(Interfax – January 20, 2016) The negotiations held between Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov and Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State, in Kaliningrad with regard to the settlement in Ukraine were an expert exchange of opinions between Moscow and Washington, which is not a member of the ‘Normandy […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Henry Meyer – January 20, 2016) The top U.S. and Russian diplomats began talks in Zurich Wednesday to try to bridge divisions over which belligerents in Syria’s five-year civil war should be labeled “terrorist,” an issue that threatens to hold up the start of peace talks. John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov need to strike a deal […]
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(Interfax – January 20, 2016) The Russian and U.S. presidents should meet to speed up the settlement of the crisis in eastern Ukraine, says former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Negotiations between Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland in Kaliningrad last week could mark the beginning of preparations for a bilateral summit dealing with […]
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The Kiev Post covers labor unrest amidst the conflict in eastern Ukraine. After months without pay, workers in one of Ukraine’s largest coal mines had enough. Workers at the Kholodna Balka mine in Donetsk Oblast’s Makeevka decided to strike on Jan. 13, bringing work to a halt …. miners said that they decided to go on strike after nearly a […]
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DONETSK. Jan 19 (Interfax) – Members from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) have observed an escalation of tensions along the Donbas contact line in January after a relative lull in the period before the New Year holidays. Things calmed down before New Year’s Eve, and tensions escalated after the holidays, OSCE Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug […]
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Anders Åslund covers unfolding conditions in Ukraine, adding recommendations for steps forward in 2016. … It is quite striking how the mood has changed in a positive direction. The 2016 budget and the modified tax code were adopted on December 24. After two weeks of well-deserved rest, there is a sudden realization that Ukraine accomplished many important economic reforms in […]
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(Vladimir Suchan – Facebook post – January 17, 2016) Alexander Chalenko, who belongs to the ex-Ukrainian circle of Surkov’s and the Kremlin’s PR horns, published an article… Posted by Vladimir Suchan on Saturday, January 16, 2016
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DONETSK. Jan 18 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian Armed Forces have disrupted the restoration works in the area of Zaitseve by opening fire, a representative of the Russian Armed Forces in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) told reporters. “Today, on January 18, the works, which were determined as priority in Minsk on January 13, 2016, began in four […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 18, 2016) The escalation of international conflicts is currently the issue that most frightens Russian citizens, the results of a poll by the state-run VTsIOM pollster published Monday revealed. Seventy percent of Russians currently believe that international conflicts and hostilities pose a real threat, according to the poll. The second issue that most worries […]
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The Los Angeles Times covers unfolding evens in the Syrian civil war, including Russian involvement. … Moscow’s air onslaught appears to be gaining effectiveness as Russian commanders grow more familiar with the conflict and with the capabilities of allied Syrian ground forces, observers say. … Russia’s involvement has also led to a new calculation by Syria’s neighbors …. Click here […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Daryna Krasnolutska – January 14, 2016) [Charts here bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-13/hidden-sting-drives-up-costs-for-ukraine-in-russian-trade-war] With the conflict in Ukraine already having ravaged bilateral trade, Russia canceling a free-trade pact with its former ally wasn’t seen as a big danger. But there was a twist. On top of annulling the accord, a response to Ukraine’s trade agreement with the European Union, Russia […]
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DONETSK. Jan 15 (Interfax) – Self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) negotiator, Denis Pushilin, has blamed territorial battalions uncontrolled by Kyiv for the increased number of shelling incidents in Donbas, after a ceasefire deal was signed at the latest Minsk meeting. “The reason is that provocations are being staged by territorial battalions which are not fully controlled by Kyiv. There are […]
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(Interfax – January 14, 2016) Russian Foreign Ministry official Maria Zakharova has called the information reported by the Western media stating that NATO is called a “threat” to Russia’s national security in Russia’s updated national security strategy “unscrupulous speculation.” “As to the wording that defines NATO as a ‘threat,’ the document doesn’t have them […] It is enough to read […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, January 13, 2016) According to the new national security strategy, the use of military force by Russia is viewed as an extreme measure, Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Mikhail Popov told journalists. “The use of military force is viewed as an extreme measure. It can only be used once political, economic, diplomatic and other avenues have been […]
