ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

FILE IMAGE: Marina Lystseva/TASS The Russian state-run news agency TASS reports ( source ): A Russian transport aircraft brought the crew of a Kamov Ka-52 Aligator helicopter to a Russian military airfield after they accomplished their missions in Syria, the Russian defense ministry reported on Thursday. “On Wednesday, the helicopter was prepared for transportation and loaded into an Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane at the Hmeymim airfield,” the ministry said. “By now, the pilots and the helicopter have returned to their home base in Russia.” According to the ministry, the crews continue to return from Syria. Fifteen aircraft, aircraft maintenance personnel and medics have already returned to Russia.

Photo : Andrey Veselov The Russian state-run news agency Sputnik reports ( source ): In an exclusive, in-depth interview with Sputnik, Sergei Sanovsky, a former training instructor for one of Ukraine’s most notorious far-right volunteer militias, shared his story about how he went from being hailed a “hero of Maidan” to getting kidnapped and tortured by Ukraine’s Security Service for refusing to run an extrajudicial death squad. By Andrei Veselov, with contributions from Alexei Sakhnin and Yevgeny Belenky ‘A Simple Hero of the Maidan’ Sergei Sanovsky comes from a long line of career military men. Before 2014, he served in a Spetsnaz detachment of Ukraine’s Internal Troops, commanding a reconnaissance group and working as a sniper instructor before leaving military service. Sergei participated in the Maidan street protests, which rocked Ukraine in late 2013 and early 2014 and culminated in the overthrow of...

Sergei Malgavko/TASS On June 26, the US State Department once again announced that Turkey would be targeted by sanctions if it receives S-400 air defense systems from Russia under a contract signed by Ankara and Moscow earlier. The State Department recalled that this decision is a result of the bill President Donald Trump signed into law last summer, which seeks to punish companies that do business with the Russian defense industry. “We made it clear that if Turkey buys S-400s… there will be consequences. We will introduce sanctions within Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA),” Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell said at a hearing of the  Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We believe that we have existing legal authorities that would allow us to withhold transfer under certain circumstances, including national security concerns,” he said. “We believe that we continue to have the time and ability ...

Click to see the full-size image Written by Elijah J. Magnier –  @ ejmalrai ; Originally appeared at  his blog Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of Syria “very soon” and to  deliver   the city of Manbij to Turkey fell as a shock to the Syrian Kurds gathered in the northern part of the country. These Kurds, who act on a day-to-day basis as a shield for the US forces, have been deliberately manipulated by the US establishment to cover and protect its occupation forces in the north-east of the Levant. Trump is apparently ready to dump the Kurds from one day to the next. Not content with that, Trump is now putting the Kurds “up for auction”, betting on which Arab country will occupy the Kurdish controlled area and dispose of the territory they are currently based in. So, what are the Kurds’ options? The US President clearly attaches no importance to the fate of the Kurds. He is ready to abandon them, despite knowing that they have no other place to go ...

Illustrative image On June 24, the Yemeni Missiles Force [loyal to the Houthis] announced that it had launched a salvo of Burkan-2H ballistic missiles at the information center of the Defense Ministry of Saudi Arabia and other military positions in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. The Burkan-2H is a is a mobile short-range ballistic missile with a range of over 800km. According to experts, the missile is a member of the Soviet Scud family, and shares design features with the Iranian Qiam-1 missile. The Houthis unveiled the Burkan-2H for the first time on July 22 of 2017 when it was launched at Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the UAE-based al-Arabiya TV reported that the Royal Saudi Air Defense Force (RSAF) intercepted a ballistic missile with its Patriot surface-to-air missile systems over Riyadh. Saudi activities released videos confirming the interception of at least one missile. This missile strike is likely a response to the recent attacks of the Saudi-led coalition and its Yeme...