Russia in Review

Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for May 8-15, 2015

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

Nuclear security agenda:

·The U.S. Energy Department plans to spend more than $60 million in Russia. The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration has budgeted the funds to be spent this year through an international organization called the Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Program. However, U.S. House of Representatives will debate legislation this week that includes provisions that would restrict U.S. funding for nuclear non-proliferation programs in Russia. “Cooperation with Russia on nuclear security remains an important element to the global effort to reduce the threat posed by nuclear terrorism, and therefore, supports key interests of not only the United States but the international community,” NNSA spokesman Derrick J. Robinson said. (Washington Free Beacon, 05.09.15).

Iran nuclear issues:

·“There can be no automaticity, none whatsoever” in re-imposing UN sanctions if Iran violates the terms of an agreement to curb its nuclear program, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said. (Bloomberg, 05.13.15).

·During his visit to Sochi U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had been expected to raise U.S. opposition to the sale of the advanced S-300 air defense system to Iran, but didn’t, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Mr. Kerry said the U.S. had objections to the sale but that it was “permissible” according to an agreement reached in the United Nations. Wendy Sherman, who has led the United States’ team in the nuclear talks with Iran, accompanied Mr. Kerry to Sochi.(Wall Street Journal, 05.12.15, New York Times, 05.12.15).

NATO-Russia relations, including transit to and from Afghanistan:

·The three Baltic countries are asking NATO to permanently deploy an army brigade to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as a deterrent against an increasingly assertive Russia. The troops would be stationed in the region on a rotational basis, similar to NATO's air policing mission, in which the air forces of NATO countries take turns patrolling Baltic airspace. Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's ambassador to the European Union, said the request of the Baltic States was motivated by "local politics rather than a genuine security situation." (AP, 05.14.15).

·“We are deeply concerned by statements about possible future stationing of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems in Crimea,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. “This discussion of nukes and the possibility of moving nukes into certain areas or employing nukes if something had not gone correctly in Crimea and all these other things, which have been put out there -- this is not responsible language from a nuclear nation,” U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO’s top military commander, told reporters after the meeting. (Bloomberg, 05.13.15).

·Russia's envoy to NATO says his country will boost its military presence in Crimea given the alliance's plans to expand in Eastern Europe. Aleksandr Grushko said that Moscow sees NATO's growing military presence in Poland and the Baltic states as "unacceptable." Grushko also called on the United States to remove its nuclear weapons stationed in Europe. (RFE/RL, 05.15.15).

·NATO has pledged to counter "hybrid warfare" from Russia. At their two-day meeting NATO foreign ministers also urged Moscow to take steps toward ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine and pledged to keep up sanctions pressure on Russia. (Wall Street Journal, 05.13.15, BBC, 05.14.15).

·U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Turkey that now is a "critical moment for action by Russia and separatists to live up to the Minsk agreement.” "This is an enormous moment of opportunity for the conflict there to find a path to certainty and resolution," Kerry said. (RFE/RL, 05.13.15).

·“I think it’s not a right thing to characterize the present situation as Cold War,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg cautioned Wednesday. “We are not in the same situation as we were during the Cold War period. During the Cold War we had two military blocs, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, standing against each other, and we also had an ideological fight between the two blocs and it involved actually the whole world,” said Stoltenberg. (International Business Times/Tass, 05.13.15).

·NATO must pursue a long-term policy that would deter and counterbalance a resurgent Russia, which poses an "enduring and global" challenge to the alliance, NATO’s top military commander Philip Breedlove said. (Moscow Times, 05.13.15).

·NATO countries have increased 4-fold its Baltic air policing mission, according to a report issued by Russia’s permanent mission to NATO. In comparison with 2013 the intensity of reconnaissance flights of NATO countries over the Black Sea has increased by two times, according to the report. The total number of sorties of NATO tactical aviation in the border regions of Russia and Belarus in 2014 compared to 2013 increased by two times and amounted to more than 3,000 sorties. (Missiontonato.ru, 05.12.15).

·Over 350 American soldiers and 80 US Army vehicles with US Air Force cover will begin a 400-kilometer march across Romania this week, signaling the start of multinational NATO war games in Romania.(Russia Today. 05.13.15).

·Around 20 vessels representing nine NATO member states have begun the Baltic Fortress 2015 exercises, taking place off the Lithuanian Baltic Sea coast. (Russia Today. 05.11.15).

·Britain says two Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets have been scrambled after Russian long-range bombers were seen flying towards British airspace. (RFE/RL, 05.14.15).

·Afghanistan and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization agreed on Wednesday for the Western military alliance to remain in the country after its current mission ends, the first formal step to establishing a long-term presence of foreign advisers and troops in Afghanistan after 2016. (Wall Street Journal, 05.13.15).

Missile defense:

·“It should be noted that the agreements on the Iranian nuclear program… didn’t affect the plans to establish the NATO BMD system in Europe, although President Barack Obama claimed in his speech in Prague in 2009 that with the elimination of the “Iranian threat” the incentives for the European BMD would disappear,” says a report issued by Russia’s permanent mission to NATO. (Missiontonato.ru, 05.12.15).

Nuclear arms control:

·No significant developments.

Counter-terrorism agenda:

·After talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Sochi Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “We also agreed that the problem of the ISIL’s activities, as well as the activities of Jabhat al-Nusrah are also very dangerous. We are absolutely convinced that it is necessary to join our efforts and act together more efficiently.” For his part, Kerry said: “Russia is a very important partner in the global effort against violent extremism. And countering violent extremism is a first-order priority for both Russia and the United States. No one should doubt that the reach of groups like Daesh extends far beyond the particular region of its operations, and it affects every single one of us – the United States, Russia, and the rest of the world.” (U.S. State Department, 05.12.15).

·“Another missed opportunity is the absence of information exchange (between NATO and Russia) on the terrorist threats evolving from the Middle East and North Africa, including the expansion of the ‘Islamic State’ and the issue of terrorists returning from the conflict area,” says a report issued by Russia’s permanent mission to NATO. (Missiontonato.ru, 05.12.15).

·American and Russian officials have been worried that the fighters from their countries who have joined the ranks of Islamic militants in Syria could return home to carry out terrorist attacks. Many of the commanders of the Islamic State extremist group are Chechen. Militants from Russia's Chechnya region have been fighting Moscow for decades, and the civil war in Syria risks providing them more recruits, according to U.S. and Arab officials. (New York Times, 05.11.15, Wall Street Journal, 05.12.15).

