Russia in Review

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

Nuclear security agenda:

No significant developments.

Iran:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Kremlin's clearance of the S-300 missile system shipment to Iran did not violate international sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program. Putin said the shipment can move forward because Iran "has shown a great degree of flexibility" in the nuclear talks. He also suggested that Russia needed the nearly $1 billion in revenue that will come from sending over the missile systems. (Washington Post, 01.16.15).
"We believe that at this stage the need for this kind of embargo, particularly a voluntary, Russian embargo, has completely disappeared," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said of Vladimir Putin’s decision to lift the ban on exports of S-300s to Iran. Lavrov said the missiles could be shipped out "promptly" if Russian officials make a political decision to act before a full nuclear deal is reached. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said any delivery would take "some time," citing a minimum of six months on any order. (Wall Street Journal, 04.15.15, RFE/RL, 04.14.15, Washington Post, Reuters, 04.13.15).
The Russian-Iranian S-300 contract is due to be fulfilled before the end of this year, the Iranian defense minister said on Thursday. "I think [the S-300] will be delivered this year," Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said. (Interfax, 04.17.15, Wall Street Journal, 04.15.15).
"We don't believe it's constructive at this time for Russia to move forward with this," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said of Russia’s decision to lift the ban on exports of S-300s to Iran. However, she added that “we don’t think this will have an impact on unity in terms of inside the negotiating rooms”. (CNN, Financial Times, 04.14.15,Washington Post, 04.12.15).
U.S. Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller said: “With regard to the S-300, I have to say we are disappointed. Pulling the plug on that deal was pursuant to UN Security Council resolution, and we feel that it must have the weight of the UN system behind it.”(Meduza, 04.16.15).
Russian and Iranian companies are discussing terms for a barter deal which will not include oil deliveries, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that "in exchange for Iranian crude oil supplies, we are delivering certain products. This is not banned or limited under the current sanctions regime." (RFE/RL, 04.14.15,Washington Post, Reuters, 04.13.15, Reuters, 04.15.15).
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged countries that imposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program to maintain a unified approach in lifting the sanctions. Merkel’s comments on April 14 follow Russia’s announcement that it will deliver S-300 missile systems to Iran. (RFE/RL, 04.14.15).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called Russian President Vladimir Putin to express Israel's "dismay" with the Kremlin decision to supply S-300 missiles to Iran. (RFE/RL, 04.14.15).
Russian oil company LUKoil has reopened its office in Iran. (RFE/RL, 04.15.15).

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

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu accused NATO of increasing the potential for war in Eastern Europe by holding anti-Russia exercises practicing the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons. "I would like to remind NATO enthusiasts of joint nuclear arms control about the consequences of their unlimited aspiration for military dominance," Mr. Shoigu told a Moscow defense conference where a series of high-level Russian leaders repeatedly warned of the serious threats that the U.S. and the NATO posed to modern Russia. NATO denied any rehearsals of the use of tactical nuclear weapons. “I'm not aware of any of that," said chief of U.S. air operations in Europe Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson.(Wall Street Journal, Interfax, 04.16.15).
The United States has protested an intercept of a U.S. reconnaissance plane by a Russian fighter jet last week, calling it "unsafe and unprofessional." Russian officials have denied their pilot did anything wrong. According to the Pentagon, the U.S. RC-135U plane was flying in international airspace north of Poland. U.S. officials say a Russian SU-27 fighter came up behind the U.S. plane at high speed, and then made two more dangerously close passes. (RFE/RL, 04.12.15).
Some 2,200 Romanian, U.S., British, and Moldovan troops are taking part in military exercises in Romania, close to the Ukrainian border this week. The deployment this year of the 12 A-10 aircraft with 300 airmen from their base in Arizona to Romania is the first of a regular rotation of U.S. air forces into Europe, and a detachment of U.S. F-15C air combat aircraft is scheduled to arrive in Europe soon, chief of U.S. air operations in Europe Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson. (Wall Street Journal, 04.16.15, RFE/RL, 04.15.15).
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksei Meshkov said April 10 NATO's decision to reduce the number of Russian representatives at the alliance "smacks of a Cold War spirit." (RFE/RL, 04.10.15).
Britain is keeping an eye on Russian warships that entered the English Channel. The Russian navy's Northern Fleet said the destroyer Severomorsk and two other vessels entered the Channel on April 14 on their way to the North Atlantic for anti-aircraft and anti-submarine drills. Britain has also scrambled Typhoon fighter jets to intercept two Russian long-range bombers near British airspace.(RFE/RL, 04.14.15, Reuters, 04.14.14).
Russia's Foreign Ministry says moves by Finland and Sweden towards closer ties with NATO were of "special concern.” The comments on April 12 come days after the defense ministers of Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland said in a newspaper article that northern Europe must prepare for possible crises or incidents because of Russia. In a separate development Sweden's military said a mysterious object sighted in its waters was not a Russian spy submarine as initially suggested but rather a civilian fishing boat. (RFE/RL, 04.13.15, NBC, 04.15.15).
Germany plans to procure more than 100 additional Leopard 2 tanks, a government spokesman said Friday, as it seeks to ensure its troops are ready for action in response to concerns over recent Russian assertiveness. Poland is set to increase defense expenditure to 2.1 percent of projected 2015 GDP. Estonia is raising its military budget by 7.3 percent and Latvia is increasing its budget by 14.9 percent, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Lithuania is increasing its defense expenditures by 50 percent. (The Moscow Times, 04.13.15, Reuters, 04.11.15).

