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Russia in Review

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Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for March 18 – 25, 2016

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for March 18 – 25, 2016

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

Nuclear security:

  • U.S. President Barack Obama will huddle with dozens of world leaders involved in battling ISIS during next week's Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. Focus of the special session is expected to include the issue of foreign fighters, as well as discussion on preventing ISIS from obtaining chemical or radiological weapons. 52 heads of state and leaders of international organizations will discuss ways to strengthen international cooperation on nuclear security at the summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin is not planning to attend, but Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko, Armenia’s Serzh Sargsyan, Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev and China’s Xi Jinping are among state leaders expected at the summit. (World.kbs.co.kr, 03.16.16, Sputnik, 03.23.16,Ukrnews, Belfer Center,  03.22.16, CNN, 03.25.16).
  • The Obama administration is mulling a nuclear deal with Russia. Washington wants to change course on a plan laid with Moscow 16 years ago to dispose of its share of 68 metric tons of plutonium. “Clearly, we do have some diplomatic work to be done in this area,” Undersecretary of State Rose Gottemoeller said. “I think … we do seem to be able to develop good cooperation in areas that are related to weapons of mass destruction,” she said. “I would think that this [plutonium disposal] matter could be one where we could have some good, solid cooperation, but I don’t want to talk further about diplomatic efforts,” she said of U.S.-Russian relations.  (Defense One, 03.24.16).
  • Security at Russian nuclear power plants is “constantly at high level,” a spokesman for Russian NPP operator Rosenergoatom told RIA Novosti in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Belgium.  The brothers behind this week's Brussels bombings also spied on a top nuclear researcher and hoped to build a so-called "dirty bomb," according to Claude Moniquet, a French former intelligence official who was hired to investigate potential plots targeting Europe's nuclear sector.  Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui were responsible for planting a hidden camera outside the Belgian researcher's house, according to Moniquet. Following the attacks, extra troops were deployed at Belgium's Doel and Tihange nuclear plants and these facilities would be operating at this level of reduced staffing. The entry badges of some workers at Belgium's nuclear sites have been withdrawn. (NBC News, Sky News 03.24.16, Belfer Center, 03.24.16).
  • The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog warned of Friday that countries need to do more to prevent "nuclear terrorism." IAEA’s Yukiya Amano said that it was not impossible that militants could manufacture a "primitive" device. "It is now an old technology and nowadays terrorists have the means, the knowledge and the information," he said. Mr Amano also warned about the dangers of a "dirty bomb". (Sky News, 03.25.16).
  • The prospect of Isis or another terror group obtaining nuclear weapons is "obviously a concern", UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said. Fallon stressed the importance of ensuring terror groups could not "get their hands on nuclear weapons." (The Independent, 03.24.16).
  • A ship believed to be carrying plutonium and other nuclear materials left a port in Tokaimura, northeast of Tokyo, on Tuesday in line with a 2014 Japan-U.S. agreement to return them to the United States. Under the bilateral agreement, 331 kilograms of plutonium will be transported to the U.S. government-run Savannah River Site nuclear facility in South Carolina. (Kyodo News, 03.22.16).
  • In their new report on preventing nuclear terrorism, researchers of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs provide a global reality check on nuclear security ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit. The report states that effective and sustainable nuclear security capable of addressing plausible threats is the single most effective chokepoint preventing terrorists from acquiring a nuclear weapon. An effective new tool for improving global nuclear security is in danger of being lost, according to another report released ahead of the summit. The report by the Arms Control Association and Partnership for Global Security concludes that regular, voluntary commitment-making by states has resulted in many of the Nuclear Security Summits’ most important accomplishments, but it is not clear if world leaders will choose to preserve this tool. (Belfer Center, 03.21.16,Arms Control Association, 03.23.16).

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

  • No significant developments.

