Russia in Review

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

Nuclear security agenda:

The White House "strongly objects" to a House bill’s language that would prevent the Energy Department from continuing to conduct nuclear security work in Russia until the Ukraine crisis -- and concerns about potential Russian violations of various arms control treaties -- are resolved. (GSN, 05.20.14).
U.S. armed security forces at a nuclear missile base failed a drill last summer that simulated the hostile takeover of a missile launch silo because they were unable to speedily regain control of the captured nuclear weapon, according to an internal Air Force review. (AP, 05.22.14).

Iran nuclear issues:

The next round of nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers will take place in Vienna on June 16-20. The latest round of negotiations in Vienna last week resulted in little progress. (Reuters, 05.18.14).
Russia plans to sign a contract with Iran this year to build two more nuclear reactors at its Bushehr power plant as part of a broader deal for up to eight reactors in the Islamic state. (Reuters, 05.22.14).

NATO-Russia relations, including transit to and from Afghanistan:

NATO does not expect to base nuclear weapons or large numbers of new combat troops in Eastern Europe, despite tension with Russia over Ukraine, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday. "At this stage, I do not foresee any NATO request to change the content of the [1997] NATO-Russia Founding Act," he said. Reuters, 05.19.14).
Russia will retaliate against increased NATO activity near its border, its top general said Friday, in the latest sign of tensions with the western alliance over Ukraine. “The intensity, the operational and combat readiness of the alliance's troops is being increased near the Russian border. In these circumstances … we have to take retaliatory measures,” General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of general staff of the Russian armed forces, told a defense conference in Moscow. (Reuters, 05.23.14).
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow's biggest concern over the crisis in Ukraine was that the former Soviet republic would join NATO. “Tomorrow Ukraine may join NATO, while the day after tomorrow parts of the U.S. anti-missile system could be deployed there," he told an investment forum. (Reuters, 05.23.14).
NATO officials said Russian and NATO ambassadors may meet as early as next week to discuss the Ukraine crisis. (Reuters, 05.19.14).
If Russia were to engage in military aggression in the Baltics, NATO would be unable to defend the region using conventional means. A draft version of a comprehensive, restricted internal NATO assessment of the situation reads: "At present, the alliance could not protect the Baltic countries with conventional military means."(Der Spiegel, 05.19.14).

Missile defense:

The U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment that would boost fiscal 2015 funding by $99 million for the purchase of Standard Missile 3 Block 1B interceptors. (GSN, 05.22.14).
The Obama administration decried as too risky and too expensive a push by lawmakers to accelerate the deployment to Poland of a land-based version of the Aegis missile defense system by sometime in 2016, and short-range antimissile capabilities by late 2014. (GSN, 05.21.14).
The U.S. military said on Wednesday that it conducted a successful test of a portion of the missile-defense system intended to become the cornerstone of the U.S. missile shield in Europe. Officials were testing the Aegis system's ability to detect and launch the SM-3 interceptors. (Wall Street Journal, 05.21.14).

Nuclear arms control:

In a vote of 233-191, U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment to its annual defense-authorization legislation that would provisionally block the Pentagon from using any fiscal 2015 funds to implement the New START accord until Moscow is deemed in compliance with several other arms control agreements, is "no longer illegally occupying" the Crimean Peninsula, and ceases destabilizing activities in other parts of Ukraine. (GSN, 05.22.14).

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

No significant developments.

Cyber security:

Russia’s state telecom giant Rostelecom has unveiled the beta version of its new domestic Internet search engine Sputnik. (The Moscow Times, 05.22.14).
Alleged hackers in Russia are likely to be charged soon, according to people familiar with the U.S. government's investigations. (Wall Street Journal, 05.20.14).

Energy exports from CIS:

"The competition for Russian gas resources has started," Alexei Miller of Gazprom said, referring to the 30-year gas deal signed Wednesday with China. He said Europe will become only more dependent on Russia for its supplies of natural gas in the near future as Asia is absorbing alternative supplies from Middle East countries. Miller said the company increased its exports to the EU by 6% in the first quarter from the same period last year. Gazprom supplied a record 162.7 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe last year. (Wall Street Journal, 05.23.14).
The Ukraine crisis has galvanized the EU into mapping out a new energy-security strategy for the bloc that will be discussed by EU leaders at the end of June. At the heart of the plan, set out in a draft document, is the aim of reducing the bloc's dependence on Russia. European Commission wants to boost gas imports from Norway and Algeria and explore gas ties with Mediterranean countries such as Israel, Greece and Cyprus. EU policymakers are also considering a goal to increase energy efficiency by between 30 and 35 percent by 2030, (Wall Street Journal, 05.22.14,Reuters, 05.20.14).
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the price of LNG to be supplied from the United States of America will be 40% more expensive than the Russian pipeline gas. (Bloomberg, 05.20.14).
The European Union urged Russia on Wednesday not to disrupt gas flows to Ukraine, just 10 days ahead of a Moscow-imposed deadline to resolve a pricing dispute over natural gas between Kiev and Moscow. (Wall Street Journal, 05.21.14).
Progress has been made on resolving a gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine but an agreement hasn't been reached, the European Union's energy chief said Monday after meeting Russia's energy minister in Berlin. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said: “If the Ukrainian market is stable and if Ukrainians fulfill all of their obligations, Europe will receive what it is entitled to in full.” (Bloomberg, 05.20.14, . (Wall Street Journal, 05.19.14).
Russia may simplify the application process for resource exploration licenses by foreign investors, President Vladimir Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum Friday. (The Moscow Times, 05.23.14).
Russia's No.2 oil producer, Lukoil, and France's Total agreed on Friday to set up a joint venture to tap vast tight oil reserves in Siberia. (Reuters, 05.23.14).
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Friday that oil majors Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil have confirmed their commitment to Russia and are eager to continue their work there. (Reuters, 05.23.14).
Rosneft said Russia would be able to boost gas sales to Asia to over 60 bcm per year by 2025 if other companies were allowed to export the fuel. This is compared to the over 160 bcm Gazprom supplied to the European Union and Turkey last year. (Reuters, 05.22.14).
Japan relies on the nearby Sakhalin-2 field in Russian waters for about 10% of its supplies of natural gas. Japan imported 8.6 million metric tons of LNG from Russia in 2013, compared with none in 2008. (Wall Street Journal, 05.22.14).

Bilateral economic ties:

Visa Inc. and MasterCard have reached a compromise agreement with Russian officials that would allow the global card payment companies to continue operating in the country. Russia's finance minister, Anton Siluanov, said both Visa and MasterCard are ready to create their own Russia-based payment operators, which will take around a year and half. Siluanov has earlier said of Visa and Mastercard: “We can't quit using these systems, as more than 90% of customers use them.” (Wall Street Journal, 05.20.14, Wall Street Journal, 05.23.14).
At last year’s St Petersburg Economic Forum Vladimir Putin told the collected heads of US industry with investments in Russia: “We have a problem with your government but we have no problem with you. You are welcome to invest and repatriate your profits.” (Financial Times, 05.20.14).
Russia’s Rusnano currently has $1.2 billion invested in U.S. companies, including biotech, energy, coating and hardware firms. A surge of Russian cash into the U.S. tech sector in recent years has prompted federal authorities to alert start-ups in a key American innovation cradle about potential espionage via Russian venture capital firms financing their operations. (RFE/RL, 05.17.14).
Calpers, the California state pension fund, has sold $20m worth of its holdings in two companies part-owned by Russia’s richest man, Alisher Usmanov, in a stand against neo-Nazi attacks on gays in the country. (Financial Times, 05.16.14).

Other bilateral issues:

"I'm an optimist. I am not losing faith that the situation in Ukraine will at some point become normal and we will find the inner strength to normalize relations (with the United States)," Russian President Vladimir Putin told the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. "In regard to Ukraine, you know what the problem is. For us it is extremely important, but in America questions on Ukraine were decided on a technical level. I personally handled the problem," Putin said. (Reuters, 05.23.14).
The Obama administration on Tuesday leveled sanctions against 12 Russians for human rights abuses including the detention and death of a celebrated lawyer who the United States says sought to expose fraud by Russian officials. Russia has vowed to retaliate against what it calls "unfounded" U.S. sanctions. (New York Times, Reuters, 05.22.14).
Russia is being pulled into a new Cold War with the U.S. and its allies, who are using economic warfare reminiscent of the Soviet Union under Leonid Brezhnev, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. "We are slowly but surely moving toward a second Cold War, which no one needs," Medvedev said." (Bloomberg, 05.20.14).
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that if U.S. President Barack Obama wants to judge him, he needs to change professions. "If Obama wants to judge people, why doesn't he get a job at a courthouse," Putin said. (The Moscow Times, 05.23.14).
The head of the US Air Force’s space command says he is “very concerned” about the state of the country’s rocket industry in a sign of American anxiety over its dependence on Russia launch technology. (WP, 05.20.14).
The Russian government may place "limitations" on the amount of information that Russian banks can render to U.S. tax authorities under FATCA, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev said Thursday. (Moscow Times, 05.22.14).
Igor Sechin, head of Russia's leading oil company Rosneft, said Thursday that sanctions imposed by Washington on him over Russia's actions in Ukraine had failed to hinder his work with U.S. partners and did not affect him personally. (Reuters, 05.22.14).
Sanctions imposed by the West on Moscow over its involvement in Ukraine are harmful for businesses in countries that imposed them and in Russia, the chief executive officer of metals major Severstal said. (Reuters, 05.22.14).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a strong pledge on Friday to improve his country’s investment climate, make it more competitive, and reduce its dependency on imports of manufactured goods. Speaking at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin also pledged to introduce low-interest loans to help companies develop more technology, and said the government would push an import substitution program. (Financial Times, 05.23.14).
Net capital outflows from Russia shrank to $4.6 billion in April, central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Friday. She said capital flight will slow drastically through the remainder of 2014 and end the year at a total of between $85 billion and $90 billion. (Moscow Times, Reuters, 05.23.14).
Russia’s central bank has reduced by $100m the amount it buys or sells when the currency reaches certain levels within its trading band. (Financial Times, 05.22.14).
Russia reduced its 2014 domestic borrowing plan by 46 percent as the world's largest energy exporter expects to turn a fiscal surplus of 0.5 percent of GDP, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said. (Bloomberg, 05.19.14).
Foreign banks have extended a total of $242bn of loans to Russia, $121bn of which needs to be rolled over in the next 12 months. (Financial Times, 05.20.14).
The government plans to funnel $28 billion into Russia's aviation industry by 2025 in order to haul Russia up into the world's top three aircraft manufacturers, according to an industry support plan unveiled Friday. (The Moscow Times, 05.16.14).
Russia is developing a new space strategy to replace the International Space Station, or ISS, in 2020 and has tapped the Chinese, Indian, and European space agencies as potential partners as it pursues lunar and deep-space exploration projects. (The Moscow Times, 05.22.14).
Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev’s $4.5 billion divorce settlement may be ‘the most expensive in history.’ (WP, 05.20.14).

Defense:

The Russian Navy is planning a number of expeditions in the Arctic this summer as the country looks to strengthen its position in the increasingly contested region, which is home to the world's largest untapped oil reserves. (The Moscow Times, 05.21.14).
Russia conducted a flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile Tuesday that state media in Moscow said included the test of an advanced warhead. (Washington Times, 05.21.14).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

Three police officers were killed and seven others injured in a shootout in Russia's volatile North Caucasus Republic of Dagestan. (RFE/RL, 05.15.14).
A Moscow jury convicted five men on Tuesday in the 2006 murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, including three defendants who had been acquitted in a previous trial. (Reuters, 05.20.14).

Foreign affairs and trade:

China and Russia agreed to a major 30-year natural gas deal on Wednesday that would send the fuel from Siberia by pipeline to China. The deal capped a two-day visit to China by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, that included a regional-security summit and joint military exercises off the Chinese coast. Under the terms of the $400bn agreement, Gazprom will supply China National Petroleum Corp with 38bn cubic meters of natural gas over a 30-year period. The price of gas in the deal is close to $350 a thousand cubic meters, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Friday. Russia plans to invest $55 billion in exploration and pipeline construction to China's border, and CNPC said it would build the Chinese section of the pipeline. Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to zero out the mineral extraction tax for gas fields that supply gas to China under the contract. The deal was the result of 10 years of negotiations and is not tied to diplomatic tensions in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said. ( (Interfax, 05.20.14, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, 05.21.14, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, 05.23.14, Reuters, 05.22.14).
Russia’s privately-owned Russian gas producer Novatek on Tuesday finalized a deal to supply China's CNPC with 3 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually for 20 years from their joint Yamal LNG project in Russia's north. (Moscow Times, 05.20.14).
The construction of a new railway bridge between Russia and China will begin in the next few months, with the completion date slated for 2016. The bridge, will allow Russia to increase its annual exports to China by 21 million tons and shorten the journey between the two countries by 700 kilometers. China has also held talks to invest $5 billion in a Siberian electrical grid. (New York Times, 05.23.14, Moscow Times, 05.20.14).
A joint venture between the Russian Direct Investment Fund and China Investment Corporation, or CIC, plans to raise an $800 million fund to invest in infrastructure for senior living centers and to tap rising Sino-Russia tourism. China is the second most popular destination for Russian tourists. In 2012, 3.3 million Chinese tourists visited Russia, a three times increase on 2007. (Reuters, 05.19.14).
Russia and China signed a protocol on establishing a control group for the implementation of eight strategic projects, including cooperation in space and in the market for space navigation. (Moscow Times, 05.19.14).
There are plans to form a joint venture between Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation and a Chinese partner which Moscow hopes would help create enough orders to make the wide-body long-haul aircraft UAC is developing viable. (Financial Times, 05.20.14).
A concept of the prospective Russia-China heavy helicopter may be elaborated by the end of this year, Russian Helicopters General Director Alexander Mikheyev said. (Interfax, 05.22.14).
Chinese auto maker Great Wall Motor Co plans to invest an initial 2.1 billion yuan ($340 million) to establish a production base capable of producing up to 150,000 vehicles a year in Russia (Wall Street Journal, 05.19.14)..
Chinese and Russian navies on Thursday completed a defense exercise against the intrusion of unidentified boats as part of their ongoing naval drill "Joint Sea-2014". A total of 14 vessels, as well as a helicopter and a special forces team from Russia, were to be used in the maneuvers. A Russian government official said: “Those exercises tell you that nothing is keeping us from moving towards a real alliance. And that Russia, fully drifting towards China, is the only argument left which could convince America to start engaging Russia again, because Washington doesn’t want that.” (Financial Times, 05.21.14,CCTV, 05.20.14, Xinhua, 05.22.14).
Russia and China vetoed on Thursday a resolution to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court for possible prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the country's three-year civil war. (Reuters, 05.23.14).
Efforts to create a unipolar international world order have failed, a fact obvious to everyone, even those still trying to dictate the terms of global politics, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his keynote speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum Friday. (The Moscow Times, 05.23.14).
High-tech products and industrial equipment constituted 47 percent of imports inbound from the EU in 2013, according to Europe's statistics service, Eurostat. In contrast, 77 percent of Russian exports to the EU are oil and gas. (Moscow Times, 05.22.14).
Christophe de Margerie, CEO of French oil giant Total, said that sanction-hit businessman Gennady Timchenko is his friend while speaking on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday. Margerie said his affection for Timchenko "comes from the heart," (Moscow Times, 05.22.14).
German exports to Russia slid 13 percent in the first quarter of the year, led by sharp falls in cars and machinery, as the Ukraine crisis pushed the ruble currency down to record lows. 6,000 German companies have invested an estimated $27 billion into post-Communist Russia. (New York Times, 05.23.14, Reuters, 05.20.14).
Raiffeisen Bank International reiterated its commitment to its key Russian business. The bank’s most profitable market is Russia and its gross exposure to Russia is €19.7bn (Financial Times, 05.22.14).
Olaf Koch, the chief executive of German retailer Metro AG, said on Thursday Metro was considering increasing its presence in Russia despite tensions in relations between Moscow and the West over the Ukraine crisis. (Reuters, 05.22.14).
Switzerland has added 13 more people with links to the crisis in Ukraine to a list designed to prevent them from circumventing international sanctions. (Wall Street Journal, 05.19.14).
The European Union on Wednesday brought its third trade complaint against Russia at the World Trade Organization in a year, challenging import duties that Russia places on vans and other light commercial vehicles. (Wall Street Journal, 05.21.14).
Russia vented its fury at Prince Charles over his comments likening Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Charles's remarks were 'unacceptable, outrageous and low'. The U.K. Foreign Office has brushed off Moscow's complaints and has told a Russian diplomat who came in for explanations that Moscow should take a step back from meddling in Ukraine. (Daily Mail, The Moscow Times, 05.23.14).