·Governor of Afghanistan’s Kunduz Province Mohammad Omer Safi said that Taliban fighters who launched an offensive against government security forces last month have been joined by foreign fighters from the Islamic State militant group. He said they included militants from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Chechnya. (RFE/RL, 05.10.15).

·Jurors resumed their deliberations Friday morning as they decide whether Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is sentenced to death or imprisoned for the rest of his life. Judge George O’Toole, Jr ordered the jurors to work toward choosing a sentence for Tsarnaev on Friday. (BG, 05.15.15).

Cyber security:

·Roman Seleznyov, a Russian computer whiz suspected of being one of the world's most prolific traffickers in stolen credit cards has fired his lawyers, delaying a scheduled court hearing on his case in Seattle. (RFE/RL, 05.14.15).

·Russian engineering company Vocord’s innovation does not require a person to be an active participant in, or even to be aware of, the identification process. Rather, it uses four lenses, operating in tandem, to capture and recognize a face, stripping it bare of shadows or even makeup. (Foreign Policy, 05.15.15).

Energy exports from CIS:

·Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has urged the European Union to support the idea of a Moscow-backed pipeline that would bring natural gas across the Black Sea to Turkey and the rest of Europe.(RFE/RL, 05.15.15).

·Serbia is interested in joining the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, as it wants to ensure energy security for its citizens and cut dependence on deliveries via Ukraine, the Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic said in Belgrade after talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Friday. (Russia Today, 05.15.15).

·Poland’s largest gas distributor has filed a lawsuit against Gazprom and Gazprom Export in the Stockholm arbitration court, saying it wants conditions similar to the European gas market. (Russia Today. 05.14.15).

·The United States, wading into the international efforts to shape Greece’s economic and geopolitical orientation, is pushing the leftist government in Athens to resist Russia’s energy overtures. (New York Times, 05.11.15).

Bilateral economic ties:

·U.S. fast-food chain McDonald's said Wednesday it had opened up its 500th restaurant in Russia, 25 years after the company first set up shop in the Soviet Union. (Moscow Times, 05.13.15).

Other bilateral issues:

·The U.S. and Russia pledged to work together to resolve crises in Ukraine and Syria after a day of high-level talks in Sochi. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that neither side was seeking a “major breakthrough” in any particular area, but instead sought to keep communications open even as relations remain tense. In a noticeable shift of tone, the Russian side also praised Tuesday’s meetings as a tentative move toward repairing relations. “At least this was a manifestation of first signs of an understanding that the two great countries should return to normal cooperation,” said Yuri Ushakov, a presidential aide. (Wall Street Journal, 05.12.15).

·At a joint briefing after the talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “Of course, one of the main themes was Ukraine. There is a disagreement between Russia and US about what the genesis of the crisis is, but we were united in our desire to solve the crisis in an exclusively peaceful way through the Minsk agreements. “If and when Minsk is fully implemented, it is clear the U.S. and EU sanctions can begin to be rolled back,” Kerry said, following a four-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi. (RFE/RL, 05.12.15, Guardian, 05.12.15).

·"We are grateful to the people of the United Kingdom and France, and the United States of America for their contribution to this victory," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a speech ahead of the May 9^th military parade. "But during the last decade, the basic fundamental principles of international cooperation were increasingly ignored," he said. "We saw attempts to set up a unipolar world order. We see the use of force. This kind of mentality undermines global stability." (Washington Post, Interfax, 05.10.15).

·A significant part of the current fiscal 2015 U.S. core defense budget of $490.2 billion goes to pay for deterring major threats and the big war — i.e., Russia and China. The overall U.S. defense budget is roughly twice the combined amounts those countries were reported spending in 2014 — China at $136 billion and Russia at $81 billion. (Washington Post, 05.11.15).

·The United States will not allow domestic space companies to use more Russian rocket engines despite requests from the Pentagon, Reuters reported, citing a letter written by U.S. Senator and Chairman of the Armed Services Committee John McCain. (Moscow Times, 05.14.15).

·“If there is anything that will influence Russian behavior, it is the combination of economic sanctions and the fall in oil prices,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter told the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee. “That is what is punishing Russia now.” Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who appeared with Carter, also sounded alarms about the new Russian threat. “Russia is investing deeply in advancing their capabilities across the board, especially in anti-access area-denial and cyberspace,” Dempsey said. (Washington Free Beacon, 05.09.15).

·The share of Russians who perceive the United States as a general threat is 59 percent, according to the latest research released by the independent pollster Levada Center on Tuesday. This is up from 47 percent in 2007. When Russians were asked what their expectations were in case of a real military conflict with the United States, 52 percent said that it would end in mutual annihilation. A third answered they thought Russia would win this war and only 5 percent said they expected the United States and NATO to defeat Russia. At the same time, the majority of Russians - 55 percent - said they didn't expect their country to be the first to use nuclear weapons. (Russia Today, 05.12.15).

·The U.S.-based online payment service PayPal has blocked an account set up by Russian opposition activists to raise funds for a report alleging Russian military involvement in the Ukraine war, citing the political nature of the donation campaign. (RFE/RL, 05.14.15).

·A state-owned Russian bank is paying for the legal defense of an employee charged with posing as a banker in New York while secretly spying for Moscow, his lawyer confirmed. (Reuters, 05.13.15).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

·The ruble was 0.1 percent stronger against the dollar at 50.07. Since January, the ruble has been the best performer of any currency, up 21 percent. The ruble has risen so robustly that the central bank on Thursday reversed a long-running policy of propping it up. The bank said Thursday it would buy $100 million to $200 million a day. (Wall Street Journal, 05.14.15, New York Times, Reuters, 05.15.15).

·In Russia, GDP fell 1.9% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the Federal Statistics Service said Friday. After growing by 0.6% in 2014, gross domestic product is expected to shrink by up to 3% this year, according to government forecasts. (Wall Street Journal, 05.15.15).

·Lower oil prices, sanctions and weakening investor confidence will push the Russian economy into a deep contraction this year, the EBRD said, although it now expects output to fall by 4.5%, having forecast a decline of 4.8% in January. However, in its first forecasts for 2016, it sees the economy contracting again, by 1.8%. For both years, its forecasts are gloomier than those of the government, which projects growth of between 1.5% and 2.5% in 2016. (Wall Street Journal, 05.14.15).

·Russian banks recorded an overall loss of 20 billion rubles ($400 million) in April. (Moscow Times, 05.14.15).

