Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world

Press Release

Russia in Review

Published:

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for January 30 – February 5, 2016

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

Nuclear security:

  • The United States regrets that Russia has refused to attend a preparatory meeting of the Nuclear Security Summit and the summit proper, U.S. Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller said. The U.S. looks forward to cooperating with its partners on various platforms to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism, and will be searching for various opportunities, including new ones, to cooperate with Russia in this important area, Gottemoeller said. (Interfax, 02.05.16).
  • Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will lead his country at a nuclear summit in March in Washington.  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan and Georgian premier Giorgi Kvirikashvili will also participate in the summit.  (Interfax, 02.01.16, Prime-News, 02.01.16, The Statesman, 02.01.16).
  • Kazakh Energy Minister Vladimir Shkolnik met with US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz to discuss his upcoming visit of the U.S. Department of Energy in Kazakhstan in April this year and signing of a joint statement of the US-Kazakhstan Energy Partnership. (Interfax, 02.01.16).
  • Charles Harvey Eccleston, a former U.S. Energy Department employee accused of attempting to infiltrate the agency’s computer system to steal nuclear secrets and sell them to a foreign government pleaded guilty Tuesday to a reduced charge of attempting to damage protected government computers in an email “spear-phishing attack.” (Washington Post, 02.02.16).
  • In June 2014, a worker at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee was surprised to find U.S. nuclear secrets inside trash bags marked for disposal along with standard rubbish. (Center for Public Integrity, 02.03.16).

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

  • Iran and Russia have initialed contracts worth around $40 billion for nuclear power construction, railways, and other projects, the top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on February 4. Ali Akbar Velayati, at the end of a visit to Moscow, said he discussed some projects with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said Tehran was interested in obtaining a loan from Russia for the railways and nuclear power projects. (RFE/RL, 02.05.16).

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

  • A meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at the level of permanent representatives could be held in the near future, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said. (RBTH, 02.05.16).
  • The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is poised to approve an expansion of its troop deployments on the alliance's eastern flank next week, U.S. and alliance officials said Friday. The new American rotational forces, made up of armored brigades deploying from the U.S. to Europe, would form the pool from which the U.S. could contribute additional forces to Poland and the Baltic States. A U.S. official said Friday that the persistent NATO presence on Russia's borders could rise to a brigade—roughly 4,000 troops, without violating existing agreements. The expanding U.S. spending on European Defense will also help pay for creating additional pre-positioned stocks of heavy equipment. (Wall Street Journal, 02.05.16).
  • Russia will take measures to compensate for the continuing growth of US military presence in Europe, the head of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of European Cooperation, Andrey Kelin promised.  (Russia Today, 02.04.16).
  • U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said: “Another near-term investment in the budget is how we are reinforcing our posture in Europe to support our NATO allies in the face of Russia's aggression. In Pentagon parlance, this is called the European Reassurance Initiative and after requesting about $800 million for last year, this year we're more than quadrupling it for a total of $3.4 billion in 2017.” (U.S. Department of Defense, 02.02.16).
  • Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, said the U.S. announcement of a boost in European military spending was carried out in an “aggressive manner" and was aimed at containing Russia. The Russian Embassy in Washington blasted the Obama administration’s plan.  “In our view these steps by U.S. and NATO are destabilizing and detrimental to the European security,” the embassy said. (Foreign Policy, 02.02.16, Wall Street Journal, 02.05.16, Sputnik, 02.04.16).
  • The Obama administration's plans to quadruple military spending in Central and Eastern Europe were greeted warmly but warily in the region on Tuesday. ''We appreciate President Obama's decision to boost funding for an increased U.S. military presence on the territory of NATO's front-line allies,'' the Czech Defense Ministry said. Raimonds Bergmanis, the Latvian defense minister, said: ‘Deterrence is what we are after, and a decision by the U.S. authorities to preposition equipment in Central and Eastern Europe would send a clear message of resolve and determination.'' (New York Times, 02.03.16).
  • Russia says it is not practical to commit itself to stronger control over conventional weapons in Europe while NATO increases its activities in the region. (RFE/RL, 02.05.16).
  • U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said: “We will be prepared for a high-end enemy. That's what we call full spectrum. ….In this context, Russia and China are our most stressing competitors.” (U.S. Department of Defense, 02.02.16).
  • NATO submarines are seeing “more activity from Russian submarines than we've seen since the days of the Cold War,” Royal Navy Vice Adm. Clive Johnstone, commander of NATO's Maritime Command said. He added that NATO submarines are encountering “a level of Russian capability that we haven't seen before.” (National Interest, 02.03.16).
  • On the night of March 29, 2013, a contingent of Russian combat aircraft flew across the Gulf of Finland and came within 18 to 24 miles of Swedish territory. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's 2015 annual report, released late last month, referred to the event as one of several "simulated nuclear attacks" on NATO and its partners.  (Business Insider, 02.03.16).
  • U.S. defense officials have said that a Russian Su-27 fighter plane came dangerously close to an American RC-135 reconnaissance jet they said was on a routine flight over the Black Sea in late January.  (Interfax, 02.01.16).
  • If Russian tanks and troops rolled into the Baltics tomorrow, outgunned and outnumbered NATO forces would be overrun in under three days. That’s the sobering conclusion of war games carried out by RAND with American military officers and civilian officials. Moreover, if Moscow chose to mount an invasion of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the United States and NATO would not have any good options with which to respond. (Foreign Policy, 02.03.16, National Interest, 02.04.16).
  • A BBC program explores a hypothetical WWIII scenario, where Russia invades Latvia after Russian nationalists boil over their lack of self-determination in Latvia. Russia then launches a nuclear strike on the British military. "We consider this TV-program a dangerous provocation. I’ve been working in Latvia for 8 years and do not know of any separatist organization here," Russian Ambassador to Latvia Alexander Veshnyakov said. (Sputnik, 02.04.16).
  • When asked if he agrees with U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter that Russia is the most important national security threat to the United States, U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said: “No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world.” (New York Times, 02.05.16).
  • U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said: “We've got to do more to support our partners in NATO, and we have to send a very clear message to Putin that this kind of belligerence, that this kind of testing of boundaries will have to be responded to. The best way to do that is to put more armor in, put more money from the Europeans in so they're actually contributing more to their own defense.” (New York Times, 02.05.16).

Missile defense:

  • U.S. Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller told Russia’s Kommersant daily the United States has no plans to revive Phase IV of the European Phased Adaptive Approach. (Belfer Center, 02.05.16).
  • Russia is opposed to the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea because it could destabilize the region's security landscape. (RBTH, 02.02.16).
  • Russia is gearing up to test the first prototypes of its next-generation Almaz Antey S-500 air and missile defense system. When the S-500 Prometey becomes operational in 2017, it will likely form the upper tier of Russia’s layered integrated air defense system. (National Interest, 02.01.16).

Nuclear arms control:

  • Over the coming months the United States and Russia can settle the problem of presumed violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), according to Rose Gottemoeller, the U.S. Under Secretary of State.   “We have made achieved progress on this issue,” Gottemoeller told Kommersant when asked whether there has been any progress achieved in the dialogue with Russia on INF. At the same time Gottemoeller said that the U.S. was still contemplating possible counter-measures of an economic and military nature in response to violation of the INF by Russia. But Washington must also look for ways to resolve this problem and is doubtless committed to finding a solution, she added. (Interfax, 02.04.16, Belfer Center, 02.05.16).

