This Week’s Highlights

• Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, gave a brief update on the status of joint U.S.-Russia cybersecurity talks first announced at the end of the Biden-Putin summit in June, Politico reports. “We have had an open, direct and candid dialogue—a number of times, a number of discussions—to outline our expectations in that area, to pass information regarding individual criminal activity. And there have been some initial steps,” Neuberger said.
• "We can't stop this. It's impossible," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Interfax as saying in response to a question on whether Russia can stop Ukraine from joining NATO. Nevertheless, it is possible to minimize the ramifications of such steps for Russia, he said. Peskov’s comments came one day before the Ukrainian military announced it had destroyed a howitzer of pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east in its first combat deployment of Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone, The Moscow Times reports. The Kremlin said Turkey’s supply of drones to Kyiv risks destabilizing the eastern Ukraine.
• With less than a week to go before U.S. President Joe Biden met Russian President Vladimir Putin for a June summit in Switzerland, the White House ordered the Pentagon to delay a long-planned hypersonic missile test so as not to raise tensions with Moscow, Politico reports. A U.S. defense official did note, however, that the Russians likewise “didn’t do [provocative] things in advance of that summit. This is not unusual at all for the sake of table-setting.”  
• The U.S. Embassy in Moscow could stop performing most functions next year unless there is progress with Russia on increasing the number of visas for diplomats, a U.S. official warned. He said that the United States lacked staff for basic tasks such as opening and closing the embassy gates, ensuring secure telephone calls and operating the elevators, according to The Moscow Times. RFE/RL reports that Moscow has criticized the U.S. after Washington added Russians seeking U.S. visas to a list of “homeless nationals” who can apply for visas in third countries. 
• Putin has told Gazprom to start pumping natural gas into European gas storage facilities once Russia finishes filling its own stocks, which could happen by Nov. 8, according to RFE/RL. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that while European storage levels are low, an analysis of European gas industry data shows the largest shortfalls are at sites owned or controlled by Gazprom, in what critics say increasingly points to an attempt to squeeze European energy supplies.
• Putin is going to deliver two speeches via video linkup during the G20 summit Oct. 30-31, according to TASS, while the format of Putin’s speech at the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow has not yet been determined. Putin is to participate in both summits via video-links rather than in person.

 

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

Nuclear security and safety:

• Final testing is underway at the facility which will receive, process and dispose of solid radioactive waste from the decommissioning of Chernobyl. "This is a very important event," said the acting director general of Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Valery Seyda. "The last 'long-term construction' at the site is finally moving towards completion." (World Nuclear News, 10.27.21)
• Viktor Bryukhanov, who helped build and manage the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, where a reactor explosion in 1986 released a radioactive dust cloud over Europe and a humbling fog of finger-pointing and political fallout that contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Oct. 13 in Kyiv. He was 85. (The New York Times, 10.28.21)

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:

• No significant developments.

Iran and its nuclear program:

• Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's envoy to the IAEA, has asked what the refrain “soon” means in statements by Iran’s foreign minister about returning to nuclear talks. "Does anybody know what it can mean in practical terms?" Ulyanov said in a tweet in rare biting language Oct. 23 quoting Hossein Amir-Abdollahian that talks with world powers on the revival of the 2015 nuclear agreement would resume "soon." (Iranintl, 10.24.21)
• The U.S. is ready to return to the talks on the JCPOA on the Iranian nuclear programs and thinks that an agreement on the return to full compliance with the JCPOA can be reached quite soon, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told TASS Oct. 27, commenting on Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri’s statement that the six-sided talks on the deal would resume by late November. (TASS, 10.27.21)
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has spoken over the phone with his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid to discuss international and regional security. "There was an exchange of views on a number of pressing issues on the international and regional agendas, including the developing situation around the Iranian nuclear program," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. (Interfax, 10.25.21)
• IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi says his monitoring program in Iran has been restricted at a facility in the Tehran suburbs that makes centrifuge parts, raising concern that it will not be possible for world powers that are party to the JCPOA to “reconstruct the picture” of Iran’s nuclear program down the road. (RFE/RL, 10.24.21)

Great Power rivalry/New Cold War/NATO-Russia relations:

• NATO defense ministers have agreed a new master plan to defend against any potential Russian attack on multiple fronts, reaffirming the alliance's core goal of deterring Moscow despite a growing focus on China. The confidential strategy, which the ministers approved Oct. 21, aims to prepare for any simultaneous attack in the Baltic and Black Sea regions that could include nuclear weapons, hacking of computer networks and assaults from space. Diplomats say the "Concept for Deterrence and Defense in the Euro-Atlantic Area" and its strategic implementation plan is needed as Russia develops advanced weapon systems and deploys troops and equipment closer to the allies' borders. (Reuters, 10.21.21)
• The Russian defense ministry on Oct. 25 handed a protest note to a German military attaché due to the German defense minister’s comments over the need to deter Russia’s nuclear capabilities. The move is the latest sign of mounting tension between Moscow and NATO after defense ministers from the Western alliance agreed on a new plan to defend against any potential Russian attack on multiple fronts. “This is the way of deterrence,” German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said of the plan last week. (Reuters, 10.25.21)
• Washington considers it possible to have constructive consultations on Afghanistan with Moscow and Beijing, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Oct. 26. (TASS, 10.26.21)
• Moscow calls on Afghanistan's neighboring countries to prevent the military presence of the United States and NATO on their territory, Lavrov said Oct. 27 in a video address to participants in a ministerial meeting of Afghanistan's neighboring countries involving Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Washington has always viewed Afghanistan as nothing more than a tool for achieving its geopolitical goals, Lavrov said. Terrorists disguised as refugees have been trying to infiltrate countries neighboring Afghanistan, he said. (TASS, 10.27.21)
• Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged the creation of multilateral mechanisms to fight terrorism in Afghanistan on the basis of the U.N. and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in a video address during the second ministerial meeting of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries Oct. 27. (TASS, 10.27.21)
• Russia on Oct. 25 urged Western countries to engage with the Taliban and for the EU to re-open its embassy in Afghanistan, warning that the country was at risk of descending further into drug trafficking and terrorism. Speaking to reporters on Oct. 25, the Russian presidential envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said the EU would be right to re-open its mission in the country. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.25.21)
• No-one is in a hurry to recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's government, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Oct. 26, signaling that Moscow is not ready to allow the Islamists to represent Afghanistan at the United Nations. (Reuters, 10.29.21)
• Members of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have completed another joint counterterrorism training exercise in Tajikistan near the border with Afghanistan. The exercise on Oct. 23 presented a scenario in which columns of vehicles transport militants across the border from Afghanistan into Tajikistan. (RFE/RL, 10.23.21)
• With less than a week to go before U.S. President Joe Biden met Russian President Vladimir Putin for a June summit in Switzerland, the White House ordered the Pentagon to delay a long-planned hypersonic missile test so as not to raise tensions with Moscow. A U.S. defense official did note, however, that the Russians likewise “didn’t do [provocative] things in advance of that summit. This is not unusual at all for the sake of table-setting.” (Politico, 10.28.21)
• “Russia is still the most imminent threat [today], simply because they have 1,550 deployed nuclear weapons, plus or minus, deployed against us today,” Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs Gen. John Hyten told reporters Oct. 28. “They already have operational hypersonic capabilities with nuclear weapons on it,” Hyten said of Russia. (VOA, 10.28.21, Politico, 10.28.21)
• Russia is concerned about U.S. aspiration to deploy short- and intermediate-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Lavrov said at a press conference following talks with his South Korean counterpart. (TASS, 10.28.21)
• The U.S. military’s top officer has confirmed that China recently tested an advanced hypersonic weapon, calling it a “very significant” development to which Washington was giving close attention. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, said the test of the nuclear-capable weapon was close to a “Sputnik moment.” “The pace they're moving and the trajectory that they're on will surpass Russia and the United States if we don't do something to change it," he told the Defense Writers Group Oct. 28, responding to a question from VOA on the Chinese military. (VOA, 10.28.21, Financial Times, 10.27.21)

China-Russia: Allied or Aligned?

• The State Duma ratified a protocol at its plenary session on Oct. 26 on extending until Dec. 16, 2030, a Russia-China deal on notifying each other of ballistic missile and carrier rocket launches. (TASS, 10.26.21)
• Russian and Chinese warships held their first joint patrols in the western Pacific Ocean over the past week, Russia's defense ministry said Oct. 23, a move Japan said it was monitoring. A group of 10 naval vessels from China and Russia sailed through a strait separating Japan's main island and its northern island of Hokkaido on Oct. 25, the Japanese government said.  (Reuters, 10.23.21)
• The Joint Sea 2021 China-Russia naval maneuvers held in the Pacific Ocean were not aimed against third countries, Chinese Defense Ministry Spokesman Senior Col. Tan Kefei said. (TASS, 10.29.21)

Missile defense:

• No significant developments.

Arms control:

• The U.S. State Department has released new New START data. It shows both the U.S. and Russia continue to comply with the treaty. The number of U.S. and Russian deployed delivery systems and the number of warheads on these U.S. and Russian deployed systems decreased in September 2021 compared to March 2021. The total number of U.S. deployed and non-deployed delivery systems stayed the same over the same period, while the number of Russian deployed and non-deployed delivery systems increased by 3.4% in September-March 2021. (Russia Matters, 10.26.21)
• The withdrawal of tactical nuclear weapons from Europe and the elimination of infrastructure for them are a precondition for a dialogue on such weapons between Russia and the U.S., Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov said. (TASS, 10.25.21)

Counter-terrorism:

• No significant developments.

Conflict in Syria:

• Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Putin agreed during their meeting in Sochi Oct. 22 that the two nations would continue to implement the so-called deconfliction mechanism that works to prevent Israeli and Russian forces from clashing in Syria, a senior Israeli official said. When asked to comment on U.S. media reports that Putin had allegedly asked Bennett for assistance in easing U.S. sanctions on Syria, Dmitry Peskov said: "Issues related to Syria were discussed at the recent meeting between the president and the prime minister." (Times of Israel, 10.22.21, TASS, 10.28.21)
• The topic of Syria, especially its northeastern zone, was in the spotlight when Russian Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met with Kamiran Hajo and Ibrahim Barro of the Kurdish National Council, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. (TASS, 10.29.21)
• The Russian military police demanded earlier this month that groups affiliated with the Eighth Brigade hand over their weapons to the command of the brigade, the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi reported. The leader of the group, which comprises mainly former opposition fighters, agreed two years ago to join the Syrian army with his 10,000-strong paramilitary. But soldiers of the 8th brigade of the 5th corps of the Syrian Arab Army are not paid by Damascus, but rather by the Russians. (Times of Israel, 10.21.21)
• The Russian experience of fighting terrorists in Syria was on display during large-scale operational strategic exercises of the Collective Rapid Reaction Force of the CSTO, which have concluded in Tajikistan, Deputy Commander of the Central Military District, Lt. Gen. Yevgeny Poplavsky, said Oct. 24. (Interfax, 10.25.21)

Cyber security:

• Russia-linked hackers say they’ve breached the National Rifle Association. The ransomware group dubbed "Grief" posted 13 apparently stolen files in an attempt to get the gun rights organization to pay a ransom. Researchers say Grief is a rebranding of the U.S.-sanctioned cybercriminal gang Evil Corp. Those sanctions would likely make it illegal to pay the group a ransom under U.S. law. (The Washington Post, 10.28.21)
• Russia’s premier intelligence agency has launched another campaign to pierce thousands of U.S. government, corporate and think-tank computer networks, Microsoft officials and cybersecurity experts warned Oct. 24, only months after Biden imposed sanctions on Moscow in response to a series of sophisticated spy operations it had conducted around the world. The new effort is “very large, and it is ongoing,” Tom Burt, one of Microsoft’s top security officers, said. Government officials confirmed that the operation, apparently aimed at acquiring data stored in the cloud, seemed to come out of the SVR. (The New York Times, 10.25.21)
• Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, gave a brief update on the status of joint U.S.-Russia cybersecurity talks first announced at the end of the Biden-Putin summit in June. She warned again that Moscow “is accountable for criminal activity coming from within its borders that achieves a disruptive national security impact and that affects the strategic stability between our countries.” “We have had an open, direct and candid dialogue—a number of times, a number of discussions—to outline our expectations in that area, to pass information regarding individual criminal activity. And there have been some initial steps,” Neuberger said at a CSIS event. The U.S., she added, was “really looking for continued, real action and to continue this direct and candid discussion to achieve those outcomes.” (Politico, 10.28.21)
• The U.S. State Department plans organizational changes to confront international-cybersecurity challenges such as ransomware and waning global digital freedom, U.S. officials said, the latest overhaul by the Biden administration aimed at treating cyber threats as a top-tier national-security issue. (The Wall Street Journal, 10.26.21)
• Six Russian nationals are named as defendants in the Trickbot malware case in the U.S., according to court documents of the Northern District of Ohio. All in all, there are seven defendants in the indictment, including Russian national Alla Vitte, who previously was also named in court documents as a Latvian national, and Vladimir Dunaev, extradited earlier to the U.S. from South Korea. (TASS, 10.29.21)
• British signals intelligence agency GCHQ is looking at deploying hackers from the U.K.’s new National Cyber Force to “go after” ransomware gangs, the agency’s director has revealed. (Financial Times, 10.25.21)

Energy exports from CIS:

• Gas prices in the U.K. and continental Europe tumbled by as much as a fifth Oct. 29 on further signs Russia will increase exports to the region after restricting supplies for months. Russia’s state-run gas exporter Gazprom said Oct. 29 it had hit its target for filling domestic storage two days after Putin ordered the company to start filling its European storage facilities. During a televised meeting Oct. 27, Putin told Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller to finish filling underground gas storage facilities in Russia by Nov. 8, and to then "start gradually increasing the volume of gas” in the company’s storage facilities in Austria and Germany. (Financial Times, 10.29.21, RFE/RL, 10.27.21)
• While European storage levels are low, an analysis of European gas industry data shows the largest shortfalls are at sites owned or controlled by Gazprom,. Data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) show that in countries where Gazprom does not own storage facilities, such as in France and Italy, the level of gas in storage has reached near-normal levels for this time of year. Include Gazprom-controlled facilities, however, and the overall level in Europe is well below, at just above 75% compared with 85% to 95% in each of the past five years. Gazprom has influence over almost one-third of all gas storage in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. (Financial Times, 10.27.21)
• European officials and companies over the past decade pressured Gazprom to replace long-term contracts linked to the price of oil with sales based on the real-time market price for gas. For much of the past decade, gas was cheaper than oil. With gas scarce, prices are skyrocketing. EU members will pay about $30 billion more for natural gas in 2021 than they would have under the old oil-indexed prices, according to the International Energy Agency. "The Russians told us for ages: Don't do it, it's stupid, stick to oil-linked prices," said Jonathan Stern, a research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. "They have been consistently wrong for the last 10 years, but this year they happen to be right." (The Wall Street Journal, 10.28.21) 
• A senior U.S. State Department official has warned Europe against bowing to Russian pressure and waiving the lengthy process needed to approve Nord Stream 2. Amos Hochstein, a senior advisor for global energy security at the State Department, said that if Russia has more gas to ship to Europe to ease the continent’s supply crunch, it should do so through existing export pipeline infrastructure, including the ones that transit Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 10.25.21)
• Russia expects OPEC+ to raise its output by 400,000 barrels per day at the Nov. 4 meeting, as previously agreed, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said. (Reuters, 10.25.21)

U.S.-Russian economic ties:

• The U.S. says Russia has approved U.S. airlines’ requests for more overflight permits after some passenger and cargo carriers sent a letter "urgently" asking for the State Department's help in dealing with Moscow. The State Department late on Oct. 28 confirmed it received the letter and said that "Russia approved U.S. carriers’ applications for overflights last week.“ (RFE/RL, 10.29.21)
• Russian car-sharing company Delimobil Holding S.A. said on Oct. 25 it was looking to raise up to $240 million through an initial public offering in the United States. (Reuters, 10.25.21)

U.S.-Russian relations in general:

• The U.S. embassy in Moscow could stop performing most functions next year unless there is progress with Russia on increasing the number of visas for diplomats, a U.S. official warned Oct. 27. "We need to make progress soon," a senior State Department official said. "We're going to confront the situation—not next month, but sometime next year—where it's just difficult for us to continue with anything other than a caretaker presence at the embassy," he said. He said that the U.S. lacked staff for basic tasks such as opening and closing the embassy gates, ensuring secure telephone calls and operating the elevators. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.28.21)
• Moscow has criticized the U.S. after Washington added Russians seeking U.S. visas to a list of “homeless nationals” who can apply for visas in third countries. The move allows Russians to apply for U.S. visas in Warsaw instead of their home country after the U.S. Embassy stopped processing most visa applications in May due to Moscow's ban on employing embassy staff in Russia. Russia became the 10th nation on the list, after Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. (RFE/RL, 10.24.21)
• Contacts between Putin and Biden ought to continue in the foreseeable future, as soon as the heads of state so decide, which will be announced, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said. "There is the understanding that the next contact at the top level may happen in the foreseeable future, and it's going to be fulfilled," he said. (Interfax, 10.25.21)
• An 18-member group of nations, including the U.S. and U.K., has expressed “deep concern” over what it calls the Russian government’s “intensifying harassment of independent journalists and media outlets” in the country. The statement, issued Oct. 28 under the name of the Media Freedom Coalition, was also signed by Ukraine and North Macedonia, along with Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovakia and Slovenia. (RFE/RL, 10.28.21)
• Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian business associate of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, was found guilty Oct. 22 of six counts of campaign-finance charges following a high-profile trial in Manhattan. His co-defendant, Andrey Kukushkin, was also convicted of two charges against him. Two other defendants who were charged in the case, Igor Fruman and David Correia, previously pleaded guilty, while Parnas and Kukushkin went to trial. Parnas and Kukushkin were accused of funneling $1 million from the Russian businessman Andrey Muraviev, $150,000 of which prosecutors said illegally went to U.S. campaigns. Prosecutors said the defendants funneled the money in a bid to gain political backing and licenses for their marijuana venture. (Business Insider, 10.22.21)

 

II. Russia’s domestic policies

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

• Russia reported a record number of coronavirus deaths Oct. 29 as most of the country headed into its last day before a partial lockdown aimed at curbing soaring infections. According to government figures, 1,163 people died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. That brings the official death toll to 236,220—Europe’s highest—though authorities are accused of downplaying that figure. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.29.21) Here’s a link to RFE/RL’s interactive map of the virus’ spread around the world, including in Russia and the rest of post-Soviet Eurasia.
• Several Russian regions are facing medical oxygen shortages because of surging numbers of COVID-19 cases. Hospitals are struggling to find supplies of liquid oxygen to boost the lung function of patients as the country continues to see consecutive daily death records and has gone into partial lockdown to curb the virus. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.29.21)
• Three out of four unvaccinated Russians do not plan to get vaccinated against the coronavirus despite the authorities' efforts to increase the population’s stubbornly low uptake, according to a Gallup survey. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.28.21)
• Putin’s approval ratings are once again on the rise, according to a Levada Center poll published Oct. 28. The Russian president enjoys the approval of 67% of Russian respondents. His October approval ratings are up from 64% in September and 61% in August, Levada said. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.28.21)
• The number of political prisoners in Russia has risen sharply this year in a trend that recalls late Soviet-era repression, Russia's leading rights group Memorial said Oct. 27. It listed at least 420 political prisoners, up from 362. "Unfortunately, the numbers have been steadily growing every year," said Sergei Davidis, head of a political prisoners' support program at Memorial, referring to attacks on rights. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.28.21)
• A well-known human rights lawyer who fled Russia last month after defending members of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's team said he has been added to the nation’s wanted list. Defense lawyer Ivan Pavlov, who has taken on many politically charged cases over the years, including defending people charged with treason or espionage, made the comment on Oct. 28 on this Telegram account. (RFE/RL, 10.28.21)
• Noted Russian journalist Sergei Reznik, who specializes in anti-corruption investigations, has been added to the Interior Ministry’s wanted list. He is thought to be living outside of Russia. (RFE/RL, 10.25.21)
• A court in Russia's southwestern city of Astrakhan has sentenced four Jehovah’s witnesses to lengthy prison terms amid an ongoing crackdown of the religious group's followers across the country. (RFE/RL, 10.26.21)
• Russia’s transition to renewable energy could cost its economy roughly $1.2 trillion by 2050 First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.26.21)
• Grid development in Russia's Far East will create more opportunities for nuclear energy, Deputy Energy Minister Yevgeny Grabchak said, noting that plans for a new nuclear power plant in Primorsky are being drawn up. (World Nuclear News, 10.25.21)
• Russian engineers have developed the country’s first walking robot dog prototype, the Moscow State University has announced. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.28.21)

Defense and aerospace:

• The International Army Games 2022 will take place in 15 countries, Maj. Gen. Alexander Peryazev, chief judge of the 2021 games, said. (Interfax, 10.28.21)

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• Two-thirds of Russians (66%) believe that torture is unacceptable under any circumstances, while 20% believe that torture is permissible, according to an October poll conducted across Russia by the Levada Center. Some 11% believe torture is permissible only in exceptional cases when it can save lives, while 9% believe only in relation to those who have committed a serious violent crime. (Russia Matters, 10.29.21)
• Russia has issued an arrest warrant for a former prison inmate who has admitted to releasing graphic video evidence of hundreds of cases of inmate torture by other inmates at the direction of prison officials. The Interior Ministry on Oct. 23 issued the warrant without specifying the crime that the Belarus-born Syarhey Savelyeu is accused of. (RFE/RL, 10.23.21)
• A Russian court has handed lengthy prison terms to four Crimean Tatars for being members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group and "plotting to seize power by force."  Defense lawyers said Oct. 29 that the Southern District Military Court in the city of Rostov-on-Don sentenced Seytumer Seytumerov to 17 years in prison, Osman Seytumerov to 14 years, Rustem Seytmemetov to 13 years and Amet Suleymanov to 12 years. The lawyers said they would appeal the sentences. (RFE/RL, 10.29.21)
• The Basmanny District Court in Moscow has placed Maria Solodyazhnikova, acting director of a Russian Defense Ministry department, under house arrest for two months on fraud counts. (Interfax, 10.29.21)
• A veteran Communist Party lawmaker has been detained on charges of illegal hunting in central Russia, police said Oct. 29. Police in the Saratov region said they opened a criminal case into hunting without a license against Valery Rashkin and another man accompanying him in his vehicle. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.29.21)

 

III. Russia’s relations with other countries

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

• Putin is going to deliver two speeches via video linkup during the G20 summit Oct. 30-31, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Earlier, the Kremlin press service reported that Putin and his G20 colleagues would address the global economic recovery and digital transformation. Also, the sides will focus on countering the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, facilitating healthcare services and carrying out mass vaccination. Furthermore, the leaders will touch upon combating climate change, protection of the environment and the transition to a low-carbon economy. The leaders of G20 countries may approve a decision on target benchmarks of vaccination against coronavirus at the Rome summit, including public access to vaccines. (TASS, 10.29.21, TASS, 10.29.21)
• The format of Putin’s speech at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow has not yet been determined, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Oct. 29. Putin is to participate in the summit via video-link. Russia’s recent turnaround on climate, including an October commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 and lowering its emissions below those of the EU by 2050, has been seen by environmentalists as a significant, if limited, breakthrough. (TASS, 10.29.21, The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.29.21)
• Putin has had a phone conversation with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the Kremlin press service said. "Climate issues were discussed in detail in light of the British side's preparations for a summit of world leaders scheduled to be held in Glasgow on Nov. 1-2, which will open the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change" the report said. (Interfax, 10.25.21)
• Moscow is satisfied with the progress in eliminating environmental hot spots in the Barents Region, Lavrov said at the 18th Ministerial Meeting of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council on Oct. 26. (TASS, 10.26.21)
• Russian investigators said Oct. 27 they will probe a Dutch court decision to transfer a priceless collection of Crimean gold to Ukraine, a ruling hailed by Kyiv as a victory over Moscow. An Amsterdam court ruled this week that the pieces, dubbed "Scythian Gold" and loaned to the city's Allard Pierson Museum just before Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014, should be handed over to Ukraine. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.27.21)
• Russia has agreed to delay implementing a contested law barring French champagne producers from labeling their bubbly "champagne" on bottles sold in Russia, French Trade Minister Frank Riester said. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.26.21)
• The Prague-based MEDIUM-ORIENT news agency is facing a fine in Russia for its alleged failure to follow the requirements of Russia's controversial "foreign agent" law. (RFE/RL, 10.26.21)
• South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong has reported that he discussed with Lavrov the organization of Putin’s visit to the republic as soon as it becomes possible. (TASS, 10.27.21)
• Namibia has discontinued the use of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine following concerns raised by neighboring South Africa. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.25.21)
• Russia’s exports of agro-industrial products, as of Oct. 24, 2021, increased by 20% in annual terms and reached $26.733 billion, the Agroexport Center under the Russian Ministry of Agriculture announced Oct. 27. (TASS, 10.27.21)

Ukraine:

• Ukraine has destroyed the artillery of pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east in its first combat deployment of a Turkish drone, the Ukrainian military announced Oct. 26. Footage published on the Ukrainian armed forces’ Facebook page showed the Bayraktar TB2k targeting and shooting a Soviet-era howitzer it identified as the pro-Russian forces’ D-30. Media reports said Kyiv plans to buy around 50 Bayraktar TB2 drones, The Kremlin said Oct. 27 that Turkey’s supply of drones to Ukraine risks destabilizing the eastern Ukraine conflict despite Moscow’s “special” relations with Ankara. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.27.21)
  • Defense electronics specialist Aselsan, Turkey’s biggest defense company, is reportedly supplying remote-controlled weapons stations for the Ukrainian Practika company to arm its Kozak-2M1 armored vehicles. (Defence Blog, 10.23.21)
• "We can't stop this. It's impossible," Peskov said on Oct. 25 in response to a question on whether Russia can stop Ukraine from joining NATO. Nevertheless, it is possible to minimize the ramifications of such steps for Russia, he said. "I have no doubt that should the rapprochement between Ukraine and NATO continue, Russia will do whatever is necessary," Peskov said. "Ukraine's accession to NATO would be the worst-case scenario. This is a scenario crossing the red line of Russia's national interests. This is a scenario that might prompt Russia to take active measures to ensure its own security," Peskov said in a documentary that aired earlier in October. (Interfax, 10.25.21, Interfax, 10.18.21)
• More than $60 million worth of weapons and other equipment is going to Ukraine as part of the U.S. security aid program to Ukraine, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Oct. 23. The Ukrainian military said that the equipment included FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missiles. (Defence Blog, 10.23.21)
• The EU has disbursed 600 million euros ($696 million) in macro-financial assistance to Ukraine as part of a program to limit the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. (RFE/RL, 10.25.21)
• Ukraine is ready to pump an additional 55 billion cubic meters of gas to the EU in excess of the 40 billion cubic meters that Gazprom must pump under the transit contract. Ukraine may also assist Moldova’s gas supply, said Oleksiy Danilov, of the National Security and Defense Council. (Ukraine Business News, 10.25.21)
• Ukrainian prosecutors have opened a terrorism financing investigation after it emerged that the country’s state-owned export-import bank lent tens of millions of dollars to companies owned by a businessman with interests in parts of eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. According to the findings by Schemes (Skhemy), Ukreksimbank lent $60 million to companies owned by Serhiy Bryukhovetskiy. Bryukhovetskiy also paid millions of Ukrainian hryvnyas in taxes to the separatists and put up as collateral for the loan a Kyiv shopping mall whose ownership is under dispute. (RFE/RL, 10.27.21)
• Ukraine’s Energoatom plans to build small modular reactors by 2030. (Ukraine Business News, 10.25.21)
• Cyber specialists of the State Security Service of Ukraine conducted a major multi-level special operation to block the activities of persons who provided money laundering services on an especially large scale for representatives of international transnational hacker groups. (Interfax, 10.25.21)
• Ukraine has registered another daily record for new coronavirus infections as a wave of cases and deaths continues to sweep across Eastern Europe. The Health Ministry said Oct. 29 that the country had 26,870 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours, exceeding the previous high of 26,071 seen a day earlier. The number of fatalities over the previous 24 hours was 648. (RFE/RL, 10.29.21)

Russia's other post-Soviet neighbors:

• Tajikistan has approved an offer from China to construct a new security base near the Tajik-Afghan border amid warnings by Tajik officials of growing threats emanating from Afghanistan. The Tajik government has also offered to transfer full control of an existing, but unacknowledged, Chinese military base in the country to Beijing, while waiving any future rent in exchange for military aid from China. (bne IntelliNews, 10.28.21)
• Moldova is receiving a €60 million grant from the EU to help with its energy crisis, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said Oct. 27. "In global terms the price increases around the world are not a consequence of weaponization of the gas supply, but in the case of Moldova, yes it is," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told a news conference Oct. 27 alongside Moldova's Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita. (RFE/RL, 10.29.21, bne IntelliNews, 10.28.21)
  • Gazprom has proposed that Moldova adjust its free trade deal with the EU and delay energy market reforms agreed with Brussels in exchange for cheaper gas for the country. In negotiations this month, Gazprom told Moldovan officials it would reduce the price if the country was prepared to amend its tariff-free trade deal with the EU. (Financial Times, 10.26.21)
• Moldova’s government says it has bought a million cubic meters of natural gas from Poland after Chisinau failed to agree on a new energy deal with traditional supplier Russia. (RFE/RL, 10.25.21)
• During his visit to Ashgabat, Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev said he discussed the issue of border delimitation, ways to bolster economic ties and regional security with his Turkmen counterpart. (RFE/RL, 10.26.21)
• Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev cruised to victory on Oct. 25 in an election that monitors said was "not truly competitive" despite some reforms in the authoritarian Central Asian state. Uzbekistan's Central Election Commission said Mirziyoyev had taken 80.1% of the vote against four token opponents, according to a preliminary count. (The Moscow Times/AFP, 10.25.21)
• Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has rejected the idea of hosting a U.S. military base in his country, saying such a move would place Kyrgyzstan in a "cat and mouse" game in terms of its relations with Washington and Russia. (RFE/RL, 10.24.21)
• Kazakh police have opened two investigations after a schoolyard fight between students degenerated into a riot in an ethnically mixed village near the border with China. The Panfilov district has a mixed population of some 130,000 people, a majority of them Kazakhs, but also a 30%-strong ethnic Uyghur minority. (RFE/RL, 10.28.21)
• Afghan military pilots who fled to Tajikistan when the Taliban seized power in Kabul say the militant group is pressuring them to return to Afghanistan by threatening to kill their relatives. (RFE/RL, 10.23.21)
• EU leaders have backed new sanctions on Belarus to pressure Alexander Lukashenko to halt the flow of illegal migrants that the bloc says amounts to a hybrid attack. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after an EU leaders' summit on Oct. 22 that the bloc will "keep up the pressure" on Lukashenko. (RFE/RL, 10.22.21)
• The U.S. Embassy in Minsk said Oct. 29 that Belarusian authorities were “forcing the closure” of its humanitarian and outreach programs that have benefited thousands of people in the authoritarian country. (RFE/RL, 10.29.21)
• Poland has announced plans to increase the number of soldiers and guards at its border with Belarus to 10,000 to help stem the flow of illegal migrants the EU has accused Minsk of facilitating in retaliation for sanctions against Lukashenko. (RFE/RL, 10.25.21)
• Belarusian police have detained dozens of people in the southeastern city of Homel on charges of subscribing to “extremist” social-media channels in the latest crackdown on freedoms in the country. The Viasna human rights center said Oct. 26 that around 30 people were charged the day before for allegedly using banned Telegram channels. (RFE/RL, 10.27.21)
• Erdogan is reaching out to arch-foe Armenia as he tries to cement Turkey’s influence in the south Caucasus, where it vies with Russia and Iran. He has suggested diplomatic relations could be restored after a nearly 30-year rupture. Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s prime minister, has said he is ready for talks “without preconditions.” (Financial Times, 10.26.21)
• Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said jailed former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been on a hunger strike for almost a month, has a “right to commit suicide” amid concerns about his deteriorating health. (RFE/RL, 10.29.21)

 

IV. Quoteworthy

• "The statements Russia makes at [the U.N. climate conference] can often be considered as window dressing," said Anna Korppoo, a research professor at Norway's Fridtjof Nansen Institute who specializes in Russian climate policy. "You have to say that you're doing something," she added, "but then there's the other question of whether that something is concrete." (The Washington Post, 10.28.21)