Russia in Review

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

Nuclear security agenda:

Asked whether the United States has any serious proliferation concerns about the nuclear security projects left unfinished in Russia, Rose Gottemoeller, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, responded, “We’re always concerned, and this goes for our own facilities as well. We’re concerned about maintenance and sustainability….we’re very keen to ensure that the improvements we’ve made at these Russian facilities are sustained.. . . We actually welcome the fact that they say they want to put more resources into this.” (Roll Call, 02.03.15).
The FY 2016 U.S. President’s budget request for the NNSA of $12.6 billion represents an increase of $1.2 billion or about 10.2 percent over the FY 2015 appropriations level. The Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation proposal, at $1.9 billion, an increase of $325 million or about 18 percent from FY 2015 levels, continues to secure the most vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide and funds Nuclear Counterterrorism and Incident Response. The NRC's budget request is $27.3 million less than its 2015 submission. (NNSA, 02.02.15, World Nuclear News, 02.03.15).

Iran nuclear issues:

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday: “What's been remarkable is the unity we've been able to maintain in the P5+1, even with Russia, given all the strains that we have with them.”(CNN, 02.01.15).

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

The Kremlin welcomes French President Francoise Hollande's statement on the undesirability of Ukraine's accession to NATO. “This is a pragmatic approach, and Kremlin welcomes this," Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said on Thursday. (Interfax, 02.05.15).
NATO will establish command centers in six of its eastern countries in coming months, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, part of a beefed-up response to Russian aggressiveness. The outposts will form a chain of potential command centers for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's already announced rapid-response force, which will consist of roughly 5,000 troops. (Wall Street Journal, 01.31.15).
Six European countries said they would rotate the leadership of NATO's new rapid-response force, and the U.S. pledged to contribute intelligence, airlift capacity and other key support. Germany currently heads an interim version of the new force, which is scheduled to be in full operation next year. Spain is expected to lead the force first, followed by Britain in 2017. The three other countries committed are Italy, France and Poland. (Wall Street Journal, 02.06.15).
Concern is growing in NATO over Russia's nuclear strategy and indications that Russian military planners may be lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons in any conflict, alliance diplomats say. NATO officials have drawn up an analysis of Russian nuclear strategy that will be discussed by alliance defense ministers at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday. (Reuters, 02.05.15).
U.S. President Barack Obama’s budget proposal includes $789 million to continue and expand US military presence in Europe, the White House statement released Monday said.(Sputnik, 02.03.15).
On Monday, Alexander Vershbow, NATO's top-ranking American civilian official, said that Putin's actions have been a "game-changer in European security. He said Russia was even less predictable now than during the Cold War. (AP, 02.02.15).

Missile defense:

No significant developments.

Nuclear arms control:

“It has been a very successful four years, with a continual, smooth and straightforward implementation of the treaty, a significant bright spot in our bilateral relations,” Rose Gottemoeller, the under secretary of state for arms control and international security said of the New START treaty. “It has so far been immune to problems in the relationship.” (Guardian, 02.05.15).

Counter-terrorism agenda:

A federal judge continued questioning prospective jurors Thursday in the federal death penalty trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Prosecutors were slapped with a deadline of 5 p.m. Thursday by the head of the federal appeals court to persuade Chief Judge Sandra L. Lynch why she should reject Tsarnaev’s defense team’s third bid to throw in the towel and move the trial out of state. (AP, Boston Herald, 02.02.15).

Cyber security:

Russian man Vladimir Drinkman accused of one of the largest US corporate hacks of more than 160m credit card details can be extradited to the US, a Dutch court has ruled. (Guardian, 01.27.15).

