RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2015-#63 table of contents with links :: Johnson’s Russia List – Tuesday 31 March 2015

Johnson’s Russia List
JRL 2015-#63 :: Tuesday 31 March 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
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RUSSIA

1. Russia Direct: Yemen, Nemtsov, Ukrainian oligarchs: Top Russian news from last week.
2. TASS: Putin’s rating up more than 50% over 15 years – FOM pollster.
3. TASS: Studying Putin’s 15 years at the helm crucial to seeing future with confidence – Peskov.
4. Moskovskiy Komsomolets: Little response to Putin “disappearance” shows lack of link to people – pundit. (Matvey Ganapolskiy)
5. TASS: Russia needs to hop off the ‘oil needle’ and develop small business – TASS research center.
6. TASS: Russia needs serious reform, economic growth program – ex-finance minister. (Kudrin)
7. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, Putin’s Economic Team Plays Houdini.
8. Moscow Times: Worker Strikes Will Only Boost Kremlin’s Popularity, Say Analysts.
9. Moscow Times: Russians With Houses on State Land Get Right to Buy Plots at Discount.
10. http://jimrogers1.blogspot.com: Jim Rogers: Russia Much More Prosperous than Ukraine.
11. Interfax: Party led by Navalny can’t run in elections.
12. Moscow Times: Cultural Figures Demand Minister’s Sacking Over Opera Scandal.
13. RFE/RL: Western Scholars Alarmed By Russian Deportations, Fines.
14. New York Times: Russian History Receives a Makeover That Starts With Ivan the Terrible.
15. Wall Street Journal: In Russia, Exhibition Seeks to Show Ivan Wasn’t So Terrible. Medieval-history show raises question if Russia’s often-bloody history is being whitewashed to fuel nationalist campaign.
16. Russia Direct: Dominic Basulto, US sanctions against Russia: A tale of two cities. At Russia Forum New York 2015, investors and business leaders weighed in on the ineffectiveness of Western sanctions against Russia, suggesting that they threatened to hurt the small businesses and entrepreneurial startups that are at the core of any future US-Russian relationship.
17. Russia Insider: The Saker, The Coming US-Saudi Invasion of Yemen: Imagine It Was Russia. US has been drone bombing Yemen for years, and its ally Saudi Arabia is massing for a land invasion. Imagine the reaction if it was Russia instead of Riyadh and DC.
18. Bloomberg: Carol Matlack, Why the Jihadi Threat to Russia Is Getting Worse. More jihadi fighters come from Russia than any country outside the Middle East and North Africa. What happens when they come home?
19. Stratfor.com: The West Hems in Russia Little by Little.
20. Reuters: Americans see Putin as only slightly more imminent threat than Obama, poll says.
21. Gazeta.ru editorial: Our answer to Psaki. What the ‘new Russia’ can offer the world.
22. www.rt.com: Lavrov: Chances to reach Iran nuclear deal ‘pretty good’
23. TASS: Talks over Iran’s nuclear program to end with comma, not full-stop.
24. Business New Europe: Ben Aris, Russian money infects London.
25. Vox.com: Amanda Taub, How Putin could lose power. (interview with Mark Galeotti)
26. Paul Goble: Russians’ Hatreds Easy to Unleash But Difficult to Limit, Reverse or Overcome.
27. Greenwich Times (Connecticut): Greenwich native launches alternative news site Russia-Insider.com. (Charles Bausman)

UKRAINE

28. The National Interest: James Carden, Ukraine’s Bloody Civil War: No End in Sight. Ukraine is falling apart at the seams.
29. Moscow Times: Nemtsov Allies Plan to Publish ‘Putin.War’ Report on Russian Soldiers in Ukraine.
30. TASS: Kremlin would not comment on late Nemtsov’s proposed report on Ukraine war.
31. Polish Institute of International Affairs: Where Are All the Foreign Fighters in Ukraine?
32. Interfax: Russian extremists are stopped from joining Ukraine fighting – Interior Ministry.
33. TASS: Ukrainian conflict confirmed death toll reaches 6,083 – UN report.
34. USAToday.com: Oren Dorell, Voices: Ukraine a country aching with anguish.
35. TASS: Ukraine’s Radical Party proposes criminalizing denial of ‘Russia’s military aggression’
36. TASS: Poroshenko’s fortune estimated at $750 million – Forbes-Ukraine.
37. Interface: Ukraine constitutional commission to include 59 Ukrainians, 13 foreign experts – Poroshenko.
38. RussEurope: Jacques Sapir, Ukraine: war of the oligarchs.
39. Interfax: Opposition govt led by Kolesnikov presented in Ukraine.
40. TASS: Ukraine’s Donetsk republic accuses Kiev forces of 19 truce breaches over past 24 hours.
41. Interfax: Ukrainian army positions in Donbas attacked 11 times – Kyiv.
42. Bloomberg: Ukraine Clashes Ease as Envoys Ready Rebel Talks on Deescalation.
43. Kyiv Post: Bishop of Moscow-backed church supports Ukrainian troops.
44. Counterpunch.org: Ivaylo Grouev, Why the West is Losing the Information War. Ukraine: A Creationist Museum?
45. The Huffington Post: Russia-Ukraine Conflict 101. (Matthew Rojansky)
46. Ukraine Today: Ukraine Today launches new online project ‘From Russia with Love’
47. http://thetruthspeaker.co: Graham Phillips, Busting Ukraine Fakes (#2) – ‘Russian Elite Troops’ in the Ukrainian Army and Rob Pulse.
48. Newsweek.com: Russian Tanks and Fighters Enter Eastern Ukraine, Says Kiev.