Counter-terrorism:

  • Russian special services thwarted several attempts by the Islamic State to send groups of terrorists into the country, Andrei Przhezdomsky, an advisor to the chair of Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee, said. He added that law enforcement had caught 832 Russian militants, including 22 recruiters, returning from overseas, and had stopped more than 100 citizens from leaving the country to fight for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. (Moscow Times, 01.29.16).
  • Islamic State made its debut appearance in Russia late last year when it claimed responsibility for two attacks in the North Caucasus region, according to a study to be published by the Caucasian Knot. Militants in the North Caucasus who’d sworn allegiance to Islamic State attacked a Russian military base in Magaramkent, southern Dagestan, on September 2, killing and wounding civilians, according to the U.S. State Department. Caucasian Knot said that Islamic State claimed responsibility for a gun attack that killed one man and wounded 11 people in the Dagestani city of Derbent late on Dec. 29, although Russia’s Investigative Committee didn’t mention the group or classify it as a terrorist incident in its report. (Bloomberg, 02.03.16).
  • The Turkish Grey Wolves radical nationalist group may have been behind the crash of the Russian airliner brought down by a terrorist bomb over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in October last year, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reported Monday, citing an unidentified source in the Russian security services. One of the leaders of the organization took responsibility for killing the ejected pilot of a Russian Su-24 military plane after the aircraft was downed by a Turkish fighter jet near the Syrian border on Nov. 24. (Moscow Times, 02.01.16).
  • Lawyers for the Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have filed a notice of appeal over his conviction and the death sentence against him. (RFE/RL, 01.29.16).

Cyber security:

  • Russia's defense companies are to be linked by a secure line of communications to transfer top secret information, which will unite more than 1,000 firms belonging to Russia’s military-industrial complex. (RBTH, 02.02.16).
  • The Der Spiegel magazine reported on January 30 that German authorities are certain that a Trojan virus attack against the Bundestag's computer network in the first half of 2015 was carried out by a Russian-government-funded hacker group known by the names Sofacy and APT28. (RFE/RL, 01.30.16).
  • A top Kremlin adviser is warning that Russia may move to tax Google, Apple, Facebook, and other global technology companies to put them on a more equal footing with Russian tech firms. (RFE/RL, 02.02.16).

Energy exports from CIS:

  • Russian oil production hit a post-Soviet high last month. The data showed production hit a fresh post-Soviet high in January of 10.88 million barrels per day, up from 10.80 million barrels in December, which was the previous record. (RFE/RL, 02.03.16).
  • Six OPEC member states and two non-members would be open to attending an extraordinary meeting if one is called. Iraq, Algeria, Nigeria and Ecuador would join OPEC members Iran and Venezuela and non-OPEC producers Russia and Oman if talks are scheduled. (Bloomberg, 02.03.16).
  • Russian officials on Tuesday said again that they were ready to talk about coordinating efforts to stabilize the oil market with OPEC, but stopped short of saying they would cut production. (Wall Street Journal, 02.02.16).
  • The world’s biggest oil producers including Russia and Saudi Arabia are set to keep pumping crude into a glutted market and forgo coordinated output cuts as OPEC seeks to shut down higher-cost suppliers, analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said. Russian producers may be disinclined to cut output because they can still make money with prices as low as $30 a barrel, according to Goldman. (Bloomberg, 02.01.16).
  • The liquefied natural gas (LNG) that the United States is expected to start exporting to Europe in the first quarter will cost Europe more than gas purchased on the spot market, Gazprom said. Gazprom doesn’t plan a “price war" against U.S. exports of LNG, a senior company official said Thursday. (Wall Street Journal, 02.04.16, Interfax, 02.01.16).
  • Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said that Ukraine has filed a lawsuit in connection with the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and is asking the European Commission to launch an investigation into what he describes as an "anti-Ukrainian project." (Interfax, 02.03.16).

Bilateral economic ties:

  • Russia’s Miratorg company has brought 10 American trainers to train 1,000 Russian cowboys. The latter will watch over more than 360,000 cattle — what the company calls the largest herd of this type in the world. (New York Times, 02.02.16).

