Russia in Review

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

Nuclear security agenda:

The ISIS militant group has seized enough radioactive material from government facilities to suggest it has the capacity to build a large and devastating “dirty” bomb, according to Australian intelligence reports. ISIS has declared its ambition to develop weapons of mass destruction in the most recent edition of its propaganda magazine Dabiq, and Indian defense officials have previously warned of the possibility the militants could acquire a nuclear weapon from Pakistan. (The Independent, 06.10.15).

Iran

Russian officials say it is too soon to say when an oil-for-goods arrangement with Iran will start. Earlier Russia's food safety regulator has announced that Russia has started grain deliveries to Iran, sending 100,000 tons. (Reuters, 06.08.15, RFE/RL, 06.09.15).

NATO-Russia relations:

"As for some countries' concerns about Russia's possible aggressive actions, I think that only an insane person and only in a dream can imagine that Russia would suddenly attack NATO," Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "The world has changed so drastically that people with some common sense cannot even imagine such a large-scale military conflict today" he said. (RFE/RL, 06.06.15).
Speaking after conferring with U.S. diplomats and military officers in Stuttgart, Germany, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the Pentagon was concerned about "further things happening" after the worst upsurge in fighting in months broke out this week in eastern Ukraine. U.S. officials said no decisions were made during the Stuttgart meeting, but one action discussed was boosting the number of U.S. and NATO military training exercises. (RFE/RL, 06.06.15).
U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno says the fall-off in the U.S.-Russian communications is of concern. "I've actually tried to meet to meet with my Russian counterpart on two separate occasions, and both times they've refused to do that in neutral settings. So it's concerning," because the lack of communication "definitely increases the danger of miscalculations" between the two countries, he says. (Christian Science Monitor, 06.09.15).
America is sending three nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to Russia’s borders to participate in the Baltic Operations military exercise near the Baltics and Poland. Baltic Operations 2015, the largest ever of the annual NATO-led exercise in the Baltic Sea, has drawn ships, aircraft, sailors and soldiers from 17 nations. (National Interest, 06.08.15, Sea Power, 06.09.15).
Russian fighter jet, flying at high speed, came within 10 feet of a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the Black Sea late last month, several U.S. officials said Thursday. Adm. William Gortney, the chief of North American Aerospace Defense Command said that the number of Russian incursions into U.S. airspace in 2014 was double the average dating back to 2006. (National Interest, 06.08.15, CNN, 06.12.15).
Russia has been conducting nearly nonstop naval exercises in the Baltic Sea -- including on 26 of 30 days in April, according to Lithuanian officials. (New York Times, 06.11.15).
Fewer than half of those surveyed in Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain supported using military force to defend NATO allies if Russia entered a serious military conflict with one of them, the Pew Global Attitudes Project found. Of the Americans questioned, 56 percent were in favor of using military force and 37 percent were against. (Washington Post, 10.10.15).

Missile defense:

No significant developments.

Nuclear arms control:

The U.S. State Department reported on Friday that Russia had failed to correct a violation of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty. The American allegation was outlined in the State Department's annual report on compliance with arms control agreements. The State Department report also asserted that Russia may have violated troop notification requirements under the Vienna Document and faulted Russia's adherence to the Open Skies Treaty. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the U.S. has failed to provide evidence to prove allegations of Russian breaches of the INF, treaty, adding that Moscow is ready for an "honest but specific dialogue." He said Russia "has no intention to break the treaty." (Reuters, 06.09.15, New York Times, 06.06.15).
Britain could once again host US nuclear missiles amid growing tensions with Russia, Philip Hammond indicated. The Foreign Secretary said the Government ‘would look at the case’ for cruise missiles to be sited in the UK. “We have got to send a clear signal to Russia that we will not allow them to transgress our red lines,” he said. (Daily Mail, 06.07.15).
In a statement on June 11, the Foreign Ministry warned that the deployment of missiles by the United States near Russia's borders would mean the "total destruction" of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty. “The measures U.S. sources are speaking about would mean the U.S. secession from the INF Treaty," Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said on June 9. (Interfax, 06.09.15, RFE/RL, 06.11.15).

Counter-terrorism agenda:

No significant developments.

Cyber security:

A computer virus was used to hack into venues linked to international talks on Iran's nuclear program, Kaspersky Lab said on Wednesday. Kaspersky said it found the software in three European hotels used in the negotiations involving Iran and six world powers and also on Kaspersky's own computers. (Reuters, 06.11.15).
French investigators suspect that a group of Russian hackers posing as Islamic State militants were behind an April cyberattack that crippled a French-language TV broadcaster, raising questions about the motives for an assault that initially appeared aimed at spreading terrorist propaganda. (Wall Street Journal, 06.10.15).

Energy exports from CIS:

Alexander Medvedev, deputy chairman of the board of Gazprom said Tuesday that Europe will need to accede not only to the contested Turkish Stream pipeline, but other gas distribution schemes too if it wants to avoid a major energy deficit in the coming decade. (Moscow Times, 06.09.15).
Gazprom has been given a two-month extended deadline of mid-September to respond to European Union antitrust charges of over-charging in eastern and central Europe and blocking competitors from entering the market. (Reuters, 06.09.15).
Rosneft will be forced to postpone drilling a second well in the Kara Sea for at least two more years, three sources told Reuters, as a result of Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. (Reuters, 06.11.15).

Bilateral economic ties:

Rosselkhoznadzor is banning the transportation through Russian territory of live poultry, poultry meat and other poultry products from the United States starting on June 10. (Interfax, 06.09.15).

Other bilateral issues:

''He's got to make a decision -- does he continue to wreck his nation's economy and continue Russia's isolation in pursuit of a wrongheaded desire to recreate the glories of the Soviet empire?'' Barack Obama said of Vladimir Putin at a news conference after the two-day G7 meeting. ''Or does he recognize that Russia's greatness does not depend on violating the territorial integrity'' of its neighbors, Obama said. More sanctions will be the consequence if Putin chooses to continue his current course, Obama said. "We expect Russia to stop trans-border support of separatist forces and to use its considerable influence over the separatists," the G7 declaration said. Russia is prepared to retaliate against the G7 nations should they choose to toughen economic sanctions on Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. (Moscow Times, 06.11.15, New York Times, 06.09.15, RFE/RL, 06.08.15).
Jeb Bush called on the U.S. and its allies Wednesday to build a “more robust" troop presence in the three Baltic nations that share borders with Russia. At the same time Bush said he doesn't think the U.S. should go too far in this standoff with the Russian leader and risk the return of another Cold War between the two world powers. “I don't think we want to isolate Russia to the point where we push them into the arms of China," he said. The former Florida governor also defended his brother on the question of whether George W. Bush misjudged Putin when he deemed the Russian leader “straightforward and trustworthy.” “Putin has changed,” Jeb Bush told reporters. (Wall Street Journal, 06.10.15, AP, 06.12.15).
Evgeny Buryakov, Russian citizen who worked in Manhattan as a banker asked a federal judge June 11 to toss out charges that he participated in a Cold War-style Russian spy ring. (RFE/RL, 06.12.15).
Alexander Brazhnikov, a naturalized US citizen born in Moscow, has admitted obtaining and smuggling sensitive electronic components worth $65 million from the United States to Russia, US Attorney Paul Fishman said in a press release on Thursday. (Sputnik, 06.11.15).
Seventy-three percent of 1,700 Russians polled by the Levada Center in May expressed negative feelings for the United States. Russians have similar sentiments about the European Union: 26 percent have a positive attitude and 59 percent feel negative. Russians traditionally like Belarus and China (83 percent and 80 percent, respectively), and 7 percent feel the opposite. (Interfax, 06.08.15).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

A bill has been submitted to State Duma to change the parliamentary elections date from December to September 2016, Deputy Speaker Igor Lebedev told reporters on June 11. (Interfax, 06.1.115).
State statistics released on June 11 show that the number of Russians living below the poverty line rose by 3.1 million in the first quarter. The number of Russians classed as living in poverty reached 22.9 million in the first quarter, or 15.9 percent of the population. (RFE/RL, 06.11.15).
Data from Russia's Federal Migration Service showed the number of foreigners in Russia from the U.S. and Western Europe's biggest countries was down 34% to 746,580 in the first month of this year compared with January 2014. Migration statistics also show a 40% increase in the number of Chinese living in Russia from January 2014 to January 2015. (Wall Street Journal, 06.10.15).

Defense and Aerospace:

Russia will relaunch assembly of the massive Soviet-designed Tu-160 supersonic strategic bomber after 2023."This will be essentially a new airplane, not a Tu-160 but a Tu-160M2," Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov said. (Moscow Times, 06.07.15).
Russia has grounded its fleet of Tu-95 strategic bombers after one of them rolled off a runway in the Far Eastern Amur region. (RFE/RL, 06.08.15).
Russia and Egypt are holding their first ever joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea. (RFE/RL, 06.10.15).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

Police in Belgium say they have detained 16 people in raids targeting ethnic Chechen Islamist militants. One group has been under investigation for an alleged planned terrorist attack in Belgium. The groups are suspected of recruiting militants to fight for the Islamic State terrorist organization in Syria. (RFE/RL, 06.08.15).
Terrorist organizations, including Islamic State, are trying to draw citizens of Russia, countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and other states to their ranks. Special services must therefore intensify cooperation in countering recruiters, said Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev. (Interfax, 06.09.15).
A Moscow student detained near Turkey's border with Syria has been brought home to Russia. Varvara Karaulova, 19, was suspected of trying to cross into Syria to join the terrorist Islamic State, but her lawyer Alexander Karabanov said investigators on the case are currently treating her as a victim. (Moscow Times, Lenta.ru, 06.11.15).
Criminal charges have been brought against a resident of the Krasnoyarsk territory detained at a Moscow airport before he could board a flight to the war in Syria. (Interfax, 06.10.15).
Russia's antiterrorism committee says police in Dagestan have killed Suleiman Zainalobinov, a militant who had taken the oath of the radical Islamic State group. (RFE/RL, 06.06.15).
Russia's Investigative Committee says it has launched a criminal inquiry against Ilya Ponomaryov, the lone State Duma representative to vote against the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 06.10.15).
The British Home Office has accepted the motion from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office for the extradition of Sergei Pugachyov, Mezhprombank founder and ex-senator from the Republic of Tuva, who is suspected of large-scale misappropriation. (Interfax, 06.07.15).
Novaya Gazeta newspaper has appealed to President Vladimir Putin's administration and law enforcement agencies to look into apparent threats made against its journalist Yelena Milashina by government-backed forces in Chechnya. (Moscow Times, 06.10.15).

Foreign affairs and trade:

At a news conference in Milan on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the European sanctions against Russia. Putin has also met privately with Pope Francis at the Vatican to discuss the conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East. Vatican officials said Francis told Mr. Putin that “a sincere and great effort” was needed to achieve peace and called for all parties to comply with the Minsk accords. (New York Times, 06.11.15).
Russia will keep sanctions against the West in place and may even expand the penalties if the political tensions of the Cold War nature deepen, officials said Wednesday. Sergei Ivanov, chief of staff of the Presidential Executive Office, said it was “pretty logical to assume that Moscow will extend its counter-sanctions." (Wall Street Journal, 06.10.15).
The European Parliament passed a resolution on Thursday calling on EU governments to maintain sanctions on Russia over its action in Ukraine, the second such critical vote in the EU legislature in as many days. (Reuters, 06.12.15).
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday thanked Western countries for imposing sanctions against Russia, saying they provided an impetus for Russia to boost its ties with Asia. “In economic terms, of course, all the sanctions that have been placed on us have inspired us to cooperate more actively with Asian countries,” Medvedev said. (Moscow Times, 06.11.15).
Russia will develop strategic partnerships with China and India as part of its medium term objectives, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Monday. "The unfolding international context requires sustained efforts to consolidate and develop a new stage in comprehensive strategic partnership and cooperation between Russia and China," the ministry said in its report on the outcome of diplomatic work in 2014 and mid-term goals. (Sputnik, 06.08.15).
Russia has refused to sign off on the U.N. nuclear watchdog's annual report because the document lists a nuclear reactor near Crimea's Sevastopol as being in Ukraine, two diplomats present at the meeting told Reuters on Monday. (Reuters, 06.08.15).
Rosatom and Indonesia's National Nuclear Energy Agency have signed a memorandum of understanding on development of peaceful use of nuclear energy. (Interfax, 06.10.15).
Deutsche Bank AG is conducting an internal probe into possible money laundering by Russian clients that may involve about $6 billion of transactions over more than four years. (Bloomberg, 06.06.15).
Two Russians kidnapped in Sudan's restive Darfur region in January have been freed by their captors. (RFE/RL, 06.07.15).
The number of Russians traveling abroad declined by more than 30 percent in the first quarter of 2015. (Moscow Times, 06.08.15).
By 2030, the Northern Sea Route from the Kara Strait to the Pacific will have nine weeks of open water, according to the U.S. Navy, up from two in 2012. The Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, will have five weeks of open water by 2030, up from zero in 2012. (Wall Street Journal, 06.12.15).

Russia's neighbors:

Three civilians and two Ukrainian soldiers were killed in eastern Ukraine within 24 hours up to midday on Thursday. Seven Ukrainian servicemen were killed in eastern Ukraine when a truck they were travelling in struck a land mine on Monday. Also, a small boat of the Ukrainian Coast Guard has hit a mine off the coast of Mariupol, causing an explosion that has killed one coastguard officer and wounded five others. (RFE/RL, 06.07.15, 06.08.15,Reuters, 06.12.15).
The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission says the process of heavy weapons withdrawal by the conflict parties in Donbass has not been completed. It also reports electronic interference with the work of drones, adding that children have been sighted at checkpoints. (Interfax, 06.11.15).
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that full implementation of a cease-fire agreement reached in Minsk in February is vital to ending fighting in eastern Ukraine. Putin has also said it is time to start carrying out clauses requiring constitutional reform to ensure autonomy for the rebel regions in eastern Ukraine, a law on municipal elections there, and a law on amnesty in co-ordination with the regions' authorities. (RFE/RL, 06.06.15, 06.10.15).
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Friday that Ukraine could not move forward with local elections and other political changes in the east until pro-Russian fighters and their weapons were withdrawn, and control of the border with Russia was restored to Ukraine. (New York Times, 06.07.15).
The U.S. Senate has included provisions in its military policy bill to arm Ukraine with antiarmor systems, mortars, grenade launchers and ammunition to aid in its fight against Russian-backed separatists. It would also prevent the administration from spending more than one half of $300 million in aid for Ukraine unless 20 percent is earmarked for offensive weapons. The House has passed a similar measure. (New York Times, 06.12.15).
Moscow believes that the decision adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives to ban the training of Ukraine's 'Azov' volunteer battalion by the U.S. military is correct, albeit belated.(Interfax, 06.12.15).
Americans narrowly favor arming the Ukrainian military, a possibility floated over the winter, with 46 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed, the Pew Global Attitudes Project found. More than 60 percent of Americans in the poll favored letting Ukraine join NATO, according to the poll. (Washington Post, 10.10.15).
Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in Kiev that Russia is "training, arming, bankrolling, and fighting alongside" pro-Moscow rebels battling government forces in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 06.11.15).
Russia accused the United States on Thursday of coercing Kiev into pressing on with the conflict in east Ukraine. Rejecting criticism of Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, the ministry said Washington was making no effort to resolve the crisis and was "pushing the current Kiev authorities into continuing the fratricidal intra-state conflict." (Reuters, 06.11.15).
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in Washington on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin aims to extend Moscow's control over all of Ukraine, and that the country needs more military aid from the United States. (Washington Post, 06.11.15).
Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said in Washington that Kiev will likely secure a key tranche of emergency financing from the IMF in early July. Jaresko has also warned that she may invoke a moratorium on the country's debt payments before reaching an agreement with creditors to restructure debts. IMF Deputy Managing Director David Lipton on Tuesday signaled the emergency lender could disburse its next tranche of bailout cash to Ukraine despite gridlocked debt-restructuring. (RFE/RL, 06.11.15, Wall Street Journal, 06.11.15, 06.09.15).
Ukraine's president has signed into law measures renouncing five bilateral defense-cooperation agreements between Ukraine and Russia. The nullified agreements include one on the transit across Ukraine of Russian military personnel stationed "in the Republic of Moldova. (RFE/RL, 06.08.15).
The Swiss government says diplomat Heidi Tagliavini will step down as the representative of the OSCE in talks between Moscow, Kyiv, and pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 06.07.15).
Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said that 42,500 separatists and Russian soldiers are stationed in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have been battling pro-Russian rebels since April 2014. (RFE/RL, 06.08.15).
The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency has approved an agreement with Kazakhstan to establish and operate in Kazakhstan the IAEA Low Enriched Uranium Bank. (Interfax, 06.12.15).
Kazakhstan has completed its negotiations on accession to the World Trade Organization after nearly two decades of talks. (Moscow Times, 06.11.15).
Belarus has adopted a radioactive waste management strategy for its first nuclear power plant under construction near Ostrovets. (World Nuclear News, 06.09.15).
Belarus on Tuesday named Oct. 11 as the date for a presidential election which is almost certain to usher in a new five-year term for veteran Alexander Lukashenko. (Reuters, 06.09.15).
Moldova's prime minister resigned Friday after questions arose about the authenticity of his high school and university degrees. (AP, 06.12.15).
"We are deeply concerned by the Pentagon's measures to place its medical and biological laboratories in the immediate vicinity of Russian borders, notably the so-called R. G. Lugar Center for Public Health Research on the outskirts of Tbilisi," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary. (Interfax, 06.11.15).
On June 16, Georgia will bury the 30th soldier killed in support of the Euro-Atlantic alliance's missions in Afghanistan. With about 880 soldiers currently serving in NATO's Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, Georgia is making the second-largest contribution after the United States. Per capita, the contribution from the nation of 5 million is by far the biggest. (RFE/RL, 06.11.15).
A new front line against Islamist militancy involving the Islamic State is forming along the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border, where multiple groups of Central Asian militants, as well as the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, have been joining forces with the Islamic State to challenge secular regimes in former Soviet republics. (New York Times, 06.10.15).

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Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for June 5-12, 2015

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

Nuclear security agenda:

· The ISIS militant group has seized enough radioactive material from government facilities to suggest it has the capacity to build a large and devastating “dirty” bomb, according to Australian intelligence reports. ISIS has declared its ambition to develop weapons of mass destruction in the most recent edition of its propaganda magazine Dabiq, and Indian defense officials have previously warned of the possibility the militants could acquire a nuclear weapon from Pakistan. (The Independent, 06.10.15).

Iran

· Russian officials say it is too soon to say when an oil-for-goods arrangement with Iran will start. Earlier Russia's food safety regulator has announced that Russia has started grain deliveries to Iran, sending 100,000 tons. (Reuters, 06.08.15, RFE/RL, 06.09.15).

NATO-Russia relations:

· "As for some countries' concerns about Russia's possible aggressive actions, I think that only an insane person and only in a dream can imagine that Russia would suddenly attack NATO," Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "The world has changed so drastically that people with some common sense cannot even imagine such a large-scale military conflict today" he said. (RFE/RL, 06.06.15).

· Speaking after conferring with U.S. diplomats and military officers in Stuttgart, Germany, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the Pentagon was concerned about "further things happening" after the worst upsurge in fighting in months broke out this week in eastern Ukraine. U.S. officials said no decisions were made during the Stuttgart meeting, but one action discussed was boosting the number of U.S. and NATO military training exercises. (RFE/RL, 06.06.15).

· U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno says the fall-off in the U.S.-Russian communications is of concern. "I've actually tried to meet to meet with my Russian counterpart on two separate occasions, and both times they've refused to do that in neutral settings. So it's concerning," because the lack of communication "definitely increases the danger of miscalculations" between the two countries, he says. (Christian Science Monitor, 06.09.15).

· America is sending three nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to Russia’s borders to participate in the Baltic Operations military exercise near the Baltics and Poland. Baltic Operations 2015, the largest ever of the annual NATO-led exercise in the Baltic Sea, has drawn ships, aircraft, sailors and soldiers from 17 nations. (National Interest, 06.08.15, Sea Power, 06.09.15).

· Russian fighter jet, flying at high speed, came within 10 feet of a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the Black Sea late last month, several U.S. officials said Thursday. Adm. William Gortney, the chief of North American Aerospace Defense Command said that the number of Russian incursions into U.S. airspace in 2014 was double the average dating back to 2006. (National Interest, 06.08.15, CNN, 06.12.15).

· Russia has been conducting nearly nonstop naval exercises in the Baltic Sea -- including on 26 of 30 days in April, according to Lithuanian officials. (New York Times, 06.11.15).

· Fewer than half of those surveyed in Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain supported using military force to defend NATO allies if Russia entered a serious military conflict with one of them, the Pew Global Attitudes Project found. Of the Americans questioned, 56 percent were in favor of using military force and 37 percent were against. (Washington Post, 10.10.15).

Missile defense:

· No significant developments.

Nuclear arms control:

· The U.S. State Department reported on Friday that Russia had failed to correct a violation of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty. The American allegation was outlined in the State Department's annual report on compliance with arms control agreements. The State Department report also asserted that Russia may have violated troop notification requirements under the Vienna Document and faulted Russia's adherence to the Open Skies Treaty. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the U.S. has failed to provide evidence to prove allegations of Russian breaches of the INF, treaty, adding that Moscow is ready for an "honest but specific dialogue." He said Russia "has no intention to break the treaty." (Reuters, 06.09.15, New York Times, 06.06.15).

· Britain could once again host US nuclear missiles amid growing tensions with Russia, Philip Hammond indicated. The Foreign Secretary said the Government ‘would look at the case’ for cruise missiles to be sited in the UK. “We have got to send a clear signal to Russia that we will not allow them to transgress our red lines,” he said. (Daily Mail, 06.07.15).

· In a statement on June 11, the Foreign Ministry warned that the deployment of missiles by the United States near Russia's borders would mean the "total destruction" of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty. “The measures U.S. sources are speaking about would mean the U.S. secession from the INF Treaty," Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said on June 9. (Interfax, 06.09.15, RFE/RL, 06.11.15).

Counter-terrorism agenda:

· No significant developments.

Cyber security:

· A computer virus was used to hack into venues linked to international talks on Iran's nuclear program, Kaspersky Lab said on Wednesday. Kaspersky said it found the software in three European hotels used in the negotiations involving Iran and six world powers and also on Kaspersky's own computers. (Reuters, 06.11.15).

· French investigators suspect that a group of Russian hackers posing as Islamic State militants were behind an April cyberattack that crippled a French-language TV broadcaster, raising questions about the motives for an assault that initially appeared aimed at spreading terrorist propaganda. (Wall Street Journal, 06.10.15).

