Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#5 :: 7 January 2014

Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#5 :: 7 January 2013
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POLITICS

1. ITAR-TASS: Putin attended a Christmas service in a newly-built church in Sochi.
2. Interfax: Putin: Christmas serves to unite millions on the basis of common spiritual values and traditions.
3. ITAR-TASS: Dmitry Medvedev and his wife Svetlana arrive in Christ the Saviour’s Cathedral.
4. Interfax: Medvedev greets Patriarch Kirill on Christmas, thanks for spiritual patronage
5. The Voice of Russia: Patriarch Kirill’s Christmas Message.
6. Interfax: Patriarch Kirill finds commercialization of Christmas in West dangerous.
7. Interfax: Western model of society is becoming increasingly marginal – Russian Orthodox Church.
8. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Holiday traditions in Russia spark magic. Christmas and New Year’s Eve in Russia are filled wit traditions linked to both Christianity and ancient Slavic beliefs.
9. Moscow Times: Moscow Celebrates Russian Orthodox Christmas With Giant Apple Pie.
#9a Moscow Times: Police Detain Dozens at Protest Calling for Release of Bolotnaya Prisoners.
10. Russia!: Mark Galeotti, Good News for Russia.
11. Carnegie Moscow Center: Lilia Shevtsova, 2014­ — Russia Waiting for Godot.
12. The International New York Times: Maxim Trudolyubov, Russia’s ‘Spare Individuals’
13. Jamestown Foundation Eurasia Daily Monitor: Pavel K. Baev, Russia Enters a Year of Post-Olympic Blues.
14. Time.com: Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and Garry Kasparov, Putin Is Basking in an ‘Astonishing Leadership Vacuum.’ Ahead of Sochi, Putin has thrown his weight around ­ but Russia is still crumbling under the strain of his tyranny.
15. World Socialist Web Site: How Khodorkovsky became Russia’s richest man.
16. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: Making ‘Separatist Propaganda’ Illegal is the Real Crime, Belotserkovsky Says.
17. Financial Times: Russia loses focus in fight against terrorism.
18. Reuters: Russia tightens security in Sochi before Olympics.
19. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Will Russia’s ‘ring of steel’ keep Sochi safe?
20. The Globe and Mail (Canada): Mark MacKinnon, In Sochi, anger and controversy of Olympic proportions.
21. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Ivan Kozlovsky: The man who refused to sing for Stalin. The legendary opera singer admired by Stalin, yet always resented being told what he could sing and what he could not.

ECONOMY

22. Russia Beyond the Headlines: New challenges for Russia’s economy in 2014. Next year may prove quite challenging for the Russian economy, as the negative trends carry over from 2013.
23. Oil & Gas Financial Journal: Russia remains as top oil producer in 2013.
24. The Detroit News: Chris Faulkner, Russia is running on fumes.
25. Globe Newswire: Russia! Magazine Releases Illustrated Guide to Dark PR.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

26. www.opendemocracy.net: Margot Light, Russia at home and abroad: past successes, future challenges.
27. Russia Direct: Andrei Zolotov, Jr., Russian Orthodox Church: Icons of Russia’s soft power. With Russians celebrating Orthodox Christmas on Jan. 7, Russia Direct sheds light on the role that the Russian Orthodox Church is playing in extending Russia’s reach in the global arena.
28. www.eurasiagroup.net: Eurasia Group on the Top Risks of 2014. #9 – The capricious Kremlin.
29. Carnegie Moscow Center: Dmitri Trenin, Eurasia in 2014.
30. Foreign Policy: Anna Nemtsova, Wooing Russia’s Twitterati. How the U.S. ambassador in Moscow is using social media to get his message out.
31. Moscow Times: Shlomo Ben-Ami, Putin’s Rearguard Battle.
32. RIA Novosti: Stranded Russian Vessel Free from Antarctic Ice.
33. Russia Direct: Can UN Law of the Sea stop militarization in Arctic? RD Exclusive: Valery Konyshev analyzes why U.S. ratification of the United Nations Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) probably would not improve Russian-American relations and alleviate tendencies toward the militarization of the Arctic.
34. The Asahi Shimbun (Japan): Russia to argue ‘historical legitimacy’ in Northern Territories dispute.
35. Interfax: Yanukovych greets nation on Christmas, urges to seek path to peace and love.
36. Kyiv Post: Five things you must know about the Ukrainian Christmas.
37. The Daily Beast: Vijai Maheshwari, Why Did Ukraine’s Eurolution Fail? How the Christmas holidays and a cash infusion from Russia combined to deflate the protest movement.
38. Institute of Modern Russia: Donald Jensen, The Kremlin’s Euromaidan Calculus.