Other bilateral issues:

  • Russia's Foreign Ministry on February 2 announced travel bans on five U.S. law enforcement officials in retaliation for a similar action by Washington. The move comes a day after the U.S. Treasury Department added five Russians to its so-called "Magnitsky List," which now sanctions 39 alleged human rights abusers linked to the death of whistleblowing Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. (RFE/RL, 02.02.16).
  • Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger visited Russia in a personal capacity, and at their meeting, he and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged opinions on current global policy issues, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has said. During their meeting in Moscow on Feb. 3, Putin and Kissinger "exchanged opinions on current issues," he said. (Interfax, 02.04.16).
  • European Union leaders will discuss the possibility of lifting the sanctions against Russia on the sidelines of the upcoming Munich Security Conference, U.S. Senator John McCain said. (Moscow Times, 02.03.16).
  • Bernie Sanders’ opponents have used his 1988 trip to Yaroslavl against him. Former Republican candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) quipped last fall that Mr. Sanders "went to the Soviet Union for his honeymoon, and I don't think he ever came back." (Wall Street Journal, 01.30.16).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

  • The Russian state should retain control of strategic companies when privatizing stakes in those firms, President Vladimir Putin said. Putin also said those buying stakes in the country's companies should use their own money rather than cash borrowed from state banks. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin will allow foreign investors to bid for stakes in some of Russia’s largest companies. Flagship airline Aeroflot, oil giant Rosneft and state hydroelectricity company RusHydro could all be considered for privatization. Diamond producer Alrosa is also among the most likely candidates for privatization this year. The government's shares in Bashneft and Alrosa are together worth around 600 billion rubles ($7.5 billion) at current market prices, and a 19.5 percent share in Rosneft proposed for sale could raise a further 500 billion rubles ($6.5 billion). (Reuters, 02.01.16, Bloomberg, 02.02.16, CNN, 02.02.16, Moscow Times, 02.03.16).
  • Russia’s ruble trimmed a weekly loss as oil climbed before a U.S. jobs report expected to spur demand for riskier assets. The currency gained 0.1 percent against the dollar to 76.930 as of 2:26 p.m. in Moscow on Friday, reducing the slide in the past five days to 2.1 percent. (Bloomberg, 02.05.16).
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled support for plans by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to dissolve the Russian Border Services Agency to be dissolved, saying that its tasks can be conducted by the Transport Ministry. He also called for the Russian Financial Supervision Service, Rosfinnadzor, to be consolidated with the Federal Treasury (RFE/RL, 02.02.16).
  • According to data from Rosstat state statistics service, the population of Russia as of Jan. 1, 2016 stands at 146.52 million people, which is 0.17 percent more than a year ago but less than in January of 2000, when the number of Russian residents was estimated at 146.89 million, RBC reported. (Moscow Times, 02.03.16).
  • Russia will present its case for expanding its claim to continental shelf territory in the Arctic Ocean before a United Nations Commission on February 9, Russia's UN mission said on February 4. (RFE/RL, 02.05.16).
  • The only possible unifying idea for Russia is patriotism, according to President Vladimir Putin. “We have no national idea besides patriotism, and there can be no other,” he said. (RBC Daily, 02.04.16).
  • Russian rights defenders are demanding a government response to a video posted online by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov that shows a sniper targeting former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, chairman of the opposition PARNAS party, and opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza. (RFE/RL, 02.01.16).
  • Thirty-six percent of Russians consider their country to be one of most powerful in the world, according to the Levada Center pollster. When asked about the attitude of advanced world powers towards Russia, 42 percent of respondents said that Russia is considered a rival. Another 30 percent of Russians said their country is seen as an enemy, and 15 percent of poll participants believe other countries consider Russia a partner. (Moscow Times, 02.04.16).
  • According to the results of the poll carried out by the Obshchestvennoye Mnenie Foundation, 54 percent of Russians now believe that the country's economy is in a bad state. (Moscow Times, 02.05.16).

Defense and Aerospace:

  • President Vladimir Putin has appointed Lieutenant General Igor Korobov to head the Russian military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, following the death of his predecessor in early January. (RFE/RL, 02.02.16).
  • The EDRS-A node, which was carried into space by a Russian Proton-M rocket, is the first building block of the European Data Relay Satellite, which will cost nearly 500 million euros ($545 million). (RFE/RL, 01.30.16).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

  • A court in Moscow has prolonged the pretrial detention for Russian citizen Yevgeny Petrin charged with high treason and espionage for the United States. (RFE/RL, 02.03.16).

