RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2016-52 :: Wednesday, 16 March 2016

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#52
Wednesday, 16 March 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 ups investment in US Treasuries $4.8 bln in Jan.
2. Russia Insider: Mark Nicholas, ‘Nobody Predicted’ the Russian Syria Withdrawal. Except Kremlin. Five Months Ago. Putin does exactly what he said he would and everyone is taken by surprise.
3. Reuters: Russia flies out almost half Syria strike force.
4. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Syria withdrawal: Which of Russia’s forces are being pulled out? Russia is withdrawing more than half of its fighters and bombers from Syria, while leaving its missile defense systems and naval fleet in the Mediterranean, Russian military experts told RBTH. Despite the pullout, the Russian armed forces will continue to strike positions Moscow says are held by ISIS militants.
5. TASS: Kremlin denies Russia spent over $535 million on its operation in Syria.
6. Interfax: Russian S-400 systems may stay in Syria for a while – Federation Council.
7. TASS: Russia to keep pounding terrorist groups in Syria – top lawmaker.
8. Valdai Discussion Club: RUSSIAN MILITARY MISSION WASN’T TASKED TO DEFEAT ISIS IN SYRIA. (Alexander Aksenyonok)
9. Russian press assess Syria campaign as troops pulling out.
10. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Vzglyad: Russian pullout leaves way open for U.S. to inflict mortal blow on ISIS. The unexpected withdrawal of the majority of Russia’s forces in Syria has left many observers puzzled. Where does the pullout leave Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, is ISIS still a fighting force, and are there parallels with the USSR’s departure from Afghanistan in the late 80s?
11. Russia Direct: Alexey Khlebnikov, Russia’s Syria withdrawal: Wrapping up the Kremlin’s military campaign. Russia turned its military presence in Syria into useful leverage that it can exercise over the Syrian opposition and its backers to accelerate the peace process, but at what cost?
12. Russia Insider/Komsomolskay Pravda: Eight Reasons Why Russia Is Withdrawing From Syria. A well-known war correspondent answers eight of the most pertinent questions on everybody’s lips. (Alexander Kots)
13. Consortiumnews.com: Joe Lauria, Risks in Putin’s Syria Withdrawal.
14. Antiwar.com: Justin Raymondo, Putin and the Art of the Deal. What’s the Russian withdrawal from Syria all about?
15. Irish Times: Michael Jansen, Putin’s move will remind Assad to beware the Ides of March. Military leverage brought to Syrian battlefield disappears just as crucial talks begin.
16. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, What did Russia’s brief intervention in Syria accomplish? After helping defend the Assad regime, Moscow is now looking to exert its influence on peace talks in Geneva. The Syrian conflict entered its sixth year on Tuesday.
17. The Guardian: Shaun Walker, Syrian mission restores pride in Russian military after years of decay. Moscow’s intervention in Syria revealed a Russian military transformed from the war in Georgia but cuts threaten modernisation.
18. The National Interest: Nikolas Gvosdev, 5 Ways to View Putin’s Syrian Surprise. What’s driving Russia’s decision to remove the bulk of its forces from Syria?
19. New York Times: Mark Landler, What Quagmire? Even in Withdrawal, Russia Stays a Step Ahead.
20. Washington Post editorial: Vladimir Putin rides out of Syria as a victor.
21. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, BOOK REVIEW: DANS LA TÊTE DE VLADIMIR POUTINE.
22. TASS: Russia’s economy minister expects positive GDP dynamics in 2016.
23. www.rt.com: Kremlin budget policy affirms confidence in Russian economy.
4. International Business Times: Russian Deputy Culture Minister Reportedly Arrested On Corruption Charges.
25. Interfax: Over 110,000 economic crimes solved in Russia in 2015.
26. Russia Direct: What Moscow’s top liberal radio station thinks of Putin’s Russia. RD Interview: Alexei Venediktov, the editor-in-chief of radio station Echo of Moscow, discusses the 2016 parliamentary elections, the effectiveness of the Kremlin’s tactics and strategy, and the mysterious death of a former Russian presidential aide in Washington.
27. TASS: More than half Russians would vote for preserving Soviet Union – poll.
28. www.opendemocracy.net: Ilya Matveev, Russia, Inc.. From “structural reforms” of the 2000s to austerity policies today, neoliberalism has been and remains an organic part of the Putin regime.
29. Moscow Times: Russia May Label Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation ‘Foreign Agent’
30. Russia Insider: Lisa Marie White, The World According to ‘The Daily Beast’: Anti-Putin Nationalists, Good; Other Nationalists, Icky. ‘The Daily Beast’ is fine with nationalists…just as long as they are Russophobic and anti-Putin
31. Rethinking Russia: Victor Marakhovskiy, The Obama Doctrine.
32. Washington Post: Maria Snegovaya, Putin can’t last forever. Will a post-Putin Russia look like Syria today?

UKRAINE

33. Reuters: Chances of Ukraine Technocrat Government Fade After Talks Stall.
34. Reuters: Ukrainian chief prosecutor back at work despite resignation.
35. TASS: Chemical threat may emerge in Donbass due to shellings of Donetsk filtration plant.
36. Russia Insider: Dmitry Mechnikov, An Eyewitness Recounts the Crimean Referendum Two Years Ago. “For the citizens of Sevastopol, the referendum first of all meant salvation”
37. www.rt.com: Crimea marks 2 years since historic referendum to rejoin Russia.
38. Kyiv Post: Parliament seeks legal ways to unseat Yatsenyuk as he clings to chair.
39. TASS: MP: Ukrainian lawmakers’ initiative to sever diplomatic relations with Russia suicidal.
40. Ukraine Crisis Media Center (Kyiv): SBU: Today 6,000 Russian military personnel and 40,000 militants fight in Donbas.
41. Newsweek.com: UKRAINE’S ‘GREAT WALL’ WITH RUSSIA TO START BUILDING IN WEEKS.
42. www.rt.com: Ukraine fire sale: 60% discount for state assets.
43. Interfax: Yet another humanitarian aid convoy to be sent to Donbas on March 24 – Puchkov.
44. The National Interest: Steven Pifer and John Herbst, The Obama Doctrine and Ukraine Has Washington done enough to support Kyiv?
45. RFE/RL: Top U.S. Official: Ukraine Reforms Endangered By Oligarchs Fighting Back.
46. US Department of State: Ukrainian Reforms Two Years After the Maidan Revolution and the Russian Invasion. Testimony of Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
47. Fort Russ: Why Are the Children of Donbass Not Nadia Savchenko?
48. http://katehon.com: Adomas Abromaitis, EUROPE HAS NO CHANCE OF BECOMING STABLE BECAUSE OF UKRAINE.

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

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