Current Digest of the Russian Press, Vol. 77, No. 50 – Table of Contents

ASATRYAN: TRUMP’S VALUES, PRIORITIES ARE CLOSE TO RUSSIA’S; IT WILL TAKE TIME FOR RUSSIA’S PLANS FOR UKRAINE TO ‘RIPEN’ IN TRUMP’S MIND, MEANINGTHAT RUSHED ATTEMPTS AT SETTLEMENT WILL FAIL

(By Georgy Asatryan. Izvestia, Dec. 8, 2025, p. 3. Complete text:)The negotiation process for a peaceful settlement to the conflict in Ukraine continues. With its ups and downs and its ebbs and flows, the difficult dialogue between Russia and the US has been dragging on for months. The talks are being kept secret, and we really don’t know that much. But we are seeing that the sides want to end the conflict…

(By Gleb Ivanov. Argumenty i fakty, Dec. 10, 2025, p. 3. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – Talks on Ukraine are in full swing. US President Donald Trump is demanding concessions from Moscow. To this end, he has imposed sanctions on the Russian oil industry, hoping to slash our oil revenues. Curiously, one of the main buyers of Russian oil is India, where Vladimir Putin just went on a state visit [see Vol. 77, No. 49, pp. 7-10].

In an interview with Fyodor Lukyanov, scientific director of the Valdai International Discussion Club, AiF learned how Trump’s actions will affect the talks on Ukraine and if the talks have any chance of success…

EXPERT: U.S. IS IGNORING KEY ISSUE OF TERRITORIAL DISAGREEMENTS, WHICH CAN’T BE SOLVED THROUGH COMPROMISES; IF UKRAINE MAKES ANY TERRITORIAL CONCESSIONS, IT WILL BE PRODDED TO MAKE MORE

(By Ilya Volzhsky and Sofya Kanevskaya. Novaya gazeta Europe, Dec. 13, 2025, https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/12/13/budet-li-podpisano-mirnoe-soglashenie-k-rozhdestvu. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – After consultations with its European allies, Ukraine responded to the latest draft of a peace plan. Kiev is not agreeing to the Washington-proposed version, but the White House continues to insist that agreements be reached as soon as possible. Ukraine says there are fundamental differences on territories and security guarantees, Russia is setting its own terms, and the US is expecting a political result by Christmas. In conversations with Novaya gazeta Europe, experts discussed how realistic this scenario is…

PRESIDENT ADDRESSES COUNCIL FOR STRATEGIC DEV-ELOPMENT AND NATIONAL PROJECTS, HIGHLIGHTING SOLUTIONS TO DECLINES IN BIRTH RATE, GDP GROWTH, APPROACHES TO COLLECTING MORE VAT REVENUE

(By Alyona Nefyodova. Izvestia,Dec. 9, 2025,p. 1. Condensed text:)Low-income families with two or more children will receive additional benefits starting 2026. [Russian President] Vladimir Putin said this at a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects on Dec. 8. The birth rate in Russia continues to decline, so comprehensive solutions are needed to reverse negative trends. . . …

BLANT: 20 YEARS ON, PUTIN CONTINUES HARPING ON BIRTH RATE, BUT NOW IGNORES IMPACT ON FAMILIES OF UKRAINE WAR; MEASURES TO COLLECT HIGH VAT WILL FURTHER STIFLE CIVILIAN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

(By Maksim Blant. Republic.ru,Dec. 15, 2025, https://republicmag.io/posts/116832. Condensed text:) [Addressing] the Council for National Projects, [Russian President] Vladimir Putin has once again ordered the government “to reverse the negative demographic trend” and “to ensure a return to average global economic growth rates.” Twenty years, millions of [federal] budget rubles and endless “comprehensive solutions” later, the president has once again directed [the cabinet] to keep doing exactly the same thing – but this time, to the accompaniment of the war, recession and imminent tax terror. . . …

(By Darya Garmonenko and Ivan Rodin. Nezavisimaya gazeta,Dec. 11, 2025,p. 3. Condensed text:) . . . The Communists are concerned that it is becoming ever harder to campaign online. An analysis conducted at the Russian Federation Communist Party showed that even the highest-profile statements garner few views on domestic platforms, unlike on foreign ones. The reach may differ by a factor of hundreds, even thousands. For example, a video about a speech by Central Committee Presidium member Sergei Obukhov in the State Duma containing harsh criticism of the authorities was viewed by almost 2 million people on foreign-owned YouTube, but only 5,000 on VKontakte. . . .

“Our compatriots on ‘throttled’ YouTube watched snippets of my parliamentary debates on the RFCP channel 1.011 million times in the first few days.But when it comes to the lovely, domestic, progressive Russian VKontakte, on a similar RFCP channel, they were watched a grand total of 911 times in that same time frame,” [Obukhov] said. He surmised that this can all be chalked up to how the algorithm was set in relation to the party. He also gave other possible explanations: “Differing tastes? Different audiences? Foreign machinations?” He believes these are all distinct possibilities, but still not as likely…

(By Aleksei Sergeyev. Republic.ru, Dec. 10, 2025,https://republicmag.io/posts/116815. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – Following the death of [party leader] Vladimir Zhirinovsky [see Vol. 74, No. 14, pp. 3-5], the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia lost not just its leader but also its meaning. His replacement, Leonid Slutsky, is probably notable only for his sex scandals. Now he is spending millions on “information support”: Political analysts, bloggers and even pop singers take his money and paint him as the leader of “Russia’s second party.” Republic looked into who is behind this PR machine, and why it isn’t doing a good job of creating anything close to reality.

If you are subscribed to the Telegram channels of political analysts and strategists working in the Russian information space, or to major aggregators like ej.ru [Yezhednevny zhurnal, “Daily Journal,” an independent news aggregator on Telegram –Trans.], Ranshe vsekh [Before Everyone Else] and so on, you have probably seen the LDPR repeatedly referred to as “the second party.” You have to admit that that’s worth a lot, especially in our difficult times. Andmore specifically, getting to be called “the second party” costs a lot – literally. The new LDPR leader since Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s death, Leonid Slutsky, notorious for his harassment of female journalists, is spending freely on hit pieces. Political analysts and bloggers praise his initiative and work within the party, and he pays them handsomely…

([No author indicate.] Meduza, Dec. 8, 2025, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/12/09/after-16-years-in-prison-for-the-murders-of-a-lawyer-and-a-journalist-former-russian-neo-nazi-activist-yevgeniya-khassis-is-free-and-talking. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – In early 2009, Yevgeniya Khassis helped Nikita Tikhonov murder attorney Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova [see Vol. 61, No. 3, pp. 1-3]. At the time, Khassis and Tikhonov were members of the Combat Organization of Russian Nationalists, a neo-Nazi group based in Moscow. According to investigators, Tikhonov shot Markelov after Khassis informed him of the lawyer’s movements. Tikhonov also killed Baburova, who was standing next to Markelov at the time of the attack. In 2011, Tikhonov was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders, while Khassis received 18 years, later reduced to 17. In late November 2025, after serving 16 years, Khassis went free. In her first interview since her release from prison, Khassis spoke to journalist Ksenia Sobchak about her relationship with Nikita Tikhonov, and how she nearly enlisted in the Russia-Ukraine war. For the first time, Khassis also admitted guilt in Markelov’s murder (though not in Baburova’s). Meduza highlights the key moments in her interview with Sobchak.

I understand that I’m not a good person, but I’m still here, still breathing.*** All of us sit and watch events unfold around us. And yes, people tend to want the villain to suffer – to have limbs torn off, eyes gouged out, tortured like it’s the Middle Ages.*** But I’m human, just like anyone else. This was my day, the one I’d spent 16 years waiting for. So forgive me, but on that day, I let myself feel happy…

(By Kira Latukhina. Rossiiskaya gazeta,Dec. 12, 2025, p. 2. Complete text:) Ahead of [Russian] Constitution Day, [Russian President] Vladimir Putin held a meeting with [Russian] Constitutional Court Chairman Valery Zorkin at the Kremlin. The president stressed that the Constitution has the unquestionable priority in Russia’s domestic and foreign policy.

The president extended his wishes to Valery Zorkin and his colleagues on the occasion of Constitution Day, which is celebrated on Dec. 12. [Putin] said that the greatest number of petitions to the Constitutional Court concerned the constitutional status of the person, followed by civil law, the civil judicial process, criminal law and criminal procedure, and protection of citizens’ rights in administrative proceedings. “This work is wide-ranging and highly responsible,” Putin stated…

(By Yelena Kudryavtseva and Dmitry Grinkevich. Ekspert, Dec. 10, 2025, https://expert.ru/intervyu/zakony-ekonomiki-ne-obmanesh/. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – Entering the office of Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, you see a portrait hanging on the wall of his famous predecessor, [prime minister] Sergei Witte, who held the office during the reign of Nicholas II and who is remembered primarily for his protectionist policies. Siluanov admits that his ministry’s traditions mean a lot to him. . . . “A balanced budget is key to sustainable public finances,” Siluanov says [quoting Count Mikhail Speransky, an 18th century statesman – Trans.]. In this interview with Ekspert, Siluanov takes stock of the progress that the Russian economy has made over the years and shares his ideas on what Russia’s fiscal policy should look like going forward.

Q. – First of all, let’s take stock of the past. You have been working at the Finance Ministry since 1985. Back in the 1990s, you –…

(By Viktoria Kuchina. Krasnaya zvezda, Dec. 10, 2025, p. 3. Complete text:) A meeting of the military-technical committee under the CIS Defense Ministers’ Council was held at the Russian Defense Ministry’s International Military Center in Moscow.

The meeting, chaired by Russian Deputy Defense Minister Col. Gen.Aleksandr Sanchik, was attended by deputy defense ministers and heads of military administrative bodies responsible for armaments and military equipment from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, as well as representatives of the Secretariat of the CIS Defense Ministers’ Council…

(By Igor Seleznyov. Nezavisimaya gazeta,Dec. 8, 2025,p. 5. Complete text:) On the 37th anniversary of the Spitak earthquake [see Vol. 40, No. 49, p. 11], Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan not only honored the victims of the disaster but also visited the Church of the Seven Wounds in Gyumri. As part of his antichurch campaign, he attends liturgy at some church every Sunday, but this time was special. Gyumri was long considered the capital of Armenian protest, but Pashinyan clearly intended to show that there was no one left to resist.

Priests of the Shirak Diocese refused to hold a prayer service in the presence of Pashinyan. As a result, he, along with loyal members of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), remained in Seven Wounds, while the oppositionists went to Amenaprkich. The liturgies were held in parallel, but members of the AAC did not mention the name of Catholicos Karekin II in the presence of the prime minister…

(By Svetlana Gamova. Nezavisimaya gazeta,Dec. 9, 2025,p. 1. Complete text:)Moldova has received Viktor antidrone systems, which are an adaptation of antiaircraft mounts. The Moldovan Army has also received a batch of American Scorpion self-propelled mortars. In addition, Defense Minister Anatolie Nosatii stated that Chisinau has received a new type of radar from European partners and expects another one next year. Moldova, which is neutral according to its Constitution, has begun to actively arm itself. Government officials attribute this to risks emanating from Russia, while the public fears that the weapons could be used in the restive Gagauz autonomy and Transnistria.

Moldova began arming itself a long time ago, when President Maia Sandu was first elected in 2020 [see Vol. 72, No. 47, pp. 13-14]…

(By Mikhail Saltykov and Semyon Boikov. Izvestia, Dec. 8, 2025, p. 4. Condensed text:) Robert Agee, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (AmCham) told Izvestia that US companies are aiming to expand investments in the Russian market. . . .

Even though Moscow and Washington are discussing the launch of economic projects, sanctions are still the main obstacle to normalizing business ties…

(By Yekaterina Khamova. Izvestia, Dec. 9, 2025, p. 2. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – The Russian Embassy [in Venezuela] told Izvestia that fake news stories from Western sources about the imminent resignation of [Venezuelan President] Nicolás Maduro are helping to escalate the situation in Venezuela and sparking speculation inspired by “color revolutions.” . . . Read Izvestia’s article for more on what’s happening in the country and whether there is a risk of an escalation.

Over the past three months, the US has struck at least 23 ships in the Caribbean Sea, killing at least 87 people. The White House is insisting that the boats were transporting drugs from Venezuela. For its part, Venezuela sees this as a provocation and a threat to its sovereignty…