Letter From the Editors

It was all business this week in Riyadh, where expert groups from Russia and Ukraine met separately with US mediators to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire in the Black Sea and an end to strikes against energy infrastructure in both Russia and Ukraine. According to White House statements released following the talks, the US reached an agreement with both sides “to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea,” while also agreeing to help Moscow “restore access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.” This essentially amounts to an easing of sanctions against Russia. The problem with this, of course, is that many of the anti-Russian sanctions were imposed by the EU, which was not invited to the Riyadh meeting.

Instead, members of Europe’s “coalition of the willing” gathered in Paris, where, as NG reports, British PM Keir Starmer “made it clear that US allies have not seen any signs that Trump’s peacemaking efforts have had any results” and suggested that the Kremlin is aiming for protracted negotiations. This analysis is weirdly close to one made by that master of the deal himself, US President Donald Trump: “I believe that Russia wants to see an end to this, but it could be that they are dragging their feet. I’ve done it over the years. You know, I didn’t want to sign a contract, I wanted to stay in the game, but maybe I didn’t want to do it.”

Let’s hope this isn’t what Trump plans to do in Georgia, where, in an odd twist, the opposition is rooting for him to support efforts by the US Congress to impose sanctions on Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party by passing the MEGOBARI Act. As NG reports, Georgian Dream does not want to offend Trump and is hedging its bets, portraying the situation as a matter of Trump’s victory over that same “deep state” that he has been fighting against.

One country that has not been taken in by Trump’s wheeling and dealing is Iran. Like Russia, Iran is seeking some relief from sanctions, which in its case were imposed because of its nuclear program. However, Iranian ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali tells Izvestia, there is no “sincerity” in the US’s actions, which continue to be “tough” and “unilateral.” Unless the US changes its tune and learns to speak “respectfully” with Iran, he says, there will be “no progress” on a new nuclear deal.

Meanwhile, on Russia’s domestic front, lawmakers are scrambling to make decisions and write legislation that will keep them in the good favor of the country’s “patriotic” community and, at the same time, Putin. For example, Novaya gazeta Europe reports that in that same Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg, the Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art has found itself in hot water over what A Just Russia – For the Truth leader Sergei Mironov is calling “unpatriotic exhibits.” These include “ ‘Welcome to Russia,’ a life-size matryoshka doll that swings open to reveal internal spikes akin to those of an iron maiden, or***‘Big Brother,’ in which an egg nestled in a crown of barbed wire is targeted at close range by a revolver.” Local legislator Dmitry Pavlov took a different tack, urging people to remember that “art lives through dialogue, diversity of opinions and emotions.”

At the same time, other Russian legislators are tackling a draft law on combating the distortion of religious symbols – namely, the cross – on materials such as textbooks, ruble notes and even oatmeal boxes. However, as NG comments in an editorial, there is still no understanding of the future law’s conceptual framework. In other words, what religious symbols does the law protect, and what exactly represents a distortion of those symbols? The Big Kahuna upstairs has yet to comment on the legislation.