Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
MOSCOW, April 2 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law Wednesday allowing Russian voters to contest the results of elections or referendums in court. Under the 2012 amendments to a federal law on voting right guarantees, Russians lost the right to contest the results of elections in court. Russia’s highest court ruled Monday that these changes are […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – April 2, 2014) United Russia deputy Alexander Sidyakin late Monday submitted to the State Duma a bill introducing prison terms for repeat violations of a law on public rallies, stirring fears among analysts of a crackdown on the opposition. The move coincided with an effort by prosecutors to block all blogs being […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, March 31, 2014) Sergey Ivanov, head of the Kremlin administration, is stressing the importance and relevance of Russia drawing up a state cultural policy: the scenario in Ukraine, which led to the abandoning of traditional values and a division of society provoked from abroad, must not be allowed. “The latest events in Ukraine show just how grave […]
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(Interfax, Moscow, March 31, 2014) Moscow hopes that the presidential election in Ukraine will be open and transparent, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigoriy Karasin has said. “Naturally, we have questions. We want the carrying out a constitutional reform that would take into account the opinions of the regions to be a priority after all. The success of any election depends […]
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Moscow, 31 March: The State Duma is ready for dialogue with the Ukrainian Supreme Council on various issues in order to bring their positions closer, including on the subject of the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine, member of the State Duma Committee for Security and Countering Corruption Nikolay Kovalev (One Russia parliamentary party) has said. “When 70 people in the […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 27, 2014) The Western powers have long talked about “red lines” in Syria and elsewhere, actions or events that they say have suggested underscore their concern and indicate where they will act. Now, Russian President Vladimir Putin has done the same, and his “red lines” underscore that his moves in Ukraine […]
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(Interfax/Russia Beyond the Headlines – March 27, 2014) The job approval rating of Russian President Vladimir Putin has grown to 82.3 percent from 75.7 percent a week ago, sociologists of the All Russian Center for Public Opinion Studies (VTsIOM) have said following a recent public opinion survey. The sociologists have explained this result primarily by Crimea’s accession to Russia and […]
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MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax) – An overwhelming majority of Russians (87%) know that Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an address on the joining of Crimea to Russia on March 18, and 66% of them said they were impressed by it, shows a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation. The poll, which surveys 1,500 respondents living in 43 regions of […]
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MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax) – Russia has rejected the claims of a Ukrainian delegate to the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague that Russia is allegedly threatening the security of nuclear sites in Ukraine. “This is a pure and simple attempt to shift the blame,” the Russian delegation said in a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – March 25, 2014) The costly consequences of expanding Russia’s territory became clearer Monday when Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev revealed a Crimea to-do list for the government and its corporations. Russia will need to take care of entitlements and services ranging from retirement pensions to tax rebates to electricity supply in a peninsula […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 24, 2014) Russians must recognize that Vladimir Putin is “an aggressor and instigator of war,” that he is making them into “victims and participants in state crimes,” that he will eventually lose to the democratic world, and that he, they and their country will suffer and be held accountable just as […]
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(Defense.gov – American Forces Press Service – Jim Garamone – WASHINGTON – March 20, 2014) Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu assured Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that Russian troops along the Russia-Ukraine border are there solely for exercise purposes and will not cross over into Ukrainian territory, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said today. At a Pentagon news […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, March 20, 2014) The parliamentary majority does not share [LDPR party leader] Vladimir Zhirinovskiy’s view that Russia has to expand its borders by incorporating Donbass [industrial area of Ukraine around Donetsk] and some other regions of Ukraine. “I would like to comment on the LDPR leader and say that some of his calls and judgments are not […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – March 20, 2014) “Russia won’t deploy troops in eastern Ukraine unless there is a “massacre” of its citizens there, says Sergei Mironov, leader of pro-Kremlin Just Russia party and a Putin ally, reports Bloomberg. “It would be highly undesirable and I think it’s unlikely, unless we see large-scale massacres, if something awful happens and […]
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MOSCOW, March 20 (RIA Novosti) – The death toll from the unrest in Ukraine that led to the ouster of the country’s president last month has risen to 103, the country’s Ministry of Health said Thursday. Previous casualty figures stood at 102 dead and 1,419 injured. The ministry said on its website that 128 people injured in the conflict remain […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – March 21, 2014) During his triumphant speech on Crimea’s annexation earlier this week, President Vladimir Putin stressed that his policy was supported by an “absolute majority of Russians,” saying those who opposed it were “national traitors” acting on behalf of Western countries. While such a bold statement was embraced by some as […]
