ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Female Fighters of FARC’s force. Photographer: Alvaro Ybarra Zavala Written by Daniel Edgar There is a disturbing element in the Final Accord negotiated between the Colombian Government and the FARC-EP, a provision which hasn’t been raised in the public discussions and analysis of the Accord or the negotiations that are taking place to finalize a new agreement following its rejection in the referendum held on the 2nd of October 2016. In the main text of the Accord, the Colombian Government and the FARC-EP emphasized that the UN monitoring group will rely heavily on participation by the member countries of CELAC (Latin America and the Caribbean), and Point 6 of the Accord provides that the international component to accompany implementation of specific aspects of the Accord will be comprised of the countries that served in the roles of guarantors and companions during the dialogues. In this respect the text states: “Point 6: Additionally, the accord creates a mechanism so that the inter...

An outrageous international relations incident took place in Ankara on December 19th. The Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, was assassinated by Mevlut Mert Altintas, a Turkish police officer. The death of Karlov complicates the international situation and changes the expected negotiated settlement for the Middle East. Among a number of political and security questions, three main pointed questions over the incident must be answered. Why were there no adequate security measures by Russian security services, especially amid constant provocations, rallies and threats against the Russian diplomatic staff in Ankara? Furthermore, Vladimir Putin said that “considering the specific developments there”, it was possible to arrange, with a host state, for tightened security. Why were there no adequate security measures by Turkish security services? After shooting Karlov, the attacker had about a minute to chant slogans without interference or even the appearance of Turkish security...

The Platform-M is a remote controlled robotic unit on a crawler. The Platform-M unit is supplied is armed with the 7.62 mm automatic rifle and four grenade launchers. The Progress Scientific Research Technological Institute of Izhevsk, where the robot is developed, provides next description: “Platform-M is a universal combat platform. It is used for gathering intelligence, for discovering and eliminating stationary and mobile targets, for firepower support, for patrolling and for guarding important sites. The unit’s weapons can be guided, it can carry out supportive tasks and it can destroy targets in automatic or semiautomatic control systems; it is supplied with optical-electronic and radio reconnaissance locators.”

Russian UAVs are successfully used in Syria for various purposes. The Russian Forpost unmanned aerial vehicle at an air base in Syria (Photo: geo-politica.info) A special correspondent of the Otvaga military-patriotic website visited an airport in Aleppo and talked with a commander of a detachment of unmanned aerial vehicles, operating on the territory of Syria. The correspondent noted that while Russian unmanned fighting vehicles are still in the implementation phase, such drones as the Orlan and the Forpost have already proved to be excellent in Syria. According to the commander, Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) perform search-and-rescue tasks in Syria. He reminded the incident with the Russian Su-24M, which was shot down last fall, and noted that an UAV found the downed aircraft. The Major also said that drones are used to accompany humanitarian convoys and monitor a ceasefire. The commander added that Russian UAVs are also used for combat purposes – they conduct air recon...

The Turkish authorities had not been allowing the Russian Zaslon special forces unit to guard Russian diplomats in the country for more than ten years. Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov (Photo: AP / Burhan Ozbilici) For more than ten years, the Turkish authorities had not been allowing the Zaslon special forces unit (the 7th department of the center of the Russia’s foreign intelligence service) to guard Russian diplomats in the country. The main task of this special forces unit is to ensure safety of embassies staff, officers of Zaslon work in many countries all over the world. They are well-trained and armed fighters, who not only carry out physical protection, but also have field work skills. Only after the public murder of Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov , the Turkish side has hastily resumed negotiations on a possibility of arrival of Zaslon fighters for ensuring of Russian diplomats’ safety in Turkey. A correspondent of the Rosbalt news agency talked with ...