0654GMT//Russia alleges Ukraine hit nuclear power station with drone; Kremlin holds first formal talks in Kabul with Taliban; Putin works through his birthday
NUCLEAR POWER STATION DRONE ALLEGATION: Rosenergoatom, Russia's nuclear power plant operator, said that a Ukrainian drone hit the cooling tower at its nuclear power station at Novovoronezh, in the Voronezh Region. It said that the collision with operating unit No. 6 had left a "dark mark" but no damage. Ukraine has not commented. (COMMENT: This is one of the first alleged Ukrainian attacks against a Russian nuclear power station. Ukraine has been targeting oil refineries but not nuclear power stations. Of course, the alleged attack could be a fake designed to discredit the Ukrainian drone attacks.)
RUSSIA-TALIBAN TALKS: Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, led a Russian delegation to Kabul for bilateral meetings with the Taliban for the first time since the Kremlin scraped them from its terrorist list in April. In Kabul, Lavrov praised the Taliban for its "fight against terrorism" and also for its "war against drugs". (COMMENT: The Kremlin sees the Taliban and Afghanistan as another pawn in its wider geopolitical game with the West, as well as a potential economic partner. For one, Russia wants to develop a new trade route through Central Asia and Afghanistan, into Pakistan and India. This has become more important since the Kremlin's fallout with Azerbaijan, which sits on its new North-South Trade Route to India. Secondly, the Kremlin has always played by the maxim "my enemy's enemy is my friend".)
PUTIN HAS WORKING HOLIDAY: Vladimir Putin held a partially televised meeting with his top military commanders and his defence minister on Tuesday, his 73rd birthday. According to the commanders, Russia has captured 4,900sqkm of Ukrainian territory this year. (COMMENT: This meeting was all theatre and designed to show ordinary Russians that, even on his birthday, Putin's priorities are with the Russian military. Pure domestic propaganda.)
EU WANTS TRAVEL BAN ON RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS: The EU intends to impose travel restrictions on Russian diplomats, the FT reported. It said that the EU will insist that Russian diplomats who want to travel outside the capitals of their respective postings need to inform the state's authorities. (COMMENT: The EU has framed the travel restrictions as a response to an increase in small-scale sabotage attacks across the bloc allegedly linked to Russia. It could also be just another way to needle the Kremlin and generally make life for Russian diplomats more uncomfortable and difficult.)
BUSINESS COMPLAIN ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL FINES: Russian businesses have complained to the Russian government about plans to introduce new environmental fines from Jan. 1. Some fines for emitting pollutants have increased by multiples of several hundred. (COMMENT: The underlying tenor of the business complaints is that these fines are excessive and designed to increase revenue for the Kremlin, which needs to plug a hole in its budget. They also come as Russian business generally struggles with trading conditions.)