0759GMT//Putin gives Kazakh president the 'red carpet' treatment; Lavrov is missing once again; the Kremlin will issue bonds in yuan to reassure investors
PUTIN-TOKAYEV TALKS: Vladimir Putin and Kassym Jomart Tokayev, the Kazakh president, concluded two days of talks on Wednesday, designed to bolster Kazakhstan-Russia relations. Putin gave Tokayev top-level treatment, escorting his plane in with fighter jets, taking him to the ballet and holding a dinner in his official residence. (COMMENT>> These talks came only a few days after Tokayev was in Washington, meeting with Donald Trump and signing up to the US-brokered Abraham Accords – a policy that was originally designed to shift Middle Eastern countries' attitude towards Israel but has morphed into a statement of pro-US intent. Putin was on his best behaviour with Tokayev. At the start of his invasion of Ukraine, Putin was irritated that Tokayev wavered with his support and deliberately garbled his name. Now, Putin needs Kazakhstan.)
LAVROV ABSENT, AGAIN: Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, was missing from the Russian entourage at the Putin-Tokayev meeting. This is his second absence from a major Putin-led meeting in a week. He missed a Security Council meeting last week, sparking rumours that he had fallen out with Putin. (COMMENT>> The Kremlin has denied that Putin and Lavrov have fallen since a failed bid to set up a Putin-Trump meeting last month. Lavrov, though, would usually have been present at a meeting between Putin and Tokayev. The Kremlin will again need to explain his absence. Pressure is building.)
YUAN BOND ISSUE: Russia's finance ministry will issue bonds denominated in yuan from next month, it said on Wednesday. It didn't give the total value of yuan bonds that it intended to issue, but last month Reuters said that Russia was preparing to release up to $4.9b worth of yuan bonds. (COMMENT>> The Kremlin has debated issuing yuan-denominated bonds for months. The final push on the issue appears to have been a sharp drop in government revenues linked to US sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft. Issuing yuan-denominated bonds should give investors more confidence in the debt's stability.)
RUSSIAN CRUDE OIL DROP: China has cut by a third its imports of Russian crude oil so far this month. Instead, Chinese refineries increased the amount of crude oil they buy from Saudi Arabia. (COMMENT>> India is also dropping imports of Russian crude oil, and Russian oil is now selling at a record discount. The crude oil export drop from Russia is linked to threats of secondary US sanctions and also tougher sanctions imposed on Lukoil and Rosneft.)
LUKOIL BEGS US FOR SANCTION DEADLINE EXTENSION: Lukoil has asked the US for an extension to a Nov. 21 deadline on the sale of its foreign assets before sanctions are imposed. A deal to sell Lukoil's assets to a Switzerland-based trading company collapsed last week after the US described Gunvor as a "puppet of the Kremlin". (COMMENT>> Lukoil's operations are slowing to a halt around the world because of the fear of secondary sanctions.)
MAX USED AS SNOOPING TOOL: Irek Fayzullin, Russia's housing minister, on Wednesday said that Russians must transfer all their online messaging chats from WhatsApp and Telegram used from "home" onto the state's Max messaging system. He wasn't specific on how this would work or the difference between "home" chats and outside chats. (COMMENT>> This ends the debate on whether Max is a snooping tool for the Russian government. Clearly it is.)