With the U.S. presidential election behind us, this week’s edition of Russia in Review opens with a special section on the election results, their implications for U.S.-Russian relations and reactions to Donald Trump's victory in Russia. You can read our own analysis of the impact on bilateral ties here: "Trump’s Victory Bodes Well for US-Russia Ties, But Expect No Tectonic Shifts."

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

Results of the U.S. presidential elections:

• When campaigning, Donald Trump said that if elected, he would “be looking at” whether to recognize Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and whether to lift economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. in response to Russia’s covert military intervention in eastern Ukraine. He has also suggested the U.S. should fulfill its Article 5 commitment to defend NATO’s Baltic members only if they "pay what they're supposed to be paying," putting in question the alliance’s core purpose. Trump has said he would look into meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin before his inauguration. He also has said the U.S. should be working with Russia in Syria. (Bloomberg, 11.09.16, Financial Times, 11.09.16, Wall Street Journal, 11.09.16)
• Twenty-five years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there is a growing bipartisan consensus in U.S. foreign policy and intelligence leadership that Russia must be both constrained and contained, its harassment of the new members of NATO halted, its cyberattacks deterred. President-elect Donald Trump is an outlier to that view, and never once backed the idea of ''containment.'' (New York Times, 11.09.16)
• On national security, President-elect Donald Trump has turned to Michael Flynn, a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Keith Kellogg. Flynn has been a regular analyst on Russia Today, the Russian-backed television network, while Kellogg has worked in the private sector since helping run the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. (Financial Times, 11.09.16)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the U.S. presidential election and said he would do everything he could to repair ties between the two countries after their most serious standoff since the Cold War. “Russia is ready and wants to restore full-scale relations with the U.S.,” Putin said on Nov. 9 at a Kremlin ceremony to accept new ambassadors’ credentials. “We understand it will be a difficult path, but we are ready to play our part.” (Bloomberg, 11.09.16)
• Russia will judge the new U.S. administration by its deeds and will respond in kind, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Nov. 9, commenting on Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential elections. "We are ready to work with any president," he said. "I can’t say that all the previous U.S. leaders were always predictable. This is life, this is politics. I have heard many words, but we will judge by deeds." (TASS, 11.09.16)
• Russia has said it talked with the teams of President-elect Donald Trump and former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the U.S. presidential election as part of routine outreach during a campaign. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Russian embassy in the U.S. held talks with the Trump camp that “were on a sufficient, responsible level.” Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Trump, said in an e-mail that she was “not aware” of any meetings by campaign representatives with Russian diplomats. (Bloomberg, 11.10.16)
• "It turns out that the United Russia [party] has won the elections in the United States!" Russian media quoted governor of the Omsk region, Victor Nazarov, telling a meeting. (The Washington Post, 11.09.16)
• Russia’s State Duma deputies broke into applause after lawmaker Vyacheslav Nikonov broke the news on the morning of Nov. 9: "Colleagues, three minutes ago Hillary Clinton acknowledged her defeat in the U.S. presidential election, and a second ago Trump began his speech as president-elect of the United States." (RFE/RL, 11.09.16)        
• Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential elections is the continuation of Britain’s vote to withdraw from the European Union (Brexit), head of Russia's Center for Strategic Research and ex-Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin wrote on his Twitter account Nov. 9. (TASS, 11.09.16)
• Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the International Affairs Committee in Russia's upper house of parliament, has said it is unclear how much change President-elect Donald Trump will bring: "Americans have taught me that the System there is always stronger. And this is the main sensation of the elections—in its own country, the System didn't deal with the new non-standard challenges. In exactly the same way that … the United States of America is not dealing with the new, nonstandard challenges on a global scale.” (RFE/RL, 11.09.16)
• Sergei Mironov, who heads the pro-Kremlin Just Russia Party, was quoted by state radio station Vesti FM as saying that a "new page" in ties with Washington has been turned and that the Kremlin has traditionally had better relations with the United States when a Republican is in office. (RFE/RL, 11.09.16)         
• Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov has said President-elect Donald Trump's victory was no watershed. "I assure you that nothing serious will change: the times have changed, the technology, the weather, but the strategy of the Americans has not," he said. "That is: expansion, the assertion of their dominance and, in recent years, global policies with the aim of subordinating the main strategic resources—whether raw materials, information or financial flows—to themselves." (RFE/RL, 11.09.16)
• Leader of Russia’s Liberal-Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky said on state TV that he expected President-elect Donald Trump to help Russia achieve its strategic goals in flashpoints such as Syria and Ukraine. “What’s Crimea to him? He doesn’t even know where it is!” he said. (Financial Times, 11.09.16)
• Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, said he suspected Donald Trump’s pro-Russia campaign rhetoric was simply a ruse aimed at striking a contrast with former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. “History, including recent history, knows a good many examples when the winning candidate’s campaign rhetoric became more destructive towards Russia,” he said. (Financial Times, 11.09.16)
• Alexei Pushkov, a senator and former head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia’s State Duma, predicted that Ukraine and its pro-Western president, Petro Poroshenko, could lose out from the result of the U.S. election. “Trump may turn away from Poroshenko,” he said on his Twitter account. (Bloomberg, 11.09.16)
• On Nov. 9, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg congratulated President-elect Donald Trump on his victory, but delivered a stern reminder of America's obligations to its allies. "NATO's security guarantee is a treaty commitment," said Stoltenberg, who criticized Trump's comments during the campaign. "All allies have made a solemn commitment to defend each other. This is something absolutely unconditioned." (Wall Street Journal, 11.09.16)
• With President-elect Donald Trump leading the U.S. and Russian President Vladimir Putin leading Russia, France needs a strong leader, according to Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president who is attempting a comeback. “Vladimir Putin doesn’t question whether he defends his country’s interest,” he said. “Now with President Donald Trump, there will be no room for lack of strength, weakness.” (Bloomberg, 11.09.16)
• "I sincerely congratulate Donald Trump on his election as president of the United States," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told U.S. Ambassador to Kiev Marie Yovanovitch, also inviting Trump for a visit, according to a statement from the presidency. (Agence France Presse, 11.10.16)
• Asked before the Nov. 8 vote what a Donald Trump presidency would mean for his country, former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko said he didn’t even want to consider the possibility. “He has said many, I’m sorry, stupid things,” said Ohryzko. “It would be a very critical time not only for American foreign policy, but also for NATO.” (Bloomberg, 11.09.16)
• Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president of Belarus, said that he hoped President-elect Donald Trump would continue the U.S.’s “normalization of relations” with the state he has ruled with an iron fist for the last 22 years. (Financial Times, 11.09.16)
• Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled Kazakhstan since the collapse of the Soviet Union, has congratulated President-elect Donald Trump. “I believe that, under your leadership, the United States of America will remain a pillar in terms of maintaining stability, security and prosperity around the world,” he said. (Financial Times, 11.09.16)
• “I don’t think we should exaggerate the importance of the kind words that Trump has said about the Russian leadership,” Alexey Arbatov, an international relations expert, said in an interview on Echo of Moscow radio station. “He said good things at the beginning, he said bad things, and now he said that he doesn’t know. This is a man who adjusts himself to the circumstances and to the public he speaks in front of.” (New York Times, 11.09.16)
• Donald Trump's election as U.S. president could dent enthusiasm for emerging markets, one of 2016's big winners, but Russian financial markets bucked the trend Nov. 9. While the MSCI Emerging Markets stock index fell 2.5%, the MSCI Russia gained 1.9%. The ruble rose against the dollar. (Wall Street Journal, 11.10.16)

Nuclear security:

• Ukraine's Foreign Ministry together with the U.S. State Department and the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority organized and conducted an exercise in Kiev on Nov. 7-8 simulating the response to smuggled nuclear or other radioactive material. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Press Center, 11.10.16)
• The U.S. Air Force is seeking more interactions with private sector firms to build better networks for securing nuclear weapons computer systems, service officials said. “Information technology that touches weapons systems needs to be cyber-secure, updated and patched. Worldwide nuclear systems are one example of where we need to get an overhaul,” Peter Kim, Air Force chief information security officer, said. (The National Interest, 11.09.16)

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

• No significant developments.

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

• NATO pilots stationed in Estonia often fly within 10 yards of Russian jets, close enough to wave hello, or in one recent incident, see a Russian pilot flash a middle finger. (The Washington Post, 11.06.16)
• The U.S., in an attempt to reassure its allies in Europe, last month sent its largest shipment of ammunition to the continent in more than two decades, the Army announced. More than 620 containers were shipped by train from a port in Nordenham, Germany to Miesau Army Depot, which reportedly serves as the U.S. Army’s largest ammunition storage area outside the U.S. (Fox News, 11.09.16)
• Up to 300,000 NATO troops have been put on alert amid rising tensions between Russia and the Baltic states. (The Independent, 11.07.16)
• NATO’s outgoing Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow said that the situation is as unstable as he has seen since he began his career in the late 1970s. During the late years of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin held to predictable rules of behavior, but now it does not, he said. (The Washington Post, 11.06.16)
• British military intelligence has issued a warning over a ground-breaking tank being developed by Russia. The internal document, written by a senior British army intelligence officer, states: “Without hyperbole, Armata represents the most revolutionary step change in tank design in the last half century.” (The Telegraph, 11.06.16)
• The U.S. Air Force plans to build at least 400 new high-tech intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) intended to preserve millions of lives by ensuring annihilation of anyone choosing to launch a nuclear attack. (The National Interest, 11.07.16)

Missile defense:

• No significant developments.

Nuclear arms control:

• No significant developments.

Counter-terrorism:

• The Federal Security Service (FSB) and police in Russia's Volgograd region have arrested three men who are suspected of financing terrorist activities in Syria. (The Moscow Times, 11.07.16)

Conflict in Syria:

• Russia is preparing to carry out a new round of strikes targeting Syria from a group of warships that recently arrived in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, two U.S. defense officials told Fox News on Nov. 9. Russian jets were seen taking off with weapons visible under their wings from Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov. Previously, some U.S. officials had doubted the ability of the Russian jets to launch with full fuel loads and weapons due to the weight of the aircraft. Armed Russian fighters have sortied from the Admiral Kuznetsov for flights over Syria ahead of an anticipated combined arms strike near Aleppo, a U.S. defense official told USNI News on Nov. 8. (Fox News, 11.09.16, USNI News, 11.09.16)
• The Russian military says Russian warships in the eastern Mediterranean have driven away a Dutch submarine shadowing the squadron led by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier. A ministry spokesman said that such “clumsy” attempts to maneuver close to the Russian squadron could have resulted in an accident. (AP, 11.09.16)
• Russian jets have also routinely intercepted U.S. and NATO surveillance aircraft, such as the P-8 Poseidon, trying to look at the Russian convoy in the eastern Mediterranean. All interactions have been safe and professional so far, Fox News was told. (Fox News, 11.09.16)
• The Syrian army said it had taken a strategic district of Aleppo on Nov. 8, in what would be the most important advance in the divided city and its allies in weeks, but rebels said the battle was not over. The 1070 Apartments district is located on the southwestern outskirts of Aleppo and lies alongside the government's corridor into the parts of the city that it controls. (Reuters, 11.08.16)
• At least nine civilians were killed on Nov. 8 when airstrikes targeted a town in the rebel-held province of Idlib in northwestern Syria, a monitor group reported. The group gave no details on the identity of the warplanes, with other activists suggesting they were Russian. (Xinhua, 11.08.16)
• The Russian Defense Ministry has refuted foreign media reports claiming that Russian Aerospace Defense Forces delivered airstrikes on residential areas near Damascus in the East Ghouta region and Douma district on Nov. 8. (TASS, 11.08.16)
• The Kremlin said on Nov. 7 Russia's air force would stick to the ceasefire in Syria's Aleppo unless militants launch an offensive. Russia's military will continue the existing practice of arranging ceasefires, or so-called "humanitarian pauses" in Syria, Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Nov. 10. (Reuters, 11.07.16, 11.10.16)
• An offensive by Syrian insurgents aimed at the government-held part of the northern city of Aleppo has killed at least 74 civilians, including 25 children, an opposition monitoring group said Nov. 5. (AP, 11.05.16)
• The key goal of the Syrian settlement is to preserve the country’s integrity and prevent its split into terrorist enclaves, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. "Russia’s position is that there is no military solution to the Syrian issue," Medvedev said. "This is not about the fate of certain leaders, although, certainly they cannot be taken out of this context. This does not concern the discussion on the personal issue linked to Bashar Assad, although he is current president and legitimate president and should take part in this," he stressed. (TASS, 11.04.16)

Cyber security:

• U.S. military hackers have penetrated Russia's electric grid, telecommunications networks and the Kremlin's command systems, making them vulnerable to attack by secret American cyberweapons should the U.S. deem it necessary, according to a senior intelligence official and top-secret documents reviewed by NBC News. The lack of an official response from U.S. authorities to the media reports about cyberattacks against Russia means that there is "state cyber terrorism" in the U.S., Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Nov. 5 (NBC, 11.04.16, TASS, 11.05.16)
• According to Latvian-based online newspaper Meduza, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu began pushing sometime around early 2013 for a formal recruiting process to identify hackers who would work for the government, something along the lines of the U.S. Cyber Command. (RFE/RL, 11.07.16)
• Ukrainian hackers leaked another cache of emails allegedly from the account of former Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov on Nov. 3, according to media reports. Though a Ukrainian hacking group has claimed responsibility for hacking the emails of Surkov, experts suspect the involvement of U.S. intelligence agencies (The Moscow Times, 11.03.16, Time, 11.07.16)
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that Russia could use cyberattacks to influence next year’s vote in her country, where she faces a strong challenge. (Bloomberg, 11.09.16)

 Energy exports from CIS:

• Russia has added about 500,000 barrels a day of oil output in the past two months. Russian oil production is likely to grow by 190,000 barrels a day next year, building on a 230,000-barrel increase in 2016, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). (Bloomberg, 11.10.16, Wall Street Journal, 11.08.16)
• Russia, the world’s biggest energy producer, is “on board” with an OPEC agreement to limit crude oil production to help re-balance the market, according to the group’s Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo. (Bloomberg, 11.07.16)
• Japanese lawmakers are revisiting a plan to build a $6.7 billion natural gas pipeline from Russia ahead of a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Asian country next month. The proposed pipeline linking the island of Sakhalin with Tokyo is estimated to be as long as 1,500 kilometers and cost about 700 billion yen, a study by the group shows. (Bloomberg, 11.08.16)

Bilateral economic ties:

• According to the volume of trade from January to August 2016, the U.S. is sixth among all of Russia's foreign trade partners, 10th in terms of Russian export volumes and third in terms of imports. Commodity turnover between Russia and the U.S. in this period declined by 14.5% to $12.2 billion and Russian exports dropped in monetary value by 15.42% to $5.5 billion, although they grew in physical volumes by 5.24%. (Gazeta.ru, 11.10.16)
• The Moscow City Court on Nov. 10 rejected the appeal of the world's largest professional network, LinkedIn, against its blocking in Russia. The lower Tagansky district court earlier ruled to fulfill the Russian watchdog Roskomnadzor’s demand to ban LinkedIn for violating the law on personal data localization. (TASS, 11.10.16)

Other bilateral issues:

• “If the presidents of Russia and the U.S, Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama, take part in the APEC summit in Peru in mid-November, they will be able to communicate on its sidelines," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Nov. 9. (TASS, 11.09.16)
• Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev believes that Washington is to blame for Russia and U.S. relations having "hit rock bottom." (TASS, 11.05.16)
• The Kremlin has threatened to ban U.S. observers from Russian elections over claims that its diplomats were “intimidated” in the run-up to the U.S. presidential vote. Washington should not expect U.S. observers to receive accreditation for future elections unless part of an international mission, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. (The Moscow Times, 11.08.16)
• The Institute of International Education’s 2015 report shows that 1,527 U.S. students were in Russia in 2013-2014, and 5,562 Russians studied in the U.S. in 2014-15. (The Washington Post, 11.05.16)
• A guard of the Russian Consulate in New York was found dead there early on Nov. 8 with a head wound, though police were still trying to determine his exact cause of death. (RFE/RL, 11.09.16)
• Russia's Investigative Committee is now involved in the case of an American citizen accused of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in Moscow. (The Moscow Times, 11.08.16)
• A U.S. citizen is more likely to be locked up than people who live in Vladimir Putin's Russia or in China or Iran, according to American social entrepreneur Scott Gilmore. (The Boston Globe, 11.03.16)

II. Russia’s domestic news

Politics, economy and energy:

• The Kremlin has dismissed rumors of early presidential elections as “absolute speculation.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists that the issue was “not on the agenda.” (The Moscow Times, 11.07.16)
• The World Bank has boosted its economic forecast for Russia, slashing a predicted 1.2% dip to just 0.6% this year. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to rise by 1.5% next year, but this is still largely dependent on oil prices. (The Moscow Times, 11.10.16)
• Half of Russia's population risks falling into poverty, a report from the World Bank has revealed. Some 21.4 million people — or 14.6% of the population — fell below Russia's national poverty line in the first half of 2016, with disposable incomes shrinking on average by 5.8%. (The Moscow Times, 11.10.16)
• The spread of HIV has become “critical” in 10 Russian regions, Russia's Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said Nov. 10.(The Moscow Times, 11.10.16)
• Russia has started testing its new type of nuclear fuel, REMIX, at the MIR research reactor at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad, which is in the Ulyanovsk region. (World Nuclear News, 11.09.16)

Defense and aerospace:

• No significant developments.

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• Yevgeny Zinichev, former bodyguard of Russian President Vladimir Putin and former governor of Kaliningrad, has been named the deputy director of the country's Federal Security Service (FSB). (RFE/RL, 11.05.16)
• Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) says it has detained several alleged members of the banned Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tahrir in the city of St. Petersburg. (RFE/RL, 11.08.16)
• Major General Aleksandr Prokopchuk has become the first Russian police official to be elected as a vice president for Interpol. (RFE/RL, 11.10.16)

III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment

General developments and relations with “far abroad” countries:

• Russian nationalists were behind an alleged coup attempt in Montenegro that included plans to assassinate the pro-Western prime minister because of his government’s bid to join NATO, the Balkan country’s chief special prosecutor said Nov. 6. He said the investigation leads to the conclusion that “nationalists from Russia” organized a criminal group that planned to break into the Montenegro Parliament on Election Day, kill Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and bring a pro-Russian coalition to power. Russian officials have denied any involvement. "We, obviously, categorically deny a possibility of official involvement into arranging any illegal actions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Montenegro's president has named former head of intelligence Dusko Markovic as the prime minister-designate who will try to form a new government.  (AP, 11.06.16, RFE/RL, 11.07.16, 11.10.16)
• General Rumen Radev, the Bulgarian Socialist Party’s candidate for president, won the most votes in a first round Nov. 6, raising the risk of snap parliamentary elections should he beat the ruling party’s nominee in a runoff on Nov. 13. Radev will face the ruling Gerb Party’s parliament speaker Tsetska Tsacheva, who took 21.56% of votes. Both Radev and Tsacheva advocate easing EU and U.S. sanctions imposed against Russia over its seizure of Crimea and support of rebels in eastern Ukraine. (Bloomberg, 11.06.16)
• Upcoming votes in Europe include Dutch elections in March, French presidential elections in April and May and German elections in the fall. Moscow is hoping that gains by Kremlin-friendly parties like France's National Front could help Russia break free of some of the diplomatic isolation and sanctions imposed on Moscow after its seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014, Kremlin watchers say. (Wall Street Journal, 11.05.16)
• Two of three parties governing Estonia have broken off their coalition agreement leaving Prime Minister Taavi Roivas exposed to a vote of no confidence in the country's parliament. The coalition's rupture and an impending leadership change could give an opening to the Center Party, the largest opposition party that has long had ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party. Last year the Center Party got 24.8% of the vote, but it is not part of Estonia’s three-party coalition government (New York Times, 11.07.16, AP, 11.05.16)
• The European Union has added six new deputies in Russia's State Duma -- all from Crimea -- to its sanctions list over Russia's seizure and illegal annexation of the Ukrainian territory. (RFE/RL, 11.08.16)
• India's Ministry of Defense has approved a major arms purchase which includes 464 T-90 tanks from Russia. (The Moscow Times, 11.08.16)
• Officials in Moscow say Russia and Turkey are resuming military cooperation and plan to hold a meeting of an intergovernmental commission before the end of 2016. (RFE/RL, 11.07.16)
• Islamic State fighters under siege by Iraqi forces have increasingly sent explosive-packed cars and trucks barreling toward the front lines. The Iraqi military's answer to armored vehicle bombs are Russian-made antitank Kornet missiles mounted atop  American-made Humvees. (Wall Street Journal, 11.04.16)
• German company Daimler, parent company of Mercedes-Benz, plans to sign an investment contract to construct an auto manufacturing plant in the Moscow region. Construction is expected to cost more than 300 million euros. (RBTH, 11.10.16)
• The volume of trade turnover between Russia and China has increased by 0.5% on a year-over-year basis to $56.2 billion in the first 10 months of this year. (RBTH, 11.08.16)
• Russia plans to build new nuclear power plants in China, Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation said in a statement following the meeting of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang on Nov. 7. (TASS, 11.08.16)
• Russia wants a mutually-compatible payments system with China in order to reduce the risk from further financial sanctions by the West, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview published Nov. 4. (Reuters, 11.04.16)
• Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev began a trip to Israel with a visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City early on Nov. 10. While Medvedev is there, the two countries plan to sign agreements in agriculture, customs, high-tech and construction. (The Jerusalem Post, 11.10.16)

Ukraine:

• Ukraine believes that it is impossible to conduct elections in the eastern region of Donbas until an international armed mission is deployed there, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said on Nov. 8. (Sputnik, 11.08.16)
• The transfer of Ukrainian servicemen's bodies to Kiev has begun in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. (Interfax, 11.08.16)
• "My expectation is the U.S. Army will be given the mission to continue supporting Ukraine for as far as I can see," said Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of the U.S. Army Europe. The U.S. currently has some 300 soldiers deployed to Ukraine, helping train Ukrainian troops. (Wall Street Journal, 11.07.16)
• Mikhail Saakashvili, the former Georgian president who became governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region, announced Nov. 7 that he is resigning in frustration at what he characterized as obstruction in efforts to root out corruption. (AP, 11.07.16)
• Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claims to have detained a group of Ukrainian "saboteur-terrorists" in Sevastopol on the contested Crimean peninsula. (The Moscow Times, 11.10.16)
• A new poll released by the International Republican Institute (IRI) on Oct. 31 found that Ukrainian public frustration with the government’s performance is growing, with 72% of respondents saying that the country is moving in the wrong direction. (Foreign Policy, 11.04.16)

Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:

• Kazakhstan expects China to invest $26 billion in the country between 2016 and 2021. (Financial Times, 11.03.16)
• Kazakh businessman Tokhtar Tuleshov has been sentenced to 21 years in prison after a court in Astana found him guilty of extremism, illegal weapons possession and attempting to overthrow the government. (RFE/RL, 11.07.16)
• Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has held talks with officials in Japan while on an official visit. He has also delivered a speech in the Japanese parliament. In his speech Nazarbayev noted that currently a risk of using nuclear weapons is higher than ever since the end of the Cold War. (Interfax, 11.08.16, RFE/RL, 11.07.16)
• The U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe says it had obtained information about possible attacks on large public gatherings in Tajikistan and its border crossings with Afghanistan. (RFE/RL, 11.10.16)
• The International Monetary Fund has approved nearly $180 million in loans for Moldova ahead of a presidential runoff election that could see the former Soviet republic move closer to Europe or tilt toward Russia. (RFE/RL, 11.08.16)

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