RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#235 :: Friday, 4 December 2015

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#235
Friday, 4 December 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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1. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Many Russians now afraid to go to cinemas and shopping malls. According to a new public survey carried out in the last month, the majority of Russians are afraid of becoming a victim of a terrorist attack, while growing numbers are taking steps to avoid crowded places like movie theaters and concert halls.
2. Moscow Times: Russians Less Keen for Democratic Transfer of Power.
3. www.rt.com: Most Russians want Putin to remain president after 2018 – poll.
4. Levada.ru: Nearly half of Russians say no replacement for Putin right now – poll.
5. Interfax: Putin: Average life expectancy in Russia to exceed 71 years in 2015.
6. Rossiya 1 TV: Putin calls for fair elections, anti-corruption scrutiny for officials.
7. Rossiya 1 TV: Putin says situation in economy difficult, but not critical; rouble stabilizes.
8. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Putin talks tough on Turkey but holds back on anti-West rhetoric.
9. TASS: Russia ready to fight terrorism together – key foreign aspect of Putin’s address.
10. Intellinews: Ben Aris, Terrorism, bread and babies in Russia’s sights for 2016, Putin tells nation.
11. http://readrussia.com: Editors, 5 Most Important Things from Putin’s Address to the Federal Council.
12. Valdai Discussion Club: Yaroslav Lissovolik, RUSSIA’S EURASIAN MODEL OF MODERNIZATION.
13. www.rt.com: Putin wants Russia to become world’s biggest exporter of Non-GMO food.
14. Russia Beyond the Headlines: COP21: Facing the challenges of climate change before it’s too late. With representatives of 195 nations currently taking part in climate change talks in Paris, or COP21, as the negotiations have been called, the issue of preventing global temperatures from rising by a key 2°C is on top of the agenda. What challenges face the international community and does Russia have a meaningful role to play in fighting global warming?
15. Interfax: Percentage of Russians who speak English doubles to 30%.
16. Gazeta.ru: Compulsory debate participation likely for State Duma election.
17. Russia Direct: Ivan Tsvetkov, How the Kremlin’s campaign against NGOs could backfire. Amidst the Kremlin’s attempts to clamp down on the activities of both Russian and foreign NGOs, there are growing concerns that President Putin could be reaching back too far into the Soviet totalitarian past.
18. Russia Direct: Artem Kureev, Why the Kremlin is pursuing a well-known human rights group. Opposition activists have questioned the Kremlin’s recent attempts to limit the activities of Memorial, Russia’s most famous human rights advocacy group. Is this really a cause for concern?
19. Interfax: NGO U.S. Russia Foundation for Economic Advancement and Rule of Law recognized as undesirable in Russia.
20. Moscow Times: Truck Protests Signal New Kind of Social Activism.
21. BBC: Several influential Russians back probe into prosecutor corruption claims.
22. Interfax: Minister sees Moody’s upgrading Russia rating outlook as recognition of effective policy.
23. Forbes.com: Kenneth Rapoza, Gazprom Gets Vote Of Confidence On Nord Stream II.
24. Moscow Times: Russians Find New Holiday Spots After Egypt, Turkey Bans.
25. Interfax: Russia, U.S. cooperating in telecommunications, environmental issues, access to drinking water in Arctic.
26. Moscow Times: U.S.-Russian Relations on The High Frontier. (re space)
27. The Hill: Former Pentagon chief: US shares blame for poor relations with Russia. (William Perry)
28. New York Times editorial: Russia’s Fury Over Montenegro and NATO.
29. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Russia denies breaching INF arms treaty, accuses USA.
30. Consortiumnews.com: Robert Parry, Obama Ignores Russian Terror Victims.
31. Moskovskiy Komsomolets: Russian commentary calls for Russia-Turkey tensions be “stopped in tracks”
32. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Kommersant: Under the shadow of the Su-24 shootdown. A week after a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24m bomber near the Syria-Turkey border, a correspondent traveled by road from Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey.
33. Russia Direct: Alexey Chesnakov, Four scenarios for what happens next in Russian-Turkish relations. While escalation of the conflict between Russia and Turkey is unlikely for now, so too is any full restoration of ties between the two estranged nations. What’s most likely is a new type of frozen conflict.
34. New York Times: Anatol Lieven, The Key to Crushing ISIS.
35. Moscow Times: Mark Galeotti, Moscow Must Avoid Shadow War With Ankara.
36. Russia Insider: Alexander Mercouris, Memo to Putin: Going After Erdogan Personally May Be Unwise. Publicly humiliating Erdogan by accusing members of his family of involvement in the illegal oil trade may simply cause Erdogan to dig in.
37. The National Interest: Maxim Sushkov, How the West Can Defuse Russian-Turkish Tensions. NATO must work to keep aggression from spilling over.
38. Russia Direct: Lessons from Russia’s moves in the Middle East in 2015. In an interview with Russia Direct, John Hopkins University’s Robert Freedman discusses the implications of Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet as well as the Kremlin’s recent moves in Syria.
39. Counterpunch.org: Pepe Escobar, How Russia is Smashing the Turkish Game in Syria.
40. The Economist: Russian-Turkish politics. Tsar v sultan. Russia does not want a shooting war with Turkey. A trade war, maybe.
41. Washington Post: Oleksandr Turchynov, Allying with Putin against the Islamic State would be a devil’s bargain.
42. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions at a news conference on the results of the first day of the OSCE Ministerial Council and bilateral meetings, Belgrade, December 3, 2015.
43. Moscow Times: Michele Berdy, Remembering Eldar Ryazanov – in His Own Words.
44. Moscow Times: Inoculated Against Russian Propaganda.
45. http://gordonhahn.com: Gordon Hahn, ‘Putin’s Russia’ or Russia’s Putin?
46. Wall Street Journal: Stephen Sestanovich, The Perplexing Case of the Three Vladimir Putins.
47. New York Review of Books: Masha Gessen, Writing in the Kremlin’s Shadow. (re Steven Lee Myers’s The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin)
48. Remarks by Stephen F. Cohen, Professor Emeritus Princeton University and New York University, at San Francisco Commonwealth Club.