This Week’s Highlights:

• Henry Kissinger suggested to Trump that the U.S. should work with Russia to contain a rising China and his proposal has found receptive ears inside the Trump administration.
• The newly passed 2019 U.S. defense bill allows the president to waive penalties against countries that purchase weapons from sanctioned Russian defense companies if they are seeking closer ties with Washington, such as India, Indonesia and Vietnam. However, the bill prohibits delivery of advanced U.S. F-35 stealth fighter jets that Turkey has purchased unless it cancels its S-400 purchases from Russia.
• Trump is open to visiting Russia if Putin extends a formal invitation, the White House said after Putin said he has already talked with Trump about a visit to Russia. When the two leaders met in Helsinki on July 16, the Russian delegation passed a proposal to their U.S. counterparts for the two countries to reaffirm their commitment to New START, the INF treaty, the Vienna document and the Open Skies treaty.
• Trump on July 27 said he had no prior knowledge of the June 2016 meeting his eldest son had with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower even though his ex-lawyer said he did. Newly-reported evidence indicates that Veselnitskaya worked more closely with senior Russian government officials than she previously let on.
• Flagships of the Ukrainian economy continue to try to wean themselves off Russia. America’s Westinghouse Electric Company announced that unit three of the South Ukraine nuclear power plant has been loaded with its fuel while Ukrainian plane maker Antonov said it plans to restart serial production by the end of next year thanks to a deal with Boeing.

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

Nuclear security and safety:

• France greatly appreciates its experience of bilateral cooperation with Russia in nuclear security and is interested in the disposal of spent nuclear fuel in facilities in the Murmansk region, French Ambassador in Russia Sylvie Bermann said during a visit to Murmansk on July 24. (Interfax, 07.18,.18)
• The U.S. Congress is abandoning an effort to loosen Cabinet control over an agency responsible for securing the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile. A provision in a defense policy bill would have removed the National Nuclear Security Administration from direct control of the Energy Department. (AP, 07.23.18)
• The U.S. Energy Department says it is spending $1.2 million a day on a partially built Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina that it wants to abandon due to soaring costs. (Wall Street Journal, 07.20.18)

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:

• After declaring he has plenty of time to solve the North Korean nuclear crisis, U.S. President Donald Trump celebrated on July 24 what he claimed was an early victory: satellite evidence that the country is dismantling a missile test stand in a small first step toward securing commitments made by Kim Jong-un last month in Singapore. North Korea on June 27 returned the remains of what are believed to be U.S. servicemen killed during the Korean War. (New York Times, 07.24.18, Fox News, 07.27.18)

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

• Two days after exchanging harsh warnings with Iranian leaders, U.S. President Donald Trump says he is still eager to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Tehran. "We'll see what happens, but we're ready to make a real deal, not the deal that was done by the previous administration, which was a disaster," Trump said on July 24. The U.S. has not instituted a policy of regime change or collapse in Iran, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on July 27. (RFE/RL, 07.25.18, Reuters, 07.27.18)

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

• The final version of the 2019 U.S. defense bill offers harsh words for Russia and China, keeping in place restrictions that prevent the U.S. military from cooperating with Moscow. The $717 billion bill "prohibits military-to-military cooperation with Russia," according to a summary of the legislation. The report, which represents a compromise between the House and Senate versions of the defense bill and which the House passed on July 26, also funds the Trump administration's plan to develop a lower-yield ballistic missile warhead aimed at deterring Russia, as well as supports Trump's request for $250 million for lethal defensive aid to Ukraine and $6.3 billion for the European Deterrence Initiative "to further increase number of U.S. troops in Europe, reassure U.S. partners and allies and deter Russian aggression." (CNN, 07.23.18, RFE/RL, 07.27.18)
• The 2019 defense bill allows the president to waive penalties against countries that purchase weapons from sanctioned Russian defense companies if they are seeking closer ties with Washington. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis sought the waiver authority, saying it would help countries like India which had close ties with Moscow in the past but are now trying to "pull away from the Russian orbit." The final bill was also expected to exempt Indonesia and Vietnam from sanctions under CAATSA.  However, the House-passed bill would prohibit delivery of advanced U.S. F-35 stealth fighter jets that Turkey has purchased unless it cancels the S-400 purchases from Russia and meets other conditions. (The Washington Post, 07.25.18, Diplomat, 07.24.18, RFE/RL, 07.27.18)
• Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on July 24 that NATO’s increasing ties with Sweden and Finland are “worrying,” harm the current system of global security and create “greater mistrust, forcing us to take response measures.” Speaking at a meeting of the ministry’s leadership, Shoigu likewise noted NATO’s growing presence in Eastern Europe, according to the RBC news website. (Newsweek, 07.24.18, Russia Matters, 07.24.18)
• The U.S. Army has begun developing a number of futuristic weapons in order to stay ahead of top competitors Russia and China. Addressing the Aspen Security Conference on July 21, Army Secretary Mark Esper described the establishment of the new Austin-based "Futures Command" as the "the biggest organizational change since 1973." (Newsweek, 07.23.18)
• "As we think about future challenges and future threats we see an immediate near-term, what's right in front of us, of course, is North Korea, over the five to 15-year period, we see Russia as our pacing threat, if you will, so we look to them in terms of their formations, their tactics, their equipment, those things that they would bring to bear against us, but the long-term threat is clearly China," Army Secretary Mark Esper said. (Newsweek, 07.23.18)

