Russia in Review

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

Nuclear security agenda:

Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Security Affairs and Disarmament Mikhail I. Ulyanov said: “We advocate further strengthening of the international legal norms regulating the security of nuclear materials with a view to reducing the proliferation threats and preventing terrorists from acquiring WMDs.” (BBC/Russian Foreign Ministry’s web site, 05.01.14).
In every case of theft of nuclear materials where the circumstances of the theft are known, the perpetrators were either insiders or had help from insiders, the study found, according to a new study by according to Scott Sagan of Stanford University and Matthew Bunn of Harvard University. (Stanford Report, 04.24.14).
A Chatham House report recounting a litany of near-misses in which nuclear weapons came close to being launched by mistake concludes that the risk of potentially catastrophic accidents is higher than previously thought and appears to be rising. The report lists 13 instances since 1962 when nuclear weapons were nearly used. (The Guardian, 04.29.14).
Correspondent Lesley Stahl visited the underground ICBM complex surrounding F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyo., where she found missileers have trouble hearing what is being said on their phones. Computers there are so “ancient” they use floppy disks, according to a report on “60 Minutes.” (The Hill, 04.27.14).
Senate appropriators are giving the Obama administration two weeks to come up with a plan for driving down the cost of constructing a controversial facility that would convert bomb-grade plutonium into nuclear fuel. The U.S. Energy Department has said earlier that construction of the mixed-oxide plant in South Carolina will continue for now, though the intention is to eventually ax the project. (GSN, 04.30.14, 05.02.14).

Iran nuclear issues:

Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, held a coordinating meeting with the political directors of the P5+1 group in Brussels on April 30 to discuss the Iranian nuclear program. (Voice of Russia, 04.30.14),
Iran held talks with Russia over $10 billion worth of in electricity deals on Sunday, in the latest deals. Russia is already in talks with Iran to swap its food and other goods for Iranian oil. (WSJ, 04.28.14).

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

"Clearly the Russians have declared NATO as an adversary, so we have to begin to view Russia no longer as a partner but as more of an adversary than a partner," said Alexander Vershbow, the deputy secretary-general of NATO. (AP, 04.30.14).
NATO members will be "judged harshly" if they do not increase defense spending in response to the challenge now posed by Russia, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel plans to tell U.S. allies Friday. (Washington Post, 05.02.14).
The Russian authorities are considering the possibility of closing the NATO Information Office in Moscow. (Interfax/Kommersant, 04.28.14).
A company of U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade soldiers is flying into Tallinn Monday, part of a deployment of 600 U.S. troops in Poland and the Baltic states. The Obama administration deployed the paratroopers as a non-NATO operation and said they will stay through 2014. In Brussels, Germany, France and Italy are among the governments lined up against a permanent NATO deployment in the Baltics. (Washington Post, 04.27.14).
U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Europe in June to consult with allies about the Ukraine crisis. His itinerary will include a stop in Poland, which has been urging a tougher line against Moscow. (Wall Street Journal, 05.02.14).

Missile defense:

No significant developments.

Nuclear arms control:

A new bill introduced today by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and a group of 20 Senate Republicans, designed to respond to Russia's occupation of Crimea and meddling in Ukraine, threatens to unravel existing agreements with Russia that establish verifiable limits on nuclear arms, and provide information and transparency about Russian military behavior. The Corker bill also calls for a plan to accelerate by two years "Phase 3" of the European Phased Adaptive Approach. (Arms Control Association, 04.30.14).
Separate bills in the House and Senate seek to bar Russia from using updated sensors in its treaty-authorized overflights of the United States. (GSN, 05.01.14).
A House bill's mandate that all nuclear missile silos be kept operational indefinitely has drawn opposition from some Democrats. (GSN, 05.01.14).
Russia rejected as "ungrounded" an island archipelago's challenge to Moscow's compliance with nuclear disarmament commitments. In cases filed at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, the Marshall Islands chain demanded faster disarmament steps by all nine known and presumed nuclear-capable nations. (GSN, 04.29.14).
After a transparency hiatus of four years, the Obama administration has declassified the size of its nuclear weapons stockpile: 4,804 warheads as of September 2013.The new stockpile size is 309 warheads fewer than the 5,113 warheads that the administration in 2010 reported were in the stockpile as of September 2009. (FAS Strategic Security Blog, 04.29.14).
The world's five nuclear powers announced on Tuesday they had agreed to never use their atomic arms against five Central Asian countries. (GSN, 05.30.14).
Arms-control proponents are urging Washington and Moscow not to stop discussing new nuclear-weapon curbs. A so-called "Deep Cuts Commission" advocated steps such as curbing the readiness of the former Cold War rivals' nuclear weapons to fire on a moment's notice, as well as reducing long-range warhead deployments beyond levels mandated by the 2011 New START agreement. (GSN, 04.29.14).

