RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents & links :: JRL 2020-#49 :: Wednesday, 18 March 2020

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2020-#49 :: Wednesday, 18 March 2020
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1. Consortiumnews: Gareth Porter, The New York Times’ Insidious Ongoing Disinformation Campaign on Russia & Elections. A series of stories loudly proclaim the Russian election meddling narrative but offer no real facts supporting the most sensational claims – consortiumnews.com/2020/03/17/the-new-york-times-insidious-ongoing-disinformation-campaign-on-russia-elections/
2. Russian International Affairs Council: Andrey Kortunov, Coronavirus: A New Bug or Feature of World Politics? – russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/analytics/coronavirus-a-new-bug-or-feature-of-world-politics/
3. Sarah Lindemann-Komarova: COVID- 19: The View from Siberia.
4. Moscow Times: Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | March 18.
5. Russia Beyond: Russia now bans entry to ALL foreign nationals. What to expect?
6. TASS: Russian constitutional vote may be postponed due to threats to public health.
7. TASS: Kommersant: Russia’s constitutional vote likely to be delayed over coronavirus.
8. Kremlin.ru: Meeting with Central Election Commission Chairperson Ella Pamfilova.
9. TASS: Putin urges prevention of speculations, rumors about coronavirus.
10. Kremlin.ru: Meeting with Government members.
11. TASS: Putin highlights Russia’s middle class as comprising more than 70% of population.
12. Kremlin.ru: On middle class and people’s incomes (interview to TASS)
13. www.rt.com: Russians have crisis experience: Only 5% began stockpiling early for fear of coronavirus shortages.
14. Moscow Times: Russia Says It Has Very Few Coronavirus Cases. The Numbers Don’t Tell the Full Story. Experts say Russia’s testing procedures have been hampered by bureaucracy.
15. Bloomberg: Putin’s aides shocked by his presidential power play.
16. Riddle: Putin Aeterna? Ivan Preobrazhensky on the constitutional transition.
17. TASS: Russian finance chief says domestic economic situation currently uneasy.
18. Interfax: Situation thus far not developing in best way, Russia to see budget deficit in 2020 – Siluanov.
19. TASS: Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Experts warn $25-a-barrel oil will shatter Russian ruble.
20. Moscow Times: Michele Berdy, Remembering Writer Eduard Limonov. Limonov died at age 77 on March 17.
21. TASS: Izvestia: Germany mulls lifting anti-Russian sanctions amid coronavirus.
22. www.rt.com: Sanctions Shmanctions: Only 1 in 10 Russians say they personally feel effects of Western embargoes.
23. Oilprice.com: Russia Makes Move On Antarctica’s 513 Billion Barrels Of Oil.
24. Asia Times: Who will cave first in Saudi-Russia oil price war? World’s top two oil exporters flood the market as prices collapse and Covid-19 pandemic kills off global demand.
25. Inside Arabia: James Dorsey, Playing for Higher Stakes: Saudi Arabia Gambles on Oil War with Russia. With stock markets crashing and economies grinding to a halt as the world struggles to get a grip on the Coronavirus, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could not have chosen a worse time to wreak havoc on energy markets by launching a price and production war against Russia.
26. Modern Diplomacy: Emil Avdaliani, Post-Soleimani, Russia’s Role Will Grow in Iran’s Geopolitical Thinking.
27. Infobrics: Washington Attempts to Intimidate Indonesia Not to Buy Russian Weapons.
28. Awful Avalanche: USSR Not Prepared For Nazi Surprise Attack Because Iran – Part IV.
29. Wall Street Journal: Russia Cements Ties With Crimea, Freezing Conflict With West. Six years after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine, the peninsula is tightly bound to Moscow, which now covers almost 70% of the territory’s budget.
30. Washington Post: Gerard Toal, John O’Loughlin and Kristin M. Bakke, Six years and $20 billion in Russian investment later, Crimeans are happy with Russian annexation. Our survey shows high levels of trust in Putin – though lower than in 2014.
31. Atlantic Council: Bohdan Nahaylo, Ukraine’s pro-Russian MPs plot new front with Putin.
32. New York Times: Anti-Russian Protests Erupt in Ukraine, Despite Virus Threat. Organizers of a street protest in Kyiv say resisting Russian influence is more important than honoring a ban on mass gatherings.
33. Reuters: Ukraine Imposes State of Emergency in Kiev Region, PM Warns of Economic Crisis.
34. Financial Times: Ukrainegate: Rudy Giuliani’s new campaign against Joe Biden. Donald Trump’s lawyer has new fixers in Kyiv to help revive claims discredited as conspiracy theory. (excerpt)
35. www.rt.com: Russiagate all over again: Secret EU report blames Russia for coronavirus ‘confusion, panic and fear’
36. Sic Semper Tyrannis: Larry Johnson, A Cornerstone of Russia Hacked the 2016 Election Collapses.
37. www.rt.com: Scott Ritter, The indictment of Concord was meant to prove Russia interfered in the US presidential election. But it was just a political sham.
8. Paul Goble: Putin ‘Much Greater Problem’ for Russia than Coronavirus, Falling Oil Prices or War in Syria ‘Taken Together,’ Inozemtsev Says.
39. Wall Street Journal: Leon Aron, ‘The Return of the Russian Leviathan’ Review: A Lust for Suffering. Putin’s domestic policies, says a Russian critic, are motivated by revenge, self-pity and a search for those who betrayed the wonderful U.S.S.R.
40. www.rt.com: US halts deployment & recalls troops from NATO’s biggest drill ‘Defender Europe 2020’ due to coronavirus threat.