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

  • Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced new units in the Western Military District will be formed, saying the deployment of NATO's forces near Russia's borders requires a response. Military forces in western Russia will receive 1,100 new weapons systems, including aircraft, military helicopters, and tanks, he also said. In January Shoigu announced that three divisions would be established in the western direction during 2016, but didn’t say where.  (Russian Defense Policy, 03.25.16, RFE/RL, 03.25.16).
  • Planned increases in NATO troops in the Baltic region are too small to worsen the alliance’s confrontation with Russia, the head of Estonia’s foreign intelligence service said. A Russian military operation against Estonia is “very unlikely” because Russia would face “a massive counter-strike” by NATO, Mikk Marran, director general of Estonia’s Information Board, said. (Bloomberg, 03.21.16).
  • Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said “I look at the Ukraine situation and I say, so Ukraine is a country that affects us far less than it affects other countries in NATO, and yet we are doing all of the lifting, they're not doing anything. And I say, why is it that Germany is not dealing with NATO on Ukraine? Why is it that other countries that are in the vicinity of the Ukraine not dealing with — why are we always the one that's leading, potentially the third world war, okay, with Russia?” Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Wednesday ridiculed the foreign policy prescriptions of Mr. Trump, arguing that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia hoped to divide Europe. (New York Times, 03.24.16,Washington Post, 03.22.16).
  • "The risk of confrontation with the use of nuclear weapons in Europe is higher than in the 1980s," said Igor Ivanov, Russia's foreign minister from 1998 to 2004 and now head of a Moscow-based think-tank founded by the Russian government. However, Undersecretary of State Rose Gottemoeller likened Mr. Ivanov’s comments to “saber-rattling.” “I’ve been concerned and perturbed that there seems to be saber-rattling from time to time, most recently at the Brussels Forum…. You know, where does this come from? This sudden … threat of nuclear war is greater? I just don’t understand it,” she said. (Defense One, 03.24.16, Reuters, 03.19.16).

Missile defense:

  • "It can be assured that once the U.S. deploys its missile defense system in Poland, Russia would respond by deploying its own missile defense system in Kaliningrad," said Igor Ivanov, Russia's foreign minister from 1998 to 2004. (Reuters, 03.19.16).

Nuclear arms control:

  • “We are concerned that Russia has violated the  (INF) treaty with the development of a new very capable ground launch cruise missile that has been tested to intermediate ranges,” Undersecretary of State Rose Gottemoeller said.  However, Gottemoeller noted that she has spoken with key Russian decision makers who have committed themselves to the renewal of the INF Treaty. “It’s important for security and that has … heartened me in terms renewing our diplomatic efforts.” (Defense One, 03.24.16).

Counter-terrorism:

  • At the start of talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that the terrorist attacks in Brussels this week had given renewed urgency to efforts by the United States and Russia to address various Middle East crises, despite differences between the two countries. (New York Times, 03.25.16).
  • “The disastrous terror attack perpetrated in Brussels…. is another bloody example of the threat we have been facing. I believe that a joint response to this common threat will meet mutual interests," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at the beginning of his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on March 23 in Moscow. “I hope that all Europeans in the wake of this terrible threat of terrorism in light of the terrorist attacks in Brussels can put aside geopolitical games and come together, to prevent terrorists from controlling affairs on the continent,” Lavrov said at the meeting. “Our meeting is being held against the backdrop of horrible, tragic events in Belgium and, certainly, we will have to pay proper attention to this," said Russian President Vladimir Putin before the meeting with Steinmeier.   (Interfax, 03.23.16, Moscow Times, 03.23.16).
  • On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to King Philippe of Belgium over the terrorist attacks in this country. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev also offered public condolences. (Washington Post, 03.22.16).
  • Cooperation on counterterrorism between different countries' military and intelligence services is necessary, and this includes Russia, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Friday. (Sputnik, 03.25.16).
  • Police in southern Turkey have reportedly detained five men from Russia and Central Asia who allegedly planned to join the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Syria. The men detained late on March 23 were from Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. (RFE/RL, 03.24.16).
  • A man from Kyrgyzstan suspected of recruiting fighters for the Islamic State (IS) group has reportedly died after jumping from the fifth floor of the Moscow police building. (RFE/RL, 03.24.16).
  • Experts have cast doubt on claims in Russian media that Belgian authorities were tipped off by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) about the presence of three Russian-speaking Islamic State militants planning terror attacks in the country a week ago. (IBS, 03.22.16).

Cyber security:

  • No significant developments.

Energy exports from CIS:

  • A deal among some OPEC producers and Russia to freeze production is perhaps "meaningless" as Saudi Arabia is the only country with the ability to increase output, a senior executive from the International Energy Agency said. (Reuters, 03.23.16).
  • This year, new taxes will cost Russian oil companies about $2.9 billion. But a far larger tax, reported by Russian news media to be up to $11 billion, is under consideration for the 2017 budget. Mikhail I. Krutikhin, an energy analyst at the consultancy RusEnergy, estimates that Russia’s oil production, now at a post-Soviet record high of 10.8 million barrels a day, will peak at some point next year and begin a long-term decline. (New York Times, 03.24.16).
  • The first US shale gas sailed into Europe. Ineos, the chemical group, said that its own gas carrier arrived in Norway on Wednesday with 27,500 cubic meters of American ethane on board. Shipments to Ineos’s UK refinery at Grangemouth are scheduled to start later this year. (Guardian, 03.23.16).

