The spokesperson for Gazprom, Sergey Kupriyanov, stated, on April 15, that the company had resumed gas imports from Turkmenistan (News Central Asia, April 16). His announcement was immediately confirmed by a statement from TurkmenGaz, Turkmenistan’s state natural gas company (Oilgas.gov.tm, April 15). Discussion on the... MORE

Many have been struck by the fact that Russians have largely not actively protested against President Vladimir Putin’s military actions in Syria, unlike against his war in Ukraine. It has been suggested that, perhaps, this reflects the fact that Russians know far more about Ukraine... MORE

The Russian investigative agency Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) published a report, on March 28, stating that, in addition to private military armies, Russia has now created a Private Military Company (PMC) of a new type. Specifically, the report examines Vega Strategic Services Ltd. (Vega), “a... MORE

The meeting of 29 foreign ministers from member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in Washington, DC, last week (April 3–4), marking the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Alliance, was not a joyful occasion for Russia. During the celebration, Russia was duly... MORE

The United States has declared the fall of the Islamic State’s (IS) physical caliphate in Syria, but the group has found fertile ground outside of Syria and Iraq. The group has fared particularly well in some locations and struggled to expand in others, but even... MORE

Shamima Begum has been the talking point of the international media and has dominated the headlines after her British citizenship was stripped, the most public example of an Islamic-State (IS)-bride-turned-stateless-jihadist.  With IS losing its last enclave in Baghouz, Syria, the group’s members, like Begum, are... MORE

On January 17, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen announced that an intelligence operation conducted in Sanaa resulted in the killing of a former Yemen Air Force commander who had defected to the Houthi militia—Ibrahim Ali al-Shami (al-Tagheer, January 19). The operation was carried out as... MORE

Executive Summary March 26th marked the end of the fourth year of the Saudi led war in Yemen. Four years of devastating aerial bombing and tens of billions of dollars have borne few results. The Houthis retain control of the northwest and most of Yemen has... MORE

A Russian task force of some 100 men has landed in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, arriving on two military planes—a super-large Antonov An-124 military transporter and an aging long-range Il-62M passenger jet, also belonging to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Both jets took off from... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated members of the country’s Special Operations Forces (SOF) on their professional day, February 27 (inaugurated in 2015), underscoring this service’s instrumentality in the “eradication of terrorists in Syria and securing peace in Crimea and Sevastopol during the historical referendum [sic]”... MORE