RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2021-#112 :: Friday, 28 May 2021

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2021-#112 :: Friday, 28 May 2021
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. Intellinews: Russian President Putin rules out mandatory vaccination as impractical
2. AFP: Russians spurn Sputnik shots, deaf to Putin’s pleas
3. Moscow Times: Melting Permafrost Could Cost Russian Economy $67Bln by 2050.
4. The American Conservative: Doug Bandow, How Biden Can (And Should) Cooperate With Putin. The upcoming summit between Biden and Putin is an opportunity for productive conversation and a little less conflict.
5. Indian Punchline: M.K. Bhadrakumar, Biden wants to remain engaged with Russia, China
6. TASS: Senior diplomat hopes ambassadors will return to Moscow, Washington after summit – tass.com/politics/1295115
7. TASS: ‘Political mistake’: Russian diplomat castigates US refusal to return to Open Skies Treaty – tass.com/world/1295089
8. rt.com: No going back to ‘Open Skies’ spy plane agreement, US tells Russia ahead of eagerly awaited first Biden-Putin presidential summit – rt.com/russia/524996-open-skies-biden-rejects/
9. Moscow Times: European Firms Most Optimistic on Russia Since 2012. But concerns about tough regulation also surge to a record high.
10. Intellinews: Russian inflation is as infectious as the virus. Inflation is back and its spreading from sector to sector and country to country.
11. Paul Goble: ‘Green Shift’ Occurring across Russian Political Spectrum, Shaburov Says.
12. Russia Observer: Patrick Armstrong, RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP 27 MAY 2021 – patrickarmstrong.ca/2021/05/27/russian-federation-sitrep-27-may-2021/
13. RFE/RL: Five Former Moscow Police Officers Jailed Over 2019 Arrest Of Journalist Golunov.
14. AP: As Russia tensions simmer, NATO conducts massive war games
15. TASS: Kremlin clarifies entry denial to flights bypassing Belarus due to point of entry issues – tass.com/politics/1295261
16. Valdai Discussion Club: Ivan Timofeev, Ryanair Incident: Five Sanctions Risks for the Republic of Belarus – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/ryanair-incident-five-sanctions-risks-belarus/
17. Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA): Maryia Sadouskaya-Komlach, The West needs to look beyond the current crisis
18. The Economist: An ever deeper union. Having hijacked a Ryanair plane, Belarus draws closer to Russia. Only Vladimir Putin wants to be friends with Alexander Lukashenko.
19. Wall Street Journal: Isolation Pushes Belarus’s Lukashenko Closer to Russia’s Putin. Belarusian leader’s worsening predicament gives the Kremlin a chance to advance long-held plans to deepen integration with the ex-Soviet republic.
20. RFE/RL: Amid A Disinformation Cacophony From Minsk, Analysts Say ‘Putin Benefits’
21. rt.com: Paul Robinson, Roman Protasevich’s dramatic arrest by Belarus has caused outrage. But why is Western media failing to report his neo-Nazi links? – rt.com/russia/525032-protasevich-arrest-neo-nazi-links/
22. Meduza: Journalist or soldier? Meduza dissects allegations that Roman Protasevich (arrested in the Ryanair Minsk incident) served with a neo-Nazi Ukrainian paramilitary unit.
23. Foreign Affairs: Nate Schenkkan, The Authoritarian Assault on Exiles. Belarus’s Skyjacking Reflects a Global Threat That Democracies Must Confront.
24. Kyiv Post editorial: Strategic instability

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