(Interfax – March 21, 2016) The Russian Defense Ministry submitted proposals on the provision and monitoring of the cessation of hostilities in Syria to the United States on Feb. 25 through military diplomatic channels, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Main Operative Department of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, has said. “This document specifies a mechanism of consultations […]
» Read more
After Russia annexed Crimea … Obama dismissed it as a regional power that acts ‘out of weakness.’ [ ] Russia is more … but a penchant for zero-sum statecraft and coercing neighbors lessens its stature. By cooperating more in the international arena, Russia could become a greater power. … Putin’s announcement of a military drawdown in Syria hints that Russia […]
» Read more
Writing in the New York Times, Anatol Lieven argues for greater U.S.-Russian engagement on Ukraine and Syria. If you believe many of the commentators and policy makers in Washington … Putin … is an expansionist on the march. … he annexed Crimea and fueled a destabilizing conflict in eastern Ukraine. … intervened in the Syrian civil war and rescued his […]
» Read more
(Kremlin.ru – March 17, 2016) At a meeting in the Kremlin’s St George Hall, Vladimir Putin presented state decorations to service personnel and defence industry specialists who distinguished themselves in the performance of special missions in the Syrian Arab Republic. More than 700 officers and men of the Aerospace Forces, the Ground Forces and the Navy attended the ceremony, along […]
» Read more
What is really behind the Kremlin’s decision to withdraw from Syria? The move is almost certainly down to a complex combination of factors, involving Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the EU. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – DMITRY YEVSTAFYEV, SPECIAL TO RBTH – March 16, 2016) The decision to pull Russian forces out of […]
» Read more
Russia is withdrawing more than half of its fighters and bombers from Syria, while leaving its missile defense systems and naval fleet in the Mediterranean, Russian military experts told RBTH. Despite the pullout, the Russian armed forces will continue to strike positions Moscow says are held by ISIS militants. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – NIKOLAI LITOVKIN, RBTH – […]
» Read more
(Interfax – March 15, 2016) Russia may keep its S-400 surface-to-air missile systems in Syria for a while, the chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s defense and security committee, Viktor Ozerov, has said.
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Henry Meyer – March 15, 2016) Syria’s main opposition group said Russia’s withdrawal of forces from the country will help peace talks in Geneva, even as a top Russian military official said that airstrikes will continue against terrorists. The pullout ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin is “a positive step which will help to move forward […]
» Read more
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the withdrawal of the main part of the military group in Syria. According to Russian observers, the pullout will affect land and aerospace forces, while the fleet and missile defense and intelligence systems will stay in the region. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – NIKOLAI LITOVKIN, RBTH – March 15, 2016) Russian President […]
» Read more
Observers are hotly debating the true reasons for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order to downsize and refocus the military operation in Syria, with some describing it as a tactical withdrawal while others label it an acknowledgement of failure. What is really behind the unexpected decision, and what will happen now? (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – VLADIMIR MIKHEEV, SPECIAL […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Steve Gutterman – March 15, 2016) Vladimir Putin surprised his country and the world on March 14 by ordering the start of a partial withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria, less than six months after the beginning of an air campaign that followed a swift and secretive buildup on the ground. What are the motives and […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. March 15 (Interfax) – The terrorist threat in Syria still persists, even despite “ISIL’s broken back,” and Russia expects the Syrian army to take on the main burden of opposing this threat, says Vladimir Andreyev, a deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department of New Challenges and Threats. “Naturally, the terrorist threat persists, even with a broken back, […]
» Read more
(Kremlin.ru – March 14, 2016) Vladimir Putin held a working meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to address issues of settling the Syrian crisis. The President gave an order to begin withdrawing the main part of Russian troops from the Syrian Arab Republic on March 15. The President of Russia also instructed the Foreign Ministry […]
» Read more
… Once prosperous enough to afford expensive Moscow apartments, they are now staggering under an economic burden fueled by geopolitical conflict and the plummeting price of oil. * * * Russia’s foreign-policy adventures … in Ukraine … in Syria — have tied up state resources …. The drop in energy prices has drained government coffers and sent the ruble skidding […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – March 10, 2016) U.S. President Barack Obama said that Ukraine “is going to be vulnerable to military domination by Russia no matter what” the United States does. In one of a series of interviews published on March 10 that formed the basis of an article in The Atlantic magazine, Obama said that Ukraine was clearly a […]
» Read more
(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Maxim Trudolyubov – March 9, 2016) Originally many in the West tended to view Russia’s Syrian adventure as yet another one of “Moscow’s gambits.” Commentators described Ukraine and Syria in the same breath. But Russia is eager to demonstrate that the two projects could hardly be more different and that Moscow can be two things […]
» Read more
… From the beginning of its military operation in Syria, Moscow has operated on the now indisputable proposition that … rampant unrest in the Middle East and … mounting challenges to the unity of the European Union are inextricably linked. The wager was that Europe would eventually seize an offer of cooperation in Syria to constrict the migrant flow and […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – March 2, 2016) NATO’s top commander warned that Russia and Syria have turned the refugee crisis into a “weapon” against the West at a time when it lacks resources to counter a “resurgent, aggressive” Russia. U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, who commands the 28-member military alliance, said the flow of hundreds of thousands of migrants […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – March 1, 2016) The majority of Russians are not ready to restore relations with Turkey after it downed a Russian warplane in November 2015, a survey by the state-run VTsIOM pollster published Monday revealed. Some 63 percent of respondents think the Kremlin should not lift the anti-Turkish sanctions that were imposed by Moscow following the […]
» Read more
The truce in Syria brokered by Russia and the U.S. appears to be holding, despite reports from some parties of violations. However, the ceasefire does not extend to groups that are recognized by the UN as terrorist. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – ALEXEY TIMOFEYCHEV, RBTH – March 1, 2016) Despite accusations of ceasefire violations coming from different sides […]
» Read more
Analyst examines two possible divergent futures for the country. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – VLADIMIR MIKHEEV, SPECIAL TO RBTH – February 26, 2016) Today, the talk of the town – namely in Damascus, Homs, Hama, Aleppo and other Syrian cities and hamlets – is focused on renewed rumors concerning the possible next step in the resolution of the […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – February 24, 2016) Dmitry Medvedev recently played a telling little head game. When the Russian prime minister said at the Munich Security Conference that Moscow and the West had “slid into a new Cold War,” he essentially created a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t situation. “If the West agrees that it is a new Cold War, then […]
» Read more
(Interfax – February 25, 2016) A representative of the defense attache’s staff from the U.S. Embassy to Moscow was invited to the Russian Defense Ministry on February 24, the Russian ministry said. “In furtherance of the agreement between the Russian and U.S. presidents on the cessation of hostilities in Syria, he was presented with a map of operative situation in […]
» Read more
House Armed Services Committee February 10, 2016 Hearing on Understanding and Deterring Russia: U.S. Policies and Strategies Oral remarks of Dr. Fiona Hill Fiona Hill is director of the Center on the United States and Europe and a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. She is also co-author of the second edition of “Mr. Putin: […]
» Read more
While a truce brokered by world powers is due to come into force in Syria on Feb. 27, there are numerous reasons to doubt that such a ceasefire would hold. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – VLADIMIR MIKHEEV, SPECIAL TO RBTH – February 24, 2016) The accord on a ceasefire in Syria, due to enter force on Feb. 27, […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Feb 24 (Interfax) – While Russia’s and the U.S.’ joint actions to advance the settlement of the Syria crisis are leading to a higher level of mutual confidence between Moscow and Washington, the main goal at the moment is to stop bloodshed in this country, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said. “Undeniably, interaction to this or that extent […]
» Read more
(Kremlin.ru – February 22, 2016) The President made a special address following the adoption of a joint statement by the Russian Federation and the United States of America, as co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), on the cessation of hostilities in Syria. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Friends, I just had a telephone conversation with President of the […]
» Read more
… overshadowed by the war in Syria, fighting in eastern Ukraine has picked up sharply in recent weeks … The resumption of hostilities in Ukraine, with exchanges of machine gun and mortar fire across the front line up to levels not seen since last summer, suggests a willingness by Russia, which supports the rebels in eastern Ukraine, to sustain two […]
» Read more
… John Kerry said on Sunday he and … Sergei Lavrov … reached a provisional agreement on terms of a cessation of hostilities in Syria …. violence continued to rage …. Multiple bomb blasts in a southern district of Damascus … and twin car bombs … in Homs …. Russian air strikes launched in September against rebels fighting … al-Assad […]
» Read more
The Pentagon revealed … that Russia granted a U.S. request not to target American special operations forces deployed to northern Syria …. The Pentagon made the request to the Russians after a U.S. decision to send the special operations forces into Syria last year. * * * … Russia also outlined some areas, such as airfields, that it did not […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 16, 2016) Russians want their country’s military campaign in Syria to continue, according to a recent poll by the independent Levada Center pollster, the RBC news website reported Monday. The majority of Russians are convinced the war in Syria needs to continue, with 18 percent categorically backing Russia’s involvement in the conflict and 41 […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – The Daily Vertical – Brian Whitmore – February 15, 2016) If there was ever any doubt that Russia is engaging in little more than a game of geopolitical extortion in Syria, there shouldn’t be any more. By targeting opponents of Bashar al-Assad, Moscow has effectively assured that Syria’s civil war will continue indefinitely. By indiscriminately bombing […]
» Read more
