Current Digest of the Russian Press, Vol. 77, No. 45 – Table of Contents

EXPERT RUFF: AS HALF OF WORLD BANS NUKES, NINE STATES DEVELOP EVER DEADLIER WEAPONS; TRUMP’S TESTING RESUMPTION FRAUGHT WITH THREAT OF NEW ARMS RACE, FALLOUT, DAMAGE TO LIFE AND HEALTH

(By Tilman Ruff, honorary principal fellow, University of Melbourne. Novaya gazeta Europe, Oct. 30, 2025, https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/10/30/the-nuclear-option-en. Complete text:) US President Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing immediately, “on an equal basis” with other countries’ testing programs. If Trump is referring to the resumption of explosive nuclear testing, this would be an extremely unfortunate, regrettable step by the US…

DM BELOUSOV: U.S. NUCLEAR TESTING POLICY SHIFT CONSTITUTES ESCALATION, RUSSIA MUST PREPARE TO CONDUCT ITS OWN TESTS; PUTIN ORDERS FEASIBILITY STUDY INTO TESTING, BUT NOT GO-AHEAD FOR TESTS

([No author indicated.] Vedomosti, Nov. 5, 2025, https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2025/11/05/1152463-o-vozobnovlenii-ispitanii. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – On Nov. 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin convened an operational meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council. Transportation Minister Andrei Nikitin was originally scheduled to present a report on transportation security, but State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin asked Putin about an issue that was “not on the agenda”: The speaker of the lower house asked the president what Moscow’s response would be to Washington’s plans to test nuclear weapons. Vedomosti has collected the main points from the public part of the meeting of the Russian Security Council…

IZVESTIA: MAMDANI’S ELECTION REFLECTS GROWING POLARIZATION IN U.S. CAUSED BY FRUSTRATION FROM LACK OF SOLUTIONS TO PERVASIVE SOCIAL PROBLEMS

PEACE, LABOR, MAYOR!¹ (By Vladislav Petrov and Anastasia Kostina. Izvestia, Nov. 6, 2025, p. 3. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – The political confrontation in the US is escalating. The population, which is growing tired of social problems, is shifting either toward Trumpism or toward left-wing movements. This phenomenon has resulted in the election of Democrat Zohran Mamdani, who proclaims himself to be a socialist, as mayor of New York. . . . In this article, Izvestia looks at how the situation will develop further…

EXPERT: VOTERS MOVED BY MAMDANI’S MAGNETISM, A DESIRE TO REJECT ‘OLD SYSTEM’; MAMDANI’S IDEAS WILL BE ‘DIFFICULT TO IMPLEMENT’ BECAUSE THEY REQUIRE THE SUPPORT OF STATE, FEDERAL OFFICIALS

(By Maria Litvinova. Republic.ru, Nov. 6, 2025, https://republic.ru/posts/116642. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old pro-Palestinian socialist, born in Uganda to parents of Indian descent, will become New York City’s first Muslim mayor. His campaign was a vivid example of left-wing populism: Mamdani promised a rent freeze [on rent-stabilized units] and free public transportation. He also vowed to rid the city of oligarchs by raising taxes for them…

(By Natalya Bashlykova. Izvestia, Nov. 6, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – . . . It has been proposed to limit retail markups to 15%. As Izvestia learned, A Just Russia deputies will submit this bill to the State Duma on Nov. 6. Currently, markups can be as high as 300%, which is pushing up prices, the bill’s sponsors explained. . . . Izvestia assessed the chances of this initiative becoming law.

The plan is to limit the markup on goods that producers provide to retail chains to 15%. This bill with amendments to the Law on Basic Principles of Trade Regulation in the Russian Federation will be submitted to the State Duma by deputies from the A Just Russia faction led by Sergei Mironov on Nov. 6. The bill’s explanatory note (Izvestia has a copy) states that it was prepared in keeping with the president’s decree and directives, including on the stabilization of food prices…

(Aleksandr Tikhonov. Krasnaya zvezda, Nov. 6, 2025, p. 3. Complete text:) On National Unity Day, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented state awards at the Kremlin to the developers of the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon unmanned underwater vehicle.

The head of state thanked the creators of these unique weapons systems and congratulated them on an outstanding achievement – one that he said holds historic significance for the Russian people and for ensuring strategic parity throughout the 21st century. He also noted that the technologies used in Poseidon and Burevestnik (ultracompact nuclear power units, new materials, and advanced electronics) lay the groundwork not only for developing even more advanced weapons systems but also for a range of civilian applications, including Arctic exploration, space missions, autonomous navigation systems, and powerful computing technologies. The supreme commander in chief of the Russian Armed Forces also expressed satisfaction that all plans for the development of advanced weapons systems and for equipping the Russian Army and Navy with modern hardware and armaments – including the Avangard, Oreshnik and Sarmat missile systems – are being fulfilled…

([No author indicated.] Meduza, Nov. 6, 2025, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/11/06/homo-putinus. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – Kremlin official Aleksandr Kharichev has published a new essay. As the head of the [Russian President Vladimir] Putin administration’s team for “monitoring social trends,” Kharichev plays a central role in shaping the regime’s ideological doctrine. In his latest manifesto, he outlines his vision for how Russia should cultivate the “person of the future,” emphasizing philosophy classes, large families, and self-sacrifice. He also identifies what he calls the country’s “main threats,” including civil war and demographic decline. Meduza special correspondent Andrei Pertsev unpacks Kharichev’s main arguments.

In his last essay, “Civilization Russia,” Kremlin official Aleksandr Kharichev asserted that Russians value collectivism over individualism and are prepared to sacrifice themselves for the good of the state…

(By Kirill Fenin. Izvestia, Nov. 7, 2025, p. 3. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. –Russia and [other] CIS states are facing pressure from the West, which is attempting to falsify history and undermine their core values – for example, traditional family values, Aleksei Shevtsov, deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, said in an interview with Izvestia. . . .

Question. – An international festival titled “The Peoples of Russia and the CIS” took place in late October and early November. Has this platform helped bring our peoples closer together amid the complex geopolitical situation in the world? . . …

(By Yelizaveta Borisenko. Izvestia, Nov. 7, 2025, p. 4. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – The US is trying to increase its influence in Central Asia. On Nov. 6, a C5+1 summit with the leaders of five Central Asian nations took place in Washington. The agenda included economic and environmental cooperation issues, but the US’s main interests in the region concern its mineral resources. There is another key element: Washington is trying to weaken Russia’s position, experts told Izvestia. However, it is difficult to call these attempts successful: Moscow will remain a key partner for the Central Asian nations all the same. Nevertheless, the US does indeed have niches where it can strengthen its position in the region – specifically, digitization, technologies [and] AI.

On Nov. 6, [US President] Donald Trump hosted the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for a US-Central Asia summit (C5+1)…

(By Dmitry Taratorin. Nezavisimaya gazeta, Nov. 7, 2025, p. 5. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene has announced that her country intends to ask Minsk to let hundreds of Lithuanian trucks and semitrailers stuck in Belarus cross the border, which Vilnius itself closed. . . .

On Thursday [Nov. 6], [Belarussian] President Aleksandr Lukashenko opened the renovated bridge across the Pripyat [River]. And he explained to the citizens who had gathered [for the opening ceremony]: “Here is a road. Please, be my guest, use it! Take your own car or public transportation!”…

([No author indicated.] Meduza, Nov. 6, 2025, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/11/06/meduza-talks-to-analyst-balazs-jarabik-about-how-war-and-martial-law-are-reshaping-ukraine-s-political-landscape. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – . . . Over the summer, Ukraine witnessed its first major protests since Russia’s full-scale invasion, and long-running conflicts between local authorities and the [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky administration spilled into public view. In a new report for Carnegie’s Ukraine Initiative, analysts Balazs Jarabik and Anatolii Oktysiuk examine Ukraine’s thawing political landscape and what it presages for the powers that be in Kiev. To learn more about their findings, The Beet editor Eilish Hart spoke to analyst and former diplomat Balazs Jarabik, the founder of the political risk consultancy Minority Report and a partner at R.Politik.

Question. – Over the summer, Ukraine saw its first major protests since the start of the full-scale war [over a bill stripping anticorruption agencies of independent jurisdiction; see Vol. 77, No. 30-31, pp. 3-8 – Trans.]. Many observers took this as a sign of a domestic political thaw, even as the country remains under martial law. Is this how you interpreted the protests? Or do you trace the “unfreezing” of Ukrainian politics to another event?…

(By Natalya Prikhodko. Nezavisimaya gazeta, Nov. 7, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) The controversy involving Vladimir Kudritsky, who was fired from his position as head of Ukrenergo [Ukrainian Power], is heating up. Following the initial charges, which were confirmed to be groundless by the local media, charges supported by the results of a company audit were filed against him. . . .

The auditors established that almost 42 million hryvnia (over 84 million rubles) that Ukrenergo received from foreign investors were spent on purposes other than their intended ones, i.e. salaries for administrative staff and business trips abroad. Ukrenergo’s balance sheet listed “frozen assets” in the amount of over 70 million hryvnia (140 million rubles), including equipment that had been received but sat idle, such as transformers, relay systems and so forth. Ukrenergo’s books also failed to reflect losses from damaged or discarded materials amounting to over 16 million hryvnia (32 million rubles). The company’s activities revealed evidence of collusion with contractors during the purchase of equipment and technological supervision services. These schemes “created conditions for overstating the cost of contracts by at least 9.2 million hryvnia (18.4 million rubles),” the auditors said…

(By Vladimir Skosyrev. Nezavisimaya gazeta, Nov. 5, 2025, p. 6. Complete text:) When the leaders of major powers speak publicly, even brief remarks resonate. This is what happened with a post by US President Donald Trump on his platform Truth Social. This message was met with muted approval at the Chinese Foreign Ministry and with delight among Chinese bloggers, but alarm among US allies who do not want Beijing’s position to strengthen on the world stage. How has the White House so captivated observers? Trump announced before his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea [see Vol. 77, No. 44, pp. 3-5] that the Group of Two was being convened, implying that the US and China would coordinate their actions and encourage other countries to follow their directions.

As the AP reminds us, the G2 formula was in use in the early 2000s. It was first put forward by the American economist Fred Bergsen [sic; Bergsten – Trans.]. What he meant was that the two big economies needed to talk to each other. This implied an equalization of strength between the two powers. This is precisely what China was striving to achieve as it sought to transform itself from a regional to a global power. But such an equation causes fear among both US allies and partners…

(By Kristina Borovikova in Beijing. Kommersant, Nov. 5, 2025, p. 2. Condensed text:) Russia increasingly sees cooperation with China as promising for import substitution, not only for goods but also for technologies, which [Russian] Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s two-day visit to China confirmed. . . .

On Nov. 3, he met with Chinese [State Council] Premier Li Qiang in Hangzhou (this is the 30th regular meeting of the heads of government of the countries), and on Nov. 4, he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. The Russian delegation included First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Agriculture Minister Olga Lut, and Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Aleksei Gruzdev…

(By Yekaterina Khamova. Izvestia, Nov. 7, 2025, p. 4. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – Several dozen heads of state have arrived in the Brazilian Amazon to attend the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30). The focus is on deforestation and global warming. . . . Izvestia explores why Brazil is more interested in environmental stability than others, and what it is offering them.

The Brazilian city of Belem, which borders the Amazon forest – the “lungs of the planet” – is hosting 16 presidents, three royals and 10 prime ministers for the 30th meeting of the UN climate summit. After the Group of 20 and BRICS [summits], COP30 is the third major international event hosted by the South American country in recent years, reinforcing its role as a leader of the global South on the world stage…