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Russia in Review

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Abstract

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for March 11 – March 18, 2016

I. U.S. and Russian priorities for the bilateral agenda.

Nuclear security:

  • A U.S. delegation led by David Huizenga, Principal Assistant Deputy Administrator of National Nuclear Security Administration visited Russia’s Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision on March 15 to meet with deputy chairman of this watchdog Alexey Ferapontov. The main objective of the meeting was to discuss issues of cooperation in regulation of the accounting, control and physical protection of nuclear materials. (SKRIN, 03.17.16).
  • “We regret that Russia has chosen not attend the (the nuclear security) summit this month, and we remain disappointed that Russia has chosen to reduce our bilateral cooperation on nuclear security in recent years,” Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman told the U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. “We do continue to cooperate productively with Russia in co-chairing the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism,” he said. (CONGDP, 03.17.16).
  • “The prospect of nuclear terrorism presents a very different challenge from proliferation by other countries. Terrorists do not make commitments, other than to destruction…. Given the destruction that terrorists could unleash with only one weapon, nuclear terrorism is the greatest threat to our collective security,” Undersecretary of State Rose Gottemoeller told the U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee . (CONGDP, 03.17.16)
  • “It's unfortunate that Russia will not be attending the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit,” former Undersecretary of State Ellen Tauscher told the U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. “But Russia's absence does not necessarily signal anything about its commitment to securing its own nuclear material. Despite Russia's lack of action at the Summits, Russia has been a positive and active force in the Global Initiative (to Combat Nuclear Terrorism), as if to prove that they will cooperate here and there,” she said. (CONGDP, 03.17.16)
  • Former deputy administrator of NNSA and Belfer Center senior fellow William Tobey told the U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee that Russia's absence from the Nuclear Security Summit is troubling, but that, U.S.-Russian cooperation on nuclear security remains in U.S. interests. In particular, “cooperating to defeat the Islamic State's unconventional weapons capabilities would clearly be in the best interests of both countries,” he said. (CONGDP, 03.17.16)
  • On March 21st the Belfer Center of Science and International Affairs will present a report, which assesses progress achieved in the sphere of nuclear security since the 2014 nuclear security summit and highlights the remaining gaps. The report will also contain policy recommendations for participants of the upcoming nuclear security summit in Washington, D.C. (Belfer Center, 03.08.16).
  • The International Panel on Fissile Materials has released a new research report, entitled “Banning the Production of Highly Enriched Uranium.” Despite efforts to minimize HEU use, as of late 2015, there were over 150 nuclear-powered submarines and ships - more than half belonging to the United States, that use HEU as fuel in their propulsion reactors, according to the report.(IPFM, 03.15.16).
  • The process of replacing those of Huey helicopters , which are responsible for U.S. ICBM-field security, could begin this year, but would start with a modest outlay of just $2.5 million to establish an office for the replacement program. (National Interest, 03.17.16).
  • Spanish firm Escuadrone has developed what it claims is the world's first drone equipped with a system for detecting radioactivity. The drone can be used in the management of nuclear-related emergencies, it says. (World Nuclear News, 03.15.16).

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

  • The United States and Russia clashed at a United Nations Security Council meeting on March 14 over whether Iran's test-firing of ballistic missiles last week violated a UN resolution. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has said the bloc is not considering sanctions against Iran over its recent ballistic-missile tests, saying they were not a violation “as such” of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.  (RFE/RL, 03.14.16).
  • U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker wants to force the Obama administration to harshly deal with any conventional arms transfers to Tehran.  “Russia is getting ready to sell, or has announced that they're going to sell, Su-30s,” Corker told Al-Monitor. “Hopefully it's not going to occur, but we're trying to do what we can to prevent that kind of thing from occurring.”(Al Monitor, 03.15.15).
  • Russia may provide Iran with a loan for infrastructure projects totaling $2.5 billion, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told journalists following a meeting with Mahmoud Vaezi, the co-chairman of the Russian-Iranian intergovernmental commission. Novak also said that the number of flights from Russia to Iran will be increased from five to nine per week. (Interfax, 03.15.16).

