(Kremlin.ru – January 28, 2014) Vladimir Putin took part in the Russia-EU summit meeting. The Russian President had a private meeting with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The meeting was at the EU’s initiative. The meeting continued in a working lunch format with participation by the delegations’ members. Following the summit, the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – January 29, 2014) The Parliamentary Assembly for the Council of Europe, or PACE, voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to approve a resolution critical of Russia for its handling of the investigation into the death of Sergei Magnitsky, over the fierce objections of Russian lawmakers present for the vote. By adopting the resolution, which […]
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KIEV, January 29 (RIA Novosti) – Russia warned Ukraine on Wednesday that it will halt the implementation of a financial aid package until the crisis-hit former Soviet nation has formed a new government. Financial and energy agreements with Ukraine will only be honored when “we understand what sort of government there will be, who will be working in it and […]
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(Interfax – January 29, 2014) The Russian Federation Council believes that the ongoing events in Ukraine are aimed at discrediting and overthrowing the legitimate authorities, says a statement on the situation in Ukraine the Federation Council members unanimously passed on Wednesday. “The Federation Council is concerned about the situation in Ukraine and believes that the mass unrest provoked by the […]
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(Ilya Varlamov – http://zyalt.livejournal.com/986689.html – January 28, 2014) [Many photos] In the last days I received multiple requests to translate my posts for foreign readers, as they have very limited information about the happenings in Ukraine. Sharing and distribution is appreciated….
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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#18 :: 28 January 2013 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 POLITICS 1. Moscow Times: Ukraine Unrest Spreading to Russia? Unlikely. 2. ITAR-TASS: […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.ru – January 28, 2014) The pro-Russian leanings of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his associates have triggered a national crisis following November’s shocking decision to back out of signing a deal that would have brought the country closer to the EU. Yet the Kremlin’s hold over Yanukovych may not be restricted to the international power […]
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(Stratfor.com – George Friedman – January 28, 2014) A few months ago, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich was expected to sign some agreements that could eventually integrate Ukraine with the European Union economically. Ultimately, Yanukovich refused to sign the agreements, a decision thousands of his countrymen immediately protested. The demonstrations later evolved, as they often do. Protesters started calling for political […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Elena Lysak, special to RBTH – January 28, 2014) The Ministry of Health will set up crisis pregnancy centers in an attempt to decrease the number of abortions each year. Population loss through abortions in the 1960s to 1980s cost Russia more than double the number of lives it had lost in the […]
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(Pavel K. Baev – Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 11, Issue 16 – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – January 27, 2014) So much self-congratulating has been emanating from the Kremlin following the spectacular triumphs of Russian foreign policy since September 2013, that the court of President Vladimir Putin prefers to ignore the fact that the annual meeting of the World Economic […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, January 27, 2014) Actions of Ukrainian “fighters for human rights”, who are throwing Molotov cocktails at representatives of the authorities and beating up other citizens, are unacceptable and should receive a corresponding assessment of international organizations, Russian Foreign Ministry’s ombudsman for human rights, democracy and rule of law Konstantin Dolgov has said. “To fight for human rights […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Christopher Brennan – January 28, 2014) The 1990s are often thought of in the West as a decade with relatively few problems. One-hit wonder bands sang sincerely while hip, neoliberal politicians managed booming economies. The 90s in Russia, however, was a more turbulent time and art from the period shows it. The second half of […]
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(Interfax – January 28, 2014) The security of daily life in Sochi ahead of the Winter Olympics is ensured in line with the global standards, Russian Minister of Civil Defense, Emergencies and Natural Disasters Vladimir Puchkov said. “The Olympics is a global event that determines our country’s prestige. Ensuring the security of the Olympics is the most important task for […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Gevorg Mirzayan, special to RBTH – January 28, 2014) Russian opponents failed to organize a boycott of the Sochi Olympics. Refusal of a number of world leaders to visit the opening ceremony will not lead to its collapse. Gevorg Mirzayan is a correspondent for Expert magazine and a research fellow at the U.S. […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Dominic Basulto, special to RBTH – January 28, 2014) Sochi is ready for its Olympic debut. When the world tunes in to watch the 2014 Winter Games, it will see futuristic, state-of-the-art stadiums nestled next to the Black Sea, breathtaking views from world-class ski resorts in the snow-capped Caucasus mountains, and a sprawling […]
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(Kremlin.ru – January 22, 2014) PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, everyone, The main reason for this meeting is to congratulate you on the upcoming holiday. As one would write in official documents, I want to congratulate you and in your person all of Russia’s students. I wish you the very best in your studies and your future careers. […]
