Russian feds: 1800 Russians fighting for ISIS
Newsweek reports that the Russian Federal Security services estimate that about 1800 Russian citizens have joined ISIS;
Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said at a press conference on Thursday that it believes 1,800 Russians are involved in fighting for ISIS, Russian independent news agency Interfax reports.
Russia’s Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said that prosecutors have opened criminal cases against 477 alleged jihadists and said that the majority of returning fighters moved to the Northern Caucasus region.
Reuters reports that he Russians are considering whether or not to deploy their own troops to Syria if the government there requests their assistance.
John Kerry is worried about the deployment of Russian aircraft to Syria, according to the Washington Post;
“Clearly, the presence of aircraft with air-to-air combat capacity … and surface-to-air missiles raise serious questions,” Kerry said, responding to a question after meeting with British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond. The Russians have deployed at least one such system, according to an American official, who was not authorized to discuss military matters and spoke on condition of anonymity.
[…]
Kerry said the military-to-military talks with the Russians are designed to make sure there are no incidents between Russian and American forces. The discussions also amount to a tacit acceptance of the Russian buildup, after weeks of warnings from Washington against any Russian escalation in Syria.
The Russians, just a few days ago, said their intent wasn’t to engage in combat with ISIS, but to help Assad’s government fight against the rebels. Apparently, they’re considering a change to that plan. Either way, the Syrian civil war is a complete mess and there’s bound to be some screw ups, because bullets can’t tell which side you’re on.
Category: Terror War
I mentioned the other day in Hondo’s article on this topic that the Russians might be creating problems for themselves with this Syrian maneuver by stirring up their own Muslim citizens.
Now, with this latest ploy of claiming Russian Muslims are already fighting for the enemy, I’m starting to wonder if that’s not precisely what clever Vladimir has in mind: whack that hornets’ nest so as to provide a reason for cracking down on his own Muslim populations, dissidents or not. It’s called heading off a problem before it becomes one.
Of course, Russian strategic interests are well-served by having a friendly dictator in place who out of gratitude for saving his bacon may well grant them expansion rights of their naval maintenance facilities in Tartus. And certainly a few Russian airfields spread throughout Syria would definitely enhance the Russian chess game in Middle Eastern affairs.
Vladimir Putin is rapidly moving to fill and expand the power vacuum created by our “Lead from behind” president, who along with his two equally incompetent Secretaries of State has been seriously outplayed on the world chessboard.
Can’t you just see Bad Vlad smiling smugly to himself and saying, “Hit this Re-Set Button you loser assholes!”
Excuse me for inquiring, but isn’t that ‘lead with behind’?
The Army has the perfect man to take charge of leading with his behind now. So we’ve got that going for us.
What! Jeanne -Paul, (Monseuir le pickle, n’est pas?) he is, how you say, upset ’bout them Rooshian airplanes with air-to-air capability?
I wasn’t aware ISIS had any airplanes, a-tall. But then, he’s got all them folks doin’ that re-search, so he probably knows better.
Why not jes’ let them continue that Shia-Sunni fracas, and then we can talk to the survivors? If any. Let excrement eat excrement, I call it.
And the Russians get in the middle! Even better! The fun doesn’t start ’til the peacemakers arrive, and them both the contending parties shoot at them. Pass the popcorn, y’all!
1800 are openly fighting huh? How many are being trained by Russian / former Soviet Bloc country citizens?
1800 is just the tip I’m figuring.
And, the US foreign policy is?
The US has NO foreign policy.
So, now we have Russian Muslim rebels, Russian aircraft and Russian troops in relatively close proximity to American aircraft and forces. What could POSSIBLY go wrong? But I sleep well. I do. Knowing Obama and Kerry (Kerry with his own vast, wartime experiences from which to draw. Did I just say that?) are ON the job. /Doubling down on stupid and sarcasm here/
Has anyone ever heard of David Halbertam’s Making of a Quagmire? What a fucking mess.