Missile defense:

• No significant developments.

Nuclear arms control:

• The package of proposals on strategic stability that the Russian delegation passed to the U.S. side during the Trump-Putin summit includes proposal for the two countries to reaffirm their commitment to New START, the INF treaty, the Vienna document and the Open Skies treaty, according to Kommersant. (Russia Matters. 07.25.18)

Counter-terrorism:

• No significant developments.

Conflict in Syria:

• Russia has offered to keep pro-Iranian forces in Syria about 100 kilometers from the border with Israel as part of an agreement with the U.S. and Israel to help guarantee Israel's security. A Russian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and chief of Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov made the suggestion while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 23. As he has in the past, Netanyahu demanded that all Iranian fighters and their allies be removed from Syrian soil in the long term. But Israeli media did not characterize Netanyahu's response as a rejection of the Russian plan to keep Iranian military advisers and pro-Iranian fighters. An Israeli official said that the country’s official line was that Iranian forces should be completely removed from Syria. But private negotiations with Russia were coalescing around an initial compromise agreement for a buffer zone to be created about 60 to 100 miles from the Israeli border, the official added. (RFE/RL, 07.24.18, Financial Times, 07.23.18)
  • The Kremlin press service announced last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had spoken by telephone, as had their defense ministers. Russia's ambassador to Israel said they had reached "an understanding" on the withdrawal of "certain well-known armed units . . . so many kilometers" from Syria's border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Netanyahu has secured Putin’s agreement that after the regime has completed its offensive in the Arab state’s south-west, Assad’s forces should withdraw behind an armistice line agreed between Israel and Syria after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. (Financial Times, 07.23.18, The Washington Post, 07.20.18)
  • Russia's ambassador to Iran, Levan Dzhagaryan, said that Moscow has no intention of pressing Iran to withdraw and denied any strain between them. "Like Russia's military presence" in Syria, he said, Iran's military presence there "is legal because our military presence and Iran's is taking place at the request of the legitimate government of the Syrian Arab Republic." (The Washington Post, 07.20.18)
• Russia has provided additional details of what it said were agreements made at the presidential summit in Helsinki. Russia already has sent formal proposals to Washington for joint U.S.-Russia efforts to fund reconstruction of war-ravaged Syria and facilitate the return home of millions of Syrians, Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defense Management Center, said. (The Washington Post, 07.22.18)
• U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on July 24 that, at least for now, there will be no cooperation with Russia on the plan, which came out of the Helsinki summit. "That has not happened yet," Mattis said. "We will not be doing anything additional until [Secretary of State Mike Pompeo] and the president have further figured out at what point we are going to start working, alongside our allies, with Russia in the future." (RFE/RL, 07.25.18)
• Gen. Joseph Votel, the U.S. general overseeing the fight against Islamic State, expressed firm reservations about U.S. President Donald Trump's hopes of working more closely with Russia in Syria. For now, Votel said he has received no new guidance to work with Russia. Doing so, he said, would first require Congress to change the law restricting U.S. military cooperation with Russia. Even if that happened, Russia would have to demonstrate that it's willing to play a productive role in Syria, he said. (Wall Street Journal, 07.22.18)
  • Votel's remarks drew an angry response from the Russian Foreign Ministry on July 24, which in a statement on social media said the general "discredited the official position of his supreme commander-in-chief." (RFE/RL, 07.25.18)
• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on July 26 Russian forces were needed in the country long-term and for more than just fighting terrorism. (Reuters, 07.26.18)
• The endgame of the war in Syria is likely to come down to the northwestern province of Idlib, on the Turkish border, where some 2.3 million people are now trapped. As Russian-Syrian forces now finish retaking the smaller southwestern province of Daraa, Idlib will be the last significant enclave in anti-government hands. (NYBooks, 07.24.18)
• Russia has launched an all-out drive to co-opt western countries into humanitarian work in government-controlled areas of Syria in an effort to persuade the rest of the world to adopt normal postwar relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. There are signs that Moscow’s efforts are beginning to bear fruit. The Russian military delivered French medical aid to eastern Ghouta, the first instance of an EU country agreeing to support a territory controlled by Assad and followed an agreement between French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Financial Times, 07.26.18)
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel met July 24 in Berlin with the head of Russia’s military general staff Valery Gerasimov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss Syria, the situation in the Middle East and the conflict in Ukraine. (Reuters, 07.24.18)
• Russia’s military said it had shot down two unidentified drones that attacked its Syrian air base at Hmeimim on July 21 and July 22. (Reuters, 07.22.18)
• Israel shot down a Syrian jet fighter that entered Israeli-controlled airspace on July 24, its military said, sending a strong message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that it won't tolerate a spillover of his country's conflict. The plane crossed two kilometers (1.2 miles) into Israeli airspace over the occupied Golan Heights. (Wall Street Journal, 07.24.18)
• Israel over the weekend helped several hundred members of the White Helmets, who have worked as aid workers in Syrian opposition-held areas, slip across its border and into Jordan ahead of the advancing Syrian government forces. Both Russia and Syria assailed the move, with the Russian embassy in Israel calling the U.K. and U.S.-funded rescue workers “militants.” (Financial Times, 07.23.18)
• Over 100,000 Syrian refugees have been returned to Syria since January, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Russia is talking to Lebanon about Moscow's plans for the mass return of Syrian refugees, the Lebanese prime minister's office said on July 24, adding that Lebanon hoped the Kremlin's initiative would tackle what it called a "displacement crisis." (The Moscow Times, 07.25.18, EuroNews, 07.24.18)

