0734GMT//US-Russia meet at UN Gen. Assembly; Drones close Danish airports; Russian military spending drops
US-RUSSIA MEETING: Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, and Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Their meeting lasted less than an hour. According to the Russian delegation, both sides "exchanged views on resolving the Ukrainian crisis". This was the first significant meeting between a US and Ukrainian delegation since the Putin-Trump summit in Alaska in August. (COMMENT: Progress towards finding a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine has dried up. This meeting doesn't change this stasis.)
DRONES CLOSE DANISH AIRPORTS, AGAIN: Several airports in Denmark again suspended flights on Wednesday evening because drones were seen flying nearby. Copenhagen and Oslo airports closed for several hours on Monday because of nearby drone activity. Some officials and analysts have blamed Russia for the drone flights near the airports. Russia has denied any involvement. (COMMENT: Whether or not Russia ordered drones to be flown near airports in Europe, these incidents prove just how vulnerable Europe is. It clearly doesn't take or cost much to close a major international airport any more. Russia has promised to intensify its asymmetric warfare.)
MILITARY BUDGET DROPS: Russia's proposed budget for 2026 shows a drop in spending on the military – down to 38% of all spending from 41% in 2025. The proportion of Russia's GDP spent on the military is slated to drop to 7.1% of GDP from 8%. (COMMENT: This insight shows the pressure that Russia's economy is under. Putin desperately wants to protect spending on his military, but the reality is that it just can't be maintained. He has ordered an increase in VAT to fund more military spending. The Russian government has now admitted that economic growth will only be around 1% this year. The non-military sector is likely to have shrunk.)
POPULAR ALTAI ACTIVIST ARRESTED: Police in Russia's Altai region have arrested a prominent local rights activist and charged her with terrorism. Aruna Arna, called the "people's leader of Altai" by her supporters, has campaigned for more rights for indigenous people and against reforms that place more power in the hands of a Kremlin-appointed governor. She has also campaigned against large tracts of land being sold cheaply to Chinese companies and pro-Kremlin miners. (COMMENT: This is a local issue, but worth following as Arna has a major following and her arrest will stir local resentment. The Altai region in Siberia borders Kazakhstan and has been a major recruitment ground for the Russian army. In June, Arna helped to organise one of the largest anti-Kremlin protests since the start of the war in Ukraine. The protest against planning law reforms was estimated to have attracted "thousands".)
NEW SUPREME COURT CHIEF: Igor Krasnov, a Vladimir Putin loyalist, has been appointed the new head of Russia's Supreme Court. He was officially appointed by a parliamentary committee, but was Putin's only nomination. Krasnov had been Russia's chief prosecutor, pushing through the arrests of thousands of people for protesting against the war in Ukraine. (COMMENT: Krasnov is only the third person since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union to head Russia's Supreme Court. Vyacheslav Lebedev held the post from 1991-2024. Irina Podnosova, Putin's former classmate, held the post for a year until she died in July. The Supreme Court rubberstamps Putin's various decisions.)