Essential CIS Politics: September 2 - 15, 2026
Key topics:
-Russia makes steady progress in Ukraine, although a Ukrainian counterattack retakes half of Lyman.
-Russia prepares to return the nuclear-powered cruiser Admiral Nakhimov to service after repairs that began in the late 1990s.
-US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent meets Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov on the sidelines of a G20 ministerial meeting, with Bessent telling Siluanov that the war in Ukraine has to end. Moscow said they discussed financial cooperation.
-Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner hold more than three hours of talks with Vladimir Putin after meeting Kirill Dmitriev. There was no deal. The envoys then flew to Kyiv. Russia and Ukraine cease striking the others’ capital for three days.
-Trump and Putin speak for about an hour and discuss the Ukraine War.
-Sky News and AP reported a U.S. 28-point plan given to Zelensky after he met Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, including confirmed sovereignty, a 600,000-troop cap and a constitutional NATO ban. Zelensky said his team had to verify the document was genuine and that Russia shows no real desire for peace.
-Trump claims that he will meet Putin again when a peace deal is ready, not merely for another summit.
-Moscow claims that it has not decided whether Putin will attend the December G20 summit in Miami, and says that Zelensky could meet Putin only in Moscow.
-Trump blames Zelensky for the global energy crisis and asks them to stop strikes on Russian diesel infrastructure. Kremlin hails Trump’s call for Ukraine to stop hitting Russian diesel plants. Russia does not promise reciprocal restraint and blames Gulf instability for most of the global fuel shock.
-Finnish President Alexander Stubb says Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told him on July 5 that China will never allow Russia to use nuclear weapons. China does not refute this.
-The covert Russian program, C430L, in which Russian firms helped Iran develop ramjet-powered supersonic cruise missiles from 2023 onward, is exposed.
-Zelensky warns airlines that Russian airspace is becoming dangerous, claiming that Russian airspace was shut. Ukraine notified ICAO and the United Nations. Putin called the warning "state terrorism". Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency said Ukraine’s airspace warning had no legal force.
-A Russian missile and drone attack on Odesa-region energy assets cuts power to more than 350,000 families, halting electric transport and disrupting water supplies.
-Trump says that Europe should repay the United States for earlier Ukraine munitions and that allied sales were paused but will resume. He blamed the Biden administration for “hundreds of billions” given free of charge and rejected reports that the Iran war had emptied US stockpiles.
-Tensions lead to a shootout between competing GUR and SBU intelligence officers in Kyiv.
-Russia, counting assets abroad, controlled nearly a quarter of global mined uranium in 2024, and this could reach 36 percent by 2040.
-Kazakhstan sees a decline in the wheat harvest due to fertilizer shortages and bad weather, making it even less able to compete with growing Russian dominance in wheat exports.
-BRICS leaders in New Delhi adopt a declaration that urges Middle East restraint and diplomacy in disputes, without naming the United States, Israel, Iran or Ukraine.
-The House Rules Committee advances a Russia–Iran sanctions bill that will let the US levy visa and property sanctions and raise tariffs to 500 percent on Russian goods and on some uranium and petroleum trade.
-Tapes are released showing Ukraine Prosecutor General’s Office officials discussing a call-center scheme and luxury spending. Prosecutor General Kravchenko leaves Ukraine, releases a video accusing NABU Director Semen Kryvonos of document fraud. He is promptly fired by Zelensky.
-The Russian-led CSTO holds drills in member states.
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