Staunton, November 7 – Just as Vladimir Putin used the apartment bombings in Russian cities in 1999 to restart the Chechen war and bring himself to power, so too, again needing a war to keep his position, the Kremlin leader will exploit the terrorist plane bombing to expand Russia’s presence abroad and isolate Ukraine, according […]
LIVE UPDATES: The Russian Air Force has intensified air strikes in Syria, claiming to have struck 285 targets over the last three days. State media report an unusual number of air sorties today. The previous post in our Putin in Syria column can be found here. Russia Intensifies Air Strikes 2015-10-26 15:33:55 Reports from Syria […]
Staunton, October 21 – Declines in transfer payments from Central Asian labor migrants to their families in their homelands is leading to “a decline in the level of the loyalty of the population to the existing authorities” there and prompting Central Asians to ask then “uncomfortable” questions that ISIS can provide answers to, Gevorg Mirzayan […]
LIVE UPDATES: There are reports from both regime and rebel sources that a large offensive has been launched against Aleppo in the north of Syria, supported by the Russian Air Force. The previous post in our Putin in Syria column can be found here. Gazeta.ru Reports That Drone Downed by Turkey Is Likely New Secret […]
Staunton, October 15 “It is not excluded,” Irek Murtazin writes in Novaya Gazeta, that the terrorist act blocked by the FSB on October 11 was nothing more than a training exercise organized to boost vigilance among a Russian population that “totally distrusts” the law enforcement agencies and thus can be mobilized only by something like […]
LIVE UPDATES: The Russian Northern Fleet has denied reports in Russian media that the country’s only aircraft carrier, the ailing Admiral Kuznetsov, is being dispatched to the Syrian coast. Meanwhile, the Russian air force claims to have completed 41 sorties in Syria over the last day. The previous post in our Putin in Syria column […]
The previous post in our Putin in Syria column can be found here. Combined Russian-Regime Offensive Goes On, But Rebels Reportedly Make Gains Elsewhere 2015-10-12 14:16:36 Russian jets have continued to pound rebel-held areas of the Hama, Idlib and Aleppo regions, aiding the Syrian regime in retaking the village of Atshat, north of Hama. State […]
Russian intelligence claims to have foiled a plot by Russian terrorists trained in Syria to bomb public transport. Welcome to our column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies. The previous issue is here. Recent Translations: –The Non-Hybrid War –Kashin Explains His […]
Sociologist Denis Sokolov, an anthropologist and senior researcher for the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, has traveled to the Russian Caucasus and the Donbass to interview warlords to find out what factors sustain them. He finds not so much confirmation of the poverty theory of the “root causes of terrorism” but […]
Yesterday, October 5, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov received Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, the first vice president of Afghanistan, to discuss cooperation in their struggle against ISIS. Welcome to our column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies. The previous issue is here. […]