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Nearly two years after the outbreak of fighting, nearly 9,000 people have died in eastern Ukraine. To understand how this war ends, we need to understand how it began. (opendemocracy.net – Andrii Portnov – January 14, 2016) Andrii Portnov is director of the Berlin-Brandenburg Ukrainian Initiative at the Forum Transregionale Studien, as well as visiting professor at Humboldt University, Berlin. […]
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RBTH has investigated how public attitudes to army service have changed and what kinds of reforms to military training, procurement, research and military education have been carried out in the last three years. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – VADIM MATVEYEV, TATYANA RUSAKOVA, RBTH – January 13, 2016) During the military campaign in Syria, the Russian armed forces has […]
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KYIV. Jan 12 (Interfax) – Modern video surveillance cameras, which will help Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitors conduct round-the-clock monitoring and record shellings in the populated area of Shyrokyne in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, have been installed, the press service of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. “On January 12, modern video monitoring cameras, which will […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, January 11, 2016) The statements by a representative of Ukraine in the political sub-group of the Tripartite Contact Group, Roman Bezsmertnyy, regarding the launch of a new Minsk 3 process from 1 January appears incompetent, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariya Zakharova announced. “The statement by a representative of Ukraine in the political subgroup about the launch from […]
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The arrival of the Russian Air Force in Syria has upset the figures on the board of the “Great Chess Game” in the Middle East and has given hope to supporters of al-Assad for personal survival, although perhaps not a quick conclusion to the war. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – DMITRY VINOGRADOV, SPECIAL TO RBTH – January 12, […]
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(Interfax – January 11, 2016) The Russian Aerospace Forces aviation group has carried out dozens of air strikes in support of the offensive conducted by 11 detachments of the Syrian democratic opposition fighting against terrorists in Syria, head of the Main Operative Department of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi told reporters on Jan. 11. “Russian […]
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(Interfax – January 11, 2016) German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Holland, who are part of the Normandy Quartet, should pay more attention to implementation of the Minsk agreements on Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. Speaking in an interview with the German Bild newspaper, Putin said that the constitutional reform in Ukraine should underlie the political […]
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(Kremlin.ru – January 11, 2016) [As published in Bild: bild.de/politik/ausland/wladimir-putin/russian-president-vladimir-putin-the-interview-44092656.bild.html] The interview was recorded on January 5, in Sochi. Question: Mr President, We have just marked the 25th anniversary of the end of the Cold War. Last year, we witnessed a great number of wars and crises across the world, something that had not happened for many years. What did […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 11 (Interfax) – Russia is ready to defend its interests in a non-confrontational manner, based on international law, which must be understood uniformly by all, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. “You asked me if I was a friend or not. The relations between states are a little different from those between individuals. I am no friend, bride […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, January 7, 2016) Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill has expressed support for the Russian military operation in Syria. “What is happening today in Syria, which appears to be far away but is in actual fact literally our neighbour [as received], is what the defence of the Fatherland is about,” the patriarch said in the interview […]
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(Bloomberg – thebloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – December 30, 2015) [Chart here bloombergview.com/articles/2015-12-30/russia-and-ukraine-finally-break-up] Russia and Ukraine have spent most of their post-Soviet history as Siamese twins, but for the last two years they’ve been undergoing political and economic separation surgery. It will probably be more or less complete in 2016, and though both twins are in for a grim period, […]
