NB: Next week’s Russia in Review will appear on Wednesday, Nov. 21, instead of Friday, Nov. 23, because of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.

This Week’s Highlights: 

• The U.S. has lost its military edge to a dangerous degree and could potentially lose a war against China or Russia, according to a new Congressional report on the Trump administration’s defense strategy, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• A new study by Bloomberg Economics has found that sanctions may have knocked as much as 6 percent off Russia’s economy over the past four years and the drag isn’t likely to go away soon.
• U.S. court documents suggest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been criminally charged by prosecutors in a case that could be related to the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the U.S. elections, RFE/RL reports.
• Direct contacts between the heads of Russian and U.S. security services continue and have proven to be effective, Russian Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov said, according to Russian media.
• Boosted by new oil supply deals, agriculture and defense shipments, Russia’s trade with China accounted for 15.5 percent of Russia’s total turnover last year, up from 10.6 percent in 2013, while the EU’s share fell from 49.6 percent to 43.8 percent, according to the Financial Times.
• A group of militants from ISIS plotting to commit terrorist attacks against Russian military base No. 201 has been detained in Tajikistan, Interfax reports. The same republic saw 50 inmates killed in a prison riot in Tajikistan last week, for which ISIS claimed responsibility, according to RFE/RL.

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

Nuclear security and safety:

• The 18-country East Asia Summit, which brought together all 10 ASEAN members plus Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the U.S., agreed to do more to tackle returning foreign fighters, beef up cyber security and ensure the safe and secure use, storage and transport of nuclear and other radioactive materials. Acknowledging that all states have the right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, consistent with international law, the participants of the summit pointed out that acts of nuclear terrorism could pose a threat to international peace and security. (The Straits Times, 11.16.18)
• NNSA’s fiscal year 2019 Strategic Plan to Reduce Global Nuclear Threats provides for the completion of annual monitoring visits in Russia under the terms of the U.S.-Russia Plutonium Production Reactor Agreement in fiscal years 2019-2023. Some of the NNSA’s International Material Protection and Cooperation funds will be used to close out remaining work with Russia, according to the plan. Also, the U.S. effort to equip Russian sites with radiation detection systems is to be completed in fiscal year 2022, according to the document. (Russia Matters, 11.12.18)
• “Despite the advances made through arms control agreements, export controls and other efforts, nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism remain serious threats to the security of the United States and its allies,” according to the message from the U.S. Energy Secretary published along with the NNSA’s Strategic Plan to Reduce Global Nuclear Threats. (Russia Matters, 11.12.18)
• Moscow is ready to assist Oslo in dealing with the inappropriate storage of radioactive waste, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said. (TASS, 11.08.18)

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:

• No significant developments.

Iran’s nuclear program and related issues:

• No significant developments.

Military issues, including NATO-Russia relations:

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling for the eventual creation of a European army, echoing a suggestion by French President Emmanuel Macron that recently angered the U.S. president. "What is really important, if we look at the developments of the past year, is that we have to work on a vision of one day creating a real, true European army," Merkel said. (RFE/RL, 11.14.18)
• “Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia,” wrote U.S. President Donald Trump. “But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two—How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along. Pay for NATO or not!” (Financial Times, 11.13.18)
• NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has cautioned the alliance's European members not to endanger the transatlantic defense bond, following an exchange between U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump had tweeted on Nov. 9 that Macron's call for a "real European army" was "insulting" (RFE/RL, 11.12.18)
• The U.S. has lost its military edge to a dangerous degree and could potentially lose a war against China or Russia, according to a report released Nov. 14 by a bipartisan commission that Congress created to evaluate the Trump administration's defense strategy. (Wall Street Journal, 11.13.18)
• The Norwegian Defense Ministry says Russian forces in the Arctic disturbed GPS location signals during a recent large NATO drill in Norway. The disruption came from Russian territory, the Finnish Foreign Ministry said on Nov. 15. (RFE/RL, 11.14.18, Reuters, 11.16.18)

Missile defense:

• Top officials in the Trump administration sent a draft of the Defense Department's new missile defense policy back to the drawing board early this year after arguing that the strategy didn't sufficiently address burgeoning threats from Russia and China. More than half a year later, the policy hasn't been released. (Wall Street Journal, 11.12.18)

Nuclear arms control:

• The U.S. risks triggering “dramatic events” if it stations more missiles in Europe in the wake of its planned exit from the INF Treaty, Vladimir Chizhov, Moscow’s ambassador to the EU, said. Chizhov said Europe was the main loser from the U.S. decision to withdraw, having been the principal beneficiary of the accord. (Financial Times. 11.13.18)
• Russia and the U.S. should maintain dialogue on a wide range of issues, including arms control and nonproliferation, amid current international “turbulence,” Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov said at an annual meeting of the U.S.-Russia Economic Council on Nov. 16. (TASS, 11.16.18)

Counter-terrorism:

• Direct contacts between the Russian and U.S. heads of security services continue and have proven to be effective, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov said. "We meet from time to time and exchange information," Bortnikov said after a gathering of special service heads from foreign countries that are FSB partners. At least one U.S. delegate attended the forum, according to Rossiiskaya Gazeta. (Interfax, 11.08.18, Rossiiksaya Gazeta, 11.08.18)
• At least 50 inmates were killed in a prison riot in Tajikistan last week. ISIS claimed responsibility, saying the riot broke out after one of its "soldiers" attacked a prison guard. (RFE/RL, 11.13.18)
• A group of militants from ISIS plotting to commit terrorist attacks against Russian military base No. 201 has been detained in Tajikistan. (Interfax, 11.12.18)

Conflict in Syria:

• The Russian military said nearly 270,000 Syrian refugees have returned home in recent months. (The Washington Post, 11.16.18)
• Russia’s foreign ministry said on Nov. 15 the process of separating radical militants from moderate opposition groups in the demilitarized zone in Syria’s Idlib region had not yet been successfully achieved. (Reuters, 11.16.18)
• Russia has deployed its newest chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) reconnaissance vehicle to Syria to operate with military police units. (IHS Jane’s, 11.15.18)
• Trump administration envoy for hostage affairs Robert O'Brien on Nov. 13 urged Syria's ally Russia to push for the release of Austin Tice, an American freelance journalist kidnapped in Syria six years ago. (Reuters, 11.14.18)

Cyber security:

• Reflecting reluctance by the Trump administration to limit its options for using offensive and defensive cyberweapons, the U.S. declined on Nov. 12 to sign a vaguely worded international call to protect civilians against cyberattacks and discourage digital meddling in elections. Russia and China also avoided signing the ''Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace.” (New York Times, 11.12.18, Axios, 11.12.18)
• Hackers linked to the Russian government are impersonating U.S. State Department employees in an operation aimed at infecting computers of U.S. government agencies, think tanks and businesses, two cybersecurity firms told Reuters. (Reuters, 11.16.18)
• Russia’s Federal Security Service attempted to create a backdoor into the company that provides computer and logistical support to the British consulate, Bellingcat reported Nov. 16. (Bloomberg, 11.16.18)
• Google services were temporarily unreachable for some users after some traffic intended to reach the web giant was rerouted through other networks, including Russian network operator TransTelekom, China Telecom Corp. and MainOne, a provider in Nigeria. (Wall Street Journal, 11.12.18)

Elections interference:

• U.S. President Donald Trump on Nov. 16 said he had completed his written answers for special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 U.S. election, but had not yet submitted them to Mueller's office. On Nov. 15 he renewed his attacks on the special counsel investigation, calling it ''a total witch hunt like no other in American history!” (New York Times, 11.16.18, Reuters, 11.16.18).
• On Nov. 9 U.S. President Donald Trump denied discussing the ongoing Russia investigation with Matthew Whitaker before appointing him as acting attorney general. (RFE/RL, 11.09.18)
• U.S. court documents suggest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been criminally charged by prosecutors in a case that could be related to the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the U.S. elections. (RFE/RL, 11.16.18)
• The Russian government is arguing that a federal court should dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Democratic National Committee. In a letter and statement this month to the U.S. State Department and a judge in the Southern District of New York, Russia's Justice Ministry argued that the U.S.’ Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act protects the Russian government from such lawsuits. (The Washington Post, 11.14.18)
• A federal judge refused Nov. 15 to dismiss the indictment of Russian firm Concord Management and Consulting, which is owned by Yevgeniy Prigozhin and accused by special counsel Robert Mueller of funding part of a Russian effort to influence the 2016 U.S. election. (The Washington Post, 11.15.18)
• Special counsel Robert Mueller's office is exploring whether longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone tried to intimidate and discredit a witness who is contradicting Stone's version of events about his contacts with WikiLeaks, according to people who have spoken to Mueller's investigators. (Wall Street Journal, 11.14.18)
• Jerome Corsi, a conspiracy theorist and friend of longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, said on Nov. 12 that his two-month-long cooperation with the special counsel's office has broken down and he expects to be charged with lying to investigators or a federal grand jury. (New York Times, 11.13.18)
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has blocked a bipartisan effort to pass legislation to protect the special counsel investigating ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. (RFE/RL, 11.15.18)
• U.S. Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has told Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham in a meeting that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation will proceed, according to a person familiar with the meeting. (AP, 11.16.18)
• Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker will consult with ethics officials about whether his past criticism of a special investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election requires him to recuse himself, the U.S. Justice Department said. (RFE/RL, 11.13.18)
• Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the company's board of directors took issue with a report suggesting the social-media giant deliberately played down the impact of Russian interference on the platform. An article in the New York Times on Nov. 14 said top executives at Facebook overlooked warning signs and at times sought to conceal the scope of the problem from lawmakers and the public. (Wall Street Journal, 11.15.18)
• After unleashing widespread cyberattacks and disinformation warfare on the U.S. during the 2016 presidential election, Russia's trolls and hackers mostly appeared to have sat on the sidelines during the campaign ahead of last week's midterm elections. (Wall Street Journal, 11.12.18)
• Vera Jourova, European commissioner for justice and consumer policy, has named Russia as the main source behind activities interfering with elections in Europe, but noted that others are also learning from Moscow. (RFE/RL, 11.14.18)

Energy exports:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is ready to cooperate with Saudi Arabia in cutting oil production to stem a big plunge in oil prices, but he said a $70 oil price "suits" Moscow, which has based its own budget and economic projections on the assumption that oil prices would average around $40 this year. However, two high-ranking Russian sources told Reuters Russia wants to stay out of any oil-production cuts being touted by some of its partners in an OPEC-led supply pact. (RFE/RL, 11.16.18, Reuters, 11.15.18)
• Major oil producers meeting in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 11 signaled that they were considering once again changing course and cutting production. But the group, which included Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak, did not make any firm decisions. (New York Times, 11.12.18)
• Compared with 2014, Rosneft has doubled the amount of oil it produces from joint projects with foreign companies to 1.4 million barrels a day, thanks to partnerships with Norwegian, Vietnamese and Indian groups. (Financial Times, 11.12.18)
• Relentless American shale development is set to allow the U.S. to leapfrog the world's other major oil and gas producers, with the potential for the country to account for roughly half of global crude and natural growth by 2025, the International Energy Agency said. (Wall Street Journal, 11.12.18)

Bilateral economic ties:

• No significant developments.

Other bilateral issues:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin told Russia's RT network after the Nov. 11 ceremony in Paris that he and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke during a leaders' luncheon but that a formal meeting would wait until they cross paths at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires later this month. "We are ready for dialogue," Putin said, adding a dig at the Trump administration for announcing that the U.S. would withdraw from a landmark Cold War arms pact. "We're not the ones exiting the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty." (The Washington Post, 11.12.18)
• The Kremlin has lashed out over what Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman says is the recent "unpredictability" of the U.S., saying it was causing "deep global concern." (RFE/RL, 11.14.18)
• The U.S. could yet impose new sanctions to try to block construction of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline across the Baltic Sea to the EU, the U.S. ambassador to the EU said on Nov. 13. (Reuters, 11.13.18)
• A new study by Bloomberg Economics has found that sanctions may have knocked as much as 6 percent off Russia’s economy over the past four years and the drag isn’t likely to go away anytime soon. (Bloomberg, 11.16.18)
• The U.S. Treasury Department late on Nov. 9 said it was giving Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska an additional four weeks, until Jan. 7, to reduce his holdings in EN+, Rusal and GAZ. (RFE/RL, 11.10.18)
• The Russian government will subsidize the Russian National Guard’s purchase of hundreds of armored vehicles and natural gas cars from Gaz, which is controlled by sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska, according to a newly passed decree. (The Moscow Times, 11.16.18)
• Prosecutors and defense lawyers are in talks to potentially resolve a criminal case accusing gun-rights activist Maria Butina of acting as a Russian agent to infiltrate a pro-gun rights organization in the United States and influence U.S. foreign policy toward Russia. (Reuters, 11.16.18)

II. Russia’s domestic news

Politics, economy and energy:

• New results published on Nov. 16 show nearly all indicators of the VTsIOM pollster’s so-called “social well-being index” dropping from last year, including a 20-point slide in social optimism and attitudes towards the political climate, as well as a slide of 15 points in economic outlook. (The Moscow Times, 11.16.18)
• Russian oil companies have agreed to freeze gasoline prices in the country as a global deal to curb oil output has led to a rise in the price of crude. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said that deals to freeze domestic gas prices were signed with oil companies between Nov. 7 and Nov. 10. (The Moscow Times, 11.12.18)
• At 120.7 billion rubles ($1.8 billion) by end of March 2018, the cost of Gazprom’s Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg has surpassed the $1.5 billion Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest structure. The Lakhta Tower also pulled ahead of Malaysia’s $1 billion Petronas Twin Towers and London’s $1.5 billion Shard skyscraper in terms of costs. (The Moscow Times, 11.15.18)
• Moscow has been named the world’s sixth-best metropolis in a ranking of 100 major cities released last week by North American consulting company Resonance Consultancy. (The Moscow Times, 11.13.18)
• Valentin Konovalov, a Communist who ended up being the sole candidate in the runoff for governor in Russia's Khakasia region, has won. (RFE/RL, 11.11.18)
• Russia's multiple arrests of opposition leader Alexei Navalny during street protests amount to a politically motivated campaign to silence him, Europe's top human rights court ruled on Nov. 15, in a rare finding that a government had abused its prosecutorial powers with political intent. (New York Times, 11.16.18)
• Amnesty International has recognized three Russian activists arrested over protests in the city of Rostov-on-Don in 2017 as prisoners of conscience: Yan Sidorov, 18, Vladislav Mordasov, 21 and Vyacheslav Shamshin, 18. (RFE/RL, 11.13.18)
• Liberal-leaning Russian media outlet The New Times has crowdsourced the funds it needs to pay off a crippling government fine in just four days, its editor announced on Nov. 13. (The Moscow Times, 11.13.18)
• Almost half of Russia’s 22,000 math teachers have reportedly flunked a nationwide exam designed to evaluate their professional aptitude. (The Moscow Times, 11.13.18)

Defense and aerospace:

• After one of their rockets malfunctioned last month, triggering an automatic abort, Russian space agency Roscosmos says it knows what happened and how to fix it. Instead of delaying the next flight with astronauts—originally scheduled for Dec. 20—it is moving up the launch to Dec. 3. (The Washington Post, 11.10.18)
• The head of Russia’s space agency has called to revive the Stalin-era practice of using the designers of new equipment as guinea pigs during safety tests following a series of setbacks in the space industry in recent months. (The Moscow Times, 11.12.18)

Security, law-enforcement and justice:

• Viktor Kudryavtsev, a 75-year-old researcher at a Russian rocket and spacecraft design facility who is charged with treason has rejected a deal with investigators and will remain in custody, his lawyer says. (RFE/RL, 11.15.18)
• Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service says the country needs more prisons to hold police officers and other law enforcement agents who have been convicted of crimes. (RFE/RL, 11.14.18)
• A top official of Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) said that there were about 1 million people in Russian prisons when he started working at FSIN in 2012, and that the number had decreased to about 470,000. (RFE/RL, 11.14.18)
• A Russian teenager who brought an ax, several knives and a canister of gasoline to his school has been hospitalized after swallowing rat poison, media reports and officials in the Volgograd region say. (RFE/RL, 11.14.18)

III. Foreign affairs, trade and investment

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

• French President Emmanuel Macron and some 70 heads of state and government—including U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel—attended a ceremony in Paris on Nov. 11 to commemorate the centenary of the armistice that brought an end to World War I. (RFE/RL, 11.11.18)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin—not U.S. President Donald Trump, like last year—took the prominent spot to the right of host Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the end of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations events Nov. 15 in Singapore. Trump’s chosen representative, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, stood two places to their left. Putin visited Singapore for the first time. (The Moscow Times, 11.15.18, The Washington Post, 11.13.18)
• On Nov. 12, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev led the Russian delegation to Italy for a two-day conference in Palermo in an Italian bid to bridge the parties in the Libyan conflict, reunite Libya’s institutions and craft a path to elections. (Al Monitor, 11.15.18)
• Novaya Gazeta says video released by the self-styled Libyan National Army shows businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin allegedly linked to a private contractor that sent mercenaries to Syria at a Moscow meeting that included Libyan National Army head Khalifa Hifter, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of staff of Russia’s armed forces. (AP, 11.10.18)
• Novaya Gazeta reported Nov. 16 that a man seen wearing civilian dress at the meeting was Yevgeny Prigozhin. The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, eager to resolve a row that has haunted ties with Moscow since World War II, has told Russian President Vladimir Putin the U.S. would not put troops on disputed islands if they are handed over to Japan. (Reuters, 11.16.18)
• Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has threatened to pull out of next year’s World Economic Forum in Davos unless organizers lift a reported ban on three Russian businessmen: Oleg Deripaska, Viktor Vekselberg and Andrei Kostin. (The Moscow Times, 11.14.18)
• U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has warned the Czech government not to choose Russia as a partner for a lucrative nuclear-energy plan. He added that the "U.S. [nuclear industry] is the safest, most reliable for the job." (RFE/RL, 11.14.18)
• Austria will not unilaterally expel any Russian diplomats in response to a case in which an Austrian army colonel is suspected of having spied for Moscow for 26 years, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Nov. 14. An Austrian court on Nov. 13 rejected prosecutors' request that the colonel be remanded in custody pending trial. (Reuters, 11.15.18, Reuters, 11.13.18)
• A report drafted by a European lawmaker has called for the creation of a new portfolio in the European Commission dedicated to the fight against propaganda and for more resources to be dedicated to the EU unit set up to address Russia's disinformation campaigns. (RFE/RL, 11.12.18)
• French President Emmanuel Macron has lifted a ban on Russia Today, the Kremlin-funded TV station that he said smeared him during the 2017 presidential elections and worked as a propaganda tool. (Bloomberg, 11.14.18)
• Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis's 35-year-old son says he was held against his will in Crimea after associates of his father arranged to send him there amid scrutiny over accusations of embezzlement of EU funds. (RFE/RL, 11.13.18)
• The Russian nationals accused of the Salisbury Novichok poisonings were recognized by two “super recognizers”—people with extraordinary face-recognition ability—employed by the Metropolitan Police Force after sifting through hours of CCTV footage. (The Guardian, 11.11.18)

China:

• One Western diplomat in Moscow says that although historical distrust between Russia and China would mean the countries could never build a full geopolitical alliance, “it is an easy way for both of them to gain some small advantages from each other and have a pop at the U.S.” (Financial Times, 11.12.18)
• Boosted by new oil supply deals, agriculture and defense shipments, Russia’s trade with China accounted for 15.5 percent of Russia’s total turnover last year, up from 10.6 percent in 2013. At the same time, the EU’s share fell from 49.6 percent to 43.8 percent. (Financial Times, 11.12.18)
• This week, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are capitalizing on U.S. President Donald Trump's absence from two major summits. Putin met with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore, and Xi will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Papua New Guinea. (The Washington Post, 11.15.18)
• Three of the eight countries with the highest debt risk from Chinese lending are Russia's close neighbors: Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. (The Washington Post, 11.15.18)

Ukraine:

• Two separatist-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine announced the winners of leadership elections on Nov. 12 that were dismissed by Kiev and its international allies as a sham exercise engineered by Russia to install puppet regimes. The Donetsk region's acting head Denis Pushilin was confirmed as leader with 61 percent of the vote while the acting chief of the Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, also won with 68 percent. (Reuters, 11.13.18)
  • Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov congratulated the winners, according to the separatist press service DAN, though a Kremlin spokesman later said he was not aware any congratulations had been extended. (Reuters, 11.13.18)
  • The U.S., EU member states and Canada condemned the vote as illegal and in violation of a ceasefire agreed in Minsk in 2015. (Reuters, 11.13.18)
  • "This is a brutal violation of the Minsk agreements," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said. (Reuters, 11.13.18)
  • The EU has issued a statement rejecting "elections" scheduled for Nov. 11 in the separatist-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine. The EU is also set to add five individuals involved in the organization of the weekend elections to its sanctions list. (RFE/RL, 11.15.18,  RFE/RL, 11.10.18)
  • Denis Pushilin, the newly elected leader of separatists in the Donetsk region, has promised closer integration with Russia following polls denounced as a sham by Kiev and the West. (RFE/RL, 11.15.18)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he doesn't expect any progress toward establishing peace in eastern Ukraine until after Ukrainian elections, which he said he hopes will produce a new president next year. (RFE/RL, 11.16.18)
• Ahead of the vote in Donbas, four Ukrainian soldiers were reported killed in or near separatist-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 11.10.18)
• Russian military veterans will ask the International Criminal Court to investigate Russia's alleged secret deployment of civilian contractors to fight in Syria, Ukraine and Africa. (RFE/RL, 11.10.18)
• As many as 78 percent of Ukrainians believe the country is moving in the wrong direction, shows a joint opinion poll conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, the Razumkov Center and the Rating Sociological Group. (TASS, 11.13.18)
• Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has formally refused to accept the resignation of the country’s prosecutor-general Yuriy Lutsenko, who has been criticized for the handling of a probe into the death of anticorruption activist Kateryna Handzyuk in an acid attack. (RFE/RL, 11.09.18)
• The Serbian Orthodox Church says it will not recognize a decision by the leadership of Orthodox Christianity to rehabilitate the leaders of two Ukrainian Orthodox churches breaking away from Moscow. (RFE/RL, 11.13.18)
• Unknown assailants threw petrol bombs at a historic 18th century Orthodox church in Kiev and attacked a priest early on Nov. 15, a church spokesman said, blaming Moscow for the incident. (Reuters, 11.15.18)
• Germany is calling on Ukraine to remove the controversial Myrotvorets website that lists what it calls "enemies of the state" after Berlin's former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder appeared on the list. (RFE/RL, 11.16.18)
• Ukraine and the U.S. have agreed to extend by five years an existing agreement on cooperation in improving nuclear safety and the regulation of civil nuclear facilities in Ukraine. (World Nuclear News, 11.15.18)
• Corruption depresses Ukraine’s annual growth by two percentage points, Goesta Ljungman, the International Monetary Fund representative in Ukraine said on Nov. 13. (Ukraine Business News, 11.14.18)
• Through September, air traffic in Ukraine is up 24 percent year on year, to 15.6 million. (Ukraine Business News, 11.14.18)
• The World Bank plans to launch a $753 million agriculture investment acceleration project in Ukraine by February 2019. (Interfax, 11.14.18)
• All known Lenin statues on Ukrainian government-controlled territory have now been dismantled—more than 1,300 in total since the decommunization laws were passed in 2015. One exception: monuments near the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. (The Washington Post, 11.16.18)

Russia’s other post-Soviet neighbors:

• Eleven political parties and alliances have submitted documents to vie for seats in the Armenian parliament in the snap elections scheduled for Dec. 9. (RFE/RL, 11.15.18)
• Armenia’s top court has overturned an earlier decision by a lower court to release former President Robert Kocharian from custody following coup charges leveled against him. (RFE/RL, 11.15.18)
• The European Parliament has overwhelmingly passed a resolution highly critical of Moldova, saying it has become a “state captured by oligarchic interests” that exert their influence over most part of Moldova's society. (RFE/RL, 11.14.18)
• The Moldovan intelligence service, SIS, on Nov. 14 said it had broken up a paramilitary group that had links to the pro-Russian separatist cause in eastern Ukraine, including illicitly recruiting fighters for the conflict. (Balkan Insight, 11.14.18)
• Kazakhstan’s debut eurobonds issue of 1.05 billion euros was oversubscribed, as investors brushed aside concerns about the country’s weakness in areas such as banking and focused instead on its low debt levels and large forex reserves. (Financial Times, 11.16/18)
• Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov has accused his predecessor Almazbek Atambaev of attempting to unduly influence him. "His attempts to turn me into a puppet leader through some third individuals,” he said. (RFE/RL, 11.16.18)

IV. Quoteworthy

• No significant developments.