(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 28, 2014) Many in Russia and the West have speculated that the combination of Vladimir Putin’s policies against Ukraine, Moscow’s increasing isolation internationally, and deteriorating economic conditions at home will eventually lead to a Maidan-style challenge to his rule. That is possible, of course, but a man identified as a former […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Henry Meyer, Irina Reznik – April 28, 2014) Outside a Moscow stadium one night in 2006, deputy central bank chief Andrei Kozlov was walking to his car after playing soccer when two men opened fire, pumping bullets into his head and neck and killing his driver. Days before the murders, the man leading Russia’s fight against […]
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BEREZHANY, Ternopol region. April 27 (Interfax) – Ukraine will start receiving reverse gas as early as October 2014, and will stop importing Russian gas after 2015, said independent parliamentary deputy and presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko. “We have negotiated an agreement and we will start receiving reverse gas from Slovakia in October, giving up Russian gas,” he told residents of the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Peter Hobson – ALABUGA, Tatarstan, April 28, 2014) As Western politicians huffed and puffed about slapping additional sanctions on Russia, captains of big global business in the country showed no jitters as they met with top Russian officials Friday. Moreover, the only person to mention Russia’s clash with the West over Ukraine at a meeting […]
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MOSCOW, April, 28 (RIA Novosti) – An assassination attempt on Kharkiv mayor Gennady Kernes is further proof that it is impossible to hold elections in Ukraine at the moment, presidential candidate Oleh Tsarev told RIA Novosti Monday. “I think that the fact that politicians are being shot here is abnormal, it once again proves that at the moment it is […]
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(Interfax – April 28, 2014) The Russian authorities are considering the possibility of closing the NATO Information Office in Moscow, Kommersant reported on Monday. “It’s a probable response because we are not managing to find a common language with NATO in the current situation,” a source told Kommersant. Sources close to the presidential administration told Kommersant no final decision on […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Oleg Nemensky, special to RBTH – April 26, 2014) Who are the Banderovites and how are events in Western Ukraine 70 years ago linked to today’s Ukrainian conflict? Why is the role of Ukrainian nationalismin the overthrow of former president Viktor Yanukovych so controversial and why are many observers concerned about its influence […]
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(Interfax – Vladivostok, April 26, 2014) Many foreign investors that have long been working in Russia are not planning to leave the country and intend to make new investments in the Russian Federation despite Western sanctions, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has said. “These are investors who have been working in Russia for many years and usually describe how […]
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… 27. New York Times: Sanctions Revive Search for Secret Putin Fortune.
28. Institute of Modern Russia: Mikhail Khodorkovsky: “No dictator will turn us, independently-thinking individuals, into enemies”
29. Atlantic Council: Russian Ex-Prime Minister: Widen Sanctions on Putin’s Elite Allies. Kasyanov Urges West to Urgently Sanction Hundreds of Russian Legislators, Ministers.
