This Week's Highlights:

• Releasing a new defense "white paper" on July 24, China vowed to step up military cooperation with Russia and accused the U.S. of undermining regional stability, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Sino-Russian military relationship, in contrast, plays “a significant role in maintaining global strategic stability,” the paper said. According to The Washington Post, Chinese army officials also repeatedly warned that Beijing would be willing to use military force to assert its claims over Taiwan.
• Russian and Chinese bombers conducted their first long-range joint air patrol in the Asia-Pacific on July 23. Russia’s Defense Ministry said there had been “no violations of airspaces of foreign countries,” according to the New York Times. However, South Korean fighter jets fired over 300 warning shots at one of the Russian planes participating in the joint patrol after, as Seoul claims, it twice violated South Korea’s airspace above the Sea of Japan.
• Amid a deepening rift between the United States and Russia about the role of non-strategic nuclear weapons, Russia has begun to upgrade an air force nuclear-weapons storage site near Tver, some 90 miles northeast of Moscow, according to the Federation of American Scientists. There are also important upgrades underway at the Mozhaysk-10 storage site about 70 miles west of Moscow.
• In his testimony before Congress Robert Mueller made it clear that he had not exonerated President Donald Trump of acting to obstruct the Russian probe. He disagreed with the president’s characterization of his investigation as a “witch hunt,” the Financial Times reports, and warned that Russian meddling threatened the 2020 U.S. election. According to Foreign Policy magazine, Senate investigators determined that 21 states were targeted by the Russian attacks on voting systems, which began in 2014 and continued into at least 2017. In one case, those attacks succeeded in breaching a state voter database, and investigators also gathered evidence that all 50 states may have been targeted, according to a report released July 25 by the Senate Intelligence Committee; whether that actually occurred remains unknown.
• More than 20,000 people took to the streets of Moscow to protest against the exclusion of most opposition-minded candidates from an election for the Russian capital's legislature, The Moscow Times reports. Election officials barred around 30 candidates, mostly opposition-leaning, from running for the 45-seat legislature on the grounds they failed to garner enough genuine signatures from voters to qualify. RFE/RL reports that opposition politician Alexei Navalny has called for an even larger, unsanctioned rally in the center of the city on July 27.
• The Russian economy will fall into a recession in the next year and a half due to a sharp drop in personal lending, The Moscow Times reports, citing the country’s economic minister. According to the Wall Street Journal, Russia's central bank modestly cut its key interest rate for a second consecutive month amid a global shift toward easier monetary policy led by the Federal Reserve—to 7.25 percent from 7.5.

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

Nuclear security and safety:

• Russia has begun to upgrade an air force nuclear weapons storage site near Tver, some 90 miles (145 kilometers) northeast of Moscow. Satellite photos show construction of a new security fence and guard post. There are also upgrades underway at the Mozhaysk-10 storage site about 70 miles (114 kilometers) west of Moscow, including addition of new support facilities as well clearing of a previously tree-covered weapons storage igloo. (Federation of American Scientists, 07.24.19)
• U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, who heads the House Intelligence Committee, said July 22 that he will explore legislation to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from diverting funds from critical research and programs on tracking nuclear material that could be used in a terrorist attack. (Los Angeles Times, 07.22.19)
• The International Atomic Energy Agency has appointed Romanian diplomat Cornel Feruta as acting director-general until a new chief for the U.N. nuclear watchdog is chosen following the death earlier this week of Yukiya Amano. (RFE/RL, 07.25.19)
• On July 24, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) released the annual Global Incidents and Trafficking Database, produced exclusively for NTI by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS). In 2018 alone, CNS recorded 156 incidents in 23 countries where nuclear and other radioactive materials were found outside of regulatory control. (Nuclear Threat Initiative, 07.25.19)

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:

• North Korea has detained 15 Russian and two South Korean crew of a fishing vessel, according to Seoul officials and the Russian embassy in Pyongyang. (Al Jazeera, 07.24.19)

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

• Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China will meet Iran in Vienna on July 28 to discuss the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear agreement's formal name, the EU's foreign-policy service said. (RFE/RL, 07.23.19)

New Cold War/saber rattling:

• No significant developments.

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

• U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has expressed "the United States' disappointment" in a phone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu over Ankara's purchase of a Russian missile-defense system, the U.S. State Department says. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 26 reiterated that Turkey plans to start using the Russian S-400 missile-defense system in April 2020.  (RFE/RL, 07.20.19, RFE/RL, 07.26.19)

Missile defense:

• No significant developments.

Arms control:

• U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed to Fox News that the U.S. plans to pull out of the INF Treaty on Aug. 2. (Vestnik Kavkaza, 07.26.19)
• According to Canadian Department of National Defense officials, Russian officials, and open sources, from July 22 to July 27, an inspection team from Russia will be conducting an Open Skies Treaty overflight of Canada, in accordance with the provisions laid out in the Treaty on Open Skies. (The Aviationist, 07.25.19)

Counter-terrorism:

• Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, a Kazakh-born naturalized U.S. citizen, has been charged in New York with fighting for and serving as a weapons trainer for the Islamic State in Syria, where he fought until 2018. (RFE/RL, 07.19.19)

Conflict in Syria:

• Russia's Defense Ministry is denying reports that Russian warplanes carried out air strikes that hit a market in the rebel-held Syrian city of Maarat al-Numan in Idlib Province, killing at least 23 civilians and wounding dozens more. (RFE/RL, 07.22.19)
• James Jeffrey, the U.S. special representative for Syria, has been negotiating with Russia about providing humanitarian assistance for the Rukban camp in Syria. He acknowledged that those talks have now stalled, and that U.N. aid convoys (which require the Assad regime's permission) have stopped as a result. (The Washington Post, 07.24.19)

Cyber security:

• Hackers have gained access to 7.5 terabytes of data from a Federal Security Service (FSB) contractor, which BBC Russia called “possibly the largest ever data leak in the history of Russian intelligence services.” The hacking collective known as 0v1ru$ reportedly breached the SyTech contractor’s servers and shared details of projects aimed at cracking the anonymous web browser Tor, scraping social media and analyzing Russia’s segment of the internet. It reportedly did not expose Russia’s state secrets. (The Moscow Times, 07.22.19)
• St. Petersburg-based Special Technology Center, a Russian defense contractor accused by the U.S. of supporting cyberattacks, has developed sophisticated software used to spy on smartphones, an American security company said on July 24. (Reuters, 07.24.19)

Elections interference:

• In his testimony before Congress, former U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller:
  • Made it clear that he had not exonerated U.S. President Donald Trump of acting to obstruct the Russian probe. He disagreed with the president’s characterization of his investigation as a “witch hunt” and he warned that Russian meddling threatened the 2020 U.S. election. (Financial Times, 07.25.19)
  • When Rep. Hakeem Jeffries walked through an analysis suggesting that several episodes documented by Mueller met the criteria for obstruction of justice, Mueller tossed cold water his way. “I don’t subscribe necessarily to the way you analyzed that,” Mueller said. “We did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime,” he said. (New York Times, 07.24.19)
  • Asked if Trump “wasn’t always being truthful” or complete in his written answers under oath to the special counsel’s questions, Mueller responded, “I would say generally.” (New York Times, 07.24.19)
  • Could not hide his disapproval when shown the praise the president had heaped on WikiLeaks in 2016 as it released emails the Russians had stolen from the Democratic party. “Problematic is an understatement,” he said. (Financial Times, 07.25.19)
  • Fretted that the Trump campaign’s openness to accepting Russian assistance would prove to be “a new normal.” (New York Times, 07.24.19)
  • Warned that not only had the Russians not been deterred from election interference, but “they’re doing it as we sit here.” (New York Times, 07.24.19)
  • Said that he "is unable to address questions about initial opening of the Russia investigation, which occurred months before my appointment.” (The Washington Post, 07.24.19)
    • Trump declared the White House had a “very good day” and asserted there was “no defense of what Robert Mueller was trying to defend.” He said Mueller did a “horrible” job in testifying and called the event a “devastating day” for Democrats.  (The Washington Post, 07.24.19)
• U.S. Senate investigators determined that 21 states were targeted by Russian attacks on voting systems, which began in 2014 and continued into at least 2017. In one case, those attacks succeeded in breaching a state voter database, and investigators also gathered evidence that all 50 states may have been targeted, according to a report released July 25 by the Senate Intelligence Committee. But whether that actually occurred remains unknown. (Foreign Policy, 07.25.19)
• Russia is determined to interfere in U.S. elections despite sanctions and other efforts to deter such actions before the next presidential election in 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray said July 23. "The Russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections," Wray said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. "Everything we've done against Russia has not deterred them enough?" asked Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican committee chairman. "All the sanctions, all the talk, they're still at it?" "Yes. My view is until they stop they haven't been deterred enough," Wray responded. (Reuters, 07.24.19)
• "And whichever our bloggers—I don't know who works there in the Internet—had expressed their point of view on the situation in the USA in this or that way, this had not been able to play a decisive role. This is nonsense," Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "But we had sympathized with him [Trump], because he said that he wanted to restore normal relations with Russia. What's bad in this? And of course, we couldn't unwelcome such a position." (Reuters, 07.19.19)
• The hashtag #MoscowMitch was trending on Twitter on July 26 after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked two election bills designed to deter interference by Russia and other states, claiming it was "partisan legislation" by the Democratic Party. (Newsweek, 07.26.19)