Energy exports from CIS:

Russia envisages a marginal increase in oil production in 2015 despite the global slump in prices, according to the Ministry of Energy's latest projections. Russia produced an average of 10.58 million barrels of crude a day in 2014, a level of output not seen since the end of the Soviet Union. (Wall Street Journal, 02.03.14).
The Obama administration has revved up a less noticed but far broader campaign to wean Central and Eastern Europe off a deep reliance on Russian energy. Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s special envaoy for international energy affairs, said the U.S. would like to see a 20 percent slice cut out of Russia’s current share of the Eastern European gas market by 2020. “Energy security concerns have been exacerbated by European dependence on Russian natural gas and the willingness of Russia to use energy for political ends,” according to the Obama administration's new national security strategy document released by the White House on Friday. (WhiteHouse.gov, 02.06.15, AP, 02.04.15).

Bilateral economic ties:

No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

"Escalating challenges to cybersecurity, aggression by Russia, the accelerating impacts of climate change, and the outbreak of infectious diseases all give rise to anxieties about global security,” according to the Obama administration's new National Security Strategy released by the White House on Friday. “We will deter Russian aggression, remain alert to its strategic capabilities, and help our allies and partners resist Russian coercion over the long term, if necessary. At the same time, we will keep the door open to greater collaboration with Russia in areas of common interests, should it choose a different path—a path of peaceful cooperation that respects the sovereignty and democratic development of neighboring states,” the document says. (Whitehouse.gov.02.06.15).
U.S. lawmakers are pushing for details on an ongoing White House review of its policy toward Russia amid escalating violence between Ukrainian forces and pro-Moscow rebels that Western leaders accuse the Kremlin of backing. "If the administration is rethinking our Russia policy, Congress should be kept informed on that process," a Congressional aide said. (RFE/RL, 02.03.15).
"In spite of the oil prices, in spite of the ruble value, in spite of the sanctions, that remains a strategic priority," Marine Lt. General Vincent Stewart, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said of Russia’s military modernization. "I don't see any time in the near term that the effects of the sanctions or effects of the economy will change their desire to build strong strategic forces that will counter our efforts across the globe." (Washington Post, 02.06.15).
President Vladimir Putin's spokesman has angrily dismissed a Pentagon study that claimed the Russian leader had Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism. "That is stupidity not worthy of comment," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Gazeta.ru news website late Thursday (AFP, 02.05.15).
E-commerce giant Amazon has asked Crimean users to shut down their accounts within a week due to U.S. sanctions on the region. (The Moscow Times, 02.06.15).
Two pilots, Troy Bradley of Albuquerque and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia, in a helium-filled balloon landed safely off the coast of Mexico early Saturday after a nearly 7,000-mile trip across the Pacific Ocean that shattered two longstanding records for ballooning. (New York Times, 02.01.15).
Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church's department on relations between church and society said in reference to scientologists and Jehovah's Witnesses that he does not know "what quasi-religious structures that are run from the U.S., collect information on our citizens and have a strict administration vertical and a powerful data storage system are doing in Russia." (Interfax, 01.31.15).
Over the past 20 years the share of Russian citizens who have a positive attitude towards the United States has declined from 87 to 14%, a poll conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) suggests. (Tass, 01.28.15).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