30. Financial Times: John Lloyd, Russian liberals warn of painful landing after pro-Putin euphoria. …
US Department of State Remarks on Ukraine John Kerry, Secretary of State State Department Press Briefing Room Washington, DC April 24, 2014 It has now been a week since the United States, the European Union, Russia, and Ukraine met in Geneva. We did so after a phone call between President Putin and President Obama, in which both leaders expressed a desire […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Tatyana Rusakova, RBTH – April 25, 2014) Despite far-reaching reforms to the armed forces in recent years, attitudes toward military service among Russia’s young remain largely negative – though polls suggest that many older Russians do not share this view. What options does the army have to avoid being chronically understaffed in the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Christopher Brennan – April 25, 2014) President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the Internet was a CIA project and that Russia’s most popular search engine Yandex had been subject to Western influence when it started out. The president told a media forum that the Internet “emerged as a special project of the U.S. CIA and […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexei Eremenko, RBTH – April 25, 2014) During his annual live TV call-in show on April 18, President Vladimir Putin promised that authorities will stop pressuring the liberal Dozhd TV channel. Dozhd (“Rain”) is now hoping to get picked up again by the cable providers that dropped it at the beginning of the […]
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MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev said Friday that a recent downgrade in Russia’s financial rating was expected and partially due to politically motivated decisions, but is not affecting investors’ behavior. International ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Russia’s rating to BBB- from BBB Friday and kept its outlook negative, amid the ongoing […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Peter Hobson – April 25, 2014) “The harvest will be partially or fully lost across 120,000 hectares of farmland that should be irrigated [by water from the canal],” Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov said Thursday, PRIME reported. Russia will compensate farmers for some of these losses, but not all, he said. The North Crimea Canal funnels […]
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(Interfax – Khabarovsk: April 25, 2014) Russia’s decision on the situation in Crimea has made it possible to avoid a heavy toll and developments like in eastern Ukraine, Russian Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev believes. While Medvedev was talking to the employees of the Khabarovsk shipbuilding plant, he was addressed by Pavel Shapoval, a resident of Crimea who has been working […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Concorde Capital – April 25, 2014) “The election process is ongoing and there are no laws to stop it,” says Andriy Mahera, deputy head of the CEC, as cited by KyvPost on April 25. “If the process of voting does not happen in some constituencies it will not affect the validity of election, and […]
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MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti) – The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague will begin a preliminary examination of the deadly anti-government riots in Ukraine that began in November, the ICC said in a statement Friday. “The Prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, has decided to open a preliminary examination into the situation in Ukraine in […]
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MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti) – The West is not only maintaining dividing lines in Europe, but is moving them toward Russian borders, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday. He said that Russia’s strategic goal is to create a single economic and humanitarian space from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, in which all countries in the European […]
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MOSCOW. April 25 (Interfax) – The Geneva deal stipulates equal commitments of the Ukrainian sides in the vacating of illegally occupied buildings in the southeastern regions and Kyiv, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “Instead of disarming the Right Sector and other radicals, the Americans claim that everything that the Ukrainian authorities are doing is lawful but the buildings remain […]
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MOSCOW. April 25 (Interfax) – Peacekeepers may be deployed in Ukraine only with the UN Security Council permission, while the Federation Council has exercised its powers regarding the Armed Forces and allowed the Russian president to send troops to that country, Federation Council Defense and Security Committee Chairman Viktor Ozerov said in an interview with Interfax. There will be no […]
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MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is not discussing on a practical level sending an international peacekeeping force to Ukraine, Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov told journalists Friday. Responding to a comment on a suggestion by Russian politicians to send an international peacekeeping force to Ukraine, Ushakov said it “wasn’t discussed on a practical level.” Earlier on Friday, Valeriy […]
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KIEV, April 25 (RIA Novosti) – Dozens of Russian special service agents have been detained in Ukraine, Sergei Pashinsky, the acting head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, said Friday. “We have detained dozens of agents of Russian special services and some of them have already testified,” Pashinsky said at a press briefing, adding that protesters in the east of the […]
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… 10. BBC: Vitaliy Shevchenko, Video clues aid verification amid confusion in Ukraine.
11. The Independent (UK): Kim Sengupta, Ukraine crisis: A moment of dignity for the dead then the recriminations fly.
12. Wall Street Journal: Ukraine’s Divisions Extend to East Itself. History Helps Explain Country’s Dichotomy, but Doesn’t Necessarily Mean People Living Near Russia Want to Secede. …
… 1. www.huffingonpost.com: Stephen Blank, Russia’s Lurch Toward Fascism.
2. Los Angeles Times: Jaak Treiman, Juris Bunkis and Daiva Navarrette, Vladimir Putin’s shopping list: Which country could be next? Plenty of Russia’s neighbors are worried. And Article 61 of Russia’s Constitution leaves him a world of room in which to maneuver.