·Nearly 20 percent of Russians can now afford nothing more than the absolute necessities as double-digit inflation erodes their spending power, a survey by consumer research firm Nielsen found. (Moscow Times, 05.15.15).

·President Vladimir Putin has accepted the resignations of a string of regional governors this week, a move some analysts have said could increase their chances of being re-elected amid dire forecasts about the Russian economy. (Moscow Times, 05.14.15).

·Russia plans to introduce new powers to prosecute foreigners whose activities are seen as "undesirable" on national security grounds. Russian MPs are voting on a bill to ban "undesirable" foreign non-governmental organizations or firms. The draft leaves the definition of "undesirable" open to interpretation. (BBC, 05.15.15).

·Russia on Wednesday claimed 26th place in a global ranking of countries' ability to foster human capital thanks to its highly educated populace, putting it first among the BRICS group of developing nations. (Moscow Times, 05.13.15).

·Tourism from Russia to Europe fell by an average of 30 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2014, according to a report issued this week by the European Travel Commission (ETC). (The Moscow Times, 05.12.15).

Defense and Aerospace:

·Military parades in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the World War II have been held in 26 Russian cities and marches involving servicemen took place in over 150 cities. The biggest parade took place in Moscow. It involved 194 units of combat equipment, 143 planes and helicopters, and over 16,000 servicemen. The marching column involved ten manning details of the CIS countries and friendly countries. As if to bolster the greatly diminished ranks of surviving WWII veterans, thousands of people marched down a central Moscow boulevard after the parade Saturday carrying photos of departed veterans in their families. (Washington Post, 05.10.15 Interfax, 05.09.15).

·Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered that the Ground Forces equipment showcased at the May 9 parade in Moscow complete all tests as quickly as possible and go into serial production. Vladimir Putin told a group of top military and defense industry leaders that Russia must retool its industries to replace various imports from Ukraine, Europe and NATO countries that had played a role in Russia's military production. Lately those foreign suppliers had ceased trade for reasons “mainly of a political nature," he said. (Interfax, 05.13.15, Wall Street Journal, 05.12.15).

·For 2015, Russia’s defense spending will reach $81 billion, or 4.2 percent of Russia's gross domestic product, and account for about 20 percent of government spending. More than half of defense spending in Russia is devoted to the state armament program. The volume of state defense orders will rise by 40 percent in 2017 compared to 2014. (RFE/RL, 05.09.15).

·The Russian Armed Forces' Ground Forces will hold joint military peacekeeping and anti-terror exercises with troops from India, Mongolia, China and Belarus in the second half of 2015.A total of 18 inter-service drills involving Ground Forces, Air Force, Navy units, armed forces branches and specialist troops are expected to be held before the end of 2015. (Interfax, 05.13.15).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

·The case against former deputy regional governor of the Lipetsk region Sergei Doro sky suspected of ordering the murder of Russian investigative journalist Igor Domenico in 2000 was closed Wednesday after the crime's 15-year statute of limitations expired, the TASS news agency reported. (Moscow Times, 05.13.15).

·Security was tight as Said Amirov, the imprisoned former mayor of Makhachkala, capital of Russia's restive Dagestan region in the North Caucasus, was led into a courtroom for a new trial on murder and terrorism charges. (RFE/RL, 05.12.15).

·Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky has been arrested in Cambodia. (Interfax, 05.15.15).

Foreign affairs and trade:

·On the eve of a celebration commemorating to the defeat of Nazi Germany, the presidents of Russia and China on Friday signed 32 bilateral agreements, including a financing agreement for up to $25 billion. (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, 05.09.15).

·China's biggest hydropower developer, China Three Gorges Corp has signed an agreement with Russian hydropower firm RusHydro to jointly build a hydropower plant in Russia, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday. (Reuters, 05.11.15).

·The Eurasian Economic Union has signed a memorandum of understanding on trade and economic cooperation with China. As a result, Russian companies could receive investment from Chinese banks within the framework of the Silk Road project, even though earlier this project was considered an example of Chinese expansion into Central Asia to the detriment of Russian interests. (Interfax, 05.14.15).

·Russian and Chinese naval combat vessels were en route to the Aegean Sea Friday where they planned to conduct joint military exercises from Sunday through Thursday. China has invited Russian troops to march in a parade in Beijing in September to commemorate the end of World War II, the Defense Ministry said on Monday. A Chinese Army unit marched for the first time in Red Square on May 9. (National Interest, Moscow Times, 05.11.15, International Business Times, 05.15.15).

·President Vladimir V. Putin used a visit by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to call for a return to normal relations with Europe. He emphasized that about 6,000 German businesses operating in Russia would like to see the “obstacles removed” from trade. Putin also said the peace process in eastern Ukraine was progressing despite difficulties. For her part, Merkel said Germany remembers that the Red Army played a decisive role in liberating the country from Nazism. But she also stated that “the criminal and illegal annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine have led to a serious setback to this cooperation.” (Tass, 05.10.15, New York Times, 05.12.15, Reuters, 05.10.15).

·Russian President Vladimir Putin defended 1939's Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany as Moscow's response to being isolated and having its peace efforts snubbed by Western nations. (Moscow Times, 05.11.15).

·Eighty-five former East German generals and admirals, in an appeal to the German public, have accused the United States of a policy that has give rise to a threat of a new war in Europe. (Interfax, 05.13.15).

·"I wouldn’t rule out Russia joining the EU in 20 years. It is completely possible; they have complementary economies. Russia needs modern technology and the European Union needs energy resources,” Czech President Milos Zeman said following his discussions with Vladimir Putin. Zeman predicted EU sanctions against Russia would be lifted by the end of the year, since the "civil war" in eastern Ukraine was practically over. (RFE/RL, 05.11.15).

·Russia wants $1.32 billion in compensation from France for cancelling a contract to deliver two Mistral helicopter carriers, a Russian source close to the negotiations said on Friday. (World Bulletin, 05.15.15).

·Henri Proglio gave up the chairmanship of defense group Thales on Tuesday, bringing into the open a simmering row with Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron over the veteran French businessman's Russian interests. (Reuters, 05.12.15).

·Uranium One expects to complete restructuring the operations of its Toronto head office, including the relocation of major functions to Moscow, by the middle of 2015. The company is now under the leadership of CEO Feroz Ashraf. (World Nuclear News, 05.15.15).

·Russia has removed a duty on wheat exports nearly 1½ months ahead of schedule. Analysts said that the move will put further pressure on global wheat prices, which have been trading below $200 per ton since the beginning of the year because of rosy forecasts for harvests around the world. (Wall Street Journal, 05.15.15).

