KYIV. Aug 20 (Interfax) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the damage done to Ukraine by the war in southeastern Ukraine is in the billions of dollars. “It is very difficult to have a working economy and a healthy financial sector in a situation when there is a war going on in the country,” Yatsenyuk said while opening a […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Graham Stack in Kyiv – August 20, 2014) The Russian-backed insurgency in the Donbass region of east Ukraine is forcing numerous industrial giants to suspend operations. With the region accounting for over 25% of Ukrainian exports, the effect will hit hard currency revenues and the embattled hryvna. The flashpoint marking the start of the industrial collapse […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Daryna Krasnolutska, Anton Doroshev – August 20, 2014) Ukraine’s armed forces said they continue to push back separatists in fighting in the country’s east ahead of a possible face-to-face meeting of the Russian and Ukrainian leaders next week. Soldiers from Ukraine’s National Guard captured the city of Ilovaysk, leading separatists to counter-attack using tanks and artillery, […]
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(Oilprice.com – Robert Bensh – August 18, 2014) Ukraine’s next crisis will be a devastatingly economic one, as violent conflict destroys critical infrastructure in the east and brings key industry to a halt, furthering weakening the energy sector by crippling coal-based electricity production. The Ukrainian military’s showdown with separatists in the industrial east has forced coal mines to severely cut […]
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… 1. Foreign Affairs: John J. Mearsheimer, Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault: The Liberal Delusions That Provoked Putin.
2. Huffingtonpost.com: Russia Has Already Invaded Ukraine: Strobe Talbott.
3. Moscow Times: Natalia Antonova, Kiev Must Show Compassion to Eastern Ukraine.
4. The Guardian: Shaun Walker, Moscow and Kiev may both need a deal over Ukraine soon. …
… 1. The Australian: Chris Griffith, Ukrainians starve and die for Putin’s political ambitions.
2. Wall Street Journal editorial: Some Realism on Russia. The U.S. has done far too little to deter an invasion of Ukraine.
3. The Sunday Times (UK): Sick babies left behind in city caught in crossfire.
4. The Times (UK): A mother’s flight to safety: ‘I didn’t walk, I crawled. It was a nightmare’ …
DONETSK, August 18 (RIA Novosti) – TheDonetsk city council urged the residents of the besieged Ukrainian city in the east to store drinking water before the water supply would be cut off for an indefinite period as a result of the ongoing fighting, the council told RIA Novosti. “Urgent: all Donetsk residents must stock up on water before 9:00 p.m. […]
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Subject: RE: 2014-#176-Johnson’s Russia List/Stephen Cohen Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 From: Keith Smith <keith.smith@cepa.org> Ambassador Keith C. Smith (Ret.) Center for European Policy Analysis 1225 19th Street NW, Suite 450 Washington, D.C. 20036 August 15, 2014 Fallacies in Support of Russia’s Ukraine Policies By Keith C. Smith Center for European Policy Analysis I read with considerable interest Stephen F. […]
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MOSCOW. Aug 15 (Interfax) – Members of far-right groups disrupted a religious service being conducted by Priest Volodymyr Navozenko at the Church of the Holy Intercession in the village of Chervona Motovylivka outside of Kyiv. A video posted on YouTube shows several dozen people entering the church holding Ukrainian flags and symbols of the far-right party Svoboda (Freedom) and the […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#178 :: Friday 15 August 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. www.foreignpolicy.com: Sergeii Leshchenko, Ukraine’s Oligarchs Are Still Calling the Shots. […]
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ROSTOV-ON-DON. Aug 15 (Interfax) – Officials of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry who are accompanying Russia’s humanitarian aid convoy and the Ukrainian authorities are discussing ways to transfer the cargo intended for people in eastern Ukraine, a source familiar with the situation told reporters on Friday. “At the moment, the main questions surrounding the transfer of this humanitarian aid depend […]
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MOSCOW, August 15 (RIA Novosti) -The eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk has run out of fuel and is running out of medicine after being isolated from the outside world for 13 days, the Luhansk City Council said Friday. “There is a pressing issue of a lack of fuel supplies in the city, all the reserves have been emptied,” according to […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Tim Ash, Standard Bank – August 15, 2014) Putin speaking in Crimea, at session of Russia’s National Security Council. This is about as far as Putin gets to extending an olive branch and saying “lets talk”. Also noting that he does not want Russia to be isolated internationally. We had the Sochi summit over […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Carl Schreck and Luke Johnson – August 14, 2014) The speech was Putin’s first major speech on the peninsula since May, when he spoke in glowing, historical tones about the Crimea annexation during a visit to the city of Sevastopol.The absence of television coverage appeared all the more unusual given the fact that the Ukraine crisis has been […]
