This Week’s Highlights

• During their June 16 summit in Geneva, U.S. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to return the U.S. and Russian ambassadors to Moscow and Washington, respectively. They also agreed to resume a U.S.-Russian dialogue on strategic stability, signing a statement that reaffirmed the key principle that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” The two leaders agreed to have their governments enter a dialogue on cyber security. “This is not about trust; this is about self-interest and verification of self-interest,” Biden said after the summit. In his turn, Putin said of the summit that “the main result is these flashes of trust.” While the two leaders discussed prisoner exchange and cyber security, no deadline was set for the former and no agreement was reached on the latter, according to the Kremlin.
• Leaders of the G-7 nation said in a statement on June 13: “We reiterate our interest in stable and predictable relations with Russia, and will continue to engage where there are areas of mutual interest. We reaffirm our call on Russia to stop its destabilizing behavior and malign activities.”
• Following their one-day summit in Brussels, NATO leaders said in a joint communique on June 14: "Until Russia demonstrates compliance with international law and its international obligations and responsibilities, there can be no return to 'business as usual.’”
• At their June 16 summit, the United States and European Union announced an agreement to "establish a high-level EU-U.S. dialogue on Russia” to “coordinate our policies and actions.” 
• The Russian parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma, has approved in the third and final reading a bill that would require foreign information technology companies to set up local units or face penalties including a possible ban, as Moscow continues to tighten its control over the flow of information on the Internet RFE/RL reported. The Duma has also approved the third and final reading of a bill that would criminalize participation in the activities of foreign or international NGOs declared "undesirable" in Russia, also according to RFE/RL.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 14 that he wanted to hear a clear “yes” or “no” from Biden on a NATO Membership Action Plan for Ukraine, Reuters reported. Ukraine becoming a member of NATO would be a "red line" for Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on June 17, according to RFE/RL.

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

Nuclear security:

• No significant developments.

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:

• No significant developments.

Iran and its nuclear program:

• Iranian and Russian negotiators meeting in Vienna with global powers played down the hopes for a quick settlement in talks to revive the 2015 landmark deal that curtailed Tehran's nuclear programs. Abbas Araqchi, Tehran’s chief negotiator, said late on June 12 that he did not think they could conclude this week, ahead of the country's June 18 presidential election. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's representative, told reporters that “we need a couple more weeks to clean up the existing text and to remove square brackets around secondary topics. We need to concentrate on how the deal will be implemented. (RFE/RL, 06.12.21)
• In an interview with NBC, Putin dismissed as "fake news" a report in The Washington Post that Russia is planning to supply Iran with an advanced satellite system that would allow it to track potential military targets. (AFP, 06.12.21)

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

• “I think that the last thing he wants now is a Cold War. Without quoting him—which I don’t think is appropriate—let me ask a rhetorical question: You got a multi-thousand-mile border with China. China is moving ahead, hellbent on election, as they say, seeking to be the most powerful economy in the world and the largest and the most powerful military in the world. You’re in a situation where your economy is struggling, you need to move it in a more aggressive way, in terms of growing it. And you—I don’t think he’s looking for a Cold War with the United States,” Biden told a press conference after his June 16 summit with Putin. (White House press office, 06.16.21)
• “Russia is in a very, very difficult spot right now. They are being squeezed by China. They want desperately to remain a major power. …. They desperately want to have—be relevant. …They have—and they don’t want to be known as, as some critics have pointed and said, you know, the “Upper Volta with nuclear weapons.” It matters. And I found it matters to almost every world leader—no matter where they’re from—how they’re perceived, their standing in the world. It matters to them. It matters to them in terms of their support at home as well,” Biden said in remarks before his departure after the June 16 summit with Putin. (White House press office, 06.16.21)
• “With regard to military exercises, we conduct them on our territory, just like the United States conducts many of its exercises on its territory. But we are not bringing our equipment and personnel closer to the state borders of the United States of America when we conduct our exercises. Unfortunately, this is what our U.S. partners are doing now. So, the Russian side, not the American side, should be concerned about this, and this also needs to be discussed, and our respective positions should be clarified,” Putin told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Biden. (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
• “So, the United States declared Russia an enemy and an adversary…if Russia is an enemy, what kind of organizations will the United States support in Russia? I think not the ones that make the Russian Federation stronger, but the ones that hold it back, since this is the goal of the United States, something that has been announced publicly. So, these are the organizations and the people who are instrumental in the implementation of the United States' policy on Russia. How should we feel about this? I think it is clear: we must be wary. But we will act exclusively within the framework of Russian law,” Putin told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Biden. (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
• The EU needs to prepare for a “negative spiral” in relations with Russia, Brussels warned on the day of a high-stakes encounter between the Russian and U.S. presidents in Geneva. Putin had deliberately deployed “aggressive actions,” said the strategy paper to be released on June 16 by the European Commission and the EU’s diplomatic service. As a result, “the European Union needs to prepare for a further downturn of its relations with Russia as the most realistic outlook for the time being.” (Financial Times, 06.16.21)
• European Union foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell says the European Union needs to "push back, constrain, and engage" Moscow. Speaking on June 16 shortly before Putin and Biden began their summit in Geneva, Borrell told reporters in Brussels that "a renewed partnership, allowing us to realize the full potential of a close cooperation with Russia, is a distant prospect." He added: "The EU, therefore, needs to be realistic and prepare for a further downturn of our relationship with Russia.” (RFE/RL, 06.16.21)
• The United States and European Union have announced an agreement to "establish an EU-U.S. high-level dialogue on Russia" to better coordinate policies and actions. The pledge came after an EU-U.S. summit on June 15. “We stand united in our principled approach towards Russia and we are ready to respond decisively to its repeating pattern of negative behavior and harmful activities, which Russia must address to prevent the further deterioration of relations including on the list of so-called unfriendly states. To coordinate our policies and actions we plan to establish an EU-U.S. high-level dialogue on Russia,” the June 16 U.S.-EU statement said. (RFE/RL, 06.15.21, Russia Matters, 06.15.21)
• "Until Russia demonstrates compliance with international law and its international obligations and responsibilities, there can be no return to 'business as usual,'" NATO leaders said on June 14 in a joint communique after their one-day summit in Brussels. “Russia’s aggressive actions constitute a threat to Euro-Atlantic security,” the leaders said, citing its “growing multi-domain military build-up, more assertive posture, novel military capabilities, and provocative activities, including near NATO borders,” among other things.(RFE/RL, 06.14.21)
• “We reiterate our interest in stable and predictable relations with Russia, and will continue to engage where there are areas of mutual interest. We reaffirm our call on Russia to stop its destabilizing behavior and malign activities, including its interference in other countries’ democratic systems, and to fulfil its international human rights obligations and commitments,” said a 25-page joint statement released by leaders of the G-7 nations on June 13. (White House press office, 06.13.21)
  • As Group of Seven leaders wrapped their three-day summit, President Biden said democratic governments face a defining challenge: to show they can meet tests such as global health crises and climate change better than autocracies such as China and Russia. He singled out China and Russia for reprobation after working to enlist U.S. allies in what he has repeatedly cast as the existential battle of the 21st century. (The Washington Post, 06.12.21)
• Russian Navy warships have been sent to shadow the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon (DDG 58) which began its transit into the Black Sea to conduct maritime security operations in the region. (Defence Blog, 06.12.21)

China-Russia: Allied or aligned?

• Russia and China have teamed up for a robotic mission to an asteroid in 2024. They are coordinating a series of lunar missions intended to build a permanent research base on the south pole of the moon by 2030. The first of those missions, a Russian spacecraft with the revived Soviet-era name Luna, is scheduled to launch as soon as October, aiming to locate ice that could provide water to future human visits. (The New York Times, 06.15.21)

Missile defense:

• No significant developments.

Nuclear arms control:

• Biden and Putin signed an U.S.-Russia Presidential Joint Statement on Strategic Stability during their June 16 summit in Geneva to demonstrate that “even in periods of tension, they are able to make progress on our shared goals of ensuring predictability in the strategic sphere, reducing the risk of armed conflicts and the threat of nuclear war” and to “reaffirm the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” According to the statement: “The United States and Russia will embark together on an integrated bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue in the near future that will be deliberate and robust, the statement said. (White House press office, 6.16.21, Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
• “I’m pleased that he agreed today to launch a bilateral strategic stability dialogue—diplomatic speak for saying, get our military experts and our—our diplomats together to work on a mechanism that can lead to control of new and dangerous and sophisticated weapons that are coming on the scene now that reduce the times of response, that raise the prospects of accidental war. And we went into some detail of what those weapons systems were,” Biden told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Putin. (White House press office, 06.16.21)
• “The United States and the Russian Federation bear special responsibility for global strategic stability, at least because we are the two biggest nuclear powers –in terms of the amount of ammunition and warheads, the number of delivery vehicles, the level of sophistication and quality of nuclear arms. We are aware of this responsibility. I… Of course, it would be natural to ask what next. We agreed to start interdepartmental consultations under the aegis of the U.S. Department of State and the Foreign Ministry of Russia. Colleagues will determine at the working level the line-up of these delegations, the venues and frequency of meetings,” Putin told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Biden. (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
  • Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, member of the Geneva delegation said: “We’re pleased that we were able to put on paper the intention to start a substantive and active dialogue in this area.” Ryabkov told Russia's Kommersant newspaper that talks about strategic arms limitations could start within weeks. He viewed the joint summit statement that there could be no winners in a nuclear war as "a significant achievement" with Moscow increasingly wary of Washington's intentions in recent years. (The Washington Post, 06.17.21, The Moscow Times, 06.17.21)
• The nine states known or believed to have nuclear armaments -- the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea -- held an estimated 13,080 nuclear weapons at the start of 2021, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in its annual report released on June 14. That number represents a slight decrease from the estimated 13,400 weapons these states possessed at the beginning of 2020. (RFE/RL, 06.14.21)

Counter-terrorism:

• “I caught part of President’s—Putin’s press conference, and he talked about the need for us to be able to have some kind of modus operandi where we dealt with making sure the Arctic was, in fact, a free zone. And to how we can each contribute to the shared effort of preventing a resurgence of terrorism in Afghanistan. It’s very much in—in the interest of Russia not to have a resurgence of terrorism in Afghanistan,” Biden told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Putin. “He [Putin] asked us about Afghanistan. He said that he hopes that we’re able to maintain some peace and security, and I said, “That has a lot to do with you,” Biden said. (White House press office, 06.16.21)

Conflict in Syria:

• Biden fumbled during a press conference at the G-7 summit June 13, mixing up "Libya" and "Syria"–not once, but three times–while discussing humanitarian aid to countries torn apart by civil war. The gaffe-prone president was discussing possibly working with Russia in providing "vital assistance" to "Libya" –a "population that’s in real trouble." He then said that Russia had bitten off more than it can chew with its intervention in "Syria," but then added "Libya" to the mix. (Fox News, 06.14.21)

Cyber security:

• “Another area we spent a great deal of time on was cyber and cybersecurity. I talked about the proposition that certain critical infrastructure should be off limits to attack—period—by cyber or any other means. I gave them a list, if I’m not mistaken—I don’t have it in front of me—16 specific entities; 16 defined as critical infrastructure under U.S. policy, from the energy sector to our water systems, were,” Biden told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Putin. “We agreed to task experts in both our—both our countries to work on specific understandings about what’s off limits and to follow up on specific cases that originate in other countries—either of our countries,” Biden said. “When I talked about the pipeline that cyber hit for $5 million—that ransomware hit in the United States, I looked at him and I said, “Well, how would you feel if ransomware took on the pipelines from your oil fields?” He said it would matter,” Biden said. (White House press office.gov, 06.16.21)
• “I pointed out to him that we have significant cyber capability. And he knows it. He doesn’t know exactly what it is, but it’s significant. And if, in fact, they violate these basic norms, we will respond with cyber. He knows,” Biden told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Putin. (White House press office, 06.16.21)
• “What we need to do is discard all the conspiracy theories, sit down at the expert level and start working in the interests of the United States and the Russian Federation. In principle, we have agreed to this, and Russia is willing to do so,” Putin told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Biden. (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
• The White House clarified June 13 that President Biden isn’t doing any “swaps” of cyber criminals with Moscow–after Biden appeared to take at face value a proposal floated by Putin to extradite any U.S. ransom hackers to Russia in exchange for sending any Russian hackers to the United States Biden entertained an idea Putin floated in a TV interview that aired June 13 about extraditing ‘criminals’ who engaged in ransom hacking against either the United States or Russia when he was asked about it at a press conference. Putin has earlier said Russia is open to handing over cyber criminals to the United States if Washington agrees to do the same (AP, 06.13.21, The Moscow Times, 06.14.21)
• "Ransomware attacks against critical infrastructure are of an even higher order of magnitude of concern for us," national security adviser Jake Sullivan said June 16. "We do not judge that the Russian government has been behind these recent ransomware attacks, but we do judge that actors in Russia have. And we believe that Russia can take and must take steps to deal with it." The Washington Post, 06.13.21)
• Russian national Oleg Koshkin has been found guilty by a U.S. jury in Connecticut of operating a "crypting" service that helped hackers infect computers around the world with malware, the U.S. Justice Department announced on July 16. (RFE/RL, 06.16.21)      
• Police in Ukraine said on June 16 that they exposed a ring of hackers who targeted some of the most prestigious U.S. universities as well as commercial companies in South Korea. (RFE/RL, 06.16.21)      

Energy exports from CIS:

• Starting June 11, gas will be injected into a completed section of the Russia-Germany Nord Stream 2 Baltic pipeline, Nord Stream 2 AG reports. Testing with gas is part of the commissioning process. The 1,230 km pipeline should be completed by early August, Putin said last week. Commissioning is expected to be completed this fall. (Ukraine Business News, 06.11.21)
• The world’s top commodity traders have forecast a return to $100-a-barrel oil, as investment in new supplies slows down before demand has peaked and before green alternatives can take up the slack. (Financial Times, 06.16.21)

U.S.-Russian economic ties:

• “I don’t have any problem with doing business with Russia, as long as they do it based upon international norms. It’s in our interest to see the Russian people do well economically. I don’t have a problem with that. …For example, the American businessman who was in house arrest. And I pointed out, “You want to get American business to invest? Let him go. Change the dynamic,” Biden told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Putin. (White House press office, 06.16.21)
• “The largest delegation at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, 200 people, was from the United States. …. Russia’s trade with the United States is about $28 billion, I think. In the first quarter of this year, it grew by 16.5%. If this trend continues, I think it will benefit everyone. We talked about it,” Putin told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Biden. (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)

U.S.-Russian relations in general:

• “I did what I came to do: Number one, identify areas of practical work our two countries can do to advance our mutual interests and also benefit the world. Two, communicate directly—directly—that the United States will respond to actions that impair our vital interests or those of our allies. And three, to clearly lay out our country’s priorities and our values so he heard it straight from me,” Biden told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Putin. (White House press office, 06.16.21)
• “What is going to happen next is we’re going to be able to look back—look ahead in three to six months, and say, “Did the things we agreed to sit down and try to work out, did it work? Do we—are we closer to a major strategic stability talks and progress? Are we further along in terms of…”—and go down the line. That’s going to be the test,” Biden told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Putin. (White House press office, 06.16.21)
• “Look, this is not about trust; this is about self-interest and verification of self-interest. That’s what it’s about. So, I—virtually almost—almost anyone that I would work out an agreement with that affected the American people’s interests, I don’t say, “Well, I trust you. No problem.” Let’s see what happens,” Biden told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Putin. (White House press office, 06.16.21)
• “President Putin and I had a—share a unique responsibility to manage the relationship between two powerful and proud countries—a relationship that has to be stable and predictable. And it should be able to—we should be able to cooperate where it’s in our mutual interests,” Biden told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Putin. (White House press office, 06.16.21)
• “I raised the case of two wrongfully imprisoned American citizens: Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed,” Biden told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Putin. (White House press office, 06.16.21)
• “And I must tell you, the tone of the entire meetings—I guess it was a total of four hours—was—was good, positive. There wasn’t any—any strident action taken,” Biden told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Putin. (White House press office, 06.16.21)
• “Putin said that “the main result is these flashes of trust.” (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
• “People went to Congress with political demands after the election. Criminal cases have been opened against 400 people, who face up to 20 or even 25 years in prison. They have been declared domestic terrorists and accused of other crimes… I would just like to point out once again: we feel for the Americans, but we don’t want the same to happen in our country,” Putin told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Biden. (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
  • When asked “when President Putin was questioned today about human rights, he said the reason why he’s cracking down on opposition leaders is because he doesn’t want something like January 6th to happen in Russia,” Biden told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Putin “My response is kind of what I communicated—that I think that’s a—that’s a ridiculous comparison. It’s one thing for literally criminals to break through cordon, go into the Capitol, kill a police officer, and be held unaccountable than it is for people objecting and marching on the Capitol and saying, “You are not allowing me to speak freely,” Biden told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Putin. (White House press office, 06.16.21)
• “With regard to the ambassadors returning to their stations –the U.S. ambassador to Moscow, and the Russian ambassador to Washington, we agreed on this matter, and they will be returning to their permanent duty stations. When exactly –tomorrow or the day after tomorrow –is a purely technical issue,” Putin told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Biden. (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
• “I believe there was no hostility at all. Quite the contrary. Our meeting was, of course, a principled one, and our positions diverge on many issues, but I still think that both of us showed a willingness to understand each other and look for ways of bringing our positions closer together. The conversation was quite constructive,” Putin told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Biden. (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
• “We discussed this issue in a broad format and in some detail. This is a highly important and interesting issue as the development of the entire Arctic region and the Northern Sea Route in particular has tremendous economic significance for many countries in the region and beyond it,” Putin told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Biden. (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
•  “I can tell you that on the whole we understand what our U.S. partners are saying and they understand what we are saying, when we speak about the ‘red lines,’” Putin told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Biden. “I have mentioned the “red lines” on many occasions. Understanding regarding this comes during negotiations on the key areas of interaction. There is no sense in trying to intimidate each other. This is not the thing to do when people meet to talk; otherwise, there is no sense in meeting,” Putin said. (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
• Peskov’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov cautioned against rapid progress after the summit. There were no concrete agreements made on cyber security, he said, and “no deadline” for a possible prisoner exchange. “There are framework discussions at the state level, and then very, very difficult work will begin,” he said, referring to exchanging prisoners. “You need to sit down and talk at the working level. Indeed, it is the same for all the other issues.” Despite the generally positive outcome of the summit, Peskov said there’s “still no reason” to remove the United States from Russia's list of “unfriendly countries” that the Kremlin adopted last month.” (Financial Times, 06.17.21, The Moscow Times, 06.17,21)
• Biden said on June 14 that if Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were to die, it would be a “tragedy” that would damage Russia’s relationship with the United States and the rest of the world. “I also told him that no President of the United States could keep faith with the American people if they did not speak out to defend our democratic values, to stand up for the universal rights and fundamental freedoms that all men and women have, in our view. … I pointed out to him that that’s why we’re going raise our concerns about cases like Aleksey Navalny,” Biden said at his press conference. “I made it clear to him that I believe the consequences of that would be devastating for Russia,” Biden said when asked “What did you say would happen if opposition leader Aleksey Navalny dies?” (White House press office, 06.16.21, (RFE/RL, 06.15.21, White House press office, 06.16.21)
  • Putin said during a press conference after the June 16 summit with Biden: “With regard to our non-systemic opposition and the citizen [Navalny] you mentioned, first, this person knew that he was breaking applicable Russian law. … I believe he deliberately decided to get arrested. He did what he wanted to do. So, what is there to be discussed?” (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
  • In interview with NBC News, Putin was asked whether he was willing to "personally ensure that Alexei Navalny will leave prison alive" after completing his 32-month prison sentence. Putin was unable to do so. Asked by NBC directly if he is "a killer," Putin chuckled but did not give a yes or no answer. (RFE/RL, 06.15.21, AFP, 06.12.21)
  • Navalny, responding to Putin's accusations against him following a June 16 summit with Biden, has called the Russian leader "a liar who can't stop lying." (RFE/RL, 06.17.21)
• "Yes, of course,” Putin said when asked whether Russia is open to a prisoner swap with the United States. When asked about Trevor Reed and Paul Whelan, two ex-U.S. Marines imprisoned in Russia who could be part of a prisoner swap, Putin called Reed a "troublemaker" and a "drunk" who "got himself s**t-faced and started a fight." (NBC/The Moscow Times, 06.14.21)
• Putin maintains a much lower level of global trust than his Western counterparts, according to a Pew Research Center poll published July 14. A median of 22% of respondents in 17 advanced economies including the United States said they have confidence in Putin “to do the right thing regarding world affairs,” Pew said (The Moscow Times, 06.15.21)

II. Russia’s domestic policies

Domestic politics, economy and energy:

• Russia has confirmed 5,264,047 cases of coronavirus and 127,992 deaths, according to the national coronavirus information center. Russia’s total excess fatality count since the start of the coronavirus pandemic is around 475,000. Moscow authorities have decided to make vaccination against COVID-19 compulsory for 60% of employees in the service sector. The city’s mayor announced on June 12 a nonworking week between June 15-19 in response to the spike in COVID-19 cases. Russia’s latest coronavirus surge could peak at 25,000 new cases per day by the end of June, according to a mathematical model cited by Russian media. (RFE/RL, 06.16.21, The Moscow Times, 06.16.21, The Moscow Times/AFP, 06.17,21) 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.
• Russia’s population decline more than doubled in 2020, the latest sign of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the country, according to updated figures from Russia’s federal statistics agency seen by The Moscow Times. Russia’s population totaled 146.05 million as of Jan. 1, 2021, down from 146.75 million at the start of 2020—a decrease of 702,072 people. (The Moscow Times, 06.14.21)
• Rosatom will soon submit to the Russian government its plan to invest 506 billion rubles in new nuclear technologies by 2030, according to Kommersant. Of this, 150 billion rubles will be from the state budget. (World Nuclear News, 06.11.21)
• The Russian parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma, has approved in the third and final reading a bill that would require foreign information technology (IT) companies to set up local units or face penalties including a possible ban, as Moscow continues to tighten its control over the flow of information on the Internet. (RFE/RL, 06.17.21)      
• The Russian parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma, has approved the third and final reading of a bill that would criminalize participation in the activities of foreign or international NGOs declared "undesirable" in Russia. (RFE/RL, 06.16.21)    
• Russia has extended its moratorium on deportations of foreigners with expired visas for another three months due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a last-minute decree Putin signed June 15. (The Moscow Times, 06.15.21)

Defense and aerospace:

• No significant developments.

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• Putin has signed a bill into law imposing penalties for disclosing the personal data of security officials or their relatives, a move that could further hamstring efforts to expose corruption or hold Russian officials accountable. (RFE/RL, 06.12.21)

III. Russia’s relations with other countries

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

• The European Union will delay approval of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine until later in 2021 because of a missed deadline to submit required data. The delay shrinks Sputnik V's prospects as part of the EU’s pandemic response. Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, which markets the jab worldwide, said earlier in the day it was confident that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) would approve Sputnik V within two months (The Moscow Times, 06.16.21)

Ukraine:

• “With regard to our obligations regarding Ukraine, we [Russia] have only one obligation which is to facilitate the implementation of the Minsk Agreements. If the Ukrainian side is willing to do this, we will take this path, no questions asked…. We [Biden and Putin] agreed to pursue diplomacy related to the Minsk Agreement. And I shared our concerns about Belarus. He didn’t disagree with what happened; he just has a different perspective of what to do about it,” Putin told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Biden (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
• “As far as I understood President Biden, he agreed that the Minsk agreements should be the basis for a settlement in southeastern Ukraine. As for Ukraine’s potential accession to NATO, this issue was touched upon in passing. I suppose there is nothing to discuss in this respect,” Putin told a press conference after the June 16 summit with Biden. (Kremlin press office, 06.16.21)
• Ukraine becoming a member of NATO would be a "red line" for Russia, the Kremlin has said after Biden and Putin held their first summit in Geneva. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on June 17 that Russia was concerned by talk that Kyiv may one day be granted a Membership Action Plan, a first step toward membership in the Western alliance. (RFE/RL, 06.17.21)
• Biden and EU leaders issued a statement at the end of the EU-U.S. summit on June 15. “We are determined to continue to stand in support of the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of the EU’s Eastern partners and will support the reform path of Ukraine, Georgia, and the Republic of Moldova. We resolve to work towards long-term peace, resilience and stability in the South Caucasus. We stand with the people of Belarus and their demands for human rights and democracy,” the statement said. (Russia Matters, 06.15.21)
• “We reiterate our support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. We call on Russia to alleviate tensions and act in accordance with its international obligations, and to withdraw the Russian military troops and materiel at the eastern border of Ukraine and on the Crimean peninsula. We remain firmly of the view that Russia is a party to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, not a mediator,” said a 25-page joint statement released by leaders of the G-7 nations on June 13.  (White House press office, 06.13.21)
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 14 that he wanted to hear a clear “yes” or “no” from Biden on a NATO Membership Action Plan for Ukraine. (Reuters, 06.14.21)
• The U.S. Department of Defense announced on June 11 a new $150 million package for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) that includes training, equipment, and advisory efforts to help Ukraine’s forces preserve the country’s territorial integrity, secure its borders, and improve interoperability with NATO. (Defence Blog, 06.12.21)
• Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor, has offered Ukraine a new F-16 Block 70/72 multirole combat aircraft as it looks to modernize its air force. (Defence Blog, 06.17.21)
• The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine expects to receive the first FPB 98 MKI fast patrol boat by the end of 2021.The FPB 98 MKI is a 32-m multirole fast patrol boat developed by the France-based OCEA company. (Defence Blog, 06.17.21)
• Westinghouse fuel will power eight of Ukraine’s 15 nuclear power reactors by 2024, under a contract signed between the U.S. company and Energoatom, Ukraine’s state company responsible for nuclear power generation. (Ukraine Business News, 06.11.21)          
• Ukraine is prepared to take legal action against Gazprom to unblock natural gas supplies from central Asia, a move that could ensure it has sufficient domestic supply and transit revenues even if Russia’s nearly completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline comes on stream this year. (Financial Times, 06.14.21)

Russia's other post-Soviet neighbors:

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has visited a part of Nagorno-Karabakh that is under Azerbaijan's control along with one of the seven districts adjacent to the breakaway region that Baku regained control over last autumn as a result of a six-week war against Armenian forces. Erdogan's June 15 visit, which was condemned by the Armenian Foreign Ministry as an "an outright provocation against regional peace and security," came a day after he met with Biden on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels.(RFE/RL, 06.15.21)    
• Azerbaijan said it handed over 15 Armenian prisoners of war in exchange for a map showing the location of land mines in part of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said the maps turned over by Armenian authorities detailed the location of nearly 100,000 land mines in the Agdam district of Azerbaijani, which is adjacent to the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. (RFE/RL, 06.12.21)
• Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko is transporting Iraqi immigrants to Minsk and helping them illegally cross the border into Lithuania, as he makes good on a threat to “flood the EU with drugs and refugees.” (bne IntelliNews, 06.12.21)
• Lawyers for Uyghur groups have given new evidence to the International Criminal Court (ICC) that allegedly shows the Tajik government is cooperating with Beijing to send Uyghurs to China, where they face detention and often much worse. (RFE/RL, 06.15.21)

IV. Quoteworthy:

• No significant developments.