RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2015-#96 table of contents with links :: Johnson’s Russia List – Thursday, May 14, 2015

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#96 :: Thursday 14 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. The New Yorker: Andy Borowitz, Scientists: Earth Endangered by New Strain of Fact-Resistant Humans.
2. Moscow Times: Kerry Brings Cautious Signs of Russia Detente to NATO Meeting.
3. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Return to pragmatism in Russia-West ties? Kerry-Putin talks hint that way. The US secretary’s visit to Russia, on the heels of a visit by Angela Merkel, suggests that the Kremlin and the West are trying to cooperate on international issues like Iran and Ukraine.
4. Russia Direct: Are Kerry’s Sochi talks with Putin and Lavrov a game-changer? Russia Direct interviewed Russian and American experts as well as former diplomats to assess the importance of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent high-profile diplomatic mission to Sochi.
5. TASS: Washington, Moscow tone down propaganda, get back to dialogue. (Rogov and Klimov)
6. Russia Direct: Dmitry Polikanov, Kerry’s Sochi visit: Not yet a new reset. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Sochi has the potential to change the tone in U.S.-Russia relations and turn down the tensions provoked by the so-called “information war” – but only if both sides act quickly.
7. US Department of State: Press Availability With Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
8. New York Times editorial: A Tiny Crack in the Russian Ice.
9. Wall Street Journal editorial: Kerry Is So Very Nice to Putin. Easing sanctions if Russia settles for what it’s already grabbed.
10. Daily Times (Pakistan): Jonathan Power, How to end the war in Ukraine. Telling the rebels to lay down their arms will not be as easy for Putin as western observers often suggest. On one occasion, Putin confessed that only 30 percent of his decisions get implemented.
11. www.rt.com: Bryan Macdonald, Kerry in Sochi: Ukraine’s 15 minutes of fame is probably over.
12. Moscow Times: More and More Russians See America as a Threat, Poll Reveals.
13. New York Times: Museum Director at Hermitage Hopes for Thaw in Relations With West. (Mikhail Piotrovsky)
14. Reuters: Russian Court Quashes Latest Bid to Jail Kremlin Critic Navalny.
15. Moscow Times: Russia Declared Best of BRICS in Developing Human Capital.
16. Moscow Times: Despite Crisis, Most Russian Companies Aren’t Cutting Jobs.
17. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Debate grows on raising retirement age in Russia, despite discord. Discussions about raising the retirement age have recently intensified in Russia, with the finance and economy ministries calling for the proportion of the budget allocated to welfare spending to be cut. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken out against this initiative, observers believe that pushing the pensionable age back is a necessary economic measure.
18. Bloomberg: In Putin’s Russia, Universal Health Care Is for All Who Pay.
19. Moscow Times: Currency Crisis Leaves Russian Scientists With No Funds for Foreign Journal Subscriptions.
20. Bloomberg: Russia Was Right: Shale in Europe Has Proved a Dud.
21. Interfax: NATO silent on Russian efforts to bolster Euro-Atlantic security – Russian NATO delegation.
22. Slate.com: The Story of Louis C.K.’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Vacation to Russia.

UKRAINE

23. The Daily Signal: Nolan Peterson, In New Role, US Army Prepares Ukrainians for Different Type of War.
24. Interfax: Russian diplomat likes US warning to Ukrainian leadership.
25. TASS: Poroshenko retracts statement on intention to recapture Donetsk airport.
26. Reuters: EBRD forecasts deeper economic slump in Ukraine this year.
27. Moscow Times: Mark Adomanis, Ukraine Doesn’t Need Sympathy, It Needs Cash.
28. Business New Europe: Debt restructuring row flares between Kyiv and creditors as IMF deadline looms.
29. Sputnik: Russia Has No Plans to Restructure Ukraine’s Debt of $3 Billion.
30. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, Ukraine Still Doesn’t Have A Deal With Its Creditors.
31. Interfax: Poroshenko statement on Russian troops in Ukraine is unfounded – Kremlin spokesman. (11,000 Russian troops in Ukraine)
32. http://readrussia.com: Anna Arutunyan, “You Can’t Divide this War”: Ukraine’s Search for a National Identity.
33. New York Times: In Ukraine, Bones of War Dead Re-emerge to Stir Political Passions.
34. History News Network: Christopher Gilley and Per Anders Rudling, The History Wars in Ukraine Are Heating Up.
35. Reuters: Josh Cohen, Putin ties Ukraine’s government to neo-Nazis. A new law seems to back him up.
36. Los Angeles Times: Sabra Ayres, Ukraine’s plans to discard Soviet symbols are seen as divisive, ill-timed.
37. Fort Russ/Vzglyad: Repressions and Terror in Ukraine.
38. www.rt.com: Ukrainian Parliament approves law allowing forced relocation of Russian citizens.
39. Interfax-Ukraine: Ukrainian pro-Russian rebels demand special status for Donbass in constitution.
40. Irrussianality; Paul Robinson, STUFFING THE REBELS BACK INTO UKRAINE.
41. Interfax: Ukraine can retain Donbas if it treats it as special region – Russian Federation Council member.
42. Russia Insider: Alexander Merouris, Ukraine: Confederal Solution Looms. Proposals by the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and comments by Kerry and Steinmeier suggest confederal structure just short of outright partition is the best Ukraine can now hope for.
43. Carnegie Moscow Center: BALÁZS JARÁBIK, Defanging the Ukrainian Oligarchs.
44. RFE/RL: Questions Raised Over Poroshenko’s Role In Valuable Kyiv Land Deal.
45. Sputnik: Ekaterina Blinova, Mission Impossible: Poroshenko’s Bold ‘Four Ds’ Plan Doomed.
46. Sputnik: Pollster Reveals That Crimeans Are Satisfied With the New Status Quo.
47. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Boris Nemtsov allies publish report on Russian military role in Ukraine. The associates of murdered Russian liberal politician Boris Nemtsov have published his report dedicated to the supposed participation of Russian forces in the Ukrainian conflict. However, sources interviewed by RBTH believe that the report will go unnoticed in Russia.
48. Washington Post editorial: Boris Nemtsov’s last act of courage.

 

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

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