RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents & links :: JRL 2020-#45 :: Friday, 13 March 2020

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2020-#45 :: Friday, 13 March 2020
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1. Russia Beyond: How does Russia deal with the coronavirus? – rbth.com/lifestyle/331816-russia-coronavirus-pandemic
2. TASS: Russia to review coronavirus preventive measures after April 1.
3. www.rt.com: Coronavirus fears ‘50% panic,’ could be over by summer – top Russian scientist – rt.com/russia/483042-covid-panic-russian-scientist/
4. Reuters: Russia to disinfect parliament chamber after lawmaker broke quarantine to hear Putin.
5. Interfax: Space crew to go to ISS on April 9 to skip some traditional pre-launch procedures because of coronavirus.
6. TASS: Putin takes shot at sky-high salaries of public company CEOs.
7. TASS: Putin emphasizes Russian corporate CEOs no longer hold policy-making clout.
8. Kremlin.ru: On current corporation heads and 90s oligarchs (TASS interview) – en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/62982
9. TASS: All regions support constitutional amendments bill.
10. Sputnik: Putin’s Participation in 2024 Depends on Various Factors – Kremlin – sputniknews.com/russia/202003121078547103-putins-participation-in-2024-depends-on-various-factors/
11. Meduza: In brief. How high-ranking Russian officials are justifying the move to let Putin serve again (and again).
12. Reuters: First woman in space brought down to earth by anger over bid to prolong Putin rule.
13. Financial Times: ‘Turbulence’ persuades Russia’s Putin to back move to extend his rule. Kremlin presents rationale for resetting the clock on presidential term limits.
14. Carnegie Moscow Center: Tatiana Stanovaya, Keeping His Options Open: Why Putin Decided to Stay On.
15. Foreign Policy: Mark Galeotti, Putin Wants the World to Keep Guessing. The Russian president’s goal isn’t necessarily to be president for life. Unless it is.
16. Chatham House: Nikolai Petrov and Ben Noble, Russia’s Uncertain Regime Transformation. Despite the drama, Vladimir Putin’s announcement endorsing a constitutional change allowing him to remain president from 2024 does surprisingly little to change the status quo.
17. https://gilbertdoctorow.com: Gilbert Doctorow, The Tereshkova Amendment and “Friends of Russia” – gilbertdoctorow.com/2020/03/12/the-tereshkova-amendment-and-friends-of-russia/
18. PONARS Eurasia: Henry Hale, Putin’s End Game?
19. Financial Times: The Russian oligarch who wants Vladimir Putin to be a Tsar. Konstantin Malofeev played key role in shaping country’s biggest political overhaul in decades.
20. Moscow Times: Michele Berdy, Starting the Presidency All Over Again. Russian wits had so much fun with the nullification of presidential term limits.
21. RFE/RL: Russian Constitutional Amendments Spark Protests, Police Detentions.
22. Washington Post editorial: Putin is brazenly trying to make himself president for life.
23. The Economist editorial: Vlad the indefinite. Russia’s president reluctantly agrees to 16 more years in power. Vladimir Putin has no plans to retire. Poor Russia.
24. The Economist: Prisoner in the Kremlin. Why Vladimir Putin cannot retire. He has too many enemies, and too many cronies who depend on him.
25. Opendemocracy.net: Kirill Medvedev, What’s behind Russia’s left-wing turn? As Putin extends his rule once again, the need for social democracy in Russia has never been clearer.
26. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, King of the castle: Friday the 13th for Russian markets in third-worst crash ever. The RTS fell below the 1,000 mark on Friday 13th in the third worst stock selloff in Russia’s history.
27. RFE/RL: Kremlin’s Fiscal Strength Put To The Test By Plummeting Oil Prices.
28. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, Crunching the numbers: Russia is ready for prolonged oil shock. Thanks to its huge $150bn in reserves Russia is ready for a prolonged oil shock.
29. Bloomberg: Russian Producers Are Ready to Survive Flood of Saudi Crude.
30. Wall Street Journal: Russia Takes Aim at U.S. Shale Oil Producers. Moscow is fighting a oil-market war on two fronts-with Saudi Arabia and U.S. shale.
31. Russia Beyond: How Saudi Arabia’s oil policy triggered the collapse of the USSR – rbth.com/history/331825-saudi-arabia-oil-crisis-ussr-collapse
32. Russia Matters: Paul Saunders, Acknowledging Policy Shortcomings Is First Step to Solving America’s Russia Problem.
33. Interfax: Gorbachev regrets U.S., UK leaders’ refusal to attend 75th Victory anniversary celebration in Moscow.
34. Wall Street Journal: How a French Ex-Commando’s Archeological Find Unified Putin and Macron. The bones of a Napoleonic general killed during France’s failed 1812 invasion of Russia is helping spur a detente between the two powers, irking Western allies.
35. RFE/RL: Ukrainian Nationalists Disrupt Peace Presentation On War In East.
36. Stalker Zone: Rostislav Ishchenko, The Nazis in Ukraine Showed Their Teeth – stalkerzone.org/the-nazis-in-ukraine-showed-their-teeth/