Energy exports from CIS:

· Alexander Medvedev, deputy chairman of the board of Gazprom said Tuesday that Europe will need to accede not only to the contested Turkish Stream pipeline, but other gas distribution schemes too if it wants to avoid a major energy deficit in the coming decade. (Moscow Times, 06.09.15).

· Gazprom has been given a two-month extended deadline of mid-September to respond to European Union antitrust charges of over-charging in eastern and central Europe and blocking competitors from entering the market. (Reuters, 06.09.15).

· Rosneft will be forced to postpone drilling a second well in the Kara Sea for at least two more years, three sources told Reuters, as a result of Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. (Reuters, 06.11.15).

Bilateral economic ties:

· Rosselkhoznadzor is banning the transportation through Russian territory of live poultry, poultry meat and other poultry products from the United States starting on June 10. (Interfax, 06.09.15).

Other bilateral issues:

· ''He's got to make a decision -- does he continue to wreck his nation's economy and continue Russia's isolation in pursuit of a wrongheaded desire to recreate the glories of the Soviet empire?'' Barack Obama said of Vladimir Putin at a news conference after the two-day G7 meeting. ''Or does he recognize that Russia's greatness does not depend on violating the territorial integrity'' of its neighbors, Obama said. More sanctions will be the consequence if Putin chooses to continue his current course, Obama said. "We expect Russia to stop trans-border support of separatist forces and to use its considerable influence over the separatists," the G7 declaration said. Russia is prepared to retaliate against the G7 nations should they choose to toughen economic sanctions on Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. (Moscow Times, 06.11.15, New York Times, 06.09.15, RFE/RL, 06.08.15).

· Jeb Bush called on the U.S. and its allies Wednesday to build a “more robust" troop presence in the three Baltic nations that share borders with Russia. At the same time Bush said he doesn't think the U.S. should go too far in this standoff with the Russian leader and risk the return of another Cold War between the two world powers. “I don't think we want to isolate Russia to the point where we push them into the arms of China," he said. The former Florida governor also defended his brother on the question of whether George W. Bush misjudged Putin when he deemed the Russian leader “straightforward and trustworthy.” “Putin has changed,” Jeb Bush told reporters. (Wall Street Journal, 06.10.15, AP, 06.12.15).

· Evgeny Buryakov, Russian citizen who worked in Manhattan as a banker asked a federal judge June 11 to toss out charges that he participated in a Cold War-style Russian spy ring. (RFE/RL, 06.12.15).

· Alexander Brazhnikov, a naturalized US citizen born in Moscow, has admitted obtaining and smuggling sensitive electronic components worth $65 million from the United States to Russia, US Attorney Paul Fishman said in a press release on Thursday. (Sputnik, 06.11.15).

· Seventy-three percent of 1,700 Russians polled by the Levada Center in May expressed negative feelings for the United States. Russians have similar sentiments about the European Union: 26 percent have a positive attitude and 59 percent feel negative. Russians traditionally like Belarus and China (83 percent and 80 percent, respectively), and 7 percent feel the opposite. (Interfax, 06.08.15).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

· A bill has been submitted to State Duma to change the parliamentary elections date from December to September 2016, Deputy Speaker Igor Lebedev told reporters on June 11. (Interfax, 06.1.115).

· State statistics released on June 11 show that the number of Russians living below the poverty line rose by 3.1 million in the first quarter. The number of Russians classed as living in poverty reached 22.9 million in the first quarter, or 15.9 percent of the population. (RFE/RL, 06.11.15).

· Data from Russia's Federal Migration Service showed the number of foreigners in Russia from the U.S. and Western Europe's biggest countries was down 34% to 746,580 in the first month of this year compared with January 2014. Migration statistics also show a 40% increase in the number of Chinese living in Russia from January 2014 to January 2015. (Wall Street Journal, 06.10.15).

Defense and Aerospace:

· Russia will relaunch assembly of the massive Soviet-designed Tu-160 supersonic strategic bomber after 2023."This will be essentially a new airplane, not a Tu-160 but a Tu-160M2," Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov said. (Moscow Times, 06.07.15).

· Russia has grounded its fleet of Tu-95 strategic bombers after one of them rolled off a runway in the Far Eastern Amur region. (RFE/RL, 06.08.15).

· Russia and Egypt are holding their first ever joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea. (RFE/RL, 06.10.15).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

· Police in Belgium say they have detained 16 people in raids targeting ethnic Chechen Islamist militants. One group has been under investigation for an alleged planned terrorist attack in Belgium. The groups are suspected of recruiting militants to fight for the Islamic State terrorist organization in Syria. (RFE/RL, 06.08.15).

