RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2021-#14 :: Wednesday, 20 January 2021

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2021-#14 :: Wednesday, 20 January 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. TASS: COVID-19 ‘passports’ may threaten civil rights, says Human Rights Council’s chief – tass.com/society/1247063
2. rt.com: Falling number of Covid-19 cases is ‘encouraging’ & shows that Russia has gotten pandemic under control – WHO representative – rt.com/russia/513106-number-covid-cases-control/
3. The National Interest: Mark Episkopos, What the Navalny Arrest Means for Russia and the West. Overt Western threats in the Navalny affair risk having a paradoxical effect on Russian civil society: with every subsequent demand from Brussels or Washington, leniency on Navalny is further tarred with the politically toxic brush of Western appeasement.
4. Meduza: Following the money. Alexey Navalny’s boldest investigation yet describes a vast network of shell companies and frontmen working to build and sustain Vladimir Putin’s supposed seaside getaway.
5. Meduza: ‘His cell looks decent’. ‘Meduza’ talks to a human rights monitor who visited Navalny in prison.
6. rt.com: Kremlin rejects Navalny allegation that Putin has secret Black Sea palace complete with casino, theater & private striptease bar – rt.com/russia/513003-navalny-putin-secret-palace/
7. TASS: Kommersant: Russian MPs accuse Navalny of destabilizing Russia in favor of the West – tass.com/pressreview/1246813
8. Washington Post editorial: Putin’s arrest of Navalny reveals his true colors.
9. Carnegie Moscow Center: Alexander Baunov, Putin, Poison, and Self-Inflicted Wounds: Navalny’s Return to Russia. Instead of blackballing Navalny, the Kremlin has turned him into the world’s most famous political prisoner.
10. The Spectator (UK): Mark Galeotti, Will Navalny’s gamble backfire?
11. strategic-culture.org: Patrick Armstrong, Why the 1996 Russian Election Was an All-Important Turning Point – strategic-culture.org/news/2021/01/20/why-the-1996-russian-election-was-an-all-important-turning-point/
12. Russia Beyond: All you need to know about Telegram – a Russian-made messaging platform with 500 million users – rbth.com/science-and-tech/333299-all-you-need-to-know-about-telegram
13. Moscow Times: Russia Sees Lowest Foreign Investment Since 1994
14. Vedomosti: Ex-deputy premier upbeat on Russia economic recovery prospects in 2021. (Arkady Dvorkovich)
15. The National Interest: Hanna Notte and Hamidreza Azizi, Can Russia Help Biden Get a Comprehensive Agreement with Iran? Though Moscow’s stance on Iran’s regional activities might be ambivalent, Russian competition with Iran in Syria, as well as their military-defense cooperation, will afford Washington limited opportunities to rely on Russian leverage-plays with Tehran.
16. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Jerry Brown, William J. Perry, and David Holloway, Our advice to President-elect Biden: Break the dangerous pattern of nuclear competition with Russia – thebulletin.org/2021/01/my-advice-to-president-elect-biden-break-the-dangerous-pattern-of-nuclear-competition-with-russia
17. Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey/Kommersant: William C. Potter and Anton Khlopkov, Can Shared US–Russian Interests Lead to Joint Action?
18. The Hill: Daniel Hoffman, Bill Burns knows Russia inside out — and that will be critical to Biden
19. Moscow Times: Mark Galeotti, Medvedev Sets Out His Stand For Rapprochement With U.S., Relevance For Himself. The ex-President is searching for significance. As Biden enters office, he might just have some encouraging things to say.
20. stalkerzone.org: Elena Pustovoytova, NULAND DEMANDS TO “DEAL WITH PUTIN” – stalkerzone.org/nuland-demands-to-deal-with-putin/
21. The Guardian (UK): Luke Harding, Russia: the spectre that loomed over Trump’s presidency. Much of the Trump-Russia story is still unknown, but the relationship left the US estranged from its allies and facing deepening domestic strife.
22. TASS: Russia and its citizens’ prosperity is at the heart of Putin’s ideology, says Kremlin.
23. Foreign Affairs: Michael McFaul, How to Contain Putin’s Russia. A Strategy for Countering a Rising Revisionist Power.
24. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions at a news conference on the results of Russian diplomacy in 2020, Moscow, January 18, 2021. (transcript continues) – mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4527635

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