3. The National Interest: Steven Pifer, John Herbst, and William Taylor, Does Putin Want a War? …
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Concorde Capital – April 24, 2014) The Russian Energy Ministry has offered EU Energy Commissioner GYnther Oettinger to convene negotiations with EU and Ukraine on “natural gas issues” in Moscow on April 28, Interfax reported on April 23 citing a ministry representative. “We are ready to discuss with partners the place and time of […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Kudinova, special to RBTH – April 24, 2014) As Ukraine is tearing itself apart, it is also facing an artificially fuelled competition between Russian and Ukrainian, two languages that are nevertheless linguistically very similar. Benjamin Franklin once wrote: “Tongue double brings trouble”. That saying might have resonated with the members of Ukraine’s […]
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(Interfax – April 24, 2014) The USA and the EU have tried to carry out a “colour revolution” in Ukraine, Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, as reported by privately-owned news agency Interfax on 24 April. Speaking at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations, Lavrov sai d: “Let’s call a spade a spade, the USA and the EU […]
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MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) – The West, first and foremost the United States, is pretending that it can ignore Russia’s opinion in Eu ropean affairs and is harming Moscow’s interests, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday. “Our Western partners, first and foremost the US, have attempted to behave like they were the winners in the ‘Cold War’ and […]
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MOSCOW. April 24 (Interfax) – The self-defense forces of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region claim that their roadblocks came under fire on the outskirts of Slovyansk on Thursday. They have also reported disruptions to cell phone services in Slovyansk. “About 40 minutes ago, an armed clash erupted on the outskirts of Slovyansk. Reports of one fatality and one injured perso n […]
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ST. PETERSBURG. April 24 (Interfax) – The Kyiv authorities are not disarming radicals but are legalizing them, contrary to the agreements signed recently in Geneva, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “We took part in the meeting in Geneva and signed certain agreements there, which stipulate that people need to be disarmed on both sides, administrative buildings vacated, and so on. […]
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MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova – The US has done nothing to persuade Kiev authorities to follow the agreement reached in Geneva last week to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine, Jon Hellevig, co-author of the book “Putin’s New Russia,” told RIA Novosti. “The Americans have not done anything to persuade the Kievan regime to follow the road map […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 24, 2014) The Russian language and Russian culture are today “the main unifying factor[s]” for the citizens of the Russian Federation, unlike history which continues to be a source of divisions given that different groups have different understandings of past events, according to the Valdai International Discussion Club. The Moscow Higher […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Joe Carroll, Nicole Gaouette and Julianna Goldman – April 23, 2014) Ukraine’s best hope for keeping furnaces and factories running through next winter is to store as much natural gas as it can after a U.S. aid pledge fell far short of the nation’s needs. Energy supplies have given Russian leader Vladimir Putin powerful economic leverage […]
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(Interfax – Groznyy, April 23, 2014) Russia and NATO countries have reached a level of direct confrontation, Nikolay Bordyuzha, secretary-general of the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization], told journalists on Wednesday [23 April]. “In effect, thanks to the actions of certain NATO states, we have reached a level of direct confrontation,” Bordyuzha told journalists in Groznyy on Wednesday after a […]
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KIEV, April 24 (RIA Novosti) – A group of OSCE military observers is present at a Ukrainian checkpoint at the border with Russia that is surrounded by federalization supporters, the press center of the Ukrainian Security Service said Thursday. “An inspection team of OSCE military observers has been working on the site of the Luhansk border detachment over the past […]
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MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced Thursday that Russia will conduct military drills in response to the developing situation in Ukraine’s southeast, where a special operation has targeted the country’s own citizens. “We are forced to react to such a development in the situation,” Shoigu said. “Starting today, exercises of battalion tactical groups from […]
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… 1. Atlantic Council: Intelligence Chief: 100 Russian Officers Are Leading Ukraine’s Uprisings. Ukrainian Security Agency Seeks to Arrest Russian Army Colonel Coordinating Subversion.
