RUSSIA & UKRAINE: Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#116 :: Friday 12 June 2015

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#116
Friday 13 June 2015
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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RUSSIA

1. The Guardian: Owen Hatherley, Moscow’s suburbs may look monolithic, but the stories they tell are not. At the end of the 1950s, the Soviet Union began the largest experiment in industrialised housing in history. Owen Hatherley visits three of Moscow’s resulting mikrorayons, where the majority of Muscovites still live today.
2. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Alexey Timofeychev, 25 years of post-Soviet Russia: How far has the country come? On June 12 Russia celebrates the 25th anniversary of the proclamation of the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the act that formed the basis for the construction of post-Soviet Russian statehood. Summing up this period, Russian experts say that in many respects post-Soviet Russia has fulfilled itself as a state, but express reservations a
3. TASS: Ever more Russians see Russia Day as real holiday, not just extra day off.
3a. Business New Europe: Ben Aris, ‘Putin is not Auric Goldfinger.’ Is sentiment towards Russia turning?
4. Interfax: Medvedev calls on journalists to stay independent when making judgments.
5. Moscow Times: Medvedev Promises No Blacklist for Foreign Journalists Working in Russia.
6. Government.ru: The 17th World Congress of Russian Press.
7. Russia Insider: Poverty Rate in Russia Jumps to 16%. The number of Russians living below the poverty line rose to 22.9 million, approximately 16 percent of the population.
8. Russia Insider: Alexander Mercouris, How Floating the Ruble Rescued Russia. Letting the ruble float means that Russia is now running a smaller budget deficit during its recession than the UK and U.S. have during their recoveries.
9. Business New Europe: Julia Reed, Banned if they do, banned if they don’t. Unable to change things in their own country, Russians are quietly leaving for good – but they will still check out Crimea.
10. Moscow Times: Ivan Sukhov, Putin’s Russia Is Not ‘Back in the U.S.S.R.’
11. Russia Beyond the Headlines: ‘We need to find a way out’ of sanctions, says Putin on visit to Rome.
12. www.rt.com: ‘Why Putin’s meeting with the Pope ruffled the West.’ (interview with Halyna Mokrushyna)
13. AP: Russia steps up military modernization-but at what cost?
14. Russia Direct: Russia’s world without the West could be more hype than reality. Now that re-admittance to the G8 has become an unlikely prospect, Russian experts are debating possible strategies of how Russia can live without the West, including a greater focus on a technological alliance with the BRICS.
15. Russia Direct: Eugene Bai, Russia needs a Plan B now that the G8 is history. There is still an outside chance that Russia could return to the G7. But until that happens, Russia is exploring other options, including an expanded role for the BRICS.
16. Brookings Institution: Brandon Valeriano and Ryan C. Maness, Putin’s strategy has weakened Russia.
17. Sputnik: Hope on the Horizon? Republican President May Mend Relations With Russia.
18. The Diplomat: Casey Michel, Kazakhstan-Russia Relations: With Liberals Like These … A supposedly liberal Russian media figure comes out as irredentist. (Alexei Venediktov)
19. Business New Europe: Michael Cecire, Georgians look east as western doors stay shut.
20. The National Interest: Leslie Gelb, Russia and America: Toward a New Détente. It is totally unrealistic to think that the West can gain desired Russian restraint and cooperation without dealing with Moscow as a great power that possesses real and legitimate interests.

UKRAINE

21. Interfax-Ukraine: Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine – Turchynov.
22. The Nation: James Carden, Why Is Washington Still Pushing for War With Russia? Despite today’s vote in the House to bar US funding to a neo-Nazi Ukrainian militia, the ‘war party’ continues to rattle its sabers over Ukraine.
23. New York Times: Defying Obama, Many in Congress Press to Arm Ukraine.
24. Office of Congressman John Conyers, Jr.: U.S. House Passes 3 Amendments By Rep. Conyers To Defense Spending Bill To Protect Civilians From Dangers Of Arming and Training Foreign Forces.
25. www.opendemocracy.net: Denys Gorbach, The struggle for progressive politics in Ukraine. The conflict over Kyiv’s LGBT Pride march reveals the risks of conservative populism in Ukraine.
26. Sputnik: Former Maidan Activists Start Fighting Against Ukrainian Police – Reports.
27. Zik.ua: Ukraine: 871 towns and villages to be renamed as part of de-Communization bid.
28. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, ON THE BUS, OFF THE BUS. (re Minsk agreement)
29. www.foreignpolicy.com: Ukrainian PM Blasts Separatists: ‘We Will Never Talk to Terrorists’
30. TASS: Poroshenko orders to complete fortifications on disengagement line in Donbas by mid-July.
31. Business New Europe: Graham Stack, What will happen if Ukraine defaults?
32. Russia Insider: Alexander Mercouris, Western Creditors Are Outraged at Ukraine’s Default Threat. Statement released by Ukraine’s western creditors condemns Kiev for threatening default and for refusing to negotiate seriously.
33. www.rt.com: Ukraine will ‘default’ if it misses $75mn Eurobond payment – Russia.
34. Sputnik: New Ukrainian Life: European Prices, Post-Soviet Salaries.
35. Bloomberg: War-Weary Ukraine Shutters Cash-Starved Banks as Trust Falls.
36. Kyiv Post: Crime on rise as ‘tolerance for violence has increased’
37. Business New Europe: Graham Stack, Blow to Ukraine hopes for agriculture as farmland sale moratorium seen extended. As Ukraine edges closer to default, analysts see fallout for the country from bad to mild.
38. Sputnik: Against a Brick Wall: US-Ukrainian Strategic Partnership Reaches Its Limits.
39. Reuters: Matthew Rojansky, Thomas E. Graham, and Michael Kofman, Are Ukraine and the U.S. allies or not?
40. Consortiumnews.com: Robert Parry, WPost Plays Ukraine’s Lapdog.
41. Russia Insider: Jay Vogt, Failed Policy and Historical Ignorance. The Western line on Crimea is so absurd that it actually requires mass historical ignorance to be believed.
42. Time.com: Bill Bradley: 5 Steps for Peace in Ukraine.
43. United States Mission to the United Nations: Remarks at the October Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine. Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations.