Russia in Review

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

Nuclear security agenda:

• Anatoly Dyakov, chief research fellow at the Center for Arms Control, Energy, and Environmental Studies, said Moscow has long been in a position to independently safeguard its nuclear materials on its own dime. "If Washington is interested in continuing cooperation with the Kremlin in the field of nuclear security, it should be equal," Dyakov said.(RBTH, 01.27.15).
• Former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, who pleaded guilty to trying to help Venezuela develop a nuclear weapon, was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison. (AP, 01.28.15).

Iran nuclear issues:

• A top adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ali Akbar Velayatialso held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak. The Kremlin said the meetings in Moscow on January 28 focused on bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues. (RFE/RL, 01.29.15).

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

• NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that he was ready to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Munich Security Conference on Feb 6-8. (Reuters, 01.23.15).

Missile defense:

• U.S. missile defense "cannot stop" Russia's nuclear weapons, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said.  “The work conducted today on combat missile technologies … shows that neither the current nor even the projected American missile defense system could stop or cast doubt on Russia's strategic missile potential,” he said. (The Moscow Times, 01.26.15).

Nuclear arms control:

• The US government will spend an estimated $348 billion over the next decade to maintain, upgrade and operate its nuclear arsenal, according to a new estimate by the Congressional Budget Office. (Defense News, 01.23.15).
• The number of respondents in Russia who said they feared a nuclear war has doubled to 17 percent from only 8 percent two years ago, state-run VTsIOM pollster said. The number of those who fear going hungry has nearly tripled to 11 percent from 4 percent over the same period. (The Moscow Times, 01.30.15).

Counter-terrorism agenda:

• No significant developments.

Cyber security:

• Hackers have stolen the user names and e-mail addresses of 20 million members of a Russian dating website and offered the information for sale online, according to Easy Solutions. The  Bloomberg news agency said it was a St. Petersburg-based site called Topface. (The Moscow Times, 01.26.15).

Energy exports from CIS:

• Russian gas giant Gazprom says a natural gas pipeline to Turkey will be in service by the end of 2016. (RFE/RL, 01.27.15).
• Russia's Gazprom has canceled a plan to build two more branches of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline because of the "complicated" political situation, sources at the state-controlled firm said Wednesday. (Reuters, 01.28.15).
• Warming ties between Beijing and Moscow are giving a big boost to Chinese imports of Russian oil.  Chinese customs data released Friday show that its crude imports from some big OPEC nations have plummeted, while imports from Russia surged 36% in 2014. Imports from Saudi Arabia fell 8% and those from Venezuela dropped 11%. (Wall Street Journal, 01.24.15).

Bilateral economic ties:

• Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft will not be able to resume drilling in the Kara Sea this year after Western sanctions halted its cooperation with ExxonMobil in a major setback for Moscow's energy ambitions, two company sources said. (Reuters, 01.30.15).
• The international channels division of U.S. mass media group NBC Universal has decided to leave the Russian market after a law came into effect banning advertising on cable channels, a news report said Friday. (The Moscow Times, 01.23.15).
• Russia's weak ruble and struggling economy were cited on Thursday by Ford Motor Co as major reasons the company lowered expectations for its European business in 2015. General Motors Co will suspend production at its St. Petersburg auto assembly plant in Russia from mid-March to mid-May and is raising prices for its products because of the weak and volatile Russian ruble (Reuters, 01.30.15).

Other bilateral issues:

• The military option is out, President Barack Obama said Sunday, but the U.S. will be looking at all other options to "ratchet up the pressure on Russia" on the issue of Ukraine. “We have no interest in seeing Russia weakened or its economy in shambles. We have a profound interest, as I believe every country does, in promoting a core principle, which is: Large countries don't bully smaller countries," Obama told reporters. (CNN, 01.25.15).
• The United States has already drawn Russia into a new Cold War, and it is  not ruled out that Washington could "risk" taking further steps toward a real war, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said. (Interfax, 01.29.15).
• U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is not planning to come to Moscow next week after all, according to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. A source close to the Kremlin says that the meeting was called off on the initiative of the American side. John Kerry had also asked to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and the request was granted. However, the U.S. then canceled the visit. (RBTH/Kommersant, 01.30.15).
• On Monday, Preet Bharara, the chief U.S. federal prosecutor in Manhattan, announced charges against three Russians, accusing them of working as covert agents for the S.V.R., the Russian foreign intelligence agency. One man, Evgeny Buryakov, 39, was arrested and detained on charges that he had failed to register as an agent of a foreign government. The others, Igor Sporyshev, 40, and Victor Podobnyy, 27, were covered by diplomatic immunity and are no longer in the United States, the government said. (New York Times, 01.29.15).
• Russia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday demanded that U.S. authorities release a Russian state banker arrested in New York on suspicion of spying. “ No evidence supporting the allegations has been presented," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said. Lukashevich also accused the United States of ‘‘once again resorting to their favorite tactics of building up spy hysteria.’’ On Wednesday, Jan. 28, a staff member of the Russian consulate in New York visited Evgeny Buryakov, who has been detained by U.S. authorities on charges of being an unregistered agent of a foreign government in the United States (New York Times, 01.29.15, The Moscow Times, 01.27.15, RBTH, 01.29.15).
• Russia said on Thursday that it had barred four more U.S. citizens from its territory in retaliation for Washington's decision to expand the number of Russians blacklisted over suspected human rights abuses. (Reuters, 01.30.15).
• NASA expects to save millions of dollars sending astronauts to the International Space Station, once its commercial crew program starts flying in a couple of years. NASA's commercial crew program manager, Kathy Lueders, said the average price for a seat aboard the SpaceX Dragon and Boeing CST-100 capsules will be $58 million. That compares with $71 million a seat charged by Russia under its latest NASA contract.  (Reuters, 01.27.15).
• Railways President Vladimir Yakunin has filed a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times on January 26 in a Moscow court. (RFE/RL, 01.26.15)
• A two-man team of an American and Russian pilot is currently mounting an attempt to set new world records for flight duration and distance for a gas balloon flight across the Pacific Ocean. (RBTH, 01.29.15).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

• Russia's central bank unexpectedly cut its key interest rate by two percentage points to 15% on Friday, saying a sharp economic slowdown would soon ease inflationary pressures. The ruble weakened sharply against the dollar in response to the move, with the dollar jumping to 72 against the Russian currency—the ruble's lowest level since December. (Wall Street Journal, 01.30.15).
• According to data from the Russian Central Bank, in 2014 capital outflow totaled $151 billion. By comparison, outflow in 2013 was $61 billion and even during 2008’s economic crisis it was lower at $133.6 billion. (RBTH, 01.29.15).
• Russian financial markets saw a muted reaction on Tuesday after ratings agency S&P downgraded the country's sovereign credit rating to 'junk', with the ruble strengthening and Moscow-listed shares broadly steady. More cuts could follow: S&P left Russia with a negative outlook, and Moody's Investors Service is considering another after its Jan. 16 downgrade to Baa3.  Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said S&P’s decision was driven by politics. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said the goal of the downgrade was to push businesses "to withdraw their support" for the government and President Vladimir Putin. (Reuters, 01.27.15, RFE/RL, 01.27.15, Wall Street Journal, 01.28.15, AP, 01.30.15).
• Russia has raised the price tag for its anti-crisis package as it prepares for a prolonged period of low oil prices, the government plan showed Wednesday. The government said the overall cost of its anti-crisis measures will reach 2.34 trillion rubles ($34.6 billion), up from a previous estimate of 1.4 trillion rubles. (Wall Street Journal, 01.28.15).
• Russia's commitment to defense spending amid sharp budget cuts and a recession will drive an economic recovery and ensure that Russia emerges stronger from the current crisis, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said. (The Moscow Times, 01.26.15).
• One of Russia's richest men, Oleg V. Deripaska, said Russia was ''somewhere between 1993 and 1995'' in terms of complex, acute economic problems. Asked if he had told Russia's leaders that, he said he was too busy working. But he added, ''The worst is yet to come.''  (New York Times, 01.26.15).
• Russian state gas producer Gazprom suffered a 60 percent slump in third-quarter net profit on Thursday, hurt by the weaker ruble and following the halt of exports to Ukraine over a pricing dispute. (Reuters, 01.29.15).
• Pro-Kremlin broadcaster RT and news agency Rossiya Segodnya will have to slash spending by 50 percent or more and likely give up on expansion plans as the steep devaluation of the Russian ruble hits their margins, news reports said. Venerable news agency TASS will have to fire a full quarter of its staff and cut remaining employees’ salaries by 25 percent. (The Moscow Times, 01.23.15).
• The Association of Tour Operators of Russia has issued a reminder through Russian media that a new rule for foreign tourists comes into effect as of January 26, obligating them to list the cities, towns and other inhabited areas they plan to visit while in Russia. Russia's Federal Migration Service is also requiring proof of an invitation to visit these settlements and the name of the person or organization giving the invitation.  (RFE/RL, 01.26.15).
• Russia's Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a government effort to shut down Memorial, the country's oldest human rights advocacy group, which has been singled out for its investigations of Soviet-era and current civil violations (New York Times, 01.29.15).
• The Kremlin's chief envoy in the Ural Mountains and western Siberia has called for Russians to unite against "national traitors," in a show of support for the Kremlin amid its increasingly tense standoff with the West. (The Moscow Times, 01.26.15).
• Russia's ranking in terms of economic freedom has dropped from 140th to 143rd place this year, U.S. research group The Heritage Foundation reported in their 2015 Index of Economic Freedom. (The Moscow Times, 01.28.15).

Defense:

• Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says Russia will strengthen its forces in "strategic areas" as part of efforts to ensure no other country can dominate it. Russia must focus "on developing the quality of the strategic nuclear forces, on increasing military staff and the capabilities of the army and navy, and also on developing new types of armed forces, namely aerospace," he said. (RFE/RL, 01.30.15).
• Despite the deep economic woes, the Russian military would receive more than 50 new intercontinental nuclear missiles this year, chief of Russian General Staff General Valery Gerasimov said. “Support for our strategic nuclear forces to ensure their high military capability combined with ... growth of the military potential of the general forces will assure that [the U.S. and NATO] do not gain military superiority over our country," said Gerasimov.  Gerasimov also said that "Western countries are actively using new forms of aggression, combining military as well as nonmilitary means. Political, economic and information methods are also being used." (RFE/RL, Reuters, 01.30.15).
• Russia will cut defense spending 10 percent this year but will not touch its massive rearmament program, which eats up more than 60 percent of the defense budget, Deputy Defense Minister Tatyana Shevtsova told news agency Interfax on Wednesday. (The Moscow Times, 01.28.15).
• The Russian Air Force will start receiving the first items of the fifth-generation fighter T-50, in 2016, Air Force Commander Col. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said. (Interfax, 01.24.15).
• Mikhail Babich, chairman of the State Commission on Chemical Disarmament said Russia will fulfill its obligations to destroy its chemical arsenals by 2020.(RBTH, 01.30.15).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• The public inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko is under way, eight years after the former KGB officer was poisoned with deadly Polonium-210 in London.
• The chairman of the inquiry, Sir Robert Owen, is expected to suggest where responsibility for the act lies.  Litvinenko’s widow, Marina, claims he was murdered by Russian intelligence operatives. Owen has already said there is a “prima facie” case against Russia. Andrei K. Lugovoi, a Russian entrepreneur and former K.G.B. bodyguard accused of poisoning Litvinenko, was quoted Wednesday as saying the charges that Russia was behind the killing were ''nonsense.'' (Russia Today, 01.29.15, New York Times, 01.29.15).
• The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, has said that the parents of Chechen nationals who are fighting in Syria should help their children to return home and then hand them over to law enforcement. (RFE/RL, 01.28.15).
• Chechen militants in Syria fighting in factions opposed to the Islamic State (IS) group have expressed positive reactions to this week's Kurdish victory over IS in Kobani, while insisting that they do not support the Kurds. (RFE/RL, 01.28.15).
• Two Chechens who say they fought with the Islamic State (IS) group have expressed negative attitudes about the militants and say they regret their decisions to go to Syria, according to interviews published by Russian state media. (RFE/RL, 01.27.15).
• 31-year-old Russian actor Vadim Dorofeyev, who apparently converted to Islam in January 2014, left his wife and two small children without warning several months ago in order to go to Syria and join the Islamic State (IS) group. His wife reportedly got news that Dorofeyev had died on December 20, 2014. (RFE/RL, 01.26.15).
• A Russian woman has been jailed on suspicion of treason after she called the Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow with information about possible Russian troop movements. (RFE/RL, 01.29.15).

Foreign affairs and trade:

• EU foreign ministers decided to extend sanctions imposed after Russia's annexation of Crimea last year until September, instead of letting them expire in March. They also agreed to draft a list of additional individuals to be potentially hit with sanctions early next month. But the ministers failed to agree on Thursday on fresh economic sanctions against Russia (RFE/RL, Reuters, 01.29.15).
• Greece's Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis said Wednesday Greece had no interest in imposing sanctions on Russia. Germany's deputy chancellor Sigmar Gabriel also said the EU should not rush to impose new sanctions. (Reuters, 01.29.15).
• New Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras made the Russian ambassador his first foreign visitor within hours of taking office Monday. Greece objected vehemently when European Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday issued a statement condemning Moscow for the shelling of Mariupol and asking European foreign ministers to draw up new sanctions. The Greek government, Athens said, had never been consulted. (Washington Post, 01.30.15).
• Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Russia would consider giving financial help to debt-ridden Greece. He said that Greece had not yet requested assistance from Russia, but he did not rule out an agreement between the two countries if Greece came asking. (CNBC, 01.29.15).
• The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has decided again to strip Russia of the right to vote or take part in the assembly's governing bodies until April 2015. (RFE/RL, 01.29.15).
• "They have again begun discussions about restrictions on the SWIFT payment system," Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told a government meeting Monday, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported. "If such a decision is taken, our economic reaction, and reaction in other spheres, will be unlimited." (The Moscow Times, 01.29.15).
• Excluding Russia from SWIFT is a “nuclear option” that would be considerably more difficult than a similar measure targeting Iranian banks given that “Russia is an order of magnitude more integrated into the global economy than Iran,” a U.S. congressional source said. (RFE/RL, 01.28.15).
• The chances of a peaceful solution to the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine are waning and pose the biggest security threat to Europe since the end of the Cold War, Poland's defense minister said Thursday. There is “no reason to believe in Russia's good intentions" as it tries to block Ukraine's attempts to integrate with Europe, Tomasz Siemoniak said (Wall Street Journal, 01.29.15).
• Russia's ambassador to Britain was summoned to the UK's Foreign Office on Thursday to explain why two Russian bombers were flying over the English Channel this week, a representative of the office said. (CNN, 01.29.15).
• Russia sold more than $15 billion worth of arms in 2014, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, adding that new signed orders stood at nearly $14 billion. (Reuters, 01.27.15).
• Representatives of Syrian President Bashar Assad and opposition figures agreed at talks on Thursday to hold another round in Moscow, moderator Vitaly Naumkin said Thursday, but no date was set. An ambivalent U.S. response to the Moscow peace conference on Syria shows how the fight against Islamic State fighters has reduced international pressure against President Bashar Assad. (Reuters, 01.26.15, Reuters, 01.29.15).
• President Kim Jong-un of North Korea plans to visit Moscow this May in his first trip abroad since assuming power in 2011, a spokesman for the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, announced on Wednesday. North Korea has not confirmed the trip, which is scheduled for May 9, coinciding with the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. (New York Times, 01.29.15).
• President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in Moscow slammed what he called attempts to rewrite history and lauded the Red Army at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Dozens of world leaders gathered at the former site of the Auschwitz concentration camp on Tuesday to commemorate its liberation by the Red Army 70 years ago, with Russia's president notably absent. Russia's delegation was led by President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov. (AFP, Wall Street Journal, 01.28.15).
• Russia has drawn up a proposal to create a new space station for the BRICS group of emerging economies that could be presented at the organization's five-nation summit this year. (The Moscow Times, 01.27.15).
• Germany is launching a new international news service to counter Russia's aggressive propaganda push in Europe. The only problem: Employees of Deutsche Welle, the state-run broadcaster spearheading the initiative, are having none of it. (Wall Street Journal, 01.29.15).
• Russia's parliament is considering issuing a statement condemning the "annexation" of East Germany by West Germany a quarter-century ago. Kremlin-allied State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin ordered the chamber's International Affairs Committee to "examine the possibility" of issuing such a statement. (RFE/RL, 01.28.15).

