LIVE UPDATES: The Turkish Foreign Ministry says that a Russian jet fighter entered Turkish airspace on October 3 before being intercepted by F-16s. Russian bombers have struck positions within several hundred metres of the border in recent days. The Russian air force continues to pound rebel-held areas in the Idlib, Hama and Homs provinces. The […]
LIVE UPDATES: The Russian Air Force has reportedly struck ISIS-held areas for the first time since bombing began on September 30. However the majority of settlements struck by bombs over the last 24 hours lie outside ISIS-controlled territory. The previous post in our Putin in Syria column can be found here. Russian Major General Lists […]
LIVE UPDATES: Unconfirmed reports and images from Syria indicate that the Russian air offensive has entered its second day. Comments from Dmitry Peskov, President Putin’s press secretary, indicate that the targeting of the opposition groups other than ISIS is now officially sanctioned. So far, none of the settlements reported to have been bombed are ISIS-controlled. […]
Staunton, August 2 – If one considers the factors that powered the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria – political instability, a weak counter-terrorism policy, Sunni predominance, and enormous natural resources — Dzhamiliya Kochoyan says, one is driven to the conclusion that Turkmenistan is at greater risk of an ISIS attack than any other […]
Staunton, July 30 – “The Russian special services have controlled” the flow of Islamist radicals from Russia to Syria “from the very beginning,” according to Elena Milashina of Novaya Gazeta. They haven’t interfered, and sometimes have assisted it, seeing “a threat to state security only in those who try to return from this war.” In […]
Staunton, June 11 – Many regional experts say that Tajikistan is the Central Asian country ISIS forces are most likely to attack, not only because the population is likely to be receptive to its appeals against corruption and for social justice but also because the Tajikistan army is too weak and underfunded to be able […]
Staunton, June 8 – This week’s meeting of the G-7 has been forced to focus not on the challenges posed by the Islamic State, Iran’s nuclear program, or Ebola but on the actions of a former member of the group, Russia, because Moscow by its aggression in Ukraine has betrayed the entire civilized world, according […]
Staunton, June 4 – Many analysts have looked at demographic trends and concluded that sometime toward the middle this century, Muslims will outnumber Russians on the territory of what is today the Russian Federation and thus be in a position to shift that country in the direction of an Islamic state. But now a Russian […]
Bloomberg News reports a major probe by Deutsche Bank into $6 billion in Russian transactions that may involve money-laundering. 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. UPDATES BELOW Russia This Week: – Is […]
Staunton, April 10 – A great deal of attention has been given to Chechens, Buryats and other non-Russians going to the Donbass to fight for the pro-Moscow “peoples republics” there, a flow that Russian propagandists have played up as evidence that support for Vladimir Putin’s “Russian world” is broader than just among ethnic Russians. But […]
