U.S. Senator Bob Graham: "Can we easily extend our defense umbrella to the country that is seeking admission"?
written by: Corneliu Pivariu
Aug 25, 2010

- Interview with U.S.Senator Bob Graham realized by Corneliu Pivariu, President and CEO of Geostrategic Pulse -

Russian Espionage Targeting New NATO Members
written by: Gregory Feifer
Aug 19, 2010

The three Czech generals make an impressive roster: the head of the president's military office, the country's NATO representative in Europe, and a deputy head of the chief of staff. Last week, a Czech newspaper reported they stepped down after a Russian spy made contact with their offices in the ...more

Experts Warn of Consequences to U.S.-Russian Relations from Recent Crackdown on Opposition
Aug 12, 2010

WASHINGTON - Thirty-seven former U.S. government officials, human rights and democracy advocates, and Russia experts warned Wednesday that the arrest of Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov at a demonstration on July 31 and other anti-democratic steps by the Russian government constitute an "alarming ...more

New Russian Strategic Level Commanders: Makarov's Successor in the Making?
written by: Roger McDermott
Aug 11, 2010

On July 22, Russian Defense Minister, Anatoliy Serdyukov, signed an order appointing acting commanders in the new operational-strategic commands (OSK's). Serdyukov's Press Secretary, Lieutenant-Colonel Irina Kovalchuk, told Interfax that Colonel-General Arkadiy Bakhin (Commander of the Volga-Urals ...more

Hybrid Arms Control Treaty Could be the Ticket
written by: Greg R. Lawson
Aug 05, 2010

Does the newly negotiated START Treaty between the United States and Russia compromise American security and/or the security of its allies? The answer is not simple for either side in the debate. It is this very ambiguity that will, and probably should, make ratification of the treaty by the US ...more

Baltic MEPs: The US non-recognition policy was our only source of hope
Jul 23, 2010

At the intiative of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithanian delegations in the EPP group, 20 Baltic MEPs from five political groups signed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, expressing their appreciation for US policies that never recognized the 1940 annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ...more

Reflections on Vostok 2010: Selling an Image
written by: Roger McDermott
Jul 20, 2010

Jacob Kipp recently analyzed the political-military context of Vostok 2010 and drew attention to an increased threat perception in the Russian Far East relating to China. Kipp also referred to the taboo within Russian security circles about openly referring to China in discussion of threat perception, ...more

"Virtual" Defense of the Russian Far East: Vostok 2010
written by: Roger McDermott
Jul 14, 2010

The biennial Vostok (East) 2010 operational-strategic exercise in the Siberian and Far East Russian military districts (MD's), June 28 to July 8, was hailed by the top brass as the largest of its kind since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Defense ministry sources indicated the exercise would involve ...more

A new military alliance at the Black Sea?
written by: Corneliu Pivariu
Jul 07, 2010

At the end of June this year, numerous media presented information on the likelihood that a new military alliance appears at the Black Sea, by means of a military treaty between Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, under the name of Black Sea Defense Treaty. This treaty is expected ...more

Makarov Announces "New Look" Operational-Strategic Commands
written by: Roger McDermott
Jun 24, 2010

The momentum of change denoting Russian military reform continues to attract widespread attention among both the critics and advocates of the "new look," while leaving deeper issues unresolved. By December 2010, the existing six military districts (MD's) will be replaced by four enlarged operational-strategic ...more

Russian Military Prepares for Vostok 2010
written by: Roger McDermott
Jun 21, 2010

Preparations are intensifying ahead of the Russian operational-strategic military exercise, Vostok 2010, scheduled for June 29 to July 8 in the Siberian and Far East military districts involving more than 10,000 servicemen under the command of Army-General, Nikolai Makarov, the Chief of the General ...more

Killing Justice in Russia
written by: Vaclav Havel
Jun 09, 2010

PRAGUE - The death of Eduard Chuvashov, a judge killed in cold blood on April 12 in Moscow, is another in a long and growing list of murders perpetrated on those in Russia who try to seek justice for the victims of crimes - an essential task for the future development of the Russian society.

Within ...more

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev visited Syria and Turkey
written by: Corneliu Pivariu
Jun 01, 2010

President Medvedev's visits to Damascus and Ankara (10-13 May) are part of Russia's political plan of regaining the strategic positions that it lost after the fall of communism and the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Syria has always ...more

Kremlin Contemplates a Seismic Shift in Russian Foreign Policy
written by: Roger McDermott
May 31, 2010

Two conceptual strategy documents, one outlined in briefings by the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and another "leaked" to Newsweek in Moscow appear to indicate that a seismic shift in the country's foreign policy is under consideration. If this is implemented more fully, it will mark the ...more

Obama Administration Embraces Russia As "Helpful"; Moscow Stabs U.S. in Back
written by: Barry Rubin
May 27, 2010

If America's Middle East position collapses in the forest will anyone hear it? The answer is either: apparently no, or just barely. As I've predicted Russia is coming back into the region and it is going to play a very bad role. Moscow is linking up with the emerging Islamist alliance of Iran, Syria, Hamas, and Hizballah.

