RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2017-162 :: Wednesday, 23 August 2017

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2017-#162
Wednesday, 23 August 2017
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1. AP: Warming Arctic Spurs Battles for Riches, Shipping Routes.
2. www.rt.com: Russian LNG tanker navigates Arctic sea route in record 6.5 days.
3. TASS: From climate to transport: Arctic projects of Russian and Japanese scientists.
4. Interfax: Russian consumer prices unchanged, annual inflation down to 3.7% in week.
5. Interfax: Russian wheat harvest may reach record 79-82 mln tonnes this year – IKAR.
6. TASS: Moscow has no doubts US will try to meddle in Russia’s presidential election.
7. Paul Goble: If Putin Were Arrested, Russians who Back Him Now would Disown Him Then, Portnikov Says.
8. Moscow Times: Putin’s Inner Circle Set to Lose Influence Ahead of 2018 Elections.
9. Interfax: Stage director Serebrennikov says charges brought against him absurd, asks court not to take him into custody.
10. Moscow Times: ‘There’s No Logic’ – Russia’s Cultural Elite Rallies to Serebrennikov’s Defense.
11. TASS: Investigators claim to have enough evidence to prove Serebrennikov guilty of fraud.
12. Forbes.com: Gretel Going, An Insider’s Guide To Russian Media.
13. www.rt.com: Russia mulls limitations on internet exchange points over fears of US eavesdropping.
14. Between Two Worlds: Catherine, Lenin and Robert E. Lee.
15. Between Two Worlds: WHY DO RUSSIANS LIKE PUTIN? (August 2016)
16. PONARS Eurasia: Hilary Appel and Wendy Chuyi Sheng, Putin’s Renationalization Campaign: Fighting Corruption or Forcing Officials’ Loyalty? (excerpt)
17. Carnegie Moscow Center: Konstantin Gaaze, Corruption Case Puts Sechin in the Spotlight.
18. Seeking Alpha: Gazprom, Winter Is Coming.
19. Russian International Affairs Council: Ivan Timofeev, The Euro-Atlantic Security Formula: Stable Deterrence and Its Alternatives. (summary)
20. TASS: Suspension of visa procedures in Russia not revenge, US ambassador stresses.
21. TASS: Media: US citizens could face ripples from Washington’s Russia-wide visa cut.
22. www.rt.com: Moscow ‘preparing inevitable response’ as US hits Russians with new sanctions over N. Korea.
23. TASS: Diplomat points to Russia’s balanced response to US hostile actions.
24. Valdai Discussion Club: Mary Dejevsky, HOW THE NEW US SANCTIONS COULD REBOUND.
25. Deutsche Welle: Opinion: US Congress is assisting Russian nationalists. With Russia expelling hundreds of American embassy employees, the US is making drastic cuts to the way visas are issued to Russians. In doing so, the US is damaging its own interests, says DW’s Miodrag Soric
26. Indian Punchline: M. K. Bhadrakumar, Afghanistan is ripe for proxy war.
27. Antiwar.com: Justin Raimondo, The Mini-Skirt Deception: How McMaster Got His Afghan ‘Surge.’ A photo of Soviet era Afghanistan won Trump over.
28. The Diplomat: Samuel Ramini, Why Russia Wants the US to Stay in Afghanistan. Moscow would like to avoid having to militarily intervene itself.
29. TASS: Izvestia: Netanyahu to focus on Iran’s influence in Syria during Russia talks.
30. Moscow Times: Seth J. Frantzman, What Israel’s Netanyahu Wants From Moscow. Israel hopes Russia can leverage the regime of Bashar Assad.
31. The National Interest: Michael Kofman and Jeffrey Edmonds. Why the Russian Navy Is a More Capable Adversary Than It Appears. The oft-unacknowledged truth is that the Russian Navy is a lot more operational now than it has been in many years. (excerpt)
32. Crux: Vatican’s top diplomat says climate on Russia trip is ‘very constructive’
33. Sputnik: Third of Ukrainians Want Russian Language to Have Official Status – Poll.
34. Sputnik: Dmitry Babich, Yanukovych’s “Trial” in Ukraine: a Coup That Doesn’t Let to Forget Itself.
35. Interfax: Contact Group to support ‘school truce’ in eastern Ukraine on occasion of new school year’s beginning – Gryzlov.
36. The National (UAE): Vitalii Filipovskyi, US and Russia can unfreeze impasse in Ukraine. The meeting between the two countries gives a second chance to the Minsk agreements, which were signed more than two years ago to bring peace to the Donbass region in east Ukraine.
37. Russia Matters: Survey on Ukraine: Does Providing Lethal Weapons to Kiev Serve US Vital Interests?
38. The Guardian (UK): Solzhenitsyn’s Russian Revolution epic to be published in English. First complete translation announced of dissident’s multi-volume historical novel The Red Wheel – his ‘life’s mission’ – after anonymous donor funds project.
39. Der Spiegel: Understanding Moscow. The Mysteries of the Russian Mindset. DER SPIEGEL correspondent Christian Neef spent three decades reporting on Russia. On the eve of his departure from Moscow, he reflects on a unique Russian mindset that Putin did not create but is brilliant at exploiting.
40. Washington Post: America’s neo-Nazis don’t look to Germany for inspiration. They look to Russia.
41. Sputnik: Has Russian ‘Propaganda’ Been Exposed by New US Website or Is It Just Hot Air?
42. Politico.com: Here’s What Russia’s Propaganda Network Wants You to Read. How a new system for tracking Kremlin influence operations reveals what Moscow is thinking.