RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2015-#9 table of contents with links :: Wednesday 14 January 2015

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Johnson’s Russia List
JRL 2015-#9 :: Wednesday 14 January 2015
E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net
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Russia

1. Moscow Times: Health Ministry Says Transsexuals Can Still Drive in Russia.
2. Moscow Times: Cesar Chelala, Russia’s Deadly Roads Are Harming Economy.
3. Wired.com: What It’s Like Living in the Coldest Town on Earth
4. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Bear’s bad year? Russia faces grim economic outlook in 2015. Their two-week holiday at an end, Russians are once again confronted with low oil prices, a weakening ruble, and rocketing interest rates. And the Kremlin has yet to follow through on promised remedies.
5. Moscow Times/Vedomosti: Alexander Morozov, Russia Will Stick With Putin Till the Bitter End.
6. Interfax: World Bank expects Russian GDP to fall 2.9 percent in 2015, edge up in 2016.
7. Moscow Times/Reuters: Highlights of Gaidar: Russia’s Top Officials Talk Oil, Spending and Ruble.
8. Reuters: Russian finance minister warns on spending as crisis deepens.
9. www.government.ru: The 6th Gaidar Forum. (Medvedev’s speech)
10. Russia Beyond the Headlines/RBC Daily: Kudrin: Russia’s economy ‘not up to modern challenges.’ According to former Russian finance minister Alexei Kudrin, the fall in Russia’s GDP and the accompanying stagnation may last for years. Kudrin, who is currently head of the Civil Initiatives Committee, an NGO that promotes civil rights in Russia, discussed the country’s economic future in an interview with RBC Daily.
11. TASS: Better business climate surest way to overcome economic crisis – analysts.
12. www.rt.com: Russian politicians and bankers think oil will reach $60-$80 in 2015.
13. Rossiya 1 TV (Moscow): Russian prosecutors told to shield businesses from “bureaucratic pressure.” (Sergey Ivanov)
14. Moscow Times: Culture Minister Wants ‘Patriotic Internet’ to Protect Russians.
15. www.opendemocracy.net: Alexey Krizhevsky, A new drama in Moscow. Teatr.doc – a pioneer of ‘New Drama’ in Russia – has recently been evicted from its basement home in Moscow. But is it all an act?
16. RFE/RL: Kremlin Foe Navalny Fined $10 For Cutting Ankle Bracelet.
17. Paul Goble: ‘Top 15 Russian Fears for ’15’ — a ‘Versiya’ Checklist.
18. Interfax: Putin to not attend Auschwitz liberation anniversary events in Poland.
19. Russia Direct: Maxim Sushkov, What’s at stake for Russia with Charlie Hebdo? Russia finds itself in a difficult position in how it responds to the Charlie Hebdo attack. It must simultaneously show sympathy for the victims of the French attack, while also respecting the cultural, social and religious values of its own population.
20. TASS: Russian FM says Paris attackers were trained by Syrian opposition.
21. Reuters: Russia’s financial crisis may bury Putin’s Eurasian dream.
22. Interfax: Poll shows Russians becoming more hostile towards the West.
23. www.rt.com: Russia could revise key nuclear arms treaty over growing US antagonism – official.
24. RIA Novosti: Diplomat says Russia to react to NATO build-up in Europe “if necessary”
25. Sputnik: Merkel: NATO Wants to Cooperate With Russia, Not Pursue Anti-Russia Policy.
26. RIA Novosti: Russian diplomat calls for renewed cooperation with West against ISIS.
27. Moscow Times: Mark Galeotti, Islamic State Poses No Threat to Russia, Yet.
28. Yezhednevnyy Zhurnal: Russian commentary says Putin regime in “death throes.” (Liliya Shevtsova)
30. Frontline (PBS): Putin’s Way (transcript)

Ukraine

31. AP: Lack of aid deepens suffering in conflict-hit east Ukraine.
32. Al Jazeera America : Sabra Ayres, In eastern Ukraine’s Miusynsk, pensioners struggle to survive winter. With no cash available and food supplies dwindling, a humanitarian crisis brews in eastern Ukraine.
33. Interfax: OSCE reports escalation of gunfire in eastern Ukraine but says trend may be reversed.
34. Interfax: Moscow concerned by Kyiv’s intention to blockade Donbas – Russian envoy to OSCE.
35. The Independent (UK): Oliver Carroll, Ukraine crisis: Fighting in Donetsk between army and Russian-backed rebels at highest level for months.
36. Interfax-Ukraine: Ukrainian president says willing to grant Donbass free economic zone status.
37. Fort Russ: One-third of Ukrainians support continuing military operations in Donbass.
38. Interface: Lavrov: bus attack in Donbas must be thoroughly probed before accusing anyone.
39. Russia Insider: George Eliason, Could Ukraine Bus Casualties Have Been Killed in a Mine Detonation? The bus was hit at an Ukraine army control point which are regularly secured with mines.
40. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Press Digest: Fighting escalates in the Donbass and Latvia’s presidency of the Council of Europe begins.
41. Kyiv Post: Scandal erupts as parliamentarians allege manipulation of state budget.
42. New Eastern Europe: Da Vinci AG (Kyiv), Four Scenarios for the Future of Donbas.
43. Project Syndicate: Christopher Granville, A way out for Ukraine and Russia.
44. The Daily Northwestern: Panelists offer closer look at Ukraine crisis in talk at Evanston library.
45. www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org: Steven Pifer, East Ukraine ceasefire: can sanctions change Russia’s calculus?
46. https://marknesop.wordpress.com: Mark Chapman, Kiev’s Apologists Don’t Think it Did Anything Wrong.
47. New York Observer: Mikhail Klikushin, The New Ukraine Is Run by Rogues, Sexpots, Warlords, Lunatics and Oligarchs. Prominent Ukrainian MP denounces Obama’s weakness, calls him a ‘shot-down pilot.’