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(Interfax – January 28, 2014) Most Russians place the rights of a person above the interests of the state, however they continue to count on the state taking care of its citizens, the Levada Center said about the poll held in December 2013 in 130 cities, towns and villages in 45 Russian regions and involving 1,603 respondents. When asked which […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber – January 28, 2014) With violent clashes between protesters and law enforcement in Ukraine showing few signs of diminishing, pro-Kremlin commentators and lawmakers in Russia have issued dramatic warnings about the possibility of unrest spreading across the border. Prominent journalist and television personality Vladimir Solovyov said the clashes in Kiev could inspire terrorists […]
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MOSCOW, January 28 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian ruble and other emerging market currencies are weakening because of the growing strength of the dollar and the euro, the head of Russia’s central bank said late Monday. Elvira Nabiullina said in a television interview on Channel One that there were no intrinsic problems with the ruble, which has slid to historic […]
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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#17 :: 27 January 2013 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 POLITICS 1. RIA Novosti: Putin Pays Respects to Brother, Victims of Leningrad […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 27, 2014) The events of the last few weeks confirm that in Ukraine, there is a revolutionary population but almost no revolutionary leaders while in Russia, “an excess of revolutionary leaders is compensated by almost the complete lack of a revolutionary population,” according to Vladimir Pastukhov. The St. Antony’s scholar says […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 26 (Interfax) – Attempts to explain all of Syria’s current problems by President Bashar al Assad’s tenure hold no water and only reflect Washington’s obsession with the idea of Syrian president’s overthrow, chairman of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee Alexei Pushkov said in remarks about U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech at the Davos international economic […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Fyodor Lukyanov, special to RBTH inShare0 – January 27, 2014) Fyodor Lukyanov is the chairman of the board of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy. The stakes are high for both the U.S. and Russia as Geneva II gets underway. The Geneva II conference is the most intriguing diplomatic event since the […]
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(RIA Novosti – January 27, 2014) Around two-fifths of Russians have no idea why their government has committed to lending crisis-hit Ukraine $15 billion in taxpayer money, a survey has revealed. The loan announced in a surprise move late last year was designed to steer debt-strapped Ukraine through a potentially devastating looming balance of payments of crisis. As part of […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – January 27, 2014) When the going gets tough, as we have seen repeatedly in recent years, the tough take to Facebook. At least that’s what they do in this part of the world. So it has been with the events in Kiev – call them protests or call them a revolution in […]
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(Business New Europe KYIV BLOG – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – January 26, 2014) Is the regime of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych about to fall? Events in Ukraine are moving very fast now and in the last 24 hours the opposition forces have seized control of about half the regional administrations in the country. In Kyiv on January […]
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GORKY, January 27 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Monday that government officials should be appointed to the boards of state-owned companies, in an apparent reversal of a signature reform he carried out during his presidency. “Civil servants should be [on the boards of directors of state-owned companies] in a sensible quantity and in sensible positions,” Medvedev […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Ilya Trisvyatsky, special to RBTH – January 25, 2014) Vic Wild is an American-born snowboarder who now holds Russian citizenship and will compete for Russia in the Sochi Olympics. Born in Washington State, he decided to change his citizenship after falling in love with a Russian sportswoman. There will be several naturalized athletes […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 27, 2014) A market economy won’t save Russia from falling apart; indeed, it may even accelerate that process, according to a Moscow commentator, not only by concentrating development in some regions at the expense of others but also by leading to expanded ties between the periphery of the country and foreign […]
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MOSCOW, January 27 (Kevin O’Flynn for The Moscow News – themoscownews.com) – Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has spoken about his life in jail in detail for the first time in a wide-ranging interview published Monday in daily newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets. President Vladimir Putin freed Khodorkovsky last month after a decade in prison on tax evasion and fraud charges in […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 27 (Interfax) – German President Joachim Gauck has expressed his sorrow in recalling the atrocities of the war Germany was waging against the Soviet Union and extended sympathy to the survivors of the siege of Leningrad in a letter sent to the Russian president on the occasion of the 70th anniversary since the breaking of the siege of […]
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MOSCOW, January 27 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin honored the victims of the Siege of Leningrad, including his brother, at a ceremony in St. Petersburg on Monday. Putin walked with several dozen siege survivors in a procession through the Piskaryovskoye cemetery as part of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad, […]
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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#16 :: 24 January 2013 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 POLITICS 1. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Komsomolskaya Pravda.: Putin’s press secretary gets personal. […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – January 24, 2014) Celebrate Economist editor Edward Lucas made one of his more outrageous claims in a paper written for the Central European Policy Institute, alleging that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not only ultimately responsible for the two shooting deaths in Kyiv this week, but somehow ordered’ Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to kill […]
