This Week's Highlights:

• Russia says a convoy of its military police has crossed the Euphrates River and entered the Syrian border town of Kobani, once home to a U.S. military base, to start patrols under a new agreement with Turkey, according to RFE/RL. In addition, three Russian military helicopters have landed in the Tabqa military airfield in Syria that the United States abandoned earlier this month, The Moscow Times reports.
• The Kremlin says $12.5 billion worth of deals were struck during the first ever Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, however the majority were memorandums of understanding; Russia offered nuclear power plants, fighter jets and missile defense systems to African countries, writes the Financial Times. Vladimir Putin has said Russia has written off $20 billion of African countries’ debts accumulated during Soviet times. He also said Russia has trained more than 2,500 African servicemen at Russian Defense Ministry schools in the past five years, according to The Moscow Times. The event drew 43 heads of state and government.
• Russia has the world’s highest levels of wealth inequality, surpassing the United States and China, according to the Credit Suisse Research Institute’s annual review as cited by The Moscow Times. The number of billionaires in Russia grew from 74 to 110 between mid-2018 and mid-2019, while the number of millionaires rose from 172,000 to 246,000, the newspaper reported. Meanwhile, almost two-thirds of Russian households only have enough money to buy food, clothes and other essential items, the state statistics agency Rosstat has found.
• American companies on average invested twice more than European ones into projects in Russia in 2018 and five times more than Asian companies, according to a survey by the EY consultancy (formerly Ernst & Young), which was seen and reported by the RBC news outlet. Of 95 survey participants, 74 agreed to share the amount of their investments; the averages were $224 million per U.S. company, a bit over $90 million per European company and about $40 million per Asian company.
• With U.S. federal law treating cannabis as an illegal substance, and making traditional banks wary of getting involved in the business, wealthy financiers have moved in to fill the void, including a growing cast of investors from Russia and former Soviet republics who have helped shape the industry's growth, the New York Times reports.
• Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor testified unequivocally on Oct. 22 that President Trump had pushed Ukraine to investigate both election interference and a company linked to former Vice President Joe Biden's son—and was willing to hold up military aid and a White House meeting to get a public announcement from the country that the probes were underway, Fox News reports. Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry called this the clearest evidence yet that the president engaged in a quid pro quo arrangement, while Trump denounced Taylor as a “Never Trumper.”
• Attorney General William Barr's expanding review of the Russia probe has evolved into a criminal investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter, giving a federal prosecutor who is leading the inquiry the ability to subpoena witnesses and use a grand jury, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times report.

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

Nuclear security and safety:

• A European uranium enrichment firm has resumed shipments of a highly toxic and radioactive waste product from Germany to Russia, Greenpeace Russia warned Oct. 23. Vyacheslav Alexandrov, the head of the state-run radioactive waste management operator’s Novouralsk branch where Urelco had reportedly sent the “tails,” said Russia prohibits nuclear-waste imports and expressed surprise over Greenpeace’s warning. (The Moscow Times, 10.23.19)
• A Russian icebreaker with 33 people on board accidentally issued a mayday call after getting caught in a storm off the coast of western Norway. (RFE/RL, 10.22.19)
• Engineer Andrei Rybkin, accused of using one of Russia’s most powerful supercomputers at a secret nuclear laboratory in Sarov to mine Bitcoins, has been sentenced to three years and three months in prison. (The Moscow Times, 10.25.19)

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:

• In his first visit to the Russian Federation, the chair of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly, Pak Thae Song, met with the chair of the Russian parliament’s lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, in Moscow this week to exchange expressions of solidarity as well as concrete proposals for further cooperation. (NK News, 10.23.19)

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

• No significant developments.

New Cold War/saber rattling:

• Moscow flew two Tupolev Tu-160 nuclear bombers to South Africa. It was the first time the aircraft had landed on African soil. (The Financial Times, 10.24.19)

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

• Turkey is discussing buying more S-400 missile-defense systems from Moscow, according to Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport. (RFE/RL, 10.23.19)
• Turkey was subjected to some harsh criticism for its invasion of northeast Syria at the start of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Oct. 24. U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper called Turkey's incursion, which started on Oct. 9, "unwarranted," yet the NATO members recognized that there was little they could do to punish their strategically important ally. (RFE/RL, 10.24.19)
• NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he has assured North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev that the country's accession process is "well on track," days after the European Union failed to initiate membership talks with Skopje. (RFE/RL, 10.21.19)
• Russia will soon decide about the freeing of Norwegian citizen Frode Berg, who is serving a 14-year sentence for espionage in a Russian jail, Sergei Lavrov, the country’s foreign minister said Oct. 25 at  a commemoration in Kirkenes also attended by Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Lavrov’s Norwegian counterpart. A Russian commission on Oct. 24 recommended President Vladimir Putin pardon Berg, spurring hopes in Norway that he may be released as part of a spy swap brokered behind closed doors. Herman Simm, a former high-ranking Estonian defense official convicted of spying for Russia, may be released early from prison when a court on Oct. 29 is expected to rule on the matter. (AP, 10.25.19, Reuters, 10.24.19, RFE/RL, 10.20.19)

Missile defense:

• No significant developments.

Nuclear arms control:

• NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that arms-control regimes need to adapt to "new realities" to remain effective, citing Russia's disregard for its international commitments and the emergence of new actors and technologies. (RFE/RL, 10.24.19)

Counterterrorism:

• Fourteen Kazakh citizens accused of fighting alongside the Islamic State extremist group in Syria have gone on trial in Kazakhstan's capital, Nur-Sultan. (RFE/RL, 10.22.19)

Conflict in Syria:

• There are more than 150 children—ages roughly 9 to 14—from a range of countries held in two prisons for former residents of Islamic State-held territory in northeastern Syria. Their parents brought them to Syria and ended up dead or detained. One crowded cell held 86 minors—from Syria, Iraq, Mauritius, Russia and elsewhere. Another held 67 adolescents and a boy who said he was 9 and from Russia. (New York Times, 10.23.19)
• The fate of militants from Islamic State fleeing from camps in the north and northeast of Syria must be decided in accordance with criminal law and they must only be eliminated in combat, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov said on Oct. 22. (Interfax, 10.22.19)
• Russian military police started to deploy on Syria’s northeast border on Oct. 23 under a deal with Turkey to drive out Kurdish fighters. Turkey and Russia agreed on Oct. 22 to remove the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia to beyond 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Turkish border, after which their troops will jointly patrol a narrower strip of land in a "safe zone" Ankara has long sought in northern Syria. Syrian border guards were to assist the Russians to facilitate the removal of YPG members and weapons to beyond the zone in a mission that should take about six days, according to the deal.  Vladimir Putin said on Oct. 22 that talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had yielded what he called momentous results for Syria. (Reuters, 10.23.19, Reuters, 10.22.19)
  • Russia said a convoy of its military police had crossed the Euphrates River and entered the Syrian border town of Kobani, which was once home to a U.S. military base, to start patrols under the new agreement with Turkey. Russia will send a further 276 military policemen and 33 units of military hardware to Syria in a week. (Reuters, 10.24.19, RFE/RL, 10.23.19)
  • Renewed clashes between Kurdish and Turkish forces on Oct. 25 tested a shaky cease-fire in northern Syria, as the Russian-backed Syrian government moved troops into the area as part of efforts to reclaim territory it ceded during the country's eight-year war. Turkish drones attacked southeast of the border town of Ras al-Ain on Oct. 24-25, killing at least one SDF fighter. (Wall Street Journal, 10.25.19)
  • Up to 1,300 Syrian government forces and at least 160 vehicles arrived on Oct. 24 to the area around the town of Kobani, located on the Turkish border. Kobani is inside a zone designated for Turkish-Russian patrols. (Wall Street Journal, 10.25.19)
• Three Russian military helicopters have landed in the Tabqa military airfield in Syria that the United States abandoned earlier this month. Syrian government forces took control of the airfield last week when U.S.-led coalition forces left the base as part of the U.S. withdrawal of troops from northern Syria. (The Moscow Times, 10.22.19)
• Russian aircraft carried out strikes on the last rebel stronghold in northwestern Syria early Oct. 24, according to a monitoring group and rescue workers, raising fears of an all-out Syrian regime offensive to retake the area following a Moscow-brokered border deal with Turkey. The airstrikes targeted the Idlib, Hama and Latakia provinces (Wall Street Journal, 10.24.19)
• Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Oct. 25 that the United States will send reinforcements into eastern Syria to bolster defenses against a potential move by Islamic State militants on oil fields controlled by American-backed Syrian Kurds. Asked about America’s shifting Syria strategy, Esper said the U.S. mission has always been to prevent the resurgence of IS and “that mission remains unchanged.” A day earlier officials had said the White House is considering options for leaving about 500 U.S. troops to protect the wells and for sending dozens of battle tanks and other equipment. "We will NEVER let a reconstituted ISIS have those fields!" Trump said Oct. 24. Trump also said he would remove sanctions imposed on Turkey to punish Ankara for launching an offensive against U.S.-backed Kurdish militants. (AP, 10.25.19, The Washington Post, 10.25.19, Wall Street Journal, 10.24.19, The Financial Times, 10.24.19)
•  "The United States has been the Kurds' closest ally in recent years. [But] in the end, it abandoned the Kurds and, in essence, betrayed them," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. If the Kurds did not withdraw per the deal between Moscow and Ankara, Peskov said that Syrian borders guards and Russian military police would have to withdraw, leaving the Kurds to be dealt with by the Turkish army. (Reuters, 10.23.19)

Cyber security:

• A Russian cyber espionage unit has hacked Iranian hackers to lead attacks in more than 35 countries, a joint UK and U.S. investigation has revealed. The so-called Turla group, which has been linked with Russian intelligence, allegedly hijacked the tools of Oilrig, a group widely linked to the Iranian government, according to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre. Moscow on Oct. 24 dismissed media reports that Russian hackers piggy-backed on an Iranian cyber-espionage operation. (The Financial Times, 10.21.19, Reuters, 10.25.19)
• The head of the Czech counterintelligence service says a Russian espionage network that his agency dismantled last year was meant to be used for cyberattacks against the Czech Republic and its foreign allies. (RFE/RL, 10.21.19)
• A multiyear State Department probe of emails that were sent to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private computer server concluded there was no systemic or deliberate mishandling of classified information by department employees. (The Washington Post, 10.20.19)
• Russia will test its internal RuNet network to see whether the country can function without the global internet, the Russian government announced Oct. 21; the tests will begin after Nov. 1, recur at least annually, and possibly more frequently. It’s the latest move in a series of technical and policy steps intended to allow the Russian government to cut its citizens off from the rest of the world. (Defense One, 10.24.19)

Elections interference:

• Attorney General William Barr's expanding review of the Russia probe has evolved into a criminal investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter, giving a federal prosecutor who is leading the inquiry the ability to subpoena witnesses and use a grand jury. Federal prosecutors reviewing the origins of the Russia investigation have asked witnesses pointed questions about any anti-Trump bias among former F.B.I. officials. (Wall Street Journal, 10.25.19, New York Times, 10.21.19)
• Facebook says it has suspended a series of Instagram accounts originating in Russia whose operators posed as people inside the United States that targeted Americans with divisive political messages ahead of next year's presidential election. (RFE/RL, 10.21.19)

Energy exports:

• Rosneft, Russia’s top crude oil producer, has switched to euros from dollars for all of its export contracts, in the latest of a series of efforts from the country to protect itself from U.S. sanctions. (The Financial Times, 10.25.19)

Bilateral economic ties:

• American companies on average invested twice more than European ones into projects in Russia in 2018 and five times more than Asian companies, according to a survey by the EY consultancy (formerly Ernst & Young), which was seen and reported by the RBC news outlet. Of 95 survey participants, 74 agreed to share the amount of their investments; the averages were $224 million per U.S. company, a bit over $90 million per European company and about $40 million per Asian company. (Russia Matters, 10.25.19)
• Russian internet firm Yandex will begin testing its driverless cars in the United States next summer, the company said Oct. 23. (Reuters, 10.23.19)
• U.S. federal law treats cannabis as an illegal substance, and traditional banks have been wary of getting involved. Wealthy financiers have moved in to fill the void—including a growing cast of investors from Russia and former Soviet Union countries who have helped shape the industry's growth. (New York Times, 10.25.19)

Other bilateral issues:

• An American accused of spying in Russia will spend the rest of the year in a Moscow prison, a judge ruled on Oct. 24, in a brief court session where the defendant said he had been assaulted by guards and denied medical care. ''My human rights are being violated, my life threatened, medical issues are being denied and my property stolen,'' the defendant, Paul Whelan, shouted to reporters as the judge read his decision. (New York Times, 10.25.19)
• Maria Butina, the Russian gun-rights activist convicted in the United States of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, was released Oct. 25 into the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is expected to be deported quickly back to Russia. Russia's Foreign Ministry said on its official Telegram messenger channel on Oct. 25 that it expected Butina to arrive in Russia “the morning of October 26." (NPR, 10.25.19, RFE/RL, 10.25.19)
•  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested the former deputy head of the Russian Olympic Committee at his south Florida home. Agents apprehended Akhmed Bilalov, who fled Russia after President Vladimir Putin criticized him for construction delays and ballooning costs before the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. (RFE/RL, 10.23.19)
• Democrat Hillary Clinton, who lost the presidential election to Donald Trump in 2016, suggested that Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is "the favorite of the Russians.” "Great! Thank you @HillaryClinton. You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain," Gabbard wrote in response. (RFE/RL, 10.19.19)

II. Russia’s domestic news

Politics, economy and energy:

• Russia has the world’s highest levels of wealth inequality, surpassing the United States and China, the Credit Suisse Research Institute’s annual review has said. An estimated 83 percent of Russia’s wealth is now owned by its richest decile, which is more than in the U.S. and China. (The Moscow Times, 10.22.19)
• The number of billionaires in Russia grew from 74 to 110 between mid-2018 and mid-2019, while the number of millionaires rose from 172,000 to 246,000. (The Moscow Times, 10.22.19)
• Almost two-thirds of Russian households only have enough money to buy food, clothes and other essential items, the state statistics agency Rosstat has found. (The Moscow Times, 10.22.19)
• Russia is ranked 28th in the latest 2019 edition of the World Bank’s Doing Business report, falling short of the goal set by President Vladimir Putin to enter the top 20 of the business-environment rating. (bne IntelliNews, 10.24.19)
• Around $1 trillion of capital has been pulled out of Russia since the fall of the U.S.S.R., Sergei Glazyev, former aide to President Vladimir Putin, has told world leaders at the Russia-Africa forum in Sochi. (The Moscow Times, 10.24.19)
• Russia's central bank on Oct. 25 delivered its fourth rate cut since June and its largest to date. The Bank of Russia lowered its key interest rate to 6.5 percent from 7 percent, a larger move than the quarter percentage-point cut most analysts had expected. (Wall Street Journal, 10.25.19)
• Russia is opening more new floor space in shopping malls than any other country in Europe, real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield has found. (The Moscow Times, 10.21.19)
• The government now wants to limit foreign ownership of “significant information resources” to 50 percent minus one share instead of the previous 20 percent, the RBC news website reported. (The Moscow Times, 10.21.19)
• The Kremlin set its sights on expanding the number of Russians in the Far East to 8.7 million by 2025, up from 6.2 million earlier this year. Of the 200 million hectares made available for homesteaders in the region, just 49,000 have been allocated. (Wall Street Journal, 10.24.19)
• At least 15 gold miners died when a dam collapsed due to heavy rains south of Krasnoyarsk, flooding an artisanal mining encampment in Siberia. (The Moscow Times, 10.21.19)
• A government-run pollster, FOM, reported that the share of Russians who trust TV news fell to 36 percent in 2019, from 63 percent four years earlier. (New York Times, 10.21.19)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a major reshuffle of the Human Rights Council, including its chief and others seen as supportive of recent anti-government protests. (RFE/RL, 10.21.19)
• Three members of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia have been detained and ordered held for 27 days in Kursk. Also special forces officers encircled a camp building in the city of Norilsk above the Arctic Circle on Oct. 20, confining more than 50 worshippers inside, the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization said in a statement. (The Moscow Times, 10.22.19, RFE/RL, 10.23.19)

Defense and aerospace:

• This year’s institutional trust rating published by the independent Levada Center pollster placed Vladimir Putin at 60 percent and the Russian army at 63 percent. (The Moscow Times, 10.24.19)
• A soldier has killed eight military personnel and wounded two more in a shooting spree at a military unit in Russia. According to the ministry, the soldier may have been suffering from a nervous breakdown when the shooting started. (RFE/RL, 10.25.19)
• The Ryazan Delta III-class nuclear-powered submarine misfired an R-29R missile during the Grom-2019 large-scale military exercises presided over by President Vladimir Putin on the country's northern coast last week, the Vedomosti newspaper reported Oct. 21. (The Moscow Times, 10.21.19)
• One of the charges against the chief of Russia's signals troops, Col. Gen. Khalil Arslanov, and his alleged accomplices is that the joint stock company Voyentelecom, which they had supervised, allegedly re-labelled Chinese-made telecom equipment to make it look like Russian-made, so it could meet requirements set for delivery of such equipment to the Russian Armed Forces, according to Russia’s Kommersant daily. (Russia Matters, 10.21.19)

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman has appeared before Spain's top criminal court for questioning over accusations that he artificially depressed the value of a Spanish company in order to take it over. (RFE/RL, 10.21.19)

III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment

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

• Russia offered nuclear power plants, fighter jets and missile defense systems to African countries during the first ever Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi. The Kremlin says $12.5 billion worth of deals were struck, however the majority were memorandums of understanding. Russia has defense orders worth $14 billion from African countries, its state-run arms export agency said at the summit. The event drew 43 heads of state and government in a geopolitical coup for Putin. He said Russia wrote off $20 billion of African countries’ debts that had accumulated during Soviet times. He said Russia has trained more than 2,500 African servicemen at Russian Defense Ministry schools in the past five years. (The Financial Times, 10.24.19, The Moscow Times, 10.24.19, The Moscow Times, 10.21.19)
• Serbia has signed a free-trade agreement with the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, following veiled warnings from the European Union. Russia and Serbia have already signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the construction of a Center for Nuclear Science, Technology and Innovation in Serbia. (RFE/RL, 10.25.19, Bloomberg, 10.25.19, RFE/RL, 10.19.19, World Nuclear News, 10.21.19)
• Rusatom Automated Control Systems (RASU), a subsidiary of Rosatom, and the Franco-German consortium Framatome-Siemens have signed an agreement to manufacture, deliver and commission automated process control systems for units 5 and 6 of the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary. (World Nuclear News, 10.23.19)
• Russian political consultants ran online campaigns supporting Bolivian President Evo Morales and criticizing his election opponents in a bid to secure a fourth term for the Kremlin-friendly leader, Russian news site Proekt has reported. (The Moscow Times, 10.23.19)
• When Russian President Vladimir Putin called to congratulate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his 70th birthday on Oct. 21, the Israeli leader asked about the possibility for Moscow to pardon U.S.-Israeli national Naama Issachar, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said. (RFE/RL, 10.22.19)

China:

• According to some demographers, about 300,000 Chinese, some unregistered, could now be settled in Russia's Far East. (Wall Street Journal, 10.24.19)
• A Chinese team got kicked out of the Military World Games in China after accusations of "extensive cheating" from six European nations. Athletes from Russia's military were then awarded gold in both the men's and women's orienteering event. (Business Insider, 10.25.19)

Ukraine:

• Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor testified unequivocally Oct. 22 that President Donald Trump pushed Ukraine to investigate both election interference and a company linked to former Vice President Joe Biden's son—and was willing to hold up military aid and a White House meeting to get a public announcement from the country that the probes were underway. Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry into Trump say congressional testimony by Taylor provides the clearest evidence that the president engaged in a quid pro quo arrangement. Stephanie Grisham, White House press secretary, insisted Trump had done nothing wrong, while Trump on Oct. 25 denounced Taylor as a “Never Trumper.” (Fox News, 11.22.19), The Financial Times, 10.23.19, Wall Street Journal, 10.25.19)
• Word of the U.S. aid freeze had gotten to high-level Ukrainian officials by the first week in August, according to interviews and documents obtained by the New York Times. The problem was not bureaucratic, the Ukrainians were told. (New York Times, 10.25.19)
• President Trump's effort to pressure Ukraine for information he could use against political rivals came as he was being urged to adopt a hostile view of that country by its regional adversaries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, current and former U.S. officials said. (The Washington Post, 10.22.19)
• President Trump's personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, pressed the Trump administration to grant a visa to former Ukrainian official Viktor Shokin, who had been removed from his job because of concerns he was not aggressively pursuing corruption cases, according to four U.S. officials familiar with the matter. (The Washington Post, 10.20.19)
  • The Chamber of Appeals of Ukraine’s Supreme Court has upheld a ruling that former Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin should not be reinstated. (RFE/RL, 10.24.19)
• Two businessmen from the former Soviet Union, who are linked to efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer to investigate his political foes, Ukrainian-born Lev Parnas and Belarus native Igor Fruman, have pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to hide illegal campaign contributions to politicians. Parnas collaborated closely with a veteran Washington reporter, The Hill’s John Solomon, to fuel spurious allegations involving the Bidens and Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 10.23.19, ProPublica, 10.25.19)
• The Kremlin said Oct. 22 that preparations to organize a four-way summit aimed at finding a resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine had effectively ground to a halt. "Preparations can't be conducted at the moment because the demands of one of the parties are constantly changing," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He did not say which side he was talking about. (Reuters, 10.22.19)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the absence of alternatives to the Minsk agreements during a telephone discussion of the Ukrainian crisis settlement on Oct. 21, the Kremlin said. Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel reaffirmed the need for strict implementation of the Minsk agreements during their telephone conversation, the Kremlin's press service said. (Interfax, 10.21.19, Interfax, 10.22.19)
• A 32-year-old man accused of hacking into U.S. financial institutions and stealing more than $6 million was arrested in Ukraine as he was hiding from American authorities. Police in Kyiv did not release his name nor his nationality but said he was a foreigner. (Fox News, 10.25.19)
• Ukraine takes last place with a per capita purchasing power of €1,830 among 42 studied European countries. (GFK, 10.21.19)
• Meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed Japan's investments in infrastructure projects in Ukraine. Japan's financial assistance to Kyiv had reached $1.8 billion since 2014. (RFE/RL, 10.21.19)
• Ukraine's largest lender, PrivatBank, should not be returned to its former owners in any scenario, according to a statement on the presidential website. (RFE/RL, 10.24.19)

Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:

• Russia dominates the trade within the Eurasia Economic Union. In 2018 trade with Russia accounted for 96.9 percent of all trade within the Eurasian Union; trade among the four smaller countries accounted for the remaining 3.1 percent. (bne intellinews, 10.23.19)
• Kazakhstan announced on Oct. 21 that British-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell was walking away from its agreement to develop the Khazar field, which is located next to the country's giant but troubled Kashagan field. (RFE/RL, 10.21.19)
• Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has handed his predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbaev, more sweeping powers. Toqaev must now consult Nazarbaev before appointing chiefs of state institutions and ministers except those holding the foreign, interior and defense portfolios. (RFE/RL, 10.21.19)
• Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has signed into law a bill enacting a mass amnesty affecting some 20,000 people, including individuals sentenced for "liking online extremist posts." (RFE/RL, 10.25.19)
• Human Rights Watch has urged Azerbaijani authorities to release all the protesters who were detained after police violently dispersed two peaceful protests in central Baku over the weekend and to investigate any allegations of ill-treatment by law enforcement. (RFE/RL, 10.22.19)
• Georgia has extradited a Russian citizen, Yaroslav Sumbayev, wanted for his alleged involvement in the killing of a top economic-crimes investigator in the Moscow region. (RFE/RL, 10.24.19)