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MOSCOW, August 15 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has deployed mobile teams of border guards to the vicinity of the border with Ukraine, but they are to operate strictly on the Russian side, a spokesman for Russia’s FSB Border Guard Service said Friday. The spokesman said that residents of the border territories are under threat due to increased numbers of Ukrainian […]
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(Interfax – August 15, 2014) Most Russians are aware of sanctions imposed on their country but the sanctions seem to have gone unnoticed by an overwhelming majority, sociologists told Interfax. Some 92 percent of the respondents said the Western sanctions had not harmed them, 4 percent spoke about a price rise and the others mentioned the freeze of accounts, the […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines Press Digest – rbth.ru – Ivan Konyukhov, special to RBTH – August 14, 2014) RBTH presents a selection of views from leading Russian media on the latest developments in Ukraine, including the controversial humanitarian aid convoy sent by Moscow to Ukraine, the election of the new head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the fate of […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#177 :: Thursday 14 August 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 1. Reuters: Putin sounds conciliatory note on visit to annexed Ukraine […]
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MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) – Officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) met Moscow’s convoy carrying humanitarian aid to Ukraine in Russia’s southern Rostov Region, ICRC tweeted Thursday. “We’ve made initial contact with Russia-led aid convoy, Rostov region, Russia. Many practical details to be clarified,” ICRC wrote in Twitter. Russia sent a convoy of 280 white […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris MOSCOW BLOG – August 14, 2014) What does the west hope to achieve in its show down with Russia over the fate of Ukraine? An increasing number of articles have appeared recently arguing that the west has no long-term strategy to end this conflict and is being sucked into a destructive “sanctions […]
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MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) – The defense minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Igor Strelkov, resigned from the post Thursday, the republic’s official website said in a statement. “At today’s session, the Cabinet of Ministers approved DPR Defense Minister Strelkov’s resignation due to his appointment to a new position,” the statement reads. Alexander Zakharchenko, who heads the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 14, 2014) Only a “thin line” separates Russia and Ukraine from going to war, a pro-Kremlin lawmaker said, arguing that Moscow has been careful in its policies to avoid tipping the scale and that Kiev should demonstrate more restraint. The head of the federal parliament’s International Affairs Committee, Alexei Pushkov, said Wednesday that the […]
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[Photos here http://en.ria.ru/world/20140813/191975347/Nazi-Symbolism-Flourishes-in-Post-Maidan-Ukraine.html] MOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian authorities have vehemently denied that Ukraine’s armed forces have slightest correlation with neo-fascists. However, open use of Neo-Nazi symbolism in their crusade against militia forces and civil population of eastern Ukraine explicitly suggests otherwise. The country’s special unit for protection of public order – the Azov Battalion, often referred to […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#176 :: Wednesday 13 August 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 1. Reuters: Ukraine crisis death toll doubles in two weeks to […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Concorde Capital – August 13, 2014) The Russian government has agreed upon the route of the humanitarian convoy and hopes that the Ukrainian government will ensure its safety on its controlled territory, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in an Aug. 12 statement. The two governments agreed that the humanitarian aid will be delivered to […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Ilya Slastenov, Nikolai Litovkin, RBTH – August 13, 2014) Moscow’s decision to send an aid convoy to eastern Ukraine has been received with mistrust by the U.S. and a number of European countries. RBTH interviewed a number of Russian experts on how the political scenario in relations between Russia and the West will […]
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Subject: People from the Donbass seen from other Ukrainians Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 From: Antony Penaud <antonypenaud@yahoo.fr> Below is part of an email from a Ukrainian girl (she is a pretty 30yrs old girl from Zaporizhya and lives in London): “As for Donbass region – if you do some research you might understand a bit more about the population […]
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… 7. Wall Street Journal: Russian Aid Convoy Leaves for Ukraine. Kiev Had Demanded Aid be Coordinated Through Red Cross.
