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

Nuclear security:

• Renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has said the biggest and most immediate challenge for humanity will come in the next century, with threats such as potential nuclear terrorism, climate change and the rise of artificial intelligence potentially outcompeting humans. (Christian Science Monitor, 11.17.16)
• The parliament of Armenia has voted to extend for seven years a bilateral agreement with the U.S. on preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Under the initiative, the U.S. provides Armenia with equipment and advice on preventing the spread of materials and technology related to nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. (RFE/RL, 11.17.16)

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

• U.S. President Barack Obama said Nov. 14 that backing out of the Iran nuclear deal could force the U.S. to adopt sanctions against its allies in Europe who continue to honor the accord, as well as Russia and China, because they are part of the agreement as well. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia still considers the Iran deal “balanced” and a major contribution to improving international security. (AP, 11.11.16, TASS, 11.14.16, Wall Street Journal, 11.14.16)
• Viktor Ozerov, head of the defense and security committee in Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, said Nov. 14 that Russia and Iran are in talks over a $10 billion arms deal that would see Moscow deliver tanks, artillery systems, planes and helicopters to Tehran. A Federation Council delegation began an official visit to Iran on Nov. 13. (RFE/RL, 11.14.16)
• A Russian delegation visiting Tehran on Nov. 18 signed a handful of agreements to work with the National Iranian Oil Co., according to a deputy managing director of the latter. Memoranda of understanding were signed with three Russian oil companies: Lukoil, Tatneft and Zarubezhneft. (UPI, 11.18.16)

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

• Vladimir Putin’s spokesman says one way Donald Trump could help build confidence with Russia after he becomes president would be to persuade NATO to slow down its expansion or withdraw its forces from Russia’s borders. Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with The Associated Press that this “would lead to a kind of detente in Europe.” (AP, 11.11.16)
• U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said that Russia has been mostly aggressive in Europe—as it was in Ukraine and Georgia—and that the U.S. needs to “stand strong against the possibility of Russian aggression in Europe.” (CBS, 11.11.16)
• NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Donald Trump's call to Vladimir Putin was "a very normal thing." Stoltenberg said NATO for months has been emphasizing that it wants dialogue. But he noted that the alliance wouldn't accept the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. "There is no contradiction between strong defense and political dialogue," Stoltenberg said. "We think it is important to respect territorial integrity and sovereignty of all nations, including Ukraine." (Wall Street Journal, 11.15.16)
• European governments are launching a concerted appeal to persuade President-elect Donald Trump to not abandon the Iran nuclear deal or NATO’s tough stance toward Russia, warning of dire consequences that could raise the risk of war and weaken the transatlantic alliance. In a closed-door meeting this week, Foreign Policy has learned, diplomats from Europe, Canada and other allied nations raised their concerns about the course of Trump’s foreign-policy priorities with a key member of the president-elect’s transition team. (Foreign Policy, 11.16.16)
• Top NATO general Petr Pavel said Nov. 16 that President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. might abandon its NATO treaty commitments is not serious because the treaty is so binding and important to America and its allies that no president “would dare” change it. Pavel also said Russia is pursing political objectives through military force and that’s unacceptable in the 21st century. (AP, 11.16.16)
• Poland says it will build a new territorial defense force of 53,000 volunteers by 2019 in order to guard against threats from Russia. (RFE/RL, 11.14.16)
• “I think the way the Baltics get hurt is a U.S. deal with Russia, which could raise questions about Russia’s sphere of influence. That is much more dangerous to us than some loose words on NATO,” said a senior Latvian official. (Financial Times, 11.13.16)
• A U.S. delegation working with the Russian-U.S. joint commission on prisoners of war and missing persons arrived in Moscow on Nov. 11, a source close to the commission told TASS. (TASS, 11.11.16)
• Potential global conflict is Russians' greatest fear, according to a report by the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM). Global tensions, conflict and war took the top slot as Russians' main worry with a ranking of 25 points, up from 11 points in October last year.
• “Russia seeks to maximize its strategic position in the world at the expense of the United States,” according to The Heritage Foundation's 2017 Index of U.S. Military Strength. The think tank's 2016 index had assessed Russia's behavior as aggressive but its capability as not yet formidable. Other potential adversaries, including Iran, China and North Korea, receive a lower rating of "gathering" military capability.(Washington Post, 11.15.16)

Missile defense:

• Russia will seek to maintain the world’s strategic balance of power and will work to neutralize threats stemming from the creation of missile defense systems and the concept of global strike, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with defense officials Nov. 18. (TASS, 11.18.16)

Arms control:

• A group of Russian military experts will perform an observation flight over the United States while U.S. military experts will perform an observation flight over Russia, Sergei Ryzhkov, the head of Russia’s Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, said Nov. 13. (TASS, 11.14.16)

Counter-terrorism:

• In a Nov. 14 phone call U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed that terrorism is “the main enemy for America and Russia,” Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov has said. (Bloomberg, 11.17.16)
• Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claims it has arrested five members of a suspected terrorist cell that was planning attacks in Moscow and Ingushetia. According to FSB officials, the men are believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State and were in possession of two improvised explosive devices. (Moscow Times, 11.15.16)
• Members of an alleged Russia-based terror cell arrested Nov. 12 had planned attacks in St. Petersburg and Moscow with submachine guns and homemade bombs. The group, comprising Tajik, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals, hoped the attacks would “prove their loyalty” to the Islamic State before they joined the group in Syria. (Moscow Times, 11.14.16, Gazeta.ru, 11.12.16)
• Gulmurod Khalimov, a former police commander from Tajikistan, appears to have become the second senior commander of the Islamic State, to which he defected last year, to have benefited from American military training provided to former Soviet states. Khalimov's precise rank is unclear; he could be the group's so-called minister of war or military commander in chief.(New York Times, 11.10.16)
• A court in Azerbaijan’s capital has convicted seven Azerbaijani citizens accused of joining the Islamic State and other extremists in Syria and Iraq. (AP, 11.16.16)

Conflict in Syria:

• Airstrikes hammered rebel-held zones in Syria's besieged Aleppo on Nov. 16, badly damaging a children's hospital as staff members and patients huddled in a basement, doctors said. The attacks came after Syrian government forces and their Russian allies resumed offensives across northern Syria, including Russian cruise missile strikes from a warship in the Mediterranean. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said Nov. 16 that at least 17 civilians were killed in the first 24 hours of the government offensive. Russia resumed large-scale airstrikes around Syria on Nov. 15. The strikes, which included the use of Kaliber cruise missiles, hit the provinces of Idlib and Homs, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Shoigu said the frigate Admiral Grigorovich launched cruise missile strikes. Also airstrikes were launched from the carrier Admiral Kuznetsov in what represented the first time that carrier-based jets have been used in the Syrian battles. "As a result of strikes delivered by Su-33 carrier-based fighter jets and air group of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, a large gang of the Jebhat al-Nusra group was destroyed in the province of Idlib," the Defense Ministry's official spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said Nov. 17. (Washington Post, 11.15.16 and 11.16.16, Moscow Times, 11.16.16, (Wall Street Journal, 11.15.16, TASS, 11.17.16)
• The Russian military launched long-range bombers from an air base in southern Russia for the first time in a year to strike targets in Syria, two U.S. officials told Fox News on Nov. 17. (Fox News, 11.17.16)
• A Russian MiG-29K fighter jet crashed in the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 14 after taking off from the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, the Russian Defense Ministry told the Interfax news agency. (Moscow Times, 11.14.16)
• Donald Trump suggested a sharper focus on fighting Islamic State, or ISIS, in Syria, rather than on ousting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “My attitude was you’re fighting Syria, Syria is fighting ISIS, and you have to get rid of ISIS. Russia is now totally aligned with Syria, and now you have Iran, which is becoming powerful, because of us, is aligned with Syria. … Now we’re backing rebels against Syria, and we have no idea who these people are.” If the U.S. attacks Assad, Trump said, “We end up fighting Russia, fighting Syria.” His comments suggest that once he begins overseeing both the public U.S. support for the opposition groups and a far larger covert effort run by the Central Intelligence Agency, he may wind down or abandon the effort. (Wall Street Journal, 11.11.16, New York Times, 11.11.16)
• Russia has started contacting colleagues of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to discuss the crisis in Syria. Mikhail Bogdanov, deputy head of Russia's Foreign Ministry, said Nov. 17 that Moscow had been reaching out to Trump's team. “We hope that the departing and incoming administrations will proceed from the fact that without Russia it is impossible to solve the Syria problem." (Wall Street Journal, 11.17.16)
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said there is no possibility of “a breakthrough” to end the more than five-year Syria conflict unless the so-called moderate opposition is separated from “terrorist groups” including the Nusra Front and Islamic State. Russia, meanwhile, is continuing to support the Syrian government and army “because we have only two alternatives ... either we have President [Bashar] Assad in Damascus or we have Nusra and Islamic State,” Peskov said. (AP, 11.11.16)
• “On Syria, it’s clear that the indiscriminate attacks on civilians by the Assad regime and Russia will only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe and that a negotiated end to the conflict is the only way to achieve lasting peace,” U.S. President Barack Obama told a press conference in Germany on Nov. 17. (Time, 11.17.16)
• “If you have a Syrian military that is committed to killing its people indiscriminately … and it is supported by Russia, that now has substantial military assets on the ground and are actively supporting that regime, and Iran actively supporting that regime, and we are supporting what has to be our number one national security priority, which is going after ISIL both in Mosul and ultimately in Raqqa, [it’s not surprising] that the situation is not the same as it was in Libya,” U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters Nov. 14. (WhiteHouse.gov, 11.14.16)
• “The Russians have been completely backwards there in what they’ve been doing [in Syria]. And so we have not been able to, and I have not been in favor, and I’m not recommending to the president that we associate ourselves with or work with the Russians until they start doing the right thing,” said U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Pentagon's call on the U.S. president-elect not to cooperate with Russia on Syria is proof of contradictions in Washington. (CBS, 11.11.16, TASS, 11.14.16)
• U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he discussed Ukraine and "all aspects" of Aleppo, including renewed bombing in the Syrian city, in a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Speaking to reporters after their one-on-one talk during an Asian-Pacific economic summit in Peru on Nov. 17, Lavrov denied that Russia's military was carrying out air strikes in Aleppo this week. (RFE/RL, 11.18.16)
• The United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved a one-year extension of an international inquiry to determine blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria. The inquiry was expanded at Russia's request on Nov. 17 to focus more on the "terrorist chemical threat" within the region. (RFE/RL, 11.17.16)
• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said U.S. President-elect Donald Trump would be a "natural ally" if he fulfilled a campaign pledge to fight terrorism. Speaking to Portugal's RTP state television, Assad said: "We cannot tell anything about what he's going to do, but if … he is going to fight the terrorists, of course we are going to be [an] ally, natural ally in that regard with the Russians, with the Iranians, with many other countries." (BBC, 11.15.16)
• Russia's Defense Ministry said Nov. 11 that it had proof militants in the Syrian city of Aleppo had recently used chemical weapons against the civilian population and Syrian government soldiers, accusations the rebels denied. (Wall Street Journal, 11.11.16)

Cyber security:

• The White House sent a secret "hotline"-style message to Russia on Oct. 31 to warn against any further cyber-meddling in the U.S. election process. The previously undisclosed message was sent on a special channel created in 2013 as part of the Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, using a template designed for crisis communication. "It was a very clear statement to the Russians and asked them to stop their activity," a senior administration official said, adding: "The fact that we used this channel was part of the messaging." The senior administration official said Russia gave a "noncommittal" response to the Oct. 31 message, neither acknowledging the U.S. charges nor denying them. (Washington Post, 11.15.16)
• The United States' top intelligence official said Russia stopped its election-related cyber activity after the U.S. administration publicly accused Moscow of interfering in the campaign. James Clapper told a congressional committee on Nov. 17 that Russia was likely to continue information warfare, despite the U.S. warnings. (RFE/RL, 11.17.16)
• “In terms of my conversations with President Putin, these are conversations that took place before the election. … I delivered a clear and forceful message that although we recognize Russia’s intelligence gathering will sometimes take place even if we don’t like it, there’s a difference between that than either meddling with elections or going after private organizations or commercial entities, and that we’re monitoring it carefully, and we will respond appropriately if and when we see this happening… I do think that this whole area of cyber is something that at an international level we have to work on and develop frameworks and international norms so that we don’t see a cyber arms race,” U.S. President Barack Obama said at a press conference in Germany on Nov. 17. (Time, 11.17.16)
• Russia has formally blocked professional social network LinkedIn Corp., its communications regulator Roskomnadzor said Nov. 17. The landmark ban comes a week after a Moscow court upheld a decision to block the U.S.-based company for not agreeing to store personal data of Russian users within the country's borders, a law that came into effect a year ago. The U.S. government is “deeply concerned” about Moscow’s decision to block the U.S.-based site. (RFE/RL, 11.18.16, Wall Street Journal, 11.17.16)

Energy exports from CIS:

• OPEC said it made progress toward a deal to cut production by more than 1 million barrels a day after another round of oil talks with Russia, but left crucial details including the role of Iraq and Iran to be resolved later this month. Earlier this month Russia's energy minister said Moscow is ready to back curbs in oil production proposed by OPEC, while Kazakhstan's said he is still negotiating with the oil cartel. The possibility that Russia could cooperate with OPEC to shrink the global oil surplus helped lift international crude prices from as low as $27 in January to an average of $44 for the year as a whole. This increase, combined with rising Russian production, has boosted government revenue by 400 billion to 700 billion rubles, according to two Russian officials familiar with government calculations. (RFE/RL, 11.17.16, Bloomberg, 11.16.16, 11.18.16)
• London-based Gazprom Marketing & Trading, a subsidiary of Gazprom Group, has cut staff numbers by around 20%, including at least six directors, two people familiar with the matter have said. (Wall Street Journal, 11.18.16)

Bilateral economic ties:

• No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

• Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump spoke directly for the first time in a 30-minute telephone call Nov. 14. They reportedly discussed the “highly dissatisfactory” state of U.S.-Russian relations, as well as the need to take steps to “normalize” ties and undertake “constructive cooperation on a wide range of issues,” including combating international terrorism and extremism, according to an official statement released by the Kremlin. “Trump demonstrated a readiness not just to normalize relations, but to develop them fairly intensively in all directions, including the economy," Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin foreign policy aide, was later quoted as saying. In conversation, Putin’s and Trump’s “assessments of the current state of relations coincided—essentially that they couldn’t be worse,” he said. Ushakov also said Ukraine had been discussed briefly and that Trump's stance on the issue was unclear. The two men also reportedly discussed the armed crisis in Syria. Trump's office later said that Putin had called to "offer his congratulations" and that they had discussed shared threats and challenges, "strategic economic issues" and the long-term bilateral relationship. Trump told Putin "that he is very much looking forward to having a strong and enduring relationship with Russia and the People of Russia." The Kremlin said Trump and Putin both agreed to remain in regular telephone contact and begin planning for a future meeting in person. The two Moscow Times, 11.14.16 and 11.15.16, Reuters, 11.15.16, Wall Street Journal11.17.16Washington Post, 11.14.16, Bloomberg, 11.17.16)
• U.S. President Barack Obama on Nov. 18 met the leaders of Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain. The leaders stressed joint positions on Ukraine, the migration crisis, the Syrian civil war and the importance of multilateral institutions, such as NATO, and working together in the fight against terrorism, according to a statement from the White House. They called on the Syrian regime, Russia and Iran to stop attacks against the city of Aleppo. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking after the meeting, said the leaders didn't talk about specific sanctions against Russia for its behavior in Syria. European leaders had warned that Russia could be exposed to new sanctions if it continued increasing bombings there. The leaders did agree though that conditions weren't met right now to lift sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, Merkel and the White House said. (Wall Street Journal, 11.18.16) See section on Ukraine below for more details.
• Speaking in Germany on Nov. 17 U.S. President Barack Obama said:
  • “Russia is an important country. It is a military superpower. It has influence in the region and it has influence around the world. And in order for us to solve many big problems around the world, it is in our interest to work with Russia and obtain their cooperation. I think we should all hope for a Russia that is successful, where its people are employed and the economy is growing and they are having good relationships with their neighbors.” (Time, 11.17.16)
  • “My hope is that the president-elect coming in takes a similarly constructive approach, finding areas where we can cooperate with Russia, where our values and interests align. But that the president-elect also is willing to stand up to Russia where they are deviating from our values and international norms… My hope is that he does not simply take a realpolitik approach and suggest that, you know, if we just cut some deals with Russia, even if it hurts people or even if it violates international norms, or even if it leaves smaller countries vulnerable or creates long-term problems in regions like Syria, that we just do whatever is convenient at the time.” (Time, 11.17.16)
• Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that he sees “phenomenal” similarities in the approach of Putin and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to foreign policy. “Trump said, ‘The main thing for me is America and [its] interests, but we will be ready to build relationships and to engage in dialogue with any country in so far as this country is ready.’ Putin has said the same thing, only, of course, speaking of the absolute priority for him [of] Russia’s national interests.” (Meduza, 11.11.16)
• President-elect Donald Trump has offered former military intelligence chief Michael Flynn the position of national security adviser, elevating a fierce critic of current U.S. foreign policy into a crucial White House role. Trump has also appointed ex-DIA chief Flynn as one of five vice chairs of his transition team. Flynn, like Trump, sees Russian President Vladimir Putin as someone the U.S. can do business with. (CNN, 11.13.16, Wall Street Journal, 11.14.16, AP, 11.18.16)
• Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has refrained from expressing his opinion of Michael Flynn. "It will be possible to say something only after some appointments to positions in Trump’s future team have been made. At this point we have nothing but forecasts and rumors," Peskov told the media. (TASS, 11.18.16)
• Donald Trump on Nov. 18 announced the appointment of Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney-general, which would make the Alabama conservative who backed Trump’s call for a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border the country’s top prosecutor. Sessions has long supported increased military spending and tough talk about the threat Russia poses to the U.S. and its allies in Europe, though he seems to have modified his position somewhat since becoming an adviser to Trump. (Financial Times, 11.18.16, USA Today, 08.16.16)
• Add another name to the list for potential U.S. secretary of defense: Sen. Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, a 39-year-old veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Cotton wove a careful line in an interview on Nov. 17, warning about Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin—who has received nothing but praise from the president-elect—“has to have a new set of boundaries,” Cotton said in a half-hour conversation at a conference. (New York Times, 11.18.16)
• Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was rumored to be the leading candidate as Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state this week. In remarks made on Nov. 14 Giuliani described Russia as both a friend and a foe. Giuliani also said Trump would likely focus much of his initial foreign-policy strategy on destroying the Islamic State. Records show Giuliani has had ties dating to at least 2004 to TriGlobal, a company that has provided image consulting to Russian oligarchs and clients with deep Kremlin ties. (CNN, 11.13.16, Wall Street Journal, 11.14.16, Wall Street Journal, 11.14.16, Wall Street Journal, 11.14.16, New York Times, 11.16.16)
• With confirmation concerns increasing for President-elect Donald Trump's top two picks to run the State Department, Rudy Giuliani and John Bolton, top officials are now considering California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a top House foreign policy expert, according to sources. Trump also reportedly plans to meet on Nov. 19 with Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and a fierce Trump critic, and may discuss whether he should be a candidate for secretary of state. (Washington Examiner, 11.15.16, Reuters, 11.18.16)
• Representative Mike Pompeo is the U.S. president-elect’s pick to direct the Central Intelligence Agency. While on C-SPAN in February 2016, Pompeo referred to Edward Snowden as a “traitor” and suggested that he get the death sentence. “He should be brought back from Russia and given due process, and I think the proper outcome would be that he would be given a death sentence,” Pompeo said. (New York Times, 11.18.16, Russia Today, 11.18.16)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin is not scheduled to have separate contacts with U.S. President Barack Obama, but they may meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. (TASS, 11.14.16)
• A top Kremlin aide has accused U.S. President Barack Obama's administration of trying to damage ties with Moscow ahead of the upcoming presidency of Donald Trump. Yuri Ushakov said the administration was "doing everything it can to drive bilateral ties into … a deadlock" that will make it hard for the incoming Trump administration to reestablish productive ties "if it wishes to do so." (RFE/RL, 11.17.16)
• Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has told journalists that his ministry would continue to maintain relations with the Donald Trump team as the Republican candidate took office. "The Russian side is ready, without wasting time, to begin the work to fix the current state of relations with the U.S., which have been taken to a crisis, a deadlock by the outgoing administration," he said. (RFE/RL, 11.14.16, Moscow Times, 11.14.16)
• As President-elect Donald Trump talks about normalizing relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Republicans in Congress are moving to stake out a tough stance against Russia. The effort started with the House passing a bill to sanction anyone who supports the Syrian government in the ongoing civil war there. And a range of lawmakers are preparing other possible measures, arguing that the United States should be taking a harder line against a country and a leader they view as a dangerous threat. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.)—who has been mentioned as a secretary of state candidate in a Trump administration—said "there's going to be much more opportunity for bipartisan passage" of bills pertaining to Russia. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) promised "a package that would help our Eastern European allies better deal with the threats they face from Russia," including broad defense aid "to make it harder for Russia to advance beyond where they are today." Graham said he disagreed with Trump’s views about Moscow and feared that Putin would take advantage while Trump is figuring out his policy, including by cementing Kremlin influence in Ukraine after seizing the Crimea region in 2014. "[Trump] wants to reset with Russia. Maybe he can do it, but here's my view about Russia: They're a bad actor in the world, they need to be reined in," Graham said Nov. 15. (Washington Post, 11.16.16, Wall Street Journal, 11.16.16)
• Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, warned Nov. 15 against rapprochement with Moscow after what appeared to be an amicable phone call the day before between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. “At the very least, the price of another ‘reset’ would be complicity in Putin and Assad’s butchery of the Syrian people,” McCain said. (Wall Street Journal, 11.16.16)
• "I don't look at Russia as a partner, I look at it as a bully, and a country that has interfered with so many other countries," said Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Ben Cardin (D-Md.), citing Russia's conduct in Ukraine and recent bombings in Syria that are "preventing us from resolving a civil war, dealing with humanitarian needs and concentrating on ISIS.” (Washington Post, 11.16.16)
• In an interview with Foreign Policy, senior Republican lawmaker Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Donald Trump has been unfairly criticized for his stance on Russia and predicted the next U.S. president would show resolve with Moscow. “Name a secretary of state or a president in the last 15 years who hasn’t said we are going to work with the Russians,” he said. “Our biggest intel failure since 9/11 is our inability to understand Putin’s plans and intentions,” Nunes told FP. “It’s been a huge intelligence failure. But it’s also been a civilian side of government failure too.” (Foreign Policy, 11.14.16).
• U.S. President-elect Donald Trump sought out the advice of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on China, Russia, Iran and Europe, his office said Nov. 17. "I have tremendous respect for Dr. Kissinger and appreciate him sharing his thoughts with me," Trump said, adding without giving details that they discussed China, Russia, Iran, Europe and broader world affairs. (RFE/RL, 11.18.16)
• The U.S. has placed six Russian lawmakers from Crimea under international sanctions, the U.S. Treasury has confirmed. Dmitry Belik, Andrey Kozenko, Konstantin Bakharev, Svetlana Savchenko, Ruslan Balbek and Pavel Shperov represent the peninsula in Russia's lower house of parliament. (Moscow Times, 11.15.16)
• Moscow and the United States might soon restart talks to overturn the ban on American families adopting Russian children. Thanks to the election of Donald Trump in the United States, the chances of returning to the negotiating table are significantly higher, Russia’s ombudsman for children’s rights, Anna Kuznetsova, said at a meeting Nov. 15, according to the RBC news agency. (Moscow Times, 11.15.16)
• Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman who has made caustic, sarcastic statements a staple of her public outreach, has an idea whom U.S. President-elect Donald Trump can thank for his stunning victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton: "the Jews." In an appearance that has triggered accusations of anti-Semitism, Zakharova suggested on a nationally televised talk show over the weekend that money from Jewish contributors played a key role in Trump's win. (RFE/RL, 11.17.16)
• A Soyuz capsule has blasted off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome, carrying a three-person crew headed for the International Space Station. The capsule lifted off from the steppes of western Kazakhstan early Nov. 18 local time, carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA's Peggy Whitson. (RFE/RL, 11.17.16)
• The Russian branch of Amnesty International announced Nov. 18 its plans to return to its Moscow office, seized by the city authorities earlier this month. (Moscow Times, 11.18.16)
• Stanford professor Michael McFaul, who served as the United States’ high-profile ambassador to Russia from 2012 until 2014, has reportedly been added to the Kremlin’s sanctions list. (Moscow Times, 11.11.16)
• Ever since Vladimir Putin appointed him in 2013, propagandist-in-chief Dmitry Kiselyov has blamed the U.S. for most of Russia's and the world's troubles. But this weekend, during his weekly Sunday night show, Dmitry Kiselyov changed his tune. “In Russia, there is no real anti-Americanism,” Kiselyov told his viewers. “Russia has a lot of trust in Trump.” (Moscow Times, 11.14.16)
• U.S. citizen Julio Prieto, 29, has been deported from Russia after illegally entering the country in search of "a better life," Russian media reported Nov. 14. (Washington Post, 11.15.16)

II. Russia’s domestic news

Politics, economy and energy:

• Vladimir Putin is setting up a team to ensure he wins a fourth term with a wide margin in 2018, according to five people close to the process. The effort is led by former nuclear-power chief Sergei Kirienko, who was appointed last month as the Kremlin’s head of domestic politics and is expected to lead the campaign when it’s announced publicly, probably late next year, said one of the people, all of whom asked not to be identified to discuss confidential deliberations. (Bloomberg, 11.17.16)
• "We estimate potential growth rates are below 2% if no structural changes are implemented," Central Bank chair Elvira Nabiullina said Nov. 14. The Central Bank expects oil prices to remain around $40 per barrel for the next three years.TASS,
• Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov says his country has used 4.7 trillion rubles ($72.6 billion) from the government's Reserve Fund to cover budget deficits over the last two years. (RFE/RL, 11.18.16)
• A combination of Russia’s worst currency crisis since 1998 and an unprecedented slide in real wages for most of the past two years has resulted in salaries that have become “broadly competitive” with China’s for the first time since the tsarist era, according to Renaissance Capital. At $558 last year, the average salary in Russia has dropped by almost 30% since 2011, taking it close to incomes in fellow ex-Soviet republics like Kazakhstan, according to the Higher School of Economics. That has companies from South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. to U.S. candy maker Mars Inc. flocking in in search of cheaper labor costs. (Bloomberg, 11.17.16)
• Investors are betting on a new era of improved U.S.-Russian relations following Donald Trump’s victory—anticipating that a possible easing of economic sanctions and a reduced risk of capital flight will make the ruble more robust than other emerging market currencies. At the end of last week, the ruble escaped the worst of a brutal sell-off in emerging market currencies that followed Trump’s election success. (Financial Times, 11.13.16)
• The Russian government has cut temporary residence quotas for foreign nationals and stateless individuals by 15,000 in 2017, according to a decree published Nov. 18. (Moscow Times, 11.18.16)
• The leader of Russia’s Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov, has warned Finance Minister Anton Siluanov that 43 of Russia's regions are on the verge of bankruptcy. (Moscow Times, 11.18.16)
• Russia is set to begin dismantling the nuclear icebreaker Sibir at the Nerpa Shipyard north of Murmansk in 2017, marking the first time ever that such an atomic vessel has been broken down. (Bellona, 11.14.16)
• Russian scientists have discovered unusually high levels of radiation on Severny Island, which is part of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Kara Sea. (Lenta.ru/RBTH, 11.16.16)
• A Moscow court has upheld a decision to include the Levada Center pollster in a list of NGO “foreign agents.” (Moscow Times, 11.18.16)
• Almost two-thirds of Russians support internet censorship, a report by the Levada Center said Nov. 18. (Moscow Times, 11.18.16)

Defense and aerospace:

• Russia is working to develop new weapons to ensure a global strategic balance, President Vladimir Putin said Nov. 18. Putin, speaking to top military leaders at his residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, said that Russia, like other nations, is working on state-of-the art arms technologies, including laser, hypersonic and robotic weapons. (AP, 11.18.16)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia’s military has “increased many times over” the number of drills it conducts, including snap drills, “which for some reason from time to time worries our counterparts.”(RFE/RL, 11.12.16)
• Russian defense enterprises are to build a heavy-duty radar station to warn of potential missile strikes on Russia. The Voronezh-DM type radar station will be deployed in Russia's northwest near the city of Murmansk, where it "will cover the main missile-threat direction" in the western area. (RBTH, 11.18.16)
• Russia will fully rearm its missile troops with advanced Iskander-M tactical systems, Chief of Missile Forces and Artillery Lt.-Gen. Mikhail Matveyevsky said Nov. 18. Missile units in the Southern and Eastern Military Districts have been fully rearmed with the advanced Iskander-M systems, the general said. (TASS/RBTH, 11.18.16)

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev has appeared in a Moscow city court to face corruption allegations after he was arrested by agents from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) late Nov. 14 and charged the following day with accepting a $2 million bribe. He was placed under house arrest. Russia's state-run news agency reported Nov. 16 that more officials could be targeted in the corruption probe. (Moscow Times, 11.15.16, Washington Post, 11.16.16)
• Police searched the offices of the Russian state technology firm Rusnano, the Meduza news agency reported Nov 16. (Moscow Times, 11.16.16)
• Russia’s Supreme Court on Nov. 16 scrapped a criminal conviction against whistle-blowing opposition leader Alexei Navalny and sent the case for retrial, opening the door for his potential run for office. (AP, 11.16.16)
• Transparency International has rated Russia as one of the most corrupt countries in Europe and Central Asia in its 2016 Global Corruption Barometer. "Studies suggest that corruption is perceived by Russians as the third most important problem in the country after the economic situation and the respondents' health; corruption is a more important topic than education, unemployment and crime," the report states. (Moscow Times, 11.16.16)

III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment

General developments and relations with “far abroad” countries:

• America's European allies are insisting that the West must not compromise on its principles or weaken its support for Ukraine, in response to a call this week between President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Nov. 15, Germany’s defense minister said Trump's desire for dialogue was "completely understandable," but she issued a pointed reminder that "it's also important not to forget our principles," noting Russia's annexation of Crimea and its hybrid war in Ukraine. (Wall Street Journal, 11.15.16)
• EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini says the European Union will not change its policy towards Russia even if the United States were to alter its position under the administration of incoming president Donald Trump. Mogherini made her comments after a special EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels on Nov. 13 to discuss the results of the U.S. presidential election. European foreign ministers have also signaled a determination to maintain their opposition to Russia’s encroachment in eastern Ukraine. European sanctions against Russia are set to be renewed next month as diplomats question whether Trump’s election will result in pressure to dilute the penalties after he takes office in January. (RFE/RL, 11.14.16, Financial Times, 11.10.16, Bloomberg, 11.14.16)
• The head of Germany's domestic BfV intelligence agency has expressed concern that Russia may try to interfere in the country's general elections next year. Chancellor Angela Merkel said last week that there were signs of internet attacks and misinformation campaigns from Russia. (RFE//RL, 11.16.16)
• Germany's popular foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is set to become the country's next president despite Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition parties' initial opposition to the appointment. Steinmeier has signaled willingness to re-engage with Russia's President Vladimir Putin. (Wall Street Journal, 11.14.16)
• Prosecutors in Montenegro have released the names of two Russian citizens who they say attempted to organize the assassination of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic in October. Prosecutors on Nov. 18 identified the two Russians as Eduard Shirokov and Vladimir Popov and accused them of organizing a criminal group with the aim of murdering Djukanovic and inciting a coup in order to prevent the country from joining NATO. (RFE/RL, 11.18.16)
• Donald “Trump understood something of fundamental importance: The Russian Federation needs be considered a full-fledged Western country,” said former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, echoing sentiments that Putin has voiced repeatedly. “We need Russia to face—together—the dramatic problems of the international arena: from Islamist extremism to the wave of migrants. Up until now President Putin has shown himself capable of facing the challenges of our time before and better than the other international leaders.” (Washington Post, 11.13.16)
• The Shanghai Cooperation Organization will welcome India and Pakistan as full members at its next annual summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, in June 2017. (RBTH, 11.16.16)
• Peru's president told RT television that Pacific-rim countries should forge a new trade deal with China and Russia if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, as expected, scraps the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement supported by President Barack Obama. (RFE/RL, 11.12.16)
• “You know, if China and Russia would decide to create a new order, I will be the first to join,” Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said. (Financial Times, 11.17.16)
• Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik has said that Ankara is in talks with Moscow regarding the purchase of S-400 air defense systems. He made the statement when asked about Turkey’s plans for building up its air defense potential. (TASS, 11.18.16)
• Russia has not formally signed a contract to sell the Sukhoi Su-35S Flanker-E and S-400 surface-to-air missile system to China. Right now Moscow has only agreed in principle to such a sale of advanced weapons. (National Interest, 11.15.16)
• The Polish government has exhumed the bodies of late President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria in Kraków as part of its re-opened investigation into the 2010 Smolensk plane crash. (Moscow Times, 11.15.16)
• Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev held talks with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in Jericho on Nov. 11. (RFE/RL, 11.11.16)
• An Israeli minister discovered this week that drones don't actually make good presents, especially when they might contain sensitive technology and are bestowed to Russian prime ministers. The United States is asking Israel for clarification about the $50,000 gift, which could have contained American-made thermal and infrared cameras. (Washington Post, 11.17.16)

Ukraine:

• U.S. President Barack Obama and EU leaders agreed on Nov. 18 to keep economic sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis as they put on a show of transatlantic unity on the U.S. leader’s farewell trip to Europe. On Ukraine, the six government heads said sanctions must remain until the Minsk peace accord agreed in 2015 was implemented. Germany’s Angela Merkel said: “The situation in Ukraine has not improved… There is a lack of visible progress on Minsk.” (Financial Times, 11.18.16)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree for Russia to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. On Nov. 15, the ICC released a decision recognizing the existence of an international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which also classified Russia's presence in the Crimean peninsula as a military occupation.(Moscow Times, 11.16.16)
• Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called for Washington’s "resolute support … in countering Russian aggression," in a phone call with President-elect Donald Trump. He said the two agreed to meet in the future and that the groundwork was being laid for Poroshenko to visit Washington early in 2017. He did not mention a specific date. (RFE/RL, 11.15.16)
• "The big loser of the [U.S. presidential] election is Ukraine," tweeted Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Moscow. In private, some Ukrainian politicians agreed. One lawmaker said the concern was a "primal fear of losing support in the face of Russian aggression." Pressed about Trump's statement on Crimea, Oksana Syroyid, a deputy chair of Ukraine's parliament, said: "I resent that. I hope that since the campaign is over he'll reconsider." (Washington Post, 11.17.16)
• Donald Trump will have about six weeks to make a critical decision concerning the Ukraine-related sanctions after he takes office. Executive Order 13660, which declared a "national emergency" to deal with the Ukraine crisis and served as the foundation for the sanctions regime, expires in the first week of March. (RFE/RL, 11.13.16.)
• A UN General Assembly committee has passed a Ukraine-sponsored resolution condemning the human rights situation in Crimea. The resolution was supported by 73 states, including the U.S., UK, Canada and many EU countries. A total of 23 states voted against, including Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Venezuela, China and India, while 76 countries abstained. (TASS, 11.16.16)
• The United States joined Ukraine in voting against a United Nations resolution condemning the glorification of Nazism, citing freedom of speech concerns and saying Russia sponsored the measure as a political attack against Ukraine. The resolution was approved by the UN's human rights committee on Nov. 17 by 131 to 3. Joining the United States in voting "no" were Palau and Ukraine, where a far-right, vehemently anti-Russian party recently was formed with a symbol resembling a Nazi Wolfsangel. (RFE/RL, 11.18.16)
• Kiev and some of its international supporters fear Donald Trump will seek a “grand bargain” with Vladimir Putin to improve U.S.-Russian relations, sacrificing Ukraine in the process. That could involve ceding a “sphere of influence” to Moscow, as the Russian president has implicitly demanded. (Financial Times, 11.11.16)
• After months of wrangling, ambassadors for EU member states agreed to grant short-term travel privileges to Ukrainians on condition that the scheme can be suspended in an emergency. This legislation could take several weeks to agree, diplomats said. (Financial Times, 11.18.16)
• Ilya Bogdanov, a former Russian Federal Security Service officer who defected to Ukraine, has disappeared in Kiev, according to a statement by Ukraine's National Police. (Moscow Times, 11.14.16)
• The Ukrainian military and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have reported a sharp increase in fighting in the country's east in recent days.(RFE/RL, 11.11.16)
• Russian security forces in the Crimean city of Simferopol claim to have arrested an armed Ukrainian spy. (Moscow Times, 11.16.16)
• Fitch Ratings upgraded Ukraine's debt rating to B- from CCC on Nov. 11, citing easing financial pressures following Kiev’s receipt of loans from the IMF. (RFE/RL, 11.12.16)
• Production of Ukraine’s seven biggest crops will jump to a record 85.8 million metric tons in the 2016-2017 season, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Grain exports are forecast by Kiev-based UkrAgroConsult to rise 6% to a record 40.7 million tons. (Bloomberg, 11.18.16)
• Ukrainian authorities locked down the heart of the capital on Nov. 15 as hundreds of demonstrators protested outside government buildings over poor economic conditions and rising prices for vital necessities such as natural gas and bread. (RFE/RL, 11.15.16)
• An RFE/RL investigation has found previously undeclared luxury properties in Spain belonging to: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko; Ihor Kononenko, a deputy head of the president's Bloc of Petro Poroshenko party and onetime business partner; and Oleh Hladkovskyy, a deputy secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council. (RFE/RL, 11.14.16)
• Former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili said on Nov. 11 that he would found a political party in Ukraine, after he accused the country's elite of rampant corruption and quit his post as a regional governor. (Wall Street Journal, 11.11.16)
• Ukraine’s police chief Khatiya Dekanoidze, who was driving reforms through the country’s notoriously corrupt police force, has resigned after a year in the job, complaining of government pressure. (AP, 11.14.16)
• President Petro Poroshenko was striving to turn things around when he handed out Ukrainian passports to three foreigners in December 2014 and gave them senior ministerial posts. All of them are now gone—including the U.S.-born investment banker and one-time Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko. (AFP, 11.16.16)
• Transparency International said that within the European Union, Spaniards were the most likely to see corruption as one of the biggest problems. Other countries seen by their citizens as having the biggest corruption problems were Moldova, Kosovo, Slovenia and Ukraine. Moldovans and Ukrainians also topped the list of those believing their politicians are corrupt, with 76% and 64%, respectively. In addition, 86 of Ukrainians rated their government as being bad at fighting corruption, followed by 84 percent of Moldovans. (AP, 11.15.16)
• Ukraine’s prime minister has said the country’s economic situation has improved and the government intends to increase pensions and wages. (RFE/RL, 11.17.16)
• The process of sliding an arched structure into place to shield the damaged Unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant started on Nov. 14, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has said. (World Nuclear News, 11.14.16)
• Ukraine's largest file-hosting website, Ex.ua, has said it will close as the country’s cyber police crack down on internet services allowing copyrighted music, video and software to be illegally downloaded. (RFE/RL, 11.17.16)

Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:

• The Kremlin is hoping to revive ties with Bulgaria and Moldova after both countries saw pro-Russia candidates elected as president, the Interfax news agency reported Nov. 14. Bulgarian Rumen Radev and Moldovan Igor Dodon were victorious in their respective countries in presidential elections Nov. 13. Both pledged to restore better ties with Moscow during their campaigns. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has announced he will resign after Moscow-friendly Socialist party candidate Radev won. (RFE/RL, 11.14.16) (Moscow Times, 11.14.16)

• President Vladimir Putin has approved a government proposal on creating joint Russian and Armenian military forces, the Interfax news agency has reported. One of the joint forces' main tasks will be to cover Russia and Armenia's land borders and work within the Collective Security Treaty Organization. (Moscow Times, 11.14.16)
• Belarus’s president has said the country’s GDP will decline by 2 percent for 2016. (RFE/RL, 11.17.16)
• Turkey and Belarus plan to boost bilateral trade to $1 billion, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Nov. 11 after talks with his Belarusian counterpart Aleksandr Lukashenka. (RFE/RL, 11.12.16)
• European Union foreign ministers have given the green light to draw up a new "comprehensive agreement" on closer ties with Azerbaijan. (RFE/RL, 11.14.16)
• Yerevan has been obligated to buy Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles system to balance the volatile military situation in the Caucasus region, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has said.(RBTH, 11.18.16)
• The next Eastern Partnership Summit will take place in Brussels in November 2017, according to a draft report prepared by EU member states and seen by RFE/RL. (RFE/RL, 11.11.16)
• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is visiting Turkmenistan, an energy-rich ex-Soviet Central Asian nation, for the first time. (AP, 11.14.16)
• Russia's Atomtechenergo has received a license to provide services involving nuclear energy and sources of ionizing radiation in Belarus. (World Nuclear News, 11.14.16)
• Moldova’s outgoing president, Nicolae Timofti, said his country’s constitutionally mandated neutrality is “invalid as long as forces of the Russian Federation are present on the territory of Trans-Dniester contrary to our will.” (RFE/RL, 11.18.16)
• Moldovan authorities have arrested the country’s consul in Istanbul, accusing him of taking bribes from Middle Eastern people in exchange for visas and other documents. (RFE/RL, 11.17.16)
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has paid his respects at the grave of former Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who died earlier this year after more than 25 years running the Central Asian country. (RFE/RL, 11.18.16)

News items for this digest curated by Simon Saradzhyan, director of the Russia Matters Project.