The ruble and Russian shares continued to rally on Friday as markets awaited the outcome of high-level peace talks to end the war in eastern Ukraine and the oil price firmed. The ruble traded 1.2 percent higher at 65.82 against the dollar and the dollar-denominated RTS index was up 2.8 percent while the ruble-based MICEX was 1.9 percent higher. (Reuters, 02.06.15).
Russia's economy minister said Saturday that the country's gross domestic product is expected to shrink by 3% in 2015 with oil prices at $50 a barrel and an estimated capital outflow at $115 billion. (Wall Street Journal, 01.31.15).
Russia's inflation hit 15 percent in January. (Reuters, 02.05.15).
Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich says the government is considering introducing price controls on some staple foods. (RFE/RL, 02.03.15).
“If the CBR key rate remains 15% and our expectation of a rise in problem loans occurs, we estimate that banks’ aggregate net loss would be around RUB1 trillion in 2015, compared with net profits of RUB600 billion in 2014,” Moody’s analysts wrote in a report published Monday. (Wall Street Journal, 02.02.15).
Russia's Central Bank governor said a ruble-denominated bond worth nearly $10 billion that Rosneft issued in December had added to pressure on the currency because the market was expecting the oil producer to buy dollars with it. (Reuters, 02.03.15).
Russia's state-controlled Gazprom said Tuesday that it would slash its capital expenditure this year by almost $8 billion to $30 billion. (Reuters, 02.03.15).
State monopoly Russian Railways said Thursday that it would reinstate 300 suburban train routes after cancellation of the vital services drew a sharp rebuke from President Vladimir Putin. (The Moscow Times, 02.05.15).
Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed legislation that would allow nongovernmental organizations registered as “foreign agents” to remove the label if they cease political activities and stop receiving financing from abroad. (RFE/RL, 02.05.15).
Britain's international market research firm, YouGov, published its annual survey of the world’s most admired people, February 2.President Vladimir Putin, at 11th on the list (compared with 3rd place in same poll a year ago), is the only Russian to make the international chart. (RBTH, 02.03.15).
The Russian government has awarded the contract to build a $3 billion bridge connecting the Crimean peninsular to the Russian mainland to Arkady Rotenberg, a longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin who is being targeted by U.S. and EU sanctions. (Wall Street Journal, 01.30.15).
Foreign producers of medical devices will be phased out of government tenders in Russia as Moscow strives to curb reliance on imports in key industries amid a face-off with the West over Ukraine. (Moscow Times, 02. 06.15).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

A former nuclear scientist has been charged with treason in Russia over a publication in a scientific journal, the Meduza news website reported Wednesday. Vladimir Golubev worked at the Sarov Nuclear Center from 1975 to 2013, focusing on explosives. The Federal Security Service, a successor agency to the KGB, claimed the information Golubev published in the Czech journal was classified as secret by the Russian government. (Moscow Times, 02.04.15).
Russian special services have accused a Russian citizen of handing classified information to a Western country, a source familiar with the situation told Interfax. "Citizen (Gennady) Kravtsov, accused of high treason, has been remanded into custody in Moscow. He was detained last year," the source said. (Interfax, 02.06.15).
Svetlana Davydova, a mother of seven who was detained on charges of high treason in west Russia, has been allowed to leave pre-trial custody, lawyers said. The probe into her alleged leaking of data about Russian troops to the Ukrainian embassy continues. (Russia Today, 02.04.15).
A former director of Ukraine's defense enterprise Znamya, Yury Soloshenko, has been arrested in Moscow on suspicion of espionage, the press service of Moscow's Lefortovo Court reported on Friday. (Interfax, 02.06.15).
Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was paid about £2,000 a month for consultancy work for the British intelligence services, the public inquiry into his death has heard. (FT, 02.02.15).
A Kazakh citizen studying in the Russian city of Novosibirsk has allegedly tried to recruit his fellow students to join the Islamic State group, security authorities in Novosibirsk have said. (RFE/RL, 02.06.15).
Federal Security Service officials in Bashkortostan said in a statement on February 5 that 31 locals had been detained and interrogated for suspected membership in the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization. (RFE/RL, 02.05.15).
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has accused the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies of using fake social media accounts to draw young Russian men into the Islamic State and other terrorist networks. Kadyrov also accused the West of using the Islamic State group as part of a covert war against Islam. (The Moscow Times, 02.01.15, RFE/RL, 02.06.15).
A spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Khartoum said on February 3 that two Russian pilots were kidnapped in Zalingei in Darfur region on January 29. (RFE/RL, 02.03.15).
Murad Magomedov, a lawyer working for the respected Russian human rights group Memorial has been severely beaten in Dagestan. (RFE/RL, 02.04.15).
An alleged member of a criminal ring that is suspected of involvement in at least 40 murders across Russia has been detained in Montenegro. (RFE/RL, 02.02.15).
Russia's Federal Drug Control Service said Friday that accounts opened in a bank belonging to Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoysky were used by a drug ring selling a synthetic drug. (The Moscow Times, 02.06.15).
"The majority of Russian citizens (61%) believe that the main threats to the country come from abroad, and only 18% believe that the main sources of possible negative scenarios for Russia should be looked for inside the country," research by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences suggests. (Tass, 01.28.15).