Foreign affairs and trade:

  • Syria:
    • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow will not stop conducting air strikes in Syria until all "terrorist" groups are defeated. (RFE/RL, 02.03.16).
    • The United States and France have charged Russia and the Syrian regime with stymieing peace negotiations with an unrelenting campaign to retake opposition-held territory even during the talks. Russia and Syria denied causing what is being billed as a temporary break-up of the negotiations but which could prove to be their dissolution. (RFE/RL, 02.04.16).
    • U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said of Russia’s actions in Syria: “ I think they have a self-defeating strategy. I don't know how long it will take them to realize that.” (U.S. Department of Defense, 02.02.16).
    • NATO says Russian air strikes in Syria are "undermining" UN-mediated peace talks aimed at finding a political solution to end the nearly five-year conflict. Russia’s bombing of Syria is hampering the West’s efforts to bring an end to the five-year civil war that’s sent hundreds of thousands of refugees to Europe and aided the advance of Islamic State, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said (RFE/RL, 02.05.16, Bloomberg, 02.05.16).
    • Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized Russia for pressing ahead with its bombing campaign in Syria as regime and opposition parties unsuccessfully tried to start peace talks under United Nations auspices in Geneva. (Wall Street Journal, 02.04.16).
    • Thousands of Syrians fleeing the northern city of Aleppo swarmed a border crossing with Turkey on Friday, as Syrian government forces and their Russian allies pounded the area's rebel strongholds on the ground and from the air. (Wall Street Journal, 02.05.16).
    • A representative office of Syrian Kurdistan is due to open in Moscow on February 10, the chairman of the Council of the Federal National-Cultural Kurdish Autonomy said on Friday. (Tass, 02.05.16).
    • The Russian Defense Ministry sees “a growing number of signs of hidden preparation of the Turkish Armed Forces for active actions on the territory of Syria,” General-Major Igor Konashenkov said in an e-mailed statement Thursday. There are “reasonable grounds” to suspect Turkey of preparing for action. (Bloomberg, 02.04.16).
    • "The operation is considered here to be quite successful," said Evgeny Buzhinsky, a retired lieutenant general and senior vice president of the Russian Center for Policy Studies in Moscow, said of the Russian air strikes. It could probably continue for one year or longer, he said, "but it will depend on the success on the ground." (Washington Post, 02.02.16).
    • Russian warplanes destroyed more than 1,300 terrorist sites in 468 combat flight missions in Syria over the past week, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.  (Interfax, 02.01.16).
    • Russia has deployed at least four advanced Sukhoi Su-35S Flanker-E aircraft to Syria, beefing up its air superiority capabilities in the war-torn region. (National Interest, 02.01.16).
    • The Russian government acknowledged that one of its military advisers was killed in Syria. (Wall Street Journal, 02.04.16).
  • Other countries:
    • Turkey on Friday accused Russia of violating its airspace for the second time in recent months. Turkey's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that a SU-34 Russian fighter jet entered the country's airspace at 11:46 a.m. last Friday after radar units warned it to turn back in English and Russian. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov called the accusation ''proof-less propaganda.'' On Saturday, NATO's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, called on Russia ''to act responsibly and to fully respect NATO airspace.'' (New York Times, 01.31.16).
    • The Russian Defense Ministry accused the Turkish side of breaching the Treaty of Open Skies by refusing to allow a Russian observation flight. (Interfax, 02.03.16).
    • German Chancellor Angela Merkel has ruled out lifting EU sanctions against Russia before full cease-fire is implemented in eastern Ukraine. “We still don't have a sustainable cease-fire, which is naturally a prerequisite for the implementation of different points in the Minsk agreement," Merkel said. (The Moscow Times, 02.01.16).
    • Bavaria's governor, Horst Seehofer, who is one of Angela Merkel's sharpest conservative critics, met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, a move German politicians called a provocation. (Wall Street Journal, 02.04.16).
    • French President Francois Hollande and the country’s government are ready to cancel the economic sanctions against Russia in exchange for the annulation of the Russian embargo on EU food imports, according to French Minister of Agriculture Stéphane Le Foll. (RBTH, 02.02.16).
    • Pope Francis will make a surprise trip to Cuba on Feb. 12 for a historic meeting with the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, marking the first meeting between a pope and the Russian patriarch since the eastern and western branches of Christianity split nearly 1,000 years ago, the Vatican announced on Friday. (New York Times, 02.06.16).
    • The European parliament has named the return of the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, to Ukraine as one of the necessary conditions for lifting sanctions against the country, according to a resolution published on the parliament's website. (Moscow Times, 02.04.16).
    • Poland's government on February 4 opened a new investigation into the 2010 plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of other state leaders. (RFE/RL, 02.04.16).
    • An Egyptian airline plans to buy up to 10 Russian-made jets in a deal with Sukhoi Civil Aircraft that could also involve the creation of a tour agency to restore flights between the two countries. (RFE/RL, 02.03.16).
    • Russia has said it opposes placing a United Nations arms embargo on South Sudan or blacklisting President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar as such moves will not improve prospects for peace.  (RFE/RL, 01.30.16).

