Tag: Russian News

Interfax: There is no, has never been Russian military presence in southeastern Ukraine – Russian Foreign Ministry

Military, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Russian Foreign Ministry Building Tower file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 13 (Interfax) – The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied the information on Russian military presence in southeastern Ukraine and movements of Russian troops over the Russian-Ukrainian border. “I am telling you totally frankly and officially that there are no military movements across the [Russian-Ukrainian] border, let alone a Russian military presence in southeastern Ukraine,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman […]

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Interfax: Russian GDP growth slows to 0.7% in Q3 from 0.8% in Q2 – Rosstat

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade
File Photo of Cash, Coins, Line Graph

MOSCOW. Nov 13 (Interfax) – Russian GDP increased by 0.7% year-on-year in Q3 2014, the Federal Statistics Service’s (Rosstat) preliminary estimate published on Thursday said. Rosstat’s data coincided with the calculations of the Economic Development Ministry, which estimated GDP growth in Q3 at 0.7%. Rosstat has not published estimates for GDP growth in January-September. However, based on data for Q1 […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2014-#235 table of contents with links :: Tuesday 11 November 2014

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
St. Basil's file photo

… 47. The Interpreter: Executive Summary. The Menace of Unreality: How the Kremlin Weaponizes Information, Culture and Money.
48. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: A Russian Maidan Could Take Place Outside of Moscow.
49. The New York Review of Books: Timothy Snyder, Putin’s New Nostalgia. …

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2014-#234 table of contents with links :: Monday 10 November 2014

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
St. Basil's file photo

… 23. Interfax: Moscow says Silk Road route may go via Russia.
24. Reuters: Russia, China ink framework deal on second major gas supply deal.
25. New York Times: As Russia Draws Closer to China, U.S. Faces a New Challenge. …

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A Russian Maidan Could Take Place Outside of Moscow

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Russia

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, November 11, 2014) The Russian political system is so hyper-centralized and Russian political culture is so Moscow-centric that almost all discussions about radical change in that country focus on the capital city and its residents rather than on the rest of what remains the largest country on earth. But there have been […]

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Can the liberal arts model thrive in Russia?

Education, Academia
Moscow State University file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Christopher A. Stroop, special to RBTH – November 6, 2014) Christopher A. Stroop (Stanford University, Ph.D.) is a senior lecturer at RANEPA and editor of its English-language journal, State, Religion and Church: srch.ranepa.ru. When Christopher A. Stroop began teaching at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in Moscow, he […]

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RE: DJ: RIA Novosti is dead. Valdai Discussion Club?

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Valdai Club Gathering at Long Tables in Large Hall Valdai Club Gathering at Long Tables in Large Hall

Subject: RE: DJ: RIA Novosti is dead. Valdai Discussion Club? Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 From: Alexei Ilyichev <a.ilyichev@valdaiclub.com> Dear Mr. Johnson, Valdai Discussion Club is now absolutely independent non-profit organization with no connection to RIA Novosti and its successor Sputnik. So please don’t worry about its fate. Best regards, Alexei Ilyichev Editor www.valdaiclub.com The non-profit Foundation for Development and […]

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Interfax: Head of Kremlin rights council deplores CNN’s decision to quit Russia

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Mikhail Fedotov file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 11 (Interfax) – The decision of the news television station CNN International to end broadcasts in Russia will “deplete” the information picture, head of the Russian presidential Human Rights Council Mikhail Fedotov told Interfax. “This is certainly bad news. The fact that CNN will stop broadcasting in Russia will deplete our information picture very seriously. We would like […]

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CNN is allowed to broadcast on cable and satellite channels in Russia – ministry

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Satellite Dishes

(Interfax – November 11, 2014) Russian laws are not stop the CNN television network from broadcasting on cable and satellite channels in Russia, the country’s Communications and Mass Media Ministry said in a press release. “Following the CNN television channel’s announcement that it will soon end broadcasts in Russia, the Communications and Mass Media Ministry of the Russian Federation explains […]

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Cable TV Channel CNN Says It Will End Russian Broadcasts in 2015

Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 11, 2014) Cable news channel CNN will end its broadcasts in Russia starting on Jan.1, after the country passed a law restricting foreign ownership of media outlets. Time Warner, which owns CNN, said it had notified its Russian cable distributors VimpelCom and Akado that it would stop broadcasting in the country by Dec. 31, […]

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RIA Novosti: Ofcom Attempting to Meddle With RT Editorial Policy: Editor-in-Chief

Britain, UK, United Kingdom, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Photo of British Parliament Building Including Saint Stephen's Tower Containing Big Ben

UK’s media regulator Ofcom is trying to influence the channel’s editorial policy by wrongly accusing RT of biased coverage of the Ukrainian military conflict, RT Editor-in Chief Margarita Simonyan believes. MOSCOW, November 11 (RIA Novosti) – In accusing RT TV-channel of biased coverage of the Ukrainian conflict, British media regulator Ofcom is trying to influence the channel’s editorial policy, RT […]

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Russia’s RT Channel Threatened With Sanctions in Britain Over Bias

Britain, UK, United Kingdom
File Photo of British Parliament Building Including Saint Stephen's Tower Containing Big Ben

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – November 11, 2014) Britain’s media regulator has threatened to bring sanctions against Russia’s state-run broadcaster RT after ruling that it breached U.K. codes on impartiality in several of its newscasts on Ukraine. In particular, the Ofcom regulator highlighted four RT reports that aired in the run-up to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in […]

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RIA Novosti: NATO is planning to continue its military pressure on Russia and has been holding numerous exercises near Russia’s border.

NATO
Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

MOSCOW, November 11 (RIA Novosti) – NATO is set to continue its military pressure on Russia and has held numerous exercises on Russia’s border, a senior Russian Defense Ministry official said Tuesday. “It is evident that our colleagues from NATO are set to continue military pressure on Russia, which… is unlikely to make Europe safer,” Sergei Koshelyev, the head of […]

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RIA Novosti: Russian envoy berates OSCE for doing “nothing” about Ukrainian troop movement

Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
File Photo of OSCE Banners

(RIA Novosti – Vienna, November 10, 2014) There is no information on the movement of the armed forces of Ukraine in the conflict zone in the east of the country not only in the openly published but also in the full reports of the OSCE monitoring mission, to which Russia has drawn the organization’s attention specially, Andrey Kelin, Russia’s permanent […]

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Re: Churchill and War with USSR

History, Soviet Union, Military
Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Crowd of Military Officers

Subject: Churchill and War with USSR Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 From: Jake Kipp <jacobkipp@cs.com> In May 1945 before he knew about the atomic bomb, Churchill asked the British General Staff under Field Marshal Alan Brooke to do a study of a possible war between attacking British, US, German, and Polish forces against the USSR with a start date of […]

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China Gets Upper Hand in Gas Deals Amid Russia-West Tensions

China, Oil, Gas, Energy
China Map

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin – November 11, 2014) Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum on Monday, President Vladimir Putin vowed that Russia would develop all forms of trade with China, not just hydrocarbon exports. But the second-largest natural gas deal this year signed the previous day with Russia’s Gazprom suggests China is more interested in Russia’s […]

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Russian oil could go into self-destruction mode on price fall

Oil, Gas, Energy
Oil Well file photo

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – November 11, 2014) Russia’s oil industry runs the risk of repeating the death spiral of the Soviet oil industry, should prices stay below $90, according to research by brokerage Renaissance Capital. If the oil price were to stay well below $90 for long, Russia’s mostly state-owned oil industry could enter self-destruction mode, as it […]

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Does Putin’s Russia Have a Future?

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Vladimir Putin Sitting at Desk

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – November 7, 2014) Russia’s present is too unbalanced to discuss, and President Vladimir Putin prefers to rehash the past. That increases the temptation to talk about the distant future, to fathom where the country’s current trajectory is leading. Some smart commentators in Moscow have also given in to this temptation, and their scenarios […]

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Has Russia Abandoned the Path to Democracy?