8. Business New Europe: Russian and Red Cross convoy leaves Moscow for Ukraine, bearing humanitarian aid.
9. Reuters: Kerry says hopeful Russia and Ukraine can work together. …
KYIV. Aug 12 (Interfax) – Ukrainian forces, pushing towards Donetsk, have seized control of a stretch of the motorway between Horlivka and Donetsk, the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council spokesman said. “Forces involved in the counterterrorism operation have captured a stretch of the motorway between Horlivka and Donetsk, cutting Horlivka from the main forces,” Andriy Lysenko said at a […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – August 12, 2014) Russia in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will send a humanitarian convoy to Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said in a telephone conversation with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday. An enormous Russian convoy of about 280 trucks carrying humanitarian aid has left Moscow for […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#174 :: Monday 11 August 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. Moscow Times: Fyodor Lukyanov, Putin Has Stumbled in Ukraine. […]
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(Interfax – August 11, 2014) As of Monday morning, the situation in Lugansk remains critical – the city is completely cut off from power, the Lugansk city council press office said in a statement. “About 250,000 Lugansk residents, who stayed in the city, have no power and water for nine days already, cellular and landline service do not operate,” the […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Kateryna Choursina and Volodymyr Verbyany – August 11, 2014) Ukraine told residents of separatist strongholds in its easternmost regions to flee as government troops close in after dismissing a cease-fire offered by the militants. Inhabitants of Donetsk and Luhansk, cities that were home to 1.5 million people before the pro-Russian insurgency began, can leave via humanitarian […]
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(Interfax – August 10, 2014) A senior figure in the Donetsk people’s republic has set out terms for a cease-fire with Ukraine, which Kiev has rejected, Interfax news agency reported on 10 August. “The main condition for a cease-fire is the Ukrainian army doing exactly the same. A cease-fire has to be reciprocal,” the self-proclaimed republic’s prime minister, Aleksandr (Oleksandr) […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#173 :: Sunday 10 August 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 1. Handelsblatt (Germany): Gabor Steingart, The West on the wrong path. […]
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Johnson’s Russia List
JRL 2014-#172 :: Friday 8 August 2014
E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – August 8, 2014) Ukraine has claimed that pro-Moscow separatists downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 after mistaking it for a Russian Aeroflot plane that they supposedly wanted to shoot down to provide Moscow with a pretext for invading Ukraine. The latest theory in an array of conflicting claims about the possible causes of […]
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(Interfax – August 8, 2014) As of Friday morning, Lugansk is completely disconnected from power, the city does not have water, landline and cell service for six days already, the Lugansk city council press office said in a statement. “Yesterday gunfire continued on the territory of the regional center, in which 250,000 residents remain. During the armed clashes Lugansk sustained […]
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KIEV, August 8 (RIA Novosti) – The activists still occupying Kiev’s Independence Square are protesting the new Kiev authorities and the government’s military operation in eastern Ukraine, a Euromaidan representative said Friday. “Why are factories and plants being closed? Why is the war underway? Nothing has changed under the new government; there is still no work and corruption is flourishing,” […]
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… 33. NBCNews.com: Winging It: Putin Has No Master Plan for Ukraine Crisis, Officials Say.
