ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

 

By Vladimir Isachenkov MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted about his country's prospective nuclear weapons Thursday, saying they are years and even decades ahead of foreign designs. Speaking before the graduates of Russian military academies, Putin said the new weapons represent a quantum leap in the nation's military capability. "A number of our weapons systems are years, and, perhaps, decades ahead of foreign analogues," Putin told young military officers who gathered in an ornate Kremlin hall. "Modern weapons contribute to a multifold increase in the Russian military potential." The tough statement comes as Putin is preparing for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump set for July 16 in Helsinki, Finland. Russia-U.S. relations have plunged to post-Cold War lows over

SLF fighters before the attack on HTS Russian officials and commanders of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) failed to reach an agreement on southern Syria during a recent meeting, which was held in the town of Bosra al-Sham in the eastern Daraa countryside, the Syrian pro-opposition news outlet Enab Baladi reported on June 30. Abu Shaima, a spokesman for the FSA operations room “al-Buniyan al-Marsus,” told Enab Baladi that the Russian delegation insisted during the negotiation that the FSA should surrender to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). The Russian side didn’t even offer an evacuation agreement to the FSA, according to Abu Shaima. The Hammurabi’s Justice News blog, which is linked to the US-led coalition and the FSA, reported that a new round of negotiation will be held on July 1. According to the pro-opposition blog, Russia will bring a new offer to the table in the upcoming round. The FSA will likely accept any Russian offer that would allow it to withdraw to the opposition-held

EPA/MOHAMMED BADRA Militants in the settlements of Umm Walad, Atbaa and Jebb in southern Syria have surrendered to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), Major General Alexei Tsygankov, chief of the Russian center for reconciliation of conflicting sides in Syria, told media on June 30. According to Major General Tsygankov, at least 250 militants have surrendered  their weapons to the SAA and have decided to settle their status. “Three populated localities – Umm Walad, Atbaa and Jebb – have joined the ceasefire regime in the southwestern de-escalation zone. At least 250 militants stopped resisting to government forces and voluntarily decided to verify their status,” he said. “They handed over 118 pieces of weapons, three vehicles and a lot of various ammo.” Meanwhile,  militants in the town of Bosra al-Sham are about to make the same decision . However, the deal there has not been implemented yet. Despite all these developments groups of  the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian governm