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

  • U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter told a U.S. Senate committee that “Russia and China are our most stressing competitors, as they've both developed and are continuing to advance military systems that threaten our advantages in specific areas, and in some cases, they're developing weapons and ways of war that seek to achieve their objectives in ways they hope would preempt a response by the United States.” (CONGDP, 03.17.16).
  • When now-retired Adm. James Stavridis became NATO's military commander in 2009, NATO had no plans for defending against Russia, he said. "We didn't have a single op plan on the shelf to deter against Russia. We'd written that off after the fall of the wall, that chapter is over," Stavridis said. (Washington Post, 03.18.16).

Missile defense:

  • China and Russia announced they oppose the possible deployment of an advanced American missile-defense system in South Korea. (RFE/RL, 03.12.16).

Nuclear arms control:

  • U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter told a U.S. Senate committee that Pentagon expects the total cost of nuclear modernization to be in the range of $350-$450 billion. (CONGDP, 03.17.16).

Counter-terrorism:

  • Top Islamic State commander Umar al-Shishani, also known as "Omar the Chechen," died from injuries he received from a U.S. air strike, Pentagon officials confirmed on March 14. (RFE/RL, 03.15.16).
  • While on ISIS controlled territories Mohamad Khweis of Virginia said he was surrounded by people from countries like Russia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan but did not encounter any other Americans. (Washington Post, 03.18.16).
  • Russia has said it has detained three militants with ties to the Islamic State extremist group in Dagestan. In separate developments, police in Dagestan have killed two gunmen and detained 14 suspected members of banned Islamic group “Nurcular.” (RFE/RL, 03.11.16, 03.15.16, 03.17.16).
  • Violence in Russia’s North Caucasus is down substantially the last two years – partly because most of its radicals have joined the foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, according to a new report by the International Crisis Group. (ICG,  March 2016).

Cyber security:

  • No significant developments.

Energy exports from CIS:

  • Russia has sufficient known oil resources to last 28 years, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Sergei Donskoi said. Donskoi said that recoverable oil reserves amount to about 29 billion tons. Crude oil production amounted to about 505 million tons in 2015. (Moscow Times, 03.17.16).
  • Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said that Tehran would not immediately join in a production freeze this year, but might join after raising its output back to levels that prevailed before economic sanctions. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and their allies would limit their oil output even if Iran doesn't follow suit, OPEC officials said. The evolving position emerged after Qatar said Wednesday that it would host a meeting on April 17 in Doha for oil producers both inside and outside OPEC. Data from the International Energy Agency show production from the 15 countries discussing a cap would drop by 200,000 barrels a day in 2016 even without a freeze.  (Wall Street Journal, 03.14.16, 03.16.16, RFE/RL, 03.15.16).
  • Russia’s Rosneft OJSC agreed to sell bigger stakes in its Siberian oil assets to Indian state-run energy companies, including a $1.28 billion share to a consortium of Indian producers. (Bloomberg, 03.16.16).
  • Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has arrived in Pakistan for a two-day visit that is expected to focus on a proposed gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan, Pakistan, and on to India.  (RFE/RL, 03.16.16).

Bilateral economic ties:

  • Russia increased investment in U.S. Treasuries for the third successive month in January, this time by approximately $4.8 billion. Russian investment in UST grew $6.1 billion last year as a whole. Russia, which held $96.9 billion in UST at the end of January, was just outside the top 10 holders of UST. (Interfax, 03.16.16).
  • The Russian presidential administration has suggested that the government carry out a comprehensive analysis of existing U.S. trade restrictions against Russian products from the standpoint of making more intensive use of WTO tools. (Interfax, 03.17.16).
  • Alphabet Inc.'s Google failed to have overturned a ruling by Russia's competition watchdog that the company had abused the dominant position of its Android mobile-phone operating system. (Wall Street Journal, 03.15.16).

