This Week's Highlights:

• U.S. President Donald Trump has again said he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at next week's G20 summit in Japan. In a June 19 interview with Fox News, Trump said he would meet with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the June 28-29 gathering. Putin, in turn, said he was ready for a meeting with Trump because there was "plenty" to talk about, including "the big mistake" of sanctions, RFE/RL reports. “According to expert data, Russia, starting in 2014, has lost about $50 billion as a result of all these sanctions and restrictions, while the European Union lost $240 billion and the U.S. lost $17 billion,” Putin said during his annual televised question-and-answer session June 20, according to The Moscow Times.
• An official from the U.S. National Security Council reportedly took part in an international meeting of senior security officials organized by Russia’s Security Council in the Russian city of Ufa on June 18-20. The Kommersant newspaper reported that a Gavin Wild(e?) of the NSC attended at least the first day of the conference, though not the plenary session. His attendance suggests a change in the U.S. approach toward these meetings: During last year’s, in Sochi, Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev accused the U.S. of putting pressure on other countries not to send representatives. Meanwhile, TASS quoted Patrushev’s deputy Yuri Kokov calling at the meeting for more attention to terrorist groups’ “incessant attempts to gain access to information on manufacturing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, [and] their increased attention to issues related to the possibility of using pathogenic biological agents and toxic chemicals for terrorist purposes.”
• U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed that he ordered U.S. military strikes against Iran in retaliation for the shooting down of a U.S. Navy drone on June 20. In a series of tweets on June 21, Trump said he called off strikes targeting three sites in Iran just 10 minutes before they were to be carried out, according to RFE/RL. He said he did so because he was told that the number of casualties may reach 150 people, which the president said was "not proportionate" to the downing of the unmanned U.S. surveillance aircraft. The Wall Street Journal reports that Vladimir Putin, asked about rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran during his annual Q&A, said that any American military action against Tehran would be a "catastrophe for the region."
• In the 17th iteration of his annual TV call-in show Vladimir Putin offered little sign that he would give ground on several issues of concern, the Financial Times reports: He backed recent laws banning “fake news” and “offending the authorities,” which have been used to suppress dissent, and said Russia would not relax its draconian drug laws in response to protests following the case of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov.
• President Vladimir Putin said on June 20 that the fate of 24 Ukrainian sailors held in Russia since last year must be linked to the release of Russian citizens held in Ukraine whom Moscow wants to see freed, Reuters reports. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had said at a meeting with the president of Germany's Bundestag that a swap of even 10 or 15 detainees kept in Russia-occupied Donbas could indicate a mutual desire of the parties to begin the process of de-escalating in eastern Ukraine, according to Interfax.

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

Nuclear security and safety:

• "A number of trends in the tactics of international terrorist organizations deserve special attention and analysis," Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council Yuri Kokov said at an international meeting of high representatives responsible for security issues in Ufa. “First of all, it concerns the incessant attempts to gain access to information on manufacturing of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, their increased attention to issues related to the possibility of using pathogenic biological agents and toxic chemicals for terrorist purposes,” he was quoted by TASS as saying on June 19. (Russia Matters, 06.19.19)

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:

• Russia says it has invited South Korea to join in developing a "new Russian-Chinese initiative" to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula amid a flurry of diplomacy on the topic ahead of next week’s Group of 20 summit in Japan. Officials in Russia and China have been working on a new initiative to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons program in exchange for a reduction in the U.S. military presence in South Korea. (RFE/RL, 06.17.19)
• The situation in the Korean Peninsula could escalate next year if the U.S. fails to convince Pyongyang it is serious about improving ties, Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council Alexander Venediktov said on June 19. (Reuters, 06.19.19)
• The U.S. has sanctioned Russian Financial Society for allegedly helping North Korea evade financial sanctions by assisting a company linked to Pyongyang's primary foreign exchange bank, the U.S. Treasury said on June 19. (Reuters, 06.20.19)

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

• U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed that he ordered U.S. military strikes against Iran in retaliation for the shooting down of a U.S. Navy drone on June 20. In a series of tweets on June 21, Trump said he called off strikes targeting three sites in Iran just 10 minutes before they were to be carried out. He said he did so because he was told that the number of casualties may reach 150 people, which the president said was "not proportionate" to the downing of the unmanned U.S. surveillance aircraft. (RFE/RL, 06.21.19)
• Asked about rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran during his annual Q&A, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that any American military action against Tehran would be a "catastrophe for the region." (Wall Street Journal, 06.20.19)
• Russia accused the U.S. on June 21 of deliberately stoking dangerous tensions around Iran and pushing the situation to the brink of war, the state-run RIA news agency reported. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called on Washington to weigh the possible consequences of conflict with Iran. Ryabkov has also earlier said Russia told the U.S. on June 18 that it should drop what it called provocative plans to deploy more troops to the Middle East or risk war with Iran. (Reuters, 06.21.19, Reuters, 06.18.19)
• Iran announced on June 17 that it would soon exceed the limits on the nuclear fuel it is permitted to possess under the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, which the U.S. withdrew from last year, leaving the door open to an “unlimited rise” in Tehran’s stockpile of enriched uranium and potentially triggering another flash point with Washington. (New York Times, 06.17.19)
• In a statement on June 20, the EU said senior officials from Iran, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia will meet on June 28 in Vienna to discuss the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. (RFE/RL, 06.21.19)
• Russia is ready to help Iran with oil exports and its banking sector if the Instex European payment system is not launched, Interfax cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on June 21. The Instex mechanism was created by European countries in an attempt to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with six global powers after the U.S. pulled out. (Reuters, 06.21.19)

New Cold War/saber rattling:

• The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff briefly published and then removed from public access a new edition of their official doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons. “Using nuclear weapons could create conditions for decisive results and the restoration of strategic stability,” according to one passage in the publication. “Specifically, the use of a nuclear weapon will fundamentally change the scope of a battle and create conditions that affect how commanders will prevail in conflict.” (Federation of American Scientists, 06.19.19)
• The Japanese military says its fighter jets were forced to scramble after two Russian military aircraft violated its airspace. (RFE/RL, 06.21.19)

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

• A U.S. agreement with Poland to send 1,000 extra troops to the country is a defensive measure needed for its security, the U.S. ambassador to Warsaw said on June 17, replying to accusations from neighboring Russia that the move is aggressive. (Reuters, 06.17.19)
• Thousands of U.S. and European service members and 50 ships were staging mock assaults on the Baltic coast near Russia as part of the largest U.S.-led exercises there since Russia invaded Crimea five years ago. (Wall Street Journal, 06.15.19)
• Turkey will take delivery of a Russian S-400 air defense system in the first half of July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on June 20, striking a defiant tone as he insisted the U.S. would not retaliate by hitting its key strategic ally with sanctions. (Financial Times, 06.20.19)

Missile defense:

• No significant developments.

Nuclear arms control:

• The Russian State Duma on June 18 voted overwhelmingly to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree to suspend Russia’s obligations under the INF Treaty with the U.S. (AP, 06.18.19)
• Every year since 2010, the U.S. has chosen to declassify its nuclear stockpile and disarmament figures as part of an effort to encourage nuclear diplomacy and openness. But this year when the Federation of American Scientists asked the Pentagon for the figures to check its work in the Nuclear Notebook, the administration chose not to declassify. (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 06.11.19)
• The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said that at the start of 2019, Russia, the U.S. and seven other countries possessed 13,865 nuclear weapons. That's a "marked decline" from the 14,465 estimated at the start of 2018, SIPRI said. The decrease "is due mainly to Russia and the U.S,” SIRP said. (RFE/RL, 06.17.19)

Counter-terrorism:

• A high-ranking official from the U.S. National Security Council was to have taken part in an international meeting of high security representatives in the Russian city of Ufa on June 18-20, according to the Russian Security Council, which is organizing these annual gatherings. Kommersant reported that a Gavin Wilde of the U.S. National Security Council attended the first day of the event. His attendance represents a change in U.S. approach towards these events. During last year’s meeting in Sochi, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev accused the U.S. of putting pressure on other countries not to send their representatives. (TASS, 06.18.19, Russia Matters, 06.19.19)
• The U.S. decision to blacklist Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps was arbitrary and spontaneous, Director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin said. The Revolutionary Guards Corps "is the organization that has made an enormous contribution to the fight against ISIL in the territory of Syria and Iraq," Naryshkin said at an international conference organized by Russia's Security Council in Ufa on June 18. (Interfax, 06.18.19)

Conflict in Syria:

• Asked during his annual Q&A on June 20 if Russia could be willing to negotiate a “grand bargain” with the U.S. on Syria and other issues, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by saying that “we aren’t trading in our allies, our interests and our principles.” Putin had earlier told the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia in Dushanbe that improving the situation in Syria requires political reforms. (TASS, 06.15.19, AP, 06.20.19)
• Talks between Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton and his Israeli counterpart Meir Ben-Shabbat will be held in Jerusalem on June 24-25, Deputy Head of Israel’s Security Council Eitan Ben David said. The sides will discuss regional problems, including Syria, Ben David said, expressing hope that this meeting will benefit the entire region. Russia’s Security Council hopes the meeting will yield practical results in terms of stabilization in Syria and the Middle East. Bolton will also meet on June 23 with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (RFE/RL, 06.21.19, TASS, 06.18.19)
• U.N. chief Antonio Guterres has called on Russia and Turkey to stabilize Syria's rebel-held Idlib Province, which he says is suffering "a humanitarian disaster." (RFE/RL, 06.19.19)

Cyber security:

• Since at least 2012, current and former officials say, the U.S. has put reconnaissance probes into the control systems of the Russian electric grid. But now the American strategy has shifted more toward offense, officials say, with the placement of potentially crippling malware inside the Russian system at a depth and with an aggressiveness that had never been tried before. It is intended partly as a warning, and partly to be poised to conduct cyberstrikes if a major conflict broke out between Washington and Moscow. ( New York Times, 06.15.19.)
  • U.S. President Donald Trump flatly rejected the Times' story, calling it "a virtual act of Treason by a once great paper so desperate for a story, any story, even if bad for our Country.” (Politico, 06.15.19)
  • Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said reports the U.S. has infiltrated its power grid in preparation for future cyber operations show Washington is preparing “a cyber war [and] cyber military activity against” Moscow. Peskov also raised concerns that Trump was reportedly not informed about the effort. (Financial Times, 06.17.19, New York Times, 06.18.19)
  • Russia has uncovered and thwarted attempts by the U.S. to carry out cyber attacks on the control systems of Russian infrastructure, Russian news agencies cited an unnamed security source as saying on June 17. "We see and note such attempts," a Russian security source was quoted as saying in response to the report. "However, we manage to neutralize these actions." (Reuters, 06.17.19)
• A British court has ruled that the full extradition hearing to decide whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be sent to the U.S. will take place in February 2020. (RFE/RL, 06.14.19)

Elections interference:

• The House intelligence committee says it will subpoena Russia-born business executive Felix Sater after he did not appear for a scheduled interview June 21 to discuss his behind-the-scenes role in U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to build a skyscraper in Moscow during the presidential election. (AP, 06.21.19)
• A CBS News poll from May shows 53 percent of Americans have had enough of the Russia investigation, but a CNN poll from June shows 54 percent of voters say Democrats are investigating Trump the right amount or too little. (Politico, 06.17.19)
• Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Alexander Venediktov described as absurd accusations that Moscow used disinformation to sway voters towards right-wing parties in last month's EU elections. (Reuters, 06.16.19)

Energy exports:

• Supply curbs by OPEC are being undermined by “relentless” production growth outside of the cartel led by the U.S., a trend that will continue in 2020. The International Energy Agency said in its monthly oil market report that non-OPEC supply will accelerate from 1.9 million barrels a day to 2.3 million barrels a day next year. (Financial Times, 06.14.19)
• Ukraine is warning European nations to prepare for a gas crisis amid skepticism it will agree on a new transit contract with Russia before the current deal expires, according to Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Olena Zerkal. (Interfax, 06.18.19)
• Russia’s state-controlled oil giant, Rosneft, is extracting concessions from crisis-ridden Venezuela to enter the offshore natural gas market on the cheap, a potential headache for the U.S. and Europe. (Bloomberg, 06.20.19)

Bilateral economic ties:

• Russian billionaire Vladislav Doronin already owns a full-floor apartment overlooking Central Park at the Time Warner Center. Nonetheless, he has got his eye on a $83.5 million spread less than a mile away. (Wall Street Journal, 06.14.19)

Other bilateral issues:

• U.S. President Donald Trump has again said he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at next week's Group of 20 summit in Japan. On June 19, Trump said he would meet Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the June 28-29 gathering in Osaka. Putin said on June 20 was ready to meet Trump because there was "plenty" to talk about, including "the big mistake" of sanctions. (RFE/RL, 06.20.19)
• “According to expert data, Russia, starting in 2014, has lost about $50 billion as a result of all these sanctions and restrictions, while the European Union lost $240 billion and the U.S. lost $17 billion,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his annual question and answer session on June 20. (The Moscow Times, 06.20.19)
• Since the Trump administration appointed Zalmay Khalilzad special envoy to the Afghan peace process in September, Khalilzad has taken pains to involve Moscow and Beijing in efforts to negotiate a comprehensive settlement of the nearly 18-year Afghan war. The mostly unqualified support of current U.S. aims in Afghanistan represents a notable shift, especially for Russia. (Wall Street Journal, 06.18.19)
• Fiona Hill, U.S. President Donald Trump’s top Russia advisor, is expected to step down from her post at the National Security Council (NSC) in August after nearly two and a half years. Hill is to be replaced by the arms control expert Tim Morrison, who currently serves as the senior director for weapons of mass destruction and biodefense at the NSC. (Foreign Policy, 06.18.19)
• Declaring himself the victim of ''an absurd political kidnapping,'' Paul Whelan, an American detained in Russia since December on espionage charges, used a brief court appearance on June 20 to appeal to U.S. President Donald Trump to ''keep American great'' by taking robust action to get him released. (New York Times, 06.21.19)
• Andrea Thompson, the U.S. State Department official in charge of arms control negotiations with Moscow, and her husband had a years-long friendship with GOP operative Paul Erickson, the former boyfriend of convicted unregistered Russian agent Maria Butina—ties this official did not disclose to her superiors or to Congress during her confirmation process in spring 2018. (The Washington Post, 06.19.19)
• Ukrainian-Russian developer Pavel Fuks, who wanted access to U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration, filed a lawsuit on June 18 saying he was bilked out of the $200,000 he paid for what he thought would be VIP tickets to the event. (New York Times, 06.19.19)
• Russian citizen Oleg Tishchenko will be immediately deported from the U.S. after pleading guilty to smuggling F-16 technical manuals to Moscow. (RFE/RL, 06.19.19)
• In its annual Trafficking In Persons Report released on June 20, the U.S. State Department said Russian trafficking prosecutions are low despite reports of thousands of cases and that the country still lacks a national strategy to fight the problem. (RFE/RL, 06.20.19)
• The U.S. State Department is now demanding visa applicants provide their social-media profiles on nearly two dozen platforms, including Facebook and Twitter. (RFE/RL, 06.18.19)

II. Russia’s domestic news

Politics, economy and energy:

• In the 17th iteration of his annual TV call-in show Russian President Vladimir Putin offered little sign that he would give ground on several issues of concern. He backed recent laws banning “fake news” and “offending the authorities,” which have been used to suppress dissent, and said Russia would not relax its draconian drug laws in response to Ivan Golunov’s case. (Financial Times, 06.20.19)
  • Putin signed a law on June 17 that introduces fines for the unauthorized production or distribution of foreign print media. (The Moscow Times, 06.18.19)
• During his annual TV call-in show, Russian President Vladimir Putin said falling commodities prices in 2014 had created “an unpleasant element in the economy and society” but said that average salaries had risen from 33,000 rubles to 45,000 rubles ($714) a month since last year. “I want the people who are on the internet or sitting in front of their televisions to not be angry with me for not having these kinds of salaries [above the subsistence level]," Putin said. “In general, the way to solve these problems is to increase labor productivity, develop the economy and, as a result, increase citizens’ current standard of living, " he said. (The Moscow Times, 06.20.19, Financial Times, 06.20.19)
  • During a June 17 interview on state-run television, Audit Chamber head Alexei Kudrin described an upcoming “explosion” of protests caused by falling living standards and widespread poverty. The only way to prevent this is by transforming the country’s economic system, he added. (The Moscow Times, 06.19.19)
  • Only 17 percent of Russians expect the economic situation to improve, while 41 percent think it will get worse, according to pollster FOM. (Financial Times, 06.20.19)
• For the first two hours of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual Q&A, text messages, which in the past have been carefully filtered, flashed across screens, with messages such as “What is the point of your Direct Lines if nothing changes for the better?” and “When will you leave?” When asked whether he has become tired of the presidency, Putin said: “No, otherwise I wouldn't have run for this term.” (Financial Times, 06.20.19, The Moscow Times, 06.20.19)
• According to the U.N.’s “pessimistic” forecast, Russia’s population will fall to 124.6 million by 2050 and to 83.7 million by 2100. The U.N.’s “optimistic” forecast said that Russia's population could also increase to 147.2 million by 2050. (The Moscow Times, 06.18.19)
• Violations of Russia’s environmental protection laws cost the country more than $187 million in 2018, a reduction from previous years, officials from the Prosecutor General's Office said on June 17. (The Moscow Times,. 06.17.19)
• Russian aviation investigators have blamed last month's crash of a Sukhoi Superjet 100, which killed 41 people, on lightning that disabled its autopilot system and caused the plane to descend too quickly. (RFE/RL, 06.14.19)
• The trial of Russian theater director Kirill Serebrennikov and his co-defendants on charges of embezzlement has been postponed again after a judge granted more time for the completion of a new study of evidence in the case. (RFE/RL, 06.17.19)
• Reporter Abdulmumin Gadzhiyev working for an independent newspaper in Daghestan, the Chernovik, has been accused of financing terrorism, a charge his editors say is absurd. (RFE/RL, 06.14.19)
• Russia’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the authorities cannot refuse authorization for rallies over their inability to provide security, the state-run TASS news agency has reported. (The Moscow Times, 06.19.19)

Defense and aerospace:

• Russia’s air force has received its first delivery of two MiG-35 fighter jets. (The Moscow Times, 06.17.19)
• Sixty percent of Russians say that every real man should serve in the armed forces, according to a Levada Center poll published on June 18. (The Moscow Times, 06.18.19)
• "There is no country in the world that has such modern and technological weapons as we do. This is exactly what should make us proud of our country," Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his annual question and answer session on June 20. (The Moscow Times, 06.20.19)

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• A court in Russia has ordered 15 suspects to be held in pretrial detention following a deadly brawl between representatives of the Roma ethnic group and other residents, mainly Russians, in the Penza region southeast of Moscow. (RFE/RL, 06.18.19)

III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment

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

• In a FOM poll published June 21, 49 percent of Russians said they are interested in foreign policy, while 50 percent said they don’t follow international events. (The Moscow Times, 06.21.19)
• On June 24, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will begin its summer session in Strasbourg and it is expected to vote on a report that could welcome Russia back to the chamber after a three-year hiatus. If this happens, it would become the first set of major Western sanctions imposed on Moscow since its annexation of Crimea in 2014 to be revoked. (RFE/RL, 06.18.19)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a presidential order instructing the prime minister, the Foreign Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service to implement e-visas by Jan. 1, 2021. The e-visa offer will apply to single-entry visas for visits of up to 16 days. (The Moscow Times, 06.19.19)
• The Wall Street Journal on June 18 reported that Black Cube, often called “the private Mossad,” had tried to dig up dirt on Alexei Navalny, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin, in August 2017. Taking to Twitter on June 18, Navalny said he believed Russian business magnate Alisher Usmanov may have hired Black Cube for the operation. (The Moscow Times, 06.19.19)

China:

• In the opinion of U.S. Army Secretary Mark Esper, U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. military, Washington was late to recognize that America will be locked in a strategic competition with China for years to come. He also warned earlier this year that “Russia and China could become adversaries in the future.” (Reuters, 06.18.19, Defense News, 01.28.19)
• Chinese President Xi Jinping celebrated his 66th birthday on June 15 with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Dushanbe. While Putin gave Xi Russian ice cream—the flavor was not mentioned—Xi gave Putin some Chinese tea. (Reuters, 06.15.19)
• A summit of a 27-member regional grouping called the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia took place on June 15 in Tajikistan's capital, Dushanbe. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Hassan Rohani and other leaders of member countries including Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. attended the summit. Observers included the U.S., Ukraine, Belarus, Japan, the U.N. and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. (RFE/RL, 06.15.19)
• The leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries have signed a joint declaration at their summit in Bishkek calling for greater cooperation among member countries and reaffirming their intent to ensure security for their region. Russia will now take over the SCO chairmanship. The parties have agreed to hold the next summit in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on July 22-23, 2020. (RFE/RL, 06.14.19)
• Chinese technology giant Huawei will start talks with officials at Russia’s communications ministry this summer on the possibility of using Russia’s Avrova operating system. (Reuters, 06.21.19)

Ukraine:

• Dutch prosecutors say three Russian nationals and a Ukrainian will be tried on murder charges for their alleged roles in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, which killed all 298 people on board. "They will also be placed on national and international wanted lists. Because of that, we will reveal their full names and we will show you their pictures. The four persons are: Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Leonid Kharchenko," he added, noting that Kharchenko was Ukrainian, while the others held Russian citizenship. (RFE/RL, 06.19.19)
  • The U.S. has welcomed the indictment of the four individuals, calling it an "important milestone in the search for the truth." (RFE/RL, 06.20.19)
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 20 dismissed the murder charges announced against the four men, saying that there was no evidence. (RFE/RL, 06.20.19)
  • Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on June 20 rejected the implication that Russia may have been involved in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. (AP, 06.20.19)
• EU leaders have agreed to prolong sanctions on Russia for its actions in Ukraine. Meeting in Brussels on June 20, the leaders extended the bloc's economic sanctions against Russia, which mainly target the country's energy and banking sectors, by six months. They also agreed to renew for another year an investment ban on the Crimea. (RFE/RL, 06.20.19)
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she and visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had discussed the Minsk peace agreement, adding: "As long as there is no progress on this front, the sanctions cannot be lifted and the sanctions related to Crimea can only be lifted if Crimea returns to Ukraine." Zelensky also met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin during his EU tour. Zelensky has emphasized that Ukraine is not ready for any dialogue with "separatists" but willing to work in the Minsk talks format to bring about peace in Donbass. This is how Zelensky reacted to a phrase about "talks to separatists" said by Macron during a joint press briefing. (Reuters, 06.18.19, RFE/RL, 06.18.19, Interfax, 06.18.19)
• Ukraine's government says one of its soldiers has been killed and six others wounded in clashes with Russia-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country. Meanwhile, both sides in the conflict on June 19 accused the other of violating a cease-fire under the Minsk peace agreements by firing mortar and heavy artillery. (RFE/RL, 06.19.19)
• A draft statement expected to be issued at an upcoming EU-Ukraine summit on July 8 will express Brussels' continued recognition of Ukraine's European aspirations while dropping criticism of the country's education law, according to a copy of the draft seen by RFE/RL. (RFE/RL, 06.14.19)
• Kurt Volker, the special U.S. envoy to Ukraine, told U.S. senators that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will come to Washington for a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the coming weeks. (RFE/RL, 06.18.19)
• The U.S. Defense Department will provide $250 million to enhance Ukraine's military capabilities as the nation continues to battle Russia-backed separatists in its eastern regions. The funding from the Pentagon would enable Ukraine to acquire sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, counterartillery radars and night-vision equipment among other items. (RFE/RL, 06.18.19)
• Russia is supporting the separatists with "very serious hardware," including more than 450 tanks and 700 pieces of heavy equipment, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (RFE/RL, 06.18.19)
• The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, will lead America’s diplomatic mission in Kiev during parliamentary elections in July, the U.S. Embassy in Kiev said on June 18. (RFE/RL, 06.18.19)
• "We are accused of occupying Donbass [in Ukraine]—This is complete nonsense and lies. But China has nothing to do with it [Ukraine]. [U.S.] tariffs on its goods are essentially sanctions as well. They are growing and growing,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his annual question and answer session on June 20. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “is talented and funny, but what we are seeing now is not funny. This is not a comedy, this is a tragedy,” Putin said. (The Moscow Times, 06.20.19)
• The Kremlin has cautious optimism about Kiev's future policy but has no clear understanding of it yet, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin is taking a wait-and-see approach, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said. (Interfax, 06.17.19)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said on June 20 that the fate of 24 Ukrainian sailors held in Russia since last year must be linked to the release of Russian citizens held in Ukraine whom Moscow wants to see freed. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a meeting with the president of Germany's Bundestag, Wolfgang Schauble, that a swap of even 10 or 15 detainees kept in Russia-occupied Donbass could indicate a mutual desire of the parties to begin the process of de-escalating in eastern Ukraine. (Reuters, 06.21.19, Interfax, 06.18.19)
• Russia has begun handing out Russian passports to Ukrainians from separatist-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, a move condemned by Kiev as "legally void." (RFE/RL, 06.14.19)
• Some 31.7 percent of respondents of a poll conducted by Socis Social and Marketing Research in Ukraine support the need to seek membership in the EU, while 15.9 percent are inclined to think that Ukraine needs both integration into the EU and the development of close relations with neighboring countries in the east. Only 12.5 percent of citizens are in favor of the need to restore friendly relations with Russia and the CIS countries. (Interfax, 06.17.19)
• Roman Lyagin, the chief organizer of a 2014 Donetsk separatist "independence" referendum in eastern Ukraine condemned by the international community, has been detained by Ukrainian authorities, Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko has announced. (RFE/RL, 06.14.19)
• Ukraine’s Constitutional Court has ruled that President Volodymyr Zelensky's order to dissolve parliament and call early elections is legal. A Rating Group poll released on June 19 showed Zelensky's Servant of the People party had the support of 47.1 percent of people who planned to vote in parliamentary elections on July 21, putting him within reach of winning a parliamentary majority. The poll had the pro-Russian Opposition Platform in second place at 11.1 percent. (RFE/RL, 06.20.19)
• Investigative journalist Serhiy Tomilenko in Ukraine's central city of Cherkasy has died six weeks after being attacked by an unknown assailant. (RFE/RL, 06.20.19)
• Ukrainian lawmaker and journalist Dmytro Tymchuk has died from a gunshot wound that a fellow lawmaker says he sustained while cleaning a handgun. (RFE/RL, 06.19.19)

Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:

• The speaker of Georgia's parliament stepped down on June 21 in the aftermath of violent clashes that left more than 200 people injured, sparked by the appearance of a Russian lawmaker in parliament. Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze, who is out of the country on an official visit, has handed in his resignation. The speaker's dismissal was one of the protesters' demands. (AP, 06.21.19)
• The U.S. State Department and Amnesty International have called on the Georgian authorities to guarantee the safety of participants in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender "Tbilisi Pride" activities that have been scheduled this week. (RFE/RL, 06.19.19)
• Armenia has made progress in strengthening its regulatory framework for nuclear and radiation safety but still faces challenges, including a shortage of qualified and experienced staff at its regulatory body, an International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts said June 17 on completion of an Integrated Regulatory Review Service follow-up mission. (World Nuclear News, 06.17.19)
• “We are not considering uniting into one state [with Belarus]. We're looking to fully implement the Treaty on the Creation of a Union State. But this does not mean a single government. It includes many elements—all the way to creating a union parliament and a common currency,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his annual question and answer session on June 20. (The Moscow Times, 06.20.19)
• Belarusian authorities have allowed Iranian Mehrdad Jamshidian, who converted to Orthodox Christianity and is wanted by Tehran on murder charges, to remain in the country. (RFE/RL, 06.17.19)
• The Parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe has "strongly condemned" the reported secret execution of Belarusian Alyaksandr Zhylnikau while his case was still under consideration by the U.N. Human Rights Committee. (RFE/RL, 06.17.19)
• Moldova's new coalition government is more united by its desire to improve economic growth and battle corruption than it is divided by its foreign policy views, Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popsecu said on June 18. Moldova’s pro-European ACUM bloc agreed to join forces with the pro-Russia Socialist Party on June 8 to form a new government, pushing out the ruling Democratic Party that sought to hold onto power. (RFE/RL, 06.19.19)
• The EU member states have adopted a new strategy on Central Asia, saying the document aims at forging a "strong and durable partnership" between the bloc and countries of the region. (RFE/RL, 06.17.19)
• Kazakh Interior Minister Erlan Turghymbaev says the number of protesters detained during five days of rallies against the results of a recent presidential election has risen to almost 4,000. (RFE/RL, 06.18.19)
• The White House runs the risk of damaging the U.S. nuclear industry if it decides to crack down on imports of uranium, according to the world’s biggest producer of the radioactive material. The chief executive of Kazatomprom, Galymzhan Pirmatov, said he was “concerned” that more U.S. reactors would be forced to close if the Trump administration were to introduce tariffs and force utilities to buy at least one quarter of their uranium from domestic miners. (Financial Times, 06.17.19)
• Tajikistan and China have signed 18 agreements on investment, agriculture, joint business ventures and fighting terrorism. The documents were signed on June 15 in Dushanbe after talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon. (RFE/RL, 06.15.19)
• For the first time in Uzbekistan's history, a woman has become the leader of the upper chamber of parliament—the Senate. On June 21, members of the Senate elected Tanzila Norboeva as the chamber's chairwoman. The Senate's previous chairman, Nigmatulla Yuldoshev, was moved to the post of prosecutor-general on June 20. He replaced outgoing Prosecutor-General Otabek Murodov, who was sacked on June 20. (RFE/RL, 06.21.19)
• The Kyrgyz parliament voted to strip former President Almazbek Atambaev of immunity amid a growing power struggle in the poor Central Asian nation. (RFE/RL, 06.20.19)
• The former British ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Robin Ord-Smith, has been elected as the Central Asian state's business ombudsman. (RFE/RL, 06.19.19)
• Kyrgyz authorities have launched an investigation into a heroin-smuggling case after customs officials at the German-Polish border discovered 670 kilograms of heroin in a truck that was meant to be transporting sweets to Belgium from a Bishkek-based company. (RFE/RL, 06.20.19)

IV. Quoteworthy

• “Nobody’s been tougher on Russia than Donald Trump,” U.S. President Donald Trump said as he began his campaign for re-election on June 18 at a rally in Orlando. (The Washington Post, 06.19.19)
• “He [Trump] wants to see, by the end of his presidency, Russia and China coming to the table and striking a Reaganesque bargain on lowering the threshold on nuclear arms between these great-power rivals,” said James Carafano, an expert on foreign policy. (Foreign Policy, 06.18.19)
• “Russian power does not need to equal that of the United States for Russia to matter. Russia’s size and geographic position, abundant natural resources, historical alliances, advanced intellectual capital, membership in the United Nations Security Council, potent nuclear arsenal and willingness to use military power to protect what it considers to be its interests are among the factors have led to Russia’s reemergence as a major player in some regions and on certain issues,” Vice President of Carnegie Corporation of New York Deana Arsenian wrote in her introductory note to a new guide to U.S.-Russia relations launched by CCNY this week. (Russia Matters, 06.19.19)