(Business New Europe – bne.eu – bne IntelliNews – Feb. 18, 2015) Russian-backed rebels in East Ukraine’s Donbas region look set to take the town of Debaltseve despite a ceasefire agreement entering into force on February 15. Debaltseve is a local road and rail hub that forms a Ukraine-held salient jutting into rebel-held territory, which rebels have fought to encircle […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2015-#30 :: Tuesday 17 February 2015 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 1. The Academe Blog: Two Additional (and Important) Documents on […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 17, 2015) Modest Kolerov, an outspoken champion of Russian nationalism and expansion, says that the expert community in Moscow has still not decided on what would be best for a world “after Ukraine” but that in his opinion, “the best scenario for [Russians] would be a freezing of the conflict.” Kolerov, […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) – The fighting zone in Debaltseve is closed, so all hostilities are taking place inside the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), LPR leader Igor Plotnitsky has said. “We have a continuous line. The Debaltseve ‘boiler’ is closed. It is Ukraine who cannot and does not want to recognize this. All hostilities taking […]
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(opendemocracy.net – James Kovpak – February 16, 2015) James Kovpak is a journalist and amateur historian based in Moscow. He is the founder of the blog, Russia without BS. You can follow him on twitter at @RussiawithoutBS American politicians’ attempts to look ‘credible’ when talking about Russia are hypocritical, self-serving and self-defeating. If they really want Russia to change its […]
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(opendemocracy.net – Balázs Jarábik – February 13, 2015) Balázs Jarábik is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Notwithstanding the ceasefire agreed in Minsk, unless Western policymakers take into account just how fragile the situation inside Ukraine really is, the promise of last year’s Maidan revolution may be snuffed out. Notwithstanding the ceasefire agreed in Minsk, unless […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) – Members of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics (DPR) militia held first direct negotiations with Kyiv officials under the aegis of a joint ceasefire control and coordination center on Tuesday. “The joint ceasefire control and coordination center held a meeting today, at which our military for the first time engaged in direct contact with […]
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(Interfax – KYIV, Feb. 17, 2015) Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff has blamed Russia, and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics for violating the Minsk accords reached on February 12. “Contrary to the expectations that all parties will demonstrate a responsible position after the adoption on February 12 of the Declaration of measures to be taken, including Russia – […]
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(Interfax – February 16, 2015) The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) is ready to offer safe passage to Ukrainian troops surrounded near the settlement of Debaltseve, DNR spokesman Denis Pushilin [Denys Pushylin] has said. “At the present moment we consider it [Debaltseve] our internal territory. We will offer safe passage to Ukrainian troops. They may withdraw without their weapons and […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2015-#29 :: Monday 16 February 2015 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 1. Gallup.com: Americans Increasingly See Russia as Threat, Top U.S. […]
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(Interfax – February 16, 2015) The Moscow City Court on Monday found the arrest of Svetlana Davydova, a resident of the Smolensk region, accused of high treason, unlawful, an Interfax correspondent reported. Davydova remained under arrest between January 22 and February 3, and was freed with travel restrictions. Davydova’s defense lawyers had agued from the start that their client’s arrest […]
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(Interfax – February 16, 2015) The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) has assisted German doctors with an objective medical evaluation of Ukrainian servicewoman Nadezhda Savchenko, which has confirmed that her health condition is fine. “Assistance was provided yesterday with an approved medical evaluation of accused Nadezhda Savchenko by doctors from Germany,” the FSIN press service said in a report obtained […]
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(Paul Goble – Staunton, February 16, 2015) Many in Ukraine and elsewhere are fearful that Vladimir Putin will expand his aggression into other regions of Ukraine, but, according to Ivan Yakovina of “Novoye Vremya,” he does not at least at the present time have “the strength, the motive or the opportunity” to do so. here are six compelling reasons why this […]
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(RIA Novosti – Donetsk, February 15, 2015) The cessation of artillery fire in the majority of urban centres of the [self-declared] Donetsk People’s Republic [DPR] can be viewed as a sign that the Minsk agreements are being observed, DPR plenipotentiary representative Denis Pushilin [Denys Pushylin] told RIA Novosti. [Passage omitted: Ukraine cease-fire was agreed in Minsk on 12 February and […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexei Timofeichev, RBTH – February 13, 2015) According to the agreement reached in Minsk on Feb. 12, the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine goes into effect at 00:00 on Feb. 15. However, Russian military experts believe that several factors may impede the full cease of military activity, key among which is the situation in […]
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(Interfax – February 14, 2015) If the demands of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) for de facto independence are not met, the republic may intensify its claims to the whole of Donetsk Region, DPR leader Aleksandr (Oleksandr) Zakharchenko has said, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 14 February. “So far we see fuzzy wording and all kinds of interpretations. […]
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KYIV. Feb 15 (Interfax) – Acting spokesman for the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Vladyslav Seleznyov has announced that the shelling of army positions in Eastern Ukraine stopped as of 3 a.m. on Sunday. “The ceasefire in the zone of the antiterrorist operation is generally observed since midnight. Since that time members of illegal armed formations irregularly conducted […]
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Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2015-#28 :: Sunday 15 February 2015 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 1. New York Times: Robert Mackey, Sifting Ukrainian Fact From Ukrainian Fiction. 2. www.rt.com: Russia shrugs off US envoy’s ‘evidence’ of Russian […]
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… 26. The Economist: What Russia wants. From cold war to hot war. Russia’s aggression in Ukraine is part of a broader, and more dangerous, confrontation with the West.
