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

Nuclear security and safety:

• Russia reported 57.2 tons of civilian plutonium in its 2016 report to the International Atomic Energy Agency, including 54.9 tons in storage, 1.7 tons in unirradiated MOX and 0.6 tons stored elsewhere. The 2015 numbers were 53.1, 1.5 and 0.8 tons respectively, for a total of 55.4 tons. (IPFM Blog, 10.21.17)
• The National Nuclear Security Administration participated in an international workshop in Kazakhstan with stakeholders from government agencies, private industry and academia to address radioactive source risks in the well logging industry. (NNSA, 10.18.17)

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:

• U.S. President Donald Trump said Oct. 25 that Russia was having a negative impact on the U.S. (Reuters, 10.26.17)

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says the Iran nuclear deal can be amended only if Russia and other signatories agree to proposed changes. (AP, 10.20.17)

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

• NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO and Russia "continue to have fundamental differences" regarding the Ukraine conflict. “Our dialogue is not easy, but that is exactly why our dialogue is so important,” Stoltenberg said Oct. 26 after NATO ambassadors met with Russian envoy Aleksandr Grushko. (RFE/RL, 10.26.17)
• NATO is poised to approve the creation of two new commands (logistics command and a command for the Atlantic and Arctic oceans) to improve allied logistics and protect supply lines, aiming to shore up weaknesses in any potential conflict with Russia, allied officials said. (Wall Street Journal, 10.24.17)
• Russia may choose not to appoint a permanent envoy to NATO when Alexander Grushko leaves this post to become a deputy foreign minister of Russia, Kommersant reported, citing Russian diplomatic sources. (Russia Matters, 10.27.17)
• Chief of Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov is to meet NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Curtis M. Scaparrotti before the end of the year, Kommersant reported. (Russia Matters, 10.27.17)
• NATO allies have raised concerns about Russia’s alleged use of electronic warfare during military exercises last month that jammed some phone networks. (AP, 10.26.17)
• NATO would be unable to rebuff a Russian attack on its eastern flank, according to an internal NATO report cited on Oct. 20 by German weekly Der Spiegel. The paper, Progress Report on the Strengthened Deterrence and Defense Capability of the Alliance, pointed to significant deficiencies. (RFE/RL, 10.20.17)
• Russian and U.S. defense chiefs have joined their counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the Philippines to discuss terrorism and North Korea’s weapons program. (RFE/RL, 10.23.17, Reuters, 10.25.17)
• Western allies tested their readiness for a new era of naval warcraft this summer during a sea hunt for the Krasnodar, a Russian attack submarine, as it moved to its new home in the Black Sea, at points eluding detection. (Wall Street Journal, 10.21.17)
• Poland’s President Andrzej Duda signed a law Oct. 23 increasing the country’s defense spending to at least 2.5% of GDP by 2030, well above the 2% required by NATO membership. The bill will also increase the number of troops in the military from 100,000 to 200,000.  (AP, 10.23.17)
• Lithuania, which borders Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, has signed a contract to get a permanent NASAMS surface-to-air missile system from Norway within three years. Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis says the country has “started to fill in a major gap in our national defense system.” (AP, 10.26.17)
• In court testimony this week, key witness Aleksandar Sindjelic identified Eduard Shishmakov, an alleged Russian secret service operative, as a major organizer and financier of the alleged plot to overthrow Montenegro’s government during October 2016 parliamentary elections in order to prevent the country from joining NATO. (AP, 10.26.17, RFE/RL, 10.27.17)

Missile defense:

• The Russian military this week took delivery of the second S-400 Triumph advanced air defense system regiment (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) in 2017. (Diplomat, 10.23.17)

Nuclear arms control:

• No significant developments.

Counter-terrorism:

• Russia has replaced Tunisia as the top exporter of foreign fighters to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. According to data from the Soufan Group, 3,417 Russian nationals traveled to fight for IS, compared with 2,400 in the 2015 estimate. (Newsweek, 10.24.17)

Conflict in Syria:

• Russia has vetoed a U.N. resolution that would determine who is responsible for chemical weapon attacks in Syria. The Joint Investigative Mechanism mandate to investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria is set to expire in November. (The Moscow Times, 10.24.17)
• A death certificate issued by the Russian consulate in Damascus dated Oct. 4, 2017 shows that at least 131 Russian citizens died in Syria in the first nine months of this year. (Reuters, 10.27.17)
• The most recent satellite images of the Russian-operated Hmeimim air base in Syria show more advanced fighter jets in the region. The images, taken in mid-July, show 33 jets and a smaller number of fixed-wing aircraft. (Business Insider, 10.21.17)
• Russia’s Defense Ministry said Oct. 22 that the Syrian city of Raqqa, formerly the self-declared capital of the Islamic State, has been as devastated as Dresden in World War II, and accuses the United States and its coalition of “barbaric” bombardment. The U.S.-led coalition says it is careful to avoid civilian casualties. The coalition on Oct. 24 denied striking the city of Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria after Damascus accused its jets of killing more than a dozen people. (AP, 10.22.17, Reuters, 10.22.17, Reuters, 10.24.17)
• After losing major strongholds and key urban areas across Syria, including its self-proclaimed capital, Raqqa, the Islamic State now controls only 5% of the country's territory. (AP, 10.24.17)
• A United Nations report blames Syrian government forces for an April sarin gas attack on a rebel-held village that killed at least 87 people. (RFE/RL, 10.27.17)
• U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Oct. 26 disputed suggestions that Syria has fallen under Iranian influence, saying that Russia is responsible for most of the government’s gains. He also reaffirmed the U.S. demand that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step down as part of the political transition after the defeat of Islamic State in Raqqa. (The Washington Post, 10.27.17, Bloomberg, 10.26.17)

Cyber security:

• Hackers responsible for the NotPetya cyberattack in June were likely behind a smaller attack this week. Attacks using malware called “BadRabbit” hit Russia and other nations on Oct. 24, taking down Russia’s Interfax news agency and causing flight delays at Ukraine’s Odessa airport. (Reuters, 10.26.17)
• Russian cybersecurity giant Kaspersky Lab said it uploaded secret data linked to the U.S. National Security Agency from a personal computer in the U.S., though staff destroyed the material and didn’t show it to anyone outside the company. Kaspersky Lab also said it will ask independent parties to review the security of its anti-virus software, which the U.S. government has said could jeopardize national security, citing concerns over Kremlin influence and hijacking by Russian spies. (Reuters, 10.23.17, Bloomberg, 10.25.17)

Elections interference:

• Hillary Clinton and top officials of her presidential campaign were largely silent following news that the campaign and the Democratic National Committee had paid for research that resulted in a dossier alleging Russian interference on behalf of Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Attorney Marc E. Elias had reportedly retained research firm Fusion GPS, which later hired former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele. During the Republican primaries, a donor opposed to Trump becoming the party’s candidate retained Fusion GPS to unearth potentially damaging information about Trump. After Trump secured the nomination, Fusion GPS was hired on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the DNC by their law firm to compile research about Trump. Trump said Oct. 25 it was a “disgrace” that Democrats had helped pay for the research and is also promising that the Republican donor will be revealed. On Friday Trump alleged that Hillary Clinton colluded with Russia while claiming it’s “commonly agreed” that his associates didn’t work with the Kremlin to tilt the election in his favor. A U.S. judge gave Fusion GPS until Oct. 26 to reach an agreement with Congress over a subpoena for the firm’s bank records. (AP, 10.25.17, AP, 10.26.17, New York Times, 10.25.17, Reuters, 10.25.17, AP, 10.25.17, Politico, 10.27.17)
• The FBI is expected to hand over to Congress documents related to a controversial and unverified dossier on U.S. President Donald Trump by next week, ending an impasse between lawmakers and federal law enforcement. On Oct. 25, House Speaker Paul Ryan said the Justice Department needs to immediately give Congress documents related to the funding of the dossier, saying the department and the FBI were “stonewalling.” (Wall Street Journal, 10.17.17, Reuters, 10.25.17)
• Top Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are refusing to endorse a Republican move to find out who paid the firm that commissioned a dossier alleging ties between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia, a court document made public on Oct. 23 showed. (Reuters, 10.24.17)
• All three committees looking into Russian interference—one in the House, two in the Senate—have run into problems, from insufficient staffing to fights over when the investigations should wrap up. However, Republican lawmakers say they’re approaching the end of their Russia probes, even though the issue of possible collusion between Trump associates and the Kremlin remains unresolved. The Senate Intelligence Committee has suggested its investigation will end early next year, while the House Intelligence Committee hopes to finish even earlier. Democrats will have to choose between joining the GOP and setting aside the most momentous aspect of their probes, or ending any chance of presenting a united front against a continuing Russian threat. (Politico, 10.27.17, New York Times, 10.23.17)
• Trump lawyer Michael Cohen met with the House Intelligence Committee for almost six hours Oct. 24 in a “contentious” exchange. The committee also met for several hours with U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign digital director, Brad Parscale, who said earlier this month that Trump won the election through use of Facebook advertising. (The Washington Post, 10.24.17)
• U.S. President Donald Trump intends to spend at least $430,000 of his own money to help pay the legal bills of White House staff and campaign aides related to investigations into Russian election interference. (AP, 10.21.17)
• U.S. President Donald Trump on Oct. 21 downplayed the significance of Russian-bought Facebook ads intended to influence last year’s campaign and divide Americans. “Keep hearing about ‘tiny’ amount of money spent on Facebook ads,” Trump said on Twitter. (The Washington Post, 10.21.17)
• U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein said he thought American voters were too “savvy” to be influenced by Russian-bought ads. (The Washington Post, 10.26.17)
• Russian state-owned television station RT says Twitter had pushed it to spend millions on advertising ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Twitter announced Oct. 26 that it would ban ads from RT and Sputnik, two state-sponsored Russian news outlets accused of interfering with the 2016 election by the U.S. intelligence community. The Kremlin said Twitter’s ban was motivated by Washington’s “deep prejudices” against Moscow. (Reuters, 10.27.17, AP, 10.27.17)
• The Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. in June 2016 who offered damaging information on Hillary Clinton shared the allegations with Russia's prosecutor general in the months prior. Natalia Veselnitskaya discussed her research with Yuri Chaika even though she has repeatedly claimed that the information emerged as a result of her own digging. (CBW News, 10.27.17)
• Federal prosecutors in New York issued subpoenas as part of an investigation into former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s alleged use of New York real estate transactions to launder foreign money into the U.S. financial system. (Bloomberg, 10.24.17)
• Alexander Nix, chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics firm that worked for two Republican presidential campaigns, including the Trump campaign, reached out to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange before the 2016 election about Hillary Clinton’s emails. Assange said he rejected the approach. (Wall Street Journal, 10.25.17)
• British parliament is asking Facebook, Twitter and other internet companies for information about Russian efforts to use social media to influence Brexit. (New York Times, 10.25.17)

Energy exports from CIS:

• Top oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia want to extend their agreement to limit petroleum production until the end of 2018 in their continuing effort to cut the global oil oversupply. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Oct. 24 that compliance with a global output cut deal in the past nine months had been 102%. (Wall Street Journal, 10.25.17, Reuters, 10.24.17)

Bilateral economic ties:

• No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

• The U.S. State Department has provided Congress with a list of Russian companies and intelligence agencies that are likely to be affected by the latest round of sanctions. The list reportedly included three Russian intelligence agencies as well as 33 defense companies, including Kalashnikov, Sukhoi, Tupolev, Rostec and its weapons exporter Rosoboronexport. Although not yet public, the list is expected to be released more broadly in the coming days, giving businesses and nations a chance to wind down transactions with the off-limits individuals and entities. A three-month grace period will expire on Jan. 28. (AP, 10.27.17, (RFE/RL, 10.27.17, The Washington Post, 10.26.17, The Moscow Times, 10.27.17)
  • Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Oct. 27 said that the new sanctions had “echoes of hostility” in them. “These are echoes of unfriendly signs, to be precise, even hostility against our country,” he said. (Los Angeles Times, 10.27.17)
• The State Department shuttered an office overseeing sanctions policy, even as the Trump administration faced criticism from lawmakers over its handling of new economic penalties against Russia. (Foreign Policy, 10.26.17)
• The Russian government extended the list of goods under sanctions, adding pigs and a range of byproducts. "Live pigs and certain kinds of edible byproducts and fats of agricultural animals are included into the list of agricultural products, raw materials and foods prohibited for import to Russia," the government said. The Kremlin earlier extended the embargo on certain types of agricultural products, raw materials and food originating from the United States, European Union countries, Canada, Australia, Norway, Ukraine, Albania, Montenegro, Iceland and Lichtenstein until Dec. 31, 2018. (Interfax, 10.27.17)
• U.S. President Donald Trump is claiming that an Obama era uranium deal with Russia is a scandal on par with Watergate. The deal involves the purchase of American uranium mines by a Russian-backed company in 2010. Trump says that sale—reached while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state—was “so underhanded” and that it’s “Watergate modern age.” The chairman of the House intelligence committee is launching a new probe into the Obama-era uranium deal. (AP, 10.25.17)
• The economic sanctions the U.S. and the EU have imposed on Russia are not affecting the work of the state nuclear corporation Rosatom, according to its director-general, Alexey Likhachov. (World Nuclear News, 10.23.17)
• Washington has returned Russian flags taken from the San Francisco consulate building the U.S. had seized. (The Moscow Times, 10.25.17)
• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has restored Bill Browder's ability to enter the United States without a visa after temporarily blocking him when Russia placed his name on an Interpol list seeking his arrest. Russian Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika has urged U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to launch a criminal case against Browder, who had initiated the Magnitsky Act. Interpol has for the fifth time blocked Russia’s request for an arrest warrant for Browder. (The Moscow Times, 10.27.17, The Washington Post, 10.25.17, RFE/RL, 10.24.17)
• Stanislav Nazarov, a dual citizen of Israel and Russia, has been extradited to the United States to face money laundering charges. (AP, 10.20.17)
• RT's main English-language YouTube channel has amassed 2.1 billion views and 2.2 million subscribers, roughly the same figures as CNN's primary YouTube channel. (Wall Street Journal, 10.23.17)
• In the aftermath of President John F Kennedy’s assassination, the USSR was worried it would be blamed for putting Lee Harvey Oswald up to the attack, and that America could lash out in a state of leaderless panic. Almost 3,000 newly released documents detail everything the U.S. knew about the Russian reaction to the 1963 assassination and reveal the extent to which the Kremlin believed in conspiracy theories surrounding Kennedy’s death. Russian sources reportedly described Oswald as a “neurotic maniac who was disloyal to his own country and everything else.” (Independent, 10.27.17)

II. Russia’s domestic news

Politics, economy and energy:

• If elections were held this Sunday, 53% of Russians would vote for Vladimir Putin, according to a Levada Center poll. One in five couldn’t name who they’d vote for, while one in 10 said they wouldn’t cast ballots. (The Moscow Times, 10.27.17)
• On Nov. 7, the Communist party of the Russian Federation will celebrate the centenary of the 1917 revolution. But Russian President Vladimir Putin will be absent from the procession. (Financial Times, 10.24.17)
• Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is definitively barred from running in next year’s presidential election, Russia’s Prosecutor General's Office said on Oct. 24. Navalny has been unable to register his candidacy for the March 2018 election due to a prior conviction which his supporters say is politically motivated. (The Moscow Times, 10.25.17)
• Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian TV personality planning to run against Vladimir Putin in next year’s presidential election, attacked his policies on Oct. 24 but said she would not personally insult him in the campaign because he was a family friend. The Kremlin has criticized Sobchak for saying that Crimea is legally part of Ukraine, while nationalist lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky said she should be jailed for the remark. (Reuters, 10.24.17, RFE/RL, 10.25.17)
• Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin says he will seek another five-year term to see through extensive reforms, including a controversial urban renewal program. (The Moscow Times, 10.24.17)
• Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov says he intends to arm his staff with guns that fire rubber bullets in light of recent attacks on journalists. Tatiana Felgenhauer, the deputy editor of independent radio station Ekho Moskvy who was hospitalized earlier this week after being stabbed is making a quick recovery, her doctor said on Oct. 25. Ksenia Larina, a leading producer for the radio station, fled the country out of concern for her safety, station chief Aleksei Venediktov announced on Oct. 27. (The Moscow Times, 10.25.17, RFE/RL, 10.27.17, RFE/RL, 10.27.17)
• Russia has more than 300 “monotowns”—settlements in which a single industry or employer dominates the local economy. They are home to 14 million people, about one-tenth of the country’s total population. (Financial Times, 10.26.17)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Oct. 26 that law enforcement agencies must take tough action against persons and groups using the Internet for extremist ends. (Reuters, 10.16.17)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to devise a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, the clearest sign yet that the Kremlin does not intend to ban them. (Financial Times, 10.24.17)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin's circle of close friends and relatives controls a combined wealth of nearly $24 billion, although Putin has kept himself "officially" clean in terms of financial assets, says a joint report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and independent Russian publication Novaya Gazeta. (RFE/RL, 10.24.17)
• A letter between government officials suggest that St. Petersburg could experience a bread shortage in the near future. (The Moscow Times, 10.25.17)

Defense and aerospace:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin personally fired four ballistic missiles during tests of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces. Tupolev long-range bombers fired cruise missiles, while Topol intercontinental ballistic missiles were launched from the Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia. Two other rockets were fired from nuclear submarines in the Pacific Ocean and Arctic Sea, and all targets were hit during the Oct. 26 exercises. (Bloomberg, 10.27.17)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin told a Kremlin gathering of military officers that Russia held more than 2,500 military exercises so far this year, including Zapad 2017. (Bloomberg, 10.27.17)

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• Russian security services thwarted 30 foreign spies and over 200 foreign intelligence collaborators so far this year. (The Moscow Times, 10.27.17)
• The Russian National Guard says one of its officers shot and killed four other servicemen at a barracks in the Russian republic of Chechnya before guards fatally shot him. (AP, 10.23.17)

III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment

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

• Germany and Russia need to overcome their mutual distrust, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Oct. 25 on a visit to Russia. Steinmeier said he wanted to explore “whether there are ways out of a negative spiral we had in the past of lost confidence, of mutual accusations and misunderstandings.” The talks between Steinmeier and Russian President Vladimir Putin ranged from economic ties to the Ukraine and Syria conflicts and other international crises. The Kremlin's transcript of a speech by Steinmeier on Crimea edited his text to replace the word “annexation.” (The Moscow Times, 10.26.17, AP, 10.25.17)
• A public prosecutor in Germany is investigating whether German engineering firm RMA paid bribes to Russia in return for contracts on the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, German magazine Stern reports. It said the probe is looking into payments of "around €8 million" made to firms in the Caribbean and involving a "supposedly Russian citizen" who may have acted as a front man for "influential personalities." (EU Observer, 10.25.17)
• Russia formally handed over six MiG-29 fighter jets to Serbia on Oct. 20. Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin has criticized remarks by a senior U.S. diplomat who suggested that Belgrade's balancing act between Moscow and the West is unsustainable. (AP, 10.20.17, RFE/RL, 10.24.17)
• Russia donated an array of military gear to the Philippines in a bid to widen its Southeast Asian arms market as Manila seeks to diversify weapons systems. Manila received about 5,000 Kalashnikov rifles, 5,000 steel helmets, about a million rounds of ammunition for the rifles and 20 army trucks in a ceremony attended by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who also toured a visiting Russian warship. (Reuters, 10.25.17)
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Moscow respects the aspiration of Iraqi Kurds to assert their identity, but added that this must be done in “dialogue” with Baghdad. (RFE/RL, 10.23.17)
• Norwegian rescuers may have located the sunken wreckage of a Russian helicopter that went missing on Oct. 26 with eight people aboard off the coast of the Arctic Svalbard archipelago. (Reuters, 10.26.17)

China:

• Russia’s Yamal LNG, set to be the world’s biggest Arctic producer of liquefied natural gas, plans to send its debut cargo to China as thanks for its support. (Bloomberg, 10.26.17)
• China’s September coal imports from Russia soared 83% from a year ago, while arrivals from Australia rose 33.6%. (Reuters, 10.24.17)

Ukraine:

• Petro Poroshenko is still the most popular choice for president, but according to the latest poll by the Razumkov Center for Political and Economic Research, only 9.3% of Ukrainians would vote for him now. (Bloomberg, 10.24.17)
• According to the World Bank's October report on Ukraine, poverty is still higher than it was before the 2014 revolution. (Bloomberg, 10.24.17)
• "The position on strengthening and extension of sanctions against the Russian Federation is very important for us. We highly appreciate the package of sanctions that has been introduced recently and it is very important that it touched on the energy sector," Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy said at a meeting with U.S. State Department's Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker in Kyiv on Friday. (Interfax. 10.27.17)
• Russia has freed two prominent Crimean Tatar activists opposed to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko thanked his Turkish counterpart for helping broker the release. (Reuters, 10.25.17)
• Ukrainian lawmaker Ihor Mosiychuk, who was wounded in an explosion in Kiev that killed two people, blamed Russia on Oct. 26 for the blast while investigators said they were considering various motives for what they called an act of terrorism. (Reuters, 10.25.17)
• RFE/RL has condemned what it calls the "intimidation” of Oleksandr Chornovalov, one of its journalists in Ukraine, calling it part of "a pattern of threats and harassment" targeting its investigative reporters in the country. (RFE/RL, 10.21.17)
• Ukrainian anticorruption investigators have raided the home and office of Hennadiy Trukhanov, the mayor of Odessa, who is at the center of an embezzlement probe. (RFE/RL, 10.23.17)
• Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has vowed to push for legislation creating an anticorruption court by the end of the year, in an apparent response to demands from Western allies and protesters camped outside parliament in Kiev. (RFE/RL, 10.21.17)
• Ukraine's Energoatom and Japan's Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in modernizing the turbine island equipment of Ukrainian nuclear power plants. (World Nuclear News, 10.25.17)

Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:

• The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has given generally high marks to the Oct. 21 municipal elections in Georgia. Final preliminary results indicate that Georgian Dream candidates were elected mayors of Tbilisi, Batumi, Poti and Rustavi in the first round, negating the need for runoffs. (RFE/RL, 10.23.17)
• Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has reluctantly signed constitutional amendments that he had vetoed on Oct. 9—including provisions that transform the country into a parliamentary system where the president is elected by lawmakers rather than directly by voters. (RFE/RL, 10.20.17)
• Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev has made a on a two-day trip to Turkey, the first official visit to the country by Uzbekistan's president since 1999. (RFE/RL, 10.25.17)
• Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev has leveled indirect but harsh criticism against his Kazakh counterpart, the latest in a dispute between the two Central Asian countries. (RFE/RL, 10.27.17)
• Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev has signed a decree setting out plans to switch from a Cyrillic-based script for the Kazakh language to a Latin-based alphabet. (RFE/RL, 10.27.17)
• Anthony Bourdain, an American celebrity chef, has become persona non grata in Azerbaijan for traveling to Nagorno-Karabakh. (The Washington Post, 10.27.17)

IV. Quoteworthy

• No significant developments.