Latest Articles about Military/Security

Moscow and Damascus Accuse Rebels of Deploying WMDs All Over Syria
The United States’ April 7 cruise missile attack against a major Syrian airbase sent US-Russian relations into a nosedive. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s April 12 talks in Moscow with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin seemed doomed to fail. But Putin... MORE

Large Russian Land-Air-Sea Exercises in Crimea Highlight Vulnerabilities in Ukrainian Navy and Coastal Defense
As the month of March came to a close, Russia conducted a series of unprecedented land, air and sea drills at the “Opuk” combat training area, located near the city of Theodosia, in annexed Crimea. These coordinated exercises, involving thousands of troops, notably marked the... MORE

Russian-Turkish Relations Undermined by Status of Crimea
By certain measures, Russian-Turkish relations appear to be firmly developing in a positive direction, but in fact serious points of contention continue to undermine this rapprochement. On the one hand, earlier this year, Russia conducted its first ever joint military operations with a member of... MORE

Russian Air Defense and the US Strike on Al-Shayrat
Moscow’s reaction to the United States’ cruise missile strike on a regime target in Syria, on April 7, has proved both swift and predictable: ranging from condemning an “act of aggression,” to suspend the bilateral de-confliction agreement and promising to further boost Syria’s air defense... MORE

Russia’s Tu-160 Strategic Bomber Faces Development Problems
Russia’s nuclear weapons modernization program raises suspicions and fear internationally. This process, however, faces serious difficulties. A case in point is the Tu-160 strategic bomber, whose maker, Joint Stock Company (JSC) Tupolev, has had trouble fulfilling the necessary modernization and repairs on this nuclear-capable aircraft... MORE

Kremlin Reels From US Missile Strike on Syria
The nearly five dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles that the United States fired on Friday night (April 7) at the Syrian Al-Shayrat airbase produced far more political resonance than kinetic impact. Nonetheless, Russian President Vladimir Putin found himself on the receiving end of the shockwave. He... MORE

Risk of Further Serious Hostilities in Karabakh Remains High
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit of to the occupied Azerbaijani territories, on March 25, 2017, and his recent statements pertaining to Armenian military drills there demonstrate Yerevan’s unwillingness to settle the conflict via peaceful negotiations. During the final phase of military exercises in the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh... MORE

Deadly Bomb Explosion in St. Petersburg Metro Exposes Vulnerability of Russia’s Cities
Midday on Monday, April 3, a homemade bomb filled with metal shrapnel exploded in a train car of the St. Petersburg metro as it was moving between stations. It was not rush hour, but the train was crowded: 14 people died and over 50 were... MORE

Moscow Mobilizes the Science of Strategic Foresight
Since the Russian seizure of Crimea, many Western analysts have come to habitually scrutinize the annual speeches of Army General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff. This focus was initially prompted by his 2013 address to the Academy of Military Sciences and his... MORE

Xi’s Korea Policies Stumble
On March 7, the United States began installation of a Terminal High-Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) system in on a golf course outside Seoul, South Korea. Washington and Seoul did so over strong economic and diplomatic pressure from Beijing, which argued that THAAD posed a threat... MORE