Counter-terrorism cooperation:

U.S. State Department’s report “Country Reports on Terrorism 2013” said the level of counter-terrorism cooperation between the Governments of Russia and U.S. showed some improvements in 2013. Specifically, relations between FSB and FBI saw an increase in both frequency and substance of information exchanges, according to the report. The number of terrorist attacks, kidnappings, deaths and injuries around the globe rose by 43 percent last year, according to the report. (U.S. State Department’s web site, 04.30.14, GSN, 05.02.14).
Top investigators looking into whether intelligence agencies missed key warning signs before the Boston Marathon bombings said Wednesday that there was no "silver bullet" that would have prevented the attack but there were several holes in the system. (Boston Globe, 05.01.14).
Lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev say that his alleged "betrayal of the United States" should not be factored into the decision on whether he receives the death penalty. (Boston Globe, 05.02.14).

Cyber:

The Russian Federation Council on Tuesday passed a bill that would classify bloggers as mass media and require foreign web companies to store users' data on Russian soil, while Russia's media watchdog said Monday that it intended to exercise greater control over the web to protect users from harmful information. (The Moscow Times, 04.29.14).

Energy exports from CIS:

Gazprom has warned that supplies to Europe could be disrupted if Ukraine does not pay up. Gazprom also said on Wednesday that Ukraine's unpaid gas bill would increase to $3.5 billion from $2.2 billion claimed currently after April's arrears are included. (Reuters, 04.30.14, Bloomberg, 04.25.14).

Bilateral economic ties:

No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

The US has imposed further sanctions on Russia, targeting seven individuals and 17 companies linked to President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. The EU also ordered similar measures Tuesday against 15 individuals. And Canada has imposed sanctions on two small Russian banks and nine individuals. "These sanctions represent the next stage in a calibrated effort to change Russia’s behavior,” U.S. President Barack Obama said. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that fresh punitive measures against Russia by the West are based on false claims of supposed Russian interference in Ukraine, insisting that Moscow has "nothing to do" with the crisis across the border. (The Moscow Times, 04.30.14, New York Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, 04.29.14).
The U.S. State Department said Monday it would suspend and revoke export licenses for defense articles to Russia if they are deemed to "contribute to Russia's military capabilities." That could also cover commercial satellite technology. "The gravity of these measures is absolutely obvious to us," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. He said they were a "revival" of a Cold War sanctions regime in which "countries of the West effectively dropped the Iron Curtain on deliveries of high-technology products to the Soviet Union." "After analyzing the sanctions against our space industry, I suggest the U.S. delivers its astronauts to the ISS with a trampoline," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said. (Wall Street Journal, 04.29.14, Washington Post, 04.30.14).
Russia will not take any immediate retaliatory measures following Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis but could reassess that stance in the future, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.(Reuters, 04.30.14).
Moscow's stock market rebounded Tuesday for the second day in a row after the latest round of U.S. sanctions turned out to be weaker than expected. (Washington Post, 04.30.14).
White House officials have pointed to the fall of the Russian ruble and Moscow stock markets as evidence of the success they have had in pressuring the Kremlin. Yet the ruble and Russian markets fell before President Obama began imposing sanctions. Today, in fact, both the ruble and the markets are slightly stronger than they were before the first sanctions were announced. (New York Times, 05.02.14).
Some investors are showing reluctance to fund transactions of Russia-bound aircraft in the wake of U.S. sanctions. The most significant exposure for Airbus and U.S. rival Boeing Co. to Russia is the supply of titanium used in building airliners. Airbus's new A350 has about 14% of its airframe made from titanium, with about 15% of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner using the material. (Wall Street Journal, 04.30.14).
The U.S. Federal Claims Court has issued a preliminary injunction against United Launch Alliance, the producer of the Atlas V launch vehicle, prohibiting it from purchasing any additional Russian-made RD-180 rocket engines. (The Moscow Times, 05.01.14).
U.S. lawmakers called for a program to develop a next-generation liquid-fuel rocket engine within five years, proposing legislation aimed at reducing U.S. dependence on Russian engines to launch military and spy satellites. (Reuters, 05.01.14).
PepsiCo Inc. Chief Executive and Chairman Indra Nooyi has canceled her planned participation in the high-profile St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Klaus Kleinfeld , chief executive of Alcoa Inc, will not attend the forum either. White House is urging U.S. chief executives and other corporate leaders to skip the May 22-24 forum because of Russia's involvement in Ukraine. Putin is scheduled to give a keynote address at the forum on May 23. PepsiCo has invested billions of dollars in Russia, its second-largest market by revenue after the U.S.(Dow Jones, 05.01.14).
Large companies like Exxon Mobil, Boeing, Royal Dutch Shell, Siemens and BP have done nothing to curtail operations in Russia. The chief executives of Shell and Siemens even met separately with Mr. Putin in recent weeks. Exxon Mobil Corp. is pushing ahead with plans to drill in Russia's Arctic seas. Russia accounted for about 1% of the company's output last year. (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, 05.02.14).
Visa and MasterCard, the two big US credit card companies, have found themselves in the line of fire between the US and Russia over Ukraine. The law passed by the Russian State Duma on Friday will require payment systems to pay a security deposit to the Central Bank to guarantee their good behavior. Visa and MasterCard would be obliged by the bill to relinquish about $3.8 billion to the Central Bank. Russia represents around $167m in revenue for MasterCard, around 2 per cent of the company’s global annual revenues of $8.3bn. (Financial Times, 05.01.14, The Moscow Times, 04.27.14).
“We don’t usually start off by sanctioning heads of state, but imposing sanctions on Putin is an option,” a spokesperson with the United States Department of the Treasury. “He is definitely not off the table.” (Newsweek, 04.21.14).
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said: "We are trying to find a way to do sector sanctions so it is minimal negative impact on Europe and Canada and the U.S. but maximum impact on Russia. We believe there is a way to do sector sanctions with a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.". (Daily Beast, 04.29.14).
If a decision is made to move toward measures against entire sectors of the Russian economy, a senior U.S. administration official said, it would be on the basis of a “shared commitment” in which “one nation isn’t bearing a significantly greater share of the burden as against other nations with different interests in different sectors.” “That’s the challenge,” said one European diplomat. “How can they devise it so that the pain is distributed evenly?” (Washington Post, 04.29.14).
Some of Washington’s closest military allies, including Japan, Egypt and Israel, are cautioning the Obama administration against taking steps that could permanently rupture Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s ties to the West, according to Asian and Middle East officials. (Wall Street Journal, 04.30.14).
Russian Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov said Friday that consumers would not feel any change if Europe and the U.S. ban food exports to Russia. Russia imported 1,800 metric tons of meat and poultry last year, worth a total of nearly $5.9 billion, according to the latest customs data. (The Moscow Times, 04.27.14).
Tax negotiations the U.S. suspended with Russia over Ukraine will hit the Russian banking sector so hard that they’d actually do more damage than the widely publicized official sanctions. More than 800 Russian banks could take a hit. Russia is scrambling to change the law to allow its banks to avoid a 30% tax penalty that U.S. would impose on those foreign banks, which would fail to the IRS on all American accounts with $50,000 or more, as required by U.S. law that comes into force in July. (Politico, 04.24.14).
As the Obama administration announces new economic measures against Russian officials and companies, the public supports increased U.S. economic and diplomatic sanctions by a 53% to 36% margin. But by roughly two-to-one (62% to 30%), Americans oppose sending arms and military supplies to the Ukrainian government. (Pew Research, 04.28.14).
The lawyer of Russian pilot and U.S. convict Konstantin Yaroshenko has accused prison authorities of using "psychological intimidation" tactics against his client after he was held in an isolation cell for hours. (The Moscow Times, 05.02.14).
A court of Chuvashia has ruled to deport four U.S. citizens from Russia. Also a, A U.S. citizen working for an NGO has reportedly been deported from Russia's Republic of Tatarstan for visa violations. (Interfax, 04.26.14, RFE/RL, 05.02.14).
U.S. immigration officials are quietly pursuing potential cases against former KGB employees and collaborators who may have engaged in persecutions as part of the notorious Soviet secret police. (RFE/RL, 04.30.14).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

