RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2021-#109 :: Tuesday, 25 May 2021
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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2021-#109 :: Tuesday, 25 May 2021
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1. TASS: Only vaccination can change Russia’s coronavirus situation – health minister – tass.com/russia/1293427
2. Moscow Times: Felix Light, After Plane Crisis, Is Belarusian President Lukashenko Becoming a Troublesome Partner for Russia? Analysts say Moscow’s muted reaction to the diversion to Minsk of a Ryanair flight speaks to the Kremlin’s ambivalent view of the strongman.
3. Responsible Statecraft: Anatol Lieven, How to avoid a conflict in Belarus. Intervention might be tempting, especially after a civilian plane was forced down to arrest a journalist, but grave caution is advised.
4. TASS: Kommersant: West slaps new sanctions on Belarus after Ryanair plane’s forced landing.
5. Intellinenws: Ben Aris, Belarusian opposition journalist Protasevich in detention centre video and confesses to crimes
6. rt.com: Paul Robinson, Disgust at Belarus’ grounding of Ryanair jet selective given lack of concern about similar incidents involving West & its clients – rt.com/russia/524731-belarus-ryanair-similar-incidents/
7. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, State Terrorism or Audacious Intel Ops? Depends If It’s Belarus or Ukraine – unz.com/akarlin/state-terrorism-or-audacious-intel-ops/
8. rt.com: Protasevich’s girlfriend only Russian on board Ryanair flight forced to land in Minsk, rubbishing claims security agents involved – rt.com/russia/524744-protasevich-girlfriend-landed-board/
9. Russian Foreign Ministry: Russia spokeswoman accuses West of hypocrisy over Ryanair landing.
10. New York Times editorial: A State-Sponsored Skyjacking Can’t Go Unanswered
11. Washington Post editorial: It’s time to respond forcefully to Belarus’s wily and malevolent dictator
83e3-0ca705a96ba4_story.html
12. Vedomosti: Commentary views shortcomings of Russia’s soft power in Belarus.
13. Intellinews: Putin formally accepts Biden’s summit invitation
14. Valdai Discussion Club: Konstantin Khudolei, Russia and the USA: In Search of a New Model of Relations – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/russia-and-the-usa-in-search-of-a-new-model/
15. TASS: Vedomosti: Russia publishes strategic offensive weapon count for second time in 10 years.
16. The Bulwark: David Kramer, Is Biden Going Soft on Putin? The administration is signaling it wants to reach an understanding with Moscow. Its predecessors made the same mistake.
17. Wall Street Journal: Russian Military Seeks to Outmuscle U.S. in Arctic. For Moscow it is the last geopolitical battleground where it holds the advantage over Washington and Beijing.
18. Moscow Times: Russia Wants to Exempt State Media From ‘Foreign Agent’ Scrutiny
19. RFE/RL: Russian Lawmakers Take Step Toward Ban Of Navalny Supporters From All Elected Posts.
20. Carnegie Moscow Center: Andrey Pertsev, In Declaring Navalny Extremist, Russia Has Crossed a New Rubicon. Declaring all opposition figures enemies of the state and illegal entities precludes any chance of dialogue: there might have been a place at the table for a non-system opposition activist, but not for an extremist.
21. The Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs: Nurlan Aliyev, Russia’s Power Play in Central Asia.
22. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with the newspaper Argumenty i Fakty, Moscow, May 24, 2021. (continued) – mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4741307
23. rt.com: US & NATO allies harming potential Donbass peace by giving more money, weapons and support to Ukrainian army, says Russian FM – rt.com/russia/524687-us-nato-harm-donbass-peace/
24. Vedomosti: Comment views reasons for Russia’s reluctance to annex Donbas
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