Contents tagged with Syria

  • Putin: Operation in Syria cost Russia $485 million

    Russia’s military action in Syria has cost about 33 billion rubles ($485 million), according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    "The military operation in Syria, of course, required certain spending but the main part was from Defense Ministry’s resources - around 33 billion rubles. This was included in the ministry’s 2015 budget for holding drills and military training. We just redirected these resources for supporting the group in Syria," Putin said on Thursday.

    On March 14th, Putin …

  • Iraqi Kurds hope for more weapons from Russia

    Iraqi Kurds are expecting the delivery of hundreds of Russian ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns, according to a representative of northern Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Moscow, Aso Talabani, as reported by Interfax.

    On March 14th, Russia gave the Kurdish Peshmerga forces five such anti-aircraft installations.

    “I hope there will be more supplies. Russia delivered five installations the day before, and I think this is just the beginning,” Talabani told Interfax.

    "We need hundreds of …

  • Operation in Syria could cost Russia up to $535 million

    According to the RBC media outlet, Russia could spend at least 38 billion rubles or up to $535 million on the military operation in Syria. Since the beginning of the campaign its costs could have grown by almost half.Costs per dayDuring Russia's 167-day military campaign in Syria the daily cost of operations could have grown by almost 50%, RBC estimates, basing its calculation on the data that was revealed by the Defense Ministry and the experts' evaluations.At the end of October 2015 the cost …

  • McCain fears that Russia will again focus on Ukraine after withdrawing troops from Syria

    US Senator John McCain is worried that Russia will turn its resources and attention to Ukraine following the Kremlin’s announcement that the main part of Russian troops will withdraw from Syria, Glavnoe reported with reference to Ukrainian TV channel “112”.

    According to McCain, Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria destroyed enough of the opposition to ensure that the al-Assad regime will stay in power.

    The US Senator and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee also accused the White …

  • Putin announces withdrawal of ‘main part’ of Russian forces from Syria

    Vladimir Putin has ordered the withdrawal of the main part of Russian forces from Syria, as reported by TASS.

    During a meeting at the Kremlin, Putin said that the pullout would start on Tuesday, March 15th.

    "I believe that the tasks assigned to the Ministry of Defense, as a whole, were met. Therefore, I order to begin withdrawing the main part of our military factions of the Syrian Arab Republic starting tomorrow," Putin stated.

    The comments come amid new peace talks in Geneva aimed at …

  • Armenian President: We fully support Russia’s position on Syria

    Photo: The Kremlin

    During a visit to Moscow on Thursday, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Armenia fully supports Russia’s position on Syria, as stated on the Kremlin’s website.

    “I loudly declare that we firmly support Russia's position on the Syrian issue. And of course, we welcome the agreement which you have reached with the United States, the cessation of hostilities; this may be the key to a political solution of the issue,” Sargsyan told Putin. …

  • Russia to deploy more Su-34s to Syria

    The Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported that the Russian Federation is planning to deploy a new batch of Su-34 strike fighters to the Syrian airbase Hmeimim as well as flight and maintenance personnel from the 47th Aviation Regiment (Buturlinovka) of the 6th Air Force and Air Defense Army of the Western Military District on the 9th of March.

    “The activities directed towards ensuring the specific grouping of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria includes …

  • Russian Defense Minister meets with Iranian President in Tehran

    Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday in Tehran, as reported by the Iranian television channel Press TV.

    In the meeting, Russia and Iran agreed to increase military cooperation against the background of the escalation of the Syrian crisis, in which both parties actively support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    According to Press TV, Rouhani outlined Iran’s position in regard to the Syrian crisis, and highlighted several possible solutions …

  • Amnesty International: Russia is guilty of war crimes in Syria

    Amnesty International says that Russia is guilty of some of the most “egregious” war crimes it has seen in decades.

    The human rights organization told Sky News that over the last week Russian aircraft in Syria have deliberately carried out airstrikes against civilians and rescue workers trying to evacuate the wounded, especially in the city of Aleppo.

    The Director of Amnesty International’s Program on Crisis Response, Tirana Hassan, said that airstrikes on schools, residential areas, and …

  • Saudi Arabia: Russia’s support for Syrian government will have serious consequences

    The Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would have serious consequences, as reported by Deutsche Welle. “We informed the Russians that by taking the side of the Syrian President and Iraq, they will become participants of religious war. It is very, very dangerous,” the Head of the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in an interview with a correspondant from Süddeutsche Zeitung. …