Russia in Review

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

Nuclear security agenda:

"Russia fully supports the development of constructive dialogue on fighting nuclear terrorism and is ready to develop active cooperation with all interested countries and international agencies working in this sphere," Russian Foreign Ministry’s plenipotentiary envoy Grigory Berdennikov told a session of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism in Helsinki, Finland. Partner nations and official observers of the initiative gathered in the Finnish capital on June 16-17, 2015, for the GICNT’s 9th senior-level Plenary Meeting. The Russian Federation and United States were selected as Co-Chairs of the GICNT for the term 2015-2019. (Tass, 06.16.15, State.gov, 06.17.15).
"We strictly comply with all issues related to non-proliferation and work closely with the IAEA," Vladimir Putin said, opening a meeting with IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano. Amano has also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in St. Petersburg to discuss the best options for monitoring Iran’s nuclear facilities, nuclear nonproliferation, and nuclear security. (BBC, Mid.ru, Sputnik, 06.19.15).
Russia and Norway plan to sign a protocol soon on early notification in the event of a nuclear accident, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said. The statement followed a meeting of the Russian-Norwegian commission on nuclear and radiation safety held in the Norwegian town of Kirkenes. (World Nuclear News, 06.16.15).

Iran nuclear issues:

Russia's President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he hoped Iran and world powers would reach a final agreement soon on Tehran's nuclear program. “It is very important to diffuse the situation,” Putin said. (Reuters, 06.19.15).

NATO-Russia relations:

The U.S. and Russian navies have met for the first time since the Ukraine crisis began to discuss how to avoid an accidental clash at sea or in the air. A Russian Navy delegation led by Vice-Admiral Oleg Burtsev met a U.S. team led by Rear Admiral John Nowell at U.S. Sixth Fleet headquarters in Naples, Italy. (Reuters, 06.12.15).
The Pentagon is poised to store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 American troops in several Baltic and Eastern European countries. Capt. Greg Hicks, a U.S. military spokesman, said that Gen. Philip M. Breedlove had made a recommendation related to pre-positioning of equipment to U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter. "The decision rests with [Carter]," Hicks said. Officials, said that the proposal, if approved, would put equipment such as Humvees or Bradley fighting vehicles at sites in countries that might include Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria or Hungary. Asked whether the U.S. proposal is in line with the NATO-Russia Founding Act, NATO General Secretary Stoltenberg said that "everything we do is fully in line with our international commitments and obligations." (RFE/RL, 06.17.15, New York Times, 06.15.15, Washington Post, 06.14.15).
The United States already has many of the tanks and other vehicles needed to equip an armored brigade in Europe, but has not decided yet whether to store some of the hardware in Eastern Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe, said. He said the United States planned to keep enough vehicles in Europe to equip an armored brigade combat team. "The total number is about 1,200 vehicles," Hodges said. (Reuters, 06.17.16).
Poland's government is discussing with the U.S. the placement of heavy weapons on Polish territory, Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said. Siemoniak said he expected a final U.S. decision on the equipment within a few weeks. (Reuters, 06.15.15, Wall Street Journal, 06.15.15).
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on June 16 that he is not especially worried about a U.S. plan to possibly station heavy weaponry in Eastern Europe. "Of course, we will analyze everything and follow this carefully, but so far, I don't see anything that would force us to worry especially," Putin said. "If someone puts some of our territories under threat, that means we will have to direct our armed forces and modern strike power at those territories, from where the threat emanates," he said. (RFE/RL, 06.16.15).
"If heavy U.S. military equipment, including tanks, artillery batteries and other equipment really does turn up in countries in eastern Europe and the Baltics, that will be the most aggressive step by the Pentagon and NATO since the Cold War," Russian defense ministry official General Yuri Yakubov said. (Reuters, 06.15.15).
Russia's Foreign Ministry said that it hoped a reported U.S. plan to station tanks and heavy weapons in NATO states on Russia's border would not go ahead. "We hope that reason will prevail and the situation in Europe will be prevented from sliding into a new military confrontation which may have dangerous consequences," the ministry said. (RFE/RL, 06.15.15).
Over 2,000 troops are taking part in the first exercise of NATO's new rapid response force, intended to advertise its readiness to Russia and reassure east European members spooked by the Kremlin's actions in Ukraine. (Reuters, 06.19.15).
Multi-national drills are being held in Poland along with greatly scaled-up annual BALTOPS exercises on the Baltic Sea. BALTOPS this year includes a spectacular amphibious landing of 700 allied troops on a beach. Its maneuvers involve some 60 ships from 17 NATO and partner nations and about 5,000 troops. (AP, 06.18.15).
The U.S. Air Force plans to further increase the number of forces it brings to Europe amid tensions with Russia and could deploy stealthy F-22 fighter jets as a show of force, Service Secretary Deborah Lee James said on Monday. “The biggest threat on my mind is what is happening in Russia. That is a big part of why I am here," Ms. James said at the Paris Air Show. (Wall Street Journal, 06.15.15).
The Kremlin says Russia does not want to enter a costly new arms race with the West, saying it would hurt the country’s economy. “We are against any arms race because it naturally weakens our economic capabilities,” presidential aide Yury Ushakov said on June 17. “In principle, we are against it." (RFE/RL, 06.17.15).
Russia's addition of 40 long-range missiles to its nuclear arsenal this year doesn't signal a new arms race or a threat to any country, Kremlin officials insisted Wednesday. The expansion, part of a decade-long $500-billion modernization of Russian defense forces and weapons, has been forced on Moscow by aggressive moves by NATO, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. (LA Times, 06.17.15).
A senior U.S. State Department official played down on Thursday an announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia will add more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles to its nuclear arsenal. “Those kinds of announcements when made publicly like that obviously have a rattling effect," Victoria Nuland, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European affairs, said. “When we look at what is actually happening inside Russia it is far less dramatic," she said. (Reuters, 06.18.15).
"President Putin's announcement to stock up Russia's strategic missile arsenal is unnecessary and certainly doesn't contribute to stability and an easing of tension in Europe," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the Spiegel Online news. (LA Times, 06.17.15).
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned that the Russian plan to deploy 40 new nuclear ballistic missiles was part of a dangerous pattern of behavior by Moscow. "This nuclear saber-rattling by Russia is unjustified, destabilizing and it is dangerous,” he said. (RFE/RL, 06.16.15).
British Defense Minister Michael Fallon criticized Vladimir Putin for his plan to add intercontinental ballistic missiles to Russia's nuclear arsenal. “This is clearly saber-rattling clearly designed to provoke, designed to intimidate. It won't do that," Fallon said. (RFE/RL, 06.18.15).
Russia's nuclear "saber rattling" and refusal to abide by the terms of a cease-fire in Ukraine have dragged East-West relations to their lowest level since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said Thursday. (Reuters, 06.18.15).
Latvia says it has arrested two Russian activists who were caught entering a military base. The Latvian military said on June 12 that the men carried the St. George flag of the Russian military and anti-NATO leaflets as they climbed over a wall at the Adazi military base on June 10 while training exercises between Latvian and U.S. forces were being conducted. (RFE/RL, 06.12.15).
Not a single Russia-NATO cooperation program is functioning for the moment, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Meshkov said. (Tass, 06.16.15).

Missile defense:

“Not military conflicts but global decisions like the US unilateral withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty lead to a Cold War,” Vladimir Putin said. “This more in fact pushes us to a new round of the arms race, because it changes the global security system.” Putin made his comments at a key plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.(Reuters, 06.19.15).
Belarusian Defense Minister Gen. Lt. Andrey Ravkov said that four Russian-built S-300 air defense systems would be sent to his country by the end of this year, and there were ongoing talks over Russia deploying its most advanced S-400 air defense systems. (NI, 06.17.15).

Nuclear arms control:

Russian Foreign Ministry said: “It appears that the main goal of the US campaign over the INF Treaty is to discredit Russia and at the same time to divert public attention from the free interpretation of INF Treaty provisions that prevent it from creating weapons systems that Washington needs. In this connection, we are very worried about US plans to deploy vertical missile launch systems at its bases in Romania and Poland. According to our assessments, these systems can launch SM-3 interceptor missiles and Tomahawk intermediate-range missiles. This would be in direct violation of the INF Treaty.” (Mid.ru,BBC, 06.15.15).

Counter-terrorism agenda:

A Kyrgyz friend of convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to two and a half years in prison June 18 for obstructing the FBI's investigation into the attack, U.S. authorities said. (RFE/RL, 06.19.15).

Cyber security:

Britain has pulled out agents from live operations in "hostile countries" after Russia and China cracked top-secret information contained in files leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. (Reuters, 06.14.15).
Russian lawmakers on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would give people significant leverage when asking search engines to remove content about them. The proposal is similar to one approved by a top European court last year that forced Google to start removing links from search results. (Wall Street Journal, 06.17.15).
A new law requiring companies to store Russian users' data domestically could shave $5.7 billion, or 0.27 percent, off Russia's gross domestic product this year and jeopardize productivity in the long term, a study by the European Center for International Political Economy found. (Moscow Times, 06.16.15).

Energy exports from CIS:

Igor Sechin, the head of Russia's top oil producer Rosneft, said on Wednesday the United States is calling the shots on global oil markets, while the influence of OPEC has shrunk. “In essence, the sole market, which has all the sets of financial and technological tools, is the U.S. market, which has became the key regulator," Sechin told reporters, adding that oil prices in the United States set the tone of the global industry (Reuters, 06.18.15).
Gazprom signed a preliminary deal with three European companies to expand a pipeline to Germany, aiming to cement the company as the European Union's main gas supplier even as it faces antimonopoly charges there. Existing gas pipelines from Russia already more than meet the European Union's existing and future needs, the European Commission said Friday. (Wall Street Journal, 06.18.15, 06.19.15).
Gazprom is building a global strategic alliance with energy major Royal Dutch Shell that will include asset swaps and allow the Russian gas giant to penetrate new markets, its chief executive told Reuters. Alexei Miller said the agreement with Shell foresaw an expansion of the firms' joint $20 billion liquefied natural gas plant on the eastern island of Sakhalin as well as global upstream asset swaps. (Reuters, 06.19.15).
Rosneft has sold a minority stake in an eastern Siberian oil-and-gas field to BP PLC for $750 million and bought a stake in a German refinery from France's Total SA. (Wall Street Journal, 06.19.15).
Greece and Russia have signed a memorandum on extending the planned Turkish Stream gas pipeline to Europe through Greek territory. (RFE/RL, 06.19.15).
Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov has said operations at the massive Kashagan oil field will resume by 2017. (RFE/RL, 06.17.15).

Bilateral economic ties:

The U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine has publicly called on U.S. companies to boycott the upcoming St. Petersburg International Economic Forum over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis. The Financial Times reported earlier this month that with no similar U.S. prohibition this year, more executives were planning to participate in this year's forum. This year 12 chief executives from United States companies showed up, according to Yuri Ushakov, an adviser to President Vladimir V. Putin. In total, Mr. Ushakov said, 70 American company officers attended. (New York Times, 06.19.15, Moscow Times, 06.16.15, Wall Street Journal, 06.18.15).
New Yorkers will soon have a new option for their fast-food cravings: blini from Russia's Teremok chain. (Moscow Times, 06.15.15).

Other bilateral issues:

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the US against trying to use the language of ultimatums in its relations with Russia. “The problem is that they are constantly trying to impose their standards and decisions on us with no regard to our interests,” he explained. “In essence they say: 'we are better' as if the US knows better what is good for us. Well, let us decide for ourselves what our interests and needs are as dictated by our history and culture.” This is no dialogue. It's an ultimatum. Don't speak the language of ultimatums with us,” he said. (Reuters, 06.19.15).
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine is an example of how the US is causing trouble by maintaining its arrogant approach to international politics. “They should not have supported the anti-constitutionalists’ armed coup that in the end led to a violent confrontation in Ukraine, a civil war in fact,” he said. “We are not the cause of all those crisis events that Ukraine is experiencing.” (Reuters, 06.19.15).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday Russia was doing well in tackling its economic crisis, aggravated by Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis and a fall in global oil prices. Addressing an economic forum in the city of St Petersburg, he said that Russia's financial system and banking sector had adapted to the new conditions and that inflation had been taken under control. (Reuters, 06.19.15).
Russia's economy contracted by 3.2 percent in the first five months of the year, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said on Friday. (Reuters, 06.19.15).
The Bank of Russia cut its key rate by one percentage point to 11.5%, in line with expectations. (Wall Street Journal, 06.15.15).
Aleksei Kudrin, a longtime ally of Vladimir Putin, suggested on June 18 that the Russian president could order an early vote to win a mandate for much-needed economic reforms. (RFE/RL, 06.18.15).
Moscow plummeted out of the world's top 10 most expensive cities to live in as a result of the ruble's drastic depreciation during the last year. The city fell from ninth place last year to 50th this year in the annual cost of living survey by U.S. consultancy company Mercer. (Moscow Times, 06.17.15).

Defense and Aerospace:

In a sprawling park 30 miles outside Moscow, President Vladimir V. Putin welcomed the country's first high-tech military exposition on Tuesday, announcing in his opening remarks that Russia would add 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles to its nuclear stockpile this year. Putin said the missiles will be capable of "penetrating" any current missile defense systems (New York Times, 06.17.15, RFE/RL, 06.16.15).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov said that two supporters of an "international terrorist organization" were sentenced last year to lengthy prison terms for preparing an attack against a storage and destruction facility for chemical weapons located in the Kirov region. (Moscow Times, 06.16.15).
Up to 5,000 Russian citizens may be fighting for the international terrorist organization, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), CIS Antiterrorism Center head Andrei Novikov has said. (Interfax, 06.17.15).
More than 200 residents of Russia's Volga Federal District are thought to be fighting alongside the Islamic State terrorist organization in Syria and Iraq, FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov said (Moscow Times, 06.16.15).
Russian law enforcement officials are probing reports that Mariam Ismailova, a student at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in Moscow, has fled the country and joined the Islamic State. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the recruitment of Russian students by foreign terrorist organizations was a "very dangerous process" and was constantly being monitored by the country's special services. (Moscow Times, 06.16.15).
In the first three months of this year, armed conflict has led to the deaths of 28 people in Dagestan, according to the Kavkazsky Uzel news site. Twenty-four of the victims were accused of being part of an illegal armed group. Kavkazsky Uzel reported that 208 lives were claimed by insurgency and counterinsurgency efforts in Dagestan last year, making it the deadliest of Russia's North Caucasus republics. (Moscow Times, 04.19.15).
Dmitry Kovtun, one of two Russians accused of murdering ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko with a radioactive isotope in London in 2006 can give evidence to a public inquiry into the death after the head of the investigation agreed to give him "core participant" status on Monday. (Reuters, 06.16.15).
Law enforcement agencies are conducting special investigative procedures to detain former Chechen Interior Ministry officer Ruslan Geremeyev in a criminal case dealing with the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov. (Interfax, 06.17.15).

Foreign affairs and trade:

Meeting in Brussels, European Union ambassadors have agreed to extend so-called sectoral sanctions on Russia by another six months to the end of January 2016, and prolong an investment ban on Crimea for another year. Ratification of the decision by EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday is expected to be a formality. (Reuters, 06.17.15, RFE/RL, 06.17.15).
Russia may toughen its response to sanctions imposed by the European Union over the crisis in Ukraine if the bloc extends its measures against Moscow, a Kremlin aide Andrei Belousov said on Thursday. (Reuters, 06.17.15).
Russian Economic Development Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev has said Moscow will extend its embargo on European Union agricultural products if the bloc extends sanctions as expected. (RFE/RL, 06.18.15).
Saudi Arabia and Russia have signed an agreement to cooperate on nuclear energy development. Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV, citing unnamed sources, said the kingdom planned to build 16 nuclear reactors in which Russia would play a significant role in operating them. Saudi Arabia’s defense minister, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is likely to meet Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi was due to meet his counterpart Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak in St Petersburg on Thursday to discuss a broad cooperation agreement. (Reuters, RBTH, 06.19.15).
Russian companies outside the financial sector face a $100bn debt mountain that will need to be refinanced, or repayed, over the next two years, according to Moody's Ratings Service. (Telegraph, 06.18.15).
Tensions continue to mount between Russia and the West after Belgium, France, and Austria took steps this week to freeze Russian government assets to cover a Yukos-related settlement ordered by a European arbitration court in July. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said affected Russian entities "intend to file claims with a Russian court seeking for similar actions to be taken in the Russian Federation to seize the property of foreign companies with state capital in response to the illegitimate actions taken against them." (RFE/RL, 06.19.15).
The Swedish air force has had to increase flights by 50% in the past two years to contend with the repeated flights of Russian military aircraft along the country's borders, service chief Maj. Gen. Micael Bydén said. (Wall Street Journal, 06.15.15).
France transferred several pieces of advanced technology and know-how to Russian shipbuilders before the Mistral warship deal was put on ice following Western sanctions, a news report said Thursday. (Moscow Times, 06.18.15).
Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks on June 13 with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Baku to discuss proposed Black Sea gas pipeline from Russian to Turkey, the possible construction of a Turkish nuclear power plant at Akkuyu, and the situation in Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 06.13.15).
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un may visit Khabarovsk in September for the 70th anniversary celebrations of the end of the Second World War in Asia. (Interfax, 06.15.15).
A new report says migrant workers in Europe sent $109.4 billion back to their home countries last year -- supporting an estimated 150 million people around the world. Russia, which is classified as a European -- not an Asian -- country, is the top "sender" country in the region. (RFE/RL, 06.15.15).

Russia's neighbors:

A working group of Ukraine’s Constitutional Commission on decentralization issues has drafted amendments to the Constitution which will be presented to the Venice Commission, Verkhovnaya Rada Chairman Volodymyr Groysman has said. (Interfax, 06.17.15).
Kyiv reported on June 13 one of the heaviest death tolls for Ukrainian troops since early June, saying six servicemen had been killed and 14 others wounded. The Ukrainian military said on June 14^th that one of its servicemen was killed and 21 were wounded in separatist attacks over the past 24 hours. The Ukrainian military said on June 16 that two Ukrainian serviceman have been killed and five wounded. Also three rebel fighters and five civilians had been wounded as a result of Ukrainian shelling of separatist-held territory. The Ukrainian military said on June 18^th that three of its soldiers have been killed and 14 wounded in fighting in the country’s east. (RFE/RL, 06.18.15, 06.14.15,Reuters, 06.1.6.15).
Residents of two frequently shelled neighborhoods in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine staged a public antiwar protest on Monday. The crowd of about 500 people briefly blocked the city's main thoroughfare, Artema Street, chanting, ''Stop the war!'' and ''Out with everybody!'' (New York Times, 06.16.15).
A United Nations report says Russia became the world's single largest recipient of asylum requests last year as a result of the war in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists. The report by the UN refugee agency (says a total of 271,200 Ukrainians applied for refugee status or temporary asylum in Russia after the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict -- about 99 percent of the asylum claims in Russia during 2014. (RFE/RL, 06.18.15).
Ukraine's government will offer creditors additional bonds, to be issued based on Ukraine's economic performance in future years. Ukraine's government has said it is seeking a 40% cut in the face value of the bonds. (Wall Street Journal, 06.19.15).
Atomstroyexport, part of Russia's Rosatom, has closed down its office in Ukraine. (World Nuclear News, 06.18.15).
Paris says the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Ukraine, and Russia are set to hold talks on June 23 over the crisis in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 06.17.15).
The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a $600 billion defense policy bill that would authorize lethal offensive weapons for Ukraine. But it then immediately rejected a measure to pay for it, the first battle in a spending fight that could end in a government shutdown this fall. (New York Times, 06.19.15).
A deputy assistant secretary of the US Department of Energy last week met with the president of Energoatom as part of preparations for an emergency response plan for Ukraine's energy sector during the winter season. (World Nuclear News, 06.18.15).
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has pressed his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to ensure that Moscow respects the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, the U.S. State Department said. In the conversation, Lavrov stressed the importance of "establishing a direct dialogue between the [Kyiv] government and the self-proclaimed unrecognized Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. (RFE/RL, 06.16.15).
Yuri Kasich, acting director at Ukrenergo, has said that Ukraine will not pay for Russian electricity supplies to the rebel-held areas of the country's Donbass region. (Interfax, 06.15.15).
Ukraine's parliament has dismissed the head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Valentyn Nalyvaychenko.(RFE/RL, 06.18.15).
Ukrainian authorities say they have detained three people suspected of involvement in the murder of journalist Oles Buzyna. (RFE/RL, 06.18.15).
The death toll from devastating flooding in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, has risen to 19, the government said in a statement on June 16, adding that 17 of the victims have been identified. (RFE/RL, 06.16.15).
In Moldova's local elections held on June 14 pro-European parties won about 56.5 percent of votes versus 31.5 percent for the pro-Russian parties. (RFE/RL, 06.16.15).
Edward Lemon, a researcher focused on Central Asian fighters in the Middle East at the University of Exeter said: “Only about 1 in every 20,000 Tajik Muslims are in Iraq and Syria. Compare that to 1 in every 1,500 Belgian Muslims who have gone to fight.” (Foreign Policy, 06.12.15).

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