Russia's neighbors:

  • Ukraine:
    • Ukraine’s minister of economy , Aivaras Abromavicius tendered his resignation Thursday to protest pressure on his ministry from an oligarchic businessman with ties to President Petro O. Poroshenko. “I don’t want to be a smoke screen for obvious corruption or a marionette for those who want to return control in the old style,” he said. (New York Times, 02.03.16).
    • Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has threatened to quit along with his entire cabinet, the latest move in a growing political crisis in the former Soviet state. "If it is decided that this team should be changed, then we will all leave together." Yatsenyuk's comments came two days after the shock resignation of Ukraine's reformist Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius. (RFE/RL, 02.05.16).
    • International Monetary Fund ( chief Christine Lagarde said she is concerned about the sudden resignation this week of Ukraine's reformist economy minister, citing government corruption. (RFE/RL, 02.05.16).
    • German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called Russian President Vladimir Putin to urge him to use Moscow's influence with separatists in eastern Ukraine to help secure progress toward a political solution of the crisis. The call came one day after Merkel met Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Berlin. (RFE/RL, 02.02.16).
    • U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said: “Minsk accords are not being implemented to the letter. At the same time, the level of violence is lower than it has been. I certainly hope it stays that way. And the Minsk accords are the right way to go, to kind of settle things down there.” (U.S. Department of Defense, 02.02.16).
    • Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says the risk of open war between Russia and Ukraine is greater now than it was a year ago. "Russia is investing a lot in these war preparations,” he said. (RFE/RL, 02.03.16).
    • The so-called decommunization of Ukraine edged forward on February 4 as parliament approved the scrapping of 175 names of towns, villages, and districts across the country and replaced them with non-Soviet alternatives. (RFE/RL, 02.04.16).
    • Ukraine’s economy is under control of Western companies, the head of Russia's Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev. "The vector of development chosen by Kiev has in fact put Ukraine under external control. The country is losing its sovereignty and independence in the decision-making process in the domestic and foreign policy," Patrushev said. (Tass, 02.01.16).
  • Other neighbors:
    • The Russian Investigative Committee says it has provided the International Criminal Court (ICC) with its files on alleged crimes committed during the 2008 armed conflict in South Ossetia. (RFE/RL, 01.30.16).
    • Azerbaijan says one of its soldiers has been killed as a result of a clash with an Armenian "sabotage" group. According to the statement, three Armenian soldiers were also killed in the clash. The Armenian Defense Ministry rejected Baku's statement, saying that "the information about the clash along the border, in which three Armenian soldiers were allegedly killed, does not correspond to reality." (RFE/RL, 02.04.16)
    • The credit ranging agency Standard and Poor's has downgraded Azerbaijan’s debt rating by one notch to BB+ in a warning to potential investors that Azerbaijan’s government bonds are considered speculative "junk." (RFE/RL, 01.30.16).
    • U.S. Representative Ed Royce, a Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has urged Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev to release imprisoned investigative reporter and RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova and other journalists, warning that their continued detention "will harm relations between our two countries." (RFE/RL, 02.02.16).

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