The Russian Threat Beyond Eastern Europe. Looking beyond Eastern Europe, Russia is employing a similar approach to war in Syria, specifically in Aleppo. Russian armed forces, in conjunction with Syrian allies, have encircled the city, cut all ingress and egress routes, and ruthlessly assaulted the city. So Russia’s fondness for the siege is.
- Russian armed forces provide Moscow with clear military superiority in the post-Soviet region, despite Russia's troops not being able to match the whole of NATO. The Kremlin is busy modernizing.
- This is a list of wars involving the Russian Federation and predecessor states of Russia, from antiquity to the present day. It also includes wars fought outside Russia by the Russian military.
- The Russian military continues to make strides towards modernization - and in-the-field experience in Syria has helped. For 2020, Russia is ranked 2 of 138 out of the countries considered for the annual GFP review. It holds a PwrIndx. rating of 0.0681 (0.0000 considered 'perfect').
Richard Caton Woodville, Jr. The Relief of the Light Brigade, 1897
Mongol invasion (1237-1240)
The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan. Illuminated manuscript of the XVI century
Library of the Russian Academy of SciencesIn the early 13thcentury, Mongolian armies found the Russian state fragmented and unable to resist the unified and cohesive Asian invaders. One by one, the principalities fell under the Mongol onslaught that was marked by tremendous pillage, destruction and the annihilation of a large part of the population.
For the next several centuries, the Russian principalities were politically and economically dependent on the Mongol Empire, and it took dozens of years to restore the ruined economy and culture. Russia struggled against a serious setback in its development, lagging far behind European countries.
The invasion completely rewrote the political map of the Russian state. Kiev, which was taken by the Mongols in 1240, never regained its status as the most important city in Ancient Rus. Western Slavic principalities, such as Smolensk, Kursk and the territories of modern Ukraine and Belarus, fell into the sphere of influence of the strengthening Lithuanian state, which eventually absorbed them.
A time bomb was in the making, however, because these lands became a bone of contention and reasons for numerous wars between the Russian state and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Even in the 20th century, disputes between Poland and USSR concerned several of these territories.
Livonian War (1558-1583)
Karl Briullov. Siege of Pskov by Polish King Stefan Batory', 1843.
Global Look PressIvan IV, widely known as Ivan the Terrible, started a war against the fading Livonian Confederation in order to capture its main ports and to gain a foothold for the Grand Duchy of Muscovy on the Baltic coast. This was very important for the growing Russian state, because its access to the Baltic Sea had been limited to a small and mostly undeveloped piece of land on the coast of the Gulf of Finland.
The first period of the war was successful for Ivan IV, and his troops took significant parts of the Livonian Confederation – the lands of modern-day Latvia and Estonia. Other great powers, however, were not happy to observe the growing power of its eastern neighbor. For many years, Russia was at war both with Sweden and the Great Duchy of Lithuania that in 1569 united with Poland.
The exhausting war continued for more than 20 years, and ended with a major defeat of the Russian state. The country’s economy was ruined, and the northwestern territories were depopulated. All lands originally taken from Livonia were lost and returned. Even worse, Muscovy lost territories in Finland, and most of its coastal possessions on the Gulf of Finland. Only a small piece of land on the Neva estuary remained in Russia’s possession, but it couldn’t provide proper access to the sea.
Now, instead of the weak Livonian Confederation, Russia had new and powerful enemies on its western border: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Kingdom of Sweden. It took many years and resources to deal with these problems later - during the Great Northern War (1700-1721).
Russo-Ottoman War (1710-1713)
Bataille du Prout. Illustration from William Hogarth (1697-1764) for the Travels by Aubry de la Motraye, 1724
Peter the Great was successful where Ivan IV failed – he crushed Sweden and annexed its lands along the eastern Baltic (Estonia, Livonia and Ingria) under the terms of the 1721 Treaty of Nystad.
In 1711, however, the war was far from over, and the Tsar found himself in a life-threatening situation that almost ended with the destruction of his entire army.
After Russia’s spectacular victory at Poltava in 1709, Sweden’s defeated King Karl XII fled to the city of Bendery in Bessarabia, then under Ottoman rule. Tough negotiations between the Tsar and Sultan Ahmed III over the fate of the Swedish king came to an impasse.
The Sultan was eager to eject the Russians from the Azov fortress on the coast of the Azov Sea, which Peter the Great captured in 1695-1696 in order to give Russia access to the Black Sea via the Kerch Strait.