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and Environs Aerial View

(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org) On October 30, the National Endowment for Democracy held a round table discussion entitled “Is Democracy Possible in Russia?” According to participants, in light of current political developments, it appears unlikely that Russia will become a democracy anytime soon. Participants in the National Endowment for Democracy’s (NED) October 30th round table included Lilia Shevtsova, senior […]

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STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN ON RUSSIA PROVIDING MILITARY AID TO SEPARATISTS IN UKRAINE

Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
John McCain file photo

(mccain.senate.gov – November 7, 2014) Washington, D.C. ­- U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today released the following statement following reports that Russia has violated its ceasefire agreement and again supplied pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine with military equipment and arms: “No one should be surprised by reports today that large columns of Russian tanks, artillery, and military personnel have moved back […]

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Putin’s Valdai Speech Echoes Not Churchill’s at Fulton but Hitler’s at Berchtesgaden, Illarionov Says

Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, History, Soviet Union
File Photo of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler Riding in Convertible

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, November 9, 2014) Some Moscow commentators have compared Vladimir Putin’s speech to the Valdai Club meeting in to Winston Churchill’s 1946 “Iron Curtain” speech at Fulton, Missouri, but the Kremlin leader’s remarks in fact are far closer to those delivered by Adolf Hitler to Neville Chamberlain at Berchtesgaden in 1938, according to […]

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Pentagon Can’t Confirm New Russian Deployment In Ukraine

Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Aerial Photo of Pentagon and Environs

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – November 8, 2014) The Pentagon’s spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby, says he has “no independent operational reporting” to confirm Kyiv’s claim that Russia sent an armored column into eastern Ukraine on November 6. Kirby said the Pentagon can confirm “a continued presence ” of unhelpful Russian battalion tactical groups “right across the border” in Russian territory […]

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Russians Dream of ‘Soviet Empire without Communists,’ Commentators Say

History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, November 8, 2014) What Russians now have in the Russian Federation is a Soviet system without communism and its administrative arrangements, and what they dream of is “a Soviet empire without communists,” an entity not equivalent to the tsarist empire as some think but one that reflects their memories of the USSR. […]

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Interfax: Moscow says Silk Road route may go via Russia

China, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Far East, Siberia, APEC
China Map

BEIJING. Nov 10 (Interfax) – Some sections of the Silk Road route pass through Russia, according to Russian Direct Investment Fund head Kirill Dmitriyev. “The route is being chosen, and Russia should hold a very active position in this respect. The Russian president said earlier today that we had plenty of infrastructural capacity for building a part of that route […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2014-#233 table of contents with links :: Sunday 9 November 2014

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
St. Basil's file photo

Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#233 :: Sunday 9 November 2014 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George  Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist me JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php  1. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: Putin’s Valdai Speech Echoes Not Churchill’s at Fulton but Hitler’s at Berchtesgaden, Illarionov Says. 2. The Guardian […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2014-#232 table of contents with links :: Friday 7 November 2014

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
St. Basil's file photo

[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#232 :: Friday 7 November 2014 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George  Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist me JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php  Ukraine 1. Reuters: Ukraine’s ‘kamikaze’ PM relishes hawkish reputation. (Arseny Yatseniuk) 2. RIA […]

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RIA Novosti: Allegations of Russian Troops Advancing Toward Ukrainian Border Unfounded: Ministry

Military, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) – Allegations voiced by Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird and a number of representatives from the United States and NATO about Russian troops supposedly moving toward the country’s border with Ukraine have no grounds and are based on rumors, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Friday. “These announcements were made citing some ‘reports’ without any […]

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Ukraine says Russia has launched ‘Operation Domino’ in east

Military, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – November 7, 2014) Russia has launched ‘Operation Domino’ against Ukraine, says Ukraine’s security service, SBU. Kyiv says the Kremlin is flooding Ukraine’s Donbass with guerilla fighters and their military trainers, intending to use the rebel-held region as a bridgehead for further expansion across Ukrainian territory. According to SBU spokesperson Mariyan Lubkivsky, speaking on a […]

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EVENT: The Menace of Unreality: How the Kremlin Weaponizes Information, Culture, and Money – Nov. 13 in Washington, D.C.

