Staunton, October 22 – Vladimir Putin has decided to listen to Russia’s hawks and intensify his confrontation with the West, a clear defeat for the so-called “peace party” in Moscow but quite possibly a good thing for Ukraine, according to Russian commentator Andrey Piontkovsky. By receiving Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, Putin indicated that he has […]
Staunton, October 19 – In an indication of Vladimir Putin’s isolation even in the former Soviet space and of the weakness of the CIS as an institution, not a single president of a member state publicly supported the Kremlin leader’s bombing campaign in Syria at the CIS summit in Kazakhstan, Arkady Dubnov notes. The Russian […]
Staunton, October 16 – Having already shown its contempt for the other Caspian littoral states by launching cruise missiles from its squadron on that sea, Moscow will be conducting joint naval exercises with Iran, again apparently without consulting Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan or Turkmenistan, according to Iran’s Fars news agency. Ahmad Reza Baqeri, an Iranian naval captain, […]
The news that the Turkish military has reportedly destroyed a Russian drone that intruded in its airspace has caused the ruble value to drop sharply again. 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. […]
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 […]
Staunton, October 4 Clausewicz famously observed that “war is the continuation of politics by other means;” but in the case of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has inverted that definition and is seeking to make peacemaking into another means for continuing the policies behind his war there, according to Ukrainian commentator Vitaly Portnikov. The chief results of […]
Staunton, October 6 – Vladimir Putin views Barack Obama as being in “panicked retreat” because of the latter’s decision to extricate the US from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and believes that it would be foolish not to exploit the possibilities that such a drawdown in American power present, according to Konstantin von Eggert. But […]
Russia’s docile parliament swiftly and unanimously granted President Vladimir Putin authorization to make air strikes on Syria. The Kremlin compared the operation to the war in Tajikistan in the 1990s. 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 […]
Video has surfaced reportedly showing the newly-renovated Russian airbase in Latakia. The previous post in our Putin in Syria column can be found here. Disagreements Between Iranian Militia Leaders And Assad Commanders Near Russia’s Bases In Latakia? 2015-09-29 20:40:21 Al Aan TV, a satellite station based in United Arab Emirates, posted a story on Sunday […]
The Kremlin has announced that President Vladimir Putin will meet with US President Barack Obama on Monday, September 28 at the UN General Assembly. 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. Russia This […]
