Current Digest of the Russian Press, Vol. 77, No. 34 – Table of Contents

PUTIN, TRUMP STRIKE OPTIMISTIC NOTE, DO NOT TAKE QUESTIONS AT POST-SUMMIT JOINT PRESSER; EXPERTS: WHILE DETAILS SCARCE, CONTINUED DIALOGUE WILL SUPPORT EVENTUAL SETTLEMENT ON RUSSIAN TERMS

(By Kira Latukhina in Anchorage. Rossiiskaya gazeta, Aug. 18, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) On Saturday night Moscow time, the first summit of the presidents of Russia and the US in four years took place [see Vol. 77, No. 33, pp. 3-8], marking [Russian President] Vladimir Putin’s first visit to the US in 10 years. The leaders did not publicly announce the agreements reached. Putin stated that they would serve as a cornerstone for resolving the Ukraine crisis, while [US President Donald] Trump noted there was a good chance of achieving a peace settlement…

NOVAYA: UKRAINE BOLSTERED AS TRUMP WELCOMES ZELENSKY, EUROPEANS TO WHITE HOUSE GATHERING; U.S. PROMISES ‘SECURITY GUARANTEES’ OF SOME KIND AS ALLIES DEVELOP SYSTEM TO FUND ARMS SUPPLIES

(By Nikolai Pershin and Ilya Volzhsky. Novaya gazeta Europe, Aug. 19, 2025, https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/08/19/feniks-transatlanticheskogo-partnerstva. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – When the leaders of the US, Ukraine and a few select European nations met at the White House on Aug. 18, it was not as bad as some had feared, considering how unpredictable Donald Trump is and how unsympathetic he had been at times toward Vladimir Zelensky and European leaders…

LAVROV RESPONDS TO ‘SECURITY GUARANTEE’ TALK WITH WARNINGS, PROPOSAL FOR MULTIPOLAR FORCE; ‘COALITION OF THE WILLING’ AND U.S. DEBATE ROLES IN ‘REASSURANCE FORCES’ FOR POSTWAR UKRAINE

(By Sergei Strokan. Kommersant, Aug. 21, 2025, p. 6. Condensed text:) On Aug. 20, NATO defense chiefs held a virtual meeting on Ukraine, discussing the results of the Alaska summit and talks between President Zelensky and European leaders in Washington. The meeting of NATO military chiefs is the first since President Donald Trump relieved the US and NATO of the responsibility to provide security guarantees for Ukraine, shifting [the onus] to his European allies. The dramatic revision of Western strategy has revealed the total inability of the Europeans to build a new security system on their own without the US “umbrella.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected a European peacekeeping mission, as represented by so-called deterrence forces, and for the first time made public Moscow’s alternative proposal: making the Big Five [permanent] members of the UN Security Council, including China, guarantors of peace in Ukraine…

STATE DUMA DELEGATION PREPARES TO VISIT CHINA AHEAD OF PUTIN’S UPCOMING TRIP TO MARK END OF WWII; EXPERT: DEALINGS WITH CHINA ‘PREDICTABLE’

(By Yelena Mukhametshina and Maksim Ivanov. Vedomosti, Aug. 19, 2025, https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2025/08/19/1132545-delegatsiya-gosdumi-posetit-kitai. Condensed text:) According to two Vedomosti sources on Okhotny Row [the street where the State Duma is located – Trans.], State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin will lead a State Duma delegation to China at the end of the week. One of the sources said the working visit will last several days and include visits to Beijing and Changchun. The other source in the lower house confirms that the deputies will travel to China…

INDIA TO CONTINUE BUYING RUSSIAN OIL DESPITE U.S. TARIFFS, AMBASSADOR SAYS; EXPERT: TRUMP SEEKS LEVERAGE IN TALKS WITH MODI ON TRADE, UKRAINE

(By Anastasia Kostina. Izvestia, Aug. 21, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – India has made a final decision on Russian energy resources. New Delhi will buy [Russian] oil despite US pressure, Indian Ambassador to Russia Vinay Kumar told Izvestia. On Aug. 21, the Russian and Indian foreign ministers will meet in Moscow to discuss strengthening their strategic partnership. Earlier, [US President] Donald Trump slapped 25% tariffs on Indian imports [to punish India] for buying Russian oil. . . . Read Izvestia’s report for more details about how the Ukraine settlement process could impact Russian energy supplies…

(Editorial) – DID TRUMP MAKE A GEOPOLITICAL MISTAKE WITH INDIA? (Nezavisimaya gazeta, Aug. 21, 2025, p. 2. Complete text:) It has been 15 years since the US political elite declared China to be the main political and economic threat to US national interests. The Americans are afraid that world-leading China will use its power to set its own standards and rules for the global trade in goods and services, as well as for regulating investment flows. [Former US president Barack] Obama argued that there was a need to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement to get ahead of China in building a fundamentally new contemporary architecture for trade and economic relations in the most dynamically growing region in the world.

It was precisely the prioritized focus on defending against the Chinese threat that forced politicians to look for ways to tear Moscow and New Delhi away from Beijing. The belief was that it would be much harder for China to stand up to the US in the Asia-Pacific region if it were deprived of such power partners as Russia and India…

(By Darya Garmonenko. Nezavisimaya gazeta, Aug. 18, 2025, p. 3. Condensed text:) The parliamentary opposition has scaled back its activity in upholding the freedom of Internet communication, including via foreign messengers Telegram and WhatsApp (owned by Meta Corporation, which is recognized as an extremist organization and banned in Russia). . . .

By all indications, the nonestablishment segment of the opposition wants to coopt the free Internet and foreign messenger issue from parliamentary parties. For instance, politician Boris Nadezhdin told NG that he has submitted an application to hold a rally on Moscow’s Sakharov Prospekt “For a Free Internet – Against Censorship” with 1,000 participants on Aug. 30. [Nadezhdin’s] supporters are apparently going to submit such applications in almost 10 cities, including St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk [and] Kazan. In Perm, the local authorities initially granted an application for a rally on Aug. 16, but then hastily retracted their approval after Nadezhdin promoted the authorized event on social media…

(By Mikhail Shevchuk. Republic.ru, Aug. 19, 2025, https://republic.ru/posts/116259. Complete text:) Voice calls through the most popular messenger apps, WhatsApp and Telegram, have been restricted in Russia [see Vol. 77. No. 33, p. 14, and No. 33, pp. 14 15]. This has, of course, once again been done “at the workers’ request” [a Soviet-era cliché meaning something was allegedly done by popular demand – Trans.]. Modern Russia has now surpassed its Soviet predecessor in many ways, including the fact that the mythical “workers” now don’t even appear on stage.

Everything happened quickly: In July, State Duma Deputy Anton Gorelkin said that “WhatsApp should get ready to leave the Russian market” because it “is very likely to end up on the list of software from unfriendly countries subject to restrictions.” By August, Roskomnadzor [Federal Oversight Service for Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media] had already announced that restrictions were being introduced. Granted, for now, only voice calls are being restricted, not the messenger as a whole, but the point stands, since this feature was in high demand among users…

(By Andrei Gavrilenko and Daniil Konstantinov. Krasnaya zvezda, Aug. 22, 2025, p. 1. Complete text:) . . . Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov held a staff meeting at the command post of the Sever [North] group of forces, where he heard reports on the current situation and the enemy’s actions in the group’s area of responsibility and assigned a number of tasks.

The group’s commander, Col. Gen. Yevgeny Nikiforov, reported to Belousov that the group is outfitted with modern weapons and military equipment and that this hardware is updated based on experience gained during combat operations in the special military operation [in Ukraine]…

(By Aleksandr Urzhanov. Republic.ru, Aug. 21, 2025, https://republic.ru/posts/116266. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – On Aug. 12, 2000, the Kursk submarine sank during exercises in the Barents Sea [see Vol. 52, No. 33, pp. 1 7]. But the loss of the crew was only officially announced on Aug. 22 – the entire country spent those 10 days tensely watching the catastrophe unfold. The loss of the Kursk is considered to be [Russian President] Vladimir Putin’s first test as president of Russia – it includes the meeting with widows in Vidyayevo [see Vol. 52, No. 34, pp. 10 11] and the phrase “It sank,” which he uttered in an interview with [late American journalist] Larry King. Looking back at these events a quarter of a century later, Aleksandr Urzhanov does not recognize the country in which they took place.

On Aug. 10, the Kursk submarine set sail for exercises. It set sail with a host of problems, and the sum total of those problems led to two explosions: Most of the crew died right away, but two dozen people lived for several more days. We know of the heartrending note Capt. [Dmitry] Kolesnikov wrote in complete darkness at the bottom of the sea. And, in general, we know much about the Kursk thanks to the enormous body of work done by experts and journalists who fought for years to tell the truth about the tragedy…

(By Igor Seleznyov. Nezavisimaya gazeta, Aug. 20, 2025, p. 5. Condensed text:) The Armenian and Iranian authorities intend to upgrade their relations to a strategic partnership. This became known following Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Yerevan. . . .

Ten memoranda of understanding in the political, economic, educational and cultural fields were signed at the conclusion of the talks. Speaking at a joint press briefing with Masoud Pezeshkian, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the parties have come to the conclusion that it is time to raise bilateral relations to a strategic level. At the same time, the prime minister [said he] hopes that this decision will help implement his Crossroads of Peace initiative…

(By Anastasia Kostina and Semyon Boikov. Izvestia, Aug. 20, 2025, p. 2. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – Chisinau will aggravate relations with Transnistria and Gagauzia after the Sept. 28 elections, the Moldovan parliament and the opposition Victory bloc say with certainty. [Opposition lawmakers] told Izvestia that authorities are already cracking down hard on protests and strengthening their powers. . . .

The situation in Moldova is heating up a month before the parliamentary elections. “They dragged everyone to the police vans indiscriminately – young people, pensioners. Even the entertainers in their full-body costumes of fairy tale characters were taken in,” the Victory bloc told Izvestia, commenting on the recent protests over the actions of the authorities…

(By Albert Kalashyan. Izvestia, Aug. 22, 2025, p. 3. Condensed text:) . . . The US military has left Ain al-Asad, its largest base in Anbar Province [Iraq], official sources in Baghdad told Izvestia.

“Columns of military equipment moved from the base in Anbar Province toward Al-Harir [air] base in the city of Erbil (the capital of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region – Ed.) in accordance with the agreement on the withdrawal of the international coalition forces,” Izvestia’s sources reported…

(By Igor Serebryany. Ekspert, Aug. 21, 2025, https://expert.ru/v-mire/si-tszinpin-pomeryaetsya-paradom-s-trampom/. Condensed text:) . . . Beijing takes celebrations of Sept. 3 – what the People’s Republic of China officially calls the Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War – extremely seriously. A program of celebrations published by the Xinhua news agency on Aug. 20 promises a massive parade on Tiananmen Square involving tens of thousands of troops of both sexes, hundreds of aircraft and “previously unseen” types of weapons. Among these are hypersonic missiles with a speed of Mach 5, antidrone systems, new models of tanks, stealth bombers and other high-tech systems.

Until Sept. 3, traffic on the streets of Beijing is restricted due to parade rehearsals. The last time Victory Day was celebrated on such a grand scale in China was in 2015, on the 70th anniversary [see Vol. 67, No. 37, pp. 6 8]. However, 12,000 people took part in that parade, consisting of units from the armies of 17 countries, including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Cambodia, Egypt and even veterans from Taiwan. This time, 40,000 people took part in just one of the rehearsals Aug. 16-17…