In a remarkable turnabout, Moscow is going to purchase specially modified naval frigates from Beijing, the result of Russia’s declining ability to produce ships at home and its inability to buy them in the West because of sanctions and...
Last weekend, Beijing announced that its second aircraft carrier had begun sea trials, an especially disturbing development from Moscow’s point of view where analysts are wondering when or even if Russia’s only aircraft carrier will in...
Yesterday, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov became the most senior Moscow official to say what many independent analysts have said before: large increases in defense spending and falling oil prices led to the disintegration of the...
The indirect costs of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea as well as his military muscle-flexing elsewhere which include the isolation of Russia internationally and greater repression and human suffering...
Sergey Shoygu, Russia’s defense minister, says that Moscow will still build submarines – a giant one was launched this week – and will recondition its only aircraft carrier – despite rising costs – but will build frigates rather...
The Kremlin-controlled media and often–echoing it–Western outlets paint a picture of Russia as a burgeoning military power, with its forces totally prepared to carry out any order the Putin regime gives them. But three stories...
According to the data that Russia provided to the United Nations, its military expenditures in 2015 grew by 48 percent as compared to the prior year. In 2015, the total amount of its defense expenditures increased from 1.9...
Vladimir Putin changed his public assessment of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which opened the way to World War II because he wants a new Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with the West to divide up Ukraine and give him time to prepare for a new...
The Russian government cannot afford to maintain its current levels of military spending for long because its shift of resources to the military sector is threatening the rest of the Russian economy and because its reserve fund will be...
Russian military spending, even as officially given by the finance ministry, provides a remarkably accurate early warning indicator of Russian intentions, Andrey Illarionov says, and a dramatic increase in spending since January of this...
The three-month campaign leading up to the spring presidential elections officially started on 31 December 2018. According to current polls, no single candidate stands out. Among leading candidates, however, most can be classified as...