Nearly six in every 10 Russians think that their country is heading in the right direction, the highest number in more than two decades, according to independent pollster Levada Center. (Moscow Times, 05.01.14).
IMF has drastically cut its growth forecast for Russia. GDP is now expected to grow by just 0.2 per cent this year, the fund said after two weeks of consultations with government officials and businesses in Russia. It was the fourth downgrade of its forecast, the last being from 3 per cent to 1.3 per cent on 8 April. (Financial Times, 04.30.14).
IMF’s mission chief to Moscow said Russia was "experiencing recession" and that a resolution of the Ukraine crisis would significantly reduce Russia's own economic uncertainties. (Reuters, 04.30.14).
Gazprom reported Tuesday a solid showing for its yearly earnings, which were up 10 percent in 2013, with most of the increase attributable to growing demand in the European Union. Gazprom’s net sales to Europe were up 15 percent in 2013, totaling $52 billion. At the same time Gazprom posted a 7 percent drop in 2013 net profit to $35.7 billion. Gazprom said it was taking action to mitigate the impact of possible further western sanctions. (New York Times, Financial Times, Reuters, 04.30.14).
Despite Rosneft’s revenues in the first quarter increasing by 69.3% to $3.86 billion, net profit fell 13.7% on the quarter to 88 billion rubles after the company suffered a foreign exchange loss of 84 billion rubles during the three months to the end of March. (Wall Street Journal, 04.30.14).
Corporate bond sales from Russia have ground to a standstill, amounting to just $4.6 billion so far this year. That is a fifth of year-ago levels and under 5 percent of what emerging market firms have raised. Worse still, it is a tiny proportion of the $150 billion or so of the hard currency debt due to be repaid by Russian companies in 2014. (Reuters, 04.28.14).
The Prosecutor General's Office said it identified 24 nongovernmental organizations as "foreign agents" last year, in line with a law that rights groups say is intended to limit dissent in Russia. (The Moscow Times, 04.29.14).
A group of Siberian scientists have claimed that the Mendeleev Ridge in the Arctic Ocean is part of Russia's continental shelf, paving the way for a Russian claim to broader jurisdiction in the Arctic. (The Moscow Times, 04.30.14).

Defense:

President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia can cope with the potential loss of defense imports from Ukraine, adding that it would take up to 2 1/2 years to fill the gap with domestic products. (The Moscow Times, 04.28.14).
A spokesman for Russia’s Western Military District said that dozens of attack helicopters — identified as the Mi-28N Night Hunter and the Ka-52 Alligator — supported by military transport helicopters “have begun regular training flights in the skies over northwestern Russia.” (New York Times, 05.01.14).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

U.S. State Department’s report “Country Reports on Terrorism 2013” said that the Russian Interior Ministry reported 576 crimes of a “terrorist nature” (a reported drop of 1.4 percent from 2012) and 833 crimes of an “extremist nature” from January to November 2013. Russian security services prevented 12 terrorist acts in Russia in 2013, killed 255 terrorists, and arrested 500 terrorists and their supporters. (U.S. State Department’s web site, 04.30.14).
Russian security forces killed up to five suspected militants in armed confrontations in the North Caucasus province of Dagestan on Saturday. (Reuters, 04.27.14).
The founder of major grain and sugar producer Razgulay, Igor Potapenko, has been arrested on suspicion of embezzling $570 million. (The Moscow Times, 04.29.14).
A court in the far eastern city of Vladivostok on Monday dished out prison sentences to members of the so-called Primorsky Partisans, a criminal group accused of a series of violent offenses in 2010, including the killing of two police officers. (The Moscow Times, 04.28.14).
The death toll from a fire at a drug rehabilitation center in the eastern Altai region has reached nine people, the local Investigative Committee said. (The Moscow Times, 04.29.14).