Energy exports:

• Russian oil production is expected to total 556-557 million tons this year, or 11.17-11.19 million barrels per day, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in a preliminary estimate July 26. (Reuters, 07.26.19)
• Nord Stream 2 on July 26 said it had asked the EU’s top court to annul an EU gas directive amendment that includes a requirement for pipelines not be owned directly by gas suppliers and for at least 10 percent of capacity be made available to third parties. (Reuters, 07.26.19)

Bilateral economic ties:

• No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

• A trio of Russian, American and Italian astronauts have docked with the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit after blasting off earlier in the day in a Russian spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (RFE/RL, 07.20.19)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin handed Russian citizenship to gas producer Novatek's veteran finance chief Mark Gyetvay on July 22, a move that could potentially help the U.S. national bypass some sanctions restrictions. (Reuters, 07.22.19)
• Russia's Prosecutor-General's Office says it is designating Washington-based think tank the Atlantic Council, formerly run by the U.S. ambassador to Moscow, as an "undesirable" organization, a move that could potentially limit the group's cooperation with Russian entities and prevent its employees from entering the country. (RFE/RL, 07.25.19)
• Russia has called on the U.S. to end its “discriminatory” visa policy toward Russian athletes after it denied a visa to tennis star Svetlana Kuznetsova, effectively forcing her to skip a tournament to defend her title. Russian MMA fighter Ramazan Emeyev has reportedly also been denied a U.S. visa ahead of his match in New Jersey next weekend. (The Moscow Times, 07.26.19)
• An Arizona court has ordered a Russian on hunger strike at an immigration detention facility to be force-fed. Eugenii Glushchenko's weight has dropped from 160 to 120 pounds since he started fasting on June 19. (RFE/RL, 07.24.19)

II. Russia’s domestic news

Politics, economy and energy:

• More than 20,000 people took to the streets of Moscow to protest against the exclusion of most opposition-minded candidates from an election for the Russian capital's legislature. Election officials barred around 30 candidates, mostly opposition-leaning, from running for the 45-seat legislature on the grounds they failed to garner enough genuine signatures from voters to qualify. Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has called for an even larger, unsanctioned rally in the center of the city on July 27. (The Moscow Times, 07.22.19, RFE/RL, 07.24.19)
• The Russian economy will fall into a recession in the next year and a half over a sharp drop in personal lending, the country’s economic minister has said. (The Moscow Times, 07.22.19)
• Russia's central bank cut its key interest rate for a second consecutive month amid a global shift toward easier monetary policy led by the Federal Reserve. The cut was modest: to 7.25 percent from 7.5 percent. (Wall Street Journal, 07.25.19)
• S&P Global Ratings affirmed Russia's "BBB-/A-3" credit rating, reiterating that the country's solid public and external balance sheets are able to offset potential international sanctions and geopolitical tension. (The Moscow Times, 07.22.19)
• Novatek, Russia’s top independent gas producer, increased its net profit nearly six-fold on the year in the first. Novatek made a net profit of 451 billion rubles ($7.1 billion) in January to June, which it attributed largely to the sale of a 10 percent stake in the Arctic LNG2 platform, which raised 308.6 billion rubles, as well as foreign exchange fluctuations in its loan portfolio. (Financial Times, 07.24.19)
• All three units that were disconnected from the grid last week at the Kalinin nuclear power plant are now supplying electricity as normal, Russia's Rosenergoatom announced on July 20. Kalinin units one, two and four had lost connection with the network on July 18 after a transformer switch short circuited. The switchgear has since been repaired. (World Nuclear News, 07.22.19)
• Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament, told reporters July 25 that rich Russians should not be discriminated against, days after Forbes published a ranking of the 100 wealthiest civil servants. Regional deputies, governors and federal executive and legislative officials collectively earned 71 billion rubles ($1.1 billion) in 2018, Forbes Russia said earlier this month. (The Moscow Times, 07.26.19)
• A woman reported to be the elder daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been identified as a co-owner of a company that has a state tender to build what is planned to be Russia's largest oncology center, according to a July 24 BBC report. BBC Russia reported that Maria Vorontsova, who has been identified by Russian media as Putin's daughter, controls 20 percent of a company called Nomeko, which was founded in January. (RFE/RL, 07.25.19)
• Russia is planning to phase out paper passports within three years as part of its national digitization program, drawing support as well as criticism over privacy concerns, according to the official government website. (The Moscow Times, 07.19.19)

Defense and aerospace:

• The 49th and 58th armies of Russia’s Southern Military District on July 24 began a large-scale military exercise in the region. The Russian exercise comes ahead of the Agile Spirit NATO exercises in Georgia that start on July 27, involving 14 member countries and 3,000 soldiers. It runs through Aug. 9. (RFE/RL, 07.24.19)
• A new Arctic air squadron is being established and is to be managed by the Northern Fleet. At the core of this new squadron will be the Su-34 (“Fullback”) multi-purpose fighter jet, the Izvestia tabloid reported. (The Barents Observer, 07.22.19)
• Former Russian serviceman Artur Yepifantsev, who had claimed that his unit expressed a willingness to shoot protesters, was forced to retract his explosive allegations by a senior officer, the Znak.com news website has reported. (The Moscow Times, 07.25.19)

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• Two people have been detained for allegedly placing a fake bomb in front of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motorcade in central Russia, the Znak.com news website reported. (The Moscow Times, 07.25.19)
• Russian authorities say they have detained a suspect in the murder of LGBT activist Yelena Grigoryeva, who was slain near her home in St. Petersburg. (RFE/RL, 07.25.19)
• Students and graduates of Moscow State University have staged a protest demanding the release of Azat Miftakhov amid fears that the math student, who has been in custody for six months on what rights defenders call "politically motivated charges," may have been tortured. (RFE/RL, 07.25.19)
• Mikhail Romanov, a journalist in Siberia has been found guilty over a reference he made to George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984,” marking a milestone in Russia’s legal system. (The Moscow Times, 07.25.19)
• Russian prisoners could soon work at correctional facilities near businesses under a new law that observers were quick to compare to Soviet-era gulag labor camps. Almost 33,500 out of nearly 550,000 inmates are currently doing time in 123 prison settlements across Russia. These settlements are a type of remote penal colony where prisoners are free to roam the premises under the guards’ watch. (The Moscow Times, 07.23.19)
• Russian lawmakers have approved legislation banning law enforcement authorities from extending pre-trial detentions for businesspeople without reason amid criticism over the criminalization of business disputes. (The Moscow Times, 07.24.19)
• Daghestani reporter Abdulmumin Gadzhiyev has been officially charged with financing terrorism, a spokesman for the regional office of the Russian Investigative Committee told the TASS news agency. (RFE/RL, 07.24.19)

III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment

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

• Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has denied that his government has ever been influenced by Russia as he responded in the Senate to allegations surrounding the ruling far-right League party. Conte said on July 24 that, regarding Russia, "our position has been coherent, reasonable and never unduly conditioned by disturbing factors that may have resulted in a deviation from our national interests." (RFE/RL, 07.24.19)
• For almost a decade, Alexander Temerko, who forged a career at the top of the Russian arms industry and had connections at the highest levels of the Kremlin, has been an influential figure in British politics. He's one of the Conservative Party's major donors. He counts new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson among his friends. Temerko has gifted more than £1 million ($1.2 million) to the Conservatives since he gained British citizenship in 2011. (Reuters, 07.22.19)
• Austria has issued European and international arrest warrants for Igor Zaitsev, a Russian man on suspicion of espionage and working for Russia's Military Intelligence (GRU). (RFE/RL, 07.26.19)
• Venezuela's opposition, including representatives of its leader Juan Guaido, has been in contact with Moscow, Russia's Foreign Ministry said July 23. The international community should continue fostering dialogue between the government in Venezuela and the opposition, but not in order to impose its own agenda, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters during a visit to Havana. (Reuters, 07.25.19, Reuters, 07.24.19)
• Britain’s media regulator has fined Russia’s RT 200,000 pounds ($248,740) for violating broadcasting regulations, a move Russia’s Foreign Ministry called part of “an anti-Russian campaign.” (RFE/RL, 07.26.19)

China:

• South Korean fighter jets fired over 300 warning shots at a Russian Air Force A-50 Mainstay Airborne Early Warning aircraft on July 23 after the Russian plane twice violated South Korea’s airspace above the East Sea, according to South Korean authorities cited by The Aviationist. Russian and Chinese bombers were conducting their first long-range joint air patrol in the Asia-Pacific on that day. Russia’s Defense Ministry said there had been “no violations of airspaces of foreign countries” in its joint patrol with China, according to the New York Times, and Russian diplomats in Seoul reportedly complained of inaccuracies in the official comments from South Korea. In considering the incident, it’s important to note, as The Aviationist points out, that “there’s a significant difference between territorial sky,” otherwise known as a nation’s sovereign airspace, and air defense identification zones, or ADIZs, which “are not defined in any international law” but determined by countries as “an airspace … where identification, location and control of aircraft over land or water is required in the interest of national security.” Russia's Defense Ministry, according to Reuters, said it did not recognize South Korea's ADIZ, while “the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the area [in question] was not territorial airspace and that all countries enjoyed freedom of movement in it”; the Pentagon, meanwhile, said it supported South Korea’s and Japan’s responses. According to South Korea’s military, the July 23 incident marked both “the first time that a foreign military plane has violated Korea's territorial sky and South Korea fired warning shots in response” and also “the first time that Russian and Chinese aircraft entered KADIZ [Korea’s ADIZ] simultaneously,” the Yonhap news agency reported. Separate KADIZ violations are relatively common, the agency suggested, with Chinese military aircraft entering 25 times and Russian planes 13 times just this year. (Russia Matters, 07.25.19)
• Releasing a new defense "white paper" July 24, China vowed to step up military cooperation with Russia and accused the U.S. of undermining regional stability. “The military relationship between China and Russia continues to develop at a high level, enriching the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era and playing a significant role in maintaining global strategic stability,” the paper said. Releasing the document July 24, officials of the People's Liberation Army also repeatedly warned that Beijing would be willing to use military force to assert its claims over Taiwan. (Russia Matters, 07.25.19, Wall Street Journal, 07.24.19, The Washington Post, 07.25.19)
• TVEL, the nuclear fuel manufacturer subsidiary of Russia's Rosatom, has signed a supply contract for units seven and eight of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province. (World Nuclear News, 07.23.19)
• China has approved wheat imports from the Russian region of Kurgan, bringing Russia a step closer to its goal of dramatically increasing grain exports. It also approved soybean imports from all parts of Russia, the General Administration of Customs said in a separate statement on its website. (Reuters, 07.26.19)

Ukraine:

• Full results from Ukraine’s parliamentary election posted on the commission's website on July 26 show the president's Servant of the People party taking the top spot with 43.16 percent of the votes, with his main challenger, the pro-Russian Opposition Platform—For Life party, far behind in second place with 13.05 percent of the ballots. It would be the first time in Ukraine's post-independence history that a party obtains a majority in the parliament. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's Fatherland party placed third with 8.18 percent of the votes, while former President Petro Poroshenko's European Solidarity was next with 8.10 percent. Rock star Svyatoslav Vakarchuk's Holos (Voice) party was the only other to pass the five-percent threshold needed for parliamentary representation, taking 5.80 percent of the votes. The results gave the party of the country’s president 254 of the 424 seats in the Verkhovna Rada. Local media outlets estimate the Opposition Platform won 43 seats, Fatherland won 26 seats, the European Solidarity party won 25 seats and 20 seats went to Holos. (AP, 07.26.19, RFE/RL, 07.26.19, RFE/RL, 07.23.19)
• The U.S. State Department said it looks forward to working with a new Ukrainian government after the political party of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy won an outright victory in the July 21 parliamentary elections. (RFE/RL, 07.23.19)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin says he believes Russians and Ukrainians constitute one nation and that the countries should find a way to integrate. Putin made the comments in an interview with the American film director Oliver Stone on June 19; the full transcript was published by the Kremlin on July 19. (AP, 07.20.19)
• Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) says it has seized a Russian tanker that Moscow allegedly used to block three Ukrainian naval vessels before detaining them and 24 Ukrainian sailors in November near Crimea. Russia's human-rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, said that the crew was released without being charged and that they will travel to Moscow via Moldova. (RFE/RL, 07.25.19)
• Ukraine's military on July 22 said that two soldiers were killed and as many wounded on the previous day when an unknown explosive device was set off by an "enemy sabotage and reconnaissance group." The casualties in the armed conflict with Russia-backed separatists came on the first day when a cease-fire was supposed to go into effect based on an agreement in Minsk on July 17. (RFE/RL, 07.22.19)
• Russia's Supreme Court has upheld a six-year prison sentence given to 20-year-old Ukrainian national Pavlo Hryb. The EU has called for the immediate release of ailing Hryb. (RFE/RL, 07.23.19, RFE/RL, 07.24.19)

Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:

• Former Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev, who faces five counts of criminally abusing his office when he held power from 2011 to 2017, says the time to mend fences with his successor, incumbent Sooronbai Jeenbekov, "has passed." Atambaev briefly spoke to journalists and supporters at a Russian air base in the town of Kant near Bishkek on July 25 after his arrival aboard a private jet from Moscow, where he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin a day earlier. After the meeting, Putin called for the Kyrgyz people to unite around Jeenbekov for the sake of the country's development. (RFE/RL, 07.26.19)
• Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Kyrgyz counterpart, Sooronbai Jeenbekov, have met in the Tajik exclave of Vorukh to try and ease border tensions. Violence erupted there on July 22 after Tajiks reportedly raised their national flags on the road which connects the Vorukh exclave with the main territory of Tajikistan. Violence around Vorukh left one person dead and at least 14 more wounded. (RFE/RL, 07.26.19, RFE/RL, 07.23.19)
• Uzbekistan’s presidential press service says Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov spoke by telephone with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev on July 24 to congratulate him on his birthday. The statement is the first official report about activity by Berdymukhammedov since July 21, when rumors on social media and unconfirmed reports by Russian news outlets claimed he had died. (RFE/RL, 07.24.19)
• The jailed former president of Kazakhstan's uranium giant Kazatomprom, Mukhtar Dzhakishev, has been denied early release for the second time in months. (RFE/RL, 07.24.19)
• Moldova's new Prime Minister Maia Sandu visited Brussels on July 24 where she signed three financial assistance agreements worth $45 million with Johannes Hahn, the EU's enlargement commissioner. (RFE/RL, 07.25.19)
• Belarus's Foreign Ministry says a Belarusian diplomat who was shot in the Turkish capital and operated on at a local clinic remains in a very serious condition. (RFE/RL, 07.25.19)
• The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has urged Turkish authorities to find "the masterminds" and all those involved in the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink following the conviction of seven defendants in the high-profile case. (RFE/RL, 07.19.19)
• Georgia's former defense minister and current leader of the Victorious Georgia political party, Irakli Okruashvili, has been arrested by police in Tbilisi. Okruashvili is among the suspects arrested and charged in connection with an attempt last month to storm the parliament, the Interior Ministry told journalists on July 25. (RFE/RL, 07.25.19)

IV. Quoteworthy

• No significant developments.