ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Written by  The Saker ; Originally appeared at  The Unz Review Following the re-appointment of Medvedev and his more or less reshuffled government, the public opinion in Russia and abroad was split on whether this was a good sign of continuity and unity amongst the Russian leadership or whether this was a confirmation that there was a 5 th  column inside the Kremlin working against President Putin and trying to impose neo-liberal and pro-western policies on the Russian people. Today I want to take a quick look at what is taking place inside Russia because I believe that the Russian foreign policy is still predominantly controlled by what I call the “Eurasian Sovereignists” and that to detect the activities of the “Atlantic Integrationist” types we need to look at what is taking place inside Russia. The Russian 5 th  column and its typical operations First, I want to begin by sharing with you a short video translated by the Saker Community of one of the most astute Russian analys

Vadim Grishankin/Russian Defense Ministry Press and Information Office/TASS Written by  Evgeny Satanovsky ; Originally appeared at  VPK , translated by  AlexD  exclusively for  SouthFront This article was released by VPK on June 18, 2018 The Syrian war is ongoing. The weakness of Damascus, the tenacity of its opponents and the caution based on the experience gained in Afghanistan and Chechnya make Russia wary of being drawn into a large-scale guerrilla conflict. At the same time, the Syrian authorities, with the support of the Russia Aerospace Forces take control of one province after another. The last one was East Ghouta. It is the turn of the Syrian south. The US is balancing between Turkey and the Kurds, trying to keep under control the eastern shore of the Euphrates and part of the Syrian-Jordanian border. Who to be Friends with, Who to Kill On June 14, the US State Department expressed concern about reports that the Syrian government troops are conducting operation

Written by  Alex Gorka ; Originally appeared on  strategic-culture.org The  predictions  have come true about the emergence of a new defense group that will change the European security environment. On June 25, the defense chiefs from nine EU countries signed off on the creation of a new force called the European Intervention Initiative (EII), which is  spearheaded  by French President Emmanuel Macron. The new organization will have a common budget and a doctrine establishing its guidelines for acting and joint planning for contingencies in which NATO may not get involved. The group includes the UK, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia, Spain, and Portugal. Italy may join soon. The initiative is not tied to the EU’s Common European Defense, which includes the PESCO agreement as well as NATO. Great Britain has always opposed the idea of creating a European defense alliance, fearing it would undermine transatlantic unity. Now it has done an about-face, as the rifts with

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 President Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych was ousted after he re