Russia in Review

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

Nuclear security agenda:

In previously undisclosed discussions, the Russians informed the Americans that they will be refusing any more US help in protecting their largest stockpiles of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium from being stolen or sold on the black market. Security upgrades have been cancelled at some of Russia’s seven “closed nuclear cities,” according to the official “record of meeting” signed by the sides in December. The Russians also told the Americans that joint security work at 18 civilian facilities housing weapons material would cease, effective Jan. 1. Another project at two facilities to convert highly enriched uranium into a less dangerous form also has been stopped. (Boston Globe, 01.19.15).
Cooperation between Russia and the United States will continue in providing nuclear security in 2015, Rosatom said in an official statement released after U.S. media reported that Russia had apparently told the United States it would reject any help in providing for the security of its nuclear facilities. “We will be ready to renew cooperation when the American side is ready, obviously on a strict basis of equality, mutually beneficial and with mutual respect,” Rosatom’s statement reads. Russia and the USA have a "special responsibility" to ensure the safety and security of nuclear materials, preventing them from falling into the hands of terrorist organizations, Rosatom said. (World Nuclear News, 01.22.15, Sputnik, 01.22.15).
"The United States continues to cooperate with Russia on the disposition of surplus weapon-grade plutonium. This cooperation is governed by the U.S.-Russian Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement," U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration Derrick Robinson told RIA Novosti. Robinson noted that the companies' work on repatriation of Russian-origin highly enriched uranium from third countries will continue. Bilateral exchanges on topics such as nuclear security culture, transportation security, training and regulatory development will carry on, he added. (RIA Novosti, 01.22.15).

Iran nuclear issues:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday there had been progress in world powers' talks with Iran on its nuclear program and there were grounds to believe an agreement could be reached by an end-of-June deadline. (Reuters, 01.21.15).
All participants in Tehran’s talks with the P5+1 international negotiators to settle the controversial Iranian nuclear program still have the “political will” to settle the issue within the timeframe agreed upon last November,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Monday. (Tass, 01.19.15).
“At least as of this moment, what we have seen in the context of the negotiations with Iran, Russia continues to play a constructive role." Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in testimony at a January 21 Senate hearing. Blinken said Russia had been pushing Iran in the right direction in order to reach a lasting resolution to curb its nuclear program. Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said sanctions on Russia had not "bled over" into the negotiations with Iran. (RFE/RL, 01.21.15).

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

NATO says it intends to reestablish contact with Russian military leaders after months of tension over the conflict in eastern Ukraine. U.S. General Philip Breedlove, NATO's top military commander, said in Brussels on January 22 that alliance officials have discussed “the fact that the communication with our senior military interlocutors in Russia is important." "We are going to re-establish that (communication), we have talked among several of us senior military leaders how we will do that ... but yes, we are going to re-establish communication with Valery (Gerasimov)," he said. (RFE/RL, 01.22.15, Reuters, 01.22.15).
Lithuania’s defense ministry is advising its citizens how to react in case of war, reflecting jitters over neighboring Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and a recent increase of reported airspace violations in the Baltic region. The 98-page booklet, entitled “How to act in extreme situations or instances of war,” is to be distributed next week in Lithuania, a NATO member that was under Moscow’s rule from 1940 until 1991. (AP, 01.17.15.).

Missile defense:

No significant developments.

Nuclear arms control:

No significant developments.

Counter-terrorism agenda:

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has described the fight against the Islamic State (IS) militant group as a “No. 1 task,” using his annual press conference on January 21 to advocate Moscow’s position that dealing with the rise of Islamist extremism in Syria should take priority over removing Russia’s ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, from power. Lavrov said Moscow is continuing to cooperate with the West on fighting terrorism despite tensions over Ukraine. In particular Russian security agencies have maintained contacts with their counterparts in France, he said. Lavrov refused to say if France had accepted Russian intelligence assistance following Vladimir Putin's offer to help France combat terrorism. (AP, 01.21.15, RFE/RL, 01.22.15).

Cyber security:

No significant developments.

Energy exports from CIS:

Russia may see a natural decline in oil output by around 1 million barrels per day (bpd) at most but has no plans to cut production in coordination with OPEC, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said on Wednesday. (Reuters, 01.21.15).
In recent weeks, Gazprom has shown signs that it is serious about proceeding with what it calls Turkish Stream. Gazprom is actively negotiating with Turkish government officials -- who are said to be driving a hard bargain -- while trying to buy into a leading Turkish gas distribution company. Gazprom is also continuing to pay to keep two big pipe-laying ships and their combined crews of 200 people on standby in the Black Sea. (New York Times, 01.22.15).
The chief of Russian gas giant Gazprom says Ukraine's "winter price" discount on natural gas will end on April 1. (RFE/RL, 01.20.15).

