The Briefing Room: Russia Roundup.

Welcome back to the briefing room our weekly presentation of the key global stories that didn't make headlines but probably should have this week we've got a russia heavy episode in store for you running down moscow's trail everywhere from the lizard battlegrounds of mali to the seaside bases of northern syria to the very depths of the arctic ocean the

Russians won't be the only major players of course we've also got to talk about inter-rebel dynamics in the sahel as well as the largest protests on syrian soil since the arab spring so without further ado let's dive in janim's latest attack in mali first of all we're headed to the chronic turmoil and slow breakdown of the african sahel where in the nation

Of mali russia's paramilitary african corps have taken their latest beating this time the sole culprit was the insurgent group known as janim an al-qaeda affiliate that can proudly lay claim to the status of the most powerful non-state jihadist fighting force anywhere on the planet according to the latest reports out of mali from sources speaking to agence

France press this past monday janim managed to pull off a very high casualty attack against mali's military at a camp near the embattled village of diura this is an area where janim is known to be highly active in may of 2025 the group killed 41 soldiers while they took over the base two years before that 81 soldiers were killed in an attack by mali's tauric

Separatists as the pace of these attacks would suggest daura and the military base are strategically located in a part of mali where janim and tower egg forces both want to establish a bulwark against the national government and essentially wall off the northeastern expanse of the country where the tower eggs maintain local control those two fighting

Factions by the way have been cooperating rather deeply in the last few months working toward mutual goals and establishing an arrangement where the tower egg forces control population centers in the northeast while janim operates as it likes in the open countryside the latest reports from mali described an attack last thursday the 10th of september when

Janim brought both itself and the tower egg separatists substantially closer to realizing their goal on that day janim descended on the base at daura with overwhelming force in what appeared to be yet another attack using a motorbike swarm according to sources who were present at the scene janim killed a minimum of 50 malian soldiers quoting one unnamed

Officer from the camp the death toll is high leaving aside the wounded i could say that we are mourning the deaths of more than 50 of our personnel end quotes other sources place the death toll higher there's many as 60 or even 80 malian soldiers with dozens of others taken prisoner and many more being wounded but among the dead strewn around the daura camp

In the aftermath were also five members of russia's africa corps the paramilitary outfit that mali's military regime relies on for its own protection the deaths of the africa corps troops are just the latest in a long series of setbacks for russia on malian soil the most famous of russia's paramilitary defeats of course is the 2024 battle of tinzuaten oh

Several dozen russian mercenaries then under the vagnacor banner were slaughtered in a day's long joint janim and taurag ambush more recently the two groups inflicted substantial losses upon the africa corps in a joint offensive earlier this year and then pinned down large numbers of africa corps fighters alongside their malian counterparts in a siege of the

City of anaphis russia is thought to keep between 2 000 and 2 500 africa corps troops in mali at any given time a deployment far larger than its peril efforts in niger and bikini faso but although the total number of africa corps dead in 2026 thus far is unknown the group's death toll may already reach into the multiple dozens especially when factoring in

These latest five fatalities according to a statement by the malian government the nation did retaliate against janim in the immediate aftermath of the dior raid that statement alleged that mali launched air-to-ground strikes and killed several terrorists in the process as they tried to hide themselves in the bush near the village local sources however told

A very different story indicating that mali never sent soldiers to reinforce the camp and that janim was able to return the following day if true then mali's airstrikes clearly had minimal deterrent effect as the time of writing janim claims to totally control the daora camp and the malian government hasn't yet provided any evidence to the contrary for mali

And for russia this is just the latest embarrassing defeat in an ever longer line but for janim it's yet another opportunity to pillage weapons and other fighting equipment strengthen their territorial control in areas far from the capital and remind the rest of the world that they are a very serious threat to the sahel but before we wrap up this segment of

The video we've got to make a rather unusual pivot and discuss recent meetings between russia's africa corps and their other main rival in mali the leading tower egg separatist faction known as the fla according to an interview that fla spokesman muhammad ramadan gave to the middle east eye this week the organization has been in direct contact with the

Africa corps over the last several months the contact began during that siege that we mentioned before in the city of anafis where the fla negotiated a withdrawal from the zone when it was time to end the fighting according to ramadan the fla isn't looking to negotiate a peace or anything close instead the contacts are quote around questions related to

Movements withdrawals and the situation in certain areas end quote as ramadan explains this does not mean that the political objectives of the parties have become compatible end quote ramadan or went on to explain that the fla is now looking to lean on turkey to mediate the conflict as ankara has emerged as a second international player in mali alongside

Moscow as the fla sees it their primary objective is still to carve out the part of mali that forms their ancestral homeland and create the sovereign nation of azawad in a way that doesn't allow the new state or their broader struggle to become a forum for global powers to wage a proxy war that's a key difference between the fla and janim which seeks to

Overthrow the malian government and it speaks to the complex relationship between the two groups the fla understands that janim is a critical partner and one that can bring the fla far closer to its ultimate goals than it would otherwise be able to achieve but if the fla wants an independent azawad then it cannot afford for the international community to see

It as a simple extension of a jihadist group the fla's decision is that the fla wants an independent azawad and the international community to see it as a simple extension of a jihadist group the fla's decision is that the fla wants an independent azawad then it cannot afford for the international community to see it as a simple extension of a jihadist group

The fla's decision is that the fla wants an independent azawad group the fla's decision to make its africa core contacts public would suggest that the organization believes they can have it both ways and rely on turkey to help the world see the difference whether they can stick the landing though that remains to be seen russia wants to cut europe's internet

For our next story let's turn our attention to svalbard a norwegian archipelago deep in the arctic circle that was recently the site of a confrontation between nato and russian forces but unlike most occasions when those two factions butt heads this showdown happened deep under the freezing sea according to two sources that spoke with reuters nato allies

Recently caught russian submarines training to unleash a secret weapon one designed to disable critical undersea cables without leaving any fingerprints the operation was run by googie moscow's main directorate for deepsea research a unit that handles the kremlin's most sensitive undersea work during their operation deep sea submersibles were used in a

Simulated deployment of the new technology the kremlin's most sensitive undersea work during their operation deepsea submersibles were used in a simulated deployment of the new technology but once british norwegian and american forces confronted the vessels at sea the russians abandoned the exercise and withdrew the incident happens near a stretch of water

Known as the bear gap between the southern tip of svalbard and mainland norway this is an important waterway for two reasons first because russian nuclear submarines based on the kola peninsula where googie maintains a base have to cross this gap to reach the atlantic second norway is planning on installing new fiber optic cables in the area by 2028 to

Replace the existing cables which are nearing the end of their lifespan now this isn't the first time that moscow has been caught snooping around europe's undersea cables over the past few years the yan tar one of googie's most capable ships has been spotted multiple times in european waters close to critical undersea infrastructure the ship carries two

Manned submersibles that can dive to six thousand meters along with remotely operated vehicles and has long been suspected of mapping critical submarine cables for telecommunications power and gas pipelines during the early 20th century during a 97-day voyage starting in november 2024 the antar loitered off norway's northern coast directly over the existing

Svalbard cables that we just mentioned it then navigated down through the north sea and the english channel into the irish sea where it was detected hovering over the uk's undersea cables in response british forces surfaced a royal navy submarine right beside the vessel to let them know that they were being watched at which point the antar decided to leave

The ship would return to the area in january 2025 prompting the deployment of two british warships the hms somerset and the hms tyne to shadow the russian vessel and then ten months later it was back again this time the uk deployed a royal navy frigate and poseidon p8 planes to track the yantars every move in a widely publicized incident the antar used

Lasers to distract the pilots that were tracking it but although this was a major story in its own right it pales in comparison to what moscow's done in finland in an incident nearly two years ago on christmas day 2024 an oil tanker called the eagle s dragged its anchor across roughly 90 kilometers of seabed in the gulf of finland in doing so it severed the

S-link-2 power cable between finland and estonia along with four telecommunications cables the s-link-2 stayed offline for more than seven months for repairs which cost close to 60 million euros russia keeps coming back to those cables for two reasons because of how important they are to the global economy and because of how difficult it is to defend them

Roughly 99 of all intercontinental internet traffic moves through these undersea cables including trillions of dollars worth of financial transactions given how important they are you'd expect them to be quite large and physically difficult to cut but that isn't the case they are often the diameter of a garden hose and while they often have added armor when

Near the shore that armor offers little practical protection against a determined adversary also because these cables cumulatively span millions of kilometers across vast oceans they are almost impossible to defend in their entirety in fact there's no single navy on the planet with enough ships to defend every kilometer of cable nor is there a way to easily

Tell who cut a cable if one were to be severed either they deliberately leave a signature of some kind or once the cable is dragged back ashore it simply looks like a cut cable so these cables are impossible to fully guard easy to damage without leaving a clear signature and vitally important for the entire world that's what makes them such an attractive

Target for russia's gray zone tactics meaning actions that are designed to sit just below the threshold of open war while still remaining extremely disruptive gray zone attacks like these all like russia's recent rail sabotage in poland and latvia or its multiple drone incursions into nato airspace are designed to test how much russia can get away with

Before receiving any meaningful pushback some american intelligence analysts believe russia may already be preparing to go a step further testing nato's article 5 directly rather than staying safely below the threshold for engagement if russia makes that leap then subsea cables will be among the easiest targets for moscow to go after because of everything

That we just mentioned and given the fact that russia is a secret weapon tailor-made for the task western capitals have a lot to be worried about especially because there are fears that the west may not be able to mobilize in time to push russia back this time the us the uk and norway coordinated quickly enough to stop moscow in its tracks whether that will

Happen next time when the stakes are much higher is an open question especially as washington cozies up to moscow while disparaging its european allies mass protests and more in syria and finally it's time that we talk about syria where a recent decision to cut fuel subsidies has led to the largest civilian display of public outrage since the arab spring the

Rising protest movement is a critical test for syria's interim government under transitional president ahmed al-sharra and in a particularly important blow to al-sharra's pride the protests are at their fiercest in his old province of idlib the syrian protests are in essence collateral damage something that damascus has been forced to deal with because of

The wider war in the middle east and the resulting economic hardship like many other nations right now the philippines indonesia portugal guatemala and more syria is facing acute shortages of fuel especially diesel the nation relies on oil imports to meet its needs even in the best of times and right now the nation only produces a bit over a hundred thousand

Barrels of oil per day domestically out of 325 000 that it needs each day nationwide last sunday in what it promised would be a temporary measure the syrian government announced a sharp spike in prices including a jump of up to 40 percent for the price of diesel and 28 on petrol also adding to the strain according to damascus are important renovations at a

Refinery called banias that will in time raise refining capacity by over 50 percent right now though the facility can't be used to offset serious hardship and so government subsidies are lifted and prices go up the response by the syrian people has been explosive over the last several days protesters paralyzed several cities with marches in the streets and

Across the highways people burned tires clashed with police and blockaded roads that are used by oil transport trucks one man in the city of ashaka attempted to self-immolate although he was prevented from doing so thanks to the efforts of bystanders as of the time of writing nobody has been killed in the demonstrations although they remain ongoing and have

Become increasingly intense in damascus over 50 newly elected parliamentarians have agreed to a petition forcing the energy minister to appear at a hearing and answer for price spikes that will make fuel prohibitively expensive for many syrians elsewhere in syria last saturday was a dark day in the northern kurdish majority town of kabbani where inmates at a

Local prison rioted and started afar resulting in the deaths of at least seven among their number the riots were the result of events outside the prison where a former member of syria's kurdish paramilitary force a man named sammy sheikh moose hiso was kidnapped and shot dead under unknown circumstances hiso's body turned up last thursday dumped with

Multiple bullet wounds and while the local government has claimed that several people are already in custody they have yet to explain the motive or identity of the parties responsible for hiso's death the path from the discovery of hiso's corpse to the deaths of those seven prison inmates is not straightforward in kabbani and the surrounding region hiso's

Death was confirmation that the announcements made by kurdish leadership last month stating that the kurdish-led syrian democratic forces had fully dissolved and integrated with the syrian military were an omen of dark times ahead for the kurdish population hiso's death sparked public protests which then devolved into attacks on police cars and the local

Headquarters for the federal internal security directorate attacks that state tv blamed on quote outlaws then federal forces deployed into the streets to restore order including some who took up positions within kabbani's main prison compound where arrested protesters had been placed into custody but the inmates at the prison appear to have misinterpreted

Their presence thinking that the security forces had arrived because the inmates were to be transferred elsewhere potentially putting many of them at risk from the same forces that were behind hiso's death this particular prison is still run by kurdish fighters but most prisons across syria are not the prisoners panicked setting fire to parts of the prison

And trying to halt the transfer it was because of that panic that so many prisoners died at least according to the narrative from government forces and finally we'll circle back to russia one more time to touch on the third serious story of the week that deserves your time this time however we've actually got good news to report at least from moscow's

Perspective the arrival of a resupply convoy of naval and cargo vessels to reinforce russian positions at two major military bases those bases including a naval installation in the port of tartus and a key air base known as hameim have been under russian control since the assad era but they became a major flashpoint for syria-russian relations after the fall

Of the syrian regime the fate of those bases was in question for quite a while until a deal was signed between russia and syria this past august which laid out an arrangement in which russian forces could stay at the bases as long as they were turned into joint training centers that syria could also use so the arrival of the russian supply convoy wasn't the

Beginning of a new era exactly but confirmation that russian forces in syria are there to stay those bases are absolutely vital for moscow allowing russia to maintain an air bridge and sustain its paramilitary operations in africa as well as its troop deployments across the rest of the world thank you for watching