RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2015-#107 table of contents with links :: Johnson’s Russia List – Friday, May 29, 2015

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#107 :: Friday 29 May 2015
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. Washington Post editorial: A mysterious illness hits a Russian activist.
2. THE NEW HETMANATE: INFORMATION AND IMAGERY FROM UKRAINE: Russian expert: To restore US-Russia relations, ‘Putin regime must fall.’ (Andrey Piontkovsky)
3. Moscow Times: Putin’s Approval Rating Remains at 86% Unfazed by Economic Crisis, Ukraine Conflict.
4. Russia Direct: Why it’s crucial for the US to have a balanced debate about Russia. RD Interview: James Carden, author of a new Nation article describing the bias in the mainstream media against Russian experts who refuse to accept the default hardline response to Moscow, explains why a greater diversity of voices is needed on Russia.
5. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Lyudmila Alexeyeva: In the end rights activists are taken into consideration. Russia’s oldest human rights activist and Director of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alexeyeva is returning this year to the Russian Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, which she left in 2012. RBTH spoke with Alexeyeva about her return, as well as about the murder of liberal politician Boris Nemtsov, the Crimean Tatars, the opposition and much
6. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, For fear of ‘foreign agents,’ Kremlin blacklists a Russian charity. Dynasty, which promotes scientific education, is funded almost entirely by Russian communications tycoon Dmitry Zimin. Because he’s using offshore accounts to do so, he’s run afoul of Kremlin bureaucrats. Critics say it’s time for a rethink.
7. Russia Beyond the Headlines: New protest monitoring system will track Facebook and Twitter. A system that monitors political protest groups was launched in Russia in May 2015. For now it is only monitoring the local social network VKontakte, but the program will begin analyzing Twitter and Facebook posts in September of this year.
8. Interfax: Poll shows 80 per cent of Russian businessmen see economic crisis in the country.
9. Russia Insider: Alexander Mercouris, Sberbank CEO Confirms Russia Came Under Financial Attack in December – Was US Involved? German Gref, leading economic liberal and CEO of Sberbank, discloses foreign based attempt to provoke bank run during December ruble crisis.
10. Moscow Times: $110 Billion Expected to Flee Russia This Year as Sanctions Bite.
11. AP: Ruble rebound a relief for Russians but hurts revival of local industry competing with imports.
12. Moscow Times: Q&A: The Hardest Job in Russia – Being NATO’s Envoy. (Robert Pszczel)
13. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Perestroika lessons for the U.S. and Russia. Three decades after perestroika, Russian studies experts re-examine the policies that have defined U.S.-Russia relations for 30 years.
14. The New Yorker: Masha Gessen, Putin’s Russia: Don’t Walk, Don’t Eat, and Don’t Drink.
15. The International New York Times: Masha Gessen, The Kremlin vs. The NGOs.

UKRAINE

16. www.rt.com: ‘2 million Donbass citizens displaced – people desperate to join their relatives.’ (interview with William Spindler, UN refugee agency)
17. Zik (Kyiv): Putin still hot on his plan to capture Ukraine, expert.
18. Zik (Kyiv): Yatseniuk’s message to EU: give us weapons and we will defend you from Putin.
19. New Left Review: Volodymyr Ishchenko, Maidan Mythologies. The Maidan and civil war from the perspective of an EU think-tank. (re Andrew Wilson, Ukraine Crisis: What It Means for the West)
20. Vox.com: Max Fisher, Is Russia about to invade Ukraine?
21. Moon of Alabama: Reuters Exclusive: Russian Troops Near Ukraine’s Border.
22. Russia Insider: Shocker: US Govt Can’t Confirm Reports of Russian Mobile Crematoriums in Ukraine.
23. Carnegie Moscow Center: Andrei Kolesnikov, Why the Kremlin Is Shutting Down the Novorossiya Project.
24. Gazeta.ru: Ukrainian experts show change of rhetoric on country’s integrity.
25. www.rt.com: 122mm artillery banned under Minsk peace deal fired in E.Ukraine – OSCE.
26. Moscow Times: Putin Classifying Troop Losses Proves They’re in Ukraine – Analysts.
27. Ukraine Today: Only public disapproval can make Putin withdraw from Ukraine: Ilya Yashin.
28. Russia Insider: Yatsenyuk’s Ukrainian Fire Sale. Desperate to raise cash, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk announces a rushed fire sale of Ukraine’s prime assets.
29. Bloomberg: Ukraine Creditors Said to Offer Coupon Cuts, Debt Extensions.
30. Interfax-Ukraine: Ukraine withdrawing from crisis phase – Jaresko.
31. Kyiv Post: Chechen fighter transfers struggle against Kremlin to Ukraine.
32. The Vineyard of the Saker: Saker interview with “Ramzes” – a Spetsnaz GRU officer.
33. Wall Street Journal editorial: The Russians Are Coming, Again. Vladimir Putin violates another peace deal with Ukraine.
34. Sputnik: Leave Your Wounded Comrades on the Battlefield – Report on Ukraine Army.
35. Sputnik: Nearly 100% of Ukrainian Generals Want to Flee to Russia – Azov Fighter.
36. RFE/RL: Brian Whitmore, What Putin Got Wrong.
37. The Economist: Russia and the West. Alternative reality. Vladimir Putin concocts a new story on Ukraine, leaving the West wondering what he is up to.
38. Interfax-Ukraine: U.S. Crimea sanctions to remain in place regardless of Russia’s actions in eastern Ukraine – Pyatt.
39. The Brookings Institution: PDF: BROOKINGS HOSTS VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN FOR REMARKS ON THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT. (transcript)