Other bilateral issues:

  • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said he would travel to Moscow next week to discuss Russia's withdrawal of forces from Syria and the political transition process in the country. Kerry said that he will meet with President Vladimir Putin. The dates for  Kerry's visit have not yet been set and are still being worked out, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said. (Interfax, 03.17.16, RFE/RL, 03.15.16).
  • The Kremlin has criticized a video issued by U.S. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump's presidential campaign, complaining that it demonizes Russia. (RFE/RL, 03.17.16).
  • New legislation being introduced in the U.S. Senate aims to improve Washington's efforts to counter "propaganda and disinformation" spread by Russia, China, and other countries. (RFE/RL, 03.17.16).
  • Russia's Justice Ministry has added the National Democratic Institute on the list of "undesirable organizations" under a law that Moscow says is needed to prevent foreign organizations from being used to undermine Russian national security. (RFE/RL, 03.18.16).
  • A Los Angeles man with dual U.S. and Russian citizenship was sentenced to 150 years in prison on March 14 for repeatedly raping schoolgirls in Russia. (RFE/RL, 03.14.16).
  • Russian banker Yevgeny Buryakov accused in the United States of participating in a spy ring has pleaded guilty to conspiracy. (RFE/RL, 03.11.16).
  • The mystery surrounding Mikhail Lesin, the former Russian press minister who died in Washington after suffering blunt force trauma to the head, deepened as news reports said police were investigating whether Lesin had been assaulted outside his hotel. (RFE/RL, 03.11.16).
  • Prominent Soviet-era dissident, poet, and mathematician Aleksandr Yesenin-Volpin has died in the United States aged 91. (RFE/RL, 03.16.16).
  • Denmark reclaimed its place as the world’s happiest country, while Burundi ranked as the least happy nation, according to the fourth World Happiness Report, released on Wednesday. Russia is at No. 56 while U.S. is at No. 13. (New York Times, 03.17.16).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

  • Russia’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 11 percent for a fifth meeting. The ruble strengthened 0.7 percent against the dollar at 3:11 p.m. on Friday in Moscow after weakening almost 1 percent before the decision. Oil’s gain of 1.7 percent provided a further boost. (Bloomberg, 03.18.16).
  • Construction workers working on the Moscow metro have gone on strike, citing five months of unpaid wages. (Moscow Times, 03.11.16).
  • Russia’s diplomatic mission in Geneva reportedly has confirmed that the United Nations’ human rights office in Moscow is being shut down. (RFE/RL, 03.13.16).
  • Sergei Mironenko, the longtime director of the Russian State Archive has been removed from his post less than a year after he exposed a popular Soviet World War II legend to be “fiction” and railed against Soviet “myths” in front of top officials. (RFE/RL, 07.17.16).
  • The Kremlin has said the March 16 attack on well-known rights defender Igor Kalyapin in Chechnya is unacceptable, but has nothing to do with the Moscow-backed leader of the North Caucasus region, Ramzan Kadyrov. (RFE/RL, 03.17.16).
  • The share of Russians that think there is political opposition in Russia has decreased from 66 to 54 percent over the past year, the Interfax news agency reported Monday, citing a new survey by the independent Levada Center pollster. (Moscow Times, 03.14.16).
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized his country's sports officials for failing to take antidoping efforts seriously, weighing in on an international doping controversy that has embroiled a number of Russian athletes. (New York Times, 03.16.16).
  • In the nine days since Maria Sharapova's announcement that she had tested positive for meldonium, the pharmacy at Russia's lower house of parliament hasn't been able to keep the drug in stock. (Washington Post, 03.16.16).