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(RIA Novosti – March 18, 2014) The Russian parliament voted Tuesday to appoint Ella Pamfilova to the post of Human Rights Ombudsman. President Vladimir Putin formally nominated Pamfilova, an outspoken Kremlin critic, for the post last month. The position, established in 1994, has powers to sue state agencies and the parliament on behalf of people whose rights have been violated. […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – March 20, 2014) The White House has thrown some light on who may be next in line to feel U.S. wrath over Crimea’s breakaway from Ukraine: businesspeople close to the Russian government. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the U.S. will add bite to its current sanctions against Russian government officials by […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Lara McCoy Roslof, RBTH – March 18, 2014) The ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the exchange of increasingly politicized rhetoric has brought with it a growing sense of unease and concern about the future. RBTH’s editor for the Western Hemisphere talks about how the atmosphere in Russia has changed from an American perspective. […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, March 15, 2014) What Vladimir Putin is doing in Crimea has less to do with the defense of Russia’s foreign policy interests there than with the defense of the Kremlin leader’s own position in the face of what is becoming “the Great Ukrainian-Russian Revolution,” according to Gleb Pavlovsky. In an article posted […]
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MOSCOW, March 12 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating has risen 5 percent in the past week amid the ongoing crisis over the Crimean parliament’s plan to secede from Ukraine and join Russia, according to a survey published Wednesday by a state-run pollster. According to the Public Opinion Foundation, 53 percent of respondents said they would vote […]
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MOSCOW, March 11 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian parliament has tentatively decided to select the country’s new human rights ombudsman next week. Russian President Vladimir Putin formally nominated Ella Pamfilova, an outspoken Kremlin critic, for the post last month. The position, established in 1994, has powers to sue state agencies and the parliament on behalf of people whose rights have […]
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MOSCOW. March 12 (Interfax) – The convicted Left Front activist, Konstantin Lebedev, who is serving a prison term for organizing the mass disturbances in Moscow in May 6, 2012, told Moscow City Court that he and the other co-accused, Sergei Udaltsov and Leonid Razvozzhayev – were planning to stage a “micro-Maidan.” “We were prepared for mass disturbances because the micro-Maidan […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Diana Bruk, special to RBTH – March 7, 2014) Russian women don’t see the point of feminism – and maybe they have a point. Diana Bruk is a Russian-American journalist based in New York. It would probably surprise no foreigner who has ever visited Russia that a 2004 Kinsey study described Russian society […]
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(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – March 6, 2014) According to the state-owned All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Opinion, 73 percent of Russians are against intervention in Ukraine. All the leading opposition forces in Russia have condemned the military invasion and the planned annexation of Crimea. The Institute of Modern Russia publishes excerpts from Russian opposition statements […]
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(The White House – Office of the Press Secretary – For Immediate Release – March 06, 2014) Via Conference Call 8:38 A.M. EST MS. HAYDEN: Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for joining. This conference call is to discuss the visa restrictions and executive order that were released today in relation to Ukraine. We have […]
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(Moscow News – moscownews.com – David Burghardt – March 7, 2014) A woman’s place is in the kitchen, according to a recent poll by the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Research (VTsIOM) published on Friday. According to the latest survey, 72 percent of Russians believe a woman should choose the home and family over her career. “When there’s a choice […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – March 6, 2014) Russian human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin called crackdowns on unsanctioned opposition protests illegal. According to Russia’s Supreme Court decisions, unauthorized protests were not necessarily illegal, Lukin said, Interfax reported. He added that often the protests pose no disturbance to citizens and that violations should only be pursued when the actions “create a […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – March 6, 2014) Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina have been attacked by five young men at a McDonald’s in Nizhny Novgorod on Thursday. The attackers threw metal objects at the women as they were eating, leaving Alyokhina with “a cut to her forehead,” their lawyer said, Interfax reported. Furthermore, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina […]
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(Kremlin.ru – March 4, 2014) Novo-Ogaryovo, Moscow Region [Complete English translation will be here http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/6763] The President of Russia met with media representatives to answer a number of their questions, in particular with regard to the situation in Ukraine. PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, colleagues, How shall we do this? This is what I’d like to suggest: let’s […]
» Read more[check back for updates, including more links; links also posted to facebook and twitter] Johnson’s Russia List :: 2014-#44 :: 2 March 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 […]
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The White House Statement by the President on Ukraine The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release February 28, 2014 Statement by the President on Ukraine James S. Brady Press Briefing Room 5:05 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. Over the last several days, the United States has been responding to events as they unfold in […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 27, 2014) Kremlin strategists now recognize that the themes of stability and modernization will not allow them to connect with the rising generation in Russia as such ideas did in the last election with slightly older people, but they have not yet figured out what themes they will try to use, […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 27, 2014) An increasing share of Russians say they are nostalgic for the Soviet system with the number indicating that they support for democracy and free markets or the political system they now live under has fallen in recent years, according to the results of a new poll by the Levada […]