Defense

The 100-ton ballistic missile Sarmat may be test launched in one or 1.5 years after its drop tests that are planned for 2015, a Russian defense industry source said. (Tass, 01.29.15).
Russian mobile ballistic missile launchers have been put on combat patrol mission in six Russian regions. (RFE/RL, 02.06.15).

Foreign affairs and trade:

Saudi Arabia has been trying to pressure President Vladimir Putin of Russia to abandon his support for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, using its dominance of the global oil markets at a time when the Russian government is reeling from the effects of plummeting oil prices. (New York Times, 02.04.15).
China, Russia and India decided to set up a consultation mechanism for Asia-Pacific affairs on Monday, with their foreign ministers calling for the first round of talks on the mechanism to be held soon. (China Daily, 02.03.15).
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras discussed boosting cooperation with Russia on a variety of fronts including energy and the economy during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Greek leader's office said Thursday. Tsipras has earlier ruled out seeking aid from Russia and said on Monday that he would pursue negotiations for a new debt agreement with European partners but met little sign of compromise from Germany. (Reuters, 02.05.15, 02.02.15).
The new Greek foreign minister Nikos Kotzias told his EU counterparts on Thursday: “I am not a Russian puppet.” (Wall Street Journal, 01.30.15).
The decision not to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to last week's ceremony marking 70 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp was a strategic mistake that will have harsh consequences on the US and EU's relations with Moscow, according to senior diplomats. Senior sources at the UN headquarters in New York said that Putin was so offended by the move that he is unlikely to let it go unpunished. (Jerusalem Post, 02.05.15).
The Polish foreign minister suggested Monday that this year's celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II should not be held in Russia, the latest volley in an ongoing diplomatic spat between the two countries over war anniversaries. (The Moscow Times, 02.02.15).
Russian lawmaker Mikhail Degtyaryov is calling for Germany to pay trillions of euros in reparations for World War II. (RFE/RL, 02.04.15).
Another batch of Russia's Mil Mi-28NE Night Hunter helicopters has been supplied to Iraq. (Interfax, 02.02.15).
Over the past 20 years the share of Russian citizens who have a positive attitude towards China has considerably improved - from 41 to 64%, according to a poll conducted in Russia by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Tass, 01.28.15).
52%, of the respondents of a poll conducted in Russia by the Russian Academy of Sciences believe that the country's goal "to be one of the most developed world countries" is right, while 26% wanted to "return the superpower status" to the country and only 9% said Russia "should seek leadership in the post-Soviet space." Sociologists compared these figures with the figures of a similar poll conducted in 2007: then 45% of the polled supported the country's aim to become one of the most developed states, 35% were for Russia as a superpower and only 6% - for the post-Soviet leadership. (Tass, 01.28.15).

Russia's neighbors:

A senior UN official says the death toll in the conflict in eastern Ukraine has reached at least 5,358 and urged all sides to halt a potentially "catastrophic" escalation in fighting between government forces and Russian-backed separatists. (RFE/RL, 02.03.15).
January brought some of the heaviest losses in Ukraine since the broad truce agreed to in September, claiming nearly 600 lives, according to United Nations data. (Wall Street Journal, 02.05.15).
Amnesty International says it has collected "gruesome evidence of civilian deaths and casualties" inflicted in recent days by both pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 02.02.15).
Rebel leaders said they reached agreement with Ukrainian military leaders to halt hostilities in and around Debaltseve so that civilians could be evacuated. Families have been trapped in Debaltseve, a key target of rebel offensive, enduring more than two weeks without power, heat or running water. The two sides will evacuate civilians to a humanitarian corridor away from the fighting. (AP, 02.05.15).
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande met Friday with their Russian counterpart to discuss a new proposal for peace negotiations to end the bitter conflict in eastern Ukraine. Hollande said Thursday that the joint proposal for new negotiations would be "based upon the territorial integrity of Ukraine." The proposal calls for international peacekeepers to be deployed to separate the separatists from the Ukrainian forces. (CNN, Kommersant, 02.06.15).
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, in letters earlier this week to the French president, François Hollande, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, had put forward a new proposal that apparently included shifts in the cease-fire boundaries based on recent gains by pro-Russian separatist fighters, diplomats said. The proposal also included a new plan to grant political autonomy to the embattled regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Western officials briefed on Mr. Putin’s plan described it as a nonstarter. (New York Times, 02.07.15).
An independent report to be issued Monday by eight former senior American officials, who urge the United States to send $3 billion in defensive arms and equipment to Ukraine, including anti-armor missiles, reconnaissance drones, armored Humvees and radars that can determine the location of enemy rocket and artillery fire. (New York Times, 02.02.15).
Moscow would see any decision by the U.S. to give Ukraine lethal weapons as a threat to Russia's security, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Thursday. (Reuters, 02.05.15).
Ashton B. Carter, President Obama’s choice to become his fourth secretary of defense, said Wednesday that he was “very much inclined” to provide arms to Ukraine to fend off Russian-backed rebels. (Washington Post, 02.04.15)
Asked about the reports of potential U.S. lethal aid to Kyiv, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a February 2 press briefing those officials in Washington "are constantly assessing our policies on Ukraine to ensure they are responsive, appropriated, and calibrated to achieve our objectives." (RFE/RL, 02.03.15).
The Obama administration has promised about $118 million for training and nonlethal equipment for Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, State Border Guard Service and National Guard. But only half of that aid actually been delivered, State Department officials acknowledge. The United States is also preparing plans for $120 million in additional training and equipment. (New York Times, 02.06.15).
Speaking Thursday at an alliance gathering in Brussels, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s top commander, said delivering weapons to Ukraine “could trigger a more strident reaction from Russia.” (LA Times, 02.05.15).
Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday ruled out any German supply of weapons to Ukraine, but emphasized that Europe must stay united against Russian aggression.(New York Times, 02.03.15).
“We don’t see how delivery of weapons would downplay the tensions,” Peter Wittig, the German ambassador to the United States, said. “Those who advocate for … the delivery of arms, I would ask the question: Where does that lead to? Have you thought it through?” said Wittig. “Where are we heading with this?” (Foreign Policy, 02.05.15).
U.S. lawmakers will write legislation requiring the United States to send arms to Ukraine if President Barack Obama does not move to send weapons, Republican Senator John McCain said Thursday. (Reuters, 02.06.14).
“The risk is we’re doing too little, not doing too much,” said Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who is gathering signatures on a letter urging the administration to send Ukraine defensive weaponry. (Washington Post, 02.05.15).
Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko said: "I don't have any doubt that the decision on the possibility of weapon supplies to Ukraine will be made by the United States and our other partners, as we need to be able to defend ourselves.” (Wall Street Journal, 02.05.15).
U.S. President Barack Obama requested nearly $170 million to respond to alleged Russian interference in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova in his 2016 budget proposal submitted on Monday. The budget also includes funds to bolster NATO and Ukraine to prevent further Russian pressure in the region, the White House said. (Sputnik, 02.03.15).
