Latest news with #Koffler
American Military News
24-04-2025
- Politics
- American Military News
Trump admin warns of 'serious consequences' if Russia builds naval base in Sudan
President Donald Trump's administration has warned that there could be 'serious consequences' regarding Russia's plan to build a naval base in Sudan. A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News, 'The United States is aware of the reported deal between Russia and the SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces] on establishing a Russian naval facility on Sudan's coast. We encourage all countries, including Sudan, to avoid any transactions with Russia's defense sector, which could trigger serious consequences, potentially including sanctions on entities or individuals associated with those transactions.' The U.S. State Department spokesperson added, 'Moving forward with such a facility or any other form of security cooperation with Russia would further isolate Sudan, deepen the current conflict, and risk further regional destabilization.' According to Fox News, Russia appears positioned to join other global powers with a significant naval presence near the Horn of Africa as it moves forward with approved plans for a base in Port Sudan for nuclear-powered submarines and other warships. The outlet noted that the proposed base would be near the U.S. and Chinese bases located in Djibouti. Fox News also reported that Port Sudan could serve as Russia's only foreign naval base as Syria's new government is expected to push Russia out of its current naval facility in Tartus. READ MORE: Russian warplanes enter Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, tracked by US military Fox News reported that a deal allowing Russia to build a military base in Sudan has already been approved. Rebekah Koffler, a strategic military intelligence analyst, told Fox News that the deal was finalized between the two countries in February. 'Moscow views Sudan, because of its strategic location, as a logical place to expand Russia's footprint into Africa, which Putin views as a key place of geopolitical confrontation with the United States and China,' Koffler said. 'Russia views the U.S. and China as its top adversaries, with whom Moscow may in the long-term have a kinetic conflict. Hence, Putin wants intelligence and military capabilities stationed close to the U.S. Djibouti base and Chinese facilities.' Pointing to the existing U.S. and Chinese naval bases in the region, Koffler suggested that Russia could use Port Sudan to transfer weapons, store military ammunition, and 'all sorts of war-fighting capabilities.' 'If Russia perceives an impending escalation against Russia, let's say in Ukraine — such as an impending deployment of NATO forces or draconian economic measures designed to tank [the] Russian economy — I would not rule out the possibility that Putin could authorize something disruptive to exploit the choke point and destabilize or disrupt global shipping, as a way of deterring Western actions threatening Russia,' Koffler said.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US–Russia flashpoint looms over Putin's plans for African naval base
The Trump administration is warning of "serious consequences" over Russia's plans to open a naval base in war-torn Sudan. News of the development of the base has triggered an unusual warning from the State Department, Fox News Digital was told. A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "We encourage all countries, including Sudan, to avoid any transactions with Russia's defense sector." The Kremlin appears to be desperate to join the Horn of Africa global powers "naval club," with its approved plans for a base for warships and nuclear-powered submarines at Port Sudan. This is not far down the Indian Ocean coast from Djibouti, where there are U.S. and Chinese bases. With the new Syrian government likely to kick the Russians out of their base in Tartus, Port Sudan would be Russia's only foreign naval base. "Moscow views Sudan, because of its strategic location, as a logical place to expand Russia's footprint into Africa, which Putin views as a key place of geopolitical confrontation with the United States and China," Rebekah Koffler, a strategic military intelligence analyst, told Fox News Digital. World Forgets 'Catastrophic' War In Sudan As Russia, Iran, Others Reportedly Feed Fighting With Arms "Russia views the U.S. and China as its top adversaries, with whom Moscow may in the long-term have a kinetic conflict. Hence, Putin wants intelligence and military capabilities stationed close to the U.S. Djibouti base and Chinese facilities," she said. Read On The Fox News App "Given that the U.S. and China already have [a] naval presence off of the Horn of Africa," Koffler added, "Russia is looking at Port Sudan as a logistics hub for weapons transfers, storage of military hardware ammunition, all sorts of war-fighting capabilities." "The potential Russian naval logistics facility in Sudan would support Russian power projection in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean," John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Fox News Digital. He added that "this issue has gained greater importance for Moscow, given the uncertainty over the future of its Tartus naval logistics facility." A Russian naval base in the Indian Ocean has strategic military implications — it's a relatively short sailing distance to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, a choke point through which an estimated 12% of the world's shipping passes, while 61% of global oil tanker traffic is also said to use the canal. Koffler said this poses a significant security threat. "If Russia perceives an impending escalation against Russia, let's say in Ukraine — such as an impending deployment of NATO forces or draconian economic measures designed to tank [the] Russian economy — I would not rule out the possibility that Putin could authorize something disruptive to exploit the choke point and destabilize or disrupt global shipping, as a way of deterring Western actions threatening Russia." The deal permitting Moscow to build a military base has been given the green light, although there are serious logistical challenges involved. "The agreement between Sudan and Russia was finalized in February, following a meeting between Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Yusef Sharif and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow," Koffler explained. Us Troops In Standoff In African Nations As Cold War-like Tensions Take Hold On Continent Hence the strongly worded comments to Fox News Digital from the State Department that "the United States is aware of the reported deal between Russia and the SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces] on establishing a Russian naval facility on Sudan's coast. We encourage all countries, including Sudan, to avoid any transactions with Russia's defense sector, which could trigger serious consequences, potentially including sanctions on entities or individuals associated with those transactions. "Moving forward with such a facility or any other form of security cooperation with Russia would further isolate Sudan, deepen the current conflict, and risk further regional destabilization. " On the (very) dry land that is Sudan, the situation Monday around the city of Al Fasher and the neighboring massive Zamzam refugee camp in the Darfur region is "horrifying," U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Tom Fletcher posted. The civil war in Sudan, between the government's SAF and the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has just passed its grisly second anniversary. Tens of thousands have been killed, and an estimated 13 million people have been uprooted from their homes. The U.N. describes it as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and UNICEF calls it "hell on earth." "There can be no overstating the brutality and destructiveness of the RSF assault on Zamzam (refugee camp)," Sudan researcher Eric Reeves told Fox News Digital this week. "The camp that has existed since 2004 is no longer, even as it had grown to more than 500,000 people." Ominously, Reeves added that "the real dying has only just begun. Nearly the entire population of Zamzam has fled, and in all directions the threat of RSF violence remains. This creates insecurity of a sort that prevents humanitarians from reaching these scattered people. Tremendous numbers will die either from RSF violence or the lack of food, water and shelter." Another 30 were reported killed on Tuesday in a fresh RSF attack on Al Fasher. And just this past week, the RSF rebels announced they are setting up their own government. The State Department told Fox News Digital, "The United States is deeply concerned about the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and aligned actors' declaration of a parallel government in Sudan. This attempt to establish a parallel government is unhelpful for the cause of peace and security and risks a de facto partition of the country." "It will only further destabilize the country, threaten Sudan's territorial integrity, and spread wider instability throughout the region. The United States has made clear that our interest is in the restoration of peace and an end to the threats the conflict in Sudan pose to regional stability. The best path to peace and stability is an immediate and durable cessation of hostilities so that the processes of establishing a civilian government and rebuilding the country can begin," the spokesperson said. Caleb Weiss, editor of the FDD's Long War Journal and also a Defections Program Manager at the Bridgeway Foundation, put some of the blame for not ending the Sudanese war on the Biden administration. He told Fox News Digital that it "stopped short of seriously facilitating any sort of meaningful peace talks/mediation/or being tough on outside backers of various groups to really get them to be serious in previous negotiation attempts. This is where the Biden administration failed."Original article source: US–Russia flashpoint looms over Putin's plans for African naval base
Fox News
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
US–Russia flashpoint looms over Putin's plans for African naval base
The Trump administration is warning of "serious consequences" over Russia's plans to open a naval base in war-torn Sudan. News of the development of the base has triggered an unusual warning from the State Department, Fox News Digital was told. A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "We encourage all countries, including Sudan, to avoid any transactions with Russia's defense sector." The Kremlin appears to be desperate to join the Horn of Africa global powers "naval club," with its approved plans for a base for warships and nuclear-powered submarines at Port Sudan. This is not far down the Indian Ocean coast from Djibouti, where there are U.S. and Chinese bases. With the new Syrian government likely to kick the Russians out of their base in Tartus, Port Sudan would be Russia's only foreign naval base. "Moscow views Sudan, because of its strategic location, as a logical place to expand Russia's footprint into Africa, which Putin views as a key place of geopolitical confrontation with the United States and China," Rebekah Koffler, a strategic military intelligence analyst, told Fox News Digital. "Russia views the U.S. and China as its top adversaries, with whom Moscow may in the long-term have a kinetic conflict. Hence, Putin wants intelligence and