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James Kilner

0630GMT//Russian forces increase attacks ahead of Trump-Putin meeting; Putin bullish on economy; Lada delays production of "comeback" car

TRUMP-PUTIN MEETING: Russian forces in Ukraine have intensified their attacks along the frontline ahead of a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. (COMMENT: Various online reports said that Russian forces had "broken through" at different points along the frontline but this cannot be

0725GMT//Optimism in Russia ahead of Trump-Putin meeting; North Korean labourers treated as slaves in Russia

OPTIMISM AHEAD OF TRUMP-PUTIN MEETING: Russia's main TV channels have told viewers to "plan for the end of the Special Military Operation" ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska on Friday. Newspapers have been couching their commentary, though, clearly unsure what to expect ahead of the

0654GMT//Russian media boast of "winning war" with Trump-Putin meeting; Russia sidelined in the S.Caucasus

TRUMP-PUTIN MEETING: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin agreed to meet in Alaska on Aug. 15. This will be their first meeting since Trump was re-elected as US Pres. last year. (COMMENT: Russian media is promoting the meeting as a major win for Putin. It crows that Volodymyr Zelensky and the

0834GMT//Kremlin confirms Putin-Trump meeting; UAE boosts relations with Russia

PUTIN-TRUMP MEETING: The Kremlin confirmed on Thursday that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would meet "in the coming days" but it also said that Putin was "very far" from meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky. (COMMENT: Putin later said that the meeting could take place in the UAE.

0754GMT//Witkoff flies into Russia; Russian officials ask Ethiopia to ease Boeing aircraft

WITKOFF IN RUSSIA: Steve Witcoff, Donald Trump's personal envoy, has been filmed in Moscow ahead of talks with Vladimir Putin. This is his first trip to Russia since April. Video showed Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund and an envoy for Putin, walking

0756GMT//Witkoff to meet Putin on Wed; fringe towns in Russia are dying out

NUCLEAR MISSILE THREAT: The Kremlin said it may lift a moratorium on the deployment of land-based short and medium-range nuclear missiles after the US moved two nuclear-armed submarines closer to Russia. (COMMENT: This is part of the fallout from a Twitter spat between Donald Trump and Dmitry Medvedev, a former

Two-week service break

Good morning, The Russian Morning Memo is going on a two-week break. It'll be back on Monday Aug. 4. Yours, James, Editor – The Memo

0715GMT//Russian banks see unpaid loan crisis; interest rates likely to be cut; oligarchs choose to cruise in the Arctic

UNPAID LOANS: Three of Russia's largest banks have started talks with the Central Bank on taking emergency cash to cover unpaid consumer loans, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. Bloomberg quoted Russian banking insiders as saying that the Central Bank had asked commercial banks to "restructure" loans

0652GMT//Kremlin cancels its main weapons fair; sanctions delays repairs to refineries; Putin visits Magnitogorsk

WEAPONS FAIR CANCELLED: The Kremlin has cancelled its biggest annual weapons fair "Army" next month, the Izvestia and Kommersant newspapers reported without giving a reason. (COMMENT: If confirmed, this is a humiliation for the Kremlin. It set up the weapons fair in 2015 to show off Russian military

0654GMT//Kremlin dismisses Trump's secondary sanction threat; Russia claims most Armenian brandy is fake

RUSSIA DISMISSES TRUMP THREAT: The Kremlin has rejected Donald Trump's threat to impose secondary tariffs on Russia's trading partners if it didn't negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine in the next 50 days. (COMMENT: The threat of secondary sanctions against Russia's main