Russia in Review

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

Nuclear security:

The Operational Headquarters of Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region conducted a special tactical exercise on September 15-22, the local branch of the Federal Security Service said. The exercise’s plot envisioned that a group of five armed terrorists attempted to penetrate a nuclear facility in the region’s Semyonovsky district, but their attempt was foiled by the law-enforcers. More than 500 people and 40 vehicles were involved in the exercise. (Gorky TV, 09.24.15).
Rosatom chief Sergey Kirienko said that an agreement between Russia and the USA on the disposal of excess plutonium "is not needed". (World Nuclear News, 09.21.15).
The task of reprocessing fuel from the 201 submarines transferred to Rosatom’s responsibility to date is 97% complete, Rosatom chief Sergey Kirienko told Russian President Vladimir Putin. In addition Rosatom has, in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Transport, among others, recovered the 992 radioisotope generators from the Northern Sea Route. Kirienko also said Russian nuclear power plants have registered no safety-related incidents in the past several years. Kirienko has earlier told Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev that Rosatom has "completely freed" the Russian Far East of its used nuclear fuel. (Tass, 09.25.15, RIA Novosti, 09.25.15, World Nuclear News, 09.21.15).
Rosatom chief Sergei Kirienko said: “We have taken a principled decision to continue to contribute to the IAEA's Nuclear Security Fund in 2016-2021. We have more than doubled federal budget allocations for the implementation of the National Program for the Technical Support of the IAEA Safeguards. We have been gradually increasing our contribution to the Technical Cooperation Fund.” (BBC/Mid.ru, 09.17.15).
Participants of a public hearing this summer on the project of building a reprocessing facility to remelt radioactive metal waste of the uranium enrichment enterprise Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Combine (AECC) voted “no” to the proposed location and suggested that the radioactive metal continue to be reprocessed exactly where it was produced – in Angarsk. (Bellona, 09.21.15).
New delays have arisen in a joint project between Moscow and Oslo to rid the Kola Peninsula of 23,000 spent nuclear fuel assemblies from dismantled submarines and 32 tons of radioactive waste parked 50 kilometers from Norway’s far north border. (Bellona, 09.24.15).
U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report, "DOE Made Progress to Secure Vulnerable Nuclear Materials Worldwide, but Opportunities Exist to Improve Its Efforts.” The report has found that DOE exceeded its goal for removing or disposing of 1,201 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU) or plutonium by more than 400 kilograms, and it exceeded its goal of downblending 2,700 kilograms of HEU by an additional 2,200 kilograms. However, it missed its goal for providing physical protection upgrades at 43 buildings by 11 buildings and missed its goal of converting 34 foreign reactors to more proliferation-resistant LEU by 11 reactors. (IPFM, 09.23.15).
The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has announced that it has removed approximately 1 kilogram of U.S.-Origin highly enriched uranium from Jamaica’s “Safe Low-Power Kritical Experiment” research reactor and returned the material to the United States, making the Caribbean region completely free of HEU. (NNSA, 09.22.15).

Iran nuclear issues:

Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Mikhail Ulyanov said: “There is a common understanding that the exchange of Iran's low-enriched uranium for natural uranium from Russia is a rather complicated process in terms of the technical and logistics aspects. We do agree with Iran on the approach in terms of what needs to be done to implement this project.” (BBC/ Rossiya Segodnya, 09.21.15).
"Tehran and Moscow have conducted successful negotiations on this issue," deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran Behrouz Kamalvandi told reporters, commenting on the statement by head of Russia’s Rosatom Sergei Kirienko that Russia cooperates with Iran in the reconfiguration of the uranium enrichment plant at Fordow Research Centre. (Tass, 09.16/15).

NATO-Russia relations:

The Kremlin on Wednesday lashed out at U.S. plans to modernize 20 nuclear weapons stationed at a German airbase, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov characterizing the move as a potential "violation of the strategic balance in Europe," that would demand a Russian response. (Moscow Times, 09.23.15).
“We have to be able to do two things at the same time: both respond with a firm predictable policy, with increased investments in our collective defense but at the same time keep the channels for political dialogue open,” head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Jens Stoltenberg said in reference to NATO’s relations with Russia. (Wall Street Journal, 09.22.15).
Top Norwegian officials on Monday underscored their commitment to buying up to 52 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets in coming years, saying the stealthy jet's capabilities provided an important counterweight to Russia's military buildup and increased military flights in the region. (Reuters, 09.22.15).
Also see the section on Russia’s neighbors.

Missile defense:

Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Mikhail Ulyanov said: “We have solid grounds to assume that these insinuations on the issue of "Iran's missile threat" are merely a cover-up for implementing a project, the real aim of which is to undermine Russia's nuclear deterrence and to involve European allies in long-term confrontation with Russia, which, in all probability, meets US interests.” (BBC/ Rossiya Segodnya, 09.21.15).

Nuclear arms control:

No significant developments.

Counter-terrorism:

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said that if Russia were to fight the Islamic State (IS) militants and pursue a political solution to the crisis instead of "indiscriminately" attack Assad’s enemies, then the United States and Russia could "find areas of cooperation." (RFE/RL, 09.25.15).
U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry said the Russians are increasingly concerned about the rising number of fighters from their region fighting alongside the Islamic State in Syria - 2,000 from Chechnya alone. "We will stay very closely in communication, because that's very important. We share the same goal. We share the goal of ridding the region of ISIL,” Kerry said. (Washington Post, 09.20.15).
A group of around 1,500 Chechen, Uzbek, and Tajik fighters in Syria has pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda's Syria wing Nusra Front, a group monitoring the war said September 23. (RFE/RL, 09.24.15).
A Moscow court has taken two suspected Islamic State group militants into pretrial detention. The first deputy director of Russia's Federal Security Service, Sergei Smirnov, said last week that some 2,400 Russians and 3,000 Central Asian nationals are fighting with the IS group. (RFE/RL, 09.25.15).
Five men have been gunned down in a Dagestani forest in an attack apparently carried out by local insurgents, news reports said Sunday. (Moscow Times, 09.20.15).
A resident of Russia's far eastern city of Yakutsk has been sentenced to five years in prison for facilitating terrorism after he transferred money to Taliban fighters, a news report said. (Moscow Times, 09.21.15).

Cyber security:

Russia suffered the second-largest number of confidential data leaks in the first half of this year but company employees themselves are to blame for most of them. (Moscow Times, 09.22.15).

Energy exports from CIS:

OAO Gazprom on Monday said it has submitted proposals to the European Commission to settle accusations that the Russian energy giant hindered competition and charged unfair prices in several Eastern European countries. (Wall Street Journal, 09.21.15).
Plans for a new gas pipeline between Russia, Turkey and southern Europe remain intact despite "difficulties," the Kremlin said September 23, days after Ankara said talks on the deal were frozen. (RFE/RL, 09.24.15).
International financial institutions, led by the World Bank, are patching together a $1 billion financing package to help Ukraine and its energy giant OAO Naftogaz to fill up its natural gas-storage facilities. The $1 billion financing package would allow Naftogaz to buy some 5 billion cubic meters of gas in the coming weeks and months, bringing volumes in its ample storage facilities to around 19 BCM, European officials say. That is the level the European Commission, the EU's executive, believes is necessary to bring Ukraine and the EU through a cold winter. (Wall Street Journal, 09.21.15).
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on Thursday, setting the gas price for neighboring Ukraine. The decree says that the gas price for Ukraine is set at a level equal to those for the European Union's countries that border Ukraine. But Russia has not revealed the price for the package, which lasts from Oct. 1 until Dec. 31. (Reuters, 09.25.15).
Russia, Ukraine, and the European Union were set to resume talks on Friday aimed at restoring Russian gas supplies to Ukraine, the Russian energy minister has said. (RFE/RL, 09.25.15).

Bilateral economic ties:

No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to talks while at the United Nations next week. Mr. Obama's aides said his top agenda item with the Russian leader on Monday will be Ukraine, and the president may try to use Mr. Putin's ambitions in Syria as leverage to try to change Moscow's position on the conflict. Mr. Obama plans to press Mr. Putin to help broker a resolution to the 4 1/2-year war in Syria. Benjamin J. Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to the president, said the meeting between would also allow Mr. Obama to assess whether the two sides could collaborate against the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria, also known as ISIS or ISIL. But Putin’s adviser Yuri Ushakov said the two leaders will focus on the situation in in Syria and the Middle East, and that Ukraine will be a minor subject of discussion. (Wall Street Journal, New York Times, AP, 09.25.15).
When asked during the CBS latest interview about what he admired about the United States, Russia's President Vladimir Putin responded: “I like the creativity.” “Creativity when it comes to your tackling problems,” he added. “Their openness — openness and open-mindedness — because it allows them to unleash the inner potential of their people. And thanks to that, America has attained such amazing results in developing their country.” (Moscow Times, 09.25.15).
The White House wanted it known on Thursday that it was President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia who asked to meet with President Obama, not the other way around. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said the Russians were "more desperate" to talk to their American counterparts because of the economic sanctions' impact. But Putin's adviser Yuri Ushakov on Friday blasted White House press secretary Josh Earnest for saying it was Putin who approached Obama. Ushakov insisted the invitation came from the Obama administration on Saturday when Moscow was offered two options. (New York Times, AP, Reuters, 09.25.15).
Speaking before world leaders at UN on Monday in New York, Vladimir Putin will attack the United States' use of sanctions, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov told reporters, likely including the individual and sectoral sanctions imposed on Russia last summer over the Ukraine crisis. But overwhelmingly, officials and analysts said, he will focus on the Syrian crisis and the rising threat of international terrorism. "Putin wants to leave New York not as a regional power, but as a big player in the world," said a European official who deals frequently with the Kremlin. (Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, 09.25.15).
Defense chiefs from the United States and Russia held their first direct talks in more than a year Friday. In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu agreed to discuss means for ensuring that the two countries' military activities in Syria don't come into conflict - an especially important goal as the United States continues a year-old air campaign against Islamic State militants there. U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry said military talks with Russia would "help to define some of the different options that are available to us as we consider next steps in Syria."(Washington Post, 09.20.15).
For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. Department of Defense is reviewing and updating its contingency plans for armed conflict with Russia. “Given the security environment, given the actions of Russia, it has become apparent that we need to make sure to update the plans that we have in response to any potential aggression against any NATO allies,” says one senior defense official familiar with the updated plans. (Foreign Policy, 09.18.15).
Russian and U.S. negotiators have signed a bilateral agreement to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. (U.S. State Department, 09.11.15).
U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Tefft and head of the Federation Council international affairs committee Konstantin Kosachyov discussed the issue of amendments to Russian legislation in the sphere of civil society institutions. (Interfax, 09.22.15).
Also see section on foreign affairs and trade below.

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

In excerpts from an upcoming American television interview, Russia's President Vladimir Putin denounced suggestions that he wields authoritarian power in Russia, insisting his actions are made with the best interests of his nation at heart, and shrugging off the “tsar” descriptor often applied to him. (Moscow Times, 09.25.15).
The Russian government may spend 240 billion rubles ($3.6 billion) on a national food stamp program to support an estimated 15-16 million Russian citizens whose poverty has deepened amid an economic slump. (Moscow Times, 09.24.15).
Russia has about 7.5 million drug users, of whom 3 million abuse substances on a daily basis. (Moscow Times, 09.24.15).
Russia's beleaguered opposition drew several thousand people Sunday to a protest in an outlying Moscow neighborhood to decry the 15-year-old rule of Vladimir Putin. (Washington Post, 09.21.15).
Sergei Pugachev, a former banker and longtime associate of President Vladimir Putin has filed a $12 billion arbitration claim against the Russian state, alleging that authorities there targeted him after a falling-out with Mr. Putin and stripped him of his fortune. Mr. Pugachev fled Russia in 2011 after authorities opened a criminal case against him on suspicion of asset misappropriation and embezzlement in connection with the 2010 bankruptcy of his financial firm Mezhprombank. (Wall Street Journal, 09.22.15).

Defense and Aerospace:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed the establishment of an air base in Belarus. Russian defense officials have said the base would station Su-27 fighter jets. Russia has two military facilities in Belarus -- a radar station and a submarine communications center. (RFE/RL, 09.19.15).
The Russian Defense Ministry intends to turn an old military depot in the town of Boguchar, 45 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, into a base. (RFE/RL, 09.23.15).
Later this fall the first new Borey-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine is scheduled to arrive at the Rybachiy submarine base near Petropavlovsk on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. (Federation of American Scientists, 09.14.15).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

Russian investigators say the damage caused by Vyacheslav Gaizer, the detained governor of the northwestern Komi region and his accomplices amounts to billions of rubles. Gaizer and 18 other people, including the speaker of the region's legislature, a deputy governor, and several local businessmen, were arrested on September 19 on charges of fraud and heading a criminal gang. (RFE/RL, 09.21.15).
A Moscow court has sentenced a former intelligence officer to 14 years in prison on high-treason charges. Gennady Kravtsov was found guilty on September 21 of providing Western secret services with classified information about the Tselina-1 spacecraft and sentenced the same day. (RFE/RL, 09.21.15).
A Russian court on Tuesday began hearing the high-profile case against a Ukrainian officer who is charged in the deaths of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine. Nadezhda Savchenko denied the charges, telling the court "I am a soldier, not a murderer," the TASS news agency reported. (Moscow Times, 09.22.15).

Foreign affairs and trade:

Syria:
- President Vladimir Putin, determined to strengthen Russia’s only military outpost in the Middle East, is preparing to launch unilateral airstrikes against Islamic State from inside Syria if the U.S. rejects his proposal to join forces, two people familiar with the matter said. Putin’s preferred course of action, though, is for America and its allies to agree to coordinate their campaign against the terrorist group with Russia, Iran and the Syrian army, which the Obama administration has so far resisted, according to a person close to the Kremlin and an adviser to the Defense Ministry in Moscow. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the report. (Washington Post, 09.25.15, Bloomberg, 09.22.15).
- Russian diplomats have asserted in closed-door meetings with Western officials that they are not wedded to Assad's continuing as Syria's president. Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokeswoman, said: "We are not supporting Assad as a person,” but we support the Syrian struggle against terrorism." Vladimir Putin left his bottom line unclear in an interview with CBS. ''There is no other solution to the Syrian crisis than strengthening the effective government structures and rendering them help in fighting terrorism. But at the same time, urging them to engage in positive dialogue with the rational opposition and conduct reform.'' (New York Times, 09.25.15, Washington Post, 09.25.15).
- According to satellite imagery and U.S. officials, Russia has 28 military jets, 14 helicopter gunships and transports, nine tanks, three surface-to-air missile systems and at least 500 personnel on the ground in Syria, including its new air base near the port of Latakia. U.S. Secretary of State Kerry said that the deployment "basically represents force protection," because most of the jets are meant for ground attack. Satellite images also show that Russia is also placing equipment at two facilities north of the airbase. Russia has already started flying drone aircraft on surveillance missions in Syria, two U.S. officials said. Russia is to deploy 2,000 military personnel to Syria. The deployment “forms the first phase of the mission there”, according to an adviser on Syria policy in Moscow. (Washington Post, 09.22.15, FT, 09.21.15, Washington Post, 09.25.15, Reuters, 09.21.15).
- A lawyer representing a group of Russian soldiers who were said to have refused to be deployed secretly to Syria says authorities have warned his clients that they could face treason charges. Russia’s Defense Ministry denied media reports on Russia’s contract soldiers of the Eastern military district being sent to Syria. (RFE/RL, 09.21.15, Tass, 09.18.15).
- Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Mikhail Ulyanov said: “The use of "chemical weapons" by the Islamists during hostilities (in Syria) has become pervasive, systematic and trans-border, and it's being elevated to a higher technological level.” (BBC/ Rossiya Segodnya, 09.21.15).
- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has called on Russia and Iran to help with diplomatic efforts to end the four-year conflict in Syria. (RFE/RL, 09.23.15).
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday the United States was increasingly receptive towards Moscow's position on the conflict in Syria, an assertion quickly disputed by Washington. At the same time, a senior Western diplomat in Moscow this week said there is a growing appetite for dialogue with Vladimir Putin about the Syrian crisis, particularly as Europe faces an unprecedented flood of migrants, many fleeing the war in Syria. “He is not the one who needs a deal. He has time on his side. It is us who needs a deal more," said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "Whatever happens in Syria, we know that he will probably be a part of it." (Washington Post, 09.25.15, Reuters, 09.23.15).
- Sheba Crocker, assistant U.S. secretary of state, said the United States would not back a UN Security Council statement on countering terrorism proposed by Russia because of fears it would send the wrong message to U.S. partners in the fight against Islamic State militants in Syria. (Reuters, 09.25.15).
- France, Britain, and NATO say they are concerned about a "very significant" increase in Russia's military presence in Syria. (RFE/RL, 09.24.15).
- Russia and Israel have agreed to coordinated measures to prevent miscalculations in Syria that could trigger a wider war, visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday following talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. (Wall Street Journal, 09.21.15).
Other news:
- Blocked by Russia at the United Nations, members seeking criminal accountability for the Malaysian jetliner destroyed in eastern Ukraine last year may create their own prosecution tribunal, Australia’s foreign minister has said. (New York Times, 09.25.15).
- France will sell two Mistral-class landing ships originally intended for Russia to Egypt, according to announcement made by the office of French President Francois Hollande Wednesday. TASS reported Wednesday that Russia and Egypt had signed a deal for Egypt's purchase of 50 Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters from Russia to be deployed on the ships. (Washington Post, 09.23.15).
- Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to have meetings with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in New York on Sept.28. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia is ready for more talks with Japan on a long-delayed peace treaty, but there is no room for compromise over the two countries' territorial dispute. Lavrov made the comments after talks with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, in Moscow on September 21. Talks will be held on October 8 in Moscow between Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama and his Russian counterpart, Igor Morgulov. (Interfax, 09.24.15, RFE/RL, 09.21.15).
- Rosatom chief Sergey Kirienko said that the state nuclear corporation had increased the number of its orders in the last few years by five-and-a-half times – to a total of 30 nuclear power units in 12 countries. (World Nuclear News, 09.21.15).
- Illicit financial flows to and from Russia totaled $3.26 trillion since 1994, a massive revision over previous estimates, according to calculations in a new report by Global Financial Integrity. (Wall Street Journal, 09.22.15).

