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

Nuclear security:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed off on a new Russian foreign policy concept that describes preventing nuclear terrorism as a priority, but uses language different than the previous 2013 doctrine. The 2016 document says Russia stands for “the strengthening of the political and legal foundations of the regime of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and other kinds of weapons of mass destruction as well as means of their delivery, taking into account the risk that components of such weapons can fall into the hands of non-state actors, foremost [among them] terrorist organizations, including [those operating] on territories where the central authorities’ control has been lost or weakened.” The concept also says the emergence of ISIS has given “the global terrorist threat … a qualitatively new character.” (Belfer Center, 12.01.16)
• Russia's new National Guard now has 340,000 personnel in 84 units across Russia, the head of the force has said. The guardsmen have “ensured security and anti-terrorist protection of important state facilities, including enterprises of the nuclear weapons complex, nuclear energy industry and nuclear materials during their transportation,” Viktor Zolotov said. (The Moscow Times, Komsomolskaya Pravda, 11.25.16)

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

• No significant developments.

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

• Russian and NATO officials are preparing for a new Russian-NATO Council meeting between the members’ top envoys, Russia’s Ambassador to NATO Alexander Grushko has said. (TASS, 11.28.16)
• U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work briefed Donald Trump's transition team on a Pentagon document describing the declining U.S. edge, or "overmatch," in conventional weapons, relative to Russia and China. "Our conventional overmatch has been eroding for some time," Work said in an interview. "It's not at a critical stage yet, but it is concerning. And as we look at the trends, we say, when it comes to conventional warfighting, we don't want fair fights." Instead, he said, the Pentagon wants "short, sharp and victorious" conflicts. (Washington Post, 12.02.16)
• European Union officials announced plans for a big increase in military spending. The bloc’s top officials proposed spending 5.5 billion euros, or $5.8 billion, a year to help governments acquire hardware, including helicopters and drones, and to develop military technology. The proposal, known as the European Defense Action Plan, follows calls by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for members of NATO to devote 2% of their GDP to military spending. (New York Times, 11.30.16)
• The United States is vulnerable to future attack by hypersonic missiles from China and Russia and is falling behind in the technology race to develop both defensive and offensive high-speed maneuvering arms, according to a new U.S. Air Force study. (Free Beacon, 11.30.16)
• The U.S. Congress is set to approve legislation aimed at delaying the shift of a NATO intelligence center, a move that some proponents say could provide leverage for the incoming Trump administration to prod the alliance into expanding its counterterrorism work. (Wall Street Journal, 12.01.16)
• Seventy-one percent of Russians want to improve economic, political and cultural ties with the West, the independent Levada Center pollster has found. The figure has soared since July 2015, when just 50% of Russians wanted to improve relations. Just over half of respondents claimed that Eastern Europe had nothing to fear from Russia, with 52% saying that Moscow posed no threat to NATO members. (The Moscow Times, 11.29.16)

Missile defense:

• The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency is in the early phases of engineering a next-generation “Star Wars”-type technology able to knock multiple incoming enemy targets out of space with a single interceptor, officials have said. (National Interest, 11.29.16)

Nuclear arms control:

• The United Nations is preparing to embark on talks to ban nuclear weapons. Negotiations are set to begin in March with no fixed end date. (CNS, 11.22.16)

Counter-terrorism:

• “I certainly count on joining efforts with the United States in the fight against real rather than fictional threats, international terrorism being one of them. That is the task our servicemen are fulfilling in Syria,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his Dec. 1 address to parliament. (Kremlin.ru, 12.01.16)
• The Italian newspaper La Stampa has published an op-ed by Vladimir Putin in which the Russian president outlines Russia’s position on the fight against terrorism and calls on states to unite against the threat of radical fundamentalism. In the article Putin refers to the U.S. as a “mighty power” rather than a “banana republic.” (Gazeta.ru/RBTH, 11.28.16)
• Russia’s counterterrorism agency said on Nov. 24 that two suspected militants and two Special Forces officers have been killed in a gun battle in the Russian province of Ingushetia. (AP, 11.24.16)

Conflict in Syria:

• Russia has been in contact over Syria with the team of President-elect Donald Trump, a senior Russian diplomat said Nov. 30, suggesting that Moscow is already looking past the Obama administration when it comes to the crisis in Syria. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted by the state-run TASS news agency as saying that Russia had been in communication with "several people that we have known for a long time." (Washington Post, 11.30.16)
• Donald Trump's eldest son, emerging as a potential envoy for the president-elect, held private discussions with diplomats, businessmen and politicians in Paris in October that focused in part on finding a way to cooperate with Russia to end the Syrian war, according to people who took part in the meetings. (Wall Street Journal, 11.25.16)
• Syrian rebels have been in secret talks with Russia to end the fighting in Aleppo, according to opposition figures. Four opposition members from rebel-held northern Syria told the Financial Times that Turkey has been brokering talks in Ankara with Moscow. “The Russians and Turks are talking without the U.S. now. It [Washington] is completely shut out of these talks, and doesn’t even know what’s going on in Ankara,” said one opposition figure, who asked not to be identified. Samir Nashar, a member of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, confirmed that secret three-day talks were held between Russian representatives and the coalition in Ankara. Nashar said that participants tried to draw up a plan for Aleppo based on the suggestions of U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura about safe corridors for civilians in exchange for a ceasefire. “But it does not seem that they have reached an agreement, because the encircled troops decided to fight to the end and not to leave,” he said. A senior Syrian opposition official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters on Dec. 2 that Russia was engaged in “severe procrastination” with “absolutely no seriousness” in the talks, which, according to Reuters, have been going on for about two weeks. (Reuters, 12.02.16, RIA/RBTH, 12.01.16, Financial Times, 12.01.16)
• U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry is engaged in a furious if implausible diplomatic effort to strike a deal with Russia to end the siege of Aleppo. The strategy is to narrow the focus of the negotiations to cover Aleppo only, and to broaden the format to include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and, at times, Iran. (Washington Post, 11.27.16)
• Communications with Russia in order to avoid clashes in the air over Syria have been “professional and productive” and the U.S. will “continue to engage with the Russians” on the safety of flights, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told reporters Nov. 29. (TASS, 11.30.16)
• CIA Director John Brennan advised Donald Trump and the new administration "to be wary of Russian promises," blaming Moscow for much of the suffering in Syria. Brennan said Russia continues to hold the key to Syria's future. But he also expressed skepticism about Russia's willingness to come to any kind of deal "until they are able to achieve as much tactical battlefield successes as possible." The CIA director added that he believes Washington needs to continue supporting moderate rebels.(RFE/RL, 11.30.16)
• An investigation into several U.S., Danish, British and Australian airstrikes that accidentally decimated positions belonging to Syrian government forces in September concluded that the attack was the result of multiple human errors, the Pentagon announced Nov. 29. (Washington Post, 11.30.15).
• Russia’s intervention in eastern Ukraine and Syria means we cannot “go back to business as usual,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said. “Britain is prepared to be tough with Russia, but that does not mean that it is not also sensible to talk.” Russia could “win the acclaim of the world” by halting its bombing campaign in Syria and delivering Assad to peace talks, he said. (Bloomberg, 12.01.16)
• German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has urged his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to allow humanitarian relief supplies to reach civilians in rebel-held parts of eastern Aleppo in Syria. (RFE/RL, 11.29.16)
• The Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin has had another telephone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, their third conversation in less than a week. The conversation follows a speech Erdogan gave Nov. 29 in which he said that Turkish troops are in Syria to end Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's rule. Turkey’s foreign minister told a joint news conference on Dec. 1 with his visiting Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, thatAnkara was in agreement with Moscow in broad terms on the need for a truce, humanitarian aid and political transition, but insisted that Turkey's stance on Assad was unchanged (AP, 11.30.16, RFE/RL, 12.01.16)
• The Russian Defense Ministry said on Nov. 28 that Syrian government troops have taken control over nearly half of the rebel-held city of Aleppo in a new offensive. The ministry said that government forces are in control of 12 neighborhoods, or roughly 40% of the city. (AP, 11.28.16)
• Russia wants to discuss the idea of setting up four humanitarian corridors to eastern Aleppo to allow in aid and to evacuate the estimated 400 sick and wounded needing treatment, the United Nations says. Russia has also criticized the U.N. for not delivering humanitarian aid to the areas of Aleppo that have been retaken by Syrian government forces from rebels. Syrian state media was reporting Dec. 2 from the newly captured areas. The U.N. humanitarian aid agency said an estimated 31,500 have been displaced following government advances into the rebel-held enclave this weekend. (RFE/RL, 12.01.16, 12.02.16, AP, 12.02.16)
• The Russian military says it has sent a team of sappers to clear the eastern part of Aleppo from mines. Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the military's General Staff said Nov. 30 the unit has 200 soldiers and 47 vehicles. (AP, 11.30.16)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Defense and Emergency Situations ministries to send mobile hospitals to Aleppo as soon as possible. (RFE/RL, 11.29.16)
• Recently released satellite images of the airfield Russia uses in Syria suggest that a contingent of jets from Russia’s lone aircraft carrier, which is floating off Syria’s coast, have been moved inland. (Washington Post, 11.30.16)

Cyber security:

• Hillary Clinton's campaign is being urged by a number of top computer scientists to call for a recount of vote totals in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, according to a source with knowledge of the request. The computer scientists believe they have found evidence that vote totals in the three states could have been manipulated or hacked and presented their findings to top Clinton aides on a call Nov 17. (CNN, 11.23.16)
• Several groups of researchers have said that Russia’s government used social media to influence perceptions in America about the U.S. presidential election. Some of them refer to a flood of "fake news" this election season that got support from a sophisticated Russian propaganda campaign that created and spread misleading articles online with the goal of punishing Hillary Clinton, helping Donald Trump and undermining faith in American democracy. However, at least one of the groups used methodology that has been criticized by other cyber researchers as “amateur” and based on little more than “innuendo and conspiracy thinking.” (Washington Post, 11.27.16, Bloomberg, 12.01.16, The New Yorker, 12.01.16)
• Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed on Dec. 2 to have uncovered an upcoming cyberattack by foreign spy agencies to destabilize Russia's financial system. According to the FSB statement (in Russian), the servers and “command centers” for the alleged attack have been traced to a Ukrainian hosting company in The Netherlands called BlazingFast. The FSB said the attack was to begin Dec. 5 and the hackers planned to send out text-message and social-media blasts about bankruptcies, the liquidation of businesses and the revocation of banking licenses of major Russian banks (The Moscow Times, 12.02.16, Bloomberg, 12.02.16)
• Russia has criticized Norway's decision to extradite a Russian citizen suspected of committing cybercrimes to the United States. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Nov. 30 that the previous day’s decision to extradite Mark Vartanian is "politically motivated" and will affect relations between Moscow and Oslo. (RFE/RL, 11.30.16)
• The U.S. Navy has said that hackers accessed sensitive information for more than 130,000 current and former U.S. sailors. (RFE/RL, 11.24.16)
• Germany's top spy cautioned on Nov. 29 that Russian hackers may seek to disrupt national elections next year, a warning that comes a day after a massive cyberattack targeted the routers of nearly 1 million Deutsche Telekom customers. (Washington Post, 11.29.16)
• The Kremlin has accused Germany of launching cyberattacks to disrupt Russia's State Duma elections in September. (The Moscow Times, 11.30.16)

Energy exports from CIS:

• OPEC representatives reached a landmark deal Nov. 30 to reduce crude oil output. OPEC said Russia is on board for a cut of 300,000 barrels a day. Should the cut help boost oil prices to $52.50 a barrel, compared with $42.50 in the absence of an OPEC-led accord, Russian government revenue would increase about 28% in dollar terms and 15% in ruble terms, Citigroup said. Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly played a crucial role in helping OPEC rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia set aside differences to forge the cartel's first deal with non-OPEC Russia in 15 years. Analysts are curious to see how the cuts will be implemented and enforced among Russian oil producers. (Wall Street Journal, 11.30.16, Bloomberg, 12.01.16, Reuters, 12.01.16)
  • Energy commentator Nick Butler wrote: “This deal is the beginning of the end for Opec… Will Russia actually cut output by 300,000 b/d? When did Russia last participate in an Opec quota exercise? Answer: never.” (FT, 12.01.16)
• Russia, the world’s largest energy exporter, held November output near a post-Soviet record , which is likely to remain a high-water mark in the near term after a pledge to cut production. Russian crude and condensate production averaged 11.21 million barrels a day in November. (Bloomberg, 12.02.16)
• Russia's state energy giant Gazprom is pushing forward with building controversial natural-gas pipelines to Germany, calling for bids on the $11 billion project under the Baltic Sea, people familiar with the matter have said. (Wall Street Journal, 11.24.16)

Bilateral economic ties:

• Internet video giant YouTube will not be forced out of Russia under a new bill regulating online streaming services, the Russian government has confirmed. (The Moscow Times, 11.30.16)
• A sheriff’s office in Arizona has reportedly become the first police agency in the United States to buy Russian-designed non-lethal weapons; it has purchased a shipment of more than 60 rubber-bullet-firing Osa (“wasp”) guns and 10,000 shells. (Rossiyskaya Gazeta/RBTH, 12.01.16)
• A Texas-based arms-dealer called the Redfish Trading Company is selling a veritable arsenal to anyone who can furnish a valid end user certificate and a formal request for quotation or letter of interest. The company has four Soviet-made Mi-24V and two Mi-24D attack helicopters available for export. But if a Hind gunship or Frogfoot strike aircraft doesn’t strike your fancy, you can also settle for some anti-tank missiles. (National Interest, 12.01.16)

Other bilateral issues:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin said he’s ready to work with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration on an equal basis, as he urged joint efforts to fight terrorism in his annual state-of-the-nation speech Dec. 1. (Bloomberg, 12.01.16)
  • Putin said: “Russia is also ready to work with the new U.S. Administration. It is important to put bilateral relations back on track and to develop them on an equal and mutually beneficial basis. Cooperation between Russia and the United States in addressing global and regional issues will benefit the whole world. We have a shared responsibility to ensure international security and stability, to strengthen non-proliferation regimes.” (Kremlin.ru, 12.01.16)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has endorsed a new foreign-policy concept accusing the United States and its allies of undermining "global stability" by trying to "contain" Russia. The concept states that Russia supports mutually beneficial relations with the U.S. on the basis of equality and respect of each other’s interests. The document describes development of ballistic missile defenses by the U.S. and NATO expansion as threatening, but also reaffirms Russia’s commitment to the New START treaty and says Russia is prepared to discuss further reductions of nuclear arsenals. (RFE/RL, 12.01.16, Belfer Center, 12.01.16)
• U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped retired U.S. Marine Corps general James Mattis to be his defense secretary. Mattis has voiced tough positions on Iran, as well as Russia, something that puts him at odds with the conciliatory stance Trump has expressed toward Moscow. Also Trump’s selection process for secretary of state has narrowed to four finalists, including 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Trump aides said Nov. 30. (RFE/RL, 12.02.16, Washington Post, 11.30.16)
• U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 25 named libertarian election lawyer Donald McGahn as his White House counsel and hard-line former Reagan administration official Kathleen "KT" McFarland as his deputy national security adviser. In 2013, after Obama opted against a military strike on the Syrian government’s chemical weapons stockpiles, McFarland wrote that Russian President Vladimir Putin deserved the credit for using diplomacy to stave off the attack. “The world knows that Vladimir Putin is the one who really deserves that Nobel Peace Prize,” she wrote on FoxNews.com in September 2013. (Washington Post, 11.25.16, Bloomberg, 11.25.16)
• The U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 30 passed a 93-page intelligence policy bill that calls for a high-level panel to counter Russian political interference around the globe. It’s a measure that might run counter to President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to improve U.S. relations with Moscow. (AP, 11.30.16)
• A return to the pre-sanctions level of trade between Russia and the United States will be difficult, Alexander Stadnik, Russia’s U.S. trade representative, has warned. Sanctions relief “will need to overcome very strong resistance in Congress… Some of the sanctions that have been added during the period of 2014-2016 may have a long history,” the trade representative said.(The Moscow Times, 12.02.16)
• There is no date yet for the first meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Nov. 28. (TASS, 11.28.16)
• As Melania Trump prepares to move into the White House, the future first lady’s native Slovenia is offering to serve as a mediator between her husband and Russian President Vladimir Putin once Donald Trump takes office. Slovenia’s Prime Minister Miro Cerar said the tiny Alpine state where Melania Trump was born and raised “could become a bridge between the two superpowers.” (AP, 11.28.16)
• Chemistry's highest gatekeepers have accepted the newly proposed names for elements 113, 115, 117 and 118. A team consisting of scientists from Russia and the United States named element 115, symbol Mc, after Moscow, and element 117, symbol Ts, after Tennessee. Element 118 was named Oganesson, symbol Og, for Yuri Oganessian, a prolific element hunter, by the Russian team that discovered it. (New York Times, 12.01.16)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin on Nov. 25 personally presented a new Russian passport to U.S. actor Steven Seagal, whom the Russian leader granted citizenship earlier this month. (RFE/RL, 11.26.16)

II. Russia’s domestic news

Politics, economy and energy:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin devoted much of his more-than-hour-long address to parliament on Dec. 1 to the economy as he prepares to seek re-election in early 2018, blaming domestic factors for holding up growth, including a lack of investment, inadequate competition and shortcomings in the business climate. (Bloomberg, 12.01.16)
  • “We found ourselves facing sanctions that were an attempt to get us to dance to another’s tune and ignore our own fundamental national interests. But let me say again that the main reasons for our economic slowdown are to be found above all in our internal problems, and above all in the lack of investment resources, modern technology, professional human resources, insufficient competition and shortcomings in our business climate.” (Kremlin.ru, 12.01.16)
  • “I think that our course of developing the political system, the institutions of direct democracy, and of making elections more competitive is completely justified, and will certainly continue. But this does not mean that we can juggle eloquent words and use talk of freedom as a cover for insulting others’ feelings and national traditions.” (Kremlin.ru, 12.01.16)
  • State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said Putin’s address set development tasks for 10 years to come. (TASS, 12.01.16)

• The IMF said the Russian economy should continue to contract this year, with GDP dropping 0.6%, but says it will begin recovering in 2017. (RFE/RL, 11.30.16)
• President Vladimir Putin has appointed former Deputy Finance Minister Maxim Oreshkin to serve as Russia's new economic development minister after the arrest and subsequent firing of his predecessor. (The Moscow Times, 11.30.16)
• A recent survey by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences says that 35% of Russians consider modern Russia “to be a great power, on par with the U.S. and China." One-fifth of Russians are convinced that their country “is not one of the most influential states in the world.” Some 35% of respondents say the current path “is leading Russia to a dead end.” Despite a sense of crisis, only 39% of respondents acknowledge a need for profound changes in the country. (Kommersant/RBTH, 11.24.16)
• A workshop capable of dealing with 10,000 cubic meters of solid radioactive waste has cleared the hurdle of a state environmental impact assessment at Sayda Bay in Russia’s north. (Bellona, 10.30.16)
• A top Russian health official has labelled the country’s controversial “baby boxes,” where parents can leave unwanted infants, “a terrorism risk,” the Interfax news agency reported Nov. 29. (The Moscow Times, 11.29.16)

Defense and aerospace:

• The Russian military says it has completed the deployment of two newly formed motorized infantry divisions at the nation's western borders.Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said volunteer contract soldiers make up 70% of their strength, but didn't specify how many soldiers the two divisions have. (AP, 11.29.16)
• The Russian defense industry has completed the construction of a diesel-electric submarine labeled Project 636.3, the Kolpino, for the Black Sea Fleet. The submarine, dubbed by NATO naval experts as the “Black Hole” for its stealth and underwater capabilities, is equipped with the newest Kalibr-PL cruise missiles with an effective range of up to 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles). (RBTH, 11.29.16)
• “In 2016, we expect growth in the defense industry to reach 10.1%, and a labor productivity increase of 9.8%,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his Dec. 1 address to parliament. (Kremlin.ru, 12.01.16)
• This year, for the first time in history, Russia has fallen behind the United States and China as the world's leading launcher of space rockets. Russia will finish 2016 with just 18 launches, according to open source data, compared to China's 19 and America's 20 launches. (The Moscow Times, 11.29.16)
• The Russian Emergencies Ministry's branch in the republic of Tuva said Dec. 2 it's using drones to search for fragments of the unmanned Progress MS-04 craft that crashed a day earlier less than 7 minutes after its launch from Russia's Baikonur space complex in Kazakhstan. (AP, 12.02.16)
• Russia is about to launch a project to build a new super-heavy space rocket that will make it possible to create a research station on the moon someday, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has said. (TASS, 11.28.16)

Security, law enforcement and justice:

• Russia has detained a general in charge of a regional branch of its Federal Guard Service (FSO) after he allegedly took a large bribe. Gennady Lopyrev, who headed the FSO office in the tense North Caucasus region, has been detained and is under investigation. A source familiar with the situation told the agency that Lopyrev was “caught red-handed while receiving a bribe.” A search found he was carrying more than 1 billion rubles ($15.5 million), the source added. (AFP/AlManar, 11.25.16)
• Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal case against the head of Russia's postal service, Dmitry Strashnov, accusing him of abusing his authority and receiving an enormous amount of money illegally. (The Moscow Times, 11.25.16)

III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment

General developments and relations with “far abroad” countries:

• “Unlike some of our colleagues abroad, who consider Russia an adversary, we do not seek and never have sought enemies. We need friends. But we will not allow our interests to be infringed upon or ignored,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his Dec. 1 address to parliament. “We are ready for a serious discussion on building a stable system of international relations for the 21st century,” he said. (Kremlin.ru, 12.01.16)
• Russia’s new foreign policy concept states that Russia is ready to cooperate with the EU as a whole, but the document singles out improving ties with Germany, France, Italy and Spain as a priority. The doctrine, which President Vladimir Putin signed on Nov. 30, also calls for “comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation” with China, but “privileged strategic partnership” with India. (Belfer Center, 12.01.16)
• “Today, China is about to become the world’s largest economy, so it is very important that every year adds new large-scale projects in various areas, including trade, investment, energy and high technology, to our mutually beneficial cooperation,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his Dec. 1 address to parliament. “Developing a special privileged strategic partnership with India is another major foreign policy priority for Russia,” he said. (Kremlin.ru, 12.01.16)
• A potential increase in the outbound migration from China can make Chinese the second largest ethnic group in Russia by 2050, according to Zhanna Zaionchkovskaya, researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences. (News.ru, 11.26.16)
• “Russia is not, as President Obama said, 'a regional power.' This was a big error in assessment,” European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has said in an interview. “The EU occupies 5.5 million square kilometers, Russia takes up 17.5 million. Russia must be treated as one big entity, as a proud nation,” Juncker said. He admitted that the EU is “very ignorant about Russia" at this point and that “we have a lot to learn.” Though insisting there is “no argument for the sanctions against Russia being immediately lifted,” Juncker said he would still like to come to terms with Moscow, “bearing in mind that without Russia, there is no security architecture in Europe.” (RT, 11.27.16)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Dec. 2 with Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in St. Petersburg to make final preparations for a summit between Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Japan on Dec. 15. Kishida is to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Dec. 3. (Kyodo/Nikkei, 12.02.16)
• Finland’s defense minister said he doesn’t see the recent deployment of Russian missiles in the Baltic Sea region as a direct threat, but warned that a negative spiral of actions and counter-actions could cause “something to happen, even if only accidentally.” (AP, 11.23.16)
• France’s Francois Fillon clinched the center-right Republicans’ presidential nomination Nov. 27 promising a major departure from incumbent Francois Hollande’s handling of Russia. During the final debate before the second-round primary Fillon said that "Russia is a dangerous country if we treat it as we have treated it for the last five years." (Bloomberg, 11.28.16, AP, 11.27.16, RFE/RL, 11.25.16)
• Thierry Mariani, a member of France’s National Assembly, and a close associate of French presidential candidate Francois Fillon has come under fire for attending a gala dinner in Moscow on Nov. 27. (The Moscow Times, 11.28.16)
• French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron is promising to reopen discussions with Russia and to make the fight against the Islamic State group a priority. The former French economy minister, who is leading a centrist campaign, is considered an outsider in France's April-May presidential election. (AP, 11.30.16).
• An EU court has partly upheld sanctions imposed on Arkady Rotenberg, a Russian businessman and close associate of President Vladimir Putin. (RFE/RL, 11.30.16)
• Montenegrin lawmakers confirmed Dusko Markovic as prime minister, ushering in a new government after his predecessor accused Serbian and pro-Russian nationalists of trying to derail the country’s efforts to join the EU and NATO. The Montenegrin authorities say two Russian nationals commanded a botched plot to seize the Balkan republic’s parliament and kill its prime minister. But both men are back in Moscow. The Montenegrin news media has reported that they are agents of Russia’s military intelligence service (GRU). People close to the investigation said that they were Russian intelligence officers but that their precise affiliation was unclear. In public, Montenegrin officials have avoided accusing the Russian state directly of directing the men’s actions. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has strongly denied any Russian role in fomenting trouble. (New York Times, 11.26.16, Bloomberg, 11.28.16)
• The United States and China have agreed on new U.N. sanctions to impose on North Korea over the nuclear test it conducted in September, but Russia is delaying action on a draft resolution, a senior Security Council diplomat said. (Reuters, 11.24.16)
• Russia’s ambassador to the Philippines said Tuesday that Moscow is not discussing a military alliance with Manila, but rather a partnership and friendship that would see Russia supply arms and transfer technology to the long-standing U.S. ally. (AP, 11.29.16)
• Fidel “Castro proved it: you can be an object of pressure and economic war from the United States and endure,” tweeted Alexey Pushkov, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia's lower house of parliament, after news of Castro's death broke. Castro “showed that political will oriented toward the national interests of one's own country are stronger than any internal or external factors,” said Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia's upper house of parliament. Donald Trump has also weighed in on Castro’s death: "He turned his island over to his Soviet patrons. … He was quite willing to have nuclear missiles, launched from Cuban soil, destroy American cities.” (Washington Post, 11.26.16, Washington Post, 11.25.16)
• The United Nation’s incoming secretary-general Antonio Guterres has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and said his good relations with Russia prove he will excel in his new role. (AP, 11.24.16)
• Three Russian sailors have been captured by Nigerian pirates, the Russian Embassy in Abuja has confirmed.(The Moscow Times, 12.01.16)
• Russia ranks number one worldwide in Schengen visa recipients, whose number exceeds 3 million per year, while the level of visa denials remains one of the world’s lowest, 1.3%, according to the European External Action Service. (TASS, 12.01.16)
• Gett Inc., an online taxi service that competes with Uber Technologies Inc., attracted a $100 million venture loan from Russia’s largest lender, Sberbank PJSC, to fund growth in the country and beyond, according to a Nov. 30 statement. (Bloomberg, 11.30.16).

Ukraine:

• European Council President Donald Tusk said on Nov. 23 after meeting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that he believed the EU would decide ahead of next month's meeting of EU leaders to continue broad economic sanctions on Russia. The current measures expire in late January. Tusk again said on Dec. 1 that he expects EU sanctions against Russia to be extended next year, but noted that it will be harder to do that in the future. (Wall Street Journal, 11.24.16, RFE/RL, 12.02.16)
• During their Nov. 22 discussions EU leaders promised progress on a series of initiatives pushed by Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko. The two sides signed an updated energy pact stating that Ukraine should remain a key transit country for the delivery of Russian gas to Europe. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that once Ukraine completes a legislative change to allow the export of lumber products, the EU is ready to disburse €600 million in aid to Kiev. Juncker also said he expects the EU to approve by the end of the year visa-free entry for Ukrainian tourists to the bloc. (Wall Street Journal, 11.24.16)
• Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he doesn't believe the administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will change Washington's backing for the country, saying Trump had raised with him Russian "aggression" against Ukraine and its illegal annexation of Crimea. Speaking alongside Poroshenko, European Council President Donald Tusk said that in a telephone conversation on Nov. 18, the president-elect's comments about Ukraine were "at least promising compared with some announcements during the campaign time." (Wall Street Journal, 11.24.16)
• During his visit to Poland Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko urged the European Union to extend sanctions against Russia, which he says continues its armed aggression in eastern Ukraine against international agreements. (AP, 12.02.16)
• Talks attended by the foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany in Minsk on resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine have ended with no breakthroughs. (RFE/RL, 11.29.16)
• Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych denied ordering police to fire on protesters during the violent demonstrations that roiled the country nearly three years ago and forced him to flee. The statements—made Nov. 28 via video link from Russia—mark the first testimony from the 66-year-old given to a Ukrainian court about the violence in February 2014 that killed dozens. Yanukovych earlier said that he regrets he did not impose martial law and order troops to disperse the mass protests that toppled his government and forced him into exile in Russia. (RFE/RL, 11.29.16, New York Times, 11.25.16)
• Ukraine said on Dec. 1 that it had successfully completed the first of two days of missile tests over the Black Sea, west of the Crimea peninsula taken by Russia in March 2014. Russia had reportedly put its air-defense forces in Crimea on high alert prior to the tests, which Moscow has protested. Media reports in Ukraine have quoted Defense Ministry sources as saying that Moscow had officially warned Kiev it would respond to the missile tests with a missile attack, but the Kremlin said on Nov. 30 that it had not heard about such warnings. On Dec. 1 Russia's air transport agency said Ukraine had moved the border of the test area further away, apparently reducing Russian concerns. (BBC, 12.01.16, RFE/RL, 11.29.16)
• Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ihor Dolhov told journalists in Kiev on Nov. 29 that Russia has 23,000 troops in Crimea, including about 9,000 along the administrative line between Crimea and mainland Ukraine. In addition, he said, Russia has some 55,000 troops stationed very near its border with Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied having a military presence in Ukraine, other than Crimea. (RFE/RL, 11.29.16)
• Russia’s domestic security agency says it has arrested a retired navy officer in Crimea accused of spying for Ukraine. The Federal Security Service said Nov. 24 that Leonid Parkhomenko was gathering information on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet for Ukrainian military intelligence. Ukrainian officials dismissed the claim as a provocation. (AP, 11.24.16)
• Russian border guards say they have detained two Ukrainian soldiers who deserted from the Ukrainian armed forces and crossed the border into Russia. (RFE/RL, 12.01.16)
• A court in Moscow has prolonged the pretrial detention of Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko, being held in Russia on suspicion of espionage. (RFE/RL, 11.28.16)
• Prosecutors in Russia have launched a criminal case against Ukrainian security agencies for alleged war crimes committed in the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region. (RFE/RL, 11.28.16)
• Ukraine has launched investigations against Russian actor Ivan Okhlobystin on suspicion of terrorism. (RFE/RL, 12.02.16)
• The head of investigations in Ukraine's Security Service has charged that Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Onyshchenko may have been spying for Russia. (RFE/RL, 12.02.16)
• About 1,000 people turned out in central Kiev for a rally in support of a new political movement headed by Mikheil Saakashvili, the reformist former Georgian president who has launched a second political career in Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 11.28.16)
• Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called for the Holodomor, the Ukraine famine of the 1930s, to be recognized as "genocide." (RFE/RL, 11.26.16)
• A railway route connecting two Russian regions and bypassing Ukraine will become operational on Aug. 15, 2017, more than a year ahead of schedule, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister General Dmitry Bulgakov has said. (TASS, 11.26.16)
• Ukraine’s government on Nov. 30 adopted a far-reaching three-year plan to reform the country’s corrupt and inefficient healthcare system. The aim is to replicate successful models used in the UK and Canada. (Financial Times, 11.30.16)
• A Ukrainian corruption watchdog has changed its position on whether President Petro Poroshenko should have declared ownership of a Spanish seaside villa, raising questions about the state agency's independence from the presidential administration. (RFE/RL, 11.28.16)
• The huge structure that will prevent further leaks of radiation from Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been moved into its final position. (RFE/RL, 11.29.16)

Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:

• Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambaev said he believes it is necessary to close Russian as well as American military bases in Kyrgyzstan so that the country can ''rely on its own strength,'' the RBC news website reported Dec. 1. (The Moscow Times, 12.01.16)
• Kyrgyzstan’s outgoing President Almazbek Atambaev has been laying the groundwork for a new president to come into office next year. The country is unique in Central Asia in that the contest is still difficult to call, but critics worry that the current administration may exercise undue influence over the 2017 election. (Eurasianet, 11.23.16)
• On Nov. 30, Donald Trump made his first overture to former Soviet Central Asia, speaking with Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of Kazakhstan. The pair talked counterterrorism, nuclear nonproliferation and ways the Trump administration could actually mend fences, as promised during the campaign, with Moscow. The Kazakh government, in its account of the conversation, said he had lavished praise on the president for his leadership over the last 25 years. (Foreign Policy, 12.01.16, New York Times, 12.01.16)
• A court in the northwestern Kazakh city of Aqtobe has convicted 29 men in a high-profile terrorism trial. (RFE/RL, 11.28.16)
• Four weeks after Georgia’s ruling party secured a constitutional majority in a second-round parliamentary runoff, President Giorgi Margvelashvili has formally confirmed as prime minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who has been serving in that capacity for nearly a year. (RFE/RL, 11.28.16)
• The European Union has condemned the executions of two convicts in Belarus. Relatives of Ivan Kulesh, 28, and Syarhey Khmyaleuski, 31, say they have been informed that the two men were executed in November. (RFE/RL, 11.30.16)

News items for this digest curated by Simon Saradzhyan, director of the Russia Matters Project.