All Policy Analysis by Anna Borshchevskaya

For such zones to succeed, they must be backed with militarily enforced no-fly zones and a persuasive response to Moscow's inevitable small-scale violations and disinformation campaign.

Understand the policy implications of humanitarian safe havens, safe zones, buffers, or no-fly zones in Syria with these assessments of the who, what, where, why, and how of the various options.

On 11 December 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Russian Defense Ministry's expanded board meetings, where he said, for the first time according to Western press reports, that Russia is helping the Free Syrian Army -- an opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russia has supported Assad unequivocally since

Moscow's decision to intervene in Syria is spurring further radicalization and terrorist recruitment among Russian Muslims, and the government's response at home and abroad has not helped the situation.

On 10 November, Moskovsky Komsomolets published an interview with Alexei Grishin, an Islam specialist who previously worked in Russia’s presidential administration and is currently president of the Religion and Society Information and Analysis Center in Russia. The paper cites his current affiliation and describes Grishin as one of Russia’s leading

On 23 November Kirill Martynov, Novaya Gazeta’s (New Newspaper) politics and economics editor, wrote about Russia’s official debate on terrorism, which took place on 20 November—the first joint Duma and Federation Council meeting since Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The accompanying excerpts are from his article. Novaya Gazeta is one of

On 18 November liberal-leaning radio program Echo Moskvy (Moscow’s Echo) hosted Russian political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky on an approximately hour-long talk show, Personally Yours, with host Alexei Naryshkin to discuss Russia’s intervention in Syria. The accompanying excerpts are from the show transcript, posted on the radio’s web-site. Belkovsky made several

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on the sidelines of the UN climate summit in Paris today to discuss the situation in Syria, fighting terrorism, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to Russian and Western press reports. Earlier, at Israel's initiative according to a Kremlin

Experts weigh in on key questions regarding the perpetrators of the Paris attacks and the proper response, including counterterror and military measures in Syria and Iraq.

News about Syria has quickly replaced news about Ukraine in the Russian media, thanks to the Kremlin's propaganda.

Without stronger American military efforts to hurt ISIS and help the rebels, the Vienna summit has little chance of preventing Moscow from taking the driver's seat in Syria.

Following Vladimir Putin's address to the UN General Assembly, a panel of Institute experts detailed the scope of Moscow's military buildup in Syria and its likely objectives and implications.

The Russian leader's UN speech repeated his longstanding narrative of moral equivalence, and the blatant hypocrisy of his foreign and domestic policy has gone largely unchallenged by the Obama administration.

The Iran nuclear deal has given Moscow an excuse to pursue its geostrategic goals in Syria more directly, and sticking a thumb in Washington's eye is at the top of the list.

Russia can't fight a war in both Ukraine and Syria while also maintaining troops throughout the post-Soviet space, but Putin appears set on trying.

Although the reported intervention in Syria may spread Russia's armed forces too thin, the Kremlin seems poised to grow even more aggressive in its near abroad.