In 1710, the Ottomans treacherously declared war on Russia, which culminated with the Tsar’s Pruth River Campaign. In 1711, however, the Russian army of 38,000 led by Peter the Great was surrounded by 190,000 Ottoman and Crimean troops in Bessarabia. To avoid destruction, Peter was forced to accept the Sultan’s humiliating terms, which were codified by the Treaty of the Pruth two years later.
Russia ceded Azov to the Ottoman Empire, destroying all fortresses on the Azov Sea coast, and thus losing access to the Black Sea. In addition, for nearly 20 years Russia lost control over the Zaporozhian Cossacks, who fell under Ottoman rule.
Still, the defeat’s worse consequence was the destruction of Russia’s first navy – the Azov Flotilla. Hundreds of large and small ships were destroyed; some were sold and the fate of others remains unknown. As far as the southern direction of its foreign policy, Russia was forced to start from zero.
Crimean War (1853-1856)
Burning of the redout at Kale (Canakkale) at the mouth of the Dardanelles (the Hellespont) during the Crimean war. Hand-coloured lithograph published in Italy 1857.
Global Look PressIn a way, the Crimean War was similar to the Livonian War: Russia successfully started a fight with one weak enemy, but ended the conflict suffering defeat at the hands of a coalition of great powers.
According to the Treaty of Paris (1856), Russia didn’t lose much territory, but it lost the right to have a fleet on the Black Sea. Thus, Russia abandoned its claims to protect Christians in the Ottoman Empire, ceding that right to France. It also lost influence in Moldavia, Wallachia and Serbia. In general, the war severely undermined Russia’s international standing.
The Empire’s financial system suffered most. With huge war debts, it was forced to print unsecured credit notes that led to a drastic depreciation of the ruble. Only in 1897 did the government stabilize the exchange rate by adopting the gold standard. However, the Crimean War forced the government to launch major military and economic reforms, such as the abolishment of serfdom in 1861.
World War I (1914-1918)
Russian soldiers during their capitulation, date unknown (1914-1918)
Archiv Neumann/Global Look PressThe Great War, as World War I was called by contemporaries, was a major disaster for the Russian Empire, leading to its collapse in October 1917. The 1.7 million wartime casualties were just the start of even more carnage. Even though Russia exited the war with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918, the Civil War plunged the country into even greater violence and destruction.
Due to its separate peace with the Central Powers, Russia didn’t get a seat at the peace talks, even though its impact on victory had been significant, especially in the war’s early stages. In the end, Russia lost about 842,000 square km (15.4 percent of its total pre-war area), which was home to 31.5 million people (23.3 percent of the Empire’s pre-war population).
The Empire’s collapse led to the appearance of new states. Poland’s independence was restored, and Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland gained statehood for the first time in their history. Also, Romania took the opportunity to annex Bessarabia.
Even today, Eastern Europe’s geopolitical situation is characterized with uneasy and complicated relations between countries that arose on the ashes of the Russian Empire in 1918.
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Vision of New York City Bombed by 10 Russian Nuclear Missiles
Around 1986 God took me up into the heavens and I found myself flying like superman through the air. I was in the clouds and the cover was so thick that I could not see my hands in front of my face. I couldn’t understand why I was flying through the air. As I dropped in altitude and started to get below the clouds, I began looking to my left and to my right. As I was looking, I saw five nuclear missiles, long range intercontinental ballistic missiles to my right and to my left. A total of ten missiles! Each one carried multiple warheads with the red Communist star on the fuselage of the missiles. The five pointed red star is the universal representative symbol for Communism. The star that I saw on the missiles looked like the second red star below. At the time of this vision Russia had a red star on their flag which is the first picture below. I feel in my spirit that these will be Russian missiles.
As I looked down to the ground I saw Staten Island, Manhattan Island and New York City. I could not believe that these missiles were getting ready to hit New York with such a magnitude. They were coming right down onto the state of New York. The next thing I knew, I was standing down on the ground looking at all of the devastation. All the buildings were totally annihilated. The big skyscrapers had fallen over as though a domino effect had happened when they were blown up. When they started falling, these skyscrapers fell one against another knocking each other down. There were dead bodies lying everywhere. Tens of thousands were dead and the air smelled of rotting, burning flesh. Not only did the air smell foul but as I looked everything was dark even though it was midday. I could not believe my eyes!
I then sensed time had passed, weeks and months. God then let me see little children taking instruments like butter knives and scraping the corpses of the people that had died. The children were looking for food by scraping the flesh off the people’s bodies only to cause their own death later of radiation poisoning. The devastation was beyond anything of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The death and the disease that broke out after was beyond imagination. I could not believe what I was seeing. I was overwhelmed and sickened by the devastation. I asked God why He showed me this? He said He is going to judge the United States and He’s going to judge it hard. He said that the enemies of the United States are going to attack.
After having this life-like vision of what is coming, it was quickened to me later that Chicago and a lot of other big cities are also going to take a hit. From what I’m receiving right now, this is going to be worse than anything this nation could ever imagine. The American people will not believe what is happening to them. God is going to execute His judgment on this nation and He is going to pay America back double for the sins that have reached into Heaven.
Read Revelation 18
Click here to watch my videos about the Chinese invasion of the west coast!
Foreign Armies WILL Invade and Occupy America – The Enemies of America Will Bomb Our Churches and Synagogues
During the same time as the vision about the state of Florida in July of 1995, God gave me a vision of a massive army coming down on America. He said, “John, I am going to allow the enemies of the United States to judge America. When America’s enemies come they will have no mercy on the men, women and children. I saw troop movement and they appeared to be Communist Chinese and Russian troops coming into the United States. As they came in, America was no match. I saw churches and synagogues were being leveled by heavy artillery. As the churches were being blown up I saw Jews and Christians being herded up and shot like cattle in front of their churches and homes. I saw the troops killing children and infants with their bayonets. I saw the American people tormented beyond imagination. The troops were void of emotions. Their objective is to take the nation and take it hands down. All able bodied working people will be forced into slave labor. Some will be taken to other countries and some left here. The soldier’s main objective was to kill all Jews and Christians. As I am seeing all this horror I asked, “Lord, what is happening?” He said, “Because of the wickedness of the United States of America I am allowing her enemies to invade her lands.” God ended the vision.
The enemies of America are supernaturally being drawn together. When they come, they are going to catch the nation completely by surprise. Great is going to be her destruction and torment. This judgment is coming soon! The American people, Christians and non-Christians do not believe that God has fiery indignation that will be poured out. The great day of darkness is quickly coming upon the whole world, the day of God’s wrath and judgment.
Jeremiah 50:3
For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
Read Jeremiah 50 and 51
The Bear is Ready to Pounce
November 20, 1998
I was praying in my Pastors office one afternoon at about 4:30 P.M. when suddenly the whole wall turned into a vision. I saw a black forest that had an opening into the forest with what looked like a wide beaten animal path. It looked as though animals had been traveling on it for years. I found myself standing in a large meadow outside the forest.
I began to hear cracking sounds like very large trees being pushed over one by one with great strength. Suddenly, a large Kodiak grizzly bear came growling and pouncing out of the path to the edge of the meadow where I could see him. He was very angry and stood there growling and pouncing on his front paws in a threatening manner. A large circus chain was around his neck with a 6 inch, red and amber medallion that had a gold hammer, sickle and star engraved in the upper left hand corner. I asked God what this meant. He said, “Russia is getting ready to make a strategic move in the world.”
At the time President Boris Yeltsin was in the hospital and very ill. That same day a Russian Democratic reformer by the name of Galina Starovoytova was assassinated at her home. Galina was murdered because she was nominated to run against the hard line communist party in the case of Yeltsin death.
During this time, I felt God quicken to me that in the beginning of 1999 the fireworks for the world would really start to manifest.
God Sent Prophets to Warn the Jews prior to WW II and They Did Not Listen!
The Russian Force Kriget Kommer -
In the early 1930’s God asked three Jewish men, Leo Braeck, Eli Wiesal and Martin Burber to warn the Jewish people of the fire under their feet and to go to Palestine to escape what was coming. God instructed the men to warn them that they were getting ready to be destroyed by the Nazi’s. The reaction of the Jews was disbelief. They thought they had the best of everything in food, housing, business and lifestyle and they refused to give it up. Many replied, “Why should we listen to you prophets telling us we are going to be destroyed when there are no signs in the air? You three Prophets go to Palestine, we are staying!”
The Jews of Germany and Europe did not listen to the three prophets that God sent to warn them. Because they did not listen they became victims of one man who tried to destroy the entire Jewish population.
Pastors and Shepherds, listen to what the Prophets are saying! The day and hour of the Prophet has come. The Prophets are speaking with great power and with signs and wonders such as has never been seen before in the history of the Christian Church.
The Russian Force Kriget Kommer Der
Shepherds listen to the Prophets and heed their warnings!