Current Digest of the Russian Press, Vol. 77, No. 16 – Table of Contents

NG: SUPREME RADA VOTES FOR ZELENSKY’S BILL TO EXTEND MARTIAL LAW; ZELENSKY SEEMS TO BACK OUT OF RIYADH DEAL BUT INDICATES READINESS TO SIGN MINERALS DEAL IN FACE OF SANCTIONS THREAT

(By Natalya Prikhodko. Nezavisimaya gazeta, April 17, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:). .. On Wednesday, Ukraine’s Supreme Rada extended the period of martial law and mobilization for the 15th time. The day before, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky sent parliament draft laws extending the corresponding period for another 90 days – until Aug. 6…

PUTIN SHOCKS THE WORLD BY ANNOUNCING EASTER TRUCE; KIEV REJECTS OFFER, BUT CHANGES MIND AND PROPOSES 30-DAY TRUCE; U.S. EXPRESSES IMPATIENCE, SAYS IT WILL ‘NEED TO MOVE ON’ WITHOUT PROGRESS

(By Sergei Strokan. Kommersant, April 21, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) The 30-hour Easter ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict zone announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin expired overnight on April 21.. . …

KHRUSHCHEVA: NO PARTY WITH ‘STAKE IN WAR’ CAN CURRENTLY GET WHAT IT WANTS BY SUPPORTING A TRUCE, BUT RUSSIA MAY BE IN BEST POSITION SINCE TRUMP WANTS TO ATTAIN ‘PEACEMAKING AMBITIONS’

(By Nina L. Khrushcheva, professor of international affairs at The New School in New York. Novaya gazeta Europe, April 17, 2025, https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/04/17/bad-faith-actors-en. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – This article was first published by Project Syndicate. Views expressed in opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the position of Novaya gazeta Europe…

MELONI VISITS VON DER LEYEN, TRUMP IN APPARENT EFFORT TO OPEN TRADE TALKS; EXPERTS: PRESIDENT STILL SEEKS ALLIES ON EUROPEAN RIGHT TO ISOLATE CHINA, BUILD SHARED POLICY FOR UKRAINE TALKS

(By Leonid Samuna. Izvestia, April 18, 2025, p. 2. Condensed text:) European Union countries are trying to establish contact with the new American administration. On April 17, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with [US President] Donald Trump. The agenda included the cancellation of tariffs on industrial goods from the EU and a search for compromises on trade.. . …

BERDICHEVSKAYA: EU UNWILLING TO SURRENDER TO BUT COULD MAKE DEAL WITH ‘SCHOOLYARD BULLY’ TRUMP; LEADING STATES SEEK NEW WAYS TO OFFFER AID TO UKRAINE, STRENGTHERN EAST WITHOUT U.S.

(By Marina Berdichevskaya. Republic.ru, April 22, 2025, https://republic.ru/posts/115587. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – For the first time in decades, Europe faces the prospect of being left one-on-one with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, abandoned by the US and with a large-scale conflict looming. Now that Washington has started a trade war and basically severed transatlantic ties, European leaders have to scramble for new strategies to ensure Europe’s security and economic sovereignty. In this article, Marina Berdichevskaya explains how power dynamics on the continent are about to change and what Europe should expect…

(By Darya Garmonenko and Ivan Rodin. Nezavisimaya gazeta, April 15, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) So far, elections for 20 governors of Russian Federation constituent entities have been scheduled for the upcoming single day of voting on Sept. 14.

Of the 20 regional heads being elected during the 2025 single day of voting, 12 are governors who have already served at least one term. Eight others are acting governors, appointed at various times since last fall. And it just so happens that, according to NG’s sources, eight constituent entities promise interesting campaigns…

(By Yekaterina Shcherbinina. Vedomosti, April 16, 2025, https://www.vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2025/04/16/1104846-bivshemu-gubernatoru-kurskoi. Complete text:) Investigators have charged former Kursk Province head Aleksei Smirnov and former deputy governor Aleksei Dedov with embezzling over 1 billion rubles from the budget. This is according to Russian Internal Affairs Ministry official spokeswoman Irina Volk.

The funds were allocated to the Kursk Province Development Corporation to build fortifications on the region’s border with Ukraine. The preliminary investigation has established that Dedov and Smirnov, when the latter was still the region’s deputy governor, organized the embezzlement of money from the budget together with the corporation’s management…

(By Natalia Savelyeva. Krasnaya Zvezda, April 16, 2025, p. 1. Complete text:) A ground drone with a payload of 500 kilograms has been developed at the Volsk Military Logistics Academy – a branch of the Khrulyov Military Academy of Logistical Support.

A new logistics drone developed by the instructors and cadets of the Volsk branch of the Khrulyov Military Academy of Logistical Support is being tested in the zone of the special military operation [in Ukraine]. The Volchanin unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) can deliver ammunition to frontline units and be used to deliver hot meals and evacuate the wounded. Instructors at the Volsk branch note that UGVs are particularly relevant now, because they help minimize the number of personnel on the contact line…

([No author indicated.] Meduza, April 14, 2025, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/04/14/it-s-all-about-raw-exaggerated-emotion. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – Three years into the full-scale war in Ukraine, the Kremlin’s propaganda machine is still hard at work telling Russians that the invasion is justified, Ukraine and the West are to blame, and [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is acting in their best interests. But US President Donald Trump’s first two months back in office have complicated this narrative. His efforts to rebuild ties with Moscow have led Russian state media and officials to swing from cursing the US over the war to praising its president for his kind words about Putin and his dismantling of institutions like USAID. To unpack how Russian propagandists have handled this about-face, the independent outlet Cherta spoke with journalist Ilya Shepelin, who tracks pro-Kremlin media and formerly hosted the show Fake News on TV Rain. Meduza shares an abridged translation of the interview.

Question. – For more than a decade now, Russian propaganda has pushed the idea that America is Russia’s eternal enemy and that US policy is rooted in hatred and fear of our country. But the moment Trump said a few kind words about Putin, Russian TV suddenly forgot all about this existential standoff and started gushing over this “wonderful man” and the America that’s supposedly about to become great again. Were you surprised by this sudden shift?…

(By Igor Seleznyov. Nezavisimaya gazeta, April 16, 2025, p. 5. Condensed text:) Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has announced that his government is prepared to simultaneously sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan and a statement dissolving the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] Minsk Group (MG).. . .

“If we really are turning the page on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict – and we are – then why do we need a format to settle it? But the MG has a broader context de facto, and we want to make sure that Azerbaijan is not viewing this as a step toward ending the conflict on its territory and shifting it to Armenia. We are proposing to sign the peace agreement and, simultaneously, dissolve the MG. That is, sign both documents on the same day,” Pashinyan said…

(By Svetlana Gamova. Nezavisimaya gazeta, April 15, 2025, p. 1. Complete text:) Serghei Cimpoies, a deputy of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia, told NG that “Nagorno-Karabakh is gone, and now the Gagauz autonomy is slipping away.” He said this on Monday [April 21], after the Moldovan Constitutional Court announced its decision finding Art. 21 of the law on Gagauzia’s special status, which concerns how the autonomy’s prosecutor is appointed, unconstitutional. Now the autonomy no longer has its own customs office (which it used to have), its own Central Electoral Commission (which it also used to have) or its own prosecutor (which it had until yesterday). It still has its bashkan (leader), but she has been arrested [see Vol. 77, No. 13, pp. 8 – 10]. One more session, and the Constitutional Court will legally disestablish the autonomy at the request of the prosecutor general. It has already practically been reduced to the level of a district. Now, People’s Assembly Vice-Speaker Georgy Leichu tells NG, Chisinau’s task is to reeducate the Gagauz. Moldovan siloviki [law-enforcement and security officers] are forcing their way into their homes, taking away their phones and fining them for calls to Russia.

The session of the Moldovan Constitutional Court, where the Gagauz people’s right to appoint the prosecutor of the Gagauz autonomy was taken away, was held early Monday morning. Vice-Speaker Georgy Leichu told NG that representatives of the autonomous entity were not even invited to the Constitutional Court session, although they should have been under the law on Gagauzia’s legal status. “We learned about the Constitutional Court’s decision from the media. We contacted Chisinau for an explanation, but we did not receive one. The People’s Assembly had previously asked foreign embassies accredited in Chisinau for help. I spoke about the situation with Janis Mazeiks, the European Union ambassador to Moldova. He told me that he understood everything and that the EU is monitoring the situation in Gagauzia. No one has contacted the Moldovan authorities about the pressure on the autonomy, the arrest of its leader or the deprivation of the rights granted to us by the law on [Gagauzia’s] special legal status, even though the Venice Commission supported our rights and drew attention to violations of the law. Our traditional patron, Turkey, is keeping silent this time. And Russia cannot help, due to the difficult situation in its own country. Chisinau doesn’t pay attention to what is being said in Moscow,” Leichu said…

(By Yelena Chernenko. Kommersant, April 18, 2025, p. 1. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – Responding to a question about the Russian-US Treaty on the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START) in a recent interview, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the US is not proposing anything to Russia to replace the treaty, nor is Russia planning to propose anything. Meanwhile, this crucial treaty expires in February 2026. Yelena Chernenko spoke with Academician Aleksei Arbatov, head of the Center for International Security at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economics and International Relations, about the possible consequences of not replacing the treaty when it expires.

Question. – Are you worried that the New START treaty may expire without any new agreements [being signed]? Or [is this a case of] if it’s dead, it’s dead?…

(By Zhang Hanhui, Chinese ambassador to the Russian Federation. Izvestia, April 18, 2025, p. 1. Complete text:) Recently, despite universal condemnation from the world community, the US imposed so-called reciprocal duties on all its trading partners under absurd pretexts, raising tariffs on Chinese goods to 125% and higher [see Vol. 77, No. 15, pp. 3 – 7].

In response to Washington’s protectionist policy, on April 9, China’s State Council Information office published the 28,000-character white paper “China’s Position on Some Issues Concerning China-US Economic and Trade Relations.” The paper explained the facts of bilateral economic ties, outlines China’s official position on a number of issues, and reveals the essence of unilateral US protectionism, including the abuse of tariffs for economic bullying. Such actions by Washington will disrupt global supply chains and violate market-oriented trade norms, harming not only other countries but also the US’s own economic interests…

(By Oleg Nikiforov. Nezavisimaya gazeta, April 16, 2025, p. 6. Condensed text:) At a rally in Hanover focused on discussions by members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) about a coalition agreement to form a government with the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) bloc, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who is expected to continue as head of his agency in the new cabinet, was skeptical about supplying Ukraine with Taurus long-range cruise missiles. According to him, there are many arguments both for and against the transfer of these missiles to Kiev. He personally agrees with [outgoing] Chancellor Olaf Scholz: Supplies could contribute to an escalation of the conflict between Russia and Europe. However, Pistorius denied that he had previously spoken in favor of supplying the Taurus.

The discussion about German cruise missiles has escalated since Friedrich Merz, the likely [incoming] chancellor and leader of the CDU, spoke in favor of supplying the Ukrainian Armed Forces with Taurus missiles. He justified the need for the supplies by saying that missiles are capable of hitting Russia’s critical infrastructure, in particular the Crimean bridge. However, according to Merz, this step should be coordinated with Germany’s partners, primarily referring to the UK and France…

(By Eastern Studies expert Murad Sadygzade. Izvestia, April 18, 2025, p. 3. Complete text:) Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani arrived in Moscow on April 17 on an official visit, which highlights Qatar’s growing role as an influential player in global politics. Despite its small size, this state has managed to go beyond its regional context and established itself as a serious player in the international arena. It is worth turning our attention to the path that Qatar took to occupy its current position.

The key to Qatar’s global success is its wealth of natural resources. Thanks to vast oil and gas reserves, this country occupies a prominent place on the world’s energy map. In 2024, oil occupied a 13.8% share in the structure of Qatar’s energy reserves, while natural gas accounted for an impressive 86.2%, measured in tons of oil equivalent. Qatar ranks in the top three in volume of proven gas reserves, and 13th in oil…