RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2020-#220 :: Tuesday, 8 December 2020

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2020-#220 :: Tuesday, 8 December 2020
A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or The George Washington University.
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1. Kremlin.ru: Meeting with Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova – en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/64558
2. TASS: Russia’s epidemiological situation can become controllable by November 2021 — researcher.
3. Meduza: A ‘restricted’ free-for-all . Russia’s coronavirus vaccine is rolling out in Moscow to risk groups, but hospitals are actually inoculating anyone who wants it, due to low demand driven by safety concerns.
4. New York Times: The Kremlin Is Offering Russians Free Vaccines, but Will They Take Them? Distrust of the government is so widespread that 59 percent of Russians say they have no intention of getting a shot.
5. PONARS Eurasia: Margarita Zavadskaya and Boris Sokolov, Linkages Between Experiencing COVID-19 and Levels of Political Support in Russia [Full text: ponarseurasia.org/memo/linkages-between-experiencing-covid-19-and-levels-political-support-russia]
6. Financial Times: Russia’s economy ‘recovered’ quicker than most of industrialised world. Deputy finance minister defends approach that restricted Covid-19 lockdowns to limit damage.
7. The Barents Observer (Norway): Warning bells jingle for December climate. The Christmas month starts with exceptional heat across major parts of the Arctic.
8. Moscow Times: Putin Signs Constitutional Reforms on State Council, Secession, Russian Law.
9. Intellinews: Russia’s regional projects: the uneasy dilemma underlying Russia’s scramble to accelerate development. The coronavirus epidemic has exposed the chronic underinvestment into Russia’s regions. The government and development agencies have been shaken up and a regional development plan developed that is connected to the 12 national projects, but will it make a difference?
10. Intellinews: Russia de-dollarising. Both Russia and China have been trying to wind down their use of the dollar mostly for political reasons.
11. riafan.ru: VTsIOM: Rating of Russians’ confidence in Navalny – 3% – riafan.ru/1348935-vciom-reiting-doveriya-rossiyan-k-navalnomu-3?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fzen.yandex.com
12. zen.yandex.ru: Soviet man was trusting and naive. How the “Chubais” privatization was – zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5dec7d11b477bf00aded1605/doverchiv-i-naiven-byl-sovetskii-chelovek-kak-prohodila-chubaisovskaia-privatizaciia-5fc629706129f611a57c0cb6
13. Rossiiskaya Gazeta: Sergei Karaganov, An Offensive in a War of Ideas. Staying on the Defensive Is Inopportune in the Modern World. – rg.ru/2020/11/26/sergej-karaganov-oboronitelnaia-tradiciia-neumestna-v-nyneshnem-mire.html
14. Carnegie Moscow Center: Dmitri Trenin, Biden’s Approach to U.S. Allies and Adversaries Will Challenge Russia. President Biden will challenge the Kremlin both domestically and geopolitically. To thwart that dual challenge, Russia needs to deal with its numerous vulnerabilities effectively before its adversary is able to exploit them.
15. Asia Times: Dmitriy Frolovskiy, Moscow doubling down on Eurasian integration. The economies of the Eurasian Economic Union, a free-trade bloc, have been hit hard by the pandemic.
16. The National Interest: Sergey Rogov, Adam Thomson and Alexander Vershbow, A New Path Forward for NATO and Russia. Relations between NATO member states and Russia are complex and troubled. It will take concerted efforts by both sides to move their interaction to a more positive plane.
17. USNI News: Russian Ambassador to U.S. Sees Hope for Nuclear Arms Treaty Extension.
18. AP: UN urges Russia to immediately withdraw forces from Crimea.
19. rt.com: Ukrainian President Zelensky humbled in hometown after Russia-leaning candidate thrashes his party in mayoral election – rt.com/russia/509043-zelensky-party-defeat-hometown/
20. TASS: Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Risk of civil war looms over Armenia.
21. TASS: Izvestia: What ‘the EU’s Magnitsky Act’ brings to Russia.
22. thekomisarscoop.com: Swiss will drop Browder’s fake charges against Russians: no proof. (excerpt) – thekomisarscoop.com/2020/12/swiss-will-drop-browders-fake-charges-against-russians-no-proof/
23. Dances With Bears: GERMAN GOVERNMENT’S NAVALNY NOVICHOK, CONCOCTED FOR PARLIAMENT, DISSOLVES INTO LIES. (excerpt) – johnhelmer.net/german-governments-navalny-novichok-concocted-for-parliament-dissolves-into-lies/print/
24. New York Times: Big Push Into Helium Could Have the World on Russia’s String. It’s not just party balloons. A huge Siberian production plant is expected to reshape the market for a gas that’s essential to many critical industries.

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