Missile defense:

General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said U.S. missile defense systems slated for installation in Poland and Romania represented a threat and Russia had to prepare to respond. “Nonnuclear powers where missile-defense installations are being installed have become the objects of priority response," Gen. Gerasimov said, referring to Poland and Romania. (Wall Street Journal, 04.16.15).
“Today it is clear that the missile threat from Tehran that the U.S. and other countries of the alliance invented was a bluff," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said. (Wall Street Journal, 04.16.15).

Nuclear arms control:

U.S. Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller said: “In my experience, there have been two other areas that have been small areas of bright spots in our otherwise negative bilateral relationship [with Russia] is the implementation of the New START Treaty, which I was responsible for negotiating, and the second area is the removal of chemical weapons from Syria last year. .”(Meduza, 04.16.15).

Counter-terrorism agenda:

The situation in the Middle East and Central Asia remains explosive as the combat potential of extremist organizations such as the Taliban, Hizb ut-Tahrir and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan remains high in the region, Col. Gen. Igor Sergun, who heads of the Main Intelligence Department of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, has said. (Interfax, 04.17.15).
The Boston Marathon bombing trial enters a new phase on April 21 as federal prosecutors begin to mount their case for putting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for killing three people and injuring 264 others in the 2013 attack. (Reuters, 04.11.15).

Cyber security:

Russia has risen nine places this year in a global ranking of countries' exploitation of information and communication technologies. Russia now stands in 43rd place out of the 143 economies surveyed in the forum's Networked Readiness Index, making it far and away the leader among the BRICS group of emerging economies. (The Moscow Times, 04.15.15).
Five alleged members of a hacking ring have been detained in Russia on suspicion of stealing more than 50 million rubles (about $1 million) from Russian bank accounts, police said Saturday. (The Moscow Times, 04.12.15).

Energy exports from CIS:

Russia's economy ministry forecasts that its oil output will be unchanged at 525 million tons a year in 2015 and in 2016. In 2017, Russia's output is set to decline to 521 million tons, the ministry says. (Wall Street Journal, 04.15.15).
Russia's Energy Ministry has been holding active consultations with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and Latin American oil producers which Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich described on Wednesday as "unprecedented." (Reuters, 04.15.15).
The head of Gazprom warned European customers on Monday that if their countries angled for a single price for natural gas, it would most likely be at the higher end of the range they now pay. ''If the European Commission will insist on equal prices,'' Mr. Miller said, ''then of course, as you understand, a base price is not the lowest price. It will be the highest price.'' EU officials are holding talks with a range of non-Russian suppliers and one day could buy gas from Iran, Europe's climate and energy chief Miguel Arias Canete has said, setting aside a Gazprom warning that Europe should not block its gas strategy. (New York Times. 04.14.15, Reuters, 04.15.15).
Alexander Novak, Russia's energy minister, indicated that Russia would prefer to avoid Ukraine once the current contract on transit through the country expires in 2019. That is the starting date the Russians envisage for Turkish Stream. Currently, about a quarter of European Union gas comes from Russia, and at least half of that supply flows through Ukraine. (New York Times. 04.14.15).
The European Union's competition chief sent a warning shot to Russian gas giant Gazprom on Thursday when she pledged to act decisively against energy companies that break competition law. Although Margrethe Vestager, did not mention Gazprom by name, her speech comes in the wake of remarks by the bloc's energy chief that the Commission would present the results of the Gazprom investigation very soon. Vestager's spokesman has said the Commission is ready to move forward with the case. (Reuters. 04.16.15)
European Union-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia about long-term gas supplies have been postponed. (RFE/RL, 04.10.15).