Russia's neighbors:

·More than 3,000 spent nuclear fuel rods are kept inside metal casks within towering concrete containers in an open-air yard close to a perimeter fence at Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power station, which is 124 miles (200km) from the current front line.(Business Insider/Guardian, 05.13.15).

·“Placing nuclear weapons in the Crimea would constitute an immense breach of international obligations for Russia” and “should be followed by the international community in a very decisive and relevant way,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told reporters in Antalya after talking with NATO ministers. (Bloomberg, 05.13.15).

·The Ukrainian government has approved a plan of engineering equipment of the border with Russia in 2015-2018. The budget will allot over 4 billion hryvna for the work. (Interfax, 05.15.15).

·Ukraine's president has said the Minsk peace roadmap is a "pseudo-peace", for which Ukraine is paying too high a price. "We will fight to the last drop of blood," Petro Poroshenko said in an interview to the German TV channel ZDF. (Russia Today. 05.14.15).

·The Ukrainian president's decision to reclaim Donetsk Airport, a key strategic point in the conflict in the country's east, are in violation of the Minsk peace deal, says the Kremlin. (Russia Today. 05.11.15).

·The Kremlin sees Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's statement on the presence of 11,000 Russian troops in Ukrainian territory as unfounded and not conducive to any positive developments. (Interfax, 05.14.15).

·More than 200 Russian military personnel have been killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine, according to a report based on research begun by slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. The Nemtsov report also estimates that Russia has spent at least 53 billion rubles ($1 billion) on the war in Ukraine and a further 80 billion rubles supporting refugees from eastern Ukraine. "I am not familiar with that report, so I cannot comment on it yet," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media. Russia has been accused of sending its soldiers and military hardware to eastern Ukraine. Moscow has rejected all of the allegations. (RFE/RL, 05.12.15, Moscow Times, 05.12.15, Russia Today. 05.13.15).

·Some Russian soldiers are quitting the army because of the conflict in Ukraine, several soldiers and human rights activists have told Reuters. (Reuters, 05.10.15).

·A US military delegation headed by Army Commander in Europe, Lieutenant-General Frederick ‘Ben’ Hodges, prepares to visit training center in western Ukraine. (Russia Today. 05.12.15).

·The NATO Secretary General has said the Alliance will increase its presence in the Ukrainian capital, sending its representatives to consult the country's defense ministry. (Russia Today. 05.13.15).

·Ukraine will host a NATO-led exercise on disaster response this fall, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday. (Sputnik, 05.13.15).

·“What we see is an increase in cease-fire violations, primarily by the separatists” and “continued Russian support for them,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday after the meeting. U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe said he saw a pattern developing similar to previous occasions when pro-Russian separatists took advantage of ceasefires to build their strength before launching a new offensive. “Clearly Russian-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine are preparing for another round of military action that would be inconsistent with the Minsk Agreement,” Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said. (Reuters, 05.13.15, Bloomberg, 05.13.15, New York Times, 05.11.15).

·Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s Advisory International Council of Reforms is to be headed by former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, and will also include Elmar Brok, a member of the European Parliament, and economist Anders Aslund. U.S. Senator John McCain has declined an offer from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to join the advisory council. (RFE/RL, 05.14.15).

·In one year the official number of registered internally displaced persons in Ukraine has climbed to over 1.255 million.(Brookings, 05.13.15).

·An overnight explosion near the Black Sea port city of Odesa has damaged a rail line and delayed trains for hours but reportedly did not cause any injuries. (RFE/RL, 05.13.15).

·The contraction in Ukraine's economy accelerated to 17.6% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the State Statistics Service said Friday. Gross domestic product for the period slid 6.5% from the final quarter of 2014, the agency said.(Wall Street Journal, 05.15.15).

·The level of the shadow economy in Ukraine in 2014 increased by 7 percentage points compared to 2013, to 42% of GDP, reaching a record high since 2007, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has reported in its study. (Interfax, 05.15.15).

·Ukraine's largest bondholders are pushing ahead with a restructuring plan that would allow them to avoid losses on their debt holdings. Russia does not intend on participating in restructuring Ukraine's debt, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said (Wall Street Journal, 05.13.15, Interfax, 05.14.15).

·A new section of a road in Russia's southern Rostov region that is being built to bypass Ukraine will be finished by November. (Moscow Times, 05.08.15).

·Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said Thursday that Kiev will not agree to further delay implementing the Association Agreement with the European Union despite concerns raised by Russia. “The free trade pact will take effect on Jan. 1, 2016," Yatsenyuk told a cabinet meeting. (Xinhua, 05.14.15).

·The EU Commission has said neither Georgia nor Ukraine would obtain visa-free travel to the EU's Schengen zone at the Riga Eastern Partnership Summit later this month. (RFE/RL, 05.08.15).

·About 300 American soldiers accompanied by 14 Bradley tanks, transported across the Black Sea from Romania, are in Georgia for the two-week training exercise, called Noble Partner. (New York Times, 05.12.15).

·In the first visit by a Chinese head of state to Belarus in 14 years, President Xi Jinping pledged to deepen a strategic partnership with Minsk. China has extended $3 billion credit to Belarussian companies and $4 billion in commercial credit to Belarussian banks for financing business projects. (Bloomberg, 05.11.15, Reuters, 05.11.15).

·Ten years after the Andijan massacre in Uzbekistan, rights activists say the regime of Uzbek President Islam Karimov has frightened witnesses into silence -- including those who have sought refuge as exiles abroad. (RFE/RL, 05.13.15).

·Russia's economic contraction will curb the growth prospects this year for ex-Soviet republics in central Asia and the Caucasus, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said Thursday. (Reuters, 05.14.15).

·Russian President Vladimir Putin has pardoned two employees of Tajik uranium-processing plant, Vostokredmet. Putin reportedly signed a decree on granting pardon to two employees of Tajik enterprise Vostokredmet – Alexander Boboshin and Alexander Botov, who were sentenced by a Tajik court to long jail terms for high treason in 2009. Botov and Boboshin were detained in May 2009 on suspicion of spying for Uzbekistan.The Vostokredment head Shavkat Bobojonov was arrested on July 22. (Asia Plus, 05.13.15).

·The state-owned oil company of Azerbaijan secretly funded an all-expenses-paid trip to a conference at Baku on the Caspian Sea in 2013 for 10 members of Congress and 32 staff members, according to a confidential ethics report obtained by The Washington Post. Three former top aides to President Obama appeared as speakers at the conference. (Washington Post, 05.13.15).