Bilateral economic ties:

  • No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

  • A Russian rocket has lifted off carrying three crew to the International Space Station, including an American who is expected to set a U.S. record for longevity in space. By the end of his half-year visit to the space station, American Jeff Williams, 58, "will become the American with the most cumulative days in space -- 534," NASA said. (RFE/RL, 03.19.16).
  • In a major international study published last week in Nature Geoscience, a team of researchers from regions ranging from Alaska to Russia report that permafrost is thawing faster than expected — even in some of the very coldest areas. (Washington Post, 03.23.16).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

  • The number of Russians living below the poverty line rose to the highest levels in nearly a decade in 2015. The Federal Statistics Service on Monday said 19.2 million people in Russia, or 13.4% of the population, were living in poverty in 2015, compared with 16.1 million people, or 11.2%, in 2014. The service also said that real disposable income of Russian households fell 6.9% year-over-year in February, after shrinking 6.3% a month earlier. Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets acknowledged that people's incomes have fallen "very sharply, in terms of both real wages and incomes in general. “All this is reflected in the reduction of the purchasing power of the population, and all this affects retail sales, which have been dropping, and dropping at such a serious rate," she said. She also said that Russians lost more than 200 billion rubles ($2.9 billion) from non-state pension funds last year (Wall Street Journal, 03.21.16, BBC, 03.23.16,Moscow Times, 03.24.16).
  • Some 76 Russian regions are running a deficit. Russia’s federal government pays for more than a third of regional revenues for 30 of the 85 Russian regions. In the two most indebted regions — Astrakhan and Mordovia — debt is well over 100 percent of revenues. (Washington Post, 03.24.16).
  • According to a poll conducted March 11-14 by the independent Levada Center, 73 percent of respondents said they trusted Vladimir Putin, down from 83 percent in the same poll one year ago. Some 19 percent said they did not trust the Russian president, up from 14 percent in 2015. (RFE/RL, 03.21.16).
  • Sixty-five percent of Russians would like to see President Vladimir Putin elected for another term when balloting is held two years from now, a poll released Monday by the independent Levada Center pollster indicated. (Moscow Times, 03.22.16).
  • A passenger jet flying from Dubai crashed in southern Russia early Saturday, killing all 62 people aboard, Russian officials said. (Washington Post, 03.20.16).
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to appoint Ramzan Kadyrov as acting head of Chechnya. Putin  also expressed hope that he would eventually participate in regional elections in September. Kadyrov’s term ends on April 5. (RFE/RL, 03.25.16).
  • Six Russian athletes are to be stripped of the medals they won at World and European championships in 2010 and 2011 and the 2012 London Olympics following a ruling by Court of Arbitration for Sport. (RFE/RL, 03.24.16).

Defense and Aerospace:

  • The Russian Defense Ministry in 2016-2020 will focus on the development of military infrastructure in the Arctic zone and on the Kuril Islands, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said. Russia will deploy Bal and Bastion coastal missile systems to the far eastern Kurile Islands, he said. Shoigu also  said Russia's navy was also mulling the possibility of setting up a naval base in the region. (RFE/RL, Interfax, 03.25.16).
  • Russia does not plan to reopen its radar center in Lourdes, but does not rule out negotiations on setting up logistics centers for the Russian Navy in Latin America, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said. (Interfax, 03.25.16).
  • The Vostochny spaceport has begun comprehensive tests of the launch site, and a Soyuz launch vehicle's dry rollout has been practiced, Roscosmos head Igor Komarov said. (Interfax, 03.21.16).
  • Russia’s RSK-MiG has completed an initial batch of pre-production versions of the Mikoyan MiG-35 Fulcrum-F multirole fighter.(National Interest, 03.21.16).
  • Russia is set to start construction of its new Kalina-class diesel-electric submarine after the last two Lada-class vessels are completed. The Project 677 Lada-class—which Moscow is terminating after three units are completed—has proven to be a disappointment. (National Interest, 03.21.16).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

  • Nazim Gadzhiyev -- the leader of the Lezgin national movement Sadval (Unity) -- was found dead in his apartment in Makhachkala with numerous stab wounds.(RFE/RL, 03.21.16).

