Russia & CIS

The resettlement of Armenians from Syria to Armenia and then to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is part of an insidious process that continues for more than two centuries.

Iran looks for steady customers for its crude oil under a new export strategy which is based on constructing refineries abroad, an oil minister says.

The 8th meeting of Azerbaijan-Austria mixed commission for economic, agricultural, industrial, technical and technological cooperation has been held in Baku.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended the opening of a bus depot and a training center of Bakubus LLC for the First European Games.

A Turkish prosecutor has demanded an aggravated life sentence, a life sentence, as well as 42 years in jail for daily Cumhuriyet's editor-in-chief, Can Dündar, after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan filed a criminal complaint over a critical news report by the journalist, saying he would pay a “heavy price.”

The decision on the launch of another Russian Proton rocket carrier will be made in June of this year, the head of the Khrunichev Center said Wednesday.

Russia’s newest heavy rocket carrier Angara-A5 will orbit a commercial satellite for the first time in 2016, the head of the Khrunichev Center said Wednesday.

Russia is currently unable to construct new ships for its Naval fleet because of the lack of Ukrainian-built gas turbine engines, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Wednesday.

Russia wants to include Ukraine’s obligations on gas into the agreement that might be signed during the upcoming three-party gas consultations.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that Sepp Blatter's unexpected resignation as FIFA president amid a corruption scandal will help prevent a split in the football world while ensuring the success of FIFA reforms.

With apologies for the long delay, today I’m posting the final installment of my notes from the 2015 Moscow Conference on International Security, covering the panel on combating terrorism and extremism. Speakers included Mohamed Atmar, the National Security Advisor to the President of Afghanistan, Amb. Zamir Kabulov, the Russian special representative for Afghanistan; Maj. Gen. Walid Salman, the Chief of Staff of the Lebanese Army; General Ngoga, the head of the military police of Cameroon; and Richard Weitz, the Director of the Center for Political-Military Analyses at the Hudson Institute.

The keynote speech was delivered by Igor Sergun, the Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Russian Armed Forces. Unfortunately, the text of his speech is not available, so I all I have is my incomplete notes and photos of the slides Sergun presented. He argued that terrorism is increasing a global force that is advancing around the world. The characteristics of modern terrorism includes fanaticism and intolerance, global goals, secure financing sources, access to modern weapons and advanced technology, and close ties to criminal networks.

Efforts by groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS to restore the Great Caliphate pose a critical threat to a wide swath of the world, from Libya to Afghanistan, and especially including Iraq and Syria.

The expansion of terrorist and radical activity has claimed many lives.

ISIS is a particularly grave threat to the region.

Groups such as Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, IMU, and Hizb-ut Tahrir are active on the periphery of this core region. The Taliban continues to have access to training camps in remote areas of Pakistan. Even farther away, Jamaa Islamiya poses a threat in Southeast Asia. Experienced fighters are returning to Europe and even starting to act in South America.

Western countries don’t realize that the controlled chaos strategy they have implemented around the world has led to the growth of terrorism. US assistance to Afghan mujahedeen fighting against the Soviet Union in the 1980s led to the emergence of al-Qaeda. More recently, Western efforts to remove the Qaddafi regime in Libya have resulted in the spread of radical ideologies and Libyan weapons to groups throughout northern Africa. Similarly, US support for rebels opposing the Syrian government have directly led to the formation of ISIS and other radical groups in Syria and Iraq. US actions lead to the growth of extremism around the world. Then the US tries to mobilize the international community to stop terrorism, not recognizing that it played a key role in the origin of the threat in the first place.

I thought it was interesting that the entire speech did not mention the threat posed by terrorists and radical Islamists to Russia itself, and specifically to the North Caucasus. In past speeches on this topic, Russian leaders always made sure to note that danger and how it tied Russia and other countries together against a common threat. Now, it almost seems like the discussion of radical Islam and terrorism is being used as a pretext to condemn Western countries (and especially the US).

This sense was highlighted for me by an intervention during the discussion after the speakers. The chair, Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov, recognized Russian Middle East expert Yevgeny Satanovsky. He called on Satanovsky in such a way as to make it appear that the intervention was pre-arranged. Satanovsky, in turn, started by arguing that it was time to stop thinking that the US is part of the solution to the problem of terrorism, and to start thinking that it is part of the problem. He noted that the US supports Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which both have supported terrorist organizations in the Middle East. He then went on to talk about the risk posed by a Central Asian Spring and the need for Russia, China and Iran to work together to guarantee Central Asian security. Support for Iran’s role was also expressed by Kabulov, who argued that Iran does not export terrorism and should be included in the SCO once sanctions are lifted.

Carrots from Israel, cucumbers from Serbia, fruit from Africa - this is what most Russians can find in food stores nowadays after Russia embargoed food imports from European countries. Finding domestic products in Russian supermarkets is not an easy task. Why can't Russian consumers buy Russian food?

The incident was reported by LifeNews TV channel, but denied by rescue services.

A recent census of Amur (Siberian) tigers inhabiting Russia’s Far East, home to 95 per cent of the global population of Amur tigers, reveals that the big cats have increased in numbers, largely due to a conservation program launched with the support of the Russian government and through the personal efforts of President Vladimir Putin.

US State Secretary John Kerry's visit to Sochi was not a new 'reset' in relations between the US and Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Bloomberg.

The US Navy released videos of the missile destroyer USS Ross' interactions with Russian Su-24 aircraft in the Black Sea.

Minister of Transport Ziya Mammadov received the Ambassador of the United States of America in Azerbaijan Robert Cekuta.

Crimea must introduce water-saving measures and technologies successfully used in other countries and regions, Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov said on Tuesday, Russia's RIA Novosti reports.

The United Kingdom does not recognize the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh regime and have no relations with its representatives.