"Russia is interested in Ukraine being a friendly, independent state that is capable of providing for itself. Today's situation causes a great concern on our part. Poor, uncontrollable, legally incapable and insolvent Ukraine is a colossal problem for Russia,” chief of Kremlin staff Sergey Ivanov said. (Russia Today, 01.28.15).
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday: “The annexation of Crimea is a cost, not a benefit, to Russia.… To those who would suggest that we need to do more, you know, what I've said to them is that we can exact higher and higher costs, and that's exactly what we're doing, and we can bring diplomatic pressure to bear. I don't think that it would be wise for the United States or the world to see an actual military conflict between the United States and Russia.” (CNN, 02.01.15).
U.S. President Barack Obama said: “Mr. Putin made this decision around Crimea and Ukraine - not because of some grand strategy, but essentially because he was caught off-balance by the protests in the Maidan and Yanukovych then fleeing after we had brokered a deal to transition power in Ukraine.”(CNN, 02.01.15).
Russia has seized on remarks by U.S. President Barack Obama about an internationally brokered deal to resolve last year's Ukrainian crisis, claiming they prove that Washington was involved in a "coup" against Ukraine's Moscow-backed president. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Obama's remarks were "proof that from the very beginning, the United States was involved in the antigovernment coup that Obama neutrally described as a 'power transition'." (RFE/RL, 02.02.15).
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has said Ukraine is battling for its “very survival” in the face of escalating Russian involvement in the conflict between government forces and separatists in the country’s east. (RFE/RL, 02.06.15).
U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry insisted that neither Washington nor Europe want confrontation with Russia but that the Kremlin’s hand in the deadly Ukraine fighting cannot be ignored. Just before Kerry's arrival in Kyiv, a senior State Department official announced the U.S. would provide Ukraine with an additional $16.4 million in aid to help civilians affected by the fighting in the country's east. (LA Times, 02.05.15, Voice of America, 02.06.15).
Ukraine's currency slid 11% against the U.S. dollar on Friday to a new low of 24 hryvnas per dollar, a day after the central bank's decision to abandon what was effectively a currency peg sent it tumbling. (Wall Street Journal, 02.06.15).
Ukraine's war with pro-Russian separatists is costing Kiev between 5 and 7 million euros ($5.5 to $8 million) per day, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said. (The Moscow Times, 02.05.15).
A pro-Russian separatist leader in eastern Ukraine has announced plans to recruit 100,000 men as fighting with government forces intensifies following the collapse of peace talks. (RFE/RL, 02.02.15).
Russia and Ukraine are holding indirect talks to reopen a key international air corridor over the Black Sea to commercial flights in a plan that could give Ukraine much-needed overflight fees and ease congestion on other crowded air routes, according to five sources familiar with the matter. (Reuters, 02.03.15).
82% of the population of Crimea fully supports Russia's annexation of the peninsula, according to results of the survey conducted in Crimea in January by Ukrainian pollster GfK-Ukraine. 11% of respondents said that they rather support this annexation, and 4% were against. (Pravda.com.ua, 02.05.15).
Despite widespread state news reports that Western governments had been meddling in Ukraine, only 3 percent of Russians think this is true, a poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center said. When asked to describe in a few words what is currently happening in Ukraine, 50 percent said "civil war." (The Moscow Times, 02.02.15).
Speaking of the future of southeastern Ukraine, 43 percent of respondents of a Levada poll in Russia would like that region to be an independent state (40 percent in December), 19 percent wish it were part of Russia (13 percent in December), and 17 percent suggest that the east should remain part of Ukraine but have more independence from Kyiv (25 percent a month ago).
European Union governments have agreed on a list of new entities and Russian and pro-Moscow Ukrainian individuals who will suffer sanctions in the bloc, diplomats said on Thursday. (Reuters, 02.04.15).
The Federal Space Agency is set to replace Zenit launch vehicles built by the Dnipropetrovsk Yuzhmash plant in Ukraine with brand new Angara rockets, Izvestia wrote on Monday. (Interfax, 02.02.15).
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law ratifying a "strategic partnership" treaty with separatists in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia. (RFE/RL, 02.04.15).
Azerbaijan says one of its soldiers has been killed in a shootout near the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region. Several soldiers from Azerbaijan and Armenia have been killed in multiple shootings in recent weeks. (RFE/RL, 02.06.15).
Azerbaijan has launched military maneuvers in the midst of escalating tensions with neighboring Armenia. (RFE/RL, 02.02.15).
Armenia has formally asked Russia to hand over a soldier charged with killing seven members of a single family near Russia's military base in the South Caucasus nation. (RFE/RL, 02.04.15).
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has met with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov in Ashgabat. (RFE/RL, 02.03.15).

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