Tag - russia

 
 

RUSSIA

Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 29, 2014
Putin builds new economic union on ashes of Soviet empire
It won't exactly mean going back to the USSR, but Vladimir Putin is laying the foundations of a huge trading bloc which opponents see as an attempt to re-create at least part of the lost Soviet empire.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 28, 2014
Ferocious clashes in Ukraine increase risk for Putin
An army assault on pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine will not have taken Vladimir Putin by surprise, but the ferocity of the clashes may have — and could be a game-changer if they spin out of control.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 27, 2014
Recent events in Asia could be tipping points
Russia's struggle to conclude a long-term gas-supply deal with China seems to suggest that China is happy to see Russian President Vladimir Putin poke his finger into the West's eye but that China is more interested in turning Russia into the sort of vassal state that Putin seeks for Ukraine.
COMMENTARY
May 27, 2014
Caught between guns and disgust in east Ukraine
Throughout eastern Ukraine, ordinary Ukrainians are caught between the armed thugs of 'The Donetsk Criminal Republic,' a threatening Ukrainian military and a terminally corrupt state. Most have no desire to join Russia, but feel little enthusiasm for the new post-revolutionary order.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 27, 2014
EU official says Ukraine-Russia gas row talks make some progress
Europe's energy commissioner said Monday Ukraine and Russia have made further progress in a dispute over gas prices and his proposal that Ukraine pay $2 billion of back debt by Thursday could pave the way for further talks Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 24, 2014
Russian Rail pays billions in secret
One of Russia's biggest state companies has handed billions of dollars to mysterious private contractors that disguise their ownership or have little or no presence at their registered headquarters, a Reuters investigation has found.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 24, 2014
Kiev pins hopes on oligarch's fighters in battle against eastern separatists
Ukrainian self-defense fighters who clashed with armed pro-Russian separatists on Friday are at the forefront of Kiev's efforts to prevent the country from splitting.
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2014
How Putin won big in Chinese natural gas deal
Russian President Vladimir Putin has achieved what Western leaders feared — a long-term deal to supply natural gas to China at a respectable price. But Russia could end up China's satellite if it does not at least partially rebuild a relationship with the West.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / ANALYSIS
May 22, 2014
For 'dirty man of Asia,' Russian gas deal offers clean solution
"If I work in your Beijing, I would shorten my life at least five years," Premier Zhu Rongji, a career politician from Shanghai, quipped in 1999, referring to the notorious air pollution in China's northern capital.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2014
Russia turns fire on dual citizens
Parliament approved legislation on Tuesday requiring Russians to declare dual citizenship or face criminal prosecution after President Vladimir Putin endorsed the measure as part of a more nationalist course taken since his annexation of Crimea.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2014
Kiev's election plans falter in east
From a cramped office in residential Donetsk, election officials Sunday frantically worked to prepare for next Sunday's Ukraine presidential poll, despite what they described as intimidation and threats from pro-Russian separatists.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 19, 2014
World Cup 2014 views from Tokyo: Brazil, Russia and Japan
A Brazilian translator, Russian student and Japanese singer discuss their teams' prospects in next month's FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 18, 2014
Cold-shouldered by West, Putin will hope for some China sympathy
Increasingly isolated by the West over Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin will hope for a sympathetic ear on a visit next week to China, which is also being more assertive in its territorial disputes with smaller neighbors.
COMMENTARY
May 16, 2014
What Ukraine really needs
The last thing Ukraine needs is domination by either the New Russia or the partisans of an American neocon organization. A federal system of self-governing provinces might work.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2014
A new cold war or a cool power calculation?
Americans understand that if they go too far too fast in pushing sanctions against Russia in the Ukraine crisis, Europe will publicly break with the U.S. approach, because the Europeans have a lot more at stake economically.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 15, 2014
Ukraine begins peace talks without separatists
European-backed peace talks on ending Ukraine's crisis began with little promise Wednesday when pro-Russian insurgents — who weren't even invited to the session — demanded that the Kiev government recognize their sovereignty.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 14, 2014
Biden's son gets Ukraine gas gig
The White House on Tuesday brushed aside questions about whether the involvement of Vice President Joe Biden's son in a Ukrainian natural gas company raised ethical issues at a time when the administration is promoting energy diversity in the country.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 14, 2014
Kiev forces suffer heaviest losses yet as separatists ambush, kill troops
Pro-Russian separatists ambushed Ukrainian troops on Tuesday, killing seven, in the heaviest loss of life for government forces in a single clash since Kiev sent soldiers to put down a rebellion in the country's east.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 13, 2014
Ukrainian security forces riven by mistrust
The two men crouched in the shade of a tree. The ballot papers they were accused of forging lay on the front of their Russian-made Moskvich car, stopped and searched by Ukrainian soldiers on the outskirts of the port city of Mariupol, in the country's rebel southeast.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 12, 2014
EU moves cautiously to raise pressure on Russia over Ukraine crisis
The European Union is set to step up pressure on Russia on Monday by taking a first cautious step toward extending sanctions on companies, as well as people, linked to Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell