Meet Zaslon, Russia’s ultra-secretive unit

The Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was assassinated on December 19th, 2016 by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş in Ankara. Scenes of the assassination are still fresh in most people’s memory as it was televised how Mevlüt shot the ambassador in the back and started circling the body, screaming in Arabic and Turkish. The next day, […]

WATCH: Russian arms maker appears to fire live rounds at soldiers during demo

Just about every special operations command in the world uses live fire drills to give its operators realistic combat experience before actually getting into the fight, though as numerous videos around the web have shown, not every nation’s military adheres to the same safety standards. This video, which appears to show Russian special operations troops […]

Trump backing out of the INF Treaty removes a significant Chinese strategic advantage

The Trump administration announced plans last week to formally leave the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The Soviet-era agreement bars both Russia and the U.S. from building nuclear or conventional ground-launched missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. The decision follows years of violations by the Russian armed forces (likely dating back to […]

Russia’s stealth fighter is basically dead in the water

When Russia first set to work on what would become the Sukhoi Su-57 (internally the T-50 at the time), it had a singular aim: utilizing 21st century stealth characteristics to produce a fighter capable of standing toe to toe with the best the United States had to offer, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and F-22 […]

Did Russia send a Boeing 777 airliner to pick up Venezuelan gold?

Earlier this week, a Boeing 777 commercial aircraft landed in Caracas, Venezuela. The plane, which belongs to Russia’s Nordwind Airlines, had never made the journey before, and according to local reports, arrived in the troubled nation carrying only its crew. Initial speculation suggested the aircraft may have been carrying Russian mercenaries sent to bolster embattled […]

To Russia’s chagrin, Israel and Ukraine improve diplomatic ties

The relationship between Ukraine and Israel dates back to 1947, when Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union. It was more widely recognized back then as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Ukraine was one of 33 states that pressed for a Jewish state in Mandatory Palestine during the U.N. Partition Proposal in 1947. The Soviet […]

Did Russia send a Boeing 777 airliner to pick up Venezuelan gold?

Earlier this week, a Boeing 777 commercial aircraft landed in Caracas, Venezuela. The plane, which belongs to Russia’s Nordwind Airlines, had never made the journey before, and according to local reports, arrived in the troubled nation carrying only its crew. Initial speculation suggested the aircraft may have been carrying Russian mercenaries sent to bolster embattled […]

Watch: Russian Su-27 fighter intercepts US P-8A Poseidon over Baltic Sea days after US/Canada intercept of Russian bombers near Alaska

In a tit-for-tat intercept following American F-22s and Canadian CF-18s being scrambled to intercept and escort Russian nuclear capable bombers off the coast of North America over the weekend, a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker conducted an intercept of a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea as it “approached the Russian maritime […]