Foreign affairs and trade:

The share of world economic output produced by developed economies is falling, according to new figures produced by a grouping of statistics agencies around the world. By contrast, the share of large developing economies–China, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa–rose to 30% from 20%. (Wall Street Journal, 04.30.14).
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Cuban authorities this week on the first leg of his tour of Latin America, reiterating Russia's unwavering support for the embargoed country. On Tuesday, Lavrov left Cuba to meet with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and is set to meet with Peruvian and Chilean authorities later this week. (The Moscow Times, 04.30.14).
China's Foreign Ministry on Monday restated its opposition to placing sanctions on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, after leaders of the G7 major economies agreed to swiftly impose further punitive measures. (Reuters, 04.28.14).
China said on it would conduct joint naval drills with Russia in the East China Sea off Shanghai in late May, in what it called a bid to deepen military cooperation. (Reuters, 05.01.14).
Bulgaria has enforced EU sanctions against State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin by canceling his planned visit to the country, its Foreign Ministry said. (The Moscow Times, 04.30.13).
The French city of Saint-Nazaire is preparing to receive 400 Russian seamen for training under the Mistral contract. (Itar-Tass, 05.01.14).
Russian buyers spent about £180m in the London housing market in 2013, according to estimates from Savills. For the first time, the Chinese have become the biggest foreign buyers of apartments in Manhattan and London, real estate brokers estimate, taking the mantle from the Russians. (Reuters, 04.28.14, Bloomberg, 04.27.14).

Ukraine crisis:

Two Ukrainian helicopters were shot down Friday as Ukraine launched its first major offensive against the pro-Russia forces that have seized government buildings in the east. The Kremlin said Kiev's move against the insurgents "destroyed" hopes for peace in the region. Fighting broke out around dawn near Slovyansk, a city 160 kilometers from the Russian border. Ukrainian troops managed to take control of nine checkpoints on the roads around Slovyansk. By afternoon, the Ukrainian Security Service said half of Slovyansk was already under control of the Ukrainian army.(AP, 05.02.14).
Three militants and two civilians have died in the eastern Ukrainian town of Slovyansk, after government forces tried to retake the town by force on Friday, the town's self-appointed mayor said. (The Moscow Times, 05.02.14).
Ukraine’s acting president on Wednesday admitted that government authorities had lost control of the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk provinces to separatists, and said the challenge now was to “prevent terrorism from spreading to other regions”. On Thursday Oleksandr Turchynov signed a decree reintroducing compulsory military service for men ages 18 to 25. (Washington Post, 05.02.14, Financial Times, 04.30.14).
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Ukraine must remove its military from the southeastern region of the country in order resolve the showdown there with pro-Russian militants who have seized several official buildings. (New York Times, 05.01.14).
The Russian Foreign Ministry has called on Western powers to give up their "destructive" policy on Ukraine and urged Kiev to stop its "punitive operation" in the country's south-east, where Ukrainian forces on Friday attempted to retake the separatist-held town of Slovyansk. (Reuters, 05.02.14).
Russia is not going to repeat the "The Crimean scenario" in southeastern Ukraine, said the country's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov. (Russia Today, 04.29.14).
Russian President Vladimir Putin could spend Victory Day in Crimea. (The Moscow Times, 04.30.14).
Ukraine has stopped supplying water to Crimea through the North Crimean water channel. Crimea relies on the rest of Ukraine for 80-85 percent of the water that it consumes.(Kyiv Post, 04.29.14).
Russian border guards have accused their Ukrainian counterparts of using 'physical force' against two Russians and one Belarussian citizen who were attempting to enter Ukraine. (The Moscow Times, 05.01.14).
U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke by phone with Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu. “Shoigu reiterated his assurance that Russian forces would not invade Ukraine," Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement. Meanwhile, Moscow said that, during the phone call with Hagel, Shoigu called on the US to tone down its rhetoric on the Ukraine crisis. In separate comments made on Tuesday Shoigu said that additional troops deployed to the border for exercises last week had been pulled backed to their bases. (AFP, Financial Times, 04.29.14).
Officials of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said they saw no sign of a withdrawal of Russian forces from near the border with Ukraine. (Wall Street Journal, 04.29.14).
The International Monetary Fund approved a $17 billion emergency rescue package to prevent a collapse of Ukraine's economy, marking a rare moment of consensus between Russia and Western nations battling over the former Soviet republic. (WSJ, 04.30.14).
The International Monetary Fund said it would be forced to rethink the scale of its $17bn bailout for Ukraine, were Kiev to lose control of the east. (Financial Times, 05.01.14).
Slovakia agreed to allow Ukraine to use a pipeline on Slovakia's eastern border with Uzhhorod in western Ukraine. The deal would provide Ukraine with an initial 3 billion cubic meters of gas annually before being increased to 10 billion cubic meters some time next year. (Wall Street Journal, 04.28.14).
The interim authorities in Kiev ordered the expulsion of a naval attaché at Moscow’s embassy after accusing the official of “activities incompatible with diplomatic status,” a term that normally denotes espionage. (New York Times, 05.01.14).
Ukraine authorities have banned Russian passenger planes from flying to Donetsk and Kharkiv. (The Moscow Times, 05.02.14).
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said claimed in a private meeting that the U.S. intelligence community has recordings of pro-Russian forces being managed by government handlers in Moscow. (Daily Beast, 04.29.14).
As the Ukrainian army launched its first major assault on the rebel stronghold in Slovyansk at dawn, a CBS news crew was detained, blindfolded and questioned by pro-Russian militants. (Washington Post, 05.02.14).
Seven European military officers and a translator being held hostage by pro-Russia separatists were paraded before the news media on Sunday, hours after another group of captives, three Ukrainian security agents, were shown on Russian TV huddled in a room, blindfolded and bloody, without pants, their arms bound with packing tape. (Washington Post, 04.30.14).
Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes has reportedly regained consciousness at a hospital in Israel where he has undergone surgery since being shot by an unknown assailant on April 28. (RFE/RL, 05.02.14).
Ukraine's chief prosecutor has accused former-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych of heading a mafia-style syndicate whose crimes cost the former Soviet republic up to $100 billion and said some of the stolen money was now being used to fund Russian-backed separatists (Reuters, 04.30.14).
Russia's annexation of Crimea has cost Ukraine at least $83 billion, according to Ukraine's acting Justice Minister. (The Moscow Times, 04.28.14).
Ukrainians are flooding Russian immigration offices amid fears of a humanitarian catastrophe at home, the head of the Federal Migration Service said Tuesday, while representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora maintain that the upsurge is due to recent amendments in Russian migration law. According to official FMS data, 1,604,764 Ukrainian nationals were living in Russia as of April 2 this year. (The Moscow Times, 04.29.14).
The European Union’s Eastern Partnership on Friday called on Russia to withdraw its troops from the Ukrainian border and agreed that the Czech Republic should offer to act as a mediator between Moscow and Kiev to ease the conflict. (AP, 04.25.14).

Russia's other neighbors:

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev says the ongoing integration of the post-Soviet countries is not "the reincarnation of the Soviet Union." (RFE/RL, 04.28.14).
A top NATO official has praised Georgia's efforts toward eventual membership and said the alliance is looking at the "next steps" to bring the country "even closer" to NATO. (RFE/RL, 05.02.14).
As of April 28, Moldovans with biometric passports can travel to the Schengen zone without visas, becoming the first of the six Eastern Partnership countries to do so. (RFE/RL, 04.28.14).
The U.S. ambassador to Uzbekistan, George Krol, has been tabbed by President Barack Obama to be the new American envoy to Kazakhstan. (RFE/RL, 05.02.14).
Yemeni government forces have killed at least 13 suspected al-Qaeda militants, including a local leader identified as an Uzbek national. (RFE/RL, 05.02.14).
Freedom House’s latest report on media freedom asserts that Eurasian countries continue to have the world's poorest ratings, with no country in the region rated as “free.” (RFE/RL, 05.01.14).
The United States should hold Azerbaijan accountable for its human rights record, even as the energy-rich country has come into renewed focus as a potential key player in weaning Europe off of Russian gas in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, U.S. officials say. (RFE/RL, 05.02.14).

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