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(Kremlin.ru – January 21, 2014) Vladimir Putin held a meeting to discuss healthcare development and the implementation of the Presidential Executive Orders signed in May 2012. Special attention was given to the need to reduce inefficient spending in healthcare and improve the efficiency of medical institutions, as well as issues pertaining to wages in the healthcare sector. PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – By Dan Pototsky, RBTH – January 24, 2014) Experts at the company Group-IB have officially disproved reports identifying Sergey Tarasov, purportedly 17 and a resident of St. Petersburg, as the author of the malicious software known as Kaptoxa, which was used in one of the largest successful attacks on U.S. Internet stores. “Over […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Graham Stack in Kyiv – January 24, 2014) Ukraine’s embattled president Viktor Yanukovych found himself facing a second front January 23 with anti-government protesters storming regional administrations across West and Central Ukrainian regions. Ironically the development came on a day when a ceasefire was held between protesters and police in Kyiv. While clashes in […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm, Opinion Page Editor – January 24, 2014) Kremlin propagandists have good reason to be happy with the results of a recently released annual Win/Gallup International poll in which more than 67,000 residents in 65 countries were asked, “Who is the greatest threat to world peace?” Given Russia’s results, it is clear that the […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Gevorg Mirzayan, special to RBTH – January 23, 2014) Russian experts say Obama’s initiatives to reform the U.S. surveillance do not go far enough. President Barack Obama has announced reforms at the National Security Agency. He unveiled several changes, which he believes will redress the balance between civil liberties and the need to […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) – There has been no progress in the forming of the four common spaces of cooperation between Russia and the European and the two sides should discuss how to match the European and Eurasian integration processes, officials in Moscow said. “We believe there is a great need for a frank, substantial conversation, including on the joint […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Nathan Gray – January 24, 2014) International shipping companies are canceling consumer package services in Russia, as a new range of customs requirements are likely to raise fees and extend processing times for goods ordered from online stores based abroad. The changes, ostensibly intended to simplify assessment of customs fees for consumer goods shipped from […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 24, 2014) The number of newly established Russian companies grew last year while the number of companies ceasing operations decreased, data has shown. According to statistics on the Federal Tax Service website, 411,900 new commercial enterprises were included on the state registry in 2013 an increase of 3.3 percent on 2012. At the […]
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MOSCOW, January 24 (RIA Novosti) The Russia ruble hit a historical record low Friday, dropping to 47.32 rubles per euro at tomorrow settlement date on the Moscow stock exchange. The previous all-time low dates back to February 3, 2009, when the ruble stood at 47.25 rubles per euro. The dollar traded at 34.52 rubles on Friday, a drop of […]
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MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) – Sixty heads of state and government have confirmed their plans to take part in the opening ceremony of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said. “A very large number of leaders have given their consent. We have counted about 60 heads of state and government,” Ushakov told journalists on Friday. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 24, 2014) The Moscow News, an English-language Moscow weekly that recently became an insert in the Russian-language Moskovskiye Novosti, has been told to shut down its print edition. Editor Natalia Antonova wrote on the news agency’s website that “the print edition of The Moscow News has been shut down by order of the management.” […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – January 24, 2014) The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday to reduce the sentence of former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s business partner Platon Lebedev and immediately release him, but critics have slammed the ruling as a meaningless gesture. Vadim Klyuvgant, one of Lebedev’s lawyers, said after the hearing that the ruling was welcomed […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – January 24, 2014) Two international business forums covering Russia this month have appeared oblivious to former Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s recent release from jail evidence that the drawing of a line under his politically tinged case hardly had an effect on the country’s investment climate. The Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 24, 2014) The Kremlin sent as New Year’s presents to the leaders of the ruling United Russia parties copies of Nicholas Berdyaev’s “Philosophy of Inequality,” Vladimir Solovyev’s “Justification of Good,” and Ivan Ilin’s “Our Tasks,” three books which celebrate authoritarianism and the last of which suggests fascism is the only bulwark […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, January 22, 2013) Members of the Federation Council have agreed with the position of their colleagues from the lower chamber [of parliament, State Duma], which adopted a statement on the events in Ukraine on Wednesday [22 January]. “The Federation Council cannot stand aloof from the events in Ukraine and we express solidarity with the stance of the […]
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KYIV. Jan 23 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian Party of Regions’ faction sees the opposition actions and initiatives as an attempted coup. “Yet another step by the opposition … is the “establishment” of a so-called people’s Rada and the handover of the national parliament’s legislative functions to it … In the current situation the Party of Regions’ faction is entitled to […]
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