Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the Russian Army to add 180,000 more troops, which would bring its total to 1.5 million active-duty soldiers — the second largest army in the world after China.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu resurfaced on Monday, making his first public appearance after an aborted insurrection by Wagner Group mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Ramzan Kadyrov’s Islamist-Chechen paramilitary group signed a deal to come under the control of the Kremlin, Russia’s Defence Ministry said.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday offered its first official estimate of casualties suffered in the attack on Ukraine, claiming 498 Russian troops have been killed and 1,597 injured.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov claimed Friday that unnamed foreign interests are funding a scurrilous campaign to discredit Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine candidate.
Russian President Vladimir Putin took the momentous step of canceling the annual Victory Day parade last week, under pressure from veterans groups.
A top Russian cybersecurity official claimed on Thursday that Russia has been subjected to a massive campaign of cyberespionage, including attacks on government and financial institutions, and said most of the attacks are emanating from the United States.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday released footage showing delivery of the S-300 advanced anti-aircraft system to Syria, weeks after it blamed Israel for the downing of one of its spy planes by a less-sophisticated Syrian air defense missile.
Russia’s defense ministry insisted on Thursday that Monday’s jet fighter intercept of a U.S. Navy surveillance plane, in which the Russian pilot flew within five feet of the American aircraft, was perfectly safe, but suggested the U.S. should stop flying in international airspace near the Russian border just to be sure, because American pilots are suffering from “depression and phobias.”
Dozens of Islamic State group members and their families have crossed into areas controlled by the extremists despite US threats to bomb the convoy days after they left the Lebanon-Syria border, Syrian opposition activists said Saturday.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Friday that Moscow would “strengthen and raise the effectiveness of the Syrian armed forces’ systems of anti-aircraft defense systems” following the American missile strike on Syria’s Sharyat airbase.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov claimed on Monday that “mass graves of several dozens of Syrians who suffered atrocious torture and massacre” have been found near Aleppo.
Ambulances trying to evacuate people from rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Thursday came under fire from fighters loyal to the Syrian government, who killed at least one person, a rescue service spokesman said.
JAFFA, Israel — Major security preparations are underway in Saudi Arabia, according to Arab media reports, in light of the hazy political and security situation in the region.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that it is planning to upgrade its naval base in the Syrian port city of Tartus into a permanent facility, a move that comes as the Kremlin has expressed interest in erecting military bases in Latin America and Egypt, as well as reopening Soviet-era facilities in Vietnam and Cuba.
Turkey claims another Russian warplane violated its airspace on Friday, only two months after Turkish planes shot down a Russian jet, killing the pilot. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Russia would “endure the consequences” if its planes keep crossing into Turkey.