Bilateral economic ties:

No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

During his annual call-in program Russian President Vladimir Putin said: “The main condition for restoring normal relations (with the West) is respect for Russia and its interests… superpowers that have laid claim to exceptionalism and see themselves as the only center of power in the world, do not need allies. What they need is vassals. I am referring to the United States. Russia cannot live in this system of relations. … But this doesn’t mean we should sulk or take offence, or move back and keep aloof. I have always said, and I will say again: we want to cooperate, we are ready to cooperate, and we will do this despite the stance taken by the leaders of some countries.” (Kremlin.ru, 04.16.15).
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Washington on Thursday of putting pressure on some world leaders not to attend events in Russia marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. (Reuters, 04.16.15).
A Russian naval vessel has evacuated over 300 people of various nationalities from Yemen's port city of Aden. A Defense Ministry official said the evacuees included 45 Russians, 18 Americans, five Britons, and 159 Yemenis, as well as citizens of other Middle Eastern and former Soviet states. (RFE/RL, 04.12.15).
A 3,200-kilometer rally dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the allied victory in WWII and the 70th anniversary of the meeting of Soviet and American troops on the River Elbe is to be held on April 18-24 in the United States. (RBTH, 04.14.15).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday devoted the bulk of an annual call-in program to assuring his nation that life would soon improve after a year of confrontation with the West. In his previous major public question-and-answer session in December he warned that economic recovery would take about two years. Thursday, he said that forecast could prove overly pessimistic, with growth returning sooner. Mr. Putin defended his government's handling of the economic crisis as “optimal.” (Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, 04.16.15).
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been named the most influential person in the world — “for better or for worse” — by readers of TIME magazine, a result which his spokesman said is proof of the leader's worldwide popularity and fame, a news report said. (The Moscow Times, 04.14.15).
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that a 1.9 percent contraction in the economy in the first few months of 2015 was "less than was predicted.” (Bloomberg, 04.14.15).
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday predicted more pain for the Russian economy. Russia’s economy is expected to shrink by 3.8 percent this year as sanctions imposed by the West over the conflict in Ukraine and low oil prices push the country deep into recession. (Bloomberg, 04.14.15).
The currency that's done the best against the dollar in 2015 is the ruble. It's up 11 percent on the year, and an absurd 34 percent in just the last two months. But even after the recent rebound, the ruble is still down nearly 30 percent from a year ago. (Foreign Policy, 04.15.15, Washington Post, 04.13.15).
Prices rose 0.1 percent between April 7 and April 13, Rosstat said Wednesday, bringing year-on-year inflation down 0.1 percentage point to 16.8 percent, according to Interfax. (The Moscow Times, 04.15.15).
Yields on Russia's 2030 dollar bond have fallen to 3.65% now from a December peak of 7.77%; the MICEX stock index is up 20% year-to-date. (Wall Street Journal, 04.16.15).
Russia's Central Bank could cut interest rates thanks to the recent strengthening of the ruble, which has begun to bring inflation in check, the bank's chief said. (The Moscow Times, 04.17.15).
Net capital outflow from Russia was $32.6 billion in the first quarter of the year, down from $72.9 billion in the previous three months, suggesting that panic over Russia's economic crisis has receded, data published this week by the Central Bank showed. (The Moscow Times, 04.10.15).
Russia's Khakasia region has held a day of mourning as the death toll from fires that swept the province in southern Siberia rose to 23. The Emergency Situations Ministry said on April 14 that more than 900 people in dozens of towns and villages were injured by the blazes, which were caused by the burning of dry leaves and spread fast by strong winds. President Vladimir Putin's envoy to Siberia has suggested that Russia's political opposition set wildfires raging in the region in an act of "sabotage." (RFE/RL, 04.14.15, RFE/RL, 04.17.15).
Russia's attempts to reform its health services have resulted in increased mortality rate in the country. The hospital mortality rate increased by 2.6 percent last year compared to the year before, the Audit Chamber said. The country's overall mortality rate was 13.1 deaths per 1,000 people at the end of 2014, instead of the 12.8 rate that government estimates had predicted, the report said. (The Moscow Times, 04.14.15).
The number of people living below the official poverty line - measured last year as those with monthly incomes less than 8,234 rubles ($145) - ticked up by about 600,000 people in 2014 to reach 11.2 percent of Russians, according to Rosstat. The World Bank predicts the poverty rate could reach 14.2 percent in 2015. (The Moscow Times, 04.13.15).
The number of Russian billionaires fell from 111 to 88 over the last year as the country's economic crisis gutted personal wealth, according to a Forbes rich list published Thursday. (The Moscow Times, 04.16.15).
Rosenergoatom has reportedly postponed construction of the BN-1200 sodium-cooled fast neutron reactor at the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant "indefinitely" on the need to improve fuel for the reactor and amid speculation about the cost-effectiveness of the project. (World Nuclear News, 04.16.15).

