AND THE WORST PERFORMING EMERGING MARKET CURRENCY IS...
...the ruble, according to Bloomberg:
Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) --The ruble slumped the most among emerging markets as Brent crude slid to a four-year low and the U.S. and European Union weighed new sanctions againstRussia.
The ruble weakened 1 percent to 46.425 per dollar by 12:53 p.m. in Moscow, the biggest decline among 24 developing-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg and trimming to 0.5 percent its advance since central bank Chairman Elvira Nabiullina on Nov. 10 pledged action against speculators. Yields on 10-year government bonds increased 6 basis points to 10.15 percent, the highest since October 2009.
PUTIN THE HISTORIAN
In a commentary for the European Council on Foreign Relations, Maria Lipman takes a look at Russia's historian-in-chief.
Putin is uncontested and unchallenged as Russia’s ruler. Apparently, he would like to inculcate in the Russian people a perception of history as unquestioned as his own rule. The historical creed that he conveys to his nation and to the world is that Russia is a great power, that whatever it has ever done is right, and that anyone who dares to challenge this vision is at best wrong, and more likely, an enemy who seeks to “recode” Russian society and to undermine the Russian nation.
Read it all here. We also had an interesting discussion on the topic on last week's Power Vertical Podcast.
RUSSIA IS STOCKPILING GOLD
From the story in The Telegraph:
Russia has taken advantage of lower gold prices to pack the vaults of its central bank with bullion as it prepares for the possibility of a long, drawn-out economic war with the West.
The latest research from the World Gold Council reveals that the Kremlin snapped up 55 tonnes of the precious metal - far more than any other nation - in the three months to the end of September as prices began to weaken.
Vladimir Putin's government is understood to be hoarding vast quantities of gold, having tripled stocks to around 1,150 tonnes in the last decade. These reserves could provide the Kremlin with vital firepower to try and offset the sharp declines in the rouble.
WAR FEARS RISING
HOW THE WORLD VIEWS RUSSIA
Graphic of world public opinion toward Russia based on recent Pew poll:
STILL FRIENDS?
"Medvedev says sanctions have not spoiled his relationship with Obama."
MEDVEDEV CALLS FOR END TO SANCTIONS
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says it is up to the West to improve severely strained relations with Moscow by scrapping sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis.
Medvedev spoke after an East Asia summit in Burma, also known as Myanmar, where he said he exchanged greetings with Barack Obama but had no substantive discussion with the U.S. president.
"I hope this period of in...our relations with Europe and the United States will be overcome, but I emphasize, the ball is in their court" - they must take the necessary decisions," Medvedev said.
"It's necessary to simply abandon sanctions... to return to normal, productive talks - then everything will stabilize," he said.
The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
(Based on reporting by TASS, Interfax, and Reuters)
RUSSIA'S NEW ENEMY - AUSTRALIA
MORNING NEWS UPDATE
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
RUSSIAN SHIPS TRACKED OFF AUSTRALIA'S COAST AHEAD OF PUTIN'S VISIT
Australia said on November 13 it was tracking four Russian naval vessels off its north coast.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Russia is entitled to have ships in international waters, but said they were being closely tracked.
The fleet’s appearance comes ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrival in Brisbane, Australia for the G20 summit on November 15-16.
It also comes amid strained relations over the downing in July of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in pro-Russian separatist controlled eastern Ukraine.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said he would confront Putin at the G20 summit about the plane's downing -- which killed 298 people, including 37 people who called Australia home.
In Beijing on November 11, Abbott demanded an apology from Putin -- saying he had information indicating the plane was destroyed by a Russian-supplied missile launcher that returned to Russian territory after being fired.
(Based on reporting by AP, AFP, Interfax, and "The Sydney Morning Herald")
RUSSIAN SUPREME COURT TO HEAR MEMORIAL CASE
By RFE/RL
Russia’s Supreme Court was scheduled on November 13 to hear a lawsuit from the Russian government aimed at dissolving Memorial -- the country’s oldest and most prominent human rights organization.
Russia’s Justice Ministry has appealed to the Supreme Court to close the Memorial over technical issues related to its legal registration.
Formally called the “Russian Memorial Society,” the umbrella organization is comprised of more than 50 rights groups across Russia, including its famed human rights center, as well as in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Georgia.
Founded in Moscow in 1989 under the auspices of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, Memorial has led efforts to uncover communist-era rights repressions and fight rights abuses in modern-day Russia.
The U.S. Helsinki Commission, a U.S. government agency that monitors human rights abuses worldwide, says Moscow’s attempt to liquidate Memorial is "an obvious attempt to silence the voice of its own conscience."
(With additional reporting by "The Washington Post")
LAVROV, KERRY AGREE IRAN DEAL NEEDED SOON
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry reportedly have called for an agreement to be reached as soon as possible on a permanent nuclear deal with Iran.
Moscow says the move came during a November 12 telephone conversation between Lavrov and Kerry.
A statement from Russia’s Foreign Ministry about the conversation said: “The need to reach as soon as possible a comprehensive agreement which would allow to fully normalize the situation around the Iranian nuclear program has been acknowledged."
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed the two had spoken about the Iran negotiations by phone on November 12, but did not go into detail about the conversation.
They spoke a day after Iran and world powers met in Oman amid signs that an elusive deal on Tehran’s nuclear program may not be reached before a self-imposed November 24 deadline.
(Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, TASS, and Interfax)
UN WARNS 'FULL SCALE FIGHTING' POSSIBLE IN EASTERN UKRAINE
By RFE/RL
The United Nations Security Council has met in emergency session on Ukraine’s crisis for the 26th time, again without taking action, as UN officials warned of possible “full-scale fighting" in eastern Ukraine.
The November 12 Security Council meeting came hours after a senior NATO official said the alliance has confirmed that “multiple columns” of Russian tanks, artillery, and antiaircraft units have crossed from Russia into separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine since November 10.
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jens Anders Toyberg-Frandzen told the Security Council on November 12 that the UN is “deeply concerned over the possibility of a return to full-scale fighting” in eastern Ukraine.
He said Ukraine also could face a months-long simmering conflict that would be catastrophic, or the situation in eastern Ukraine could become a “frozen” conflict that lingers for years or even decades.
Russia denied the allegations from NATO’s top commander in Europe, U.S. General Philip Breedlove, that Russian armored columns have been crossing into eastern Ukraine.
Moscow says there is no evidence Russian armed forces are in eastern Ukraine.
Russia’s representative told the UN Security Council that the storm of international criticism the Kremlin now faces is “yet another foray into propaganda with new flourishes.”
The emergency Security Council session was called by Washington.
But there was no proposed UN resolution against Russia, which has Security Council veto powers.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the Security Council that Russia “talks of peace, but it keeps fueling war” in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, international monitors confirm seeing unmarked military forces bolstering pro-Russian separatist positions in eastern Ukraine since November 8 in a clear violation of a September 5 cease-fire deal that was brokered by Russia.
OSCE Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier said in Brussels on November 12 that video from OSCE monitor drones shows "nondescript militias wearing no identification [fighting] on the side of the rebels" and firing antiaircraft weapons at the OSCE drones.
He said the OSCE drones, meant to monitor the cease-fire deal, also are being subjected to "high-end military-grade jamming” from an unknown location.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Berlin on November 12 that there are signs the Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine are preparing for major military clashes against Ukrainian government troops.
Steinmeier said the massing of troops “helps nobody, and we're losing time -- time we urgently need for the political and especially the economic stabilization of Ukraine."
In Donetsk, an AFP correspondent reported on November 12 that heavy shelling was being fired from separatist-held positions near the city center toward government-held positions around Donetsk’s international airport.
Earlier on November 12, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by telephone about the Ukraine crisis.
Moscow said in a statement that Lavrov stressed the need for "direct dialogue between Kyiv and Donetsk and Luhansk” about elections conducted by separatists in territory they control.
The wording reflected Russian support for elections held on November 2 that have been rejected by Kyiv, the United States, and the European Union as illegal and illegitimate.
(With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, TASS and Interfax)
NATO SAYS RUSSIAN TROOPS, WEAPONS ENTERING UKRAINE
NATO's top commander says the alliance has observed columns of Russian military equipment entering eastern Ukraine in the past two days.
Speaking in Sofia on November 12, U.S. General Philip Breedlove said the columns included Russian tanks, artillery, air defense systems, and combat troops.
OSCE monitors reported on November 11 seeing a convoy of 43 unmarked military trucks, five towing howitzer artillery pieces and five others multi-launch rocket systems, travelling into the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.
Meanwhile, reports said heavy shelling rocked Donetsk, one of two provincial capitals held by pro-Russian rebels, on November 12.
An AFP correspondent said mortar shells were being fired from an area near the city center toward government-held positions around Donetsk's international airport.
The military movements and frequent shelling have raised fears of an escalation of the conflict that persists despite a September 5 cease-fire and has killed more than 4,000 people since April.
(Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters)
ECONOMIC STORM CLOUDS GATHER
Yakunin Says China Can't Replace Western Financing
Here's the money graf from the "Financial Times" piece:
A close ally of Vladimir Putin has said Asia cannot replace the west as a source of financing for Russia’s sanctions-hit economy and that the country should continue to pursue integration with Europe despite the stand-off over Ukraine.
The remarks by Vladimir Yakunin, the Russian Railways chief, cast a degree of doubt on the much-vaunted new relationship between Russia and China as Moscow attempts to pivot east following crippling sanctions imposed by the US and EU over Ukraine.
Oil Dips Below $80
And here's the lede from the "Wall Street Journal" story:
Brent crude dipped below $80 a barrel for the first time in four years, as concerns about a global glut of oil pressured prices.
News that Saudi Arabian crude production fell in October and the first public comments from the kingdom’s oil minister in weeks failed to rouse the market, which has been in a downward slide for months.
Brent, the global benchmark, briefly slid below $80 a barrel in intraday trading. The front-month December contract settled down $1.29, or 1.6%, at $80.38 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, the lowest settlement since September 2010.