This Week’s Highlights:

• Senior Russian and U.S. diplomats will attend a meeting of the five main nuclear states in Beijing on Jan. 30-31 in what may be the last chance to save the INF Treaty before Washington launches a 6-month withdrawal procedure on Feb. 2, according to media reports. 
• The U.S. National Intelligence Strategy released in Washington on Jan. 22 says Russia's efforts to expand its influence and the modernization of China's military are among the "ever more diverse" threats facing the United States.
• The relationship between the world’s three most important powers—Russia, the United States and China—has “never been as dysfunctional” as it is today, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the World Economic Forum in Davos.
• U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told World Economic Forum attendees that Washington and Moscow are not "doomed to a Cold War rivalry," while Russian air traffic controllers based in the Far East ordered pizza for their Alaskan counterparts affected by the U.S. government shutdown, according to media reports.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has "expressed support" for his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, while Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, warned the United States on Jan. 24 not to intervene militarily in Venezuela, various news outlets said.
• The Russian government’s statistical service estimates that Russia saw its population decline last year for the first time since 2008 as the inflow of migrants thinned for economic reasons, no longer making up for the difference between births and deaths, according to Kommersant. The population declined by almost 87,000 in 2018 (meanwhile, 5,500 foreigners who traveled to Russia visa-free for the midsummer World Cup have reportedly not yet left).
• A poll by VTsIOM found recently that trust in Vladimir Putin has fallen to 33.4 percent, its lowest level since 2006, according to Reuters.

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

Nuclear security and safety:

• The U.S. National Intelligence Strategy report released on Jan. 22 points to U.S. “government efforts to counter the spread of violent extremist ideology that drives terrorist actions.” “The enduring and evolving nature of the threat, to include the threat of WMD terrorism, means that the IC [intelligence community] must continue to pursue innovative approaches to collection and analysis to ensure counterterrorism efforts remain effective, efficient and fully integrated,” according to the report. (RFE/RL, 01.23.19, Russia Matters, 01.23.19)
• Jennifer Glover alleged that fellow guards taking part in a training exercise at the U.S. Energy Department’s highly classified Nevada National Security Site sexually asaulted her. (New York Times, 01.25.19)

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:

• No significant developments.

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

• Iran has not been invited to a global conference on the Middle East in Warsaw next month and Russia has declined the invitation. (RFE/RL, 01.21.19)

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

• NATO ships spent 120 days in the Black Sea in 2018, up 50 percent on 2017. (Financial Times, 01.24.19)
• The U.S. House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a bill affirming congressional support for NATO, amid renewed concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump's commitment to the alliance. (RFE/RL, 01.23.19)
• One of Europe's most enduring political disputes came to a formal end Jan. 25, with Greece's parliament approving an agreement that allows Macedonia to change its name and eventually join NATO and the EU. (The Washington Post, 01.25.19)
• American and Taliban negotiators are making headway on a deal in which the U.S. would withdraw troops from Afghanistan in return for a pledge by the Taliban not to allow the country to host terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. (New York Times, 01.24.19)

Missile defense:

• The Russian Foreign Ministry on Jan. 25 called on the U.S. to drop what it called irresponsible plans to deploy a missile defense system in space, saying the move risked fueling an arms race. (The Moscow Times, 01.25.19)

Nuclear arms control:

• Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and U.S. Under Secretary of State Andrea Thompson will attend a meeting of five main nuclear states in Beijing on Jan. 30-31. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, it was Russia that suggested to the U.S. that a separate meeting on the issue should be convened in Beijing on the sidelines of a meeting of the five main nuclear states. However, Thompson said it was the U.S. that offered to hold talks on arm control issues with Russia in Beijing. Thompson told reporters the talks almost certainly would include a dispute over the INF Treaty. (TASS, 01.23.19, The Moscow Times, 01.24.19)
  • Chinese authorities said they welcome the possible dialogue between Russia and the U.S. on the nuclear issue in Beijing. (TASS, 01.25.19)
• The meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Brussels on Jan. 25 failed to resolve a dispute over a new Russian missile that Western allies say is a threat to Europe, bringing closer Washington's withdrawal from the INF Treaty. At the meeting, envoys from NATO's 29 members called on Moscow's deputy foreign minister to destroy the cruise missile system. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the closed-door meeting that it was the U.S. that was breaching the treaty. (Reuters, 01.25.19)
  • One NATO diplomat said the U.S. ambassador to the alliance told the assembled diplomats and officials that Washington would start the pull-out process from the INF on Feb. 2. The U.S. embassy was not immediately available for comment. (Reuters, 01.25.19)
• Russia showed foreign military attaches and journalists the 9M729 cruise missile system on Jan. 23 that the U.S. says breaches the INF Treaty, its latest attempt to disprove an allegation it denies and stop Washington quitting the treaty. A top military official told the briefing the cruise missile was a modernized version of Russia's 9M728 missile. The newer version had a maximum range of 480 kilometers which meant it was fully compliant with the INF Treaty, Lt. Gen. Mikhail Matveyevsky, head of Russia's Missile Troops and Artillery, said. (Reuters, 01.23.19)
  • Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov—who also participated in the event—said that the U.S. had yet to present any data to prove its contention that the missile violates the treaty. “The treaty must be preserved,” Ryabkov said. However, Ryabkov has also earlier said Washington had made it clear through diplomatic channels that its decision to exit the INF pact was final. (Reuters, 01.23.19, New York Times, 01.23.19)
  • The key statement, made at the briefing by Lt. Gen. Matveyevskiy was that all tests of surface-to-surface missiles conducted in 2008-2014 at the test site were conducted to a range below the INF Treaty limit, according Pavel Podvig, a renowned expert on Russian weapons. In Podvig’s view, the ball is in Washington’s court: If the U.S. wants to insist that it has strong evidence of the violation, it should say explicitly where Russia is wrong. (Russia Matters, 01.24.19)
• Robert Wood, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament, said on Jan. 21 there was "only one path forward" for Moscow to return to compliance with the INF Treaty: to "verifiably destroy all SSC-8 missiles, launchers and associated equipment." Following Wood's comments, Russia's deputy disarmament ambassador, Alexander Deineko, said that "making one-sided allegations is not a constructive way forward." (RFE/RL, 01.21.19)
• “My own deep conviction is that Russia, too, does not very much wish to save this [INF] treaty,” Valery Garbuzov, the director of the Institute for the U.S. and Canadian Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said at a briefing on Jan. 22. (New York Times, 01.23.19)

Counter-terrorism:

• No significant developments.

Conflict in Syria:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Jan. 23 after which Putin said they had discussed plans for stabilizing the situation in Syria's Idlib province. The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier on Jan. 23 that the situation in the region, where Moscow and Ankara have tried to create a de-escalation zone, was rapidly deteriorating and that it was almost under the full control of Nusra militants. Putin and Erdogan also discussed how to divide control of northern Syria when U.S. troops leave. (Reuters, 01.24.19, Wall Street Journal, 01.23.19)
• Russian and Syrian media emphasized that Syrian air defense repelled an attack by Israel on Jan. 20. According to Russia’s National Defense Management Center, the Syrians used the Pantsir and Buk air defense systems. The center said Jan. 21 that more than 30 Israeli cruise missiles and guided bombs had been shot down. Some have speculated that Syria’s S-300 operators—who did not participate in repelling of the attack—are not fully trained yet.  Russia said on Jan. 23 that Israel should stop carrying out what it called arbitrary air strikes on Syria.  (The Jerusalem Post, 01.21.19, Reuters, 01.23.19, RFE/RL, 01.21.19)

Cyber security:

• A self-described "transparency collective" has released a massive trove of hacked e-mails and leaked documents from what it describes as "Russian politicians, journalists, oligarchs [and] religious and social figures." The co-founder of the Distributed Denial of Secrets, U.S. journalist Emma Best, said the materials would include various archives of hacked and leaked materials related to Russia that have been difficult for researchers to locate. (RFE/RL, 01.25.19)

Elections interference:

• Roger Stone, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, has been arrested on several criminal charges connected to special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Stone's arrest on Jan. 25 came after he was indicted and charged on Jan. 24 with seven counts, according to a grand-jury indictment that was made public by Mueller's office. (RFE/RL, 01.25.19)
• U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen indefinitely postponed his upcoming congressional testimony Jan. 23, citing "ongoing threats against his family from President Trump" and his attorney Rudolph Giuliani. (The Washington Post, 01.24.19)
• Special counsel Robert Mueller's office has disputed a report in BuzzFeed News that U.S. President Donald Trump directed his former lawyer to lie to Congress about a real estate project in Moscow as Congressional Democrats vowed to investigate allegations. (RFE/RL, 01.19.19)
• Attorneys for Paul Manafort filed a sealed response Jan. 23 to government allegations the former Trump campaign chairman lied to investigators and broke his plea deal. (The Washington Post, 01.23.19)
• The House Judiciary Committee wants to know if acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker has ever been briefed on special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and, if so, whether Whitaker shared any such information with U.S. President Donald Trump or his lawyers. (The Washington Post, 01.23.19)
• U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized Russia for its alleged interference into elections in the United States and other countries. "These aren't the behaviors of nations that want to be part of the international community," Pompeo said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. (RFE/RL, 01.23.19)
• Emin Agalarov, the Moscow pop star who arranged the now-infamous Trump Tower meeting in New York, abruptly canceled his U.S. tour, citing the risk of being detained. (Bloomberg, 01.22.19)
• Anastasia Vashukevich, the model from Belarus who claimed to have evidence of Russian interference in U.S. President Donald Trump's election, was freed from Russian police custody on Jan. 22, but remains a suspect in an unrelated criminal case. (The Moscow Times, 01.22.19)

Energy exports:

• Ukraine and Russia should be able to reach an agreement by the end of 2019 on the transportation of natural gas to the EU, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said after chairing a meeting with Russian and Ukrainian officials. (RFE/RL, 01.21.19)
• The White House is weighing a new round of executive actions, including possible executive orders, to boost the U.S. energy industry in an attempt to portray strength against Russia. The moves the White House is considering include possible executive orders that would weaken states’ power to block energy projects and ease the construction of new pipelines. (Politico, 01.23.19)

Bilateral economic ties:

• No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

• The U.S. National Intelligence Strategy report released on Jan. 22 says Russia's efforts to expand its influence and the modernization of China's military are among the "ever more diverse" threats facing the U.S. “Russian efforts to increase its influence and authority are likely to continue and may conflict with U.S. goals and priorities in multiple regions,” according to the report, which comes out every four years. “Russia and China will continue to pursue a full range of anti-satellite weapons as a means to reduce U.S. military effectiveness and overall security,” the report says. (RFE/RL, 01.23.19, Russia Matters, 01.23.19)
• U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told the World Economic Forum in Davos that Washington and Moscow are not "doomed to a Cold War rivalry," but "it has been a struggle" to reduce the risk of confrontation with Russia. Pompeo said the Kremlin needed to change its "outlook and behavior," and that talks were needed with Moscow to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. (RFE/RL, 01.23.19)
• The top diplomat in charge of European affairs at the U.S. State Department has resigned after 16 months. As assistant secretary of European and Eurasian affairs, A. Wess Mitchell oversaw the Trump administration’s turbulent relationships with the EU and NATO, as well with as Russia and Turkey. (Financial Times, 01.22.19)
• “The relationship between the three most important powers, Russia, the United States and China, has never been as dysfunctional as it is today,” U.N. chief Antonio Guterres told the World Economic Forum in Davos. (Dawn, 01.25.19)
• Russia was named the second-most powerful and influential country on the global arena as it returned to the top 25 list of countries ranked for the Davos economic forum in the U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Countries” report. (The Moscow Times, 01.23.19)
• An agreement that the companies controlled by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska negotiated with the Trump administration contains provisions that free him from hundreds of millions of dollars in debt while leaving him and his allies with majority ownership of his most important company, the document shows. (New York Times, 01.21.19)
• Russian oligarchs Arkady and Boris Rotenberg have been forced by their Swiss bank to sell their private jets on the back of U.S. sanctions, Forbes Russia reports. (The Moscow Times, 01.23.19)
• Russia's communication watchdog said on Jan. 21 it was opening administrative proceedings against Twitter and Facebook for failing to explain how they plan to comply with local data laws. (Reuters, 01.22.19)
• A lawyer for Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine jailed in Russia on an espionage charge, says his client did not know that a USB stick he was given in his hotel room moments before his arrest contained state secrets. A Moscow court on Jan. 22 denied bail to Whelan. (RFE/RL, 01.22.19, Wall Street Journal, 01.22.19)
• Taking a page out of their Canadian colleagues’ book, air traffic controllers based in Far East Russia have reportedly ordered pizza for their American neighbors across the Bering Strait. “We found the nearest pizza place on Google Maps, ordered it online, paid and gave the address,” Magadan-based dispatcher Dmitry Nikitin said. (The Moscow Times, 01.23.19)

II. Russia’s domestic news

Politics, economy and energy:

• The Russian government’s statistical service estimates that Russia saw its population decline last year for the first time since 2008 as the inbound flow of migrants thinned due to economic reasons and no longer compensates for the difference between births and deaths, according to Kommersant. The population declined by almost 87,000 in 2018. (Russia Matters, 01.24.19)
• Police have said that around 5,500 foreigners who traveled to Russia visa-free for the midsummer football tournament in 2018 are yet to leave, state media reported on Jan. 25. (The Moscow Times. 01.25.19)
• A poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) found that trust in Russian President Vladimir Putin had fallen to 33.4 percent, its lowest level since 2006. (Reuters, 01.22.19)
• According to a survey by a public relations firm, only 23 percent of Russians said they trusted NGOs, 26 percent said they trusted the media and 34 percent said they trusted their government. (The Moscow Times, 01.22.19)
• Russian lawmakers have given tentative approval to bills prohibiting the spread of fake news online and punishing those who insult authorities with jail terms of up to 15 days, in measures the opposition says are aimed at curbing dissent. (RFE/RL, 01.25.19)
• Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin is lobbying for constitutional changes that would expand the power of the Duma in an attempt to improve the relative balance of power and checks and balances within government. (Bear Market Brief, 01.22.19)
• Dmitry Kislitsyn, the Kemerovo region ombudsman, says a growing number of children have been fainting from hunger at school, suggesting that they cannot afford to buy lunch. (RFE/RL, 01.23.19)
• Russians reportedly took out 8.61 trillion rubles ($130 billion) in loans last year as real personal incomes declined. (The Moscow Times, 01.24.19)
• Retail sales growth slowed in Russia in December as real wages grew at the slowest pace in 16 months. (Bloomberg, 01.25.19)
• Customers across Russia owe a regional subsidiary of gas giant Gazprom 30.1 billion rubles ($455 million) in accumulated debt. (The Moscow Times, 01.23.19)
• According to the Russian Central Bank’s latest figures published Jan. 21, Russia’s public and private debt declined by 12.4 percent to $453.75 billion as of Dec. 31—its lowest level since April 1, 2009. (The Moscow Times, 01.22.19)
• With 90 million users, Russia is Europe's largest Internet market, according to East-West Digital News. (Intellinews, 01.22.19)
• The Knight Frank consulting company estimates that foreign investment in Russian real estate last year totaled 59.5 billion rubles ($899 million), coming second only to the 70 billion rubles invested in 2012. (The Moscow Times, 01.25.19)
• Russian authorities have raided the homes of six activists of the Open Russia civic movement in Rostov-on-Don and Kazan and opened a criminal investigation against one of them, according to Amnesty International. (RFE/RL, 01.21.19)
• Amnesty International has declared the first activist to be prosecuted under Russia’s law against “undesirable organizations” a prisoner of conscience on Jan. 25. The activist is Anastasia Shevchenko and she is coordinator for the pro-democracy NGO Open Russia, (The Moscow Times, 01.25.19)

Defense and aerospace:

• At least three crew members were killed and one injured when a Tu-22M3 bomber crashed in northwestern Russia on Jan. 22. (The Moscow Times, 01.22.19)
• A new Russian stealth drone has been reportedly photographed in detail for what may be the first time in Siberia. Military analysts said the first grainy images of Okhotnik, an unmanned combat air vehicle built by the Sukhoi design bureau, may have appeared online as early as 2017. (The Moscow Times, 01.24.19)

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• At least three armed suspects who attacked traffic police in Kabardino-Balkaria on Jan. 24 have been shot and killed, investigators have said. (The Moscow Times, 01.25.19)

III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment

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

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has "expressed support" to his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro. Moscow on Jan. 24 condemned foreign powers for backing Maduro rival Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim president. Guaido’s move was recognized by the U.S., Canada and some Latin American and European countries. Russia, China, Iran, Syria, Cuba and Turkey were among the countries voicing their backing for Maduro's government. (RFE/RL, 01.25.19)
  • Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called events in Caracas a "quasi-coup." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the opposition to Maduro was becoming "pawns in someone else's very dirty and criminal game." Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, on Jan. 24 warned the U.S. not to intervene militarily in Venezuela. (The Washington Post, 01.24.19, Reuters, 01.24.19)
  • Dmitry Rozental, a scholar at the Latin America Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said further instability could increase the risk that Russia will lose a total investment in the Venezuelan economy that he estimated at close to $25 billion. If opposition leader Juan Guaidó gains power, Rozental said, then political and military contacts between Moscow and Caracas would be sure to decrease. (The Washington Post, 01.24.19)
  • Private military contractors who do secret missions for Russia flew into Venezuela in the past few days to beef up security for Maduro in the face of U.S.-backed opposition protests, according to two people close to them. (Reuters, 01.25.19)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has ruled out an imminent deal with Tokyo to end a 70-year territorial dispute after talks with Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, in Moscow failed to achieve a breakthrough. “Of course, solutions proposed by negotiators should be acceptable for the peoples of Russia and Japan, supported by the societies of both our countries,” said Putin. (Financial Times, 01.22.19)
• The head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence agency Sergei Naryshkin on Jan. 21 met Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as the head of the kingdom's intelligence services, according to Interfax. Naryshkin discussed cooperation in the fight against international terrorism with his Saudi counterpart. (Reuters, 01.23.19)
• Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Jan. 23 that private Russian companies were training the army in Sudan, confirming for the first time their presence in a country shaken by protests against its president, a close Russian ally. (Reuters, 01.24.19)
• In 2017, Russia’s trade with Africa rose 26 percent to $17.4 billion. Russia sold twice as much weaponry to African countries in 2017 as it did in 2012, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Between 2013 and 2017, Russia supplied 39 percent of Africa’s imported arms—compared with 17 percent from China and 11 percent from the U.S. (Financial Times, 01.22.19)
• Russia and Serbia have signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in nuclear energy and a joint statement on strategic partnership for the construction of a center of nuclear science, technology and innovation. (World Nuclear News, 01.18.19)
• A Russian prosecutor has asked a court to sentence a Danish man to 6 1/2 years in prison for his affiliation with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the U.S.-based denomination deemed by Russia to be extremist. (RFE/RL, 01.23.19)
• A court in Norway has ordered the detention of a Russian national ahead of his trial for allegedly stabbing a woman at a supermarket in Oslo that police say was the start of a plan to kill several people. (RFE/RL, 01.20.19)
• EU foreign ministers have approved targeted sanctions against two senior Russian military intelligence officials and two men Britain suspects in the nerve-agent poisoning of Sergei Skripal. (RFE/RL, 01.21.19)
• Russia’s Defense Ministry has published video footage of its fighter jets intercepting a Swedish reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea. (The Moscow Times, 01.24.19)
• The director-general of the World Anti-Doping Agency has defended his organization's decision not to impose new penalties against the Russian Anti-Doping Agency for delaying access to data from the Moscow drug-testing laboratory at the center of alleged state-sponsored doping. Russia's athletics federation said on Jan. 25 it would withdraw its appeal against the decision by the global athletics governing body IAAF to prolong its suspension over evidence of state-sponsored doping. (RFE/RL, 01.23.19, The Moscow Times, 01.25.19)

