RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-14 :: Thursday, 21 January 2016

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#14
Thursday 21 January 2016
A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs
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RUSSIA

1. Valdai Discussion Club: Fyodor Lukyanov, THE GOAL IS TO STREAMLINE CHAOS AND RATIONALIZE DIVERSITY.
2. Valdai Discussion Club: REPORT: WAR AND PEACE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: INTERNATIONAL STABILITY AND BALANCE OF THE NEW TYPE.
3. Russia Beyond the Headlines: 10 common Russian superstitions. Russians are a very superstitious people. According to a recent Russian Public Opinion Research Center’s (VTsIOM) survey in October 2015, 50 percent of Russians conform their behavior to their beliefs in superstitions. Here are the most popular ones that could help you while travelling in Russia.
4. Interfax: Putin on Lenin: Planted atomic bomb under building called Russia.
5. Meduza (Riga): Putin recalls Stalin’s secret police chief when discussing Internet anonymity at business forum.
6. TASS: Kremlin says Putin will continue dialogue with Russian non-parliamentary parties.
7. Izvestia: Ramzan Kadyrov, The jackals will be punished under Russian Federation law; Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov on Russia’s enemies and traitors.
8. Moskovskiy Komsomolets: Russian lawyers discuss Chechen leader’s anti-opposition statements.
9. Russia Direct: Making sense of Putin’s popularity and rising anti-Americanism in Russia. Russia Direct talked to Alexey Levinson, head of Levada Center’s Analytical Department, to understand what everyday Russians are thinking about President Putin, the nation’s economic woes and mounting anti-Americanism.
10. Gazeta.ru: Editorial suggests Russian “ruling class” unfit to run country.
11. Izvestia: Next parliamentary election to be most contested since 2000 – pundit. (Igor Bunin)
12. TASS: Putin: only 10% of Russia’s state research institutes can develop breakthrough technology.
13. Kremlin.ru: Vladimir Putin held a meeting of the Presidential Council for Science and Education.
14. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Cheap oil roils ruble, but Russia bears the pain. Oil prices have dropped to 12-year-lows, dragging the Russian currency along with it. But the Russian economy may be able to withstand the crunch for now.
15. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, Russia’s Economy Is A Mess, But Will Its Financial System Implode? Probably Not.
16. Moscow Times: Michele Berdy, Shifting Gears, Russian-Style. (re German Gref)
17. New York Times: Russian Economy Stumbles as Stocks and Oil Prices Fall.
18. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Kommersant: Which companies are leaving Russia?
19. Sputnik: Russia Increases Holdings of US Securities by $6Bln – Treasury Department.
20. TASS: Former Finance Minister Kudrin: West may soften sanctions against Russia early in 2017.
21. TASS: Russian bank CEO expects anti-Russia sanctions to last for another 2 years. (Andrey Kostin)
22. Mashable.com: Christopher Miller, Crisis? What crisis? Russians are reportedly happier than ever.
23. Moscow Times: Russian Investigative Committee: Nemtsov Murder Solved.
24. Russia Direct: What are the main geopolitical challenges facing Russia in 2016? Plummeting oil prices, threats from the Middle East and rapprochement with the West top the list of Russian geopolitical challenges in 2016.
25. New York Times: Russian Strikes in Syria Have Stabilized Assad, Top U.S. General Says.
26. History News Network: Lawrence Wittner, The Frightening Prospect of a Nuclear War Is About to Become a Lot More Likely.
27. www.opendemocracy.net: Andrey Urodov and Maxim Edwards, Russia without whom? As the Soviet Union collapsed, a generation had just been born. The online journal Russia without us catalogues their struggle to find a place in today’s Russia. Interview.
28. RFE/RL: British Inquiry Implicates Russia, Putin In Death Of Ex-Agent Litvinenko.
29. Interfax: Moscow dismisses findings of UK public inquiry into Litvinenko death – source.
30. www.rt.com: UK report points to ‘probable involvement’ of Putin, Russian officials in Litvinenko death.
31. www.rt.com: Litvinenko Inquiry: ‘Probably’ is not evidence.
32. New York Times: Full Report of the Litvinenko Inquiry.

UKRAINE

33. Moscow Times: Russia Pushing for An Endgame in Ukraine.
34. Vedomosti: Talks between Putin’s aide, Nuland mark change – Russian daily.
35. The Nation: Stephen Cohen, The Secret Diplomacy That Could End the East-West Confrontation Over Ukraine. Though scarcely reported in the US media, all leaders involved in the epicenter of the new Cold War have launched a concerted campaign to end the Ukrainian civil (and US-Russian proxy) war.
36. Stratfor.com: In Ukraine, an Opportunity for Progress Between Russia and the West.
37. www.ukrinform.net: NATO to expand its presence in Ukraine – Muzhenko.
38. Kyiv Post: War in Donbas tops list of Ukrainians’ concerns.
39. www.foreignpolicy.com: Adrian Karatnycky, The Case Against Saakashvili. It’s temping to see Georgia’s crusading former president as the solution to all of Ukraine’s problems. Here’s why caution is in order.
40. BBC: Row over Ukrainian city’s new name.
41. TASS: Ukraine proves unreliable partner by hiking transit prices for Russian gas.
42. Voxukraine.org: Sergii Meleshchuk, Evolution of Ukrainian Economic Complexity: Jogging in Place.
43. Sputnik: Maidan’s Tragic Aftermath: Ukraine Slides Into ‘Staggering’ Poverty.
44. Russia Insider: Ricky Twisdale, ‘Impossible’ Kerch Strait Bridge Is Metaphor for Ukraine’s Fantasies About Russia. Russia doesn’t build anything – except state-of-the-art 19 km long bridges
45. Dances With Bears: John Helmer, EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS FIRES SECRET UKRAINE MISSILE TO DOWN MH17 VICTIM’S CASE.
46. Euromaidan Press: Lucy Sohryu, How I stopped worrying and learned to love Ukraine’s system.