May 7:
The U.S. intelligence community is revising its assessment of the cyber threat from Russiaupward, Newsweek reports. Russia, together with China, is among the world's most sophisticated cyber actors, the U.S. intelligence community outlined in its most recent "worldwide threat assessment." But while the threat posed by China - most prominently in the realm of intellectual property theft - is well-documented, Russia's cyber capabilities are less so. "The threat from China is overinflated, while the threat from Russia is underestimated," the newsmagazine cites Jeffrey Carr, head of Web security consultancy Taia Global, as saying. "The Russians are the most technically proficient."
Russia, Carr and other cyber experts point out, has mastered the synergy between cyber operations and kinetic military ones - a proficiency that was on display during the Russia-Georgia war of 2008. It is a capability that has again been put into use over the past year-and-a-half in conjunction with Russia's asymmetric war in Ukraine, which has featured numerous cyber attacks directed against the Ukrainian government by individuals strongly suspected of being Russian hackers.
NATO is ramping up its efforts to assure its allies in Eastern Europe - and deter Russia in the process. TheLos Angeles Times reports that the Alliance has launched large-scale aerial, naval and land operations in Estonia, Latvia and Norway in recent days. The drills, involving more than 21,000 troops and state-of-the-art military hardware, "appear intended to send a message to Moscow that the alliance is ready to defend its new members in Russia's backyard."
May 8:
Are internal political tensions in Russia reshaping the contours of the Ukrainian battlefield? The Kyiv Postreports that, amid growing tensions between the Kremlin and Chechen regional strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, the contingent of Chechens fighting alongside pro-Russia separatists in Eastern Ukraine have disappeared from view. The paper cites local reporters as observing what amounts to "a major exodus" of Chechen fighters from the Donbas. While no authoritative reason is given for their departure, speculation abounds that the Russian government's increasingly testy relationship with Kadyrov in Chechnya, as well as frictions between various fighting groups operating in Ukraine, has contributed to their departure.
Russia's relations with the United States may have profoundly soured over Ukraine in the past year, but tactical cooperation between Washington and Moscow is still ongoing in at least one sphere: nuclear security.The Washington Free Beacon reports that the Department of Energy plans to supply Russia with more than $60 million in non-proliferation aid in the near future. The funds, allocated by the Department's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), aren't earmarked for specific ongoing ventures between the two countries, but are instead intended as a sweetener for diplomatic talks and ongoing dialogue at a time of heightened political tension, U.S. officials say.
"Cooperation with Russia on nuclear security remains an important element to the global effort to reduce the threat posed by nuclear terrorism,and therefore, supports key interests of not only the United States but the international community," NNSA spokesman Derrick Robinson has confirmed in a statement. "We have long worked with Russia to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by securing and eliminating WMD-related materials and technology."
May 9:
Egypt is bullish about the prospects about strategic cooperation with Russia. That, Cairo's Al-Ahram Weeklyreports, was the message conveyed by Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi during his recent state visit to Moscow. Sisi, who was visiting Russia to take part in the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, reportedly told Russian President Vladimir Putin that his government was ready for broad cooperation between Moscow and Cairo in a number of spheres, and received assurances that Russia will continue its supporting of Sisi "for the good of your people and your country."
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