Medvedev's Military Modernization Program Faces Crisis
written by: Roger McDermott
May 08, 2010

Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy, the Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council and former Chief of the General Staff told a roundtable in Moscow on April 16 that the modernization of military equipment and weapons must proceed at the rate of around ten percent annually. Nevertheless, he characterized ...more

The profound causes of Russia's hostility towards the Eastern Partnership
written by: Dr. Simion Costea
May 06, 2010

The leaders in Moscow and the Russian media insistently affirm that the Eastern Partnership and the European Neighbourhood Policy are an expression of the Europeans' interest in increasing the ...more

Moscow Ties "Reset" to Afghanistan
written by: Roger McDermott
Apr 16, 2010

On April 3, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Andrey Denisov, noted the generally positive change in the atmosphere between Moscow and Washington, but remarked that the relationship lacks "content." The increased intensity in bilateral meetings, in his view, needs to be complemented by quality, rather ...more

Russian Analysts Question the Viability of the “Reset”
written by: Roger McDermott
Apr 08, 2010

The announced follow-on Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), to be signed by the US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Prague on April 8 has served to re-focus strategic thinking on how the “reset” might further develop and the diversity of views ...more

Russia Looks East and Sees Storm Clouds
written by: Jacob Kipp
Mar 30, 2010

(Part Two)

Attention to both combat capabilities and combat-readiness by senior officers in Russian military forces echoes comments made by retired Army-General Makhmut Gareev in early March during a conference organized by the Academy of Military Sciences on the lessons of the Great Patriotic ...more

U.S., Russia reach agreement on nuclear arms reduction treaty
written by: Michael Shear
Mar 26, 2010

President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sealed a new nuclear arms reduction treaty during a phone call Friday morning, committing the two nations to a significant new reduction of the strategic missiles each side has deployed, U.S. officials said.

Flanked by Secretary of State ...more

Russia Looks East and Sees Storm Clouds
written by: Jacob Kipp
Mar 26, 2010

(Part One)

As Roger McDermott has already noted (EDM, March 16), Army-General Makhmut Gareev, the President of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences, recently addressed what he called the "eastern vector" of Russian national security in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda (Krasnaya Zvezda, ...more

Russian Strategic Interests Shifting Eastward
written by: Roger McDermott
Mar 25, 2010

On March 8, an open letter by a group of German politicians and military officers, including the former German Defense Minister, Volker Ruehe, recommending that NATO should offer membership to Russia stimulated speculation that such approaches might be reflected in the Alliance's new strategic concept ...more

Mistral Procurement Disguises Weak Condition of the Black Sea Fleet
written by: Roger McDermott
Mar 19, 2010

Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev's, recent trip to Paris for bilateral talks with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, followed by receiving the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in Moscow on March 5, intensified speculation over the procurement of the amphibious helicopter landing ship, ...more

Russian Military Doctrine Looks East
written by: Roger McDermott
Mar 03, 2010

Statements by senior Russian defense officials raise many questions concerning Moscow's defense posture. The Chief of the General Staff Army-General Nikolai Makarov and the First Deputy Defense Minister Army-General Nikolai Pankov recently chaired a roundtable with Russian journalists in Moscow, ...more

The Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation 2010
written by: Keir Giles
Mar 02, 2010

Russia's new Military Doctrine highlights NATO as a military danger to the Russian Federation. NATO is listed explicitly in first place among these dangeres - specifically the "striving to ascribe global functions to the force capability of NATO, implemented in breach of international law, and bringing ...more

New Russian Military Doctrine Opposes NATO Enlargement
written by: Roger McDermott
Feb 16, 2010

After several delays, the long-awaited new Russian military doctrine was finally approved by President Dmitry Medvedev on February 5. The document did not include the rumored lowering of the nuclear threshold, despite recent public comments on the issue to the contrary made by the Secretary and Deputy ...more

Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Takes to the Sky
written by: Roger McDermott
Feb 04, 2010

On January 29, the prototype Russian fifth generation Prospective Aircraft Complex of Frontline Aviation (PAK FA) "T-50" finally completed a successful 45 minute test flight in Komsomolsk-na-Amurye. The stealth multirole fighter was developed by OKB Sukhoi (experimental design bureau) to replace ...more