Russia's neighbors:

• Kyiv and pro-Russian rebels traded accusations over deadly attacks in eastern Ukraine as planned peace talks in Minsk were reportedly postponed. Denis Pushilin, who represents rebels holding territory in Ukraine's Donetsk region, said the Russian-backed separatists would agree to a cease-fire with Ukrainian forces based on the current line of contact between the two sides. Rebels have taken hundreds of square kilometers from Ukrainian forces since the first line of contact was established in a cease-fire agreement in September. (RFE/RL, 01.30.15).
• Shells hit a cultural center and a trolleybus in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Friday, killing at least six people, journalists in the city said. The separatist administration in the city said at least seven people were killed, including five in the strike on the cultural center and at least two when an artillery shell hit the trolleybus, just over 1 kilometer (half a mile) away. (Reuters, 01.30.15).
• Five Ukrainian soldiers and three civilians have been killed as a result of fighting in Ukraine's separatist eastern regions in the past 24 hours, Kiev authorities said Thursday. (Reuters, 01.29.15).
• Russian state news agency RIA Novosti has quoted pro-Russian separatist leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko as saying rebel forces have surrounded Ukrainian units near Debaltseve, a flashpoint. Zakharchenko reportedly said on January 30 that the Ukrainian troops' lives would be spared if they handed over their weapons. (RFE/RL, 01.30.15).
• Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine claim they have nearly encircled government forces in the strategic town of Debaltseve. Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko confirmed Debaltseve is surrounded on two flanks and is being heavily targeted with Grad multiple-rocket launchers. (RFE/RL, 01.29.15).
• Pro-Russian separatist forces said Tuesday they had pushed Ukrainian government troops out of troops from the suburb of Maryinka and the center of the town of Pesky near Donetsk's airport, and that their aim was to expand their control to the entire region. (Reuters, 01.28.15).
• In Kyiv, Ukraine's parliament adopted a statement branding Russia an "aggressor state," a move that deputies hope will pave the way for punishment under international law. The Verkhovnaya Rada also voted on January 27 to define separatist self-styled "people's republics" in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as "terrorist organizations.” (RFE/RL, 01.28.15).
• Russia's president, Vladimir V. Putin, had some harsh words for the Ukrainian military, which he derided as a tool of the West. On a visit to St. Petersburg, Russia, he said that men were fleeing to Russia rather than become ''cannon fodder'' in Ukraine's military. ''In essence, this is not an army,'' he said. ''This is a foreign legion -- in this particular case NATO's foreign legion, which of course does not pursue the objective of serving Ukraine's national interests.'' (New York Times, 01.27.15).
• The office of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement on January 24 strongly condemning a rocket attack on the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol earlier that day that left at least 30 people dead and nearly 100 wounded. German Chancellor Merkel called the attack on Mariupol "a clear and totally unjustifiable violation of the cease-fire" in telephone calls with the presidents of Ukraine and Russia on January 25, and asked Putin to prevent further escalation.  Donald Tusk, who is now president of the European Council, said: “Once again, appeasement encourages the aggressor to greater acts of violence. Time to step up our policy based on cold facts, not illusions.” (RFE/RL, 01.25.15).
• At an emergency meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization representatives with the Ukrainian ambassador on Monday, all 28 member countries expressed support for Ukraine, but no decisions were reached on additional action, which usually takes a meeting of higher-level officials. NATO defense ministers are meeting next week in Brussels. (Wall Street Journal, 01.27.15).
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has issued a new warning to Ukraine to stay out of NATO. In an article,Lavrov said that "to prevent further splits in Ukraine, it is of fundamental importance that it retain its nonaligned status.” (RFE/RL, 01.28.15).
• A lawyer for Nadia Savchenko, a Ukrainian military pilot who has been on a hunger strike in a Russian jail since mid-December, says new a charge has been filed against his client. Savchenko had been charged with illegal border crossing.  (RFE/RL, 01.30.15).
• The United States has voiced deep concern over the health of Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko detained in Russia after her capture by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.  Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to release the jailed pilot (RFE/RL, 01.29.15).
• The Kremlin said Monday evening that Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, calling for talks between the Kiev government and representatives of the separatist regions. (Wall Street Journal, 01.27.15).
• NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg dismissed as "nonsense" allegations by Russian President Vladimir Putin that a NATO legion was fighting alongside Ukraine government troops in the east of the country. “There is no NATO legion. The foreign forces in Ukraine are Russian," he said. (Reuters, 01.27.15).
• On 26 January 2015, Energoatom of Ukraine and Holtec International signed an updated agreement to build a dry spent fuel facility storage site in Ukraine. The construction is expected to be completed by 2020. (IPFM Blog, 01.26.15).