Defense and Aerospace:

Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reports the first manned launch from a new facility Russia is building will be held "after 2020," not in 2018 as planned. (RFE/RL, 04.17.15).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

Law enforcement agents in Kabardino-Balkaria have said they foiled a "recruitment channel" that was sending female militants to Syria. Police in the republic said on April 9 that they had arrested a woman in the capital Nalchik who was planning to travel to Syria to join militants there after "marrying" an extremist via instant message. (RFE/RL, 04.10.15).
A retired Russian naval officer in St. Petersburg is on trial on charges of spying for Ukraine. The St. Petersburg city prosecutor’s office said on April 13 that retired Captain Vladislav Nikolsky, 69, is accused of giving unidentified Ukrainians access to material relating to Russian military vessels -- some of it classified. (RFE/RL, 04.13.15).
Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, who was arrested last year by Russian authorities controlling Crimea and accused of plotting terrorist attacks, has received the final version of his indictment. (RFE/RL, 04.17.15).
Russian engineering professor Yevgeny Afanasyev convicted of passing military secrets to China has died in prison. (RFE/RL, 04.15.15).

Foreign affairs and trade:

During his annual call-in program Russian President Vladimir Putin said he expected sanctions against Russia to last for years. But the challenges will ultimately strengthen Russia, he said, not weaken it. "It's highly unlikely that sanctions will be lifted anytime soon, because it's a politicized issue," Putin said. "They want to restrain our growth." (Washington Post, 04.16.15).
Russia will not impose penalties against France over its failure to fulfill a $1.2 billion euro contract to supply two Mistral helicopter carriers, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Negotiations between Russia and France regarding the delivery of the carriers are in progress and a compromise on that matter may be reached within months, Rosoboronexport General Director Anatoly Isaikin said. (Interfax, 04.13.15, Reuters, 04.16.15).
Western sanctions against Russia can only be lifted once Moscow fulfills the cease-fire agreement signed in Minsk in February and respects Ukraine's sovereignty, G7foreign ministers said Wednesday. (Reuters, 04.16.15).
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Thursday that Russia could not succeed in breaking European Union unity on sanctions over Ukraine. He also said Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be invited to attend the G7 summit of leading industrial nations in Bavaria this June. (RFE/RL, 04.12.15, Reuters, 04.17.15).
Russian arms deliveries to Syria are limited to the weapon types which cannot be used against third countries, Rosoboronexport General Director Anatoly Isaikin said. (Interfax, 04.13.15).
China has signed a contract with Rosoboronexport for the supply of S-400 air defense systems, the company’s managing director Anatoly Isaikin. (RBTH, 04.14.15).
Greece is negotiating with Russia for the purchase of missiles for its S-300 anti-missile systems and for their maintenance, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said. (Reuters, 04.15.15).
The United Nations Security Council on April 14 imposed an arms embargo on the Yemen’s Huthi rebels. Fourteen council members voted in favor of the embargo, while Russia abstained, saying some of its proposals for the resolution, drafted by council member Jordan and Gulf Arab states, were not included. The fighting and air strikes delivered by the coalition have put Yemen on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said. (RFE/RL, 04.14.15, Interfax, 04.11.15).
Japan's air force said that jet fighter scrambles have reached a level not seen since the height of the Cold War three decades ago as Russian bombers probe its northern skies and Chinese combat aircraft intrude into its southern air space. In the year ending March 31, Japanese fighters scrambled 944 times, 16 percent more than the same period the previous year. That is the second-highest number of encounters ever recorded over the 12-month period since records began in 1958 and only one less than a record 944 scrambles in 1984. (Reuters, 04.15.15).
Military jets that fly over Europe without identifying themselves pose a high risk to civilian aircraft, the European Aviation Safety Agency said in a report published Tuesday, after a spate of near-collisions involving Russian warplanes. (Reuters, 04.14.15).
Government and company officials yesterday launched construction of the Turkey's first nuclear power plant. The Russian-designed Akkuyu plant in Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast, is the first of three nuclear power plants the country plans to build to help boost its economy and reduce its dependence on fossil fuel imports. (World Nuclear News, 04.15.15).
Nigeria is in talks with Russia's state-owned Rosatom to build nuclear power plants. (Reuters, 04.14.14).

Russia's neighbors:

The OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine says it has seen a "massive" increase in the number of cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine in recent days. Monitors also reported "intensive fighting" between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. (RFE/RL, 04.15.15).
One Ukrainian soldier has been killed and two wounded in separatist eastern territories in the past 24 hours, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Wednesday. Six Ukrainian soldiers were reported killed on Tuesday — one of the heaviest losses for government troops in weeks. (Reuters, 04.15.15).
Foreign ministers from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France called for more heavy weaponry to be withdrawn from the front lines in eastern Ukraine, amid recent flare-ups in violence between government forces and Russia-backed rebels. After a late-night meeting Monday in Berlin, the ministers released a statement saying the situation "remains tense because of numerous cease-fire violations." (Wall Street Journal, 04.14.15).
The atmosphere was spooky in Kyiv on April 16 as news broke about the murder of a third prominent person in four days. Two of the victims, ex-lawmaker Oleh Kalashnikov and journalist-writer Oles Buzina, were known for their strong criticism of Ukraine’s pro-Western political leadership. Both favored closers relations with Russia. (Kyiv Post, 04.17.15).
Asked by a Ukrainian refugee now living in Russia about the future of the separatist regions, which have appealed to become part of Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to play down those hopes, saying the regions should focus on restoring economic ties and rebuilding “a common political space with Ukraine." (Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, 04.16.15).
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russian military forces were not in Ukraine, denying allegations by Ukraine and Western countries that Moscow is providing troops and support for pro-Russian rebels fighting in eastern Ukraine.. (Reuters, 04.16.15).
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said a drive by the United States and its allies to bring Kiev closer to the West was a threat to Moscow and had forced it to react. "The United States and its allies have crossed all possible lines in their drive to bring Kiev into their orbit. That could not have failed to trigger our reaction," he told an annual security conference in Moscow. (Reuters, 04.16.15).
On Wednesday, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, U.S. General Philip Breedlove, urged Russia to stop fueling the conflict. "Concerned by renewed fighting in Ukraine. Vital all sides pull back verifiably, Russia stops fueling conflict," he said on Twitter. (Reuters, 04.15.15).
U.S. Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller said: “the Ukrainians are the real heroes of the non-proliferation regime.”(Meduza, 04.16.15).
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned that U.S. military educators conducting drills in Ukraine would increase the civil strife there. Peskov was responding to the arrival of about 300 American paratroopers in western Ukraine earlier this week. Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in Kiev, confirmed the arrival of the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s soldiers on Thursday. (The Hill, 04.17.15).
Canada said Tuesday it would send 200 soldiers to Ukraine on a two-year mission to advise and train Ukraine's armed forces in their effort to push back against Russia within Ukraine's borders. (Wall Street Journal, 04.14.15).
Ukraine plans to tell bond holders of state-run Ukreximbank on Friday that the bank will announce it will default on its eurobonds unless the creditors agree to reschedule repayments on these bonds. (Interfax, 04.16.15).
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded Ukraine's sovereign credit rating from 'CCC-' to 'CC', three levels above default, with a negative outlook. S&P said it views a Ukrainian default as "virtually inevitable", with Ukraine's sovereign debt to reach 93% of GDP in 2015. (BNE, 04.13.15).