· Terrorist organizations, including Islamic State, are trying to draw citizens of Russia, countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and other states to their ranks. Special services must therefore intensify cooperation in countering recruiters, said Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev. (Interfax, 06.09.15).

· A Moscow student detained near Turkey's border with Syria has been brought home to Russia. Varvara Karaulova, 19, was suspected of trying to cross into Syria to join the terrorist Islamic State, but her lawyer Alexander Karabanov said investigators on the case are currently treating her as a victim. (Moscow Times, Lenta.ru, 06.11.15).

· Criminal charges have been brought against a resident of the Krasnoyarsk territory detained at a Moscow airport before he could board a flight to the war in Syria. (Interfax, 06.10.15).

· Russia's antiterrorism committee says police in Dagestan have killed Suleiman Zainalobinov, a militant who had taken the oath of the radical Islamic State group. (RFE/RL, 06.06.15).

· Russia's Investigative Committee says it has launched a criminal inquiry against Ilya Ponomaryov, the lone State Duma representative to vote against the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 06.10.15).

· The British Home Office has accepted the motion from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office for the extradition of Sergei Pugachyov, Mezhprombank founder and ex-senator from the Republic of Tuva, who is suspected of large-scale misappropriation. (Interfax, 06.07.15).

· Novaya Gazeta newspaper has appealed to President Vladimir Putin's administration and law enforcement agencies to look into apparent threats made against its journalist Yelena Milashina by government-backed forces in Chechnya. (Moscow Times, 06.10.15).

Foreign affairs and trade:

· At a news conference in Milan on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the European sanctions against Russia. Putin has also met privately with Pope Francis at the Vatican to discuss the conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East. Vatican officials said Francis told Mr. Putin that “a sincere and great effort” was needed to achieve peace and called for all parties to comply with the Minsk accords. (New York Times, 06.11.15).

· Russia will keep sanctions against the West in place and may even expand the penalties if the political tensions of the Cold War nature deepen, officials said Wednesday. Sergei Ivanov, chief of staff of the Presidential Executive Office, said it was “pretty logical to assume that Moscow will extend its counter-sanctions." (Wall Street Journal, 06.10.15).

· The European Parliament passed a resolution on Thursday calling on EU governments to maintain sanctions on Russia over its action in Ukraine, the second such critical vote in the EU legislature in as many days. (Reuters, 06.12.15).

· Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday thanked Western countries for imposing sanctions against Russia, saying they provided an impetus for Russia to boost its ties with Asia. “In economic terms, of course, all the sanctions that have been placed on us have inspired us to cooperate more actively with Asian countries,” Medvedev said. (Moscow Times, 06.11.15).

· Russia will develop strategic partnerships with China and India as part of its medium term objectives, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Monday. "The unfolding international context requires sustained efforts to consolidate and develop a new stage in comprehensive strategic partnership and cooperation between Russia and China," the ministry said in its report on the outcome of diplomatic work in 2014 and mid-term goals. (Sputnik, 06.08.15).

· Russia has refused to sign off on the U.N. nuclear watchdog's annual report because the document lists a nuclear reactor near Crimea's Sevastopol as being in Ukraine, two diplomats present at the meeting told Reuters on Monday. (Reuters, 06.08.15).

· Rosatom and Indonesia's National Nuclear Energy Agency have signed a memorandum of understanding on development of peaceful use of nuclear energy. (Interfax, 06.10.15).

· Deutsche Bank AG is conducting an internal probe into possible money laundering by Russian clients that may involve about $6 billion of transactions over more than four years. (Bloomberg, 06.06.15).

· Two Russians kidnapped in Sudan's restive Darfur region in January have been freed by their captors. (RFE/RL, 06.07.15).

· The number of Russians traveling abroad declined by more than 30 percent in the first quarter of 2015. (Moscow Times, 06.08.15).

· By 2030, the Northern Sea Route from the Kara Strait to the Pacific will have nine weeks of open water, according to the U.S. Navy, up from two in 2012. The Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, will have five weeks of open water by 2030, up from zero in 2012. (Wall Street Journal, 06.12.15).

Russia's neighbors:

· Three civilians and two Ukrainian soldiers were killed in eastern Ukraine within 24 hours up to midday on Thursday. Seven Ukrainian servicemen were killed in eastern Ukraine when a truck they were travelling in struck a land mine on Monday. Also, a small boat of the Ukrainian Coast Guard has hit a mine off the coast of Mariupol, causing an explosion that has killed one coastguard officer and wounded five others. (RFE/RL, 06.07.15, 06.08.15,Reuters, 06.12.15).

· The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission says the process of heavy weapons withdrawal by the conflict parties in Donbass has not been completed. It also reports electronic interference with the work of drones, adding that children have been sighted at checkpoints. (Interfax, 06.11.15).

· Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that full implementation of a cease-fire agreement reached in Minsk in February is vital to ending fighting in eastern Ukraine. Putin has also said it is time to start carrying out clauses requiring constitutional reform to ensure autonomy for the rebel regions in eastern Ukraine, a law on municipal elections there, and a law on amnesty in co-ordination with the regions' authorities. (RFE/RL, 06.06.15, 06.10.15).

· Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Friday that Ukraine could not move forward with local elections and other political changes in the east until pro-Russian fighters and their weapons were withdrawn, and control of the border with Russia was restored to Ukraine. (New York Times, 06.07.15).

· The U.S. Senate has included provisions in its military policy bill to arm Ukraine with antiarmor systems, mortars, grenade launchers and ammunition to aid in its fight against Russian-backed separatists. It would also prevent the administration from spending more than one half of $300 million in aid for Ukraine unless 20 percent is earmarked for offensive weapons. The House has passed a similar measure. (New York Times, 06.12.15).

· Moscow believes that the decision adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives to ban the training of Ukraine's 'Azov' volunteer battalion by the U.S. military is correct, albeit belated.(Interfax, 06.12.15).

· Americans narrowly favor arming the Ukrainian military, a possibility floated over the winter, with 46 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed, the Pew Global Attitudes Project found. More than 60 percent of Americans in the poll favored letting Ukraine join NATO, according to the poll. (Washington Post, 10.10.15).

· Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in Kiev that Russia is "training, arming, bankrolling, and fighting alongside" pro-Moscow rebels battling government forces in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 06.11.15).

· Russia accused the United States on Thursday of coercing Kiev into pressing on with the conflict in east Ukraine. Rejecting criticism of Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, the ministry said Washington was making no effort to resolve the crisis and was "pushing the current Kiev authorities into continuing the fratricidal intra-state conflict." (Reuters, 06.11.15).

· Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in Washington on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin aims to extend Moscow's control over all of Ukraine, and that the country needs more military aid from the United States. (Washington Post, 06.11.15).

· Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said in Washington that Kiev will likely secure a key tranche of emergency financing from the IMF in early July. Jaresko has also warned that she may invoke a moratorium on the country's debt payments before reaching an agreement with creditors to restructure debts. IMF Deputy Managing Director David Lipton on Tuesday signaled the emergency lender could disburse its next tranche of bailout cash to Ukraine despite gridlocked debt-restructuring. (RFE/RL, 06.11.15, Wall Street Journal, 06.11.15, 06.09.15).

· Ukraine's president has signed into law measures renouncing five bilateral defense-cooperation agreements between Ukraine and Russia. The nullified agreements include one on the transit across Ukraine of Russian military personnel stationed "in the Republic of Moldova. (RFE/RL, 06.08.15).

· The Swiss government says diplomat Heidi Tagliavini will step down as the representative of the OSCE in talks between Moscow, Kyiv, and pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 06.07.15).

· Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said that 42,500 separatists and Russian soldiers are stationed in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have been battling pro-Russian rebels since April 2014. (RFE/RL, 06.08.15).

· The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency has approved an agreement with Kazakhstan to establish and operate in Kazakhstan the IAEA Low Enriched Uranium Bank. (Interfax, 06.12.15).

· Kazakhstan has completed its negotiations on accession to the World Trade Organization after nearly two decades of talks. (Moscow Times, 06.11.15).

· Belarus has adopted a radioactive waste management strategy for its first nuclear power plant under construction near Ostrovets. (World Nuclear News, 06.09.15).

· Belarus on Tuesday named Oct. 11 as the date for a presidential election which is almost certain to usher in a new five-year term for veteran Alexander Lukashenko. (Reuters, 06.09.15).

· Moldova's prime minister resigned Friday after questions arose about the authenticity of his high school and university degrees. (AP, 06.12.15).

· "We are deeply concerned by the Pentagon's measures to place its medical and biological laboratories in the immediate vicinity of Russian borders, notably the so-called R. G. Lugar Center for Public Health Research on the outskirts of Tbilisi," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary. (Interfax, 06.11.15).

· On June 16, Georgia will bury the 30th soldier killed in support of the Euro-Atlantic alliance's missions in Afghanistan. With about 880 soldiers currently serving in NATO's Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, Georgia is making the second-largest contribution after the United States. Per capita, the contribution from the nation of 5 million is by far the biggest. (RFE/RL, 06.11.15).

· A new front line against Islamist militancy involving the Islamic State is forming along the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border, where multiple groups of Central Asian militants, as well as the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, have been joining forces with the Islamic State to challenge secular regimes in former Soviet republics. (New York Times, 06.10.15).

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for June 5-12, 2015