Events, Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

Subject: EVENT / “The Menace of Unreality: How the Kremlin Weaponizes Information, Culture, and Money” Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2014 From: Institute of Modern Russia <info@imrussia.org> Upcoming Event IMR Report on Kremlin Information War To Be Launched in Washington, D.C. On November 13, editor-in-chief of The Interpreter, Michael Weiss, and journalist Peter Pomerantsev will present their report titled “The Menace […]

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Oil falls below $80 but floating ruble seen mitigating pain for Russia

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Oil, Gas, Energy
Oil Well file photo

(Business New Europe – November 7, 2014) Oil prices fell below $80 for the first time in four years on November 5 after Saudi Arabia and other Opec members refused to cut production. But economists say despite the large movements in the oil price, the de facto freely floating ruble will mitigate much of the economic pain to Russia. “The […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2014-#231 table of contents with links :: Thursday 6 November 2014

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
St. Basil's file photo

[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#231 :: Thursday 6 November 2014 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George  Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist  JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php  Ukraine 1. The National Interest: James Carden, Get Ready, World: Ukraine […]

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If Anyone is Going to Attack Russia, It Will Be China – and When China Does So, It will Win, Khramchikhin Says

China, Military
China Map

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, November 5, 2014) If anyone is going to carry out military aggression against Russia, Aleksandr Khramchikhin, the deputy head of the Moscow Institute for Political and Military Analysis, says, it will not be the West as many Russians think but rather China; and when China does so – and that rather than […]

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Russia Beyond the Headlines: U.S.-Russia continue medical cooperation

Health, Epidemics, Substance Abuse, Science, Technology, Engineering, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Photo of Patient in Russian Hospital

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Victoria Zavyalova, special to RBTH – November 5, 2014) Joint programs in regional hospitals are less sensitive to geopolitical disagreements. The desire and energy of Russian and U.S. scientists are what fuel cooperation between Russia and the United States in the field of medicine, which takes place mainly on a non-governmental level. Research […]

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Take a Vacation to Crimea at Embattled Teatr.doc

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Kremlin and Saint Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – November 6, 2014) To be or not to be, that is the question these days for Teatr.doc. A move by city authorities to oust the famous little theater from its basement in the center of Moscow will probably be successful. The chances are better than good that Doc, as the theater is […]

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Russian Tabloid Deletes Article Claiming Navalny Received Kremlin Funds

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 6, 2014) Russian tabloid LifeNews removed a report from its website Thursday that claimed prominent opposition activist Alexey Navalny had secretly been receiving state funds after the Kremlin vehemently denied the allegations, the TASS news agency reported. “Reports about the Kremlin financing [Navalny] are absolute nonsense and a stunt to increase ratings, with all […]

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Interfax: Russian rights activist said denied entry into Ukraine

Human Rights, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Ukraine Map and Flag

(Interfax – Moscow, November 5, 2014) Rights activists have said that the Ukrainian authorities have barred activist of the Russian centre Memorial Vitaliy Ponomarev from entering Ukraine. “They told Vitaliy Ponomarev, a member of the council of the human rights centre Memorial, who arrived in Lviv on 4 November, that he had been barred from entering the country,” Memorial [press […]

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Riches Don’t Come Honestly in Russia, Most Russians Say

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime
File Photo of Man Placing Stack of Large Bills into Inside Pocket of Suitcoat

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 6, 2014) More than 60 percent of Russians think it is impossible to get rich honestly in their country, according to a survey published Wednesday by the Levada Center, an independent pollster. Fifteen percent of respondents said that it was possible to become wealthy honestly 15 to 20 years ago, but that times have […]

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Interfax: Congress Republicans to step up pressure on Obama to toughen Russia policy – analyst

United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Photo of U.S. Capitol in Bright Sunlight

(Interfax – November 5, 2014) The Republicans who have gained control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the U.S. Congress following the latest elections are likely to put pressure on a politically weakened President Barack Obama to toughen policy in relation to Russia and resolving the issue of weapons for Ukraine, says Alexei Makarkin, First Vice […]

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Russians say Moscow-Washington relations got worse under Obama – poll

United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Photo of Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama Seated Before Russian and U.S. Flags

(Interfax – November 6, 2014) Sixty-seven percent of Russian citizens recently interviewed by the Levada Center believe that relations between Russia and the United States have grown worse in the Obama era, the center’s sociologists told Interfax. A mere 9 percent of respondents said they see positive changes in ties between the two countries, 16 percent believe that these relations […]

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Specter of ‘Russian Taliban’ Looms in Ukraine

Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Ukraine Map and Flag

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexey Eremenko – November 6, 2014) Women in Ukraine’s separatist-held Luhansk region will be arrested if they are seen in cafes, an insurgent warlord has said. “A woman should be the keeper of the hearth, a mother,” Wraith Brigade commander Alexei Mozgovoi says in a video recently posted on YouTube. “If you want to be […]

