Military & Security

Moscow and Astana have agreed the terms of Russia’s use of a Kazakh radio communications center as part of Russia’s ballistic missile early warning system, media reports said on Saturday. The head of the Defense Ministry’s international cooperation department, Sergei Koshelev, said the measure would enhance Russia’s defense capability …

Baghdad expects Ankara to explain the deployment of Turkish troops in the Iraqi territory, Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Nasir Nouri told Sputnik Saturday.  On Friday, various media reports said that about 130 Turkish military personnel had been deployed to the Mosul area in Iraq allegedly to provide training to Kurdish Peshmerga militia fighting …

A platform in the Caspian Sea caught fire on Friday as a gas pipeline was damaged by heavy wind.  At least 19 people were evacuated from a burning platform in an oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) said on Saturday. “More than 19 people …

Ankara is not exactly a model NATO member but the decision to shoot down a Russian bomber in Syrian airspace, as well as its backing of Islamist groups could well be the last straw for the North Atlantic Alliance. Defense expert Ted Galen Carpenter presented a strong case …

Islamic State “aims to attack the UK next,” an intelligence report has warned. The unnamed official, speaking to CNN, claimed following the Paris attacks counter-terrorism authorities believe terrorists will attempt to hit Britain. CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said: “The intelligence suggests that British ISIS operatives in Syria and Iraq are …

Russian Defense Ministry held a major briefing: “A whole team of bandits and Turkish leadership [Erdogan’s family as well] stealing oil from their neighbors and are involved in illegal oil trade with ISIS” ~ [Full Video and Transcript of the Briefing by the Russian Ministry of Defence, 2 …

In the past several weeks, ISIS poured out its violence on three of the group’s main enemies across the globe. First, Russian authorities concluded that a terrorist attack brought down a civilian airliner in late October, likely an ISIS response to the country’s recent major intervention in Syria. …

Moscow’s counterterrorism efforts in Syria are so efficient that they apparently prompted Turkey to shoot down the Russian Su-24 bomber last month, G. Murphy Donovan, a former US intelligence officer, wrote for the American Thinker. “How Russian airstrikes in Syria threaten Turkey is not really much of a mystery. Russians …

Russia is reportedly deploying the TOS-1 Buratino multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) to Syria as part of its expanded presence in that country. It is unclear how many of the weapons have been sent to Syria, reports suggest a substantial number have been deployed. Indeed, there are videos …