This Week’s Highlights

• Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov will meet in Vienna on June 22 with U.S. envoy Marshall Billingslea to start negotiations on New START. Ryabkov indicated Russia did not oppose the U.S. invitation to China but said Beijing had to agree, AFP reports. However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Beijing hadn't changed its previous stance that it was not going to join the talks, according to RFE/RL.
• A bipartisan U.S. defense bill for fiscal year 2021, passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee, proposes a massive $740 billion in defense budget and seeks to restore, maintain and expand comparative advantage over China and Russia. That includes $1.4 billion earmarked for deterrence in the Pacific, according to Breaking Defense, and $250 million in aid to Ukraine, according to RFE/RL. The bill also requires a report on Russia’s support to racially and ethnically motivated violent extremist groups and networks in Europe.
• A 120-page long report titled “Strengthening America & Countering Global Threats” and published by the Republican Study Committee suggests imposing "the toughest sanctions ever proposed by Congress" against Russia, Iran and China, including restrictions against Russian oil-and-gas projects, sanctions on Russia’s sovereign debt, sanctions on Russian “proxies” in other countries and it also designates Russia as a "State Sponsor of Terrorism,” TASS reports.
• German neo-Nazis are conducting paramilitary training with a Russian ultranationalist group at a camp near St. Petersburg, German magazine Focus reported on June 5. Citing German security sources, Focus said members of the far-right National Democratic Party’s youth wing and neo-Nazi The Third Path completed training at the camp run by the Russian Imperial Movement, which U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization, RFE/RL reports.
• Khalifa Hafter, the Libyan commander backed by Russia, whose forces suffered a string of battlefield losses last week, declared he was ready to stop fighting and enter talks to end the civil war, the New York Times reports. Meanwhile, Russian private mercenary group Wagner is hiring Syrians to fight for Haftar under the supervision of the Russian military, Reuters cited two unnamed Syrian opposition sources and a regional source as saying.
• Looking ahead, 46 percent of adults polled in Ukraine say Ukraine should join the EU, and 42 percent say Ukraine should join NATO, according to a survey conducted by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. By contrast, 13 percent say Ukraine should join the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union and 12 percent say Ukraine should join Moscow’s Collective Security Treaty Organization. If offered a foreign passport, 11 percent say they would move to the U.S. or the EU. Only 6 percent said they would move to Russia, Ukraine Business News reports.

 

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

Nuclear security and safety:

• Unit 4 of the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant in Russia will be completely switched to uranium-plutonium MOX fuel in 2022, marking an important step toward closing the nuclear fuel cycle, Russia’s Rosatom has announced. (World Nuclear News, 06.11.20)
• There has been no enforced shutdown of a nuclear power reactor due to the effects of COVID-19 on the workforce or supply chains, according to reports from operators and regulators received through the IAEA. (World Nuclear News, 06.11.20)

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:

• No significant developments.

Iran and its nuclear program:

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Chinese government’s top diplomat, Wang Yi have started making the case at the United Nations against Washington’s claim that it can trigger a return of all sanctions on Iran at the Security Council. Lavrov cited a 1971 International Court of Justice opinion, which found that a fundamental principle governing international relationships was that “a party which disowns or does not fulfill its own obligations cannot be recognized as retaining the rights which it claims to derive from the relationship.” (Reuters, 06.09.20)
• The IAEA expressed "serious concern" June 5 about Iran's failure to cooperate with its probe into undeclared nuclear material in the country, adding to calls from opponents of the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran to end the agreement. In two reports sent to member states by the IAEA, the organization said Iran didn't give its inspectors access to two sites the agency wanted to visit. The agency also said Iran didn't answer questions about the use of possible undeclared nuclear material in the early 2000s and what has happened to it since. (Wall Street Journal, 06.06.20)
• Guterres has told the Security Council in a report quoted by Reuters that cruise missiles used in attacks on Saudi oil facilities last year were of Iranian origin. Though the report has yet to be made public, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on June 12 that Moscow remained convinced that a weapons embargo on Tehran should be lifted. (RFE/RL, 06.12.20)

New Cold War/saber rattling:

• A bipartisan U.S. bill for fiscal year 2021, passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), proposes a massive $740 billion in defense budget and seeks to restore, maintain and expand comparative advantage over China and Russia. While the SASC hasn’t released its draft of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2021, it published a 20-page summary packed with bullet points whose overwhelming emphasis is clear: countering Russia and China. That includes $1.4 billion earmarked for deterrence in the Pacific and $250 million in aid to Ukraine. The Pentagon said $250 million will be released to assist with “training, equipment, and advisory efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s capacity to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression.” The bill also requires a report on Russia’s support to racially and ethnically motivated violent extremist groups and networks in Europe. (Breaking Defense, 06.11.20, Press Trust of India, 06.11.20, Defense News, 06.11.20, RFE/RL, 06.12.20)
• U.S. fighter jets intercepted Russian jets and bombers twice on June 10 off the coast of Alaska, the U.S. air defense command said. Two Russian Tu-95 bombers, two Russian Su-35 fighter jets and an A-50 airborne early-warning and control aircraft came within 32 kilometers of the coast of Alaska in the first incident, NORAD said on Twitter. (RFE/RL, 06.11.20)
• The COVID-19 pandemic has upended several military exercises, but now that restrictive measures have been eased, some are going forward, albeit in a scaled-down form. Two kicked off in early June in Poland and the Baltic Sea. The proximity of the training to Russian territory is seen by many as a possible signal that the U.S. military is shifting its interest in Europe eastward. The first exercise features a Polish airborne exercise and division-size river crossing from June 5 to June 19. The second exercise, Baltops 20, runs from June 7 to June 16 in the Baltic Sea region. (RFE/RL, 06.10.20)
• Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia have relocated to New Zealand two years after suffering a near-fatal poisoning attempt that Britain pins on Russia. (The Moscow Times, 06.08.20)

NATO-Russia relations:

• The former American ambassador to Berlin, Richard Grenell, has confirmed that the U.S. plans to withdraw troops from Germany. The proposed cut to 25,000 from 34,500 would reverse recent increases in U.S. troops in Europe designed to deter Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2014 and has bolstered armed forces on its western flank. Nearly two dozen Republican House members are urging the White House to reconsider its decision. (Wall Street Journal, 06.07.20, Financial Times, 06.11.20, Wall Street Journal, 06.10.20)
• The German government says it has received formal notification of a possible partial withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in the country. (RFE/RL, 06.10.20)
• Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova welcomed Trump’s reported decision to withdraw more than a quarter of U.S. troops from Germany, calling the large military presence a “vestige of the Cold War.” (Bloomberg, 06.11.20)
• Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Mark Milley, spoke with Chief of the Russian General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, by telephone on June 4."The two military leaders exchanged their views on issues of mutual concern. In accordance with past practice, both have agreed to keep the specific details of their conversation private," a Joint Staff spokesperson said. The Russian Defense Ministry also confirmed the phone call, without specifying the issues discussed during the conversation. (TASS, 06.04.20)
• In a speech laying out his vision of NATO for 2030, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on June 8 called on the allies to continue to invest in their armed forces; use the alliance as the forum to discuss, and where necessary to act, on issues affecting their shared security; and work more closely with "like-minded" partners such as Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea to "defend the global rules and institutions that have kept us safe for decades.” (RFE/RL, 06.08.20)
• "We have made a series of substantial breakthroughs in recent years. Despite the sanctions, we established a massive Russian presence in Africa, as well as cooperation with a number of NATO member states, brought a range of key products to the market and started activity in new areas," head of Rosoboronexport, Russia's state arms exporter, Alexander Mikheyev said. (Interfax, 06.11.20)

Missile defense:

• No significant developments.

Nuclear arms control:

• Russia confirmed June 9 that it would open talks with the U.S. this month on extending New START, but warned that U.S. insistence on including China could scuttle efforts. Ryabkov will meet in Vienna on June 22 with U.S. envoy Marshall Billingslea to start negotiations. Ryabkov indicated that Russia did not oppose the U.S. invitation to China but said Beijing had to agree. "My answer to a direct question on whether or not we think it would be possible to bring China to the table would be a flat and straightforward no," Ryabkov said. (AFP, 06.09.20)
• China has reiterated its refusal to participate in three-way disarmament talks with the U.S. and Russia. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on June 10 that Beijing hadn't changed its previous stance that it was not going to join the talks. (RFE/RL, 06.10.20)

Counter-terrorism:

• No significant developments.

Conflict in Syria:

• Russia’s Supreme Court has recognized as a terrorist group the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group linked to Jabhat al-Nusra, a terrorist group designated as such by Russia in 2015. (TASS, 06.05.20)

Cyber security:

• Police in Berlin have arrested Russian DJ Denis Kaznacheyev, who resides in the German capital, for alleged money laundering and cybercrimes after they received a request from Washington. (RFE/RL, 06.08.20)
• Twitter on June 12 said it had removed tens of thousands of "state linked" accounts used by China, Russia and Turkey to push their own propaganda, sow misinformation or attack critics. By far the biggest network uncovered was linked to China, Twitter said, comprised of a "highly engaged core" of 23,750 accounts that was boosted by a further 150,000 "amplifier" accounts. The Turkish network was made up of 7,340 accounts while the Russian group was 1,152 strong. (The Moscow Times, 06.12.20)

Elections interference:

• The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee has approved subpoena power for a politically charged congressional investigation of the Justice Department’s probe into Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and its contacts with Russia. The committee on June 11 voted 12-10 along party lines to grant its chairman, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, authority to subpoena dozens of current and former Justice Department officials. (RFE/RL,06.11.20)

Energy exports from CIS:

• OPEC members and key oil producers including Russia agreed to extend historic output cuts through July, as oil prices tentatively recover and coronavirus lockdowns ease. Under the terms of the April agreement, OPEC and the so-called OPEC+ pledged to cut output by 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) from May 1 until the end of June. The cuts were then to be gradually eased from July, to 7.7 million bpd until December. Russia will cut its crude production from 561 million metric tons last year to 510-520 million tons in 2020, the energy minister said. (The Moscow Times, 06.08.20)

U.S.-Russian economic ties:

• No significant developments.

U.S.-Russian relations in general:

• The U.S. on June 6 offered to help Russia clean up a vast fuel spill that has fouled an Arctic river in northern Siberia. "Saddened to hear about the fuel spill in Norilsk, Russia," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote on Twitter. "Despite our disagreements, the United States stands ready to assist Russia to mitigate this environmental disaster and offer our technical expertise." (The Moscow Times, 06.07.20)
• On June 10, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives suggested imposing "the toughest sanctions ever proposed by Congress" against Russia, Iran and China. The proposal is laid out in a 120-page long report titled “Strengthening America & Countering Global Threats.” The initiatives set out in the document are recommendations and are not a bill submitted to Congress. The package of anti-Russian sanctions may include restrictions against Russian oil-and-gas projects, sanctions on Russia’s sovereign debt, sanctions on Russian “proxies” in other countries and it also designates Russia as a "State Sponsor of Terrorism." (TASS, 06.11.20)
• The Atomwaffen Division, a small but violent neo-Nazi group based in the U.S., has expanded to Canada, Britain and Switzerland in addition to Russia, where it announced its launch May 31 with a translation of its whites-only agenda into Russian. (The Washington Post, 06.07.20)
• The International Criminal Court will face economic penalties and travel restrictions, the Trump administration warned on June 11, accusing a Hague-based court of corruption and maintaining that the U.S. can prosecute its own military and intelligence personnel. Attorney General William Barr said the court was vulnerable to manipulation by ''foreign powers, like Russia'' but did not elaborate or give examples. (New York Times, 06.11.20)
• “He has kind of got himself in a bubble . . .  He was much more attuned to the world around him,” Russia expert Fiona Hill said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. But she stresses that he is flexible, and gives him 50/50 odds of staying in power until 2036, after a court ruling made that possible. “He’s somebody who you should never write off, because he does learn from his mistakes.” (Financial Times, 06.12.02)

 

II. Russia’s domestic policies

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

• Russia confirmed 8,987 new coronavirus infections June 12, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 511,423. (The Moscow Times, 06.12.20) Here’s a link to RFE/RL’s interactive map of the virus’ spread around the world, including in Russia and the rest of post-Soviet Eurasia. For a comparison of the number and rate of change in new cases in the U.S. and Russia, visit this Russia Matters resource.
• Almost 60 percent more people in Moscow have died in May than the city's average toll for the past three years, the city health department confirmed June 10 as questions continue to swirl around Russia’s low coronavirus death figures. According to the Moscow health department's figures, 15,713 people in the city died last month. (The Moscow Times, 06.10.20)
• Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg, has a shortage of hospital beds for coronavirus patients, the Fontanka news website reported June 10 as patients decried poor conditions at a hastily built temporary hospital. (The Moscow Times, 06.11.20)
• Around 14 percent of Russians tested for the coronavirus have developed immunity to the infection, Interfax reported June 10, citing health officials. Almost 650,000 Russians have been tested for the virus across 46 regions. (The Moscow Times, 06.10.20)
• Only the U.S., China and Canada have more vaccine candidates in their pipelines than Russia, which has 10 candidates, according to the World Health Organization. (Wall Street Journal, 06.11.20)
• The Russian manufacturer of ventilators involved in two deadly fires at hospitals treating coronavirus patients said June 10 it has recalled the devices for checks. (The Moscow Times, 06.10.20)
• Russia’s draft HIV prevention strategy doesn’t fully comply with World Health Organization guidelines and is not available for public discussion, Kommersant reported. More than 1 million people in Russia live with HIV and a record 37,000 people died from HIV-related illnesses in the country in 2019. (The Moscow Times, 06.12.20)
• A massive fuel spill in northern Siberia has reached an Arctic glacial lake after seeping through floating barriers installed to stop the leak, regional officials said June 9. Putin declared a state of emergency June 3, several days after 21,000 metric tons of diesel leaked from a collapsed fuel tank outside the city of Norilsk. The spill could play into the hands of foreign foes that want to discredit Russia and its Arctic policy, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev claimed. (The Moscow Times, 06.11.20, The Moscow Times, 06.09.20)
  • Russian investigators on June 10 detained three staff of a power plant over the spill The mayor of Norilsk has been charged with negligence over his response to the spill. Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement that Rinat Akhmetchin had failed in his duties to contain the spill, which environmentalists say is the largest to have ever hit the Arctic. (The Moscow Times, 06.10.20, The Moscow Times, 06.11.20, The Moscow Times, 06.11.20)
• Authorities in Russia's northwestern region of Arkhangelsk have announced they will halt the construction of a landfill for waste from Moscow, a project that was extremely unpopular locally. (RFE/RL, 06.10.20)
• Russia’s basic sector output was down 9.9 percent year on year in April after 1 percent expansion in March as the effects of the pandemic made themselves felt. Over the first four months of this year, Russia’s basic sector output fell 0.9 percent year on year, versus 2.3 percent growth in 1Q20. (bne IntelliNews, 06.09.20)
• Early voting began in remote parts of Russia on June 10 ahead of a referendum that could extend Putin's term in the Kremlin. Initially planned for April, the vote on constitutional reforms proposed by the longtime leader has been rescheduled for July 1. Election officials in the isolated region of Chukotka in Russia's Far East announced they had dispatched employees to collect votes from deer herders in the tundra. (The Moscow Times, 06.10.20)
  • Moscow authorities plan to attract voters for next month’s public vote on constitutional reforms that would allow Putin to rule Russia until 2036 with prizes totaling almost $144 million. (The Moscow Times, 06.11.20)
  • Putin said June 12 an "absolute majority" of Russians back his controversial plan to change the constitution, as he made his first public appearance after weeks of lockdown. (The Moscow Times, 06.12.20)
• A Russian court has granted early release to a 79-year-old former space researcher, Vladimir Lapygin, who was sentenced to prison on a treason conviction and recognized as a political prisoner by the rights group Memorial. (RFE/RL, 06.11.20)
• A court in Russia's northwestern city of Pskov has sentenced a Jehovah's Witness, Gennady Shpakovsky, to 6 1/2 years in prison. (RFE/RL, 06.09.20)

Defense and aerospace:

• The Russian defense industry is starting to look at concepts for a sixth-generation fighter that would eventually replace the Sukhoi Su-57 PAK-FA. Like the U.S. Air Force and the Navy, the Russians are looking at a wide range of concepts including manned-unmanned teaming, directed energy weapons and hypersonics. The Russians are also looking at novel radar and electro-optical sensor technologies that seem designed to counter stealth. (The National Interest, 06.09.20)
• The Russian military will receive three regiments of the S-400 “Triumf” anti-aircraft missile systems along with four sets of the S-350 “Vityaz” battlefield air defense launchers by 2023. (The National Interest, 06.11.20)

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• The corruption and money-laundering trial of some of track and field's top administrators, including the former head of the athletics' world governing body, has opened in Paris. Prosecutors allege that Lamine Diack solicited payments totaling more than $3.3 million from Russian athletes to cover up allegations of suspected doping and allow the athletes to continue competing. (RFE/RL, 06.08.20)
• Russia’s FSB has been transformed into a semi-criminal structure that is functioning essentially as a “second government,” according to a new report by the Dossier (Dosye) Center, which is funded by a former oligarch and staunch critic of Putin, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The report, issued June 11, is titled "How The FSB Determines The Politics And Economics Of Russia." (RFE/RL, 06.12.20)

 

III. Russia’s relations with other countries

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

• Khalifa Hafter, the Libyan commander backed by Russia, whose forces suffered a string of battlefield losses last week, declared June 6 that he was ready to stop fighting and enter talks to end his oil-rich country's grinding civil war. The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord declared a fresh offensive to build upon a string of recent successes against Haftar’s men. Meanwhile, Russian private mercenary group Wagner is hiring Syrians to fight for Haftar under the supervision of the Russian military, Reuters cited two unnamed Syrian opposition sources and a regional source as saying. (The Moscow Times, 06.08.20, New York Times, 06.07.20)
• A top Russian diplomat says Russia, the U.S. and Afghanistan will hold video consultations to try and jump-start intra-Afghan peace talks. Zamir Kabulov, who is Russia's presidential envoy on issues related to Afghanistan and the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's second department of Asia, told Russian media on June 10 that the trilateral video talks will be held on June 15. According to Kabulov, the talks will involve the U.S. special peace envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, and Afghanistan's acting foreign minister, Mohammad Haneef Atmar. (RFE/RL, 06.10.20)
• German neo-Nazis are conducting paramilitary training with a Russian ultranationalist group at a camp near St. Petersburg, German magazine Focus reported on June 5. Citing German security sources, Focus said members of the far-right National Democratic Party’s youth wing and neo-Nazi The Third Path completed training at the camp run by the Russian Imperial Movement. (RFE/RL, 06.06.20)
• An Austrian court has sentenced a retired army colonel to three years in prison after convicting him of spying for Russia's military intelligence service (GRU) for more than 25 years. But the 71-year-old officer, who has not been named and whose trial was held behind closed doors, was released for time served. (RFE/RL, 06.10.20)
• A top Swiss law enforcement official has been found guilty of accepting lavish gifts from Russia, including a bear hunting trip in Siberia, but will not be punished, judges have ruled. Federal Prosecutor Michael Lauber is currently embroiled in impeachment proceedings over his mishandling of several high-profile corruption and money-laundering cases. The criminal proceedings in Bellinzona concern Lauber’s top Russia expert, “Viktor K,” an individual he handpicked from Switzerland’s federal police to advise him on complicated white-collar cases relating to Russia. (Financial Times, 06.05.20)
• Russia plans to resume international air travel on July 15 as it eyes a gradual return to normal life amid the coronavirus pandemic. Several thousand Russians traveled abroad in April despite closed national borders around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic. (The Moscow Times, 06.10.20, The Moscow Times, 06.08.20)

China-Russia: Allied or Aligned?

• Russia and India should pool their efforts to develop trilateral cooperation with China, as their cooperation has vast potential, Russian Ambassador to New Delhi Nikolai Kudashev said. (Interfax, 06.11.20)
• The EU on June 10 accused China of a concerted effort to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, lumping it with the Kremlin as a global scofflaw seeking to sow divisions in European societies. “Foreign actors and certain third countries, in particular Russia and China, have engaged in targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns around COVID-19 in the EU, its neighborhood and globally,” says a EU policy document released on June 10 outlining the bloc’s approach to tackling disinformation linked to the pandemic. (The Washington Post, 06.11.20, RFE/RL, 06.10.20)
• NATO’s chief has warned that China is “multiplying the threats to open societies and individual freedoms.” China’s emergence as the world’s second-largest military spender demands a “more global approach” from NATO, he added. Asked if China was now NATO’s “new enemy,” Stoltenberg insisted Beijing was not an adversary. (Financial Times, 06.09.20)

Ukraine:

• Looking ahead, 46 percent of adults polled in Ukraine say Ukraine should join the EU, and 42 percent say Ukraine should join NATO, according to a survey conducted by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. By contrast, 13 percent say Ukraine should join the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union and 12 percent say Ukraine should join Moscow’s Collective Security Treaty Organization. If offered a foreign passport, 11 percent say they would move to the U.S. or the EU. Only 6 percent said they would move to Russia. (Ukraine Business News, 06.08.20)
• Lawyers for a Russian suspect in the trial in absentia of four men accused of downing flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 have requested more time to prepare their case saying that the coronavirus pandemic has severely impeded their efforts to defend their clients. (RFE/RL, 06.08.20)
• Two top EU officials have rejected suggestions that sanctions imposed on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine could be lifted during the coronavirus pandemic. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel wrote that the sanctions adopted in 2014 are “deliberately narrowly framed in order to limit the risks of unintended consequences or harm to the wider population.” (RFE/RL, 06.10.20)
• Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation has announced that prosecutors consider former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko a suspect in a case about the alleged illegal transfer of valuable paintings across the border. (The Moscow Times, 06.10.20)
• A controversial former leader of a far-right Ukrainian paramilitary group says he is officially suspected of premeditated murder and possession of an illegal bladed weapon in the killing of a man he claims was self-defense. Serhiy Sternenko, who once led the Right Sector group in the city of Odessa, wrote that the Ukrainian Security Service had handed him a document informing him that he was a suspect in the case. (RFE/RL, 06.11.20)
• John Bolton, who served as U.S. national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019, plans to publish "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir" on June 23.  It is expected to describe the president's decision-making process, his warring advisers and a number of foreign policy topics, from Ukraine and Venezuela to North Korea and Iran. (The Washington Post, 06.08.20)
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has won an important vote of confidence in his promised anti-corruption efforts as the International Monetary Fund has approved a multibillion-dollar lending program for the country. The fund’s executive board late June 9 authorized a line of credit of about $5 billion over 18 months. The money is the largest foreign aid program approved so far under Zelenskiy’s tenure. (New York Times, 06.10.20)
• Ukraine was second only to China as the EU’s top source of organic food imports last year, according to a European Commission agricultural report for 2019. Ukraine supplied 10 percent of the EU’s 3.2 million tons of organic imports, compared to China’s 13 percent. (Ukraine Business News, 06.08.20)
• The board of the National Bank of Ukraine cut the key policy rate from the current level of 8 percent to 6 percent from June 12. This is the lowest level of the key policy rate since Ukraine gained its independence in 1991. (bne IntelliNews, 06.11.20, UNIAN, 06.12.20)
• While the illicit trade continues, far less coal has been moving across the Ukraine-Russia border in recent months, according to documents and independent analysts, and the market price per ton of anthracite is plummeting. In eastern Ukraine, the shift has translated into skipped paydays for miners, declining revenue for the separatist leadership and growing instability for a region that has been a perpetual flash point for U.S. relations with Moscow. (The Washington Post, 06.12.20)

Russia's other post-Soviet neighbors:

• One year after the U.S., the EU and Russia brokered a volatile coalition in Moldova to overthrow Democratic Party leader Vlad Plahotniuc, the government appointed by President Igor Dodon is on the verge of losing its majority in parliament. MP Angel Agache pulled out of the Democratic Party on June 9 to join Pro Moldova, the political vehicle of former parliament speaker Andrian Candu, which is believed to be sponsored by Vlad Plahotniuc, a powerful Moldovan oligarch. Plahotniuc, who fled Moldova last year amid a government shake-up, sought political asylum in the U.S., but his application was rejected, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. federal court. (bne IntelliNews, 06.10.20, RFE/RL, 06.11.20)
• Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna has sold a 6.27 percen tstake in the world’s biggest uranium miner Kazatomprom, raising $206 million in the process. (bne IntelliNews, 06.08.20)
• Kazakh officials have forcibly placed a group of women from lower-income families who were picketing the Ministry of Labor and Social Support for increased government assistance into quarantine. (RFE/RL, 06.10.20)
• Sixteen Kazakh military officers and Defense Ministry officials have gone on trial over a series of explosions at an ammunition warehouse that killed four people in June 2019. (RFE/RL,06.11.20)
• The Kyrgyz parliament has ratified a protocol on changing the conditions on which the Russian airbase Kant can operate in Kyrgyzstan by allowing the deployment of units of unmanned aerial vehicles there. According to the bill, Russia's annual fee for renting land for its combined military base in Kyrgyzstan will be increased. The bill was introduced after a topographic survey of the land rented by the Russian military base found it to be 58.32 hectares more than the area specified in the lease agreement. (RFE/RL,06.12.20, Interfax, 06.12.20)
• Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov has visited the southern city of Osh to mark the 10th anniversary of the deadly ethnic clashes that claimed hundreds of lives. Jeenbekov laid flowers on June 10 at the Mothers' Tears monument commemorating the victims of the violence between Kyrgyz and local Uzbeks. (RFE/RL, 06.10.20)
• The U.S. State Department says religious freedom in Uzbekistan continues to improve, while Iran and China remain among the worst offending countries in the world. (RFE/RL, 06.10.20)
• Tajikistan’s parliament has voted to criminalize anyone found negligently infecting others with the coronavirus. (RFE/RL, 06.10.20)
• Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has initiated an unexpected shake-up in the leadership of the country’s security services. The presidential office said on June 8 that it had received suggestions from Pashinian to dismiss the chief of the general staff of the armed forces, Artak Davtian; the director of the National Security Service, Eduard Martirosian; and police chief Arman Sargsian. (RFE/RL, 06.08.20)
• Armenia and the de facto authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh will build a third road connecting the two territories next year. (bne IntelliNews, 06.09.20)
• Armenia's government has extended the current state of emergency by another month given the "tense" situation that remains surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. (RFE/RL, 06.12.20)
• Turkey's state gas grid operator Botas has opened a tender for a gas pipeline to supply Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhchivan. The new supply route would sideline Iranian gas sales to Azerbaijan. (bne IntelliNews, 06.11.20)

 

IV. Quoteworthy

• No significant developments.