Foreign affairs and trade:

  • Syria:
    • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said  on Thursday in Moscow that  U.S. and Russia agreed to aim for a draft version of a new constitution for Syria by August. He also said the United States and Russia agreed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Moscow’s ally, "should do the right thing" and engage in the peace Kerry was speaking at a news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after meeting him and President Vladimir Putin. “We are aware that the groundwork we have on Syria has only been possible thanks to the position of the political—supreme political leadership of the United States, specifically the position of President Obama," Putin told  Kerry ahead of the talks. However, Moscow and Washington apparently remain divided over a crucial element of any peace agreement—the future of Assad.  (RFE/RL, Wall Street Journal, 03.25.16).
    • The Russian air force conducted forty-one sorties in support of the Syrian army’s offensive to retake Palmyra between March 20 and March 23. Russian aircraft struck 146 targets during the battle. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s forces entered the city on Thursday to recapture it from the Islamic State terrorist group. "The Russian aerospace forces will continue to deliver airstrikes upon the terrorist groups ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra in Syrian territory," Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff, said last week. (Washington Post, 03.20.16, National Interest, 03.25.16).
    • A senior Russian military officer has said Russia has a Special Forces unit in Syria carrying out reconnaissance and "other special tasks." "I will not hide the fact that on the territory of Syria there is a division of our special operations forces," Aleksandr Dvornikov, commander of the Russian contingent in Syria, said. Russian news agencies reported on March 24 that a Russian Special Forces officer was killed while directing air strikes near Palmyra. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov says he is not unaware of the death of a sixth Russian serviceman in Syria. (Interfax, 03.23.16, , RFE/RL, 03.25.16, RFE/RL, 03.23.16).
    • Russia has withdrawn most of its strike aircraft from Syria and has not carried out air strikes in the north of the country, the U.S. military said last Friday. “They still have helicopters and some transport aircraft. But what we've seen is that the majority of Russian strike aircraft have left Syria," Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman at the U.S. military's Central Command, said. (RFE/RL, 03.19.16).
    • Imagery dated March 17 acquired by Stratfor of the Bassel al Assad air base in Latakia province and the naval base at Tartus shows that as of March 17, more than a quarter of the Russian air group at Bassel al Assad air base had departed Syria.  The imagery not only shows that the Russians are still expanding infrastructure and facilities at the air base, but also that they have deployed additional assets in the past few days there. These prominently include Mi-28 and Ka-52 helicopter gunships. (Stratfor, 03.18.16).
    • Russia warned on Monday that it was prepared to act unilaterally in Syria against groups that it said were breaking the cease-fire there, but the United States military has called on Russia not to take any unilateral action in Syria in response to cease-fire violations. Russia's military had called earlier on March 21 for an urgent meeting with U.S. representatives to agree on the mechanism of enforcing the cease-fire. So far, Russian warplanes have been observing the cease-fire, U.S. officials say.(RFE/RL, 03.22.16, Washington Post, 03.22.16).
    • The U.S. Coordination center based in the Jordanian capital city of Amman hosted the Russia-U.S. consultations, the Russian center for reconciliation of the warring sides in Syria said in its bulletin posted on the Russian Defense Ministry website. (Interfax, 03.19.16).
    • The majority of Russian respondents support President Vladimir Putin’s decision to withdraw “the main part” of the military from Syria. Only 7 percent of respondents do not agree with the president's decision to withdraw, while 84 percent were in support of the military agenda in Syria, VTsIOM said.(Moscow Times, 03.25.16).
  • Other countries:
    • Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will hold several meetings this year in addition to their talks in China in June. (Interfax, 03.25.16).
    • Russia expects to shortly agree with Saudi Arabia on the dates of a planned bilateral top-level meeting, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Thursday. (Sputnik, 03.24.16).
    • Europe’s biggest bondholders are being told by internal risk managers to avoid a new Russian debt issue after regulators in the U.S. and European Union warned foreign banks off helping Russia sell its first Eurobond since 2013. (Bloomberg, 03.24.16).
    • Russia accuses Ankara of suppressing Kurdish organizations in Syria and Turkey under the pretext of a war against terrorism. (RFE/RL, 03.23.16).
    • Russia has described the genocide conviction of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic as "politicized." (RFE/RL, 03.25.16).
    • Russia and Finland have agreed to temporary restrictions at two Arctic border crossings following an increase in migrants seeking asylum there this year.  Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves alleged that migrants often hide their status as permanent residents of Russia. “You’ve seen several thousand coming from Finland across the Russian-Finnish border,” he said. “There is something very fishy going on.” (Bloomberg, 03.24.16, RFE/RL, 03.23.16).