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Ukraine’s media is caught between propaganda and counter-propaganda. We need to stop this black and white thinking. (opendemocracy.net – Igor Burdyga – December 29, 2015) Igor Burdyga began his career as a journalist with Interfax-Ukraine in 2007 before moving to Kommersant-Ukraine. Since the fall of 2013, he has worked as a special correspondent for Vesti.Reporter, reporting on EuroMaidan, the annexation […]
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(RFE/RL – Carl Schreck – December 29, 2015) In December 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama fielded a question about Russia while addressing a group of American business leaders in Washington. President Vladimir Putin’s incursion into Ukraine and “backward-looking” policies, Obama said, are “isolating Russia completely internationally.” If it was Russian expansionism last year that triggered this isolation, it was Putin’s […]
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(Interfax – December 29, 2015) The terror attack perpetrated onboard the Russian Kogalymavia airline’s plane in Egypt (39 percent) and the Russian Sukhoi Su-24 bomber downed by Turkey (34 percent) have been called by Russians the most important events of 2015, the Levada Center told Interfax. Respondents also mentioned the Russian military operation in Syria (28 percent) and terror attacks […]
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(RIA Novosti – December 25, 2015) Vladimir Putin has intervened in the case of the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow, whose director is in custody and facing charges of inciting hatred, RIA Novosti news agency reported on 25 December. Natalya Sharina was held on 28 October when the Investigations Committee carried out a search of the Library and found […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – December 24, 2015) “How great is it that our nation is ruled by a man that we can be so proud of?” To be honest, this is a first in my life.” This was the praise given to President Vladimir Putin in the wake of his speech before the United Nations General […]
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(RFE/RL – Brian Whitmore – December 23, 2015) Fresh barbed-wire fencing around the nation’s main TV tower isn’t exactly a sign of a confident regime. In addition to reinforcing its perimeter, Moscow’s state-run Ostankino television center also upgraded its security detail, replacing regular police officers with elite Interior Ministry forces. “These are normal security measures that are connected to the […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Svitlana Prokopyeva and Tony Wesolowsky – PSKOV, Russia – December 18, 2015) Svitlana Moroz, her two sons, and her elderly mother have lived in the spartan Sport hotel in Pskov, in western Russia, for nearly a year and a half now. But they and hundreds more like them who fled the fighting at home in eastern […]
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(Interfax – December 20, 2015) Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, 20 December: Russian President Vladimir Putin regrets that in the implementation of its policy with regard to Ukraine and the whole post-Soviet space, the West is guided by the erroneous notion that Moscow wants to restore the Soviet Union. “As for Ukraine and all the former Soviet Union, I am convinced that the position […]
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(Interfax – December 22, 2015) The chances of obtaining information from the black box of the Russian bomber Sukhoi Su-24, which was downed by the Turkish Air Force, are extremely low because of the severe damage to the recording device, says Oleg Smirnov, a prominent Soviet pilot and chairman of the civil aviation commission of the Public Council at Russia’s […]
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Reuters covers Russian President Vladimir Putin’s admission at a press conference that Russian personnel are present in conflict-torn eastern Ukraine, even while disputing whether that meant regular Russian troops were present. … Putin said … Russia did have personnel in eastern Ukraine who were carrying out certain military tasks but denied Moscow had deployed regular troops …. ‘We never said […]
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(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, December 17, 2015) Russian commentators across the political spectrum, from the most liberal to the most nationalistic, agree that Vladimir Putin achieved a significant victory for his policies in Syria and Ukraine in the course and as a result of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Moscow. One Moscow analyst […]
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KYIV. Dec 14 (Interfax) – Ukraine is fully implementing the Minsk agreements on the settlement of the situation in Donbas and Russia’s statements on their violation by the Ukrainian side are provocative, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Turchynov said. “When Russian representatives in the United Nations say that Ukraine breaches the Minsk agreements, this is another […]
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The skies over Syria became more crowded last week after the UK voted to join air strikes against ISIS forces. But can countries with very different attitudes to the conflict agree on common aims? (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – FYODOR LUKYANOV, SPECIAL TO RBTH – December 10, 2015) The author is chairman of the Presidium of the Council […]
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