Russia's neighbors:

If the polls and the candidate's confidence in the public mood are right, Petro Poroshenko may get elected in a landslide, skipping the need for a second-round runoff. But he will have to get more than 50 percent of the vote on May 25 on a ballot crowded with 21 names. A poll by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, conducted April 29 to May 11, found Mr. Poroshenko supported by 34 percent of all voters, compared with 6 percent for Ms. Yulia Tymoshenko and 4 percent for Sergey Tigipko; 25 percent said they were undecided. If no candidate wins 50 percent plus one vote, the top two will face each other in a run-off on June 15. Ukraine’s Central Electoral Commission should have a preliminary vote tally of the Sunday presidential elections on Sunday night or Monday. (Kyiv Post, 05.23.14, Brookings, 05.21.14, New York Times, 05.19.14).
Ukraine's Central Election Commission has expressed fears it may be impossible to hold next weekend's presidential election in the countries restive east. The commission said on May 17 that it could not prepare for the vote in the region because of threats and "illegal actions" by separatists who have overrun towns and cities. (RFE/RL, 05.19.14).
Russia will respect the result of Ukraine's presidential election, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday. "What we want for Ukraine is peace and calm," Mr. Putin said. "After their election, of course we will cooperate with the newly elected head of state." (Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, 05.23.14).
Ukraine’s acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said Thursday that the 13 Ukrainian troops were killed when rebels attacked a checkpoint with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades near the town of Volnovakha, south of Donetsk. In the town of Horlivka, a masked rebel commander claimed responsibility for the raid and showed an array of seized Ukrainian weapons. (Washington Postal 05.23.14).
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he had ordered Russian troops to pull out from the regions near Ukraine to help create a positive environment for the nation's presidential vote, but added that it would be hard for the Kremlin to deal with its winner because of continuing fighting in eastern Ukraine. (AP, 05.21.14).
Russia moved 15 transport planes and 20 trains carrying personnel and military equipment out of three provinces that border Ukraine, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday. Russia will pull back all forces deployed to regions near its border with Ukraine "within a few days", its deputy defense minister said on Friday. (Reuters, 05.22.14, 05.23.14).
General Secretary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday that the alliance had seen "limited Russian troop activity in the vicinity of the border with Ukraine that may suggest that some of these forces are preparing to withdraw." A NATO military officer said that the alliance had seen equipment being packed up and other similar preparations, but had not observed any large-scale movement of troops. (Wall Street Journal, 05.22.14).
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s parliament ratified the text of a “memorandum of peace and reconciliation,” which promises a constitutional reform that would ensure decentralization of power, with local authorities given more tax revenues. Important issues still remain unresolved following the memorandum, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said Wednesday. The Kiev government is pushing a decentralization plan that would give more budget authority to municipal officials, while turning governors into regional representatives of a strong national government. (New York Times, 05.19.14, Podrobnosti.ua, 05.21.14, RIA Novosti, 05.21.14).
Ukraine's government held a second round of "national unity" talks aimed at de-escalating the crisis in the country's southeast on May 17 in Kharkiv. Kremlin said: “President Vladimir Putin welcomes the first contacts between Kiev and supporters of federalization, seeking to establish direct dialogue in which all parties concerned should take part.” (New York Times, 05.19.14,RFE/RL, 05.17.14).
