Current Digest of the Russian Press, Vol. 77, No. 49 – Table of Contents

PETROV: U.S., UKRAINE, EUROPE STRUGGLE TO SYNC NEGOTIATING POSITIONSAHEAD OF WITKOFF TRIP TO MOSCOW, WHERE 28-POINT PLAN WILL FACE SCRUTINY

(By Gennady Petrov. Nezavisimaya gazeta,Dec. 2, 2025,p. 1. Complete text:)European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas has called this week pivotal for reaching an agreement on the Ukraine-Russia conflict. There are grounds for believing so. On Tuesday, Dec. 2, US presidential special envoy [for the Middle East] Steve Witkoff will hold talks in Moscow. On Monday, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky held talks in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron. A day earlier, American and Ukrainian delegations met in Florida [see Vol. 77, No. 48, pp. 3-9]. At the center of all discussions is Donald Trump’s peace plan, which may be the last hope to end the conflict this year…

SCHOLAR NOVIKOV: U.S. HAS MADE MOST HEADWAY ON STILL-HOT TERRITORIAL ISSUE, BUT SCANDAL HAS MADE POLITICALLY DIFFICULT DECISIONS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ZELENSKY; ELECTIONS COULD EASE PEACE TALKS

(By Dmitry Novikov, associate professor at the Higher School of Economics.Izvestia,Dec. 4, 2025,p. 3. Complete text:)The latest visit by US presidential envoy Steven Witkoff to the Russian capital has generated much noise and little real understanding of what exactly the American negotiators brought. This time, Witkoff was joined by the eminence grise of Trump’s team – Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. This circumstance only fueled interest in the visit…

BREMMER: ‘CORE OBJECTIVES ARE FUNDAMENTALLY INCOMPATIBLE’ ASIDE FROM APPEASING TRUMP; PUTIN WILL NOT SEEK PEACEWHENSTRONG, ZELENSKY CAN-NOT WHEN WEAK; U.S. ALSO GIVING UP PURSE STRINGS

(By Ian Bremmer, president of political risk research and consulting firm Eurasia Group. Novaya gazeta Europe, Dec. 7, 2025, https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/12/07/no-end-in-sight-en. Complete text:) Nearly four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the push to end the war is intensifying with not one but two proposals being produced in the past few weeks as American envoys shuttle between Kiev and Moscow…

RUSSIAN, INDIAN LEADERS WILL DISCUSS BUILDING UP TRADE, ENERGY, MILITARY TIES; EXPERT: NEW DELHI’S ‘DISAPPOINTMENT’ WITH U.S. AS RELIABLE PARTNER IS HELPING TO STRENGTHEN ITS RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA

(By Ilya Arzumanov. Ekspert, Dec. 3, 2025, https://expert.ru/v-mire/mir-vashemu-atomu/. Condensed text:) On Dec. 4-5, Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a state visit to India for the 23rd Russia-India [Annual] Summit in New Delhi. During the visit, the entire range of bilateral relations will be discussed, leading to their further development, including by increasing India’s exports to Russia, expanding cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear energy [and] launching a joint project to develop fifth-generation fighter jets, among many other things. The Russian president will visit India at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Vladimir Putin [and Modi] will discuss the entire spectrum of major economic issues, including energy, industry, space and agriculture, as well as “increasing the import of Indian goods to our market,” as Putin said on Dec. 2 at the “Russia Calling!” [investment] forum. According to the president, Moscow aims to take its relations with New Delhi, which are already characterized by long-standing friendship and strategic interaction, “to a qualitatively new level with a stronger technological component.”…

SKOSYREV: INDIA MUST WALK FINE LINE BETWEEN U.S. AND RUSSIA AS IT SEEKS TO SECURE ADEQUATE ENERGY, WEAPONS SUPPLIES; PUTIN, MODI TO FOCUS ON ECONOMIC TIES IN FACE OF SANCTIONS, TARIFFS

(By Vladimir Skosyrev. Nezavisimaya gazeta, Dec. 5, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:)Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in India for a two-week visit. The visit comes at a difficult time in relations between the two states. India is under considerable pressure from the US to forgo Russian energy resources and weapons, but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being careful to avoid a complete break with Russia…

KOLESNIKOV: NEW DELHI TALKS DEFY ‘COMMON SENSE’; RUSSIA’S ENERGY INVESTMENTS IN INDIA WILL ONLY FURTHER DEEPEN TRADE IMBALANCE

AN INVESTMENT BEYOND THE THREE SEAS.² (By Andrei Kolesnikov in New Delhi. Kommersant, Dec. 6, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:). . . The morning got off to a rocky start. At least it seemed that way. At 8 a.m., we were watching a light-hearted cartoon on TV where Messrs. Modi and Putin were riding a motorcycle and singing songs, with the Indian leader driving and the Russian president sitting in a sidecar and playing the harmonica (they later switched places). But then they ran out of gas and pulled into the first filling station they saw: Phew! They made it! And then they saw Donald Trump there holding a gun (well, a fuel nozzle) and inviting people to pull up to his side of the coveted gas station. But next to it was a pump with Russian gasoline. And here Narendra Modi naturally filled up with Russian gas, opened the throttle and, tearing off the American president’s baseball cap, drove off defiantly, continuing to sing the famous Bollywood song about eternal Russian-Indian friendship…

(By Darya Garmonenko and Ivan Rodin. Nezavisimaya gazeta, Dec. 5, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) The political parties are making ever more frequent statements about themselves and proposals for the people. All the parliamentary forces have tried to stand out in contrast with one of the others, or with everyone at once. . . .

The first thing the Communists did on the morning of Dec. 4 was demand that the Bank of Russia adorn the notorious 500-ruble bill with not just some landmark but an image of the Victory Banner over the Reichstag. Yabloko members, meanwhile, just declared publicly that they are on their way – not so much to the State Duma elections, but to jail…

(Alyona Nefyodova and Olga Anasyeva. Izvestia, Dec. 3, 2025, p. 2. Condensed text:). . . The 16th “Russia Calling!” investment forum has kicked off in Moscow. The forum is traditionally regarded as a platform where experts, representatives of the ruling establishment, and businesspeople discuss investments, economic issues and global trends. Such events attract far more attention in today’s world, since Russia is going through a difficult period, what with combating inflation, living with a high key [interest] rate and the consequences of sanctions from which the country has already managed to recover overall.

In keeping with tradition, [Russian President] Vladimir Putin also participates in the forum. This time he decided to speak frankly to the meeting participants, including hundreds of entrepreneurs [and] investors from dozens of countries, about the state of the [business] sector in the country. The modern world is characterized by high turbulence that has largely been caused by unfair competition methods on the part of certain Western countries, he said. For example, they are imposing unilateral restrictions to exert pressure on sovereign countries pursuing independent policies – in other words, the goal is basically to eliminate competition…

(By Natalya Belova and Yulia Bobryshova. Izvestia, Dec. 4, 2025, p. 6. Condensed text:). . . Former Khabarovsk Territory governor Sergei Furgal has received a second prison sentence. Moscow’s Babushkinsky Borough Court has convicted the former official on charges of defrauding the Russian Bank for Small and Medium Enterprises Support (SME Bank) out of more than 2 billion rubles and given him an additional 23-year prison term. Other charges included creating an organized crime group, illegal business activity and money laundering.

“The court hereby rules to issue a combined sentence of 25 years in a maximum-security prison colony by merging the new 23-year term with Furgal’s previous conviction rendered by the Lyubertsy City Court of Moscow Province [see Vol. 75, No. 7, p. 12],” the judicial board read out from the ruling…

(By Lev Kovalevsky and Varvara Tuchkova. Republic.ru, Dec. 6, 2025, page number unavailable. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. –The authors of this article are young opinion researchers who have asked to be called by their pseudonyms, Lev Kovalevsky and Varvara Tuchkova. They conducted a study specifically for this article, interviewing 10 members of Gen Z who have continued to be involved in journalism, activism, human rights and contemporary art in Russia. The results of this study are below. The respondents’ names have also been changed at the authors’ request. . . .

Regardless of their final decision, all of our respondents considered emigrating. The possibility of leaving was part of regular conversations about pathways to relocation, the legal consequences of continuing to work in Russia, and backup plans in case the situation worsened. Involvement in a professional community (related to human rights, journalism or activism), where departure was viewed as the norm, triggered their own personal doubts [about remaining in Russia], even if they were not personally under threat. The need to leave was a prevalent theme in the overwhelming majority of interviews…

(By Svetlana Gamova. Nezavisimaya gazeta,Dec. 2, 2024, p. 1. Condensed text:). . . Moldovan President Maia Sandu has not responded to calls to convene a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) in connection with arms trafficking across the Moldovan border. For its part, the ruling party’s press service confined itself to a statement that the incident was cause for serious concern. . . . Victoria Fortuna, leader of the Great Moldova party and a former prosecutor, said that if the case is hushed up, Moldovans may be faced with conflict escalation. . . .

“You get a truck full of ‘presents’ from Grandfather Frost: missile systems, ammunition, heavy weapons – the works. And the first reaction, naturally, according to the documents and stamps put on in Moldova, is ‘Scrap metal en route to Israel’ ” [Fortuna said]…

(By Nikolai Pershin and Ilya Volzhsky. Novaya gazeta Europe, Dec. 5, 2025, https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/12/05/the-old-man-and-the-sea-en. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – The Black Sea once again finds itself thrust back into the limelight as a recent series of Ukrainian maritime drone strikes on oil tankers belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet has incensed the Kremlin.

Similar attacks have occurred before, of course, though never so close to the coasts of third countries. [Russian President] Vladimir Putin has threatened to “cut Ukraine off from the sea” and to take retaliatory measures against countries “helping Ukraine to carry out piracy.”…

(By historian Olga Dobrinskaya. Izvestia,Dec. 5, 2025,p. 4. Complete text:)A statement made by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in parliament provoked a harsh response from China. She stated that an armed attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” that would allow Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense, that is, to use weapons. The Chinese not only condemned the prime minister’s statements, but also resorted to economic pressure: A ban was imposed on the export of Japanese seafood to China, Chinese tourists were advised to avoid visiting Japan, and many business and cultural events were canceled.

It appears that this is not the limit, as China has more serious trump cards in store, such as restricting the export of rare earth metals, which are vital to Japan, as it did in 2010at the height of the crisis over the detention of the captain of a Chinese trawler near disputed islands in the East China Sea…

(By Gleb Mishutin. Vedomosti,Dec. 3, 2025,https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2025/12/03/1160039-bivshego-rukovoditelya-evropeiskoi-diplomatii-obvinyayut-v-moshennichestve. Complete text:)Former European diplomats have been detained in Belgium on suspicion of fraud. According to Le Soir, former European Union high representative for foreign affairs and security policy Federica Mogherini is being investigated for fraud in public contracts, corruption, conflict of interest, and breach of professional secrecy at the College of Europe (a postgraduate institute of education in European studies), of which she has been the rector since 2020.

According to the investigation, Mogherini engaged in schemes in the funding of a nine-month training program. In addition to her, Italian diplomat Stefano Sannino, the former secretary general of the European External Action Service, was also detained…

(By Natalya Yeryomina, professor at St. Petersburg State University.Izvestia,Dec. 4, 2025,p. 4. Complete text:)Corruption scandals in the European Union can be explained by two factors. No matter what anticorruption legislation there is, it does not work if it is not used, and it subsequently becomes a tool in political maneuvering. Also, as long as most of these types of investigations in the EU were related to third countries, this allowed them to keep their own corruption crimes secret.

There have always been secret schemes both in Brussels and in member states, as well as between politicians at the supranational and national levels. But it was in recent years, immediately after the pandemic and especially after the start of the special military operation [in Ukraine], that a number of corrupt deals began getting exposed…

(By Aleksandr Tikhonov. Krasnayazvezda, Dec. 5, 2025, p. 1. Complete text:)The working visit of Russian Defense Minister AndreiBelousov to the Republic of India will contribute to the further development ofRussian-Indianmilitary and military-technical cooperation.

The head of the Russian Defense Ministry took part in the 22nd meeting of theRussian-IndianIntergovernmental Commission on Military and Military-Technical Cooperation, which reviewed the results of its work and set out tasks for the future. Andrei Belousov expressed confidence that his meeting with India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh would help strengthenRussian-Indianrelations in the field of defense and security. For his part, the head of the Indian Defense Ministry stressed that Russia is a special and privileged strategic partner of India and that, since the signing of the Declaration on Strategic Partnership in 2000, there has been impressive progress in defense cooperation between the two countries…