Syria

Irrelevant Intrigues and Diminished Power Projection: Russia in Retreat from the Middle East

Ambitions rather than interests have shaped Russian policy in the Middle East in the last decade, and the overlapping crises in this turbulent region have indeed presented many useful opportunities…

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The Russian Military Police, from Syria to Karabakh

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Following the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement signed in Moscow on November 9, 2020, between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that units of the Military Police…

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The Myth of Syrian Mercenaries in Karabakh Debunked in Eight Parts

(PONARS Eurasia Commentary) From the beginning of the escalation of the conflict in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, some accusations were aired in several European and Russian mainstream media about the…

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Aktürk: Russia has considerable soft power within EU member states through its connections with far-right, anti-immigrant, and Islamophobic groups

(TRT World) Russia and Turkey face each other on opposing sides over several fronts across Eurasia, from Libya to Syria, and now Azerbaijan, too. Experts say Moscow is hitting Syria’s Idlib…

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Where’s Wagner? The All-New Exploits of Russia’s “Private” Military Company

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Just when you think you know where Russia’s Wagner Group “private” military company (PMC) is deployed, it pops up somewhere else. In the past year, its…

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Russia’s Syrian Predicament Grows Unmanageable

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Syria has been an ongoing major focus in Russian security policy since its astounding military intervention in September 2015. Yet, now, it is barely present in political…

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Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring and the Battle for a Free Syria

(TRT World) Operation Peace Spring, which was launched in October 2019, has been in the making for more than four years. By mid-2015, the YPG-PYD’s expanding occupation of the mostly…

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The Role of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow’s Syrian Campaign

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) The role of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Russian national identity, ideology, and politics has grown immensely during the last decades. The faith-strategy nexus in…

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Understanding Russia’s Intervention in Syria

(Rand) Russia’s 2015 military intervention in Syria’s civil war took many by surprise and raised questions about the potential for similar actions in other conflicts outside of post-Soviet Eurasia. The authors…

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Russia Ponders the Burden of Its ‘Victory’ in Syria

(EDM) The memorandum of understanding on Syria signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Sochi, on October 22, was seen as a triumph in Moscow…

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Irrelevant Intrigues and Diminished Power Projection: Russia in Retreat from the Middle East

The Russian Military Police, from Syria to Karabakh

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Aktürk: Russia has considerable soft power within EU member states through its connections with far-right, anti-immigrant, and Islamophobic groups

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Russia’s Syrian Predicament Grows Unmanageable

Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring and the Battle for a Free Syria

The Role of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow’s Syrian Campaign

Understanding Russia’s Intervention in Syria

Russia Ponders the Burden of Its ‘Victory’ in Syria