Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#8 :: 10 January 2014

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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#8 :: 10 January 2013
E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net
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POLITICS

1. Moscow Times: Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2013.
2. RIA Novosti: One in Three Russian Towns & Villages Have No Internet -­ Study.
3. The School of Russian and Asian Studies: Andrei Nesterov, How the News is Reported in Russia: December 2013.
4. Carnegie Moscow Center: Dmitri Trenin, The Other Value Gap.
5. The Voice of Russia: Dmitry Babich, Western conservatives’ fascination with Putin: the backlash from long demonization.
6. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Stalin will continue his struggle against the Martians.
7. Moscow Times: What the Papers Say, Jan. 10, 2013.
8. Moscow Times: Gifts to Officials Worth More Than $90 to Be Handed Over to State.
9. Interfax: All gifts received by Russian civil servants will be appraised.
10. Interfax: Expert Pavlovsky wonders about political meaning of legalization of gifts to officials.
11. Interfax: Kremlin official calls on prosecutors to step up oversight of terrorism and extremism cases. (Sergei Ivanov)
12. Interfax: Bill on criminal liability for terrorists’ relatives unlikely to be considered in State Duma – official.
13. RAPSI: Most Russians indifferent to Khodorkovsky’s pardon – survey.
14. Bloomberg: Russian Ex-Oil Tycoon Khodorkovsky Visits Israel After Release.
15. Global Voices: 7 Theories of Why Putin Freed Khodorkovsky. (Andrey Illarionov)
16. RIA Novosti: Russian Village Reformer Released on Parole.
17. RIA Novosti: 1M Foreigners Could Be Working Illegally in Moscow -­ Official.
18. Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies: Georgi Engelhardt, Evolution of the Terror Threat Facing Russia.
19. Institute to Modern Russia: Alexander Podrabinek, The Peculiarities of Terrorism in Russia.
20. The School of Russian and Asian Studies: Josh Wilson, Why the Terrorists Chose Volgograd.
21. The Economist: Protest in Russia. Riotous assembly. What Pussy Riot is all about.
22. New York Times: Alexander Nazaryan, Punk, Skirts, Balaclavas: A Russian Revolution. Masha Gessen’s ‘Words Will Break Cement’
23. Vanity Fair: What You Don’t Know About Pussy Riot, and Life in Russia’s Gulag-Like Prison Colonies. (interview with Masha Gessen)
24. RFE/RL: Russian Orthodox Deacon Fears Defrocking After Outing Church’s ‘Gay Lobby’
25. www.russiatoday.com: Top Russian cleric seeks nationwide referendum on criminalizing male homosexuality.
26. ITAR-TASS: Actor’s letter to Russia’s president stirs up irrelevant scandal.
27. Interfax: Rights defenders say Okhlobystin’s idea to put gays in prison is obscurantist, odious.
28. ITAR-TASS: Russia takes unprecedented security measures ahead of Sochi Olympics.
29. Los Angeles Times: As Olympics near, six dead bodies found in southern Russia.
30. Christian Science Monitor: Sochi Games come with Olympic-sized corruption, official charges. A Swiss Olympics official says that as much of one-third of Sochi’s $55 billion price tag has simply been embezzled.
31. R-Sport: Russia Names Small Town Outside Sochi as Olympic Protest Zone.
32. Interfax: Sochi air becomes twice as clean – Kozak.
33. Moscow Times: Sochi’s New Power Grid Still Unfinished.
34. Wall Street Journal: FBI Sending Agents to Russia to Help Secure Olympics. U.S.-Russia Cooperation Has Improved Heading Toward the Games, Bureau’s Director Says.
35. The Voice of Russia: Russian guide to 2014: The Hermitage’s 250th Anniversary.
36. Transitions Online: Vladimir Kozlov, Kuryokhin: From Underground to Fringe. A new biography charts the short life of a Russian jazz-rock great who ‘upgraded himself every minute.’

ECONOMY

37. ITAR-TASS: Russia requires 4-percent economic growth over 5-6 years. Russian Press Review.
38. RIA Novosti: Russia to Triple Uranium Production in Next 2 Years ­- Rosatom.
39. The Motley Fool: What Putin’s Chess Game Means for Energy in Europe.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

40. ITAR-TASS: In 2014, Russia will show itself as global player. Russian Press Review.
41. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russia shipping chemical weapons out of Syria. Amidst an increase in fighting in Syria’s brutal civil war, Russia has started its role in the international operation to remove chemical weapons from the country.
42. Interfax: Moscow, Washington convinced conference on Syria should be held on Jan 22 – Russian Foreign Ministry.
43. Reuters: Iran, Russia negotiating big oil-for-goods deal.
44. Russia Beyond the Headlines/RIA Novosti: GLONASS: Dispelling the myths around Russia’s GPS. While everyone in Russia has heard the name GLONASS, the satellite navigation system, few Russian high-tech start-ups have attracted as many rumors, misapprehensions and even jokes.
45. RIA Novosti: Russian TV Presenter Claims Strip-Searched at Miami Airport. (Ksenia Sobchak)
46. Variety: Russian Box Office Smash ‘Stalingrad’ Gets U.S. Release in Imax. WWII drama bows exclusively for one week starting Feb. 28.
47. William Dunkerley: Litvinenko.
48. RIA Novosti: Russia to be Ukraine’s Sole Gas Provider – Minister.
49. Blouin News: Ukraine edges one step closer to Russia.
50. www.opendemocracy.net/PONARS: Arkady Moshes, Lukashenka as Machiavelli.