Russia's neighbors:

  • Ukraine:
    • Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has urged parliament to approve a new cabinet next week in a bid to end a political crisis. Poroshenko told reporters in the eastern city of Kharkiv on March 23 that he was ready "to support any candidate for prime minister submitted by the [parliamentary] coalition." U.S.-born Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said on March 22 that she was ready to serve as prime minister under strict conditions. Ukrainian parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Groisman also says he is ready to become prime minister if asked. (RFE/RL, 03.24.16, RFE/RL, 03.23.16).
    • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Moscow he and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed how to get back to a real cease-fire in eastern Ukraine as well as the fate of Nadia Savchenko. Speaking alongside Kerry at a joint press conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia hopes the United States will prod Ukraine to implement the Minsk agreements. (RFE/RL, 03.24.16).
    • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was hosting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Moscow on March 23, told journalists that Kyiv's inaction was the main stumbling block to a peace settlement in Ukraine’s east. (RFE/RL, 03.23.16).
    • A court in southern Russia has sentenced Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko to 22 years in prison and a 30,000 ruble fine.  Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he would hand over two Russian citizens detained in Ukraine in exchange for Savchenko. Poroshenko also has called on the National Security and Defense Council to consider sanctions against Russian officials involved in the prosecution of Savchenko. An official from the Ukrainian Security Service claimed Russia had been asking for a land route to Crimea in exchange for Savchenko. (Moscow Times, 03.22.16, Moscow Times, 03.23.16, RFE/RL, 03.23.16).
    • Yuriy Hrabovskyi, lawyer for Russian citizen on trial in Ukraine has been found dead. Hrabovskyi was representing Aleksandr Aleksandrov, who was detained with another Russian citizen -- Yevgeny Yerofeyev -- in eastern Ukraine in May 2015. Ukrainian authorities have earlier detained a man suspected of involvement in the disappearance of the lawyer. (RFE/RL, 03.21.16, RFE/RL, 03.25.16).
    • The body of Ukrainian journalist Heorhiy Gongadze was buried in Kyiv on March 22, almost 16 years after he was killed. (RFE/RL, 03.22.16).
    • Ukraine's battered economy shrank by 9.9 percent in 2015 due to implosions in the financial sector and consumer demand, the state statistics service reported on March 21. The stunning fall last year followed a drop of nearly 7 percent in 2014. (RFE/RL, 03.22.16).
    • Russia is ratcheting up the pressure against Ukraine over a $3 billion defaulted bond, asking its eastern-European neighbor to pay as much $683,333 a day in interest until the dispute is settled by a London judge. (Bloomberg, 03.24.16).
    • Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would keep sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine even though “I don't see other people doing much about it.” (Washington Post, 03.22.16).
  • Other neighbors:
    • Kyrgyzstan says the heads of the Kyrgyz and Uzbek border guard services have met for the first time since a row erupted last week over a disputed area. On March 18, Uzbek authorities deployed troops, two armored personnel vehicles, and two military trucks in the Ala-Buka district. Kyrgyz authorities responded by sending troops and military equipment to the disputed area. Earlier Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev has said he will cancel a planned visited to Uzbekistan for the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tashkent on June 23-24 unless the standoff is resolved. Also the Kyrgyz opposition has canceled an antigovernment protest originally scheduled for March 24 in the southern city of Osh over the ongoing escalation of tensions along the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border (RFE/RL, 03.23.16, 03.24.16, 03.25.16).
    • Two Kyrgyz opposition leaders have been detained as part of an investigation into an alleged plan to overthrow the government. Kyrgyz authorities say they are investigating two audio recordings apparently featuring the voices of opposition politicians discussing ways to overthrow the government. (RFE/RL, 03.22.16, RFE/RL, 03.24.16).
    • The son-in-law of former Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev has been detained in the United Arab Emirates, on Bishkek's request. (RFE/RL, 03.23.16).
    • Kazakhstan's lower house of parliament has voted to keep in place the government of Prime Minister Karim Masimov following parliamentary elections. Nursultan Nazarbaev's Nur Otan party won 82.2 percent of the vote in the March 20 elections. Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have said Kazakhstan "still has a considerable way to go" in meeting international standards for democratic votes. (RFE/RL, 03.25.16).
    • General Philip Breedlove, commander of U.S. European Command, visited Georgia March 22-23, promising "bigger and better" joint military exercises and telling Georgians that to deter Russian aggression they should build ties with NATO and the U.S. During this visit, General Breedlove discussed the planning of this year's iteration of Noble Partner, which will take place over three weeks in May, and will include British soldiers, in addition to Americans and Georgians.  (Eurasia.net, 03.24.16).
    • Georgia’s new foreign minister Mikheil Janelidze says the ex-Soviet nation’s territorial integrity and Western aspirations are not up for discussion in its dealings with Russia, which has propped up the Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and recognized their independence. (RFE/RL, 03.18.16).

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