RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-5 :: Monday 11 January 2016

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#5
Monday 11 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
The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or the George Washington University.
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RUSSIA

1. Interfax: Russia to defend its interests in non-confrontational manner, based on intl law – Putin.
2. Kremlin.ru: Interview to German newspaper Bild [Part 1]
3. www.rt.com: World would be more balanced if Russia asserted national interests from outset – Putin
4. John Evans: re Putin’s Crude and Desperate Propaganda. (letter to Washington Post)
5. Kremlin.ru: Meeting with Russian national judo team.
6. Moscow Times: Law Guaranteeing Phone Call After Arrest Comes Into Force in Russia.
7. Russia Beyond the Headlines: 10 facts about the Russian Internet. Desktops are beginning to become a thing of the past: In the past year the number of Russian users going on-line from mobile devices has increased by 90 percent. RBTH has sifted some more curious facts about the Internet.
8. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Moscow homeless treated to free film shows. “Cinema for the homeless” was born in the summer: the homeless were shown French film 1+1 and classical Soviet comedy Operation Ы. The screenings are organized by volunteers from the Friends on the Street Movement, which since 2002 has been helping people without a home of their own. The movement feeds them, helps them socialize and carries out various events.
9. TASS: Foreign agents to join monitoring group at 2016 elections in Russia – media.
10. TASS: President Putin says Russia’s 2015 GDP drop stands at 3.8%, inflation hits 12.7%.
11. Moscow Times: Russian Oil Prices Drop 50% in 2015.
12. True Economics Constantin Gurdgiev, Russian Banks: Licenses Cancellations Galore. (“Why Russian Central Bank’s chief Elvira Nabiullina deserves title of the best central banker she got in 2015?”)
13. Sputnik: Cautious Optimism: Forecaster Predicts the Worst is Over for the Ruble.
14. Deutsche Welle: Return of Russia’s economic rollercoaster.
15. Reuters: How the oil collapse stole Russia’s Christmas.
16. Russia Direct: Artem Kureev, Russia’s new national security strategy has implications for the West. A close reading of Russia’s new national security strategy shows how the Kremlin perceives the situation in Russia and abroad.
17. The School of Russian and Asian Studies: How the News is Reported in Russia.
18. Sputnik: Russian Foreign Ministry’s Take on Main Successes & Setbacks of 2015.
19. Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Senior Russian MP sums up international developments in 2015. (Aleksey Pushkov)
20. Vedomosti: Commentary looks at poll results on Russians’ view on relations with China. (Pavel Aptekar)
21. Financial Times: Russia helps shift balance against rebels in southern Syria.
22. The Atlantic: Dominic Tierney, The Danger of Putin Losing in Syria. If Russia’s military adventure unravels, what happens next?
23. RFE/RL: Bad News Trumps Glad Tidings During Russia’s Long Vacation.
24. Christian Science Monitor: Why NATO says it’s time to stop hugging the Russian bear.
25. Paul Goble: Russians Thinking about Future after Putin Too Often Include Putin Elements in It, Kashin Says.
26. Business Insider: Bill Clinton once told Tony Blair that Vladimir Putin had ‘enormous potential’
27. Washington Post: John Hammer, Letter to the Editor. How we can foster a new generation of Russia experts.
28. The Observer (UK): Bolshoi Babylon review – offstage war zone of Russia’s ‘secret weapon.’ The Bolshoi may look beautiful from the stalls, but this documentary reveals it as a tinderbox of broiling personal and political rivalries.
29. Financial Times: What Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ can teach us. Henry James called it a ‘monster’, Sergei Bondarchuk almost died trying to turn it into a film – yet each generation feels compelled to take on the epic. As a new BBC adaptation unfolds, Simon Schama explains why.
30. Moscow Times: New York Public Library Releases Fascinating Russian Historical Images.

UKRAINE

31. Interfax: Putin: Constitutional reform should underlie peace process in Ukraine.
32. TASS: Putin: Western sanctions against Russia after Crimea’s reunification ‘silly decision’
33. www.rt.com: Kiev bar stages execution of Russian pilot as part of ‘stab in the back’ theme party. (VIDEO)
34. Ukraine Today (Kyiv): Inflation in Ukraine hits 20-year high in 2015 of 43.3%.
35. Financial Times: Ukraine: dismal economic prospects, great sovereign bond. Country’s external bonds had the highest returns of any sovereign debt last year, says John Dizard.
36. Politico.eu: Dutch voters overwhelmingly reject agreement with Ukraine: poll.
37. Russia Insider/Guardian: Ukraine May Get Two Christmases as National Identity Debate Begins. Proposal could divide country amid battle for influence between Russian and Ukrainian branches of Orthodox church.
38. www.foreignaffairs.com: Taras Kuhio, Euromaidan Dreams Deferred. Poroshenko, Corruption, and Stalled Political Progress in Ukraine.
39. http://gordonhahn.com: Gordon Hahn, REPORT: Maidan Ukraine, the Ultra-Nationalist Tradition, and Anti-Semitism (Part 3)