RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2021-#137 :: Wednesday, 7 July 2021

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2021-#137 :: Wednesday, 7 July 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. Russian International Affairs Council: Andrey Kortunov, Vodka or Cognac: Two Tastes of Global Politics – russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/analytics/vodka-or-cognac-two-tastes-of-global-politics/
2. rt.com: Real-world evidence clearly shows Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 jab both ‘safe & effective,’ British science journal Nature reports – rt.com/russia/528573-nature-journal-sputnik-effectiveness/
3. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin. Rejecting Sputnik to Own Putler – unz.com/akarlin/rejecting-sputnik-to-own-putler/
4. New Statesman (UK): Ido Vock, How mistrust is fuelling a Covid-19 surge in Russia. Vaccine hesitancy and unpopular policies could hurt Vladimir Putin ahead of this year’s legislative elections.
5. Al Jazeera: Leonid Ragozin, In the Duma election campaign, Putin is in survival mode. The aggressive rhetoric and choice of candidates from the ruling party reflect Putin’s anxiety about the vote.
6. Meduza: Lev Gudkov: Support for the death penalty is a failing grade for Russian society.
7. Moscow Times: Andrei Kolesnikov, How One University Rector Forever Changed Russian Education. Kuzminov allowed maximal academic freedom, but it was this that tore apart his power and he was forced into compromises and obedience.
8. rt.com: Russia’s sovereign wealth fund cuts US dollar reserves to ZERO – rt.com/business/528563-russia-wealth-fund-ditches-dollar/
9. 1945: Matthew Mai, Can Europe Improve Relations With Russia?
10. rt.com: Paul Robinson, As American forces leave Afghanistan, Russia may find itself squaring off with the Taliban in defence of its Central Asian allies – rt.com/russia/528562-taliban-militants-russia-fighting/
11. Eurasianet.org: As Tajikistan mobilizes 20,000 troops, Taliban says it poses no threat. The number of Afghan troops that have fled into Tajikistan is now more than 1,500.
12. TASS: Nezavisimaya Gazeta: ASEAN countries see Russia as counterweight to balance US, China.
13. Foreign Policy: Amy Mackinnon, Russia’s Wagner Group Doesn’t Actually Exist. And that makes it all the more challenging to get to grips with.
14. Interfax: Number of hacker attacks on Russian critical infrastructure grows 3.5 times in 2020 – Russian Security Council.
15. TASS: Russia, US in contact on cybersecurity issues following Putin-Biden meeting — Kremlin.
16. Antiwar.com: Ray McGovern, New York Times Pushing the Envelope on Russia – original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2021/07/06/new-york-times-pushing-the-envelope-on-russia/
17. New York Times: Nicole Perlroth and David E. Sanger, Attempted Hack of R.N.C. and Russian Ransomware Attack Test Biden. The breach of a Republican National Committee contractor, also linked to Russia, and the global ransomware attack occurred weeks after a U.S.-Russian summit.
18. Washington Post: Dmitri Alperovitch and Matthew Rojansky, We just had another ransomware attack. It’s time Biden gave Putin an ultimatum. If this becomes routine, businesses and the economy will suffer.
19. rt.com: Republicans DENY media reports that RUSSIA hacked them during Kaseya ransomware attack – rt.com/usa/528537-republicans-deny-hack-kaseya/
20. Intellinews: Belarus sentences presidential candidate Babariko to 14 years in jail. Presidential candidate Viktor Babariko, who is by far the most popular politician in Belarus, has been sentenced to 14 years in jail on trumped up corruption charges.
21. Valdai Discussion Club: Ivan Timofeev, In Escalation Mode: New Sanctions Against the Republic of Belarus – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/in-escalation-mode-sanctions-belarus/
22. Euromaidan Press: Hans Petter Midttun, Why Ukraine does not (yet) “deserve” NATO membership

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