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Nuclear security agenda:

• The U.S. Energy Department plans to spend more than $60 million in Russia. The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration has budgeted the funds to be spent this year through an international organization called the Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Program. However, U.S. House of Representatives will debate legislation this week that includes provisions that would restrict U.S. funding for nuclear non-proliferation programs in Russia. “Cooperation with Russia on nuclear security remains an important element to the global effort to reduce the threat posed by nuclear terrorism, and therefore, supports key interests of not only the United States but the international community,” NNSA spokesman Derrick J. Robinson said. (Washington Free Beacon, 05.09.15).

Iran nuclear issues:

• “There can be no automaticity, none whatsoever” in re-imposing UN sanctions if Iran violates the terms of an agreement to curb its nuclear program, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said. (Bloomberg, 05.13.15).
• During his visit to Sochi U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had been expected to raise U.S. opposition to the sale of the advanced S-300 air defense system to Iran, but didn’t, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Mr. Kerry said the U.S. had objections to the sale but that it was “permissible” according to an agreement reached in the United Nations. Wendy Sherman, who has led the United States’ team in the nuclear talks with Iran, accompanied Mr. Kerry to Sochi.  (Wall Street Journal, 05.12.15, New York Times, 05.12.15).

NATO-Russia relations, including transit to and from Afghanistan:

• The three Baltic countries are asking NATO to permanently deploy an army brigade to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as a deterrent against an increasingly assertive Russia. The troops would be stationed in the region on a rotational basis, similar to NATO's air policing mission, in which the air forces of NATO countries take turns patrolling Baltic airspace. Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's ambassador to the European Union, said the request of the Baltic States was motivated by "local politics rather than a genuine security situation." (AP, 05.14.15).
• “We are deeply concerned by statements about possible future stationing of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems in Crimea,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. “This discussion of nukes and the possibility of moving nukes into certain areas or employing nukes if something had not gone correctly in Crimea and all these other things, which have been put out there -- this is not responsible language from a nuclear nation,” U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO’s top military commander, told reporters after the meeting. (Bloomberg, 05.13.15).
• Russia's envoy to NATO says his country will boost its military presence in Crimea given the alliance's plans to expand in Eastern Europe. Aleksandr Grushko said that Moscow sees NATO's growing military presence in Poland and the Baltic states as "unacceptable." Grushko also called on the United States to remove its nuclear weapons stationed in Europe. (RFE/RL, 05.15.15).
• NATO has pledged to counter "hybrid warfare" from Russia. At their two-day meeting NATO foreign ministers also urged Moscow to take steps toward ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine and pledged to keep up sanctions pressure on Russia. (Wall Street Journal, 05.13.15, BBC, 05.14.15).
• U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Turkey that now is a "critical moment for action by Russia and separatists to live up to the Minsk agreement.” "This is an enormous moment of opportunity for the conflict there to find a path to certainty and resolution," Kerry said. (RFE/RL, 05.13.15).
• “I think it’s not a right thing to characterize the present situation as Cold War,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg cautioned Wednesday. “We are not in the same situation as we were during the Cold War period. During the Cold War we had two military blocs, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, standing against each other, and we also had an ideological fight between the two blocs and it involved actually the whole world,” said Stoltenberg. (International Business Times/Tass, 05.13.15).
• NATO must pursue a long-term policy that would deter and counterbalance a resurgent Russia, which poses an "enduring and global" challenge to the alliance, NATO’s top military commander Philip Breedlove said. (Moscow Times, 05.13.15).
• NATO countries have increased 4-fold its Baltic air policing mission, according to a report issued by Russia’s permanent mission to NATO. In comparison with 2013 the intensity of reconnaissance flights of NATO countries over the Black Sea has increased by two times, according to the report. The total number of sorties of NATO tactical aviation in the border regions of Russia and Belarus in 2014 compared to 2013 increased by two times and amounted to more than 3,000 sorties. (Missiontonato.ru, 05.12.15).
• Over 350 American soldiers and 80 US Army vehicles with US Air Force cover will begin a 400-kilometer march across Romania this week, signaling the start of multinational NATO war games in Romania.  (Russia Today. 05.13.15).
• Around 20 vessels representing nine NATO member states have begun the Baltic Fortress 2015 exercises, taking place off the Lithuanian Baltic Sea coast. (Russia Today. 05.11.15).
• Britain says two Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets have been scrambled after Russian long-range bombers were seen flying towards British airspace. (RFE/RL, 05.14.15).
• Afghanistan and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization agreed on Wednesday for the Western military alliance to remain in the country after its current mission ends, the first formal step to establishing a long-term presence of foreign advisers and troops in Afghanistan after 2016. (Wall Street Journal, 05.13.15).

Missile defense:

• “It should be noted that the agreements on the Iranian nuclear program… didn’t affect the plans to establish the NATO BMD system in Europe, although President Barack Obama claimed in his speech in Prague in 2009 that with the elimination of the “Iranian threat” the incentives for the European BMD would disappear,” says a report issued by Russia’s permanent mission to NATO. (Missiontonato.ru, 05.12.15).

Nuclear arms control:

• No significant developments.

Counter-terrorism agenda:

• After talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Sochi Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “We also agreed that the problem of the ISIL’s activities, as well as the activities of Jabhat al-Nusrah are also very dangerous. We are absolutely convinced that it is necessary to join our efforts and act together more efficiently.” For his part, Kerry said: “Russia is a very important partner in the global effort against violent extremism. And countering violent extremism is a first-order priority for both Russia and the United States. No one should doubt that the reach of groups like Daesh extends far beyond the particular region of its operations, and it affects every single one of us – the United States, Russia, and the rest of the world.” (U.S. State Department, 05.12.15).
• “Another missed opportunity is the absence of information exchange (between NATO and Russia) on the terrorist threats evolving from the Middle East and North Africa, including the expansion of the ‘Islamic State’ and the issue of terrorists returning from the conflict area,” says a report issued by Russia’s permanent mission to NATO. (Missiontonato.ru, 05.12.15).
• American and Russian officials have been worried that the fighters from their countries who have joined the ranks of Islamic militants in Syria could return home to carry out terrorist attacks. Many of the commanders of the Islamic State extremist group are Chechen. Militants from Russia's Chechnya region have been fighting Moscow for decades, and the civil war in Syria risks providing them more recruits, according to U.S. and Arab officials. (New York Times, 05.11.15, Wall Street Journal, 05.12.15).
• Governor of Afghanistan’s Kunduz Province Mohammad Omer Safi said that Taliban fighters who launched an offensive against government security forces last month have been joined by foreign fighters from the Islamic State militant group. He said they included militants from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Chechnya. (RFE/RL, 05.10.15).
• Jurors resumed their deliberations Friday morning as they decide whether Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is sentenced to death or imprisoned for the rest of his life. Judge George O’Toole, Jr ordered the jurors to work toward choosing a sentence for Tsarnaev on Friday. (BG, 05.15.15).