2. USAToday.com: Ukraine: Three Russian military intel officers detained.
3. The Daily Telegraph (UK): Russia ‘supported torture of Kiev politician.’ Ukraine’s acting president calls for ‘anti-terrorist operation’ against pro-Moscow separatists after body of a murdered town councillor is found.
4. The Daily Mail (UK): The face of Putin’s Ukrainian thugs: The sinister masked men behind eastern pro-Russian ‘people’s mayors’
5. Reuters: Ukraine’s leaders say have U.S. backing to take on ‘aggressors’ ….
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Harriet Salem in Donetsk – April 23, 2014) Following an escalation of violence in eastern Ukraine over the past few days despite the four-way Geneva agreement reached between Russia, Ukraine, the US and EU, acting Ukrainian President Oleksander Turchynov said late April 22 that the government will re-launch its anti-terror operation in the region. […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – April 22, 2014) Ukraine’s acting President Oleksandr Turchynov has called for the relaunch of an “antiterrorist” operation against pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, citing the death of a politician from his party in the region. Turchynov said in a statement that two “brutally tortured” bodies were found near the rebel-held city of Slovyansk on April 22. One was that of […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 23, 2014) The best way to understand the events of the last several months, Stanislav Belkovsky argues, is to view them as a repetition of the August 1991 coup with only this difference: the leader of this coup is Vladimir Putin and the target of his radical shifts is the Putin […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Valery Kalnysh – April 21, 2014 Valery Kalnysh is editor of the Kommersant Ukraina newspaper There is a war on in Ukraine – and, moreover, it’s a pilot project for a new kind of war. History books we’ve read or lessons learned in school have given us a fixed image of what war is: the opposing sides send their tank […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 22, 2014) It is a measure of just how worried the leaders of countries bordering Russia are about the possibility that Vladimir Putin will build on his Crimean Anschluss by moving against their states that even Alyaksandr Lukashenka feels the need to deny that Mensk is oppressing ethnic Russians and to […]
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… 30. New York Times: Under Russia, Life in Crimea Grows Chaotic.
31. Brookings Institution: Putin Trying to Make a Basket Case out of Ukraine. (interview with Strobe Talbott)
32. Washington Post editorial: President Obama, disregarding his own red line, dithers on Ukraine. …
The White House Office of the Vice President For Immediate Release April 21, 2014 Background Press Briefing on Vice President Biden’s Trip to Ukraine Aboard Air Force Two En Route Kyiv, Ukraine 2:00 P.M. (Local) MR. SPECTOR: Just a reminder at the top this is on background as a senior administration official. He will give some brief remarks at the […]
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The White House April 22, 2014 REMARKS BY VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN AT A MEETING WITH UKRAINIAN LEGISLATORS Rada Kyiv, Ukraine 10:03 A.M. (Local) THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. Ambassador. And I want to thank my colleagues for bringing me back home. For 36 years I sat in our legislature, and I used to actually have this seat in […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 21, 2014) Only one in eight Russians think that President Vladimir Putin represents the interests of “ordinary people” in the country, a recent poll showed, even though a vast majority have said that they “trust” their leader. The most popular choice in a question that allowed for multiple answers was that Putin represented the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – April 21, 2014) Four physicists have announced their resignation from the academic council of one of Russia’s top research institutes, accusing it of failing to defend a prominent colleague who was fired for “truancy” after attending a workshop at Stony Brook University in the U.S. The dismissal of Alexander Gorsky from the […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Kateryna Choursina – April 20, 2014) At least three people were killed in a clash in Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine, the nation’s Interior Ministry said, as a top security official accused Russia of exploiting the violence to prepare grounds for an invasion. Three “activists” were shot to death while on duty at a roadblock in an […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 19, 2014) The State Duma’s ethics committee will investigate Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky after the firebrand politician directed a particularly crude and offensive outburst at reporters on Friday. After being asked whether Russia should retaliate against the travel restrictions placed on Russian men by Ukraine, Zhirinovsky went on a foul-mouthed tirade and […]
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