Current Digest of the Russian Press, Vol. 77, No. 17 – Table of Contents

KELLOGG ANNOUNCES A NEW ROUND OF TALKS IN LONDON; RUBIO: IF TRUCE ISN’T DOABLE IN A ‘MATTER OF DAYS,’ U.S. WILL NEED TO ‘MOVE ON’

(By Gennady Petrov. Nezavisimaya gazeta, April 21, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) The talks to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict that are being led by [US President] Donald Trump’s team will be moved to London. An American delegation will arrive there, in the British capital. . . …

PUTIN: UKRAINE COMMITTED VIOLATIONS DURING EASTER TRUCE, BUT DROP IN COMBAT ACTIVITY WAS RECORDED; EXPERT: KIEV IS NOT WILLING TO TALK, TRUCE WAS A CLEAR ‘MORAL VICTORY’ FOR RUSSIA

(By Roman Kretsul and Vasilisa Yaseneva. Izvestia, April 22, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:). .. After awarding the Service prize on April 21, President Vladimir Putin spoke with journalists, who were particularly interested in the results of his recent humanitarian initiative – a 30-hour Easter ceasefire [see Vol. 77, No. 16, pp. 3 – 7]. It officially ended at midnight on April 21. The head of state announced that military operations in the zone of the special military operation [in Ukraine] had already resumed. According to the president, during the pause, Kiev committed 4,900 violations, including attacks, artillery shelling and drone strikes, but a drop in combat activity was still observed. He said this was also the assessment of Russian Army group commanders. In general, Russia has a positive attitude about any peace initiatives and expects that Kiev will also. However, Vladimir Putin recalled, the Ukrainian side initially rejected the Russian initiative for an Easter truce…

RG: AS SPECULATION MOUNTS ABOUT CONTENT OF NEW PLAN, U.S. APPEARS TO BE BIDDING ADIEU TO PEACE NEGOTIATIONS, SAYING THIS ISN’T ITS WAR

(By Yevgeny Shestakov. Rossiiskaya gazeta, April 22, 2025, p. 6. Condensed text:) US special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff will presumably fly to Moscow at the end of the week to present the Russian leadership with a new package of proposals on Ukraine. This time, this document will present a plan the US has agreed upon with Europe and Kiev, which will be discussed this week in London. No one knows exactly what will end up in the document. Citing its own sources, the Western press is making assumptions about this, which Ukrainian politicians are rushing to refute. It is clear the settlement plan will be made from scratch in London, and it could end up being entirely unacceptable to Russia. The participation of three officials close to Zelensky in the upcoming talks, which will take place under the bong of Big Ben, along with representatives of the US, the UK and France, threatens to nullify all the US’s previous groundwork. Then the “contours of a lasting peace” promised by the State Department will turn into yet another unrealistic piece of paper, a “pumpkin” that Moscow will never agree to…

RUBIO PULLS OUT OF TALKS, FOLLOWED BY FRENCH, GERMAN FMS, ALLEGEDLY BECAUSE OF ZELENSKY’S REFUSAL TO RECOGNIZE THE CRIMEA AS A RUSSIAN TERRITORY; RUSSIA UNRUFFLED BY TURN OF EVENTS

(By Gennady Petrov. Nezavisimaya gazeta, April 24, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) The much ballyhooed talks in London, which were supposedly going to decide whether Donald Trump would continue with the peace process between Russia and Ukraine, had a lot less representation than expected. At the last minute, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pulled out of them, and he was followed by the British, French and German foreign ministers. . . …

RBC SOURCES: POPOV TOLD COURT OF WISH TO SERVE IN UKRAINE, LIFELONG LOYALTY TO ARMY, PRESIDENT; CITES ‘MISTAKES’ MADE IN TALKS WITH SUPERIORS

([No author indicated.] RBC Daily, April 22, 2205, https://www.rbc.ru/politics/22/04/2025/68079f8b9a7947415ebba14a?from=article_body. Complete text:) Gen. Ivan Popov asked the court to hand down a just decision after considering his case. He stated that although he had made mistakes, he does not admit guilt, participants in the process said. The general also asked to be given the opportunity to be useful to the country…

FILIPPOV: HERO OF ZAPOROZHYE, FATHER TO TROOPS, PUTIN LOYALIST, SCRUPULOUSLY HONEST GENERAL RECEIVED HEAVY FINE, FIVE YEARS IN PRISON DESPITE POPULARITY, FOR TRYING TO TELL PUTIN THE TRUTH

(By Ivan Filippov. Kholod, April 28, 2025, https://holod.media/2025/04/28/chto-volnuet-voenkorov-xxxvii/. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – Gen. Ivan Popov, former commander of the 58th Army who successfully stopped the [2023] Ukrainian offensive in Zaporozhye Province, has been found guilty of fraud and falsifying official records. He has also been stripped of his rank of major general. Popov’s case is not only the most vivid illustration of the nature of Putin’s system; it is also an opportunity for us to find out how much the president knows about the war. In his new op-ed, author Ivan Filippov, who studies the Z community [the Roman letter Z symbolizes support for the Ukraine war – Trans.], comments on the sentence given to “Russia’s most popular general,” “Putin’s warrior” and “the tip of Putin’s spear,” whose downfall could not be averted, no matter how much he was admired by his soldiers and how loyal he was to the president…

(By Andrei Pertsev. Meduza, April 28, 2025, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/04/28/qualified-people-don-t-want-the-job. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – Soon, mayoral elections will be a thing of the past in Russia’s regional capitals. Instead, the authorities have introduced so-called mayoral competitions: Candidates submit applications, and a selection committee (made up largely of representatives from the regional governor’s office) screens them and then chooses a winner from among the finalists. But as it turns out, there are few people willing to compete. In Kurgan, for example, the city has been without a permanent mayor since January 2024, despite holding three separate competitions. And Kurgan is far from the only regional capital facing a leadership crisis. Meduza special correspondent Andrei Pertsev explains how going without a mayor has become the new normal for many major Russian cities – and why the once-prestigious post is no longer desirable.

The Russian city of Kurgan has been without a mayor for more than a year. The previous mayor, Yelena Sitnikova, resigned in January 2024 after facing criminal charges, and when officials still hadn’t managed to find a replacement by mid-spring, the delay caught the attention of President Vladimir Putin. “You need to organize the necessary procedures and hold a proper election,” he chided that April…

(By Mikhail Tegin. Republic.ru, April 23, 2025, https://republic.ru/posts/115593. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – US President Donald Trump keeps surprising [everyone] with his unpredictability. The trade war with China, the [world’s] second largest economy; the possibility of unfreezing relations with Russia, including the recognition of [Russian sovereignty over] the Crimea; and also talks about a ceasefire in the special military operation [in Ukraine]. How is Russia preparing for all this, and what consequences will it have for its economy? Economic analyst Aleksandr Kolyandr, a nonresident senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), discussed this in an interview with Republic.

Question. – How do you assess Donald Trump’s actions and their impact on Russia? We’re curious to know their impact more on the day-to-day lives of ordinary Russians than on the state…

(By Aleksei Vesnin. Krasnaya zvezda, April 25, 2025, p. 3. Complete text:) An expanded meeting of the military council of the Ground Forces took place in Moscow. The event was attended by Russian Deputy Defense Minister Army Gen. Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, the senior leadership of the Main Command of the Ground Forces, heads of military universities and training centers of the Ground Forces, representatives of military district commands, and veterans of the Armed Forces service branch.

Before the meeting began, the participants were presented with a specialized exhibition titled “Innovation Day of the Main Command of the Ground Forces,” which showcased over 100 innovative projects in the fields of artificial intelligence, medicine, robotics, information technologies, combat gear, small arms, communications equipment, a wide range of strike and reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles and other advanced systems. Notably, around 3,000 of these systems are scheduled to be delivered to the contact line for operational use before the end of April…

(By Yelizaveta Borisenko and Semyon Boikov. Izvestia, April 23, 2025, p. 2. Condensed text:) The Moldovan government could adopt a law under which the bashkan [head] of Gagauzia would have to be approved by the Chisinau government, Izvestia learned from the country’s legislative body.

Moldovan Bloc of Communists and Socialists Deputy Bogdan Țirdea said this could easily happen. “[Moldovan President] Maia Sandu and her party have taken a cue from the West and are gradually paring back the powers of the Gagauz autonomy. This all shows that they are pursuing a clear goal: either to deprive the autonomy of its key powers before it falls to the level of a regular district – a regular administrative unit – or to abolish it all together,” he said…

(By Vladimir Skosyrev. Nezavisimaya gazeta, April 25, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky paid a visit to South Africa and held talks with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Officially, the purpose of the trip was to strengthen bilateral relations and facilitate a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine crisis.. . .

A Ukrainian presidential press service statement makes it clear that Zelensky made Ramaphosa aware of Ukraine’s position on peace talks…

(By Olga Solovyova. Nezavisimaya gazeta, April 25, 2025, p. 1. Complete text:) [US President] Donald Trump’s tariff war [see Vol. 77, No. 15, pp. 3 – 7] is yielding unexpected results. Europe is preparing for an increase in the supply of Chinese goods and for a general decline in prices. Beijing and the European Union are preparing to simultaneously lift mutual political and trade sanctions. And Russia is ready to sign new agreements with China for the promotion and mutual protection of investments.

The new US customs duties will create conditions in Europe for reducing inflation. US tariffs may be disinflationary for Europe, rather than inflationary, said European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde. “China will have overcapacity and will want to reroute its exports somewhere, possibly to Europe, and that would have a dampening impact on prices,” Lagarde said…

(By Andrei Melnikov. Nezavisimaya gazeta, April 22, 2025, p. 1. Complete text:) Early in the morning on April 21, the 266th pope, Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio), passed away. He was able to take part in a limited way in Easter services on April 20. This year, the celebrations of Easter coincided for Western and Eastern Christians. Francis had high hopes for the symbolism of this event, perhaps believing it foreshadowed a new future accord among world powers and civilizations. He lived to see his aspirations reflected in the Easter ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, but the world remains in a state of global upheaval and confrontation following his death. The pontiff’s last public act was an audience given to US Vice President JD Vance, a devout Catholic who holds views that run counter to the progressive globalist ideas of the Roman Catholic Church under Pope Francis.

“What a great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of our world! How much violence we see, often even within families, directed at women and children! How much contempt is stirred up at times toward the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants!” Pope Francis’s last “Urbi et Orbi” Easter message reads. “I would like us to renew our hope that peace is possible!” The pontiff was unable to read his message on his own…

(By Leonid Tsukanov. Izvestia, April 21, 2025, p. 3. Condensed text:) A second round of talks between the US and Iran has taken place in Rome. On April 19, the parties continued to discuss the issues raised in Muscat a week ago, but with greater emphasis on specific points of a hypothetical agreement. Both Tehran and Washington brought to the Rome meeting “admonitions” from partners, some of whom had previously participated in concluding the first nuclear deal. However, while the Iranian position remains monolithic, there is still noticeable vacillation within the American team, provoked in part by advice from outside.

Despite the fact that Rome was chosen as the meeting place this time, the Omani diplomatic corps remained the manager of the negotiations. It also provided the arriving teams with a venue – the meeting took place at the residence of the sultanate’s ambassador to Italy…