• A top official from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) has said he will host a "summit of unrecognized states" in February or March if he can guarantee the security of its participants. (RFE/RL, 01.29.30).
• The U.S. may expand its loan-guarantee package to Ukraine to $3 billion this year, pending Congressional approval and the successful implementation of reforms in the country, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said. (Wall Street Journal, 01.28.15).
• The Federal Migration Service has increased the amount of time Ukrainians of conscription age can legally spend in Russia, a day after President Vladimir Putin had called for a loosening of restrictions on Ukrainians eager to avoid the draft. (The Moscow Times, 01.28.15).
• About 100 Georgian volunteers are fighting along with Ukrainian forces against Russia-backed separatist rebels, Georgian General Giorgi Kalandadze said Tuesday. Two are known to have died. On the other side, fighters from the separatist Georgian region of Abkhazia reportedly have been battling alongside the Ukrainian rebels. (AP. 01.25.15).
• The European Union delivered three planeloads of aid to eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, including blankets, tents, heaters and warm clothing. (New York Times, 01.28.15).
• Ukraine has hired investment bank Lazard to assist in negotiations with foreign creditors over restructuring as much as $20 billion of Eurobond debt as the war-torn country's finances deteriorate, people familiar with the situation said on Thursday. Ukraine has about $18 billion of sovereign Eurobonds—including the $3 billion owed to Russia—and another $4 billion in quasi-sovereign Eurobonds. (Wall Street Journal, 01.29.15).
• The Russian-Ukrainian gas agreement expires on April 1.A source at Russian gas producer Gazprom said: "We don't support the idea of a new discount after April 1. … But this is not for Gazprom to decide." (Reuters, 01.28.15).
• Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenka has displayed defiance toward Russia and the West, warning them in a marathon news conference that he would bow to no one's will. Speaking for more than seven hours in an annual news conference on January 29, Lukashenka warned the "Kremlin" and "the West" that "you can't bend me over."  (RFE/RL, 01.29.30).
• Belarus has adopted legislation under which the appearance of armed foreign forces on the country's soil will be considered an act of aggression regardless of whether they are regular troops. (RFE/RL, 01.29.15).
• On Thursday Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said his country? may consider restructuring its foreign-debt obligations this year as $4 billion of payments fall due, sparking a selloff. Prices on the country’s dollar debt quickly tumbled by more than 20 cents. That prompted Mr. Lukashenko to offer a clarification – he didn’t mean “restructuring”, he meant “refinance”. (Wall Street Journal, 01.29.15).
• Kazakh energy minister Vladimir Shkolnik said  the government is considering construction of two nuclear power plants in the country/ One of the new plants would be built near the town of Kurchatov and is "likely to be Russian-made", Shkolnik said. (WNN, 01.26.15).
• Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security has announced an operation last week in the southern Osh Province led to six suspected terrorists being taken into custody. The press service said four of the six people detained had undergone training at "camps of international terrorist organizations in Syria." (RFE/RL, 01.26.15).
• A Kyrgyz man suspected of sending five relatives to fight alongside Islamist militants in Syria has been arrested. The 29-year-old man is suspected of persuading his father, two brothers, a sister, and a sister-in-law to travel to the Syrian city of Raqqa, where they joined Islamic State militants. (RFE/RL, 01.28.15).
• Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov says Moscow wants to strengthen the Tajik army as "an outpost of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Central Asia." (RFE/RL, 01.28.15).
• NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow has arrived in Tbilisi for a two-day visit that deals with Georgia’s prospective integration into the alliance. Vershbow said the alliance and Georgia are working to open a joint training center in Georgia. (RFE/RL, 01.29.15, 01.26.15).
• Georgian Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili has warned that Russia could annex the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia as it did Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.  (RFE/RL, 01.29.30).
• Georgia's interior minister resigned on January 23, days after the suspected murder of a man who had accused him of covering up the circumstances surrounding the killing of two people by the police. (RFE/RL, 01.23.15).
• Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian said his country is prepared for any eventuality in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and warned Azerbaijan he would use "asymmetrical" responses to any military threats. (RFE/RL, 01.27.15).
• Azerbaijani and Armenian officials have exchanged fresh accusations of violations of a 1994 cease-fire. (RFE/RL, 01.26.15).
• Visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on January 27 discussed bilateral ties with his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandian.  (RFE/RL, 01.27.15).
• The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan held a rare trilateral meeting on January 29.The ministries said the talks were focused on regional and economic issues (RFE/RL, 01.29.30).

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