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Ukraine Now Fighting Not for Donbas but for Its Survival as a State and Nation, Babchenko Says

Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Ukraine Map and Flag

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, November 6, 2014) Even though some Western leaders cannot bring themselves to describe what Russia is doing in Ukraine as “an invasion,” Ukraine today is under a mortal threat, and according to Arkady Babchenko, Kyiv and the Ukrainian people are fighting not just to recover the Donbas and Crimea but for their […]

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RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2014-#230 table of contents with links :: Wednesday 5 November 2014

JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
St. Basil's file photo

[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#230 :: Wednesday 5 November 2014 E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George  Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org JRL homepage: russialist.org JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist  JRL on Twitter: twitter.com/JohnsonRussiaLi Support JRL: russialist.org/funding.php  Ukraine 1. Global Times: Dmitri Trenin, West and Russia now in […]

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NEWSLINK: Mr. Putin resumes his chipping away at Ukraine

Military, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Ukraine Map and Flag

[“Mr. Putin resumes his chipping away at Ukraine” – Washington Post editorial – Nov. 3, 2014] The Washington Post editors characterize unauthorized elections held by pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine as another stage in Russian aggression: Russia has taken another significant step toward creating a puppet state inside Ukraine. Over the weekend the Moscow-controlled cities of Donetsk and Luhansk and nearby […]

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Russia Ranked Least Prosperous Country in Europe

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 5, 2014) Russia fell eight places from last year in the 2014 edition of the Legatum Institute Prosperity Index – a yearly rating of countries’ performance across several categories of well-being, including economic indicators such as gross domestic product, but also levels of safety, freedom, health and happiness. This year, Russia ranked the lowest […]

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Putin Forever

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Vladimir Putin

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – November 5, 2014) As one of his activities marking the Unity Day holiday, Vladimir Putin joined Patriarch Kirill to view an exhibition commemorating the Rurik Dynasty, which established tsarism in Russia and ruled for seven centuries. What kind of message was he trying to send? If you look hard enough, and even if […]

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Health Minister Reaches Out to Medical Workers After Massive Protest

Health, Epidemics, Substance Abuse, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and Saint Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Allison Quinn – November 5, 2014) Russia’s health minister has promised to consider the demands of Moscow health workers amid ongoing reforms of the capital’s health care system on Monday in the direct aftermath of a thousands-strong street protest, the TASS news agency reported. “The opinions of patients and doctors hold the utmost significance for […]

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Putin’s new foreign policy rulebook

Foreign Policy, Security, Visas
Kremlin and Environs Aerial View

(opendemocracy.net – Anna Arutunyan – November 3, 2014) Anna Arutunyan is an independent journalist and author of ‘The Putin Mystique.’ She lives in Moscow As the Ukraine crisis drags on and as the transformative effects of Crimea’s annexation become increasingly apparent, every time Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, opens his mouth, the bewildered world looks to what he says, for a […]

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National Unity Day March Shows Decline of Anti-Kremlin Nationalism

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and Saint Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexey Eremenko – November 5, 2014) Russia marked National Unity Day on Tuesday with a remarkable show of disunity, with three major distinct rallies taking place across Moscow, including the infamous nationalist Russian March. Nationalism in Russia has long been reviled because of its proponents’ penchants for violence and acrid loathing of President Vladimir Putin. […]

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Ruble Rout Intensifies as Russia’s Central Bank Limits Interventions

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade
Russian Central Bank file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Howard Amos – November 5, 2014) The Russian ruble plunged when trading opened Wednesday as the Central Bank announced it would cap the amount of foreign reserves it spends to defend the currency. The ruble fell to historic lows, diving to 44.98 against the dollar and passing the 56 euro mark shortly after 10 a.m. […]

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Interfax: Russian church leader calls on people to join forces amid sanctions

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Religion, Sanctions
Patriarch Kirill file photo

(Interfax – November 4, 2014) Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has criticized the West over attempts to play havoc with the minds of the Russian people through the sanctions it had imposed against Russia, Gazprom-owned Russian TV channel NTV reported on 4 November. “One should make the economic situation worse to play havoc with minds. We are now […]

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