This Week’s Highlights:

• The U.S. would like to cooperate with Russia on nuclear security, according to U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who was in Moscow this week meeting Russia’s energy minister and the chief of Rosatom.
• U.S. and Russian space officials have tried to downplay rumors of sabotage on the International Space Station after a Russian newspaper suggested that U.S. astronauts may have purposely drilled a tiny hole into the station, RFE/RL reports.
• Chief of the Russian General Staff Gerasimov said such large-scale maneuvers as Vostok-2018 have never been conducted in post-Soviet Russia. Closest in scale, he noted, was the Soviet-era Zapad-81 exercise, according to the Russian Defense Policy blog.
• Two Russians appeared on state television on Sept. 13, claiming they had been wrongly accused by Britain of trying to poison a former Russian spy and his daughter in England, but British authorities rejected their claim.
• Pyotr Verzilov, a member of the anti-Kremlin protest group Pussy Riot who ran on to the pitch at the World Cup final in Moscow, is in critical condition in the hospital after a suspected poisoning, Times of London reports.
• Japanese and Russian leaders have agreed to study joint rule of a group of contested islands, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• The United States is considering sending more lethal weaponry to Kiev to build up its naval and air defenses, RFE/RL reports.

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

Nuclear security and safety:

• The U.S. is interested in cooperating with Russia in the sphere of nuclear energy, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry was quoted by TASS as saying before meeting with his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak in Moscow on Sept. 13. "We would also like to cooperate with Russia on nuclear security to ensure that nuclear power is used for peaceful purposes,” Perry was quoted as saying. At the same time, the U.S. opposes Nord Stream 2, he said. Perry also met with the chief of Rosatom while in Moscow. The two “had a productive conversation discussing the importance of nuclear-related matters—in terms of non-proliferation and security as well as maintaining a productive and competitive global civilian nuclear market,” according to the U.S. Energy Department. Perry also expressed appreciation for the strong cooperation between the two governments over the past two decades on repatriating Russian-origin highly enriched uranium. (Russia Matters, 09.14.18, AP,  09.13.18)
• A provision in a major U.S. federal budget bill would stall staff cuts at an embattled independent board that provides safety oversight at the nation’s nuclear weapons labs, including Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The same bill also requires the U.S. Energy Department, which runs the labs, to brief Congress on a controversial new DOE rule that restricts how the labs share information with the independent Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. (Albueurque Jorunal, 09.11.18)

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:

• The U.S. has accused Russia of altering an independent U.N. report to cover up Moscow’s alleged violation of U.N. sanctions on North Korea. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Sept. 13 said Russia pressured the independent sanctions monitors to amend a report that was eventually submitted to the Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee in August. (RFE/RL, 09.14.18)
• The U.S. on Sept. 13 imposed sanctions on China-based Yanbian Silverstar Network Technology Co, its North Korean chief executive Jong Song Hwa and a Russian-based sister company, Volasys Silver Star, accusing them of moving illicit funding to North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions. (Reuters, 09.14.18)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that North Korea should be given security guarantees in exchange for steps toward denuclearization and suggested that Washington is not reciprocating adequately in its dealings with Pyongyang. (RFE/RL, 09.12.18)
• The U.S. is putting together a multinational coalition to significantly expand surveillance operations seeking ships smuggling fuel to North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions. (Wall Street Journal, 09.13.18.)

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

• Russia and Iran will engage Europe, China and others in “intensive work to build a layered defense against American extraterritorial sanctions, against U.S. attempts to disrupt the nuclear deal to suit its own geopolitical motives,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. (The Moscow Times, 09.12.18)

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

• The Pentagon has issued a protest after U.S. Air Force fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers in international airspace west of Alaska. The F-22 Raptor fighters intercepted the long-range Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers overnight on Sept. 12-13, a joint U.S.-Canadian command statement said. (RFE/RL, 09.14.18)
• British, French and German fighter jets simulated flight interceptions over Western Europe on Sept. 12 as part of NATO drills to deter Russian planes from entering allied airspace and to showcase European efforts to integrate their air defenses. (Reuters, 09.12.18)
• A Russian satellite attempted last year to spy on a satellite providing secure communications for the French and Italian militaries, French Defense Minister Florence Parly said. (RFE/RL, 09.08.18)
• U.S. Congress could, in the coming days, finalize a nuclear weapons budget that adds $458 million in 2019 over last year, after a conference committee released a compromise funding plan on Sept. 10. The plan calls for $44.6 billion in Department of Energy appropriations, with $11.1 billion for weapons activities within the National Nuclear Security Administration. (Defense News, 09.11.18)

Missile defense:

• No significant developments.

Arms control:

• The U.S. has denied certification for a new Russian Tu-214 aircraft to observe flights under the Open Skies treaty designed to promote military transparency. (The Moscow Times, 09.12.18)

Counter-terrorism:

• U.S. President Donald Trump marked the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks with a stark warning that the U.S. will protect itself from "tyranny" and "evil," invoking the Flight 93 passengers and crew who fought back against hijackers as heroic examples of American resolve. (Wall Street Journal, 09.11.18)

Conflict in Syria:

• Syria’s government, amid growing tension between its ally Russia and neighboring Turkey, is holding off on a planned offensive on a major rebel stronghold, giving Ankara more time to persuade armed groups to disperse. The delay follows moves by Turkey to fortify its positions in Idlib province, the last major holdout for Syria’s armed anti-regime opposition, with troops and tanks. Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country is working to achieve a ceasefire in Syria's rebel-held northwest and is ready for cooperation to fight terrorist groups in the Idlib area. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who has warned of a humanitarian disaster if a Syrian government offensive on the rebel enclave of Idlib goes forward in an op-ed,  will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the topic of Syria on Sept. 17. (Reuters, 09.14.18, RFE/RL, 09.11.18, Wall Street Journal, 09.14.18)
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Sept. 14 that Moscow would keep bombing militant targets in Syria's Idlib province if need be, but would also open humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to flee. (RFE/RL, 09.14.18)
• The Kremlin does not take media reports about U.S. airstrikes on Russian troops in Syria seriously any more, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. The Wall Street Journal wrote: "A third U.S. strike likely would be more expansive than the first two, and Mr. Trump would again have to consider whether or not to hit targets like Russian air defenses in an effort to deliver a more punishing blow to Mr. Assad’s military." (TASS, 09.10.18, Wall Street Journal, 09.09.18)
• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has approved the use of chlorine gas in an offensive against the country’s last major rebel stronghold, U.S. officials said, raising the prospects for another retaliatory U.S. military strike as thousands try to escape what could be a decisive battle in the war. (Wall Street Journal, 09.09.18)
• The Trump administration is keeping 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, imposing sanctions on businessmen close to the Assad regime and plunging more deeply into diplomacy. The main goals are to roll back Iran's role in Syria and ensure Islamic State doesn't make a comeback, U.S. officials say. Ousting Assad, who has succeeded in strengthening his hold on power over two U.S. administrations, is no longer a U.S. priority, senior officials acknowledge. But U.S. officials are still trying to foster a more inclusive political arrangement inside Syria. (Wall Street Journal, 09.09.18)
• U.S. Marines conducted a live-fire aerial assault exercise in southern Syria on Sept. 14 designed to warn Russian and other military forces to stay away from an American base there. (The Washington Postt, 09.07.18)
• Moscow has warned terrorists against staging another chemical-arms provocation in Syria that might be attributed to Damascus, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. (Interfax, 09.11.18)
• Germany called on Russia to help prevent a chemical weapons attack in Syria and warned of “catastrophic consequences” for civilians in the looming offensive against the rebel stronghold of Idlib. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, standing alongside his counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Berlin, said Moscow can exert influence over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “and we are counting on it to use its influence to prevent the use of chemical weapons.” (Bloomberg, 09.14.18)

Cyber security:

• Georgia has extradited Russian man Andrei Tyurin to the U.S. to face charges that he took part in a massive computer-hacking scheme that targeted Wall Street firms, U.S. prosecutors announced. (RFE/RL, 09.08.18)
• U.S. prosecutors secured a guilty plea from Russian national Peter Levashov, who is accused of commandeering a network of 100,000 or more breached computers, the second major victory in the space of a week in their pursuit of international hacking. (Bloomberg, 09.12.18)

Elections interference:

• A day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced an executive order generally threatening financial sanctions if foreign powers interfere in the coming elections, a Treasury Department official also applied that warning to Russia in particular.  Congress is considering legislation that would make sanctions automatic, eliminating Trump’s ability to waive them. National security adviser John Bolton said the order gave the State and Treasury departments the authority to decide on appropriate sanctions, which would include freezing assets, limiting access to U.S. financial institutions and travel restrictions. (Bloomberg, 09.13.18, RFE/RL, 09.12.18)
• Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort pleaded guilty Sept. 14 to two criminal charges under terms of a plea deal that includes his cooperation as a potential witness for special counsel Robert Mueller. (The Washington Post, 09.14.18)
• George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser, was sentenced on Sept. 14 to 14 days in prison for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian intermediaries during the 2016 presidential race, becoming the first Trump adviser to be sentenced in the special counsel investigation. (New York Times, 09.07.18)
• A lawyer for Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended on Sept. 10 his client's congressional testimony about a Trump campaign meeting in March 2016 where an adviser proposed that the candidate meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The aide, George Papadopoulos, said recently in an interview and court filings that Sessions, an early and influential adviser to Trump's campaign, welcomed the idea. His description of the meeting contradicted accounts by Sessions and another foreign policy adviser in the room, J. D. Gordon. (New York Times, 09.10.18)

Energy exports:

• No significant developments.

Bilateral economic ties:

• No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

• The U.S. has said Russia would be able to avoid a second, more punishing round of sanctions over the nerve-agent attack in Britain if it allows chemical weapons inspections. (The Moscow Times, 09.14.18)
• Moscow is ready to do what it can to break the impasse in relations between Russia and the U.S., and is taking seriously U.S. President Donald Trump's willingness to forge a normal dialogue, though anti-Russia sentiment in the U.S. establishment was a hindrance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. (Reuters, 09.13.18)
• U.S. and Russian space officials have tried to downplay rumors of sabotage on the International Space Station after a Russian newspaper suggested that U.S. astronauts may have purposely drilled a tiny hole into the station. NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz said the agency was waiting for the Russians to complete their investigation, which a Roscosmos spokesman said would happen by mid-September. (RFE/RL, 09.12.18)
• A U.S. judge on Sept. 10 firmly rejected a bid by accused Russian agent Maria Butina to be released from jail pending trial, calling her a "very real" flight risk, and granted a prosecution request for a gag order in the high-profile case. Meanwhile U.S. federal prosecutors in Washington say they were "mistaken" when they accused Butina of offering to trade sex for a job at a U.S. lobbying group. (Reuters, 09.11.18, RFE/RL, 09.09.18)
• Russians with bank accounts in dollars may find they can only make withdrawals in other currencies if new sanctions proposed by U.S. lawmakers take effect. “I am sure that all the clients of all banks should receive their money back; that’s the principal approach,” VTB Group CEO Andrei Kostin said on Sept. 12. “How, in which currency, is a different story.” About 20% of Russians’ savings and a third of corporate deposits are held in foreign currencies, according to central bank data. (Bloomberg, 09.12.18)
• On the March 23 anniversary of the Affordable Care Act becoming law, Democrats attacked Republicans for trying to sabotage the health law and praised the embattled legislation. So did Russian trolls. A newly identified group of nearly 10,000 tweets shows that while Russian trolls often focus on such hot-button issues as Hillary Clinton's email or athletes kneeling during the national anthem, they also target substantive and divisive policy areas like health care. (Wall Street Journal, 09.12.18)

II. Russia’s domestic news

Politics, economy and energy:

• Candidates from Russia's ruling United Russia party have failed to secure first-round victories in gubernatorial elections in the Primorye and Khabarovsk regions in Russia's Far East, the Siberian region of Khakasia and the central Vladimir region. The elections, which included a vote on executive-branch heads in 21 of Russia's 85 regions, was the first major test for the government of President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev since it proposed raising the retirement age. United Russia also failed to win a majority in regional parliaments in the Khakasia and Irkutsk regions, where it finished behind the Communists. The Kremlin's candidate in Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, won reelection as mayor with about 70 percent of the vote. (RFE/RL, 09.10.18)
• More than 1,000 people were reportedly detained as thousands of anti-Kremlin demonstrators took to the streets in Russia to protest the government's plan to raise the retirement age in rallies coinciding with regional and local elections nationwide. Russian police arbitrarily detained hundreds of protesters, including “older people and children," taking part in the Sept. 9 peaceful demonstrations, Human Rights Watch said. Russian police have "stooped to a new low" by detaining "dozens of teenagers" during the protests, Amnesty International says. (RFE/RL, 09.10.18, RFE/RL, 09.10.18, RFE/RL, 09.13.18)
• Pyotr Verzilov, a member of the anti-Kremlin protest group Pussy Riot who ran on to the pitch at the World Cup final in Moscow, is in critical condition in the hospital after a suspected poisoning. (Times of London, 09.14.18)
• The head of Russia’s National Guard has challenged opposition leader Alexei Navalny to a duel and promised to pound him into a “juicy steak” as punishment for Navalny's series of videos exposing alleged corruption by Russia’s top government officials. (The Moscow Times, 09.11.18)
• A Moscow court has ordered Kirill Serebrennikov to remain under house arrest until Oct. 19, ignoring an impassioned argument from the celebrated theater director, who said he was neither a criminal nor a flight risk. (RFE/RL, 09.11.18)
• Television remains the biggest news source for Russians, but has become less trusted over the past decade, according to a new poll published by the independent Levada Center. Seventy-three percent of respondents said that they get their news from television, down from 85% this spring. Online news outlets were the main news source for 37% of respondents, up from 27% in March. (The Moscow Times, 09.13.18)
• Russia’s central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates for the first time since 2014, following its counterparts across emerging economies as inflation risks mount with a slumping currency and threats of U.S. sanctions. The benchmark was raised to 7.5% from 7.25%. (Bloomberg, 09.14.18)
• The Russian ruble weakened beyond 70 versus the dollar for the first time since March 2016 on Sept. 10, remaining under pressure from concerns and uncertainty about U.S. sanctions. (Reuters, 09.10.18)
• Russia's Aeroflot has agreed to order 100 Sukhoi Superjet 100 planes, representing the biggest deal in the company's contemporary history. (Reuters, 09.10.18)
• With 1,325 millionaire residents in 2017, Moscow ranked 25th out of 32 cities that are home to the largest number of millionaires, in a Wealth-X data ranking obtained by the RBC news website. In 2016, Moscow placed 30th out of 32 cities with 1,110 ultra-rich residents. (The Moscow Times, 09.10.18)

Defense and aerospace:

• Russian General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov told foreign military attachés that Vostok-2018 was not a strategic command-staff exercise like other major annual drills of past years. He called Vostok-2018 “strategic maneuvers.” Gerasimov said such large-scale maneuvers have never been conducted on Russian Federation territory. Closest in scale, he noted, was the Soviet-era Zapad-81 exercise in the Belorussian, Kiev and Baltic Military Districts and the Baltic Sea. But Vostok-2018 will be much larger than its distant predecessor. Counting all personnel in the Central and Eastern Military Districts, the Russian Defense Ministry says 297,000 troops will take part. (Russian Defense Policy, 09.09.18)
  • According to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official statement, the goals of the Vostok-2018 exercise include improving the Russian military’s ability to exercise command and control of joint military operations across multiple services in the eastern theater of operations, to move troops across long distances to the Russian Far East and to coordinate operations between ground forces and the Pacific Fleet. (The Washington Post, 09.13.18)
  • The Russian military has reportedly tested advanced missiles that may be able to evade detection by radar technology during the exercise. (The Moscow Times, 09.14.18)
  • Russian warships also held drills in the Bering Sea during the exercise. (The Moscow Times, 09.14.18)
• According to a report from Jane’s 360, the Russian Defense Ministry plans on acquiring new “silenced” mortar systems to help its commandos remain undetected downrange. (The National Interest, 09.08.18)

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• Israeli police said they have detained an alleged contract killer who was hired by a Russian businessman to kill two people in Israel but, reportedly facing a guilty conscience, admitted his murder plans to the would-be victims. (The Moscow Times, 09.14.18)

III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment

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

• Two Russians appeared on state television on Sept. 13, claiming they had been wrongly accused by Britain of trying to murder a former Russian spy and his daughter in England and that they had visited Salisbury in March for tourism. They said they may have approached Sergei Skripal's house by chance, but did not know where it was located. They had stayed less than hour in Salisbury, they said, because of bad weather. Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia has identified the men Britain suspects of poisoning Skripal and his daughter. “They are civilians, of course," Putin said, contradicting the British government's assertion that they are officers of Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU. Putin said he hoped the two men would come forward and tell their own story, adding: "That would be better for everybody." (RFE/RL, 09.12.18, The Moscow Times, 09.13.18)
• U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's official spokesman on Sept. 12 dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin's claims, saying the men in question are the prime suspects in the poisoning and British investigators have identified them as officers of the Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU. "The government has exposed the role of the GRU, its operatives and its methods," he told reporters and later said the interview with the two men contained “lies and blatant fabrications” that “are an insult to the public’s intelligence.” (Wall Street Journal, 09.12.18. Guardian, 09.13.18)
• The Kremlin says it will study any British request to question the two men London suspects of trying to murder a former spy in strict accordance with Russian law. But spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no such request has been received so far. Britain has charged two men, Ruslan Boshirov and Aleksandr Petrov, with attempting to murder former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. (RFE/RL, 09.14.18)
• Russian military agents who tried to murder Sergei and Yulia Skripal were identified thanks to a recently-turned Russian spy, according to intelligence sources. Codenamed Apollo, he was recruited in a spectacular coup by Britain's Secret Intelligence Service in Rome, weeks after the Novichok nerve-agent attacks in Salisbury. (Daily Express, 09.09.18)                   
• Japanese and Russian leaders agreed to study joint rule of a group of contested islands, offering a road map to re-establishing full diplomatic relations after more than seven decades. "We have to change our approach to reach a peace agreement … we owe this to our future generations," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Russian President Vladimir Putin in an unusually fervent address at a conference in Vladivostok on Sept. 12. "A joint administration [of the islands] is a way of doing this." Putin agreed to study the proposal, saying the islands are too insignificant to continue blocking relations. Putin went further, offering to sign a peace treaty without any conditions by the end of the year, and then work on the status of the islands, known as the South Kuril Islands in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. "The idea just came into my head," he said. "I'm not joking about this." (Wall Street Journal, 09.12.18)
• The Venta Maersk sailed through the Bering Strait this past week and steered hard to port. It is the world's first container ship to attempt the Northern Sea Route, the fabled Northeast Passage that runs from the edge of Alaska to the top of Scandinavia along Russia's desolate Siberian coastline. Rosatom, which runs the largest nuclear-powered ice-breaking fleet in the world, boasts that the route has "no queues and no pirates.” (The Washington Post, 09.08.18)
• Poland’s Foreign Ministry said it has dismissed hundreds of Soviet-era staffers and graduates of a top-flight diplomatic school in Moscow over the past two years. (The Moscow Times, 09.10.18)
• In his last “State of the Union” speech, Jean-Claude Juncker has vowed to turn the euro into a global reserve currency that could rival the dollar as part of the EU’s drive to reduce its financial dependence on the U.S. Juncker has also urged EU member states to abandon the requirement of unanimity for decisions on some foreign policy matters, including human rights issues, and play a greater role on the world stage. (Financial Times, 09.12.18. RFE/RL, 09.12.18)

China:

• In Vladivostok on Sept. 11, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a boost by bringing a delegation of nearly 1,000 Chinese businesspeople and officials to the Eastern Economic Forum, a Putin-led effort to lure foreign investment to Russia's remote Asian reaches. After hours of talks, Putin took Xi to the Sea of Japan (East Sea) waterfront, where the presidents cooked blini. "You and I work together most closely," Xi told Putin at the start of their meeting. "I'm prepared to further deepen our exchange of views and our tight coordination, both today and in the future." Neither mentioned the U.S. directly, but at a later session with Putin and regional officials, Xi underlined that Russia and China agreed to oppose unilateral actions and trade protectionism. (The Washington Post, 09.12.18, The Moscow Times, 09.11.18)
• Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba is setting up a $2 billion joint venture with billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s internet services firm Mail.ru to strengthen the Chinese company’s foothold in Russian e-commerce. (The Moscow Times, 09.11.18)
• For Chinese military commanders, the Vostok-2018 exercises will grant insight not only into how Russia plans for large-scale conflict, but also into how to extend logistical and supply chains. The Chinese forces participating in maneuvers are from the People's Liberation Army's Northern Theater Command, responsible for North Korean contingencies among other things. China was the first country from outside the former Soviet Union to be invited to take part in a big Russian military exercise.  (Wall Street Journal, 09.11.18, Financial Times, 09.11.18)
• Parcels from China account for more than 90% of all packages that arrive in Russia through a growing trillion-ruble ($14.2 billion) online retail market. (The Moscow Times, 09.10.18)
• Russia’s Siberia and Far East regions are the largest timber exporters to China. They account for 41% of all Russian timber. (Carnegie Moscow Center, 09.10.18)

Ukraine:

• The U.S. is considering sending more lethal weaponry to Kiev to build up its naval and air defenses, Washington’s special envoy for Ukraine said, as concerns mount that Russia may be stepping up operations in coastal waters. Ukraine’s lack of robust naval and air-defense capabilities is a weakness Kurt Volker said Washington looks set on addressing. (RFE/RL, 09.14.18)
• U.S. special envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker said he thought that Russian President Vladimir Putin was unwilling to negotiate much of anything related to the conflict at least until after Ukraine’s presidential elections next March, or with “[Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko still in power.” Volker said he has made several overtures to his Russian counterpart, Vladislav Surkov, since their last meeting in Dubai in January, but he has received no response. (RFE/RL, 09.14.18)
• The U.S. has joined the EU in condemning plans by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine to hold "elections," calling them "phony procedures" that undermine peace efforts in the region. On Sept. 8, EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini also criticized the plan and called on Moscow to use its influence to stop the planned Nov. 11 vote from taking place. (RFE/RL, 09.13.18)
• The EU extended on Sept. 13 by six months sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian individuals who undermined the independence of Ukraine. The measures consist of asset freezes and travel restrictions for 155 persons and 44 companies. German Chancellor Angela Merkle has vowed that lifting EU sanctions on Russia is off the table until a "real ceasefire" is achieved in Ukraine. (Reuters, 09.13.18, Deutsche Welle, 09.14.18)
• The EU's General Court has upheld the bloc's sanctions regime against Russian bank and energy companies over Russia's involvement in the crisis in Ukraine. Energy giants Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, as well as the banks DenizBank, PSC Prominvestbank, Sberbank and Vnesheconombank had sought to annul the sanctions imposed on them by the EU in 2014 as a response to Russia's annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 09.13.18)
• Western capitals would like the government in Kiev to make a more serious effort to win the hearts and minds of the roughly 4 million civilians caught up in the Donbas conflict, especially those living in separatist-controlled areas. Kiev restricts these citizens’ access to public services and is reluctant to endorse an amnesty for doctors, teachers and other workers who are not pro-separatist but who have found themselves living behind “enemy lines.” (Financial Times, 09.11.18)
• According to a recent survey, 41.6% of Ukrainian respondents support Ukraine's accession to NATO as the preferred option for guaranteeing security, 35.3% back Ukraine's non-aligned status, 6.4% favor a military alliance with Russia and other CIS countries and 16.3% were undecided. (Interfax, 09.11.18)
• Ukraine has deployed troops near the Sea of Azov "in response to Russian aggression,” a top Ukrainian army commander has said following months of tit-for-tat arrests of merchant ships. (The Moscow Times, 09.12.18)
• The center-right European People's Party has nominated Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, who has been on hunger strike in a Russian prison for nearly four months, for this year's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. (RFE/RL, 09.12.18)
• The Kremlin is unaware of a request by Russians held in Ukrainian prisons that they be exchanged for Ukrainians convicted in Russia, and Kiev has not displayed any willingness to exchange these prisoners so far, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said. (Interfax, 09.10.18)
• Russia’s security services claimed to have disrupted an Islamic State member’s plot to assassinate an east Ukrainian rebel fighter on orders from Ukraine’s security apparatus. The SBU has denied the claim. (The Moscow Times, 09.10.18)
• The Russian Orthodox Church has threatened to retaliate against its Istanbul-based rival if it allows Ukraine to cut its spiritual ties with Moscow and thereby end Russian religious rule in the country. (RFE/RL, 09.08.18)
• Britain’s court of appeal ruled on Sept. 14 that Ukraine had a justiciable defense in a $3 billion Eurobond case that was originally brought by Russia and said the case should be allowed to go to full trial. (Reuters, 09.14.18)
• Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says his country needs help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and external borrowing due to its large debt burden. His comments came as the president’s parliamentary representative, Iryna Lutsenko, said Ukraine had started talks with the IMF on a new standby agreement that would replace the current $17.5 billion assistance program. (RFE/RL, 09.14.18)
• Trade in goods between the EU and Ukraine increased 24% to about 37 billion euros last year. The EU is Ukraine’s largest commercial partner, accounting for more than 40% of its trade in 2017, while Russia’s share of Ukrainian exports has dropped from 24% to 9% since 2014, and imports from Russia have halved to 15% of total Ukrainian imports. (Financial Times, 09.11.18)
• Despite leading one recent poll with support of just over 10%, about double Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s rating, Yulia Tymoshenko can hardly be described as popular. Some 74% of poll respondents “don’t trust” her, only slightly better than Poroshenko’s nearly 80% disapproval rating, according to a survey conducted by Kiev-based pollster Rating Group. (Financial Times, 09.11.18)

Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:

• The United States' religious freedom ambassador is traveling to Ukraine, Poland and Uzbekistan for meetings on protecting the rights of religious and ethnic groups. The State Department said that, in Ukraine, Ambassador Sam Brownback is scheduled to meet with government officials and religious leaders. (RFE/RL, 09.11.18)
• Two top U.S. State Department officials are heading to Georgia as Washington continues trying to bolster ties with Tbilisi amid continuing tensions with Russia. Wess Mitchell, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, was slated to meet with senior government officials, other political leaders and civil society groups. Andrea Thompson, the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, was also slated to speak at the Tbilisi conference at a panel alongside Georgia’s defense minister. (RFE/RL, 09.11.18)
• Russia has agreed to continue to supply weapons to Armenia, the Caucasus country's prime minister, Nikol Pashinian, told Kommersant. The comments in the Russian newspaper on Sept. 9 come a day after Pashinian met in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a sensitive time in Moscow-Yerevan relations. (RFE/RL, 09.10.18)
• French President Emmanuel Macron is due to visit Yerevan for a Francophonie summit in the Armenian capital on Oct. 11-12. (RFE/RL, 09.09.18)
• Armenian authorities say they have opened a criminal case into the wiretapping of telephone conversations between the chiefs of the National Security Service and the Special Investigation Service in which they discussed an ongoing investigation into the 2008 post-election violence. Responding to accusations that his government had reneged on its pledge not to interfere in the work of the judiciary, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian condemned the wiretapping and the leak, and reiterated that he was not giving instructions to the judiciary. (RFE/RL, 09.11.18)
• Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev has dismissed his chief of staff, replacing him with the mayor of the capital, Astana. Adilbek Zhaqsybekov was dismissed because he had reached retirement age, Nazarbaev's office said. (RFE/RL, 09.10.18)
• Moldovan President Igor Dodon has sustained minor injuries after the car he was traveling in was involved in a crash. (RFE/RL, 09.09.18)
• Georgian boxer Avtandil Khurtsidze has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by a federal court in New York after being convicted of racketeering and fraud conspiracy. (RFE/RL, 09.07.18)

IV. Quoteworthy

• No significant developments.