Bilateral economic ties:

Schlumberger will spend about $1.7 billion for a minority stake in a big Russian energy company. The world's largest oilfield services company will pay about $22 per share to acquire a 45.6 percent stake in Eurasia Drilling Co. Ltd., which will go private and delist from the London Stock Exchange. (AP, 01.20.15).
The president of Russian space industry firm Energia, Vladimir Solntsev, announced on Jan. 15 that the company has received all the necessary government authorization to finalize its contract with the American firm Orbital Sciences for the supply of RD-181 missile engines. The companies have already signed a contract worth $1 billion. Solntsev says that 60 engines will be provided under the terms of the contract. (RBTH, 01.16.15).
The exclusive U.S. distributor of Russian-made Kalashnikov rifles has found a novel way around sanctions preventing their import — launching a domestic production line. (Moscow Times, 01.21.15).

Other bilateral issues:

U.S. President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday: “We're upholding the principle that bigger nations can't bully the small -- by opposing Russian aggression, supporting Ukraine's democracy, and reassuring our NATO allies. Last year, as we were doing the hard work of imposing sanctions along with our allies, some suggested that Mr. Putin's aggression was a masterful display of strategy and strength. Well, today, it is America that stands strong and united with our allies, while Russia is isolated, with its economy in tatters.”(CNN, 01.20.15).
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hit back at U.S. President Barack Obama, who in his State of the Union speech Tuesday said that Russia is isolated. “Yesterday’s speech by the president shows that there is only one concept at the center of the [U.S.] philosophy: 'We are number one and everyone else has to respect that,'" Lavrov said. The United States' role as global leader will gradually diminish, Lavrov said, citing as evidence Obama's change of heart in 2013 on using force in Syria after Russia offered to take control of the country's chemical stockpile. (Moscow Times, 01.21.15).
"When Obama said Russia's economy has been torn to shreds, he mixed up countries. [In fact] it is the Ukrainian economy that has been torn to shreds. Bush also mixed up countries," said Alexei Pushkov, who heads the State Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin also chimed in with unflattering words for Obama, saying that he was a “dreamer” for thinking he had shattered the Russian economy. (Moscow Times, 01.22.15).
"In the West, they are trying to kick out Putin, to isolate him in international politics, to throttle Russia economically due to their interests, to bring down Putin," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "If it was not for Crimea, they would think up another reason," Peskov said. (AFP, 01.21.15).
"We're not seeking to change Russia's government but to change its policies," U.S. ambassador John Tefft told the American Chamber of Commerce in Moscow on Tuesday. But referring to efforts to end the fighting in Ukraine, he said: "I can't tell you today that ... progress is being made. In fact it seems to be going in the other direction." (Reuters, 01.21.15).
U.S. congressional leaders are furious over a Federal Communications Commission plan to route location tracking on 911 emergency calls through Russia's satellite navigation system, Glonass. (Moscow Times/Washington Times 01.23.15).
A Russian intelligence warship has docked in Cuba’s capital, Havana, ahead of historic talks there between U.S. and Cuban diplomats. (RFE/RL, 01.21.15).

II. Russia news.

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, on Friday warned the West against trying to topple President Vladimir Putin and said that Russians are ready to sacrifice their wealth in Putin's support. "When a Russian feels any foreign pressure, he will never give up his leader," Shuvalov said. "Never. We will survive any hardship in the country — eat less food, use less electricity." (AP, 01.23.15).
Russia is in an "extremely difficult" economic situation and faces a worse crisis than in 2008-2009, according to First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov. The country must prepare for a hard landing, Shuvalov said. Unemployment is set to rise in Russia amid a prolonged economic downturn, he said. (Moscow Times, 01.23.15, Bloomberg, 01.23.15).
Russian ministers presented President Vladimir Putin with a 1.375 trillion ruble ($21 billion) anti-crisis plan on Wednesday, including 250 billion rubles ($3.8 billion) from the National Wealth Fund to help recapitalize state banks. (Reuters, 01.21.15).
Russia’s government will cut its budget by around 10% this year, and maybe by as much as 15%, as a result of the sharp decline in oil prices, and it will also use reserves to cover some of the expected budget shortfall, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Wednesday. (Wall Street Journal, 01.21.15).
Russia's overall foreign debt fell by nearly $130 billion to $547.6 billion in 2014, Central Bank data showed on Tuesday, with total debt standing at $599.5 billion on Jan. 1, 2015. Government debt fell to $41.5 billion from $61.7 billion. (Reuters, 01.20.15).
Lending to Russia by overseas banks slumped by $11 billion between July and September last year and lending to Ukraine fell by $2.3 billion as political and economic tension in the region increased, lending data showed. (Reuters, 01.21.15).
Russia's 2015 inflation is likely to be at the same level as last year, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said on Wednesday. (Reuters, 01.21.13).
Russia is not suffering the same pace of capital outflows as at the end of 2008 and sees no need to introduce capital controls, central bank first deputy governor Ksenia Yudayeva said. (Reuters, 01.20.15).
Russia's economy will shrink by 3.5 percent this year, the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook report, lowering its previous forecast of zero growth. (Reuters, 01.20.15).
Russia's economy will shrink by a far worse-than-expected 4.8 percent this year, as plunging oil prices add to fallout from the Ukraine crisis, the EBRD development bank forecast Monday. (Arab News, 01.20.15).
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday backed the creation of a sector-spanning space corporation designed to revitalize the commercial rocket industry and advance Russia's growing cosmic ambitions. (Moscow Times, 01.21.15).
The Russian government has called for the creation of a special registry of officials who have been dismissed from their positions on the basis of a "loss of trust" due to corrupt activities. (Moscow Times, 01.22.15).
Russia is preparing to offer residents of its remote Far East plots of land at no charge in a bid to boost the population and promote development. (RFE/RL, 01.20.15).
Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has launched a wave of checks on food prices at major supermarkets across the country, as racing inflation stokes fears that the government will impose price controls. (Moscow Times, 01.21.15).
Russia's parliament has given preliminary approval to a bill that would prohibit the activities of "undesirable" foreign companies and organizations in Russia, should they be deemed to present a threat to the state. (Moscow Times, 01.21.15).
A huge crowd turned out in the capital of Russia's tightly controlled, mostly Muslim Chechnya region for a state-sponsored demonstration against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. (RFE/RL, 01.19.15).
"In 2012, 20,000 Russians requested asylum in Europe. In 2013 there were more than 40,000, and in Germany alone there were 15,000. It's mainly Chechens," Svetlana Gannushkina of the Memorial organization said. Moscow Times, 01.23.15).
When asked what role they thought Joseph Stalin played in the history of the USSR, the majority of respondents either said that role was "rather positive" (36 per cent) or "definitely positive" (16 per cent). When asked a similar question about former President Boris Yeltsin, the majority of respondents (38 per cent) said they felt "neutral" about him. (Levada.ru, 01.15.15).

Defense:

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia must strengthen its armed forces to protect its sovereignty against the "challenge" posed by other countries that might threaten Moscow. Putin said Russia will develop new weapons that will ensure its security without entering a costly arms race with the West. Putin has also accused the United States of trying to subjugate Russia, has blamed the West for the overthrow of a Moscow-backed president in Ukraine last year and has said Washington stoked protests against him three years ago. (Reuters, 01.20.15)
The Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), which controls Russia’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), began a snap drill on January 20. The drills, which are taking place in Western Siberia, will include 1,200 RVSN troops who will perform over 20 different tasks. Emergencies Ministry troops, as well as Internal Ministry and Federal Security Service forces, were expected to participate in aspects of the drills. (National Interest, 01.21.15).
In the near term, Russia is looking to deploy automated tanks and armored vehicles capable of choosing and attacking targets without any human assistance. (Moscow Times, 01.21.15).

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

A senior Russian diplomat said "significantly more" than 800 Russians are currently fighting alongside the Islamic State group. Ilya Rogachev, who heads the Foreign Ministry's department for modern challenges and threats, said that some were Chechen refugees who had previously moved to Europe, and also some ethnic Chechens from Georgia. (AP, 01.21.15).
A Chechen man is standing trial in Austria on charges of fighting with the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and sending militants money. The 30-year-old man, known only as Magomed Z., is accused of training with IS from July to December 2013, adopting the group's "nationality" and sending militants $800. (RFE/RL, 01.23.15).
A court in Naberezhnye Chelny in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan has sentenced a local man to one year's imprisonment in a penal colony for fighting with a Chechen-led militant group in Syria. 25-year-old Rishat Idrisov pleaded guilty to the charges against him. According to the reports, Idrisov took part in a "Caucasian" military training camp near the city of Haritan in Syria's Aleppo province. (RFE/RL, 01.20.15).
Russia's National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) in the North Caucasus Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria has said that a man shot dead by police in the republic's capital, Nalchik, on January 18 had previously fought in Syria. (RFE/RL, 01.19.15).
French police have dismissed claims that five Russians detained Tuesday in southern France were preparing a terrorist attack. "There is no information about planned attacks," French prosecutor Yvon Calvet was cited as saying Tuesday by the Le Figaro newspaper, adding that there was "no religious undertone" to the men's alleged crime. (Moscow Times, 01.21.15).
An opposition activist faces up to five years in prison for attending an unsanctioned rally, making him one of the first to feel the impact of controversial new amendments under which repeat violations of Russia's protest law constitute a criminal offense. (Moscow Times, 01.21.15).
Nine years after former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in a plush London hotel, a public inquiry into his death finally begins in the British capital next week. (Reuters, 01.22.15).

Foreign affairs and trade:

The Russian government will not negotiate the lifting of economic sanctions against Russia with the countries that introduced them, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said. (Tass, 01.19.15).
Denying sanctions would force a policy change, a Russian diplomatic source: "It's blackmail. If you yield to it once, you will have to do it always." (Reuters, 01.21.15).
“We are staying the course,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said after the meeting. “There is no normalization, there is no back to business-as-usual in any way.” “Today the situation on the ground is definitely much worse than in past weeks,” Ms. Mogherini said. (Wall Street Journal, 01.20.15).
German Chancellor Angela Merkel slammed Russia for undermining neighboring Ukraine’s sovereignty and cited “many setbacks” in peace efforts as the death toll in the conflict jumped. Latvia's foreign minister, who has a lead role in EU diplomacy, said new violence in eastern Ukraine was jeopardizing a cease-fire deal with Russia and warned the EU may look at new measures to penalize Moscow. Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said the fighting around Donetsk airport showed “this is no time to talk about the easing of sanctions.” (AP, 01.19.15, Bloomberg, 01.23.15, Moscow Times, 01.23.15).
The European Union is expected to approve a legal overhaul that would strengthen its sanctions on Iran, Syria and Russia by offering the bloc's member states a channel for offering confidential evidence to judges. (Wall Street Journal, 01.22.15).
The EU foreign ministers agreed Monday to try to do a better job of counteracting what they called Russian propaganda about the Ukraine conflict. (Wall Street Journal, 01.20.15).
Russia could soon lift an import ban on some pork products from the European Union, an EU official said Tuesday, potentially easing a dispute that escalated after Europe’s decision last year to impose sanctions on Moscow over its activities in Ukraine. (Wall Street Journal, 01.20.15).
Sergei Ivanov, the head of President Vladimir Putin's administration will represent Russia at events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Soviet liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in Poland, a spokesman for the organizers said Tuesday. (Reuters, 01.21.15).
Russia might deliver a long-overdue S-300 air defense missile system to Iran, honoring a contract that was canceled in 2010 following strong pressure from the West, Iranian and Russian media said on Tuesday. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is visiting Tehran and signed an agreement with Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan to boost to expand military ties. According to Kommersant’s sources, however, the S-300 issue was “not resolved” in the course of the talks between Shoigu and Dehqan. Shoigu signed a military cooperation deal with Iran that his Iranian counterpart touted as a joint response to US "interference." (Reuters, AP, Kommersant, 01.20.15, Defense News, 01.22.15).
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday met with his new Indian counterpart, Manohar Parrikar, in New Delhi, marking an end to a year of silence on the two countries' myriad cooperative military ventures." (Moscow Times, 01.21.15).
Russia will provide advanced military hardware to Cameroon to help in its fight against militant Islamist group Boko Haram. (Moscow Times, 01.20.15).
Japan says it is scrambling its fighter jets at a record pace to confront Chinese and Russian warplanes in or near its airspace. The Defense Ministry said that at the current pace, scrambles for the year to March 31 would exceed the 944 encounters logged at the height of the Cold War 30 years ago. (RFE/RL, 01.20.15).
Russia received a positive initial signal from North Korea after President Vladimir Putin invited its leader Kim Jong Un to attend anniversary celebrations of the Soviet victory over Germany in World War Two. (Reuters, 01.21.15).
Russia's Cabinet of Ministers has approved up to RUB150 billion ($2.3 billion) in funding from the country's sovereign wealth fund for the Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant project in Finland. (World Nuclear News, 01.19.15).
Packages can now travel from Beijing to Moscow by rail following the launch of the first Russia-China railroad delivery service, the logistics branch of Russian Railways announced Monday. (Moscow Times, 01.19.15).
Russians bought 3.5 percent of all homes sold in central London last year, according to data compiled by Knight Frank. That was down from 5.2 percent of sales in 2013. The number of fast-track visas granted to Russians who made investments, including real estate of more than £2 million in Britain, in the first three quarters of 2014 rose 69 percent from the period a year earlier, to 162 from 96. (New York Times, 01.23.15).

Russia's neighbors:

The known death toll in the Ukraine conflict that began last April now exceeds 5,000 and may be far higher, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday. UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said that 262 people were killed in the conflict in the past nine days, making it "the most deadly" period since the September 5 cease-fire deal. (RFE/RL, Reuters, 01.23.15).
The UN Security Council has condemned "in the strongest terms" a deadly attack in Donetsk, a rebel-controlled city in eastern Ukraine. Thirteen people were killed and some 20 wounded in the shelling of a bus stop on January 22. Kyiv and the pro-Russian separatists blamed each other for the attack. (RFE/RL, 01.23.15).
The Ukrainian army retreated Thursday from key strongholds at the Donetsk airport, an epicenter of fighting in the country’s conflict-battered eastern region, handing a symbolic victory to pro-Russian rebels amid a surge of violence that threatens to further unravel peace efforts. Ukraine’s Western-allied government has leveled new charges that Russia has sent forces over the border to bolster the insurgents. Moscow denied the claims. (Washington Post, 01.22.15).
Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk will not initiate further cease-fire talks with Ukraine and plan to expand battles for new territory, their leader was quoted as saying Friday in warnings that all but ensure fresh confrontations in eastern Ukraine. On January 22 the rebels paraded captured Ukrainian soldiers at a bus stop in the separatist stronghold of Donetsk where an explosion civilians earlier in the day. (Washington Post, 01.23.15, RFE/RL, 01.22.15)
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Wednesday she will back a request by Ukraine's president to expand the fund's bailout program. The IMF estimates Kiev needs another $15 billion through the first quarter of 2016. (Wall Street Journal, 01.21.15).
A year after their deaths, Ukraine is paying tribute to the first victims of a government crackdown on the Euromaidan protests that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych. (RFE/RL, 01.22.15).
Diplomatic progress was made during four-way talks on the Ukraine crisis and an agreement was reached on establishing security zones between pro-Russian fighters and Kiev's forces, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. "Finally there was an agreement reached today that the demarcation line, mentioned in the Minsk protocol, will be the line from which the withdrawal of heavy weaponry should start now," Steinmeier said late on Wednesday after talks with his counterparts from France, Russia and Ukraine. (Reuters, 01.22.15).
"Ukraine needs to implement constitutional reform, but the current leadership wants it to remain a unitary state in its strictest form," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Moscow has proposed restoring a previously agreed line of division in eastern Ukraine to end an escalation of fighting near Donetsk, and has secured rebel agreement to pull back heavy weapons behind it, Lavrov said. (AP, 01.21.15, Moscow Times, 01.21.15).
“We did not sign up [to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum] to support meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs or to support a violent unconstitutional coup," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. (Moscow Times, 01.21.15).
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin on January 19 accused Kyiv of trying to solve the conflict through military force and warned of "irreversible consequences for Ukrainian statehood.” (RFE/RL, 01.19.15).
U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry accused “Russian-backed separatists” Wednesday of engaging in “a very blatant land grab” that violates the terms of the cease-fire agreement struck in Minsk, Belarus, in September. U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, NATO’s top commander, told reporters Thursday that “Russian-backed forces” had “moved the line of contact to the west.” (Washington Post, 01.22.15).
American soldiers will deploy to Ukraine this spring to begin training four companies of the Ukrainian National Guard, the head of US Army Europe Lt. Gen Ben Hodges said during his first visit to Kiev on Wednesday. (Defense News, 01.22.15).
Russian President Vladimir Putin's new peace proposal for Ukraine is little more than a blueprint for military occupation to secure territory seized by Moscow-backed rebels, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the UN Security Council. (Reuters, 01.22.15).
"What we do see is that the Russian-backed forces have renewed capability now to bring pressure on the Ukrainian forces and have in several places moved the line of contact to the west and this is concerning," U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme allied commander Europe, said. (Reuters, 01.22.15).
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he’s still hopeful talks with Russia will bring an end to fighting with pro-Moscow separatists in the east of his country.
He added that a permanent peace deal was necessary, in that “a cease-fire is not enough because it would be broken in two or three days.” Poroshenko also said Wednesday that Russia had 9,000 troops on Ukrainian soil and he called on Moscow to withdraw them. Poroshenko cut his trip shot on Wednesday after Kiev accused Russian regular forces of attacking its troops in the country's east. (Reuters, 01.21.15, Wall Street Journal, 01.20.15).
Ukraine's military spokesman Andriy Lysenko on Tuesday said Russia this week boosted separatist numbers with two battalions, comprising 400 troops each. He didn't detail how that figure was obtained. Russian defense ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov called claims that troops had been sent into Ukraine as "absolute nonsense," (AP, 01.20.15).
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said his government would be seeking to increase the size of the armed forces by 68,000 personnel up to a total of a quarter of a million. Last week, parliament extended mobilization and re-introduced conscription. (Reuters, 01.21.15).
An explosion near a court house in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv has left 14 people wounded, four of them seriously. Markiyan Lubkivskiy, an adviser for the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), said the incident on January 19 was being treated as a "terrorist act." (RFE/RL, 01.20.15).
A Georgian man fighting on the Ukrainian side in the conflict in Ukraine has been killed in combat near the Donetsk airport, according to relatives. (RFE/RL, 01.20.15).
Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised a swift investigation and appropriate punishment for the massacre of six members of a single family near Russia's military base in Armenia. Russia says a soldier accused of the killings will be tried on Armenian soil, but media reports say the trial will be conducted by a Russian military court. (RFE/RL, 01.19.15, 01.20.15).
The Russian Embassy in Armenia has extended its condolences over the death of a six-month-old baby who was the sole survivor of a gun attack that killed six members of one family in the city of Gyumri, northern Armenia, on January 12. (Interfax, 01.20.15).
Online activists have leapt to the defense of Russian soldier Valery Permyakov who has reportedly confessed to killing six members of an Armenian family, calling on President Vladimir Putin to "send in the troops" to protect all Russian-speakers in the Transcaucasian country. "Putin, send in the troops!" the "Anti-Maidan — Armenia," group said on VKontakte. "All of the Russian-speaking population in Armenia is now in danger!" (Moscow Times, 01.19.15).
Armenia and Azerbaijan on January 23 accuse each other of fresh cease-fire violations along their border. Armenia’s Defense Ministry says two Armenian soldiers were killed in the northeastern district of Tavush on January 23 by Azerbaijani troops who fired across the border. The ministry said it returned fire, causing “many casualties” among Azerbaijani troops and forcing them to pull back from their positions. (RFE/RL, 01.23.15).
Armenia's Central Bank raised its key refinancing rate to 9.5 percent from 8.5 percent on Thursday, becoming the latest country to try to protect itself from Russia's financial crisis. Money transfers from workers in Russia to Armenia fell in November last year by 35.4 percent year-on-year to $95.1 million, or 82 percent of a total amount of transfers. (Reuters, 01.22.15).
The EU commissioner for European neighborhood policy and enlargement has opened up the possibility of the European Union and Armenia signing an association agreement without its free-trade component. (RFE/RL, 01.20.15).
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has dismissed criticism of his country's rights records, saying that freedom of the press and other human rights are "guaranteed" in Azerbaijan. Aliyev made his comments after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on January 21. (RFE/RL, 01.21.15).
Russia's parliament on Friday ratified a military alliance with Abkhazia, a breakaway Georgian republic. (Moscow Times, 01.23.15).
Electoral officials in Uzbekistan have cleared candidates from four political parties to run in a March 29 presidential election. Government critics say candidates challenging President Islam Karimov will be on the ballot to create a veneer of democracy in the tightly controlled Central Asian state. (RFE/RL, 01.19.15).
The United States says it is giving 328 advanced military vehicles to Uzbekistan to be used for counterterrorism and counternarcotics operations. (RFE/RL, 01.23.15).
Some 1,000 people have demonstrated in Kyrgyzstan's capital against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, saying cartoons like those published by French weekly Charlie Hebdo "insult the feelings of religious believers." (RFE/RL, 01.20.15).
Kyrgyzstan's prosecutor-general has resigned amid reports of her husband's alleged involvement in a corruption case. (RFE/RL, 01.20.15).
The Crisis Group says the five Central Asian countries need to develop a credible, coordinated action plan to counter the threats posed by Islamic State militants and "growing radicalism" in the region. (RFE/RL, 01.20.15).

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