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

Nuclear security:

• U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appealed to the international community, especially Russia and China, to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. Tillerson recalled the cooperation between Washington and Moscow during the Soviet era on nonproliferation measures, and said “we should do so again.” “We especially ask Russia to examine how it can better support global nonproliferation efforts,” Tillerson said.  (AP, 09.22.17)
• Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said "further prospects in the field of nonproliferation cannot be considered in isolation from the overall security" situation. This means taking into account all factors that affect security—"first and foremost" the U.S. deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense System and "NATO's joint nuclear mission." (AP, 09.22.17)
• The U.S. Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration, in partnership with the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kazakhstan, repatriated the last remaining highly enriched uranium from the institute’s VVR-K reactor. (NNSA, 09.19.17)
• Russia’s search for a place to store low level radioactive waste has again focused on areas surrounding Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and St. Petersburg. (Bellona, 09.21.17)

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:

•  “It is time for North Korea to realize that the denuclearization is its only acceptable future. The United Nations Security Council recently held two unanimous 15-to-0 votes adopting hard-hitting resolutions against North Korea, and I want to thank China and Russia for joining the vote to impose sanctions, along with all of the other members of the Security Council,” U.S. President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 19. (The Washington Post, 09.19.17)
• In an interview with the AP, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not criticize Trump’s threat to “totally destroy” North Korea if the U.S. is forced to defend itself from Pyongyang. “We don’t doubt that the United States has capacity to do something very destructive,” he said. In subsequent remarks, however, Lavrov warned that “military hysteria” over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program could lead to “disaster.” (AP, 09.19.17, RFE/RL, 09.21.17)
• North Korea's foreign minister reportedly said his country may test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the U.S. response to a test would be U.S. President Donald Trump's decision, but adds that all military options remain on the table. "But we're not in this alone," he said. "We have developed strong allies and strong alliances internationally." "We are engaging with North Korea's most important supporters, economic supporters, their friends, China and Russia, to have them also engage with Kim Jong Un on this issue," Tillerson said. (AP, 09.22.17, ABC News, 09.22.17)
• At least eight North Korean ships that left Russia with a cargo of fuel this year headed for their homeland despite declaring other destinations, a ploy U.S. officials say is often used to undermine sanctions. Reuters has no evidence of wrongdoing by the vessels. (Reuters, 09.20.17)

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

• U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson explained to European allies the U.S. case regarding flaws in the 2015 Iranian nuclear accord, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said he’s made his decision about whether to leave the pact—but wouldn’t reveal what it was. Tillerson said he is still hopeful Iran will agree to negotiate changes the U.S. is seeking in the 2015 nuclear deal. Trump said Sept. 18 the world will “see very soon” whether the U.S. withdraws from the deal. (Bloomberg, 09.20.17, RFE/RL, 09.21.17, Bloomberg, 09.18.17)
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called U.S. President Donald Trump’s hostility toward the Iranian nuclear agreement “very worrying,” and vowed Russia will do everything it can to protect the pact. (Bloomberg, 09.19.17)
• "Iran and the DPRK today do find themselves linked—because if the United States does leave the JCPOA, this will be the worst signal we can send to North Korea,” Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said. (AP, 09.22.17)

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

• After months of buildup and about a week of official training activity, Russia and Belarus wrapped up their regular joint Zapad war game. Belarus said on Sept. 20 the West had no reason to fear attack by Russia or that Moscow would leave behind forces. Russian air force units began to redeploy to Russian airfields from Belarus on Sept. 21. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarussian counterpart observed the wargames separately. (Newsweek, 09.21.17, The Washington Post, 09.18.17, Belta, 09.21.17, Reuters, 09.20.17, Russian Military Analysis blog, 09.21.17, News.com.au, 09.20.17)
  • Russian media reported Sept. 19 that three people were wounded at the Zapad exercises when a helicopter accidentally fired a rocket at a crowd of invited spectators. On Sept. 14, a Russian air force Tu-22М3 suffered an incident when it overran the runway when participating in the exercise. (The Washington Post, 09.19.17, The Aviaonist, 09.15.17)
  • Gen. Petr Pavel, head of NATO’s Military Committee, said NATO is increasing efforts to re-establish military-to-military communications with Russia to avoid any “unintended consequences of potential incidents during the [Zapad] exercise.” (AP, 09.16.17)
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Sept. 19 scoffed at the suggestion that the United States might have to defend Sweden against a Russian attack even though Sweden is not a member of NATO. (AP, 09.19.17)
• Thousands of Polish and other NATO troops launched major defensive exercises in Poland’s north. Other participating nations are NATO members as well as partner nations Georgia and Ukraine. (AP, 09.21.17)
• In reference to Turkey’s decision to buy a Russian-made S-400 missile defense system, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said every country decides what kind of weapons systems to buy and “what is important for NATO is that we are as inter-operable as possible and that we can work together.” (AP, 09.19.17)
• The U.S. Senate on Sept. 18 strongly backed a $700 billion defense policy bill that directs the Defense Department to report to Congress on Russian attempts to spread “disinformation or propaganda, through social media applications or related Internet-based means, to members of the Armed Forces with probable intent to cause injury to the United States or advantage the Government of the Russian Federation.” (RFE/RL, 09.19.17)

Missile defense:

• The $700 billion defense policy bill strongly backed by the U.S. Senate Sept. 18 calls for $8.5 billion to further build up U.S. missile defense systems. (RFE/RL, 09.19.17)

Nuclear arms control:

• The $700 billion defense policy bill strongly backed by the U.S. Senate Sept. 18 authorizes the Defense Department to spend $65 million to begin development of a new ground-launched cruise missile. The move, in response to allegations that Russia has been violating the INF Treaty, could spell the end of the treaty. (RFE/RL, 09.19.17)
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s statements at the U.N. that Russia had allegedly violated the INF Treaty. (TASS, 09.21.17)
• “We have suspicions on at least three fronts that the Americans are creating weapons systems which violate or could violate the [INF] treaty obligations,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who said Moscow had relayed its concerns to the United States. (Reuters, 09.20.17)
• More than 40 countries on Sept. 20 signed a treaty to ban nuclear weapons, a pact that the world’s nuclear powers spurned, but supporters hailed as a historic agreement nonetheless. (AP, 09.20.17)

Counter-terrorism:

• Two women suspected of plotting a terrorist attack in southern Russia’s Rostov region have been sentenced to nine and 14 years behind bars. The two were detained in January 2016 for planning to carry out an attack at a Rostov-on-Don mall. (The Moscow Times, 09.18.17)

Conflict in Syria:

• Senior American and Russian military leaders met for an unprecedented, face-to-face session to ensure safety for all fighters in Syria, exchanging maps. Asked about the growing turbulence with the Russians, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, “I am not worried, we continue to deal with the Russians in a collaborative way, we’ll sort this out.” Russia earlier issued an unusually blunt warning to the U.S. that it will retaliate against American-backed fighters in Syria, accusing them of firing on Syrian government troops in the battle for Deir el-Zour. (AP, 09.21.17, Bloomberg, 09.21.17)
• Russian special forces are deployed alongside Syrian government troops and said Moscow would retaliate if the Russians come under fire. The Russian deployment raises the specter of a direct confrontation on the ground between Russian forces and the pro-Syrian troops they back on one side, and U.S.-supported Kurdish-led forces on the other. U.S. special forces are also operating with the SDF, providing artillery and other support. (AP, 09.21.17)
• The Russian military denied claims on Sept. 17 that it struck a U.S.-backed force near the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, wounding six fighters. The U.S. Pentagon on Sept. 16 said Russian jets bombed a target where it knew U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and coalition advisers were located. (AP, 09.17.17, Reuters, 09.16.17)
• On Sept. 21, three Russian troops were wounded after militants encircled 29 Russian military officers deployed outside of Idlib for several hours. The Russian troops repelled the attack with the help of local tribes. At least one Russian soldier died in an ambush in Syria last week. (The Moscow Times, 09.21.17, AP, 09.22.17)
• A Russian submarine in the Mediterranean fired cruise missiles at al-Qaida-linked militant positions in northwestern Syria on Sept. 22. (AP, 09.22.17)
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country is “achieving a result’’ by working with Russia in Syria. (Bloomberg, 09.20.17)
• The Syrian army has cut Islamic State’s main supply line in the city of Deir el-Zour after taking control of the al-Jafra district. The army pushed into the city this month with the help of Russian air power (Reuters, 09.17.17, Reuters, 09.17.17 )
• “All the conditions are in place for the final stage of defeating ISIS in Syria,” said Russian Lt Gen Alexander Lapin during a visit to the Syrian town of Okeirbat. (The Guardian, 09.16.17)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin is working on what sounds to Israelis like science fiction but in Moscow makes perfect sense—a deal on the power structure in Syria that both Israel and Iran can live with. (Haaretz, 09.19.17)
• U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have met in New York with Ukraine and Syria key topics of discussion. (RFE/RL, 09.18.18)
• The U.S. military has recently closed the Zakaf outpost in southern Syria, effectively ceding the ground to Iranian-backed militias. (The Washington Post, 09.19.17)
• The Islamic State is rapidly losing control of territory in Syria, but donor countries will not reconstruct the war’s damage until a “credible” political process emerges from negotiations, a U.S. official said. (The Washington Post, 09.18.17)

Cyber security:

• The U.S. Senate’s version of a massive defense bill, passed on Sept. 18, includes a government-wide ban on using Russian firm Kaspersky Lab’s software. Kaspersky Lab has strongly denied it is a conduit for Russian government espionage. (The Washington Post, 09.18.17)
• The European Commission has proposed a set of measures to scale up the bloc’s response to what it called a “dramatic rise in cybercriminal activity.” (RFE/RL, 09.19.17)
• German government officials and security experts say they have not seen signs of hacking or suspicious news leaks ahead of the Sept. 24 election despite months of warnings about possible foreign meddling. (Reuters, 09.19.17)
• WikiLeaks has released documents allegedly offering details of how Moscow uses state surveillance to spy on Internet and cellphone users. (The Washington Post, 09.19.17)
• Hackers based in Brussels could be responsible for the wave of bomb scares that has swept Russia for more than a week, a Russian Interior Ministry said. (The Moscow Times, 09.19.17)
• A lawyer in Greece for Russian cybercrime suspect Alexander Vinnik, who is wanted in the United States in a $4 billion bitcoin fraud case, says Russia wants to extradite him as well. (AP, 09.19.17)
• Russian police say they have eradicated a major online marketplace for illegal drug purchases. (RFE/RL, 09.19.17)

Elections interference:

• In July, federal agents with a search warrant raided the Virginia home of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Special counsel Robert Mueller followed the house search with a warning: His prosecutors told Manafort they planned to indict him, said two people close to the investigation. Manafort called on the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate leaks after CNN reported that the FBI conducted separate wiretap investigations of him before and after the election last year. (New York Times, 09.19.17, Bloomberg, 09.19.17)
• Less than two weeks before Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, Paul Manafort offered to provide briefings on the race to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who is closely aligned with the Kremlin. There is no evidence showing that Deripaska received Manafort’s offer or that any briefings took place. A spokeswoman for Deripaska dismissed the email exchanges as scheming by “consultants in the notorious ‘beltway bandit’ industry.” (The Washington Post, 09.20.17)
• Jason Maloni, a spokesman for U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, met for more than two hours Sept. 15 with a federal grand jury exploring possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. It is not clear why prosecutors subpoenaed Maloni to appear. (The Washington Post, 09.15.17)
• U.S. President Donald Trump is using money donated to his re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee to pay for his lawyers in the Russia probe. The family of former national security adviser Michael Flynn has established a legal defense fund for him as he is also scrutinized by investigators looking into this matter. (AP, 09.18.17, Reuters, 09.19.17)
• U.S. Vice President Mike Pence says the Trump administration is focused on issues “the American people are focused on” and isn’t getting distracted by the Russia investigations. Asked if he thought special counsel Robert Mueller was moving beyond his investigative authority, Pence replied, “Well, I think that’s for others to say.” (AP, 09.21.17)
• In a nomination hearing before the U.S. Senate on Sept. 19, U.S. Ambassador to Russia nominee Jon Huntsman said he was certain Moscow had interfered in the 2016 presidential elections. (The Moscow Times, 09.20.17)
• U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Sept. 21 demanded the FBI disclose whether it ever briefed or warned U.S. President Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential race about attempts by the Russian government to infiltrate his campaign. (The Hill, 09.21.17)
• U.S. President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., should testify under oath to the Senate panel investigating Russia’s election interference, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. (Bloomberg, 09.17.17)
• Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, agreed to testify at a public hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Oct. 25 after the panel canceled his closed-door meeting on Sept. 19. Cohen is forcefully denying unverified allegations in a dossier compiled by a former British intelligence officer about Trump's activities and connections in Russia. (Bloomberg, 09.19.17, Wall Street Journal, 09.19.17)
• Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office has interviewed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as part of its Russia probe. The interview was about U.S. President Donald Trump’s removal of James Comey as FBI director. (The Washington Post, 09.19.17)
• Hillary Clinton told Stephen Colbert that she believes that the Russians believed they "succeeded in messing with our democracy." "Do you think they succeeded in messing with our democracy?" Colbert asked. "Yes, I do," Clinton responded. (The Washington Post, 09.20.17)
• Facebook says the company will provide the contents of 3,000 ads bought by a Russian agency to congressional investigators. (AP, 09.21.17)
  • A Facebook group of possible Russian provocateurs who staged a number of small pro-Trump demonstrations in various cities has been discovered by U.S. online news site The Daily Beast. (The Moscow Times, 09.21.17)
  • Russia did not place adverts on Facebook to try to influence the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sept. 22.  (Reuters, 09.21.17)
  • U.S. President Donald Trump says on Twitter Sept. 22: "The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook." (The Washington Post, 09.22.17)
  • A CNN poll found that 54% of Americans say it's very or somewhat likely that Russian-backed content on Facebook or other social media affected the 2016 presidential vote, while 43% say that's not too or not at all likely. (CNN, 09.22.17)
  • Facebook is facing growing pressure from Congress over Russia’s use of social media to influence the U.S. election, with several Democrats calling for such companies to face disclosure requirements for political advertising. (Bloomberg, 09.20.17)
  • U.S. Sen. Richard Burr says Facebook should testify as part of its probe into Russian meddling in the U.S. election, and that the social media giant “seems to have been less than forthcoming” with Congress. (AP, 09.19.17)
• Twitter says it will meet with the staff of the U.S. Senate committee investigating the 2016 election. (Bloomberg, 09.21.17)

Energy exports from CIS:

• Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft said it is set to supply under government agreement 30 million tons of ESPO Blend crude to PetroChina in 2018, or 600,000 barrels per day, an increase of 50% from this year, after completion of the second East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline. (Reuters, 09.21.17)
• Russia’s energy minister said on Sept. 22 some of the world’s biggest oil producers had discussed extending a deal to curb supplies even as their drastic cuts were working to bring down global excess inventories. (Financial Times, 09.22.17)

Bilateral economic ties:

• No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov seemed to hint that the “tit-for-tat” series of ousters of diplomats from the two countries’ embassies was over for now. “We waited very long with our tit in response to Obama’s tit,” Lavrov said. “Being serious people and responsible people, and I feel Rex Tillerson is one of them, I hope that we can draw conclusions from where we are now and understand where we want to be.” (AP, 09.19.17)
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said it would be “quite useful” for U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet again in November during an Asian-Pacific summit scheduled in Danang, Vietnam, to review the progress in their bilateral relations. Talks are going on now among lower-ranking officials, he said, including the two countries’ militaries and their security agencies. (AP, 09.19.17)
• “I think it’s a very welcome statement, which we haven’t heard from an American leader for a very long time,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in reference to U.S. President Donald Trump’s United Nations remarks at the U.N. General Assembly “that the U.S. would not impose its way of life on others.” (AP, 09.19.17)
• U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin says Turkey’s recent purchase of anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia may have violated a U.S. law that requires automatic sanctions to be imposed against Ankara. (RFE/RL, 09.15.17)
• Stanislav Petrov, the former Soviet military officer credited with averting a possible nuclear disaster at the peak of the Cold War, has died at the age of 77. (BBC, 09.18.17)
• Gregory Allen Justice, a 50-year-old California engineer who worked for a defense contractor, was sentenced Sept. 18 to five years in prison for selling sensitive satellite information to an undercover FBI employee he thought was a Russian intelligence agent. (AP, 09.18.17)

II. Russia’s domestic news

Politics, economy and energy:

• Nearly one in five Russians would vote for a made-up Vladimir Putin protégé in next year’s presidential elections, an experimental Levada Center poll said on Sept. 20. Russia’s presidential elections will take place on March 18, 2018. (The Moscow Times, 09.20.17, TASS, 09.18.17)
• In his address to the International Atomic Energy Agency on Sept. 18, Rosatom director-general Alexey Likhachov said: "We are sure that nuclear power development today is inextricably connected with fast neutron reactors and closing the nuclear fuel cycle. Today, Russia is the leader in this field." (World Nuclear News, 09.21.17)
• Russia's central bank cut its key lending rate to 8.5% from 9% and said it could ease rates further in the next six months. The cut came after Russia's inflation dropped to a post-communist low of 3.3% year-over-year in August. (Wall Street Journal, 09.15.17, Business Insider, 09.05.17)
• Russia’s central bank agreed to rescue troubled lender B&N Bank, which will involve the regulator becoming the main investor in the bank. (Reuters, 09.21.17)
• Sberbank, Russia’s state-owned banking giant, plans to withdraw from “several” countries in Europe under pressure from sanctions, according to chief executive Herman Gref. (Financial Times, 09.22.17)
• Russian industrial conglomerate Sistema said Sept. 19 it had appealed against a court ruling that it should pay damages to oil giant Rosneft, saying it viewed the move as necessary in its pursuit of an out-of-court settlement. (Reuters, 09.19.17)
• A “Made in Prison” label will soon appear on some products in Russia. (The Moscow Times, 09.22.17)

Defense and aerospace:

• Russia’s strategic missile forces have conducted a successful training launch of an RS-24 Yars road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile. The test was designed to verify the reliability of the weapon. (The National Interest, 09.20.17)
• On Sept. 22, Russia’s air and space forces successfully launched a Glonass-M navigation satellite. The previous Glonass launch took place in May 2016. (Russian strategic nuclear forces, 09.22.17)
• Russian engineers have designed munitions specifically for the nation’s unmanned aerial vehicle fleets. The weapon’s combat weight is up to 50 kilograms (110 pounds). (The National Interest, 09.18.17)

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• Russia will abide by a European Court of Human Rights ruling requiring it to pay nearly 3 million euros ($3.6 million) in damages for the 2004 Beslan school siege. (Reuters, 09.19.17)
• Chechen authorities have opened criminal cases into the disappearance of 18 people in the North Caucasus republic. A Novaya Gazeta investigative newspaper report in April claimed that dozens of gay men in Chechnya had been held and tortured in secret prisons. (The Moscow Times, 09.21.17)
• A Moscow court has rejected a request from the family of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat and Holocaust hero, to force the Russian FSB security service to release classified documents that could have shed light on his death. (Telegraph, 09.19.17)

III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment

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

• Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz is expected to visit Russia Oct. 4-7. In the first-ever Russia visit by a Saudi monarch, Salman is to reportedly discuss Syria, the Qatar blockade and oil production with President Putin. (Reuters, 09.21.17, Wall Street Journal, 09.21.17)
• Russia has quickly become the top funder of Kurdish oil and gas deals, with as much as $4 billion pledged in less than a year, industry sources say. Russia is the only major power that has not called on Iraq’s Kurds to cancel a referendum on independence next week. (Reuters, 09.20.17)
• Fennovoima, a Finnish-Russian consortium planning to build a new nuclear plant in western Finland, said on Sept. 18 it was likely to take a year longer than expected to get a construction license, due to delays in providing documents to safety authorities. (Reuters, 09.18.16)
• Russia and Paraguay have signed a cooperation agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear power. (World Nuclear News, 09.20.17)

China:

• Russia and China launched joint war games in the North Pacific on Sept. 18, showcasing a budding military partnership and giving Moscow a venue to double up on its display of military might as world leaders convene at the United Nations. "They are building a de facto alliance," said Vasily Kashin, a military expert and China specialist at the Higher School of Economics. "They want to understand on a granular level how their two militaries can cooperate." (Wall Street Journal, 09.18.17)
• Russia’s O1 Properties, one of the largest commercial property owners in the country, is reportedly in talks with a Chinese investor to sell a stake in the company. (Reuters, 09.19.17)

Ukraine:

• Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said after a 6-minute meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump they had a shared vision on a “new level” of defense cooperation, but not whether this included the U.S. provision of defensive weapons to Ukraine. Following the Sept.22 meeting, Poroshenko said Trump had supported Ukraine’s proposal to deploy U.N peacekeepers “including on the uncontrolled part of the Ukraine-Russia border, which would prevent the possibility of penetration by Russian troops or Russian weapons.” Trump, for his part, said of Ukraine: “I wouldn't say it's the easiest place to live” but “it's getting better and better on a daily basis. I do hear very good things. Ukraine is coming along pretty well.” (RFE/RL, 09.21.17, Reuters, 09.21.17)
• In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 19, Trump decried threats to sovereignty in Ukraine and the South China Sea, but did not explicitly mention Russia or China. “We must reject threats to sovereignty, from the Ukraine to the South China Sea,” Trump said. (AFP, 09.19.17)
• Kurt Volker, the U.S. State Department appointee heading up Ukraine negotiations, will meet with Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov in October. (Interfax, 09.16.17)
• Poroshenko dismissed a Russian proposal to deploy U.N. peacekeepers in eastern Ukraine as an effort to legalize its proxies and freeze the conflict. Poroshenko used his speech at the U.N. General Assembly to accuse Moscow of not contributing to international security, but rather posing its “biggest threat.” (Reuters, 09.20.17)
  • Russia’s deputy foreign minister said Moscow will press ahead with Putin’s plan for U.N. peacekeepers in Ukraine, even after the effort stalled in the face of opposition from Washington and Kiev this week. (Bloomberg, 09.20.17)
  • Moscow’s ambassador to the U.N. said the U.S. and Ukraine had formally told Russia in the U.N. Security Council that they were unwilling to work on a Russian proposal to deploy U.N. peacekeepers in eastern Ukraine. The envoy had previously said that deploying a security mission in the Donbas would be discussed at a high-level meeting of the council. (TASS, 09.18.17, Reuters, 09.18.17)
  • The speaker of the Russian upper house of parliament said on Sept. 17 she saw no logic in deploying U.N. peacekeepers along the border between Russia and Ukraine, something Kiev and Washington favor. (Reuters, 09.17.17)
  • Any U.N. peacekeepers sent to eastern Ukraine must be granted access to the entirety of the region held by Moscow-backed separatists, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. (Reuters, 09.15.17)
• Ukraine must set up a credit register, ensure further privatization, and lift trade restrictions with the European Union in order to receive the final installment of a 600-million-euro financial aid package, according to Valdis Dombrovskis, the European commissioner for financial services. (RFE/RL, 09.20.17)
• Romania’s president canceled a visit to Ukraine next month to protest a law that critics say would infringe on the rights of ethnic minorities there. (AP, 09.20.17)
• An explosion occurred at a separatist-installed monument in the center of the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk on Sept. 18. (RFE/RL, 09.19.17)
• Ukrainian diplomats on Sept. 18 visited Pavlo Hryb, a Ukrainian teenager held in Russian custody on terrorism-related charges, for the first time since his arrest. (RFE/RL, 09.19.17)
• Mikheil Saakashvili, the ex-governor of Ukraine's Odessa region and former president of Georgia, has arrived in Kiev, where he vowed to challenge the revocation of his Ukrainian citizenship. Ukraine's top prosecutor has said Saakashvili will not be arrested for defying authorities with his dramatic return to the country after his citizenship was canceled. (RFE/RL, 09.19.17, RFE/RL, 09.16.17)
• Investors flocked to Ukraine’s first international debt placement since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea as the government offered $3 billion of 15-year dollar-denominated bonds. The debt is expected to yield 7.375%, down from initial guidance of about 7.75%. (Bloomberg, 09.18.17)
• Ukraine has agreed to buy back more than $1.5 billion of bonds due in 2019 and 2020 in order to lighten its short-term debt servicing burden. (Reuters, 09.18.17)
• Ukraine’s population (without the Crimean Peninsula) as of Aug. 1 had declined by 128,500 since Jan. 2017, and its population averaged 42.5 million people between Jan.-July, according to the Ukrainian State Statistics Service. The German CEO of a major wholesaler estimates that as many as 200,000 Ukrainians emigrate each year. (Interfax, 09.19.17, Wall Street Journal, 09.19.17)

Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:

• The EU aspirations of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are expected to be the main bone of contention among member states ahead of the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels on Nov. 24. (RFE/RL, 09.21.17)
• In his address to the U.N. General Assembly, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian said that Yerevan will declare two protocols aimed at normalizing relations with Turkey "null and void" if Ankara does not show any progress toward their implementation. (RFE/RL, 09.20.17)
• A court in Azerbaijan has sentenced journalist Elcin Ismayilli, who is known for criticizing the government, to nine years in prison after a trial his lawyer contends was politically motivated. (RFE/RL, 09.17.17)
• In his first address to the U.N. General Assembly, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev pledged to focus his government on bringing greater prosperity and human rights to his nation and the Central Asian region. (RFE/RL, 09.20.17)
• Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin met Tajik Ambassador Imomuddin Sattorov on Sept. 22 to discuss the unrest in Moscow in which about 90 Tajiks were detained. (AP, 09.22.17)
• A meeting between Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev and a leading Kyrgyz presidential contender, Omurbek Babanov, has sparked controversy in Kyrgyzstan, where a presidential election is scheduled for Oct. 15. (RFE/RL, 09.20.17)
• U.S. prosecutors say Swedish telecom giant Telia has agreed to pay nearly $1 billion in penalties to help settle a years-long corruption probe involving bribes paid in Uzbekistan. (RFE/RL, 09.21.17)
• U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has named former Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Natalia Gherman as the head of the U.N. Regional Center for Preventative Diplomacy for Central Asia. (RFE/RL, 09.16.17)

IV. Quoteworthy

• “If Shoigu is an excellent air guitarist, then it’s Gerasimov playing in the background,” according to one anecdote. (Financial Times, 09.15.17)