34. Financial Times: Russia stirs fears of repeat Georgia war in Ukraine.
35. www.foreignpolicy.com: Emile Simpson, Give Putin a Way Out. With Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border, the talk of war is getting louder. But it doesn’t have to happen.
36. Foreign Policy Journal: Masha Mitaeva, Ukraine Crisis: Ceasefire Anyone? A Memo for Europe.
37. Reuters: Ian Bremmer, Putin’s Ukraine invasion threat is more than a bluff – but not his preference.
38. CNN.com: What is Putin’s endgame in Ukraine? …
(Business New Europe – bne.ru – Teneo Intelligence – August 7, 2014) Ukrainian forces have stepped up their campaign to retake the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk from separatists; Russia will likely respond with increased efforts to help the pro-Russian militias to stay in control. Yet, the new tactics will likely fall short of direct military invasion and instead take […]
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KIEV, August 7 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko thanked US Vice President Joe Biden for America’s consistentsupport to Ukraine, Ukrainian President’s press service said in a statement following Poroshenko’s phone conversation with Biden. “Petro Poroshenko expressed his gratitude for the United States’ continued backing of Ukraine,” the statement reads. “In his turn, Biden assured that the US would […]
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… 33. Carnegie Moscow Center: Akio Kawato, Who Is in Charge of an End Game in Ukraine? A View From Tokyo
34. Moscow Times: Georgy Bovt, Moscow Needs a Plan B in Ukraine.
35. www.chathamhouse.org: John Lough, The West Needs an ‘Off Ramp’ for Putin in Ukraine.
36. Washington Post: Danel Drezner, The most annoying tic in the American foreign policy machine
37. Stars and Stripes: Leaders call for NATO to boost military presence in east. …
MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian Army has used Uragan multiple-launch rocket system and a cruise missile in the country’s east for the first time, RIA Novosti correspondent reported. On Tuesday, self-defense forces in the city of Horlivka in Donetsk Region said they noticed a cruise missile flying in about 40 meters above the ground. Shortly after, the missile […]
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KYIV. Aug 6 (Interfax) – The situation in Donetsk remained tense at 1 p.m. local time (2 p.m. Moscow time) on Wednesday but no more shooting can be heard and critical public services are running as usual, the Donetsk city council said. Specialists from Donetskgorgaz are repairing gas pipelines “damaged as a result of artillery fire in the Petrovsky and […]
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KYIV. Aug 6 (Interfax) – The situation in Luhansk remained critical as of the morning of August 6 as the city remained without power, water supply and landline and mobile communications, the press service for the Luhansk city council has reported. According to the press service, shooting continued in the city in the early hours of Wednesday. The majority of […]
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(RIA Novosti – Moscow, August 4, 2014) Moscow believes that Western countries will continue to exert pressure on Russia by means of sanctions, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said. “I think, there is a real threat which one should not underestimate: that the itch of sanctions won’t end with this [i.e. the current sanctions]. They will scratch it […]
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[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List JRL 2014-#169 :: Tuesday 5 August 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 1. RIA Novosti: NATO Claims Russia Gathered 20,000 Troops on Ukraine […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Tim Ash, Standard Bank – August 5, 2014) On the front line in the Donbas both sides appear to be squaring up for the final push. Ukrainian forces have reportedly now encircled Donetsk, and all but encircled Luhansk, with the area now controlled by separatists shrinking by at least half since the latest offensive […]
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BRUSSELS, August 5 (RIA Novosti) – NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow said Tuesday Russia had beefed up its troops along its border with Ukraine by some 20,000 soldiers. “Russia broke intl law w/ [with] no justification, invaded #Ukraine, backs separatists, now has ±20,000 troops on Ukraine’s E. border,” Vershbow wrote on his Twitter page. NATO has never looked for pretext […]
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