Defense and Aerospace:

  • Vladimir Monomakh, the third ballistic missile submarine of the Project 955 class, is expected to conduct a salvo launch of two Bulava missiles in June 2016. The first launch, in November 2015, was not successful - one of the missiles was reported to malfunction. (Russianforces.org, 03.11.16).
  • Over 230 new and repaired aircraft and 158 helicopters were delivered to the Russian Aerospace Forces last year. (Interfax, 03.11.16).
  • Russia’s T-14 main battle tank is already in production. (National Interest, 03.13.16).
  • Russia has apparently started testing a new hypersonic cruise missile called the 3M22 Zircon that will equip Moscow’s modernized nuclear-powered battlecruisers and its next-generation nuclear submarines. (National Interest, 03.17.16).
  • The Russian government has approved a long-awaited federal program for space exploration, valued at 1.4 trillion rubles ($20.5 billion) over the next decade. (Moscow Times, 03.17.16).
  • Admiral Vladimir Korolyov, commander of the Northern fleet, has begun fulfilling the duties of commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy because the incumbent has made a decision to leave the Russian Armed Forces for health reasons. (Interfax, 03.14.16).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

  • Investigators from Chechnya have joined an investigation into a recent attack against rights activists and journalists in the neighboring region of Ingushetia. (RFE/RL, 03.15.16).
  • Russian police in the southern Rostov region said Monday it had fired 10 of its officers after scores of firearms were found to be missing from an evidence room. (Moscow Times, 03.15.16).
  • Alexei Kulikov, a former shareholder of Promsberbank, was arrested in Moscow earlier this month as regulators probe trades handled by Deutsche Bank AG that may have been used to launder money. (Bloomberg, 03.15.16).
  • Russian  Deputy Culture Minister Grigory Pirumov has been detained on charges of embezzling public funds. (RFE/RL, 03.15.16).
  • Sergei Davydov, a resident of the Ural Mountains region of Perm, claims he has prompted several judges there to change their verdicts by phoning them, posing as a senior judge or a law enforcement officer, and requesting they rule in a specific way. (RFE/RL, 03.11.16).

Foreign affairs and trade:

  • Syria:
    • “I feel that the objective set before the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces is generally fulfilled, so I order the Defense Ministry to begin withdrawing the main part of our military group from the Syrian Arab Republic beginning tomorrow,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday. (Kremlin.ru , 03.14.16).
    • President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia could scale up its military presence in Syria again within "a few hours,” if needed.  Putin also said his country's military operation in Syria had been a success, with the upper hand on the battlefield returned to the Syrian government and with President Bashar al-Assad ready to make the compromises necessary for a peaceful settlement.  Russian forces remain engaged in efforts to take back the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, Mr. Putin said, adding that he expected it to be liberated soon. (New York Times, 03.18.16, RFE/RL, 03.17.16).
    • Russian President Vladimir Putin did not specify how many of the estimated 4,000 soldiers and 50 combat aircraft sent to Syria would stay there. But he did say that Russia would keep enough forces there to help enforce a cease-fire negotiated last month. Viktor Ozerov, head of the Russian Federation Council's Defense Committee, said Moscow will keep about 1,000 military personnel at its two bases in Syria and may also keep its S-400 surface-to-air missile systems  there. Ozerov said some 800 troops are required to secure the naval base at Tartus and the Hmeimim air base. Forces remaining in Syria are under orders to continue airstrikes against terrorists because it’s too early to talk about the defeat of terrorism, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said. (Bloomberg, 03.14.16, RBTH, 04.15.16, RFE/RL, 03.15.16, RFE/RL, 03.14.16, NYT, 03.17.16).
    • The first group of Russian fighter jets left Syria on Tuesday. The withdrawal of the basic contingent of the Russian air task force from Syria will be completed in 2-3 days, Russia’s Aerospace Force Commander-in-Chief Viktor Bondarev said in an interview on Thursday. The warplanes, which have already left Syria, include an Ilyushin-76 transport plane as well as Sukhoi-25 fighter jets and Su-34 bombers. (Bloomberg, 03.14.16, New York Times, 03.16.16, RFE/RL, 03.16.16, Tass, 03.17.16).
    • “Over 2,000 criminals who have come from Russia have been eliminated in Syria's territory, including 17 field commanders. Our air force destroyed 209 facilities for producing, processing and transferring fuel, as well as 2,912 sources of petroleum product delivery,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday. (Kremlin.ru, 03.14.16).
    • President Vladimir Putin said that Russia spent $481 million on the operation in Syria, and that the money came from what had already been allocated to the military budget. (New York Times, 03.18.16).
    • President Vladimir Putin on Thursday honored a Russian soldier killed in Russia's military operation in Syria. By paying tribute to 27-year-old Fyodor Zhuravlyov, Putin tacitly raised the death toll for Russian servicemen in the five-month Syria operation to five. (Reuters, 03.17.16).
    • The Islamic State group has claimed to have killed five Russian troops in Syria. (International Business Times, 03.18.16).
    • Russia has deployed its Mil Mi-28N Night Hunter and Kamov Ka-52  attack helicopter types to Syria. (IHS Janes, 03.17.16).
    • The limited Russian contingent operating in Syria is outperforming the more widespread groupings of the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition, according to Germany’s Focus media outlet who came by the classified NATO document. (Russia Today, 03.05.16).
    • A Jordanian official said that his government was informed of the Russian withdrawal plans in January. (Defense News, 03.15.16).
    • The White House said Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama in a phone conversation discussed Russia's partial withdrawal from Syria and the next steps required to fully implement the cessation of hostilities. (RFE/RL, 03.14.16).
    • U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Thursday that Russia’s ongoing military presence in Syria -- which includes a naval and an air base -- doesn’t have to be “a negative thing” for the future of Syria if it’s directed against Islamic State and Russia continues to play “a very helpful role” toward a political solution. (Bloomberg, 03.17.16).
    • “It is good we are cooperating with Russia in Syria,” US Vice President Joe Biden said in Jerusalem. “That would not have come out of either one of our mouths, or at least mine, four or five years ago. But the truth is Russia has seen the Lord on some of these issues as well,” Biden said. (Defense News, 03.15.16).
    • Though Russia withdrew some of its military forces from Syria this week, Moscow shouldn’t expect any relief from U.S. sanctions, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland told a Senate panel on Tuesday. (Foreign Policy, 03.15.16).
    • Interfax has reported that the Russian government is ready to fully coordinate actions in Syria with the United States to take out the Islamic State in Raqqa. (Washington Post, 03.14.16).
    • The Syrian presidency said President Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin agreed the Russian drawdown in a telephone call. At the same time Syria's government on Wednesday firmly rejected direct negotiations with opposition envoys, dampening hopes of greater compromise at peace talks after Russia this week began drawing down its troops. Syria’s main opposition group - High Negotiations Committee - said Russia’s withdrawal of forces from the country will help peace talks in Geneva.  (RFE/RL, 03.14.16, Washington Post, 03.17.16, Bloomberg, 03.14.16).
    • German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the withdrawal of Moscow's forces from Syria will increase the pressure on Assad to negotiate a "political transition." (RFE/RL, 03.14.16).
    • British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Twitter that the "Russian move could be positive if part of real commitment to a Syrian-led political transition and continuation of cessation of hostilities."  Hammond  also said welcoming the withdrawal would be like lauding a husband who’d given up abusing his spouse. (RFE/RL, 03.14.16, Bloomberg, 03.15.16).
    • Russia has accused Turkey of deploying troops "a few hundred meters from the border inside Syria" to prevent Kurdish groups in northern Syria from consolidating their positions. (RFE/RL, 03.13.16).
  • Other countries:
    • Russian President Vladimir Putin told visiting Israeli President Reuven Rivlin he had agreed to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At a meeting with Putin on March 16, Rivlin asked that Russia work to restore a United Nations peacekeeping force as part of any long-term resolution of the war in Syria, Israeli officials said. (RFE/RL, 03.17.16).
    • On Monday, European Union foreign ministers discussed the bloc’s ties with Russia for the first time in more than a year. During the meeting EU foreign ministers have unanimously agreed on five guiding principles  of the bloc’s policy toward Russia, including strengthening EU relations “with our Eastern partners and other neighbors, in particular in Central Asia,” and EU resilience in areas such as energy. There are some governments like Hungary that dislike the bloc’s economic sanctions on Moscow and a number, including Italy and Greece, that hope to deepen engagement substantially with Russia. In separate comments German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel has called on the European Union to create conditions by this summer to lift sanctions imposed against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. (Wall Street Journal, 03.14.16, RFE/RL, 03.14.16,RFE/RL, 03.18.16).
    • Intelligence agencies should support a European Union effort to provide airlines with more timely information about the risk from flights near war zones, a task force set up in the wake of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. (Wall Street Journal, 03.17.16).
    • Moscow on March 14 denounced Poland's defense minister for saying the 2010 plane crash that killed Poland's president was a Russian act of terrorism. (RFE/RL, 03.14.16).
    • Germany has sentenced former intelligence employee Markus Reichel for spying for the United States and Russia. (RFE/RL, 07.17.16).
    • Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom will help train personnel to develop South Africa's nuclear power industry on the basis of its educational programs, according to the agency's statement on Wednesday. (Sputnik, 03.16.16).