27. New York Times editorial: Making the Ukraine Cease-Fire Stick.
28. Washington Post editorial: The Ukraine cease-fire does little to restrain Mr. Putin.
29. Wall Street Journal editorial: Putin’s Latest Victory. The Minsk accord ratifies a Russian satrapy in Ukraine. …
US Department of State February 12, 2015 BACKGROUND BRIEFING ON UKRAINE Special Briefing Senior Administration Officials Via Teleconference Washington, DC MODERATOR: All right. Thank you very much, Operator, and thanks to all the participants in the call today. We have a background call on Ukraine with two senior Administration officials. This call will be on background, so no names or […]
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(PBS Newshour – Gwen Ifill, Michael McFaul, Fiona Hill – February 12, 2015) Click here for full transcript. GWEN IFILL: Following the Ukraine cease-fire agreement announcement, many are asking today if this deal can actually stick. We explore the chances of success with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul. He’s now a professor at Stanford University. And Fiona Hill, director […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – KYIV BLOG: Graham Stack in Berlin – February 13, 2015) Two separate investigations by Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine and the BBC have produced evidence that opposition demonstrators on Kyiv’s Maidan fired on police on February 21, 2014, in the run-up to an ensuing police massacre. The two accounts help explain the events that culminated with […]
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MOSCOW. Feb 13 (Interfax) – The issue of pilot Savchenko was indeed raised by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in the Minsk meeting in the “Normandy format” and Russia made no promises, but gave explanations, Russian presidential press officer Dmitry Peskov told Interfax on Friday, commenting on the statement made by Poroshenko saying he had raised the issue of Savchenko release […]
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… 25. Wall Street Journal: U.S. Weapons to Ukraine Could Take Months, Officials Say. Supply Shortages, Pentagon Bureaucracy Complicate Sending of Lethal Aid.
26. Foxnews.com: US sending around 600 paratroopers to Ukraine to train troops. …
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Kateryna Illyashenko in Kyiv – February 12, 2015) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has tentatively agreed a $17.5bn extended fund facility with Ukraine, part of an overall $40bn funding package for the country over the next four years, the fund’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, said on February 12. The package will go some way […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 12, 2015) In the 1930s, Hitler pursued a simple policy: he simply said one thing and did another. Putin has innovated: he not only lies but uses forces to do his bidding for which no one holds him responsible and thus has the chance to be accepted by some in the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – February 12, 2015) With all eyes on Minsk as world leaders convened Wednesday night for key talks on the Ukraine crisis, analysts urged the imperative of a fundamental settlement to the conflict, saying that a simple cease-fire won’t work. Against the backdrop of increased violence in Ukraine’s turbulent east and signals that […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – bne IntelliNews – February 12, 2015) After a marathon negotiating session that lasted 17 hours, Russia, Ukraine and the EU have thrashed out the framework for a partial peace deal to bring the fighting in the east of Ukraine to an end, the various parties announced February 12. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in […]
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Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2015-#25 :: Wednesday 11 February 2015 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 1. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Texas choir wins Grammy for ‘The Sacred Spirit of Russia’ 2. World Socialist Web Site: Catastrophic […]
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(Interfax – Istanbul, February 10, 2015) Ukraine has asked Russia to agree to a restructuring of its debt, but it is in the Russian Federation’s interest to recover the currency assets it invested in Ukrainian eurobonds, and Russia is not willing for the repayment of these debts to be deferred or delayed, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has told journalists. […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – bne IntelliNews – February 11, 2015) Ukrainian government forces trapped in the eastern Ukrainian town of Debaltseve are suffering significant casualties, according to Ukraine’s general staff. Debaltseve is the easternmost town held by Ukraine in the conflict-torn Donbas region, and is now surrounded by Russian-backed rebel forces following an encircling action. The fate of […]
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KYIV. Feb 11 (Interfax) – Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin expects that the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia will reach understanding on implementing the entire package of the Minsk agreements at their meeting in Minsk on Wednesday. Speaking at a joint press conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Kyiv on Wednesday, Klimkin said there had been […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – February 10, 2015) The outcome of the Ukraine crisis talks in Minsk on Wednesday depends on whether the United States is prepared to exert enough influence on the divergent power elites in Kiev to accept the deal, analysts told The Moscow Times. Whether Washington will opt to pressure the diverse political forces […]
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… 18. Reuters: Ex-electrician backed by Putin helps unite Ukraine rebels. (Alexander Zakharchenko)
19. Washington Times: Pentagon prepping forces to assist Ukraine’s national guard. Size of the contingent still undecided. …
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Graham Stack in Kyiv – February 10, 2015) Ukraine’s embattled prosecutor general Vitaly Yarema is reported to have resigned amid public criticism of his failure to bring corruption cases to court, as well as allegations of graft among his subordinates. The Interfax Ukraine news agency received confirmation of the resignation from the prosecutor general’s […]
