NATO defence ministers adopted several strategy papers and agreed on a new master plan on Thursday (21 October) to defend against any potential Russian hybrid attack, diplomats and officials said.
Conflicts are “not only carried out with cartridges and bombs but also with bytes and big data”, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Wednesday ahead of the meeting.
Washington Shouldn’t Overhype the Threat From Moscow
The Russian Ministry of Defense pulled out all the stops for its annual arms expo outside Moscow in late August. For three days, defense ministers and dignitaries from 41 countries, including from the Middle East, were treated to exhibits of cutting-edge technology, live-fire demonstrations, ballerinas pirouetting on tank turrets, and the trailer for an action movie about the 2015 rescue of downed Russian pilots behind enemy lines in Syria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that battle-hardened militants from Iraq and Syria are “actively” entering Afghanistan.
“The situation in Afghanistan is not easy,” Putin said during a video conference with security service chiefs of ex-Soviet states, AFP reported.
“Militants from Iraq, Syria with experience in military operations are actively being drawn there,” he said.
Just last week Erdogan boasted about potential new defense deals with Russia, including aircraft purchases.
Turkey has requested to purchase 40 US-made F-16 fighter jets and dozens of modernization kits for aircraft it already owns, according to reports in both the Greek and the Turkish press.
News of the request, which has not been publicly confirmed by the US State Department, comes just days after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government was planning to expand defense ties with Russia.
Extinderea infrastructurii militare a NATO în Ucraina a încălcat o „linie roşie” pentru Rusia. Liderul de la Kremlin nu vede cu ochi buni înființarea unor centre de pregătire militară în țara vecină.
Liderul de la Kremlin, Vladimir Putin a anunțat că Rusia și aliatul său Belarus vor lua toate măsurile care se impun pentru a-și apăra propria securitate, după cum relatează Reuters.
During an interview with Al-Monitor, Syrian National Coalition President Salem al-Meslet discussed recent US sanctions on Ahrar al-Sharqiya, the human rights situation in northern Syria and the US military presence in the war-torn country.
The head of the exiled Syrian opposition acknowledges human rights violations committed by Turkish-backed fighters in northern Syria but says recent US sanctions have helped rein in the lawless proxy groups.
PJSC LUKOIL announced Thursday the conclusion of an agreement on acquiring 15.5% interest in the Shah Deniz natural gas project in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea from PETRONAS. The value of the transaction will amount to $2.25 billion, and the completion is subject to fulfilment of conditions precedent, including approval by SOCAR, the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic.
Moscow is intensifying its airstrikes on Islamic State targets in the Syrian desert.
ALEPPO — Islamic State attacks in the Syrian desert have escalated over the past two weeks, causing heavy losses among the Syrian government forces and their allied militias.
Russia has intensified airstrikes on IS positions in support of regime forces as they attack IS positions and hideouts in the rugged desert areas.
If Russia has recently regarded Turkey warily as a result of Turkey’s successful backing of Azerbaijan in its recent war with Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh, being on opposite sides in Syria and Libya, Turkey’s supply of arms to Ukraine, and Turkey’s refusal to recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, in the run up to the Putin-Erdogan summit in Sochