One striking feature of this year’s United States presidential election campaign has been the invisible but remarkably persistent background presence of Russia and its leader, President Vladimir Putin. Putin can perhaps be proud of this achievement: no other world leader (except for Syrian President Bashar... MORE

Three conflicts occurring simultaneously along separate fronts are currently vying for international attention: Russia and its allies continue to besiege the Syrian opposition forces in Aleppo, and a massive Russian naval force is assembling in the Eastern Mediterranean. Meanwhile, Iraqi and international coalition forces led... MORE

Russia’s military operations over the past two and a half years—from the seizure of Crimea, to support for separatists in Donbas, to its intervention in Syria—have revealed differing aspects of the country’s growing military capability. While the use of hard power in these divergent theaters... MORE

Last week (October 7), the Russian Duma unanimously ratified an agreement signed in August 2015 with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to indefinitely lease for free the Khmeimim airbase, near the port city Latakia, on the Syrian Mediterranean coast. Russian jets have been... MORE

Last Friday (October 7) marked ten years since the murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya. And while her killer and several accomplices were convicted, the mastermind of this crime is still at large (Novaya Gazeta, October 7). Two days prior... MORE

US Secretary of State John Kerry’s attempts to hammer out a Syrian ceasefire agreement with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, have collapsed, leaving relations between Washington and Moscow in tatters. The Russian-led coalition, which includes military forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government as... MORE

According to Iraqi media outlets citing unnamed security officials, in early September Islamic State (IS) appointed the former commander of Tajikistan’s paramilitary police (OMON), Gulmurod Halimov, to the position of IS’ military leader (аlsumaria.tv [Baghdad], September 3). Halimov is alleged to have replaced former “Minister... MORE

It took several month of intermittent talks between the United States and Russia and many multi-hour marathon sessions between US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to hammer out the Syrian ceasefire agreement that went into effect on September 12.... MORE

On August 24, Turkish armor, infantry, and air units crossed the Syrian border and, in conjunction with the Ankara-supported Free Syrian Army (FSA) Sunni-dominated rebel group, launched a full-scale assault on the Islamic State-controlled city of Jarabulus. Simultaneously, the Turkish-FSA force moved against the Kurdish... MORE

The agreement on managing the Syrian civil war, reached between the United States and Russia in Geneva in the early hours of Saturday, September 10, was both surprising and pre-determined. US Secretary of State John Kerry had invested so much effort in the endless rounds... MORE