military capabilities stationed close to the U.S. Djibouti base and Chinese facilities," she said. "Given that the U.S. and China already have [a] naval presence off of the Horn of Africa," Koffler added, "Russia is looking at Port Sudan as a logistics hub for weapons transfers, storage of military hardware ammunition, all sorts of war-fighting capabilities." "The potential Russian naval logistics facility in Sudan would support Russian power projection in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean," John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Fox News Digital. He added that "this issue has gained greater importance for Moscow, given the uncertainty over the future of its Tartus naval logistics facility." A Russian naval base in the Indian Ocean has strategic military implications — it's a relatively short sailing distance to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, a choke point through which an estimated 12% of the world's shipping passes, while 61% of global oil tanker traffic is also said to use the canal. Koffler said this poses a significant security threat. "If Russia perceives an impending escalation against Russia, let's say in Ukraine — such as an impending deployment of NATO forces or draconian economic measures designed to tank [the] Russian economy — I would not rule out the possibility that Putin could authorize something disruptive to exploit the choke point and destabilize or disrupt global shipping, as a way of deterring Western actions threatening Russia." The deal permitting Moscow to build a military base has been given the green light, although there are serious logistical challenges involved. "The agreement between Sudan and Russia was finalized in February, following a meeting between Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Yusef Sharif and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow," Koffler explained. Hence the strongly worded comments to Fox News Digital from the State Department that "the United States is aware of the reported deal between Russia and the SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces] on establishing a Russian naval facility on Sudan's coast. We encourage all countries, including Sudan, to avoid any transactions with Russia's defense sector, which could trigger serious consequences, potentially including sanctions on entities or individuals associated with those transactions. "Moving forward with such a facility or any other form of security cooperation with Russia would further isolate Sudan, deepen the current conflict, and risk further regional destabilization. " On the (very) dry land that is Sudan, the situation Monday around the city of Al Fasher and the neighboring massive Zamzam refugee camp in the Darfur region is "horrifying," U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Tom Fletcher posted. The civil war in Sudan, between the government's SAF and the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has just passed its grisly second anniversary. Tens of thousands have been killed, and an estimated 13 million people have been uprooted from their homes. The U.N. describes it as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and UNICEF calls it "hell on earth." "There can be no overstating the brutality and destructiveness of the RSF assault on Zamzam (refugee camp)," Sudan researcher Eric Reeves told Fox News Digital this week. "The camp that has existed since 2004 is no longer, even as it had grown to more than 500,000 people." Ominously, Reeves added that "the real dying has only just begun. Nearly the entire population of Zamzam has fled, and in all directions the threat of RSF violence remains. This creates insecurity of a sort that prevents humanitarians from reaching these scattered people. Tremendous numbers will die either from RSF violence or the lack of food, water and shelter." Another 30 were reported killed on Tuesday in a fresh RSF attack on Al Fasher. And just this past week, the RSF rebels announced they are setting up their own government. The State Department told Fox News Digital, "The United States is deeply concerned about the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and aligned actors' declaration of a parallel government in Sudan. This attempt to establish a parallel government is unhelpful for the cause of peace and security and risks a de facto partition of the country." "It will only further destabilize the country, threaten Sudan's territorial integrity, and spread wider instability throughout the region. The United States has made clear that our interest is in the restoration of peace and an end to the threats the conflict in Sudan pose to regional stability. The best path to peace and stability is an immediate and durable cessation of hostilities so that the processes of establishing a civilian government and rebuilding the country can begin," the spokesperson said. Caleb Weiss, editor of the FDD's Long War Journal and also a Defections Program Manager at the Bridgeway Foundation, put some of the blame for not ending the Sudanese war on the Biden administration. He told Fox News Digital that it "stopped short of seriously facilitating any sort of meaningful peace talks/mediation/or being tough on outside backers of various groups to really get them to be serious in previous negotiation attempts. This is where the Biden administration failed." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPWeiss continued, "President Trump should continue to be aggressive on sanctioning those committing acts of violence, but also sponsor and back serious peace talks that include both parties, offer financial incentives or even threaten financial penalties, and seriously hold international backers accountable for exacerbating the conflict."
Fox News
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Putin conscripts 160K men as Russia eyes Ukraine offensive
Russia has initiated its largest military draft in 14 years as reports indicate Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing a spring assault on Ukraine despite ongoing peace negotiations to end the three-year war. Putin has called up 160,000 men as part of the country's bi-annual conscription drive as Russia seeks to beef up its military ranks. According to the legislation, citizens aged 18 to 30 will be called up for mandatory military service through June 15. The spring draft marks the largest conscription campaign since spring 2011, when 200,000 men were called up for service. Last year, 150,000 men were called, following 134,500 in 2022. The Kremlin and Defense Ministry insist the latest conscripts are not being sent into combat and that the draft is unrelated to the war in Ukraine. Russian authorities say troops deployed to Ukraine only include volunteers who signed contracts with the military. Some draftees, however, fought and were taken prisoners when the Ukrainian military launched an incursion into Russia's Kursk region in August. Putin said late last year that Russia should increase the overall size of its military to almost 2.39 million and its number of active servicemen to 1.5 million. It comes as a report suggests the Kremlin is preparing a six- to nine-month offensive across the Ukrainian front, potentially stretching over 1,000 kilometers, according to The New Voice of Ukraine. Potential targets include Sumy, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhya oblasts, as well as the Kursk Oblast, where they've seen recent success. The offensive is also aimed at maximizing pressure on Ukraine and strengthening the Kremlin's negotiating position in ceasefire talks, Ukrainian government and military analysts said. Meanwhile, U.S.-led talks attempting to broker a ceasefire deal appear to have stalled. The U.S. has struggled in its efforts to secure an immediate 30-day ceasefire, despite Moscow saying it agreed with a truce "in principle." Rebekah Koffler, a former DIA intelligence officer who specializes in Russia's war-fighting strategy and Putin's thinking, told Fox News Digital that Putin's goal with his conscription drive is to prolong the fighting. "There's no ceasefire and no peace plan between Russia and Ukraine to be had," said Koffler, the author of a best-selling book "Putin's Playbook." "What President Trump seeks is regretfully, unachievable. Putin's goal is to keep fighting, in order to compel Ukraine to capitulate." Trump is trying to secure a peace and rare earth minerals deal, while on Sunday the president said he did not think Putin was going to go back on his word for a partial ceasefire. Koffler, meanwhile, said the latest conscription numbers are intended to ensure that the correlation of forces on the battlefield and in reserves, continues to favor Russia. "Now that Germany and France are considering to deploy reassurance forces into Ukraine, Putin is factoring in those numbers, so he is increasing his force's posture, to deter such a deployment or failing to prevent it by force." "Putin has prepared Russia for a long, protracted conflict, in which he wants the Russian forces to be ready to fight till the last Ukrainian and the last missile in the NATO arsenal," Koffler said. She said Putin is also considering the possibility of having a direct kinetic war with NATO, in the event that NATO decides to deploy forces into the theater in Ukraine. "So, he intends for these mobilization numbers as a deterrence value and battlefield utility, if it comes to that."
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CIA director, Putin's spy chief hold first phone call in more than 2 years: report
The directors of the Central Intelligence Agency and Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) spoke by phone for the first time in more than two years, reports say. CIA Director John Ratcliffe called his Russian counterpart Sergey Naryshkin on Tuesday and "discussed the issues of interaction of both intelligence agencies in areas of common interest and the settlement of crisis situations," Russia's state-run TASS news agency reported, citing a statement from the SVR's press office. It added that both Ratcliffe and Naryshkin agreed "on maintaining regular contact between the SVR and CIA directors with the aim of facilitating international stability and security and reducing confrontation in relationships between Moscow and Washington." The CIA, when contacted Wednesday by Fox News Digital, declined to comment on the matter. Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency intelligence officer who specialized in Russian military doctrine, told Fox News Digital that the "Ratcliffe-Naryshkin meeting is supposed to be part of the revival of the CIA-SVR cooperation, which also has been tried before and abandoned." Trump Envoy Witkoff Heading To Russia For Second Time Later This Week, Source Says Read On The Fox News App "Although such cooperation could be valuable, for example, in the counter-terrorism arena, it always eventually fails because there's a dramatic difference between how the Russians and Americans see the world," she said. Russia Waiting For Us-ukraine Cease-fire Proposal Details, Kremlin Says "We are ostensibly in a period of another attempted reset with Russia. Every U.S. president attempted to reset U.S. relations with Moscow and every one of them has failed," Koffler continued. "There's such a fundamental difference between the ways that Moscow and Washington see the world and their role in it that eventually, the policies each pursues come into collision with one another. The way that Russia and the U.S. have defined their national interests have placed the two nations in direct confrontation with each other." "The two are mutually irreconcilable. And this is clearly demonstrated in the war in Ukraine, which has been sacrificed and destroyed in the proxy battle between Moscow and Washington," Koffler added. "It is possible that President Trump, who is a realist, will place Russia-U.S. relations on a transactional basis, without the ideological angle, as all the previous administrations, that always drove an edge between the two. It remains to be seen if he will succeed," Koffler also article source: CIA director, Putin's spy chief hold first phone call in more than 2 years: report