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Subject: Comment on Johnson’s Russia List #36/Tennison&Ferguson Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2014 From: Al Weeks <Aweeks11@comcast.net> Two postings on JRL, one by Ms. Tennison, the other by Mr. Ferguson, raise some issues that in my opinion, neither writer coped with realistically. For her part, Sharon Tennison argues that post-1991 Russia has performed what she calls a “miracle” in its recovery […]
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SOCHI. Feb 24 (Interfax) – Events such as the Sochi Olympics demonstrate to the whole world that Russia is no stranger to hospitality and success, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “Events such as this are certainly of a nationwide nature, uniting people around absolutely positivity, boosting our sense of dignity while at the same time showing our country’s openness to […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – February 24, 2014) A Moscow court sentenced seven people on Monday to prison terms ranging from one to four years for their roles in protest riots on the city’s Bolotnaya Ploshchad in May 2012, in a ruling seen as an indicator of whether government pressure would increase on the opposition in the […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 24, 2014) More than seven out of ten Russians say that Moscow should not intervene in Ukraine, but at the same time, a slightly larger number say that events like those which have taken place in Ukraine are impossible in the Russian Federation, according to results of a new VTsIOM poll. […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 23, 2014) Viktor Yanukovich was “100 percent” responsible for the rise of the popular movement that overthrew him, Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov says, and unless the Kremlin learns the lessons from what has taken place in Ukraine, “a Russian Maidan is inevitable” and it will be the fault of no […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Daryna Krasnolutska, Kateryna Choursina and Ilya Arkhipov – February 23, 2014) Ukrainian lawmakers gave presidential powers to parliament Speaker Oleh Turchynov, who urged political parties to agree on a new government and warned of the “catastrophic” state of the nation’s economy. The U.S., Europe and the U.K. said they would help with financial aid when a […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 21, 2014) The stagnation of the economy is leaving Vladimir Putin without the resources he earlier had to buy off the population and forced him to try to awake in it “an unselfish love for the authorities by using massive brain washing, according to a professor at the European University in […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – February 21, 2014) With three days to go until the Winter Olympics in Sochi draw to a close, fears are growing among many Russians that the apparent tolerance of President Vladimir Putin toward critics of his government in the run-up to the games will dissipate after the last foreign participant leaves. The […]
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MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) – The majority of Russians believe their country is developed, rich and free, according to a survey published by a state-run pollster Wednesday. Fifty-seven percent of respondents told the Public Opinion Foundation that their country is developed, 58 percent described it as rich and 60 percent said they live in a free country. Fifty-one percent […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine – February 18, 2014) From the dingy basement of a decaying apartment block on the outskirts of Simferopol, Crimean parliament deputy Sergei Shuvainikov is leading the fight to defend the ethnic Russians of this strategic Black Sea peninsula. In an office festooned with banners showing a map of Crimea overlaid with […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 19, 2014) The All-Russian Nature Conservation Society will ask prosecutors to check whether opposition leader Alexei Navalny is guilty of poaching. The ecologists’ suspicions were raised by a picture published on the Internet that shows Navalny posing beside a dead moose. “If you look at the photograph, it’s clear that the hunting took place […]
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MOSCOW, February 18 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s leading opposition activist Alexei Navalny published material Tuesday allegedly showing that a prominent lawmaker and son of nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky owns an undeclared $2.5 million apartment abroad with seven toilets and a balcony Jacuzzi. Igor Lebedev, deputy speaker of the State Duma, bought the property in Dubai in 2009 but failed to […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – February 19, 2014) When a judge delivers a verdict Friday in the high-profile Bolotnoye case, the defendants’ cage will contain eight people. It might have held dozens more if some of the potential suspects had not fled abroad, fearing unfair prosecution in what many observers call a politically motivated trial aimed at […]
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MOSCOW, February 18 (RIA Novosti) – The long-serving director of Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy was replaced Tuesday by a manager from state-owned media, sparking fears of editorial changes at the liberal news outlet. Yury Fedutinov was removed as director of Ekho Moskvy after more than 20 years in the job and replaced by Yekaterina Pavlova during a shareholder meeting, […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 18, 2014) State television host Dmitry Kiselyov, known for his strong opposition to gay rights in Russia, has been awarded the Order of Service to the Fatherland by President Vladimir Putin. A presidential decree published on the government’s legal documents website said the honor was bestowed on Kiselyov for his contribution to Russia’s “social […]
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MOSCOW, February 15 (RIA Novosti) – The vast majority of Russians find same-sex relationships unacceptable, according to a survey published Friday by a state-run pollster. VTsIOM found in its poll that lesbian couples were deemed inappropriate by 78 percent of respondents, with only 3 percent answering that relationships between two women were normal. Relationships between men were even more unpopular. […]
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