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

Nuclear security:

• North Korea attempted to sell a form of lithium metal, a key material for developing miniaturized nuclear weapons, to unidentified international buyers last year, according to United Nations investigators tracking dictator Kim Jong Un's weapons-of-mass-destruction programs. (Wall Street Journal, 03.08.17)
• The first session of the High Level Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT) Expert Preparatory Group took place in New York on March 2-3, 2017. The Group includes representatives of Russia and United States. The discussions will continue in Geneva on July 31. (IPFM Blog, 03.03.17)
• A spokesman for Russia’s Central Military District felt obliged to refute a message that was posted on a local website as a piece of “satire.” The message claimed that a truckload of nuclear weapons was stolen from a military unit in the city of Yekaterinburg on the border between Europe and Asia. The spokesman told TASS that the report was “the product of imagination.” (Russia Matters, 03.09.17)

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

• Yukiya Amano, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ atomic watchdog, says he is confident after a visit to Washington that there will be “very good cooperation” with the United States on Iran’s nuclear deal, despite harsh criticism of the agreement by U.S. President Donald Trump. Neither the IAEA nor the U.S. State Department has commented on the content of Amano's March 2 meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. (RFE/RL, 03.07.17)

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

• Romanian and American troops are staging joint exercises as part of a New York-based Army brigade’s nine-month deployment in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which aims to reassure NATO’s European allies in light of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. (AP, 03.08.17)

Missile defense:

• The United States says it has begun deploying a missile-defense system in South Korea, prompting a quick rebuke from Russia and China. South Korea last year chose the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to help protect it against threats from North Korea. The Interfax news agency quoted Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian State Duma’s International Relations Committee, as saying the defense system goes beyond deterring the North Korean threat to "undermining the strategic balance" of the Korean Peninsula. (RFE/RL, 03.07.17)
• Germany's defense ministry on March 7 told lawmakers it would not complete a contract with European weapons maker MBDA for a multi-billion euro missile defense system during the current legislative period as planned, ministry sources said. (Reuters, 03.07.17)

Nuclear arms control:

• Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, on March 8 accused Russia of deploying a land-based cruise missile in violation of “the spirit and intent” of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. He said that Moscow’s intention is to threaten U.S. facilities in Europe and the NATO alliance. The Kremlin rejected the claim of Russian violations, saying it has respected the pact and will continue to do so. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova urged Washington on March 10 to offer proof to support its claims that Russia violated the treaty. (AP, 03.09.17, AP, 03.10.17)
• An idea, once unthinkable, is gaining attention in European policy circles: a European Union nuclear weapons program. (New York Times, 03.06.17)

Counter-terrorism:

• The Trump administration has invited more than 60 nations and international organizations to Washington on March 22-23 for a strategy session on how to counter the Islamic State after a widely expected U.S.-backed military assault on the extremists’ home base. Russia was not invited. (AP, 03.09.17, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, 03.09.17)
• Russia is ready to continue fighting the Islamic State terrorist organization even without the U.S., the Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS. (TASS, 03.04.17)
• Russia is the Islamic State’s fifth largest source for suicide attackers, according to a chart based on data by the International Center for Counter-Terrorism and published by Radio Free Europe. China and Uzbekistan are ninth and 10^th on the center’s list, which excludes natives of Syria and Iraq. (RFE/RL, 03.07.17)
• One of the districts of the Iraqi city of Mosul is being defended by a so-called Tadzhik battalion, which is part of the Islamic State terrorist organization’s forces and comprises 300 ethnic Tadzhiks, according to an Iraqi army officer interviewed by Gazeta.ru. (Russia Matters, 03.07.17)

Conflict in Syria:

• Turkey’s Gen. Hulusi Akar, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian General Staff, held a surprise meeting in Antalya on March 7 to discuss tensions in northern Syria. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a terse statement that the military chiefs talked about “the current situation in the fight against terrorist organizations in Syria in the context of raising the efficiency of confronting all terrorist organizations in the future.” It said they “underlined the importance of taking additional steps to prevent incidents during operations.” The talks, announced by Turkey, come amid rising tensions in northern Syria, where Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters, U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces and Russian-allied Syrian troops are fighting their way toward the Islamic State group’s de facto capital, Raqqa. Turkey views the Kurdish group that dominates the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) as terrorists. The U.S. has a few hundred special operations forces embedded with the SDF and wants the alliance to lead the march on Raqqa. (AP, 03.07.17, AP, 03.07.17)
• The U.S. and Russia have found themselves teaming up for the first time in the war in Syria—against a country both call an ally: Turkey. The U.S. and Russia moved this week to block a threatened drive by Turkey to seize Manbij, a town in northern Syria about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Turkish border. A U.S. deployment and a Russian-brokered deal with Syrian forces created buffer zones that headed off any Turkish campaign against the Kurdish forces who hold the town—seen by Washington as key allies against Islamic State and by Turkey as terrorists. (Bloomberg, 03.08.17)
• Syrian government forces have taken over positions from a U.S.-backed militia in the northern city of Manbij on part of a frontline with Turkish-backed rebel forces, in line with a deal brokered by Russia, the militia's spokesman said on March 6. The U.S.-allied militia said March 2 that it would hand back to Syrian government control villages on a front line where it has been fighting Turkish-backed rebels. That followed an agreement with Russia to pre-empt an attempt by Turkish-led forces to take the city. (Reuters, 03.06.17)
• The Pentagon said March 6 that U.S. forces have also taken up positions on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Manbij to try to keep a lid on tensions. The U.S. has moved 500 soldiers to the outskirts of Manbij, according to Ilnur Cevik, chief adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The latest dispatch brings the number of U.S. boots on the ground in Syria close to 700. The Pentagon says U.S. troops are playing a new role in Syria, in addition to advising local Arab and Kurdish fighters in their battle against Islamic State militants. A spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said a small number of U.S. troops have taken up positions just west of the northern city of Manbij with the declared mission of deterring violence between Turkish, Russian and other forces that have converged there. (AP, 03.06.17, AP, 03.09.17, AP, 03.07.17, Bloomberg, 03.08.17)
• Turkey, the United States and Russia must coordinate fully to clear Syria of terrorist groups, and the three countries' chiefs of staff were working to prevent clashes between the different parties in the country, Turkey's prime minister said. Binali Yildirim said his country was seeking a “trilateral mechanism” to clear the Manbij area of “terrorist groups.” In Manbij, “the U.S. is raising a flag, Russia is raising a flag nearby; things have turned into a flag competition,” Yildirim said in an interview with ATV television. “If coordination can’t be established, then there could be a risk of confrontation, which we do not wish for.” (Bloomberg, 03.08.17, Reuters, 03.07.17)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed close ties between Russian and Turkish militaries as he welcomed Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the March 10 talks focusing on Syria. "We are working actively on settlement of most acute crises in the world, first of all in Syria," Putin said during the meeting with Erdogan. Erdogan said that Turkey expects Russia to completely lift the economic sanctions it has imposed on Turkey after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane over Syria in November 2015. Russia and Turkey also signed a memorandum on March 10 creating a joint investment fund into which each country will invest up to $500 million (411.3 million pounds). On the eve of the Kremlin talks, the Russian Cabinet allowed the imports of Turkish cauliflower, broccoli and a couple other agricultural products. (AP, 03.10.17, TASS, 03.10.17, New York Times, 03.10.17, New York Times, 03.10.17)
• Under pressure in Washington over allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election, U.S. President Donald Trump has backed off his campaign pledge to cooperate on fighting terrorism in Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Still, U.S. warplanes helped indirectly in the Russian-backed Syrian offensive to recapture the historic city of Palmyra last month, carrying out 23 strikes over nine days, as much as during the rest of February. Now, on Turkey, the two powers appear to have taken a tactical joint stance. (Bloomberg, 03.08.17)
• U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence met with U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley last week just before the United States decided to confront Russia and the Syrian regime at the U.N. Security Council about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons. The move seems to run counter to the White House’s drive to warm relations with Moscow, but Trump decided, with Pence’s support, that it was important and necessary, officials said. (The Washington Post, 03.05.17)
• When hopes for the cease-fire were high in Syria, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had asked for an economic breakdown of Syria—how the oil, water and agriculture resources were divided in the country. The idea was that the Trump administration might be able to work with the Russians to carve out autonomous territories that could survive with little or no connection to Damascus, one senior U.S. official said this week. He said U.S.-Russian cooperation in Syria seemed more likely if a Russian-guaranteed cease-fire proved durable. (AP, 03.09.17)
• Russian media allege a link between Ivan Slyshkin, who was killed in Syria in February, and the Wagner Group, a private Russian military company believed to be based in the Krasnodar Territory. According to unconfirmed information from the Free News portal (in Russian), the ISIS Hunters elite unit of the Syrian armed forces is fully funded and trained by Russian special forces. (RBTH, 03.07.17)
• On March 6, the city of Nizhny Novgorod buried Artem Gorbunov, the 24-year-old Russian soldier killed on March 2 during the storming of Palmyra, according to the newspaper Kommersant. To date, Moscow has officially acknowledged the deaths of 27 Russian soldiers in Syria. (The Moscow Times, 03.06.17)

Cyber security:

• Russian hackers are targeting U.S. progressive groups in a new wave of attacks, scouring the organizations’ emails for embarrassing details and attempting to extract hush money, according to two people familiar with probes being conducted by the FBI and private security firms. Demands have ranged from about $30,000 to $150,000, payable in untraceable bitcoins, according to a person familiar with the probe. The Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank with strong links to both the Clinton and Obama administrations, and Arabella Advisors, which guides liberal donors who want to invest in progressive causes, have been asked to pay ransoms. (Bloomberg, 03.06.17)
• WikiLeaks on March 7 published more than 8,000 documents purportedly taken from the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence, a dramatic release that appears to provide an eye-opening look at the intimate details of America’s cyberespionage toolkit. (AP, 03.07.17)
  • Stuart McClure, CEO of Cylance, an Irvine, California, cyber security firm, said that one of the most significant disclosures shows how CIA hackers cover their tracks by leaving electronic trails suggesting they are from Russia, China and Iran rather than the United States. (Reuters, 03.07.17)
  • Released transcripts allegedly showed that CIA hackers could get into Apple Inc. iPhones, Google Inc. Android devices and other gadgets in order to capture text and voice messages before they were encrypted with sophisticated software. (Reuters, 03.07.17)
  • The U.S. consulate in Frankfurt was the hub for U.S. cyberespionage in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, according to some of the thousands of purported CIA documents released by WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks has been tied to Russian security agencies by U.S. intelligence services, a claim the group denies. (RFE/RL, 03.08.17)
• The world needs an international treaty to protect people's privacy from unfettered cyber surveillance, an idea that is being pushed by populist politicians preying on fear of terrorism, according to a U.N. report debated on March 8. (Reuters, 03.08.17)
• Russia's communications watchdog said on March 7 that it had received a letter from LinkedIn Corp., a social networking website it had blocked, in which the company said it was not willing to take steps to comply with a Russian data storage law. (Reuters, 03.07.17)

Russia’s alleged interference in U.S. elections:

• Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, and three other senators visited the CIA’s headquarters March 8 to start digging through a trove of classified intelligence reports detailing Russian attempts to influence last year’s presidential election. (Bloomberg, 03.08.17)
• U.S. President Donald Trump is calling for an investigation into Democratic politicians Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and what he has called their "ties" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Schumer, the Senate minority leader from New York, responded to Trump on Twitter by saying he would "happily talk" under oath about his meeting with Putin, which, he said, took place "in full view of press and public." (RFE/RL, 03.04.17)
• U.S. President Donald Trump met last April with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak  at the center of a pair of controversies over engagement between Trump allies and the Kremlin, despite claims by his spokeswoman that he had "zero" involvement with Russian officials during the campaign. (Bloomberg, 03.07.17)
• In an October speech to the Detroit Economic Club, Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, denied meeting with Donald Trump or campaign officials during the course of the 2016 presidential election, but acknowledged that he met with members of Congress and others who approached him at events. (CNN, 03.09.17)
• Attorney General Jeff Sessions toughened his defense for failing to acknowledge two meetings last year with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee March 6, Sessions said he was “correct” in not mentioning those contacts during his confirmation hearing because he wasn’t asked about them in a question that focused on what he’d do if he found out that anyone affiliated with U.S. President Donald Trump’s team was communicating with the Russian government during last year’s presidential campaign. (Bloomberg, 03.06.17)
• Under insistent questioning from Democrats, deputy attorney general nominee Rod J. Rosenstein on March 7 refused to commit to appointing a special counsel to oversee investigations of Russian meddling in the presidential election—though he stressed that he did not yet know the facts of the matter. (AP, 03.07.17)
• Former U.S. intelligence officials continued to dispute U.S. President Donald Trump’s explosive allegations that he was subject to wiretapping ordered by his predecessor, saying it never happened. In a statement, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump “is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016.” (Bloomberg, 03.06.17)
• FBI Director James Comey has been asked to testify along with several former Obama administration officials before the House Intelligence Committee for its first public hearing on its investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential campaign on March 20. (Bloomberg, 03.08.17)
• A former foreign policy adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign says he has been contacted by the Senate intelligence Committee about its investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election. In response to the committee, Carter Page said he will “provide any information” that may be of assistance to the committee. (AP, 03.06.17)
• When Wilbur L. Ross, a billionaire American investor, bought shares in the Bank of Cyprus three years ago, he found himself part owner of a big but failing bank with a vice chairman who used to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Leningrad KGB and five other Russians on its board. But while several of U.S. President Donald Trump’s closest allies have come under scrutiny for Kremlin ties, Ross, who was confirmed by the Senate on March 6, was no friend to the Russians in Cyprus—and in fact, he forced them out of the bank. (New York Times, 03.06.17)
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denounced what he called "hysteria" in the U.S. political establishment and media over Russia's alleged meddling in last year's presidential election and said it is harming ties between the two global powers. Peskov said it is "unimaginable" that a strong nation like the United States would fear being so "weak" that an outside power could attempt to influence its political history and government as U.S. intelligence agencies concluded Russia did by hacking and releasing Democratic Party e-mails during the election. (RFE/RL, 03.07.17)

Energy exports from CIS:

• Saudi Arabia and Russia, the architects of an oil production cut that has stabilized prices, presented a united front on compliance. Russia gave assurances that it will cut another 40,000 barrels a day from supply this month, said Khalid Al-Falih, the Saudi energy minister. That would put the largest non-OPEC producer participating in the agreement about halfway to the 300,000 barrel-a-day cut that it pledged to implement by April or May. (Bloomberg, 03.07.17)
• "Russia is open" to investment and collaboration with U.S. companies in the oil and gas sectors, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said. Addressing an energy conference in Houston on March 6, Novak also said that the world's top oil producer still has "huge potential" for discovering new fields on its continental shelf, in its Arctic expanses and in its vast shale deposits. (RFE/RL, 03.07.17)
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on March 10 that Russian President Vladimir Putin had met new Exxon Mobil chief executive officer Darren Woods on March 9. (Reuters, 03.10.17)

Bilateral economic ties:

• San Francisco-based Apis Cor reported on its blog that on a cold day last December it (and a number of its partners) built an entire 400 square foot house in Russia with its custom printer and it only cost $10,000. Oh, and it took just 24 hours to complete. (The Washington Post, 03.07.17)

Other bilateral issues:

• Since taking office, U.S. President Donald Trump has selected a roster of top aides who have advanced a hard line toward the Kremlin, initially seeming at odds with the president. Trump himself has spoken in more supportive terms about NATO, including in his address to Congress last week. The shift has taken place during a period when Trump's administration has been buffeted by controversy over undisclosed contacts between top associates and Russia. The administration's turn toward a surprisingly tough stance on Russia has generated applause in Europe, and alarm in Moscow. European diplomats said they have been assured that the U.S. won't sell out Eastern Europe and Ukraine to Russia by recognizing Moscow's greater sphere of influence. “We have made a lot of progress on developing a unified position," said a senior European diplomat who had consultations in Washington last week. "No one came away with the idea that the U.S. was striking some grand bargain with Russia." (Wall Street Journal, 03.06.17)
• Jon M. Huntsman Jr. has accepted U.S. President Donald Trump's offer to be ambassador to Russia, people with knowledge of the matter said on March 9, taking on a diplomatic assignment that would be challenging in the best of times, but is more so now, given the questions swirling around the Trump campaign and its links to Russia. Huntsman, a former Republican governor of Utah, served as former U.S. President Barack Obama's ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011 He also has served as chairman of the Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank deeply critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and plans to patch up relations with him. (New York Times, 03.09.17, Wall Street Journal, 03.09.17)
  • "We will welcome any new head of the U.S. embassy in Moscow who will display firm commitment to the idea of establishing a dialog between the two countries," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that such was the chief mission of any ambassador to any country. (TASS, 03.09.17)
  • Reports that Jon Huntsman will become the next U.S. ambassador to Russia stirred anxiety in Moscow on March 9, with one politician calling him a hawk and pro-Kremlin media recalling what they said was his worrying history of hostile rhetoric. (Reuters, 03.09.17)
• U.S. President Trump on March 7 accused former U.S. President Barack Obama of being too weak on Russia, saying Moscow “got stronger and stronger” during his predecessor’s tenure. “For eight years Russia 'ran over' President Obama, got stronger and stronger, picked-off Crimea and added missiles. Weak!” Trump tweeted. (The Hill, 03.07.17)
• U.S. President Donald Trump will ask German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her views on how the United States can help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine when they meet next week, senior Trump administration officials said on March 10. Trump is also interested in hearing Merkel's view on how to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the officials said. (Reuters, 03.10.17)
• U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, according to people interviewed, wants a slimmed-down state department that serves U.S. President Donald Trump’s goal—a national security strategy more narrowly focused on backing U.S. allies in the Middle East and Europe to advance his “America First” theme. That means largely doing away with the global promotion of democracy and other “soft power” initiatives. (Bloomberg, 03.10.17)
  • The U.S. budget director has confirmed that the Trump administration will propose "fairly dramatic" reductions in U.S. foreign aid when it submits its fiscal 2018 budget later this month. (RFE/RL, 03.05.17)
• The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence approved former senator Daniel Coats on March 9 to become director of national intelligence, sending his nomination to the Senate floor for a likely confirmation vote next week. (The Washington Post, 03.09.17)
• The Senate Armed Services Committee on March 7 overwhelmingly approved Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster’s shift to the White House to be U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. (AP, 03.07.17)
• Slovenia’s president said March 6 that his invitation to host a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin still stands despite the talk of the Kremlin’s meddling in the American elections. (AP, 03.06.17)
• Two Russian nationals have confessed to illegally exporting cutting-edge electronics used in military hardware from the United States. Dmitry Karpenko, 33, and Alexei Krutilin, 27, were arrested in Denver, Colorado on Oct. 6, 2016. The men now face up to 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million. (The Moscow Times, 03.09.17)
• The U.S. is No. 7 on the 2016 list of the world’s best countries compiled by U.S. News & World Report, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and global brand consultants BAV Consulting, while Russia is No. 27. (Russia Matters, 03.07.17)

II. Russia’s domestic news

Politics, economy and energy:

• Russia has exited recession, which has been its longest in two decades. The contraction ended a few quarters earlier than previously estimated, according to revised calculations by the Bank of Russia’s research and forecasting department. Part of the reason for that is a reclassification of military spending. (Bloomberg, 03.07.17)
• Russia plans to extend a review of bank licenses for another two years, shutting down scores more banks after closing hundreds in the past four years, mostly for committing fraud or other crimes. The review by the central bank over the past several years has already reduced the number of banks in Russia to around 570 from 900. At that pace, Russia would end up with around 400 banks in 2019. (Reuters, 03.06.17)
• Russia's Rosatom aims to become one of the three most successful global technology companies by the beginning of the 2040s, transformed from the state-backed nuclear power corporation it is today, according to its new director-general Alexey Likhachov. (World Nuclear News, 03.08.17)
• Sales of new cars in Russia fell 4.1% in February compared to the same period a year ago. (Reuters, 03.09.17)
• The attitude of Russians towards female politicians has rapidly worsened in the past year, as seen in the results of a poll by the Levada Center, Interfax reported. About 30% of Russians do not at all approve of women in politics. Last year, this figure was 20%. Meanwhile, 54% of respondents are not ready to see a woman as Russia’s head of state in the next 10-15 years. (RBTH, 03.06.17)
• Several female activists have been detained after trying to attach a banner to the walls of the Kremlin calling for the ouster of men from Russian politics. (The Moscow Times, 03.08.17)
• The Kremlin plans to sit out the centenary of the Russian Revolution. There will be no national holiday on March 12, the date generally recognized as the start of the uprising. (New York Times, 03.10.17)

Defense and aerospace:

• In real terms, Russia’s projected total military expenditure is estimated to fall by 9.5% in 2017 and by 7.1% in 2018, and then by a more modest 1.7% in 2019. (IISS, 03.06.17)
• Russia is set to receive 16 new Sukhoi Su-34 fighter jets in 2017, the country's deputy defense minister announced on March 10. (The Moscow Times, 03.10.17)
• Russia will start modernizing its sole aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, before July. The ageing warship will undergo a massive refit that will modernize her problematic and unreliable propulsion system along with other upgrades. (The National Interest, 03.04.17)

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has pardoned Russian woman Oksana Sevastidi convicted of high treason in 2015 for sending two text messages to a friend living in Georgia. (The Moscow Times, 03.07.17)

III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment

Russia’s general foreign policy and relations with “far abroad” countries:

• Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi declared on March 8 that relations with Russia had reached “a historic maximum.” (The Moscow Times, 03.08.17)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin told visiting German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on March 9 that he would like to improve ties between the two countries that were soured by the Ukraine crisis. Putin and Gabriel discussed bilateral issues, as well as the conflict in eastern Ukraine and how to ensure compliance with a cease-fire agreement between the Ukrainian government and separatist rebels that Germany and Russia brokered. Gabriel warned about the danger of a new arms race spiral with Russia and called on all sides to work to end the violence in eastern Ukraine as a first step towards broader disarmament efforts. Gabriel also said on March 7 that a decision by Russia to permanently station Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad would mark a setback for European security. (AP, 03.09.17, Reuters, 03.09.17, Reuters, 03.08.17)
• Germany’s finance minister says Russia is conducting a “propaganda war” through fake news to try to garner influence abroad, and it has to stop. Wolfgang Schaeuble told a group of foreign correspondents in Berlin on March 7 that Kremlin-funded Russia Today produces “false reports from morning to evening,” which “is not acceptable and needs to end.” (AP, 03.07.17)
• Teens in Sweden’s Rinkeby told Danish radio they were offered money by a Russian TV crew in exchange for 'action' on camera, the journalist who interviewed them said. Danish radio station Radio24syv spoke to the Rinkeby youngsters after the suburb hit global headlines over a violent riot a day after U.S. President Donald Trump made controversial comments on crime in Sweden. (Local.se, 03.06.17)
• Leaders of the European Union are voicing concern about "external influences" fueling divisions in the Western Balkans after recent moves by Russia and its Balkan allies to block closer ties with the West. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May urged European allies to step up their resistance to Russian aggression, as she raised concerns over an alleged Russian plot to assassinate a former premier of Montenegro. (Bloomberg, 03.09.17,  RFE/RL, 03.10.17)
• “They’ve got to change, they’ve got to show they can be trusted again,” British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in reference to Russia. “It’s vitally important that we engage with the Russians, we try to understand where they are coming from and we try to shape their policies." "Neither the U.K. nor our friends in the rest of the EU, nor in Washington is there any appetite for a new Cold War," he said. (Bloomberg, 03.06.17, Wall Street Journal, 03.06.17)
• Top Eastern European diplomats in Washington urged the U.S. to maintain sanctions on Russia and strengthen NATO as a way of curbing Moscow’s “aggressive” actions three years after its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region. (Bloomberg, 03.07.17)
• Russia has already achieved its strategic ambition of capturing the superpower status it lost after the fall of communism and Soviet Union, said Poland’s ambassador to the U.S., Piotr Wilczek. (Bloomberg, 03.07.17)
• Czech President Milos Zeman, who has pushed for better ties with Russia and backed U.S. President Donald Trump, told supporters on March 9 that he would seek a second term in 2018, ending speculation over whether he would run again. (Reuters, 03.10.17)
• Hungary pushed back against criticism that it’s acting like Russia’s Trojan horse in the European Union, with its top diplomat going on the record that the nation won’t veto sanctions against Russia if the rest of the trading bloc agrees to extend them. Unlike its peers in Eastern Europe, Hungary doesn’t see Russia as an “existential threat,” Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said, though the government “understands and respects that the Polish and Baltic states”—Hungary’s allies in NATO—“see Russia as just that.” (Bloomberg, 03.08.17)
• The European Union has cleared Hungary to build two nuclear reactors with Russian help after Budapest made commitments to safeguard competition in the energy sector. (AP, 03.06.17)
• The European Union on March 6 approved plans for a military headquarters to coordinate overseas security operations, foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said. (AFP, 03.06.17)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party has signed a deal to cooperate with Italy’s far-right Lega Nord political party, deepening Russia’s ties with Europe’s populist movements. (Financial Times, 03.06.17)
• Russian officials have banned a Norwegian journalist from entering the country for the next five years. The Barents Observer, a website based in Norway, says the Federal Security Service (FSB) told editor Thomas Nielsen that he’s been declared “undesirable” in Russia, despite a valid multi-entry journalist visa. (The Moscow Times, 03.09.17)
• Canada's chilly relations with Russia have taken a nasty turn with charges of disinformation leveled by Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland against Russia over allegations that her long-dead, Ukrainian-born grandfather was a Nazi collaborator in occupied Poland. (The Washington Post, 03.09.17)
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Moscow on March 9 seeking reassurance from Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country’s presence in Syria would help Israel block arch-nemesis Iran from taking advantage of the chaos to position itself permanently on Israel’s northern border. Netanyahu has told Putin there can never be peace in Syria as long Iran maintains troops and advisers there. (The Washington Post, 03.09.17, RFE/RL, 03.10.17)
• A 33-year-old Russian woman has been arrested in connection with the murder of Andrei Karlov, Moscow's ambassador to Turkey, the Turkish media has reported. The woman, known only as Yekaterina, is accused of contacting Karlov's killer, former police cadet Mevlut Altyntash, before the assassination, an unnamed law enforcement source told the newspaper. (The Moscow Times, 03.06.17)
• Pirates who in early February attacked the BBC Caribbean in Nigerian waters freed all eight sailors—seven Russians and one Ukrainian national. (TASS, 03.05.17)
• Russia is set to introduce a new e-visa scheme for tourists visiting the country's Far East. The new visas will be issued free of charge for the Primorye, Khabarovsk, Sakhalin, Chukotka and Kamchatka regions. (The Moscow Times, 03.08.17)