Cyber security:

• Roman Seleznyov, a Russian computer whiz suspected of being one of the world's most prolific traffickers in stolen credit cards has fired his lawyers, delaying a scheduled court hearing on his case in Seattle. (RFE/RL, 05.14.15).
• Russian engineering company Vocord’s innovation does not require a person to be an active participant in, or even to be aware of, the identification process. Rather, it uses four lenses, operating in tandem, to capture and recognize a face, stripping it bare of shadows or even makeup. (Foreign Policy, 05.15.15).

Energy exports from CIS:

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has urged the European Union to support the idea of a Moscow-backed pipeline that would bring natural gas across the Black Sea to Turkey and the rest of Europe.  (RFE/RL, 05.15.15).
• Serbia is interested in joining the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, as it wants to ensure energy security for its citizens and cut dependence on deliveries via Ukraine, the Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic said in Belgrade after talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Friday. (Russia Today, 05.15.15).
• Poland’s largest gas distributor has filed a lawsuit against Gazprom and Gazprom Export in the Stockholm arbitration court, saying it wants conditions similar to the European gas market. (Russia Today. 05.14.15).
• The United States, wading into the international efforts to shape Greece’s economic and geopolitical orientation, is pushing the leftist government in Athens to resist Russia’s energy overtures. (New York Times, 05.11.15).

Bilateral economic ties:

• U.S. fast-food chain McDonald's said Wednesday it had opened up its 500th restaurant in Russia, 25 years after the company first set up shop in the Soviet Union. (Moscow Times, 05.13.15).

Other bilateral issues:

• The U.S. and Russia pledged to work together to resolve crises in Ukraine and Syria after a day of high-level talks in Sochi. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that neither side was seeking a “major breakthrough” in any particular area, but instead sought to keep communications open even as relations remain tense. In a noticeable shift of tone, the Russian side also praised Tuesday’s meetings as a tentative move toward repairing relations. “At least this was a manifestation of first signs of an understanding that the two great countries should return to normal cooperation,” said Yuri Ushakov, a presidential aide. (Wall Street Journal, 05.12.15).
• At a joint briefing after the talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “Of course, one of the main themes was Ukraine. There is a disagreement between Russia and US about what the genesis of the crisis is, but we were united in our desire to solve the crisis in an exclusively peaceful way through the Minsk agreements. “If and when Minsk is fully implemented, it is clear the U.S. and EU sanctions can begin to be rolled back,” Kerry said, following a four-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi. (RFE/RL, 05.12.15, Guardian, 05.12.15).
• "We are grateful to the people of the United Kingdom and France, and the United States of America for their contribution to this victory," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a speech ahead of the May 9^th military parade. "But during the last decade, the basic fundamental principles of international cooperation were increasingly ignored," he said. "We saw attempts to set up a unipolar world order. We see the use of force. This kind of mentality undermines global stability." (Washington Post, Interfax, 05.10.15).
• A significant part of the current fiscal 2015 U.S. core defense budget of $490.2 billion goes to pay for deterring major threats and the big war — i.e., Russia and China. The overall U.S. defense budget is roughly twice the combined amounts those countries were reported spending in 2014 — China at $136 billion and Russia at $81 billion. (Washington Post, 05.11.15).
• The United States will not allow domestic space companies to use more Russian rocket engines despite requests from the Pentagon, Reuters reported, citing a letter written by U.S. Senator and Chairman of the Armed Services Committee John McCain. (Moscow Times, 05.14.15).
• “If there is anything that will influence Russian behavior, it is the combination of economic sanctions and the fall in oil prices,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter told the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee. “That is what is punishing Russia now.” Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who appeared with Carter, also sounded alarms about the new Russian threat. “Russia is investing deeply in advancing their capabilities across the board, especially in anti-access area-denial and cyberspace,” Dempsey said. (Washington Free Beacon, 05.09.15).
• The share of Russians who perceive the United States as a general threat is 59 percent, according to the latest research released by the independent pollster Levada Center on Tuesday. This is up from 47 percent in 2007. When Russians were asked what their expectations were in case of a real military conflict with the United States, 52 percent said that it would end in mutual annihilation. A third answered they thought Russia would win this war and only 5 percent said they expected the United States and NATO to defeat Russia. At the same time, the majority of Russians - 55 percent - said they didn't expect their country to be the first to use nuclear weapons. (Russia Today, 05.12.15).
• The U.S.-based online payment service PayPal has blocked an account set up by Russian opposition activists to raise funds for a report alleging Russian military involvement in the Ukraine war, citing the political nature of the donation campaign. (RFE/RL, 05.14.15).
• A state-owned Russian bank is paying for the legal defense of an employee charged with posing as a banker in New York while secretly spying for Moscow, his lawyer confirmed. (Reuters, 05.13.15).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

• The ruble was 0.1 percent stronger against the dollar at 50.07. Since January, the ruble has been the best performer of any currency, up 21 percent. The ruble has risen so robustly that the central bank on Thursday reversed a long-running policy of propping it up. The bank said Thursday it would buy $100 million to $200 million a day. (Wall Street Journal, 05.14.15, New York Times, Reuters, 05.15.15).
• In Russia, GDP fell 1.9% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the Federal Statistics Service said Friday. After growing by 0.6% in 2014, gross domestic product is expected to shrink by up to 3% this year, according to government forecasts. (Wall Street Journal, 05.15.15).
• Lower oil prices, sanctions and weakening investor confidence will push the Russian economy into a deep contraction this year, the EBRD said, although it now expects output to fall by 4.5%, having forecast a decline of 4.8% in January. However, in its first forecasts for 2016, it sees the economy contracting again, by 1.8%. For both years, its forecasts are gloomier than those of the government, which projects growth of between 1.5% and 2.5% in 2016. (Wall Street Journal, 05.14.15).
• Russian banks recorded an overall loss of 20 billion rubles ($400 million) in April. (Moscow Times, 05.14.15).
• Nearly 20 percent of Russians can now afford nothing more than the absolute necessities as double-digit inflation erodes their spending power, a survey by consumer research firm Nielsen found. (Moscow Times, 05.15.15).
• President Vladimir Putin has accepted the resignations of a string of regional governors this week, a move some analysts have said could increase their chances of being re-elected amid dire forecasts about the Russian economy. (Moscow Times, 05.14.15).
• Russia plans to introduce new powers to prosecute foreigners whose activities are seen as "undesirable" on national security grounds. Russian MPs are voting on a bill to ban "undesirable" foreign non-governmental organizations or firms. The draft leaves the definition of "undesirable" open to interpretation. (BBC, 05.15.15).
• Russia on Wednesday claimed 26th place in a global ranking of countries' ability to foster human capital thanks to its highly educated populace, putting it first among the BRICS group of developing nations. (Moscow Times, 05.13.15).
• Tourism from Russia to Europe fell by an average of 30 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2014, according to a report issued this week by the European Travel Commission (ETC). (The Moscow Times, 05.12.15).

