RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2016-61 :: Tuesday, 29 March 2016

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#61
Tuesday, 29 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. RFE/RL: Arctic Sea Ice Hits Record Low.
2. Moscow Times: Russian, U.S. Chess Grandmasters Face-Off In World Champions Tournament.
3. Moscow Times: Moscow Region Duma Holds Conference to Combat Abortion Rates.
4. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, Russia’s Demography Is Looking Different From The Brezhnev-Era Stagnation.
5. BBC Monitoring: Russian press hails new election watchdog head as “optimal” choice. (Ella Pamfilova)
6. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Akademgorodok: The last Soviet Utopia, or a new Silicon Valley? Why is Russia’s intellectual, spiritual and cultural strength concentrated in Siberia? What is happening today at this world-renowned research center? Why do people here refuse to believe in a new brain drain?
7. US-Russia Business Council: VEB: Russia’s Economic Contraction Slowing.
8. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, INTERVIEW: Putin’s visible hand – Russia economy doomed to 4 years of stagnation. (Natalia Orlova)
9. Interfax: Growth of oil, gas reserves in 2016 to exceed their production – Rosnedra.
10. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, Investment guru Jim Rogers goes from Russian bear to bull.
11. RussEurope: Jacques Sapir, Implications of ACRA (Analytical Credit Rating Agency)
12. Izvestia: Russian thinktank names tensions with Turkey one of key threats for 2016.
13. Interfax: Ryabkov: timeframe for drafting Syria’s new constitution quite strict, but it is not fact it will be observed.
14. Reuters: INSIDE PUTIN’S AND ASSAD’S WAR AGAINST ISIS.
15. The Globalist: Gareth Porter, How Putin’s Leverage Shaped the Syrian Ceasefire. On Syria, Russia’s President Putin is having his way not just vis-à-vis Turkey and Saudi Arabia, but also the United States.
16. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Vzglyad: Why are Russian servicemen still dying in Syria? A sixth Russian serviceman has been reported killed in Syria, as the Syrian army attempts to liberate the ancient city of Palmyra from ISIS control. Commenting on the death of the officer, military experts explain why Russian troops are still at risk.
17. www.rt.com: Danielle Ryan, All quiet on Western front after Syrian forces recapture Palmyra from ISIS.
18. Interfax: Russian minister and U.S. ambassador discuss privatization, sanctions.
19. Russia Direct: Andrei Zolotov, Jr., Don’t read too much into Russia’s absence at Nuclear Security Summit. Russia’s Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna, Ambassador Vladimir Voronkov, discusses the reasons behind the Kremlin’s decision not to attend the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit, while emphasizing the ongoing cooperation between Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
20. Interfax: West accused of trying to discredit Putin as Kremlin expects new media attack.
21. Fort Russ/RBC: Kremlin Warns of Impending “Information Spin” Against Putin.
22. www.rt.com: Planned smear attacks on Putin are last-ditch Western attempt to destabilize Russia, claim MPs.
23. Russia Beyond the Headlines: British experts: Russian military modernization a ‘challenge’ to the West.
24. Euromaidanpress.com/Radio Svoboda: Russian Stalinists recognize Putin as one of their own.
25. Institute of Modern Russia: Constitutional Crisis in Russia and How to Resolve It.

UKRAINE

26. Interfax-Ukraine: Video depicting lawyer Hrabovsky who refuses to defend his Russian client shown in Kyiv.
27. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Seeking shelter: Russia’s refugees from eastern Ukraine, 2 years on. Two years since the start of the conflict in southeast Ukraine, RBTH looks at the experience of refugees and migrants from the region who are struggling to make a new life for themselves in Russia.
28. Facebook: Ivan Katchanovski, Maidan Shootings.
29. Kyiv Post: Ukrainians feel badly served by government.
30. Interfax: DPR rejects Poroshenko’s idea of international peacekeepers in Donbas.
31. Interfax-Ukraine: Poroshenko Bloc, People’s Front, Batkivschyna agree to form new coalition on Tuesday, Radicals remain the opposition.
32. Reuters: New Ukraine Coalition Uncertain After Fatherland Party Demurs.
33. Reuters: Ukraine PM frontrunner wants Slovakia’s Miklos as finance minister – report.
34. Russia Insider: Prominent ‘No’ Campaigner for Dutch-Ukraine Referendum Involved in Suspicious Car Accident.
35. http://orientalreview.org: Ukraine is turning into Liberia: “The love of liberty brought us here”
36. Interfax: Most Russians do not doubt Savchenko is guilty – poll.
37. Interfax: U.S. Embassy: No way of exchanging Savchenko for Bout and Yaroshenko.
38. Zerkalo Nedeli (Kyiv): Ex-diplomat slams Obama’s policy on Ukraine, Syria. (Bohdan Yaremenko)