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(Interfax – February 9, 2015) The draft of a new Ukraine peace agreement that is expected to be discussed at the planned Ukraine contact group meeting in Minsk on 10 February will be based on the “current” separation line between the Ukrainian forces and east Ukrainian separatists rather than on the one stipulated in the peace deal adopted in September […]
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(opendemocracy.net – ZOYA KRAVCHUK – February 9, 2015) Zoya Kravchuk is a freelance journalist interested in international security, politics, human rights, and the media. She is currently based in Vienna. A Ukrainian journalist has been arrested for publishing a video calling on his fellow citizens to boycott mobilisation. He is being charged with treason and espionage. A court in the […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – bne IntelliNews – February 10, 2015) Russian-backed rebel fighters in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region are close to encircling a key town that their commanders are intent on taking ahead of further ceasefire talks in Belarus, reports said on February 10. The small town of Debaltseve, the most eastward point held by Ukrainian forces, is […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – February 10, 2015) U.S. provision of military aid to Ukraine would be seen by Moscow as a declaration of war and spark a global escalation of Ukraine’s separatist conflict, Russian defense analysts said. With Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine seizing new territory from the Ukrainian army, voices in Washington are demanding that […]
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… 12. Euromaidan Press: Putin threatens to use nuclear warheads against Ukraine, EU.
13. Moscow Times: Saakashvili Says Ukraine Could ‘Conquer Russia,’ Provoking Official Outcry.
14. Washington Post editorial: Ukraine needs strong Western support to fend off Russia’s aggression.
15. Washington Post: Anne Applebaum, The long view with Russia.
16. Reuters: U.S. arms might fan Ukraine war: OSCE chief. …
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Josh Rogin – February 7, 2015) Josh Rogin is a Bloomberg View columnist who writes about national security and foreign affairs. He has previously worked for the Daily Beast, Newsweek, Foreign Policy magazine, the Washington Post, Congressional Quarterly and Asahi Shimbun. In the span of 45 minutes today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rewrote the history […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 8, 2015) German intelligence services estimate that 50,000 people have died in the war in Ukraine so far, a figure almost ten times larger than that offered by Ukrainian or other sources, according to a report in today’s “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.” (faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/ukraine-sicherheitskreise-bis-zu-50-000-tote-13416132.html). According to the German paper, earlier figures provided by […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 9, 2015) Georgia’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili told a Ukrainian television channel over the weekend that Ukraine’s military could “conquer all of Russia,” a remark that incited the ire of Russian officials. Saakashvili was “born an idiot and will die one,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the country’s defense industry, said […]
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Thank you very much for following Johnson’s Russia List, with 8,091 followers on twitter and counting … 3,211 persons “liking” the JRL on facebook and counting … thousands subscribing to the core e-mail newsletter … and thousands visiting the JRL web home … Do you have any feedback you care to share about the JRL and any of its facets […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – February 6, 2015) As European leaders engage in shuttle diplomacy to still the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, Crimea, where the Russian onslaught began almost a year ago, has become all but forgotten. It isn’t the subject of any talks, and the international sanctions imposed on Russia for annexing the Ukrainian peninsula are […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – February 9, 2015) Ukrainian authorities have detained a journalist on suspicion of treason after he released a video calling for his countrymen to avoid military draft amid the conflict between pro-Russian rebels and Kiev government forces in the east of the country. Security agents have taken Ruslan Kotsaba, a journalist in largely […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – bne IntelliNews – February 9, 2015) Talks between France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia on restoring peace to Ukraine’s war-torn Donbass region have “reached progress in discussing a complex of measures to implement the Minsk agreements [on a ceasefire signed on September 5 by representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Russian-backed rebels and the Organisation for Security […]
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[David Johnson still amidst distant travels, issues intermittent] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2015-#22 :: Saturday 7 February 2015 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 1. The Guardian (UK): Shaun Walker, Kommunar, east Ukraine: ‘Nothing to eat, nothing to […]
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[David Johnson still amidst distant travels, issues intermittent] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2015-#21 :: Friday 6 February 2015 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 1. Reuters: Echoes of the 1990s in Ukraine as financial crisis bites. 2. Kyiv […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – February 6, 2015) It may not be the last chance for peace, but there hasn’t been a better time than this in the last few months. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande is sitting down with Russian President Vladimir Putin late on February 6 to hammer out […]
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