RUSSIAN STUDIES

by Riaan Eksteen
(Emeritus ambassador and Research Associate, Department of Political Studies and Governance, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa)

Copyright: @ 2026 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 24 May 2026

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies

The meeting could not produce a joint communiqué at the end of the conference due to internal discord over the conflict in Iran, resulting in India, as chair, issuing only a unilateral “chair’s statement”. A definitive indication that the schisms about the Iran conflict are intensifying.[ “BRICS talks end without joint statement, exposing divisions over war in Iran.” Channel News Asia, 15 May 2026. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/brics-talks-end-without-joint-statement-exposing-divisions-over-war-in-iran-6123646] As anticipated, Iran’s foreign minister called for member nations to denounce breaches of international law by the United States and Israel. ... Read more

Robert Ellis
(International Advisor at the Research Institute for European and Studies in Athens)

Copyright: @ 2025 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr)
Publication date: 27 May 2025

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies

Edmund Burke is often quoted for saying “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”, but Martin Luther King said much the same thing: “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people”. 

By the same token, to ignore the Russan invasion of Ukraine and suffering of the people of Gaza is a crime of omission.
Mike Waltz as national security adviser was a member of the Trump administration that understood the reality of war but was ousted because of Signal-gate. President Trump’s own military record is inglorious. During the Vietnam war he received four draft deferments because of college and after graduation a medical certificate for bad feet.... Read more

By Colin Smith
(Content Director at Africa Alert)

Copyright: @ 2024 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 28 October 2024

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies

Think of Russian activity in Africa and your first thoughts often relate to Wagner mercenaries and their activities in the Sahel, in fact there is much more to Russia’s involvement in Africa and the extent of its economic, trade and social, humanitarian ties certainly deserves more attention than they are often given. The old Soviet Union was active in countries such as Angola & Mozambique during the liberation struggles of the 1970s, but since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union in 1989, Russia’s involvement in Africa fell away. Interest was rekindled somewhat in the mid-2000s, but it has only started to really grow again with the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Trade revenue between Russia and African countries grew from $9.9bn 2013 to $17bn in 2021.... Read more

Federico Pieraccini
(Independent freelance writer specialized in international affairs, conflicts, politics and strategies. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research)

Copyright: https://www.globalresearch.ca/iran-us-officials-attend-russian-security-forum-nobody-talking-about-it/5681325 Published at RIEAS web site (www.rieas.gr) on 23 June 2019.

The tenth international meeting on security has just concluded in the Russian the city of Ufa. The forum has been under-reported, but it represents one of the few global examples of multilateral meetings between high-level representatives of countries that are in conflict. Hundreds of representatives from as many as 120 countries attended the meeting over three days to discuss humanitarian crises, hybridwarfare, terrorist threats and ways to recover from armed conflict.
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Kiril Avramov
(Post-doctoral fellow at the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas at Austin. He is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science and former Vice-Rector of the New Bulgarian University in Sofia and a former Senior Fulbright Visiting Researcher at CREEES, UT Austin, Texas)

Ruslan Trad
(Freelance journalist and analyst with more than 10 years' experience in covering and analysis of MENA, Balkans, and Turkey regional issues. He is the co-founder of the De Re Militari Journal and the author of The Murder of a Revolution (2017)

Copyright: http://eaworldview.com/2018/02/music-for-russias-private-military-companies-in-syria/ Publication at RIEAS web site on 19 February 2018.

“Private military companies” have been an essential part of Russia’s intervention in the Syrian conflict since Moscow’s widespread aerial and ground intervention in September 2015.

Even before that intervention, the PMCs were supporting pro-Assad forces on the battlefield. The most notorious is the “Wagner” Group, led by a former lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Spetznaz (Special Forces) Brigade of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU). At the height of its deployment, Wagner had more than 2000 personnel on the ground to execute “sensitive operations”, augmenting Russian “advisors” and Assad regime detachments in reconnaissance and assault missions. The mercenaries also provided security for strategic sites and training of regime units. Other PMCs include the “ISIS Hunters” — who reportedly suffered losses when the US carried out airstrikes last week on pro-Assad forces attacking the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria — and the “Turan” battalion. Read more

Yiorghos Leventis (PhD)
(Director, International Security Forum, Cyprus)

Copyright: International Security Forum (www.inter-security-forum.org) Publication on RIEAS web site (www.rieas.gr) on 12 November 2017.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the West’s reconciliation with Russia will start from the eastern corners of the European Union. In particular, both the Estonian President Kirsti Kaliulayd and the Speaker of the Slovak Parliament, Andrey Danko, call upon the club not to antagonise Moscow. Truly speaking, these small but strategically located states have little influence in the foreign policy making of Brussels. However, it is clear that as the West's reconciliation with Russia finally gets under way, such normalization of relations originates in the eastern corners of the European Union. Read more