China:

• Russia remained China's top crude oil supplier in 2018 by boosting shipments 20 percent year on year to 1.44 million barrels per day, while the U.S. ended the year with a robust 60 percent growth in shipments to Asia's biggest oil consumer, despite trade tensions squeezing volumes towards the later part of the year. (S&P Global, 01.25.19)

Ukraine:

• A Ukrainian court has found former President Viktor Yanukovych guilty of high treason and sentenced him in absentia to 13 years in prison over attempts to quash a 2014 pro-Western uprising. (RFE/RL, 01.24.19)
• There will be no federal or special status for regions in Ukraine, according to President Petro Poroshenko. (Interfax, 01.22.19)
• Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has officially announced she will run for president, with polls showing her as the front-runner in the March presidential election. (RFE/RL, 01.22.19)
• Volodymyr Zelensky, a popular Ukrainian actor and prospective presidential candidate, appears to have links with several entertainment businesses in Russia, although he denied having any ongoing interests there. (RFE/RL, 01.18.19)
  • At the start of the year, Tymoshenko was in a clear lead with around 21 percent of those that said they were going to vote voting for her. That put her about 7 points ahead of comedian Volodymyr Zelensky in second place and 10 points in front of Poroshenko. Another poll released this week puts Poroshenko neck-and-neck with Tymoshenko, both with 17 percent. The problem is that the pollster that came out with these results, BAML, is an unknown quantity. (BNE Intelligence News, 01.25.19)
• Ukrainian nuclear power plants purchased $341.79 million of Russian-made fuel and $148.53 million of Swedish-made fuel in January-November 2018. (Interfax, 01.22.19)

Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:

• Georgia’s new president Salomé Zourabichvili said in Brussels her country wanted more support from NATO on cyber defense, although she stressed that Tbilisi sought to dampen confrontation with Moscow rather than stoke it. Zourabichvili’s talks on Jan. 23 with Jens Stoltenberg and other top officials included discussion “about ideas to strengthen Black Sea security.” (Financial Times, 01.24.19)
• The arrival of destroyer USS Donald Cook this week in Batumi, a Georgian coastal city, is being closely monitored by Russian forces, its defense ministry said. (Financial Times, 01.24.19)
• Nearly 10 percent of Georgia’s energy output has gone into mining cryptocurrencies. (New York Times, 01.22.19)
• Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev, in Germany as part of his bid to end long years of relative isolation for his Central Asian country, says he wants to bring relations with Germany to “a tangibly new and higher level.” (RFE/RL, 01.22.19)
• Thousands of demonstrators gathered at a sanctioned protest rally in the Azerbaijani capital on Jan. 19 to demand that President Ilham Aliyev's government release Mehman Huseynov, a jailed anticorruption blogger, and other people they consider political prisoners. (RFE/RL, 01.19.19)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with his Moldovan counterpart Igor Dodon next week. (TASS, 01.22.19)

IV. Quoteworthy

• ''The Russians are dancing at every wedding possible,'' wrote Alex Fishman, a military affairs analyst, in the Jan. 21 issue of Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot. ''On the one hand, they've allowed Israel to continue to bomb while, on the other, [they are] trying to interfere with the Israeli air force's ability to do so.'' (New York Times, 01.22.19)

Update: The highlights portion of this digest incorrectly attributed the story about the VTsIOM poll to The Moscow Times.