The Azerbaijani government has denied accounts, first published on January 8 in Haqqin.az but subsequently deleted, of three Turkish military bases allegedly being established in Azerbaijan as a consequence of Turkish military assistance to Baku during last year’s 44-day Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict. The reports, if accurate,... MORE

For the Ukrainian company JSC Motor Sich, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of engines for missiles, helicopters and jets, the year started with new battles over ownership. Chinese investors have reinitiated their earlier efforts to take over Ukraine’s top defense producer, and Kyiv is... MORE

Moscow has made considerable progress in its military modernization over the past decade, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who recently gave a speech highlighting key areas of development while offering upbeat statistics (TASS, January 29). While Shoigu confirmed that the levels of progress to... MORE

Army General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia’s General Staff (CGS) and first deputy defense minister, has been chosen as the new president of the Academy of Military Sciences (Akademii Voyennykh Nauk—AVN). This does not mean Gerasimov has left his current position as CGS; he... MORE

Russian efforts to control the Northern Sea Route and to secure exclusive access to the local seabed, from which it hopes to pump oil and natural gas as well as mine coal and other minerals for export, have been attracting increasing attention for years (see... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. *To read Part Two, please click here. The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Karabakh was the only Soviet-legacy conflict that did not feature Russian “peacekeeping” troops during the 26-year period between the first armistice, in 1994, and the latest armistice,... MORE

Introduction In the past decade, the China Coast Guard (CCG, 中国海警, zhongguo haijing) has experienced two major reforms. The first, which began in 2013, uprooted the service from the Ministry of Public Security—where it was organized as an element of the People’s Armed Police (PAP)—and... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. Under the November 9–10, 2020 armistice declaration, Russia’s “peacekeeping” mission in Upper (Nagorno) Karabakh is limited to 1,960 motor-rifle troops with light weapons and armored personnel carriers (see EDM, November 12, 13, 2020). According to Russian President Vladimir Putin,... MORE

In November 2020, Russia and Egypt conducted their first joint naval exercises in the Black Sea. The Bridge of Friendship-2020 naval drills brought the Egyptian Navy to the Black Sea for the first time (PortNews.ru, November 16, 2020). Along with expanding military cooperation with Cairo,... MORE

Russia’s “peacekeeping” operation in Upper (Nagorno) Karabakh, which ended the 44-day war last November, is laying the foundation of a Russian protectorate in this Armenian-inhabited territory of Azerbaijan (see EDM, December 8, 10, 2020). This undertaking shows some familiar features of Russia’s earlier “peacekeeping” model... MORE