The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service did not detect any Russian troops within ten kilometers of Ukraine's eastern border during aerial inspections on Monday, a spokesman for the service said Tuesday. (RIA Novosti, 05.20.14).
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also said Ukrainian border guards repelled an attack Wednesday by "several groups of armed militants" who were trying to enter the country from Russia. (Washington Post, 05.23.14).
Citing a recent surge in organized crime along its border with Russia, Kiev proposed to Moscow that the two adversaries join forces in order to stabilize the situation. (The Moscow Times, 05.18.14).
Claims that Russia has plans to claim any part of Ukraine is propaganda and the comparison with the situation with Crimea is inappropriate, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday. (RIA Novosti, 05.20.14).
The Russian Armed Forces General Staff stated that tens of foreign mercenaries are acting in Ukraine on the side of the current Kiev authorities, a high-ranking representative of the country's General Staff said. (RIA Novosti, 05.23.14).
Ukrainian authorities have detained three journalists working for Russian news outlets in the country's restive east. The moves prompted a rebuke from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called the detainments "absolutely unacceptable" and said they raised questions about Ukraine's political processes. (Wall Street Journal, 05.21.14).
Chief of Russia's air force said Wednesday that a scheduled "international competition" — in which Russian warplanes will "compete" in firing missiles and bullets at ground targets — would proceed in the vicinity of the Ukrainian border throughout the next week, despite Ukraine's objections. (WP, 05.21.14).
Russia has called on international organizations to ensure an "open and impartial" investigation by Kiev into deaths during riots in the Ukrainian city of Odessa this month, the Foreign Ministry said. A Ukrainian official says 32 pro-Russian rebels, who died in the Black Sea port, Odessa, on May 2, might have been poisoned with chloroform before dying in a fire. Moscow thinks that the Ukrainian authorities are lying about the reasons behind the tragedy. (RFE/RL, 05.19.14, Interfax, 05.19.14, The Moscow Times, 05.20.14).
The World Bank on Thursday approved $1.5 billion in funding for three Ukraine development projects as part of a larger international financing package. (Wall Street Journal, 05.22.14).
Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, has called for his 300,000 workers to stage a “warning” protest against the pro-Russia separatist government in Donetsk. (Financial Times, 05.20.14).
At least six members of Congress are headed to eastern Ukraine this holiday weekend to observe the critical presidential elections in the conflict-ridden country. (Washington Post, 05.23.14).
Despite an official ban, several thousand Tatars assembled in several towns and villages of Crimea on Sunday to commemorate the Muslim people’s deportation under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin 70 years ago. Seizing on the situation, an Islamist group allied with al-Qaeda this week issued a call to Crimean Tatars for a “holy war” against Russia. (Financial Times, 05.18.14).
Over the next three years, Moscow will probably need to pour more than $22bn into Crimea, including annual $2bn that will go towards paying Crimea’s pensioners, who make up more than a quarter of the population. (Financial Times, 05.212.14).
The presence of nuclear facilities in Central Asia makes them vulnerable to the threat of nuclear terrorism, Director of Center for the Study of Regional Security in Uzbekistan Alisher Badalbaev said. (RIA Novosti, 05.15.14).
Russia's state-owned Vnesheconombank is to provide a loan of $500 million over eight years for the financing of Belarus' first nuclear power plant under a newly signed agreement. (WNN, 05.19.14).
Georgia has accused Russian troops of behaving like “Somali pirates” in almost daily provocations to try to intimidate Tbilisi in the weeks before it signs a landmark trade accord with the EU. Since late last month, Russian troops had seized 20 Georgians from over the administrative border of South Ossetia. (Financial Times, 05.22.14).

If you wish to either unsubscribe from or subscribe to Russia in Review, please e-mail Simon Saradzhyan at simon_saradzhyan@hks.harvard.edu.