Russia’s Militia Groups and their Use at Home and Abroad

(IFRI) What makes the militia milieu so unique and important for understanding today’s Russia is that it finds itself at the intersection of state institutions, patronage mechanisms, criminal structures, and grassroots…

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Podvig: Very few of Russia’s Avangard hypersonic glider tests were successful and the programme was nearly shut down four years ago

(The Economist) Tom lehrer’s satirical ditty on the Nazi-turned-American rocketeer was faithful to the essence of early missile development, whose principal challenge was hoisting the weapons into the sky. Gravity did most…

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5 things to know about Russia’s Vostok-2018 military exercises

(WP) Military analysts around the world are keeping a close eye on Russia’s annual fall military maneuvers, as this year may turn out to be the largest post-Cold War show of…

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Baev: We did not see a demonstration of readiness of newly formed divisions in Russia’s military exercises

(Washington Post) VILNIUS, Lithuania — The vast Russian military exercises that ended this week showed off a muscular fighting force practicing state-on-state warfare, NATO’s deputy military commander said, in one of the…

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Maps of Russian and Ukrainian Military Forces

Here’s a useful map of the locations of Ukrainian military bases (as of 2008) and Russian forces located near Ukraine’s borders. It’s drawn from a new Russian language blog, and…

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Unresolved Issues: North Caucasians in the Russian Army

The problem of military service for North Caucasian recruits in the Russian army has been discussed for some time already. General-colonel Vasilii Smirnov, the Russian General Staff Deputy Chief, said…

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“Resting” at the Black Sea: Russia’s Latest Military Maneuvers

Since the 2008 war with Georgia, Russia has regularly held military maneuvers on the Black Sea. This March, about 30 ships, 7,000 personnel, and more than 20 airplanes and helicopters…

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Defending the Mistral

Today, I want to highlight a new Russian-language resource for analysts of the Russian military. The Waran Project bills itself as an informational and analytical resource put together by independent (though…

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Russia and China vie for Influence in Central Asia

I’m still swamped with various projects, so in the meantime, here’s another Oxford Analytica brief. This one is from mid-December… —- Although China and the United States have focused greater…

New Report on Russian Interests in Syria, Part 2: Russian Arms Sales

I’ve covered Russian arms exports to Syria on this blog before, but the CAST report has some useful new information on this topic. Barabanov and Aliev note that Russian…

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Russia’s Militia Groups and their Use at Home and Abroad

Podvig: Very few of Russia’s Avangard hypersonic glider tests were successful and the programme was nearly shut down four years ago

5 things to know about Russia’s Vostok-2018 military exercises

Baev: We did not see a demonstration of readiness of newly formed divisions in Russia’s military exercises

Maps of Russian and Ukrainian Military Forces

Unresolved Issues: North Caucasians in the Russian Army

“Resting” at the Black Sea: Russia’s Latest Military Maneuvers

Defending the Mistral

Russia and China vie for Influence in Central Asia

New Report on Russian Interests in Syria, Part 2: Russian Arms Sales

The Role of Russian Intelligence in the Invasion of Ukraine