Latest Articles about Military/Security
Revisionist Radicals Accuse Putin of Being Too Soft on Ukraine, as Russia Takes on Status of Pariah State
President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating has reached a staggering 82.3 percent, the Kremlin-controlled pollster VTsIOM reported this week (March 27). Last January, the same polling outfit reported Putin’s rating at 60.6 percent. The almost bloodless capture and swift annexation of Crimea has been boosting Putin’s... MORE
Moscow Threatens Ukraine From the West
Following the Russian Anschluss of Crimea, most Ukrainian, Russian and Western commentary has focused on the possibility that Moscow will use a similar strategy to move into the predominantly ethnic-Russian areas of eastern Ukraine. That is still an all too real possibility— especially if, after... MORE
Putin’s Crimea Speech: A Manifesto of Greater-Russia Irredentism
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech on the incorporation of Crimea into Russia (kremlin.ru, March 18; see EDM, March 19) aimed far beyond Crimea in scope and ambition. Explicitly, Putin called into question the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state. Implicitly, he laid a basis for challenging... MORE
NATO-Russia Relations Post-Crimea
Since the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia’s complex relationship with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has experienced high hopes, drift and intermittent crises. Following the Five-Day War between Georgia and Russia in August 2008, NATO suspended... MORE
Russian Authorities Step up Efforts to Disrupt North Caucasus Insurgency’s Financing
On March 19, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev held a government meeting in Grozny, Chechnya. Two primary issues were discussed—disrupting the financial channels that feed the insurgents in the North Caucasus and developing additional measures to prevent extremist outbursts in the Russian Federation and,... MORE
With Crimea Secure, Russia’s Focus Shifts to Ukrainian Mainland
The last remnants of the Ukrainian military have been unceremoniously pushed out of Crimea by Russian forces, who are no longer posing as unidentified local self-defense militias. Some Ukrainian servicemen have been detained while a marines’ base in Feodosia was captured on March 24; shots... MORE
North Caucasus Militants Announce New Leader to Replace Umarov
After seven months without any communication from the Caucasus Emirate’s emir, Doku Umarov, the leadership of the North Caucasian rebels’ velayats on March 18 officially admitted the death of their leader (https://kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2014/03/18/103603.shtml).The North Caucasian jihadists also announced their new leader—Abu Muhammad, who was the Caucasus... MORE
Naval Basing and Maritime Borders in the Black Sea After Russia’s Annexation of Crimea
Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine, officially effective from March 18 (see EDM, March 19), brings two distinct territorial units into the Russian Federation, namely: the Crimean republic and the Sevastopol municipality, henceforth subordinated directly to Russia’s central government.Sevastopol’s special status derives from Russia’s Black... MORE
Russia Retakes Crimea: Political Implications
Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine is now an accomplished goal in its own right. But it is also an intermediate goal, part of a broader agenda to threaten Ukraine with fragmentation or decomposition, unless Ukraine reorients toward Russia. In turn, Ukraine’s reorientation or its... MORE
The Military Dimensions of NPC 2014
On March 4, Premier Li Keqiang delivered the annual Report on the Work of the Government to the National People’s Congress (NPC). In the small section on national defense, Premier Li stated: “We made solid progress in strengthening national defense and the armed forces, and... MORE