Russia's neighbors:

The United Nations humanitarian chief said Thursday that he was alarmed that United Nations agencies had been ordered out of eastern Ukraine's separatist-controlled Luhansk region by the ''de facto authorities'' there. (New York Times, 09.24.15).
“Normandy Four” summit on Ukraine will be held in Paris on October 2, 2015. (National Interest, 09.25.15).
Head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Jens Stoltenberg signed agreements in Kiev on Tuesday to expand cooperation with Ukraine and support for its armed forces, but senior Ukrainian officials made clear they want even closer ties and intend to pursue membership of the western alliance. He also called on Russia to advance the Ukrainian peace agreement by withdrawing its heavy weapons from the country's east. The documents signed by NATO officials enlarge the NATO office in Kiev and give the officials there the same immunities as international diplomats. Ukrainian officials were eager to call the office an “embassy," although alliance officials insist that NATO doesn't have embassies or ambassadors. Alexander Grushko, the Russian ambassador to NATO, said Mr. Stoltenberg's visit was an example of the “destructive role" the alliance was playing in the Ukrainian crisis. (Wall Street Journal, 09.22.15).
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has named Russia as the main military threat to Ukraine in a new military doctrine signed on September 24. (RFE/RL, 09.24.15).
The Ukrainian government appeared Friday to close its airports to all Russian airlines, including the regional leader Aeroflot, according to a government statement. (Washington Post, 09.25.15).
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged all of Ukraine's creditors to support a debt restructuring deal. The statement comes as an IMF mission arrived in Kyiv to assess Ukraine's commitment to reforms that would warrant the release of another portion of its $17.5 billion loan. (RFE/RL, 09.22.15).
The Kremlin is refusing to accept proposals by Kiev to restructure $3 billion worth of bonds and demands full payment on the debt. (RBTH, 09.22.15).
Armenia has called on international organizations to get involved in the situation along the border with Azerbaijan, where Yerevan says three civilians were killed and two wounded by Azerbaijani gunfire on September 24. (RFE/RL, 09.25.15).
Opposition and civil activists in Armenia say they don’t know a man who asked for political asylum in Azerbaijan last week, claiming to be an Armenian civic activist persecuted in his home country. Vahan Martirosian introduced himself as leader of the Intranational Liberation Movement and described himself as an oppressed activist. It remains unclear how Martirosian was able to leave Armenia while he was under criminal investigation for alleged theft. (RFE/RL, 09.23.15).
A Georgian court has sentenced top opposition leader Gigi Ugulava to 4 1/2 years in jail for misspending public funds one day after he was released from an illegal 14-month detention. (RFE/RL, 09.19.15).

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