Russia's neighbors:

  • Ukraine:
    • The Ukrainian military said on March 12 that two of its soldiers were killed in clashes between government forces and pro-Russia separatists in southeast Ukraine over the past 24 hours. (RFE/RL, 03.12.16).
    • Ukraine’s president sees Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko and Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi as possible candidates to take over as prime minister. (RFE/RL, 03.14.16).
    • European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said Ukraine has carried out the necessary reforms for the EU to recommend next month that Ukrainian citizens be granted visa-free travel through the passport-free Schengen zone. The European Commission proposal for a visa-free regime with Ukraine is expected to come after the Dutch referendum on April 6 on the Ukrainian Association Agreement (RFE/RL, 03.17.16).
    • News media are reporting that U.S. President Barack Obama and the world's leading economic powers have urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to release jailed Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko. Ukraine has identified nearly 50 people it considers responsible for the "illegal detention and falsified trial" of Savchenko and has urged EU to impose sanctions against them. Hillary Clinton has also joined the international condemnation of Russia over Savchenko. (Washington Post, 03.15.16, RFE/RL, 03.17.16, RFE/RL, 03.17.16).
    • Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Donetsk region have begun issuing their own self-styled passports. (RFE/RL, 03.17.16).
    • Ukraine's top prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who had reportedly resigned last month amid domestic and international pressure and accusations of stonewalling reforms, has resumed his duties. (RFE/RL, 03.16.16).
    • Ukraine’s Prosecutor General is investigating embezzlement of a grant, which U.S. and EU have given to reform the Prosecutor General’s office. (Ukrnews, 03.16.16).
    • Victoria Nuland, U.S. assistant secretary of state, warned on March 15 that, if efforts to liberalize the economy and fight endemic graft fail, Ukraine "risks sliding backwards once again into corruption, into lawlessness, into vassal statehood."(RFE/RL, 03.15.16).
    • Ukrainian lawmakers have approved an anticorruption bill establishing public oversight over the assets of both senior and lower-level officials and their relatives. (RFE/RL, 03.16.16).
  • Other neighbors:
    • Chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group promoting the settlement of the Karabakh conflict are energetically trying to arrange a meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in Washington DC, on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit. (Interfax, 03.18.16).
    • Azerbaijan says its border guards have shot dead five armed Bangladeshi and Azerbaijani citizens who were trying to illegally cross the border into Iran. (RFE/RL, 03.14.16).
    • Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has pardoned 148 people serving jail terms. Prominent investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova was not among those pardoned. (RFE/RL, 07.17.16).
    • A court in Baku found Mammad Ibrahim -- an adviser to the leader of Azerbaijan's opposition Popular Front Party -- guilty of hooliganism on March 15 and sentenced him to three years. (RFE/RL, 03.15.16).
    • Kyrgyz officials say Uzbekistan has unilaterally suspended entrance to the country for Kyrgyz nationals via at least two checkpoints along the two Central Asian countries' border. (RFE/RL, 07.17.16).

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