The Netherlands says that, with nearly all of the victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 identified, efforts has shifted to finding those responsible for shooting the plane down over Ukraine last year. (RFE/RL, 04.17.15).
Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovnaya Rada, voted to open up the country’s archive of Soviet-era KGB files to the public. (IBS, 04.09.15).
Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told a meeting of his counterparts in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Tuesday that the West plans to grown "genetically modified crops" in Ukraine. "It is becoming increasingly obvious that Western countries are not planning to restore the Ukrainian economy. Rather, they are going to turn Ukraine into an agrarian country," Patrushev said, in comments carried by Russian news service Interfax. (Washington Post, 04.15.15).
A Vietnamese man has been stopped after trying to fly from Kiev to Moscow with a highly radioactive clock, the Ukrainian Border Guard Service said Monday. (The Moscow Times, 04.13.15).
Pope Francis has called the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman soldiers during World War I "genocide" at a Sunday mass where he marked the 100th anniversary of the tragedy. The pope said during the service at St. Peter's Basilica, "In the past century our human family had lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies. The first, which is widely considered 'the first genocide of the 20th century,' struck your own Armenian people."(RFE/RL, 04.12.15).
The EU Parliament urged Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide and pave the way for “a genuine reconciliation” between the two nations. Prior to the vote on a resolution, the Turkish President said Ankara would disregard any of Brussels’s decisions. (Russia Today, 04.15.15).
The first ever member of Turkey’s Armenian community to hold the post of senior advisor to the Turkish prime minister has retired after he described the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as a “genocide.” (Public Radio of Armenia, 04.16.15).
Tajikistan has banned the hajj for citizens younger than 35.Many in the Central Asian nation believe the ban is an attempt to prevent young Tajiks from developing radical ideas and joining extremist groups such as Islamic State. (RFE/RL, 04.14.15).
"They told us to kill everyone brutally without any compassion, kill children and women, young and old. “This is how 24-year-old Tajik Parviz Nabiev describes the 50-day jihadi training he claims he underwent in Turkey last year as a potential recruit for the Islamic State (IS) extremist group. (RFE/RL, 04.14.15).
A retired senior regional police officer in Tajikistan, Colonel Jumahon Muhtorov, says his son has been killed while fighting alongside Islamic militants in Syria. (RFE/RL, 04.15.15).
A court in Kazakhstan has sentenced two teenagers to five years in prison for promoting terrorism after they said they planned to join Islamic State (IS) militants. A juvenile court in the western Atyrau region found the two male defendants guilty and sentenced them on April 15. (RFE/RL, 04.16.15).
A court in Kazakhstan's western city of Oral has sentenced three local residents to 3 1/2 years each on charges of attempting to join Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and Iraq. The International Crisis Group recently estimated that 2,000 to 4,000 residents of Central Asia have traveled to Syria during the last three years to join militants. (RFE/RL, 04.16.15).
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has stressed the need for cooperation against Islamic State militants during a visit to Kazakhstan. (RFE/RL, 04.13.15).
A court in Kazakhstan has sentenced two teenagers to five years in prison for promoting terrorism after they said they planned to join Islamic State (IS) militants. (RFE/RL, 04.15.15).
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev and visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have discussed bilateral ties in Astana. (RFE/RL, 04.16.15).

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