Ukraine:

• Russia on March 6 rejected allegations that it sponsors terrorism by funneling arms and money to separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine and is responsible for discriminating against ethnic groups in Crimea. Roman Kolodkin, the legal director of Russia’s foreign ministry, said that a case filed by Ukraine at the International Court of Justice making the allegations is an attempt to draw the court into ruling on “issues between Ukraine and Russia that are clearly beyond the court’s jurisdiction in this case.” Kiev wants the world court to rule that Russia is breaching treaties on terrorist financing and racial discrimination. Hearings this week are focused on Ukraine’s request for the court to issue “provisional measures,” including an order for Moscow to halt financing to rebels in eastern Ukraine and to stop discriminating against non-Russians in Crimea. As part of its main case, Ukraine also wants the court to order Russia to pay reparations for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. (AP, 03.07.17)
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin says U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has assured him that Washington will continue to support Kiev in its standoff with Russia. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner largely confirmed the ministry's account of the two diplomats' sanctions discussions. (RFE/RL, 03.07.17)
• Ukraine’s foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin told U.S. senators on March 7 that sanctions against Russia shouldn’t be eased and possibly should be ratcheted up as Moscow escalates its military aggression against its western neighbor. (AP, 03.07.17)
• Ukraine's central bank said on March 7 it was likely to recommend the introduction of sanctions on the local subsidiary of Sberbank over the Russian lender's decision to recognize passports issued by separatists in eastern Ukraine. (Reuters, 03.07.17)
• A European Parliament committee has voted to scrap visa requirements for Ukraine in a further step to give Ukrainians easier access to EU countries. (RFE/RL, 03.09.17)
• Ukraine expects to start supplying electricity to the European Union via its planned “energy bridge” as early as 2019, and to complete the project by 2025, the head of the country's nuclear power plant operator said this week. (World Nuclear News, 03.10.17)
• Canada’s government is extending a Canadian Armed Forces deployment in war-ravaged Ukraine by two years, a move that Moscow decried as a counterproductive “military venture” it predicted would hinder chances for peace. (Globe and Mail, 03.06.17)
• A new U.S. State Department report says human rights in Russia continue to be "significantly and negatively" affected by Moscow's "purported annexation" of Crimea and its support for separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 03.03.17)
• Ukrainian Jews protested the attendance of state historian Volodymyr Vyatrovych at an international symposium on the Holocaust, as Vyatrovych had praised a Nazi collaborator whose troops killed Jews. (JTA, 03.07.17)
• The men patrolling some of Ukraine’s far-eastern rail links see themselves as patriots who have proved it by battling Russian-backed separatists. But for Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, these Ukrainian veterans of the war in the country’s breakaway eastern regions are engaged in nothing less than “sabotage against our nation.” Groysman has warned that if the blockade stopped the trade for good, it could cost the country $3.5 billion and up to 75,000 jobs. Valeria Gontareva, Ukraine’s central bank governor, warned last week that if the blockade continued for the rest of the year, it could cut the country’s 2.8% forecast economic growth by half.  (Financial Times, 03.08.17)
• The International Monetary Fund said on March 4 it had reached an agreement with Ukraine on an updated memorandum under a $17.5 billion program, paving the way for its board to consider the disbursement of the fourth loan tranche later in March. (Reuters, 03.04.17)
• Not even the million Ukrainians who’ve come to Poland since a pro-Russian insurgency erupted in their country three years ago have been enough to sate a labor market stretched by record-low unemployment and economic growth on track to top 3% in 2017. The immigration wave from Ukraine has effectively delayed the graying of Poland’s population by five years, according to PKO Bank Polski SA. (Bloomberg, 03.06.17)
• A court in Kiev heard motions on March 6 in the corruption case against Roman Nasirov, Ukraine's tax and customs service chief. Nasirov's suspension from his post came a day after the National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU) said it attempted to serve the 38-year-old, who was in a Kiev hospital at the time, with a document identifying him as a suspect in the case of fraud and embezzlement of the equivalent of more than $100 million in tax revenues from natural gas delivery contracts. (RFE/RL, 03.06.17)

Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:

• Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev has signed constitutional amendments transferring some powers from the president to government ministers and lawmakers. Nazarbayev’s office said he signed the amendments into law on March 10. (RFE/RL, 03.10.17)
• The presidents of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan say they have agreed on closer cooperation between their countries on energy and transportation projects that could also involve Afghanistan, Pakistan and countries in the South Caucasus. (RFE/RL, 03.07.17)
• Campaigning for parliamentary elections in Armenia began with a total of nine parties and alliances on the ballot for the vote on April 2. (RFE/RL, 03.06.17)
• Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said a tax on the unemployed should not be enforced this year. The move comes after a wave of protests spread across the country against the so-called “law against social parasites,” which would require Belarusians who work less than 183 days per year to pay $250 to the government. (The Moscow Times, 03.09.17)
• Moldova’s parliament accused Russia’s intelligence service of intimidating politicians, following an investigation into alleged money laundering by Russian officials. (AP, 03.09.17)
• Sebastian Kurz, foreign minister of Austria, has proposed the creation of refugee centers outside the borders of the European Union, for example in Georgia or in the Western Balkans. (Georgia Today, 03.06.17)
• Georgia has suspended a ruling from its highest domestic court that had placed the country's largest independent television station, Rustavi-2 TV, under the control of a close ally of the government. The government's move came in response to an order from the European Court of Human Rights. (RFE/RL, 03.04.17)
• France and Armenia have signed deals on tourism, research cooperation and the creation of a French university in Armenia. The agreements were signed in Paris on March 8 as French President Francois Hollande hosted an official state visit by Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian. (RFE/RL, 03.08.17)

IV. Quoteworthy

• John R. Beyrle, the U.S. ambassador to Moscow from 2008 to 2012, said he feared that ''we're beginning to out-Russian the Russians'' by treating all contacts as suspicious. ''That's the last behavior we should model—that simply meeting with a Russian official is wrong, without any knowledge of what was said,'' Beyrle said. (New York Times, 03.03.17)
• Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) described Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s conversation with the Russian ambassador as a “nothing burger.” (The Washington Post, 03.06.17)
• "We urgently need new initiatives for peace and security," German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in Moscow when meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Reuters, 03.09.17)
• “For one group of people, the revolution was the death knell of Great Russia—it was ‘Brexit,’ when we stopped our development in Europe,” said Mikhail Shvydkoy, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on cultural matters, regarding the Russian Revolution 100 years ago. (New York Times, 03.10.17)