Page 34 - RusRPTNov23

Back in 1991, he recalled, the then US Administration promised that there would be no eastward expansion of Nato. "Since then, there have been five waves of Nato expansion, and every time we expressed our concerns. Every time we were told: yes, we promised you not to expand Nato eastwards, but those were verbal promises - is there any paper with our signature on it? No paper? Good-bye," Putin recalled. He stated that "it is very difficult to engage in a dialogue with people like that."
The G7 is working to ban the supply of Russian diamonds to its markets by next year. In the middle of October, representatives of the G7 countries will discuss four options for banning the supply of Russian diamonds beginning January 1
Ukraine conducts 'high-value' assassinations inside Russia. The Washington Post reported on Oct. 23, citing undisclosed official sources, that Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) was allegedly behind dozens of assassinations against Russian targets since February 2022.
Russia withdraws from Convention for Protection of National Minorities. Russia claims it lost the opportunity to monitor and address cases of alleged rights violations of national minorities abroad, "primarily of the Russian-speaking population." The Kremlin used false accusations of abuse and discrimination against Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine to start armed aggression against its neighbor in 2014.
● Domestic Politics
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says will compete in presidential elections if they take place during the war, Interfax Ukraine reported on October 11. "If the war continues – yes, if the war ends – no. I cannot leave during the war," he said, answering a question from Romanian journalists about his intention to run again in the presidential election during a visit to Bucharest. When he was elected in April 2019 Zelenskiy said that he may only serve one term to fulfil his election promises of stamping out corruption and bringing the oligarchs to heel.
The State Duma adopted
in the first reading a law granting governors the
right to dismiss mayors in their regions. Governors will be able to do so a
month after they have reprimanded the mayor in question, provided the mayor
does not fix the problem for which they were reprimanded. This way, the new
gubernatorial powers will be similar to (but weaker than) the President’s power
to dismiss governors, which was strengthened in a public administration reform
adopted in 2021. The President does not have to state a specific cause to
dismiss a governor, although he can also simply reprimand them. The purpose
of the reform is likely to give governors a means to deal with potential
opposition among regional elites.
Research suggests
that this could be an
34 RUSSIA Country Report November 2023 www.intellinews.com