-offshoring’ Russian economy will yield ‘tens of billions’ in additional revenue – Siluanov.
30. Moscow Times: Criteria Set for Gauging State Manager Efficiency.
31. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Tough regulation challenges Russian banking business. In early December Adam Smith Conferences held the 20th anniversary Russian Banking Forum in London aimed at looking at what the future holds for Russia’s banks.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

32. Russia Direct: Russia is no longer a superpower, and Putin’s OK with that.
33. Interfax: Lawmaker praises Russia’s “conservative” foreign policy. (Margelov)
34. Russia Direct: Russia needs a new foreign policy paradigm. When it comes to exerting influence in its Near Abroad, Moscow needs to start thinking in terms of economic, not strategic, spheres of interest.
35. Chatham House: John Lough, Russia: Developing a New Image Abroad?
36. Reuters: Ukraine’s Yanukovich holds crisis talks as thousands mass for rally.
37. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Moscow willing to negotiate with Ukraine. Putin says there’s room for avoiding a confrontation between the European Union and the Eurasian Union.
38. New York Times: In Ukraine’s East, a Message for Protesters: Stop.
39. Svobodnaya Pressa: Russian Pundit Eyes Possibility of Kiev Unrest Leading to ‘Breakup’ of Ukraine. (Lyubov Shishelina, head of the Eastern European Studies Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences Europe Institute)
40. New York TImes: Fyodor Lukyanov, The Problem Is Ukraine Doesn’t Know What It Wants.
41. RIA Novosti: Russian experts doubt US will impose sanctions on Ukraine.
42. The National Interest: Job Henning, Ukraine: Another Egypt?
43. The Economist editorial: Crackdown in Ukraine. Goodbye, Putin. Viktor Yanukovych has made his choice. His country has chosen otherwise.
44. The Economist: Ukraine’s protests. The birth of the nation? Viktor Yanukovych’s botched crackdown on the protests in Maidan seemed to defy common sense.
45. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, Everyone Needs To Remember That Ukraine Is Not A ‘Prize’ But An Enormous Liability.