Cyber security:

• China, Russia and Iran are ramping up their theft of trade secrets and proprietary information from U.S. companies, government labs and universities to hurdle America's competitive edge, according to a new government cyber report, released July 26 by the National Counterintelligence Security Center. (AP, 07.26.18)
• Hackers working for Russia claimed “hundreds of victims” last year in a giant and long-running campaign that put them inside the control rooms of U.S. electric utilities, where they could have caused blackouts, federal officials said. They said the campaign likely is continuing. “They got to the point where they could have thrown switches” and disrupted power flows, said Jonathan Homer, chief of industrial-control-system analysis for the Department of Homeland Security. (Wall Street Journal, 07.23.18)
• The Pentagon is working on a software "do not buy" list to block vendors who use software code originating from Russia and China, a top Defense Department acquisitions official said. (Reuters, 07.27.18)

Elections interference:

• U.S. President Donald Trump on July 27 said he had no prior knowledge of a June 2016 meeting his eldest son had with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower, disputing an account that his former lawyer Michael Cohen is planning to tell the special counsel. Cohen is willing to tell special counsel Robert Mueller that he was present when the younger Trump informed his father about the meeting before it took place, a person familiar with the matter said. Cohen claims he was present when Trump Jr. told his father about the Russians’ offer to meet and that Trump approved of the meeting. Trump Jr., Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Trump’s then-campaign manager Paul Manafort met at New York's Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, with influential Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Cohen doesn't have any evidence, such as an audio recording, to back up his claim, according to the source. (Wall Street Journal, 07.27.18, RFE/RL, 07.27.18)
  • Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Moscow lawyer said to have promised Donald Trump's presidential campaign dirt on his Democratic opponent, worked more closely with senior Russian government officials than she previously let on, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press. The data was obtained through Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky's London-based investigative unit, the Dossier Center. (AP, 07.27.18)
  • U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at his longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, on July 21, suggesting that there could be legal consequences for Cohen's decision to record a discussion they had two months before the 2016 election about paying a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Trump. (New York Times, 07.21.18)
• U.S. President Donald Trump's legal team has submitted a counteroffer to special counsel Robert Mueller on a possible interview with the president that could allow for questions about collusion with Russia but curtail inquiries related to obstruction of justice. As negotiations for such a sit-down are set to enter their eighth month, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said July 23 that an interview between the special counsel and the president is "still on the table." (Wall Street Journal, 07.23.18)
• Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly scrutinizing tweets and negative statements from the president about Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the former FBI director James Comey. (New York Times, 07.26.18)
• U.S. President Donald Trump was to convene his national security advisers on July 27 for a high-level meeting on election security, less than four months until Americans vote to determine whether his fellow Republicans maintain control of Congress. (Reuters, 07.27.18)
• U.S. President Donald Trump says he believes Moscow will try to influence November congressional elections in favor of the Democrats and not his fellow Republicans, although the U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia tried to help Trump win the 2016 poll. "I'm very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no President has been tougher on Russia than me, they will be pushing very hard for the Democrats. They definitely don’t want Trump!" Trump tweeted on July 24. (RFE/RL, 07.24.18)
• After a week of tortuous statements, walk-backs and clarifications on whether he believes the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign, U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to have come full circle on July 22, dismissing the issue as "all a big hoax." (The Washington Post, 07.23.18)
• U.S. President Donald Trump claimed without evidence on July 22 that his administration's release of top-secret documents related to the surveillance of former campaign aide Carter Page had confirmed that the Justice Department and the FBI ''misled the courts'' in the early stages of the Russia investigation. (New York Times, 07.22.18)
• A former campaign adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump has said allegations that he worked with the Russian government during the 2016 U.S. election are a "joke." The FBI believes Carter Page was "collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government" at that time. "I've never been an agent of a foreign power by any stretch of the imagination," Page said July 22. (RFE/RL, 07.23.18)
• U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan has rejected a move by fellow Republicans to impeach the No. 2 Justice Department official, Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel investigating Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election. (RFE/RL, 07.27.18)
• “Russian intelligence officers did not stumble on the idea of hacking American computers and posting misleading messages because they had a free afternoon," U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said. "It's what they do every day, not just attacking America but other countries as well." (The Washington Post, 07.24.18)
• According to Russian politicians familiar with the summit planning, the White House had wanted a promise from the Kremlin that Moscow would not meddle in the U.S. midterms. “There was the idea that if Trump brought home such a guarantee, he would be seen as having scored a victory,” says one Russian lawmaker. “But the proposed text amounted to an admission of guilt.” (Financial Times, 07.20.18)
• The United States is taking steps to defend its upcoming elections and to thwart efforts by foreign actors to influence the American people, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday, without detailing what those efforts were. (Reuters, 07.27.18)
• Montana's top elections official said Friday that Russian hackers unsuccessfully probed the state's election systems for weaknesses in 2016, an acknowledgment that contradicts his staff's previous comments that Montana was not among the 21 or more states targeted. (AP, 07.27.18)
• U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, who is up for reelection this year, late on July 26 confirmed a report on the Daily Beast website saying Russia's GRU intelligence agency tried to break into McCaskill's computers in August 2017. The Daily Beast report came after a Microsoft executive said last week that the company had helped stop e-mail phishing attacks on three unidentified U.S. congressional candidates. (RFE/RL, 07.27.18)
• A U.S. federal judge has postponed the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort until next week, and disclosed the identity of five witnesses who have been granted immunity to testify. The charges against Manafort largely pre-date the five months Manafort worked on the Trump team in 2016. (RFE/RL, 07.24.18)
• U.S. Sen. Rand Paul warned on July 25 that a bipartisan bill, known as the DETER Act, meant to deter foreigners from meddling in future U.S. elections would weaken the president’s abilities to strike back at adversaries. The proposed law would bar foreign governments from buying ads to influence U.S. elections, and would also give the director of national intelligence the power to deploy “national security tools” like sanctions if the Kremlin interferes in another American election. (Politico, 07.25.18)
• Maria Butina, the Russian woman charged last week with acting as an unregistered agent of her government, received financial support from Konstantin Nikolaev, a Russian billionaire with investments in U.S. energy and technology companies, according to a person familiar with testimony she gave Senate investigators. Nikolaev's son Andrey, who is studying in the U.S., reportedly volunteered in the 2016 campaign in support of Trump's candidacy.  (The Washington Post, 07.22.18)
• Maria Butina had wider high-level contacts in Washington than previously known, taking part in 2015 meetings between a visiting Russian official and two senior officials at the U.S. Federal Reserve and Treasury Department. (Reuters, 07.22.18)
• During a July 21 telephone conversation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov complained to his U.S. counterpart, Mike Pompeo, about the U.S. detention of Maria Butina on charges of conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign agent. (RFE/RL, 07.21.18)
• Charges against Maria Butina name as one of her contacts "U.S. Person 2." That person is George O'Neill Jr., a Rockefeller heir and conservative writer, interviews and public documents indicate. (Wall Street Journal, 07.26.18)
• “I personally made clear to the Russians there will be severe consequences for interfering in our democratic process,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in his Senate testimony on July 25. (Foreign Policy, 07.25.18)
• Federal prosecutors in the case against alleged Russian agent Maria Butina complained to a judge July 25 about media appearances by Butina's attorney and said they would not provide evidence to the defense until a protective order was in place to prevent its distribution to the media. (The Washington Post, 07.26.18)
• The White House is threatening to retaliate against six prominent critics of U.S. President Donald Trump's stance on Russia by revoking their government security clearances, drawing accusations that Trump is abusing his office by trying to stifle dissent. (RFE/RL, 07.24.18)
• On the eve of one of the newsiest days of the 2016 presidential election season, a group of Russian operatives fired off tweets at a furious pace, about a dozen each minute. By the time they finished, more than 18,000 had been sent through cyberspace toward unwitting American voters, making it the busiest day by far in a disinformation operation with an aftermath still roiling U.S. politics. The reason for this burst of activity on Oct. 6, 2016, documented in a new trove of 3 million Russian tweets collected by Clemson University researchers, is a mystery that has generated no definitive explanation. (The Washington Post, 07.20.18)

Energy exports:

• When U.S. President Donald Trump met with Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, at the White House, the two said they were entering a new phase in their relationship. Crucial to that will be natural gas. Trump said on July 25 that the EU would be “a massive buyer of LNG,” before adding, “We have plenty of it.” Any such shift won’t happen overnight, though. Europe’s dependence on Russia is driven largely by one factor—Russian gas is cheap. Russia in recent years has increased its exports to Europe, and U.S. LNG has failed to take any meaningful market share. Russia is the EU's top supplier, with about a 35 percent market share. U.S. exporters may not actually want to rush to Europe, given their gas fetches a higher price in Asia, driven by surging Chinese demand. (New York Times, 07.26.18, Wall Street Journal, 07.26.18)
• Preparatory works to lay pipes for Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas link at Lubmin, Germany, have begun, with the offshore pipe installation barge put in its starting position. A company spokesman said the project’s implementation is moving ahead on schedule. Nord Stream 2's owner, Gazprom, wants the link across the Baltic Sea online by the end of 2019, when its transit contract with Ukraine's Naftogaz expires. (S&P Global Platts, 07.25.18)

Bilateral economic ties:

• An idea hatched at the Helsinki summit for a new dialogue forum for Russian and American business leaders already appears to be dead in the water, highlighting the difficulty of making even small steps forward in the deadlocked relationship between Moscow and Washington. (Financial Times, 07.23.18)
• Russia’s Rosneft has filed a $1.4 billion lawsuit against a consortium led by ExxonMobil, in a threat to the U.S. producer’s biggest investment in Russia and the country’s last remaining major foreign-run oil project. (Financial Times, 07.24.18)
• Two Silicon Valley firms have stopped shipping some electronic components to Russian customers even though they are not on the list of firms subject to U.S. sanctions. (Reuters, 07.27.18)
• Visa has named fans from the U.S. and China—both of which failed to qualify for the tournament—as the biggest card spenders during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Americans spent a total of 3.6 billion rubles ($57 million) in Russia during the tournament. Chinese visitors spent 2.2 billion rubles ($35 million). (The Moscow Times, 07.26.18)
• Russia has no plans to reject the U.S. dollar, even though Washington has undermined trust in its currency by using it as an argument in political disputes, Russian President Vladimir Putin said July 27. (Reuters, 07.27.18)

Other bilateral issues:

• Just two days after the White House backed away from plans to have Russian President Vladimir Putin visit Washington in the fall, the Russian leader said on July 27 that he had invited Trump to visit him in Moscow. Putin added that Russia and the U.S. also have plans for contacts at G20 summits and other international gatherings. Trump is open to visiting Russia if Putin extends a formal invitation, the White House said on July 27. Putin said earlier in the day that he has already talked with Trump about a visit to Russia, although it did not appear that the Russian government has gone through the official protocols involved with following up. On July 25 U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said that U.S. President Donald Trump will postpone a second meeting with Putin until next year after the federal probe into Russian election meddling is concluded. "The president believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russia witch hunt is over, so we’ve agreed that it will be after the first of the year," Bolton said in a statement. (New York Times, 07.27.18, NPR, 07.27.18, RFE/RL, 07.27.18, The Moscow Times, 07.26.18)
• U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told skeptical senators on July 25 that the Trump administration has taken a truckload of punitive actions against Moscow as ''proof'' it is tough on Russia. Yet during a combative three-hour Senate hearing, Pompeo repeatedly declined to provide specifics about the one-on-one meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin in Helsinki—including the possibility of relaxing sanctions on Moscow, military cooperation in Syria or the future of Crimea. Pompeo also said that Trump had actually stood up to Putin at the meeting. “Somehow there’s this idea that this administration is free-floating,” Pompeo said. “This is President Trump’s administration—make no mistake who is fully in charge of this and who is directing each of these activities that has caused Vladimir Putin to be in a very difficult place today.” (New York Times, 07.25.18, Foreign Policy, 07.25.18)
• U.S. national security adviser John Bolton may meet the secretary of Russia's Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, by the end of summer, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on July 27. (Reuters, 07.27.18)
• On July 21, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. They discussed a broad range of issues, including the fact that Russia had violated its commitment in southwest Syria, as well as some issues which were following up from the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two also discussed how to implement ideas on counterterrorism process coordination and the mutual goal of establishing business-to-business dialogue between private, non-governmentally controlled entities. (U.S. State Department, 07.22.18)
• “We don’t trust Russia. We don’t trust Putin. We never will. They’re never going to be our friend. That’s just a fact,” Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said July 23. (The Hill, 07.23.18)
• A new Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that 33 percent of Americans approve of U.S. President Donald Trump's handling of the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while 50 percent disapprove. (The Washington Post, 07.22.18)
• An Axios/SurveyMonkey poll found that 85 percent of Republicans believe the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election are a “distraction” and that 79 percent approve of the way U.S. President Donald Trump handled himself in Helsinki. (Financial Times, 07.20.18)
• Almost half of surveyed Russians say the U.S-Russia summit in Helsinki will do little to help the strained relationship between the two countries, according to a state-run poll released July 23. (The Moscow Times, 07.23.18)

II. Russia’s domestic news

Politics, economy and energy:

• Russian lawmakers have passed a controversial bill to raise the value-added tax (VAT) rate in the country to 20 percent, as part of a budget package designed to shore up state finances. Critics say the tax will drive up gas prices. (The Moscow Times, 07.24.18)
• Natalya Poklonskaya, the only United Russia deputy to vote against an unpopular measure to raise the retirement age earlier this month, has defied calls for her resignation. Another senior United Russia party member who was conspicuously absent during the pension reform vote, general council deputy secretary Sergei Zheleznyak, has stepped down from his seat. (The Moscow Times, 07.27.18)
• Nearly 800,000 people live as modern-day slaves in Russia, working under conditions of forced labor, debt bondage and human trafficking, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index. (The Moscow Times, 07.23.18)
• The Russian State Duma has approved in its final reading a bill on the teaching of "native languages" in schools that has angered representatives of many of the country's ethnic minorities. (RFE/RL, 07.25.18)
• An outspokenly pro-Stalin, nationalist lawmaker has been confirmed as head of the Russian State Duma's Culture Committee. Deputy Yelena Yampolskaya of the United Russia party was confirmed in the post on July 25 after it was vacated by the death of noted Soviet filmmaker Stanislav Govorukhin in June. (RFE/RL, 07.26.18)
• Russia says it will crack down on ''fake news'' at home, with a proposed law that critics say could limit freedom of speech on the internet. The bill, submitted by lawmakers from the United Russia party, proposes holding social networks accountable for ''inaccurate'' comments users post. (New York Times, 07.22.18)
• The Moscow-based human rights group Memorial says it has determined that Mikhail Savostin, an activist charged with illegal drug possession, is a political prisoner. (RFE/RL, 07.24.18)
• The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has reportedly lodged an extremism charge against an activist who promotes indigenous cultures and languages following a post on the Internet. The news site Tayga.info reported on July 24 that it had obtained FSB documents related to the charge against Lidiya Bainova, an activist in the Khakasia region of Siberia. (RFE/RL, 07.24.18)

Defense and aerospace:

• Russia will begin testing a new airborne tank destroyer this fall, according to Russian media. Though Russia designates the Sprut SDM1 as an anti-tank vehicle, it more resembles a light tank. (The National Interest, 07.26.18)

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• U.N. human rights experts urged Russian officials to prosecute alleged widespread cases of torture including beatings, electric shocks or burial in snow at labor camps in Siberia. Some 600,000 people are held in nearly 1,000 prisons and detention centers across Russia, with 4,000 deaths from various causes recorded each year. (Reuters, 07.26.18)
• Russia will prosecute perpetrators of torture in its prisons, including guards caught on video beating an inmate that has led to a public outcry, deputy justice minister Mikhail Galperin told the U.N. human rights watchdog. (The Moscow Times, 07.27.18)
• A court in Russia has ordered pretrial detention for a sixth prison guard accused of involvement in the severe beating of an inmate in the Yaroslavl region. The officers were detained after a video showing the beating of an inmate identified as Yevgeny Makarov was published by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta and circulated widely on the Internet last week. Seventeen public officials have been removed from their jobs in connection with the case, including five who have been arrested, while a sixth arrest is under consideration, deputy justice minister Mikhail Galperin told the U.N. (RFE/RL, 07.26.18, The Moscow Times, 07.27.18)
  • Russia’s prison service has announced plans to launch a nationwide inspection of correctional facilities following public outrage over a leaked video of a prisoner being tortured. (The Moscow Times, 07.25.18)
• Four Russian police officers in the city of Serpukhov near Moscow have been fired over their failure in 2017 to arrest a man who is now the chief suspect in the July 22 rape and killing of a 5-year-old Tajik girl. (RFE/RL, 07.27.18)
• Two investigators in Moscow have reportedly been fired for failing to investigate the suspected sexual assault of a minor. (The Moscow Times, 07.25.18)
• A scientist at one of Russia’s leading space research labs has been charged with state treason after a suspected leak of hypersonic missile secrets to the West. Central Research Institute of Machine Building employee Viktor Kudryavtsev was arrested last week after security services raided two research facilities linked to the federal space agency, Roscosmos. (The Moscow Times, 07.26.18)
• Alexander Lamonov, the deputy head of security at Moscow’s branch of the Investigative Committee, has been sentenced to five years in jail for accepting a bribe from one of Russia’s most notorious mafia bosses in a case that has brought down several senior investigators. (The Moscow Times, 07.26.18)
• Sergei Lemeshevsky, head of the Lavochkin space production association, has been arrested on charges of large-scale fraud in a 330 million ruble ($5.2 million) embezzlement case. (The Moscow Times, 07.26.18)
• Two police officers in the Kizilyurtovsky District of Russia's volatile Daghestan region were killed on July 20 when their patrol was attacked by gunmen. (RFE/RL, 07.21.18)
• Russian security services have reportedly cracked down on a supply chain of military-grade weapons from the EU. A total of 380 weapons, including 158 handguns and 94 rifles, have been seized in the raids across Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yaroslavl. (The Moscow Times, 07.23.18)

III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment

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

• German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called for a strategic partnership among like-minded middle powers, like Germany and Japan, to preserve the liberal world order against big predatory powers like China, Russia and now, presumably, the U.S. (New York Times, 07.26.18)
• Charlie Rowley, the British citizen poisoned with Novichok, has said in interviews that he found a perfume bottle that contained the deadly nerve agent and unknowingly gave it to his girlfriend, Dawn Sturgess, who sprayed the liquid on her wrists and later died. In an interview, Rowley said he could not remember where he picked up the glass perfume bottle, but said it was still in its box and plastic packaging. When he offered it as a gift to Sturgess, "she recognized the bottle and product as a known brand" and sprayed it on her wrists. (RFE/RL, 07.25.18)
• Former British Prime Minister John Major in the early 1990s was warned to keep quiet about his desire for Russia to join the European Community, as British diplomats sought to restrain the strategic optimism that followed the collapse of the Berlin Wall. One Foreign Office memo, made public by the National Archives on July 24, warned: “As [a nuclear power, Russia] would dominate the Community; as [a developing country] it could drag it down.” (Financial Times, 07.23.18)
• Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov is exploring a sale of his 30 percent stake in English football club Arsenal. (Reuters, 07.24.18)
• Finland’s student sports association has accused a Russian university sports team of sexual harassment, including an attempted rape, at an international competition this month. (The Moscow Times, 07.26.18)
• One of the Kremlin's boldest advocacy groups—the Night Wolves motorcycle club, whose members were at the vanguard of Russia's occupation of Crimea—has set up a military-style "camp" outside the capital of NATO member Slovakia. (RFE/RL, 07.23.18)

China:

• Henry Kissinger suggested to U.S. President Donald Trump that the U.S. should work with Russia to contain a rising China. The potential strategy would use closer relations with Russia, along with other countries in the region, to box in China’s growing power and influence. Inside the administration, the proposal has found receptive ears, with some of Trump’s top advisers—in addition to officials in the State Department, Pentagon and the National Security Council—also floating a strategy of using closer relations with Moscow to contain Beijing, according to White House and Capitol Hill insiders. (The Daily Beast, 07.25.18)
• This year, Russian-Chinese military exercises were set to continue with “Maritime Interaction-2018.” On May 7, 2018, three Russian ships of the Pacific Fleet—two destroyers and a tanker—departed Vladivostok for a tour of East Asia to include conducting this exercise with China. However, on July 12 they returned home to Vladivostok without any further mention of “Maritime Interaction-2018” or China. (The National Interest, 07.22.18)
• The BRICS nations have reaffirmed their support for an "open world economy" based on the principles of the World Trade Organization, as the countries' leaders look to avoid a looming global trade war. Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed closer cooperation between businesses in the BRICS nations and called for more trade within the bloc. Chinese President Xi Jinping has earlier called on fellow BRICS countries to remain united in opposition to protectionism and “unilateralism” in the wake of threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose global trade tariffs. (RFE/RL, 07.26.18, RFE/RL, 07.25.18)
• Russia and China plan to sign a visa-free travel agreement in the near future, which will make it possible to substantially increase the tourist flow in both directions. (TASS,  07.26.18)

Ukraine:

• Russia’s Embassy in Washington has accused U.S. officials of “living in a different reality” after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated America’s rejection of Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. Pompeo issued a statement July 25 calling on Russia “to end its occupation of Crimea.” The declaration appeared to try to quell suggestions that Washington could accept Moscow's 2014 occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula following a U.S.-Russia presidential summit last week. (The Moscow Times, 07.26.18)
• Westinghouse Electric Company announced that unit three of the South Ukraine nuclear power plant has been loaded with a full core of its VVER-1000 fuel. The unit, near Yuzhnoukrainsk in the Mykolaiv province of Ukraine, thus becomes the first VVER-1000 reactor anywhere to operate with fuel assemblies not supplied by Russia. (World Nuclear News, 07.20.18)
• Ukrainian plane maker Antonov, known for producing the world's biggest aircraft, plans to restart serial production by the end of next year thanks to a deal with Boeing that will end Antonov's dependence on Russia.  (Reuters, 07.27.18)
• Tensions over the Roma are as old as Ukraine, and run as deep as anywhere in Eastern Europe, but the ancient enmity has taken a twist recently. Beginning in April, Ukrainian nationalist groups that were given free rein four years ago to fight the Russian military incursion have taken instead to attacking the softer targets of Roma camps, saying they are “cleaning” Ukraine’s cities. (New York Times, 07.21.18)
• A court in Russia halted the trial of a 20-year-old Ukrainian man charged with abetting terrorism shortly after it got under way, sending the case back for additional investigation. Pavlo Hryb, who denies the charge and whose family contends he was set up by the Russian Federal Security Service, went on trial at the North Caucasus Regional Military Court in Rostov-on-Don on July 23. (RFE/RL, 07.23.18)
• Oksana Shachko, a founding member of the protest group Femen, has died in Paris in an apparent suicide. Ukrainian-born Shachko had braved detentions and beatings for her activism. (RFE/RL, 07.24.18)

Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:

• Armenian authorities have charged former President Robert Kocharian with "overthrowing the constitutional order" and are seeking his pretrial detention on charges related to a crackdown on antigovernment protesters in 2008. (RFE/RL, 07.27.18)
• Yuri Khachaturov, the Armenian chief of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization has been charged with overthrowing Armenia's constitutional order amid a probe into Yerevan's 2008 postelection crackdown that brought Serzh Sarkisian into power for a decade as president. Khachaturov had been chief of the General Staff of Armenia's armed forces from 2008 to 2016. (RFE/RL, 07.27.18)
• Russia has reportedly delivered $200 million worth of weapons to Armenia as part of a loan deal Moscow extended to help Yerevan build up its military capabilities. Moscow granted Armenia a $200 million credit in 2015 to buy Russian weapons and modernize its armed forces. (The Moscow Times, 07.23.18)
• Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has vowed to press ahead with a quest to join NATO, a mission that has long been a bone of contention between Russia and the western military alliance. (Financial Times, 07.23.18)
• U.S. officials traveled to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from July 20 to July 23 to discuss economic and security cooperation with representatives from the five Central Asian republics. (RFE/RL, 07.23.18)
• Kazakh Defense Minister Saken Zhasuzaqov traveled to Bishkek on July 25, making the first official visit by a Kazakh defense chief to Kyrgyzstan since the two Central Asian nations gained independence. (RFE/RL, 07.25.18)
• Six Uzbek women were jailed after they tried to approach Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev to complain about problems they and their families have encountered with police and prosecutors. (RFE/RL, 07.26.18)
• It appears the people of Turkmenistan are headed for another hungry winter, the third such winter in as many years. The harvest is gathered. But so far there is no word as to whether croplands yielded the 1.6 million tons of grain the government targeted for this year, although that seems unlikely. (RFE/RL, 07.26.18)
• Real wages in Belarus have surpassed wages in Russia, according to new research by Russia’s Higher School of Economics. Last year, Belarusian real wages of $1,648, adjusted for price differences, exceeded Russia’s average real wage of $1,640. (The Moscow Times, 07.23.18)
• In the last three months, Belarus’ law enforcement has carried out three large-scale campaigns against corruption and the abuse of power by officials on various levels. Beginning in the late spring, the Belarusian elite has undergone a sustained purge of officials and high-level businessmen. Even Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's own assistant, Sergei Rovnieko, was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of $200,000 as part of a wider sweep promised by Lukashenko. (BMB Eurasia, 07.27.18)
• Belarus is extending visa-free travel for tourists from five to 30 days in a bid to attract more visitors. (RFE/RL, 07.24.18)

IV. Quoteworthy

• If a president does not brief his staff, intelligence agencies have few options to learn about the meeting. Their most obvious solution—eavesdropping—is off limits when it comes to the commander in chief, even during a meeting with the leader of an adversary, according to former intelligence officers. Still, the intelligence agencies would probably try to intercept Russian discussions of what was said in the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, former officials said. (New York Times, 07.20.18)