RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2021-#203 :: Monday, 18 October 2021

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2021-#203 :: Monday, 18 October 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. Carnegie Moscow Center: Dmitri Trenin, The Impact of Sino-American Rivalry on Russia’s Relations With China. In a world increasingly shaped by U.S.-Chinese superpower rivalry, Russia seeks to maintain an equilibrium, though not equidistance, vis-à-vis China, America, and their rivalry.
2. rt.com: Russia to suspend direct diplomatic ties with NATO from November with US-led bloc’s Moscow mission ordered to close – FM Lavrov – rt.com/russia/537765-russia-to-suspend-diplomatic-ties-nato/
3. TASS: An envoy from any NATO member state may hold urgent contacts in Moscow on bloc’s behalf – tass.com/politics/1350943
4. TASS: Russia’s weekly COVID-19 cases hit all-time high since onset of pandemic — TASS estimates – tass.com/society/1350573
5. Washington Post: In Russia, experts are challenging official pandemic figures as too low. They refuse to be silenced.
6. New York Times: How the Nobel Peace Prize Laid Bare the Schism in Russia’s Opposition. Dmitri A. Muratov, a new laureate, engages with the Kremlin, while Aleksei A. Navalny, the most high-profile Putin critic, resists all compromise. The Kremlin capitalizes on the fault line.
7. NBCNews.com: Life as a ‘foreign agent’: Inside Russia’s crackdown on free speech. Instead of overt brutality, the latest campaign is being waged quietly with a vague legal tool: a law regulating the activities of so-called foreign agents.
8. Institute of Modern Russia: Vladimir Gelman: “Russia’s leadership is increasingly facing problems of succession and lack of perspective”
9. Paul Goble: Russia Continues to Lose Scientists as Kremlin Cuts Back Funding
10. New York Times: Russian Film Crew Wraps Space Station Shoot and Returns to Earth. A Russian actress and film director landed near Russia’s spaceflight base in Kazakhstan after 12 days in orbit.
11. The National Interest: Mark Episkopos, Victoria Nuland’s Mission to Moscow. The Biden administration is attempting to improve the rocky American relationship with Russia.
12. Intellinews: Ben Aris, Russia to become carbon neutral by 2060. After setting itself easy emission reductions goals, Russian President Vladimir Putin has upped the game during an address at Russia’s Energy Week saying Russia would become carbon-neutral by 2060.
13. TASS: Kommersant: Key Russian official says decarbonization ‘can’t be stopped’ as its ‘the only answer to climate change’
14. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, DO NOTHING AND WAIT? OR CREEPING ANNEXATION? RUSSIAN OPTIONS IN UKRAINE – irrussianality.wordpress.com/2021/10/16/do-nothing-and-wait-or-creeping-annexation-russian-options-in-ukraine/
15. rt.com: Paul Robinson, Damned if you do: Russia has nothing to gain by cutting off ties with Ukraine. But, sadly, talking to Kiev doesn’t help either – rt.com/russia/537567-relations-between-russia-ukraine/
16. TASS: Lukashenko says West aims to change power in Belarus – tass.com/world/1350825
17. Intellinews: Saakashvili’s return: more shrewd than it seemed?
18. Defense News: U.S., Georgia sign military training pact amid Russian threat on the Black Sea.
19. Forbes: Kenneth Rapoza, Ukraine 2021: The Crisis Continues
20. rt.com: Red line: Ukraine joining NATO would be ‘worst-case scenario’ for Moscow, response would involve ‘active measures,’ says Kremlin – rt.com/russia/537750-ukraine-join-nato-kremlin/
21. ABCNews.com: Out of the Shadows: Christopher Steele defiant on dossier, says Trump still ‘potential’ threat.