Defense and Aerospace:

• Military parades in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the World War II have been held in 26 Russian cities and marches involving servicemen took place in over 150 cities. The biggest parade took place in Moscow. It involved 194 units of combat equipment, 143 planes and helicopters, and over 16,000 servicemen. The marching column involved ten manning details of the CIS countries and friendly countries. As if to bolster the greatly diminished ranks of surviving WWII veterans, thousands of people marched down a central Moscow boulevard after the parade Saturday carrying photos of departed veterans in their families. (Washington Post, 05.10.15 Interfax, 05.09.15).
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered that the Ground Forces equipment showcased at the May 9 parade in Moscow complete all tests as quickly as possible and go into serial production. Vladimir Putin told a group of top military and defense industry leaders that Russia must retool its industries to replace various imports from Ukraine, Europe and NATO countries that had played a role in Russia's military production. Lately those foreign suppliers had ceased trade for reasons “mainly of a political nature," he said. (Interfax, 05.13.15, Wall Street Journal, 05.12.15).
• For 2015, Russia’s defense spending will reach $81 billion, or 4.2 percent of Russia's gross domestic product, and account for about 20 percent of government spending. More than half of defense spending in Russia is devoted to the state armament program. The volume of state defense orders will rise by 40 percent in 2017 compared to 2014. (RFE/RL, 05.09.15).
• The Russian Armed Forces' Ground Forces will hold joint military peacekeeping and anti-terror exercises with troops from India, Mongolia, China and Belarus in the second half of 2015.  A total of 18 inter-service drills involving Ground Forces, Air Force, Navy units, armed forces branches and specialist troops are expected to be held before the end of 2015. (Interfax, 05.13.15).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• The case against former deputy regional governor of the Lipetsk region Sergei Doro sky suspected of ordering the murder of Russian investigative journalist Igor Domenico in 2000 was closed Wednesday after the crime's 15-year statute of limitations expired, the TASS news agency reported. (Moscow Times, 05.13.15).
• Security was tight as Said Amirov, the imprisoned former mayor of Makhachkala, capital of Russia's restive Dagestan region in the North Caucasus, was led into a courtroom for a new trial on murder and terrorism charges. (RFE/RL, 05.12.15).
• Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky has been arrested in Cambodia. (Interfax, 05.15.15).

Foreign affairs and trade:

• On the eve of a celebration commemorating to the defeat of Nazi Germany, the presidents of Russia and China on Friday signed 32 bilateral agreements, including a financing agreement for up to $25 billion. (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, 05.09.15).
• China's biggest hydropower developer, China Three Gorges Corp has signed an agreement with Russian hydropower firm RusHydro to jointly build a hydropower plant in Russia, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday. (Reuters, 05.11.15).
• The Eurasian Economic Union has signed a memorandum of understanding on trade and economic cooperation with China. As a result, Russian companies could receive investment from Chinese banks within the framework of the Silk Road project, even though earlier this project was considered an example of Chinese expansion into Central Asia to the detriment of Russian interests. (Interfax, 05.14.15).
• Russian and Chinese naval combat vessels were en route to the Aegean Sea Friday where they planned to conduct joint military exercises from Sunday through Thursday. China has invited Russian troops to march in a parade in Beijing in September to commemorate the end of World War II, the Defense Ministry said on Monday. A Chinese Army unit marched for the first time in Red Square on May 9. (National Interest, Moscow Times, 05.11.15, International Business Times, 05.15.15).
• President Vladimir V. Putin used a visit by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to call for a return to normal relations with Europe. He emphasized that about 6,000 German businesses operating in Russia would like to see the “obstacles removed” from trade. Putin also said the peace process in eastern Ukraine was progressing despite difficulties. For her part, Merkel said Germany remembers that the Red Army played a decisive role in liberating the country from Nazism. But she also stated that “the criminal and illegal annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine have led to a serious setback to this cooperation.” (Tass, 05.10.15, New York Times, 05.12.15, Reuters, 05.10.15).
• Russian President Vladimir Putin defended 1939's Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany as Moscow's response to being isolated and having its peace efforts snubbed by Western nations. (Moscow Times, 05.11.15).
• Eighty-five former East German generals and admirals, in an appeal to the German public, have accused the United States of a policy that has give rise to a threat of a new war in Europe. (Interfax, 05.13.15).
• "I wouldn’t rule out Russia joining the EU in 20 years. It is completely possible; they have complementary economies. Russia needs modern technology and the European Union needs energy resources,” Czech President Milos Zeman said following his discussions with Vladimir Putin. Zeman predicted EU sanctions against Russia would be lifted by the end of the year, since the "civil war" in eastern Ukraine was practically over. (RFE/RL, 05.11.15).
• Russia wants $1.32 billion in compensation from France for cancelling a contract to deliver two Mistral helicopter carriers, a Russian source close to the negotiations said on Friday. (World Bulletin, 05.15.15).
• Henri Proglio gave up the chairmanship of defense group Thales on Tuesday, bringing into the open a simmering row with Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron over the veteran French businessman's Russian interests. (Reuters, 05.12.15).
• Uranium One expects to complete restructuring the operations of its Toronto head office, including the relocation of major functions to Moscow, by the middle of 2015. The company is now under the leadership of CEO Feroz Ashraf. (World Nuclear News, 05.15.15).
• Russia has removed a duty on wheat exports nearly 1½ months ahead of schedule. Analysts said that the move will put further pressure on global wheat prices, which have been trading below $200 per ton since the beginning of the year because of rosy forecasts for harvests around the world. (Wall Street Journal, 05.15.15).

