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MURMANSK, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - A naval task force from Russia’s Northern Fleet is heading to the eastern Arctic, a spokesperson for the fleet said Tuesday. The voyage is part of the Defense Ministry’s program under Russia’s Arctic policy and is designed “to uphold Russia’s status as a leading arctic power, strengthen its security... and ensure national interests,” the spokesperson said. Led by the heavy nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky, the task force, which includes the large amphibious assault ships Olenegorsky Gornyak and Kondopoga and a variety of support vessels, has left its Severomorsk base and entered the Barents...

<p>WASHINGTON – The Russian military anticipates that an attack will occur on Iran by the summer and has developed an action plan to move Russian troops through neighboring Georgia to stage in Armenia, which borders on the Islamic republic, according to informed Russian sources.</p>

Earlier today, Al Arabiya made waves in the energy market following reports that a Russian ship carrying special forces had arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus, previously demonstrated here to be a key strategic asset in the Mediterranean. This news was promptly denied by RIA, which said that "there were no Russian military ships off Syria coast" and that the Iman ship is a tanker which is merely conducting resource support functions. Furthermore, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the crew of Iman consists solely of "civilian personnel, which is being guarded." That may or may not be...

One of the worst ideas we have heard recently regarding Afghanistan is to bring in the Russians. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen suggested that 20 years after the Soviet Union's defeat there, Moscow now might hold the key to victory. "Russia could provide equipment for the Afghan security forces," Mr. Rasmussen said. "Russia could provide training. We could explore in a joint effort how we could further Russian engagement." A moment of clarity is in order.

Few parts of America have been as badly hit by the global economic crisis as California, where Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been forced to slash state budgets to compensate for a $24-billion shortfall. Among the items on the chopping block were 100 California state parks -- including Fort Ross, a 19th-century settlement on the Pacific coast just north of San Francisco that was established by a group of hunters and traders from Russia. The fort, whose name is derived from "Rossiya," was ultimately spared closure, when California announced on September 25 it would keep the parks open. But the weeks...

Russia defied international criticism on Sunday by deploying troops along Georgia's internal border with the two breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Hundreds of troops mounted their first patrols along the contested frontier three days after Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian President, announced that Moscow was assuming formal control over the boundaries of the two rebel provinces. The President's declaration prompted accusations from Georgia that Russia was attempting the stealth annexation of the two regions, which were at the heart of last year's war in the Caucasus. Both the European Union and the United States strongly condemned Russia's actions, saying...

Russia has stationed its forces just 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the Georgian capital, in violation of the EU-brokered cease-fire that ended last year's brief war. And in recent weeks, it has sent even more troops and armored vehicles to within striking distance of the city ahead of street protests against Georgia's president.

GROZNY -- Three Russian soldiers have been shot to death in Chechnya's Achkhoy-Martan district, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports. Military officials stationed in Chechnya told RFE/RL that a Russian military truck was attacked by a group of Chechen rebels on April 21 near the village of Bamut, about 40 kilometers southwest of Grozny. A sergeant and two privates were killed. The incident took place four days after Russia officially announced the end of its "antiterrorist" operations in Chechnya.

Russian troops withdrew from Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti today, in adherence to a deadline set for the first phase of a withdrawal brokered by France. Troops in armoured personnel carriers and trucks were observed withdrawing from positions on the outskirts of Poti. Russian forces hold other positions on the way to the nearby town of Senaki but were seen as they prepared to leave yesterday. Russia sent forces deep into Georgia last month after repelling an attempt by Tbilisi to retake the breakaway, pro-Russian South Ossetia region. On Monday, Moscow agreed to withdraw its troops from Georgia's heartland...

A US navy flagship has steamed into a Georgian port where Russian troops are still stationed, stoking tensions once again in the tinderbox Caucasus region. A previous trip by American warships was cancelled at the last minute a week ago amid fears that an armed stand off could erupt in the Black Sea port of Poti.

Major Malkhaz Dumbatze was in a celebratory mood. His 14 Georgian tanks had just taken control of the rebel South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, and he was already looking forward to a trip to Israel to study new battle command systems. The jets flying over the city, where his men were mopping up Ossetian snipers, he took to be Georgian fighters. Major Dumbatze is still going to Israel, but now it is to have reconstruction surgery on his legs. The aircraft he had spotted were in fact Russian, and one of them dropped two bombs on his armoured unit. Speaking with...

The Russian troops who occupied Georgia's military base of Senaki have gone. But they didn't forget to leave a parting message to the United States graffitied on the wall. "Thank you Uncle Sam for the uniforms you presented to the Russian paratroopers!" The Georgian flag Saturday was flying from the mast of the base for the first time since Russian troops poured into Georgia after it launched a bid to regain control of the breakaway province of South Ossetia on August 8. But Georgian troops came back to their base opened just in 2006 in the west of the former...

Russian troops have left the key Georgian town of Gori and are pulling out from surrounding areas, a senior Georgian official said. National Security Council official Kakha Lomaia did not specify whether Russian troops had removed checkpoints on Georgia's main east-west highway skirting the town. "I can officially confirm that Russian troops have left Gori and are leaving areas around Gori," he said. Russian troops pushed into Georgia this month after pouring over the Russian border to repel an offensive by Georgian troops aimed at retaking South Ossetia's separatist capital, Tskhinvali. Mr Lomaia said earlier that the Russian commander in...

Excerpt - POTI, Georgia -- Russian troops briefly seized control of the economically vital Georgian port of Poti Tuesday morning, a day after Moscow said it had begun pulling its forces out of Georgia. ~ snip ~ The Russians also confiscated five jeeps and an armored Humvee belonging to the U.S. armed forces, according to Alan Middleton, CEO of Poti Sea Port Corp. He said the equipment was used for joint U.S.-Georgian military exercises and was sitting in the Poti container terminal ready to be shipped back to a U.S. base in Europe. "I suppose the U.S. won't be impressed...

GORI, Georgia - Russia said Monday it had begun withdrawing from the conflict zone in Georgia, but it held fast to key positions and sent some of its troops in the opposite direction — closer to the Georgian capital. Russian troops and vehicles roamed freely around the strategically located central city of Gori, Russian forces appeared to blow up the runway at a military base in the western town of Senaki. There were few signs Russia was following the terms of a cease-fire to end the short war, which has driven tensions between Russia and the West to some of...

Russian forces were today seen strengthening their positions in the city of Gori, despite assurances that they had started to withdraw troops from Georgia under a French-brokered peace plan. "The pull-out of peacekeeping forces started today," Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff of Russia's military, told a daily official briefing in Moscow. However in Gori, 55 miles west of the capital, Tbilisi, Russian forces showed no sign of leaving and appeared to be digging in. The only movement seen by Associated Press reporters was in the opposite direction from Russia — toward the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. In...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 17, 2008 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today expressed skepticism that Moscow would quickly remove its forces from Georgia, despite a reported pledge by the Russian president to begin a drawdown tomorrow. Gates said the rate of withdrawal is partly tied to how fast the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe could get monitors to Georgia, where Russian tanks and troops entered last week and reportedly remain entrenched in some areas. "My own view is that the Russians will probably stall and perhaps take more time than anybody would like," Gates said in an interview with...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2008 – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today she expects Russia, which reportedly signed a cease-fire deal with Georgia, will begin to withdraw its forces “expeditiously” from the former Soviet republic. Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev today signed a French-brokered peace deal, a day after Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili endorsed the agreement, which includes a drawdown of troops to levels that existed before Russia invaded its neighbor last week, according to news reports. “Now that President Medvedev has reportedly signed the cease-fire agreement, I assume that Russian forces are going to begin to withdraw expeditiously,” Rice...

IGOETI, Georgia -- Russia and its allied forces today destroyed a key railway bridge linking war-weary Georgia's capital to the Black Sea coast, effectively severing all east-west transportation routes within the small country, the Georgian Foreign Ministry announced.

DID YOU see the huge crowd outside the Russian embassy protesting the war in Georgia? Neither did I. Now that we have a genuine war of aggression, the silence on the Left is deafening. "You might think, at a moment such as this, that the moral calculus would be pretty well understood," the Washington Post said in an editorial Thursday. "Russian troops are occupying large swaths of Georgia, a tiny neighboring country, and sacking its military bases. Russian jets have roamed the Georgian skies, bombing civilian and military targets alike. Russian ships are said to be controlling Georgia's port of...