Russia

Syrian Conflict The Syrian War started in 2011 as an uprising and protests against the government of Syria led by Bashar Al Assad.  Originally,  the rebel forces were known as the Free Syrian Army but later splintered into several different groups, one of which is ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant).  The conflict […]

Russia has reportedly deployed ten warships with three more joining en route to the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Syria, making for the single largest Russian flotilla to reach Syrian shores since the Kremlin began providing direct military support to embattled President Bashar al Assad, and is among the largest demonstrations of Russian naval […]

Last year, Russia’s held a massive series of war games they refer to as “Zapad,” or “West.” The exercises, which usually happen along Europe’s eastern flank every four years, always draw NATO’s attention, in large part because Russia has long been openly dishonest about the size and scope of the drills. In 2011, Russia signed […]

While economically struggling, Russia has a long history of deriving national pride from military parades celebrating past victories. Last Thursday, Russian forces participated in just such an event: a parade commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk. In 1943, some 1.9 million Soviet soldiers alongside more than 5,000 tanks participated in what would […]

French President Emmanuel Macron called on all European nations to invest more heavily in defense and develop financial security within the continent. Macron’s stated goal would be to reduce the continent’s reliance on the United States for both physical and financial security, but the underlying premise was clear: Macron does not believe the United States […]

While the United States has come to accept the fact that the Russian government has been funding a direct effort to affect American perceptions of one another and the nation’s democratic process, most tend to see the issue through a partisan lens. Russian information operations, however, exist outside of the American domestic political squabbles, and […]

In March, a former Russian military intelligence officer that sold state secrets to the British government was attacked in Salisbury, England. While he and his daughter survived the ordeal, the international ramifications were swift once the nerve agent used was identified as one of specifically Soviet manufacture, suggesting to U.K. officials and their allies that […]

This week, state-owned Russian defense firms have set the internet ablaze with claimed new technologies being rolled out within the nation’s struggling military-industrial complex. Despite the U.S. led sanctions stifling the Russian economy so thoroughly that they’ve chosen to defund or significantly limit endeavors commonly considered necessary to the Russian defense apparatus like the refit […]

Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov met this week to discuss their nations’ future relations. Lavrov claims that the two countries seek to continue a partnership and that both governments are striving to left specific visa regulations, improve military partnerships, and discover a constitutional solution for the crises in […]

In the never-ending search for the next best technology, both the United States and Russia are searching for armor, camouflage, and exoskeletons to carry the next generation of Special Operations Forces into battle. And as they are both working on the latest upgrades for their troops, some of the newest technology looks like it came […]

Vladimir Putin, the KGB spy turned Russian president and potentially the richest man on the planet, doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to go looking for advice when it comes to international relations. In fact, a common criticism levied at the world leader from Russians is that his attention all too often lies beyond […]

It sounds like a plot right out of a 1980’s action movie: Russian warships patrolling the surface of the Barents Sea, hunting for traces of their lost experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile that Vladimir Putin himself described as capable of out-maneuvering any missile defense system on the planet. Meanwhile, deep beneath the surface, a stealthy behemoth […]