RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents & links :: JRL 2020-#88 :: Thursday, 14 May 2020

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2020-#88 :: Thursday, 14 May 2020
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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1. TASS: Putin: Coronavirus situation changes, time to focus on long-term issues.
2. TASS: Coronavirus spread coefficient in Russia falls below 1 for first time.
3. Interfax: Moscow shifts to new Covid-19 testing level, ELISA tests – Sobyanin.
4. Intellinews: Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund ready to start mass production of anti-COVID-19 drug. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, together with a Russian pharmaceutical group, is ready to start mass production of a drug used in China that was found to be effective in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
5. Bloomberg: Russians Struggling to Survive Add Pressure to End Lockdown.
6. TASS: Hot weather does not kill COVID-19, may facilitate its spread, scientist says.
7. www.rt.com: Anna Belkina, Covid-19: For Western mainstream media, Russia fails even when it succeeds – rt.com/op-ed/488640-covid-msm-russia-death-toll/
8. www.rt.com: ‘Example of infodemic’: Moscow slams FT & NYT reports that put Russian Covid-19 death toll 70 percent higher than official data. – rt.com/russia/488577-coronavirus-death-toll-russia-nyt/
9. TASS: Steps against FT, NYT to depend on whether they refute their allegations or not – diplomat.
10. Reuters: Moscow Says It Ascribed Over 60% of Coronavirus Deaths in April to Other Causes.
11. RFE/RL: WHO Representative Downplays Doubts About Russian Coronavirus Figures.
12. Bloomberg: Experts Question Why Coronavirus Hasn’t Killed More Russians.
13. Meduza: Permission to die: rejected. How Russia’s fight against COVID-19 relies on fiddled statistics.
14. Riddle: For Russia’s poor regions, lockdown is a luxury. Moscow’s inability to introduce a full quarantine reflects the depth of Russia’s deep regional inequalities, writes Anastasia Mironova – ridl.io/en/for-russia-s-poor-regions-lockdown-is-a-luxury/
15. Russia Insider: 70% of Russians Have Savings, While 70% of Americans Live Paycheck to Paycheck – russia-insider.com/en/70-russians-have-savings-while-70-americans-live-paycheck-paycheck/ri30120
16. New York Times: As Coronavirus Overruns Russia, Doctors Are Dying on the Front Lines. Facing dire shortages of protective gear and amid fears that the worst is yet to come, more than 180 medical workers are reported to have fallen victim so far and thousands have been infected.
17. Moscow Times: As the Coronavirus Contagion Grows in Russia, Putin’s Strongman Image Weakens. With an economic crisis heaving into view, the Russian president “looks like an old, sick wolf.”
18. Paul Goble: Russia Was Falling Apart ‘Everywhere’ When He Came to Power, Putin Says.
19. TASS: Ecology to take back seat to economic recovery after pandemic, says expert.
20. Valdai Discussion Club: Thomas Graham, The COVID-19 Pandemic: An X-Ray of Today’s World. The lack of a genuine international community and true global leaders underscores the absence of a universal world order, writes Valdai Club expert Thomas Graham. The American effort to expand the liberal international order, which structured post-World War II relations in the West, to the entire world after the end of the Cold War has ended in failure. – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/the-covid-19-pandemic-an-x-ray-of-today-s-world/
21. Valdai Discussion Club report: Staying Sane in a Crumbling World – valdaiclub.com/files/30052/
22. Wall Street Journal: NATO and Russia Flex Their Muscles, but Coronavirus Is a Common Foe. Exercises and parades have been curtailed or scale down, but stopping the infection from spreading is a new challenge.
23. The Economist: Northern fights. NATO is facing up to Russia in the Arctic Circle. An exercise in the Barents Sea signals that big-power rivalry covers every ocean.
24. RAND: A New Approach to Conventional Arms Control in Europe. Addressing the Security Challenges of the 21st Century – rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR4346.html
25. The Hill: Brian Michael Jenkins, Exposing Russian information operations does not violate the First Amendment.
26. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, #DEMOCRACYRIP AND THE NARCISSISM OF RUSSIAGATE – irrussianality.wordpress.com/2020/05/12/democracyrip-and-the-narcissism-of-russiagate/
27. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, WISHFUL DEMOCRATIC THINKING – irrussianality.wordpress.com/2020/05/14/wishful-democratic-thinking/
28. Facebook: Fred Weir, Re “Hidden Over 2 Years: Dem Cyber-Firm’s Sworn Testimony It Had No Proof of Russian Hack of DNC”
29. Real Clear Investigations: Aaron Mate, Hidden Over 2 Years: Dem Cyber-Firm’s Sworn Testimony It Had No Proof of Russian Hack of DNC – realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2020/05/13/hidden_over_2_years_dem_cyber-firms_sworn_testimony_it_had_no_proof_of_russian_hack_of_dnc_123596.html
30. Wall Street Journal editorial: All the Adam Schiff Transcripts. Newly released documents show he knew all along that there was no proof of Russia-Trump collusion.
31. www.rt.com: Bryan MacDonald, Does Trump know his own government indirectly bankrolls some key promoters of the ‘Russiagate’ hoax? – rt.com/op-ed/488572-trump-government-bankrolls-russiagate/
32. The National Interest: William Smith, Ukraine and the Clash of Civilizations. Rather than sponsoring a proxy war in Ukraine and risking a bigger war, the leaders of the core states need to step back and acknowledge that both Russia and the West have legitimate claims in Ukraine and that a diplomatic solution is the only path forward.
33. www.rt.com: DOZENS of babies born to Ukrainian surrogate mothers left stranded in Kiev hotel due to Covid-19 – rt.com/news/488634-ukraine-surrogate-babies-stranded/
34. thenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com: Mark Chapman, Ukraine – thenewkremlinstooge.wordpress.com/2020/05/08/its-their-party-and-well-laugh-if-we-want-to/#comments
35. Grace Kennan Warnecke: Everything is different now.

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