Russia's neighbors:

• More than 3,000 spent nuclear fuel rods are kept inside metal casks within towering concrete containers in an open-air yard close to a perimeter fence at Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power station, which is 124 miles (200km) from the current front line.  (Business Insider/Guardian, 05.13.15).
• “Placing nuclear weapons in the Crimea would constitute an immense breach of international obligations for Russia” and “should be followed by the international community in a very decisive and relevant way,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told reporters in Antalya after talking with NATO ministers. (Bloomberg, 05.13.15).
• The Ukrainian government has approved a plan of engineering equipment of the border with Russia in 2015-2018. The budget will allot over 4 billion hryvna for the work. (Interfax, 05.15.15).
• Ukraine's president has said the Minsk peace roadmap is a "pseudo-peace", for which Ukraine is paying too high a price. "We will fight to the last drop of blood," Petro Poroshenko said in an interview to the German TV channel ZDF. (Russia Today. 05.14.15).
• The Ukrainian president's decision to reclaim Donetsk Airport, a key strategic point in the conflict in the country's east, are in violation of the Minsk peace deal, says the Kremlin. (Russia Today. 05.11.15).
• The Kremlin sees Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's statement on the presence of 11,000 Russian troops in Ukrainian territory as unfounded and not conducive to any positive developments. (Interfax, 05.14.15).
• More than 200 Russian military personnel have been killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine, according to a report based on research begun by slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. The Nemtsov report also estimates that Russia has spent at least 53 billion rubles ($1 billion) on the war in Ukraine and a further 80 billion rubles supporting refugees from eastern Ukraine. "I am not familiar with that report, so I cannot comment on it yet," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media. Russia has been accused of sending its soldiers and military hardware to eastern Ukraine. Moscow has rejected all of the allegations. (RFE/RL, 05.12.15, Moscow Times, 05.12.15, Russia Today. 05.13.15).
• Some Russian soldiers are quitting the army because of the conflict in Ukraine, several soldiers and human rights activists have told Reuters. (Reuters, 05.10.15).
• A US military delegation headed by Army Commander in Europe, Lieutenant-General Frederick ‘Ben’ Hodges, prepares to visit training center in western Ukraine. (Russia Today. 05.12.15).
• The NATO Secretary General has said the Alliance will increase its presence in the Ukrainian capital, sending its representatives to consult the country's defense ministry. (Russia Today. 05.13.15).
• Ukraine will host a NATO-led exercise on disaster response this fall, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday. (Sputnik, 05.13.15).
• “What we see is an increase in cease-fire violations, primarily by the separatists” and “continued Russian support for them,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday after the meeting. U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe said he saw a pattern developing similar to previous occasions when pro-Russian separatists took advantage of ceasefires to build their strength before launching a new offensive. “Clearly Russian-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine are preparing for another round of military action that would be inconsistent with the Minsk Agreement,” Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said. (Reuters, 05.13.15, Bloomberg, 05.13.15, New York Times, 05.11.15).
• Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s Advisory International Council of Reforms is to be headed by former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, and will also include Elmar Brok, a member of the European Parliament, and economist Anders Aslund. U.S. Senator John McCain has declined an offer from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to join the advisory council. (RFE/RL, 05.14.15).
• In one year the official number of registered internally displaced persons in Ukraine has climbed to over 1.255 million.  (Brookings, 05.13.15).
• An overnight explosion near the Black Sea port city of Odesa has damaged a rail line and delayed trains for hours but reportedly did not cause any injuries. (RFE/RL, 05.13.15).
• The contraction in Ukraine's economy accelerated to 17.6% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the State Statistics Service said Friday. Gross domestic product for the period slid 6.5% from the final quarter of 2014, the agency said.  (Wall Street Journal, 05.15.15).
• The level of the shadow economy in Ukraine in 2014 increased by 7 percentage points compared to 2013, to 42% of GDP, reaching a record high since 2007, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has reported in its study. (Interfax, 05.15.15).
• Ukraine's largest bondholders are pushing ahead with a restructuring plan that would allow them to avoid losses on their debt holdings. Russia does not intend on participating in restructuring Ukraine's debt, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said (Wall Street Journal, 05.13.15, Interfax, 05.14.15).
• A new section of a road in Russia's southern Rostov region that is being built to bypass Ukraine will be finished by November. (Moscow Times, 05.08.15).
• Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said Thursday that Kiev will not agree to further delay implementing the Association Agreement with the European Union despite concerns raised by Russia. “The free trade pact will take effect on Jan. 1, 2016," Yatsenyuk told a cabinet meeting. (Xinhua, 05.14.15).
• The EU Commission has said neither Georgia nor Ukraine would obtain visa-free travel to the EU's Schengen zone at the Riga Eastern Partnership Summit later this month. (RFE/RL, 05.08.15).
• About 300 American soldiers accompanied by 14 Bradley tanks, transported across the Black Sea from Romania, are in Georgia for the two-week training exercise, called Noble Partner. (New York Times, 05.12.15).
• In the first visit by a Chinese head of state to Belarus in 14 years, President Xi Jinping pledged to deepen a strategic partnership with Minsk. China has extended $3 billion credit to Belarussian companies and $4 billion in commercial credit to Belarussian banks for financing business projects. (Bloomberg, 05.11.15, Reuters, 05.11.15).
• Ten years after the Andijan massacre in Uzbekistan, rights activists say the regime of Uzbek President Islam Karimov has frightened witnesses into silence -- including those who have sought refuge as exiles abroad. (RFE/RL, 05.13.15).
• Russia's economic contraction will curb the growth prospects this year for ex-Soviet republics in central Asia and the Caucasus, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said Thursday. (Reuters, 05.14.15).
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has pardoned two employees of Tajik uranium-processing plant, Vostokredmet. Putin reportedly signed a decree on granting pardon to two employees of Tajik enterprise Vostokredmet – Alexander Boboshin and Alexander Botov, who were sentenced by a Tajik court to long jail terms for high treason in 2009. Botov and Boboshin were detained in May 2009 on suspicion of spying for Uzbekistan.  The Vostokredment head Shavkat Bobojonov was arrested on July 22. (Asia Plus, 05.13.15).
• The state-owned oil company of Azerbaijan secretly funded an all-expenses-paid trip to a conference at Baku on the Caspian Sea in 2013 for 10 members of Congress and 32 staff members, according to a confidential ethics report obtained by The Washington Post. Three former top aides to President Obama appeared as speakers at the conference. (Washington Post, 05.13.15).

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