CNBC reports that Russian opposition leader and Putin critic, Alexei Navalny, has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison following his return to Russia in January. Navalny has been on a wanted list since 2014 for allegedly violating the terms of a suspended sentence. Upon his arrival at the airport in Moscow, Russian authorities arrested him before he could even get his passport stamped.
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With only two days remaining before its expiry date, the Biden administration officially extended the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) between the United States and the Russian Federation.
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The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced the signing of an agreement between Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and the Sudanese government to build Russia’s first naval base in Africa.
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On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a ceasefire agreement to end the recent fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
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On Tuesday, October 20, the United States and Russia edged closer to renewing the last major nuclear arms control treaty between the two nations. According to POLITICO, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) is set to expire on February 5, 2021 and has been the subject of unpromising negotiations between the Trump administration and Putin government since the beginning of this year. This newfound cooperation and apparent will to renew New START is owed to a Russian verbal commitment to a one-year nuclear warhead freeze and a one-year extension of New START.
Read MoreRussia and China won seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council on October 13, causing outrage among human rights activists, while Saudi Arabia failed to secure a seat. While Russia and Cuba ran unopposed, Saudi Arabia and China were in a five-way race, with Pakistan receiving 169 votes, Uzbekistan 164, Nepal 150, China 139, and Saudi Arabia just 90 votes.
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The Russian Defense Ministry has announced the successful test of a new hypersonic cruise missile known as Tsirkon, a move hailed as a “great event” by Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Barron’s. The missile was fired from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate in the White Sea and hit its target 280 miles away in the Barents Sea in northern Russia. The chief of the Russian military’s general staff, Valery Gerasimov, told Putin that this was the first successful sea launch, Al Jazeera reports.
Read MoreWhat we are seeing happening in Kyrgyzstan is just a microcosm of a larger issue threatening the global political landscape: the decline of democracy and the rise of authoritarian populism. In the last decade, an alarming wave of right-wing populism has swept the globe and endangered many democracies.
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According to CNN, Belarusian security forces arrested 33 Russian mercenaries on charges of terrorism and destabilization prior to the country’s contested election in August. The mercenaries work for Wagner, a private military firm known to be the righthand of the Russian military. Wagner is believed to be sponsored by St. Petersburg businessman and oligarch, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The BBC reports that the firm is also believed to be covertly overseen by Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU.
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President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has stated intentions to expand business ties with Russia in response to new, crippling U.S. sanctions under the Caesar Act, according to Reuters. The Syrian economy has suffered enormously under these sanctions, as its economy was already struggling prior to implementation of the Caesar Act. According to Reuters, this has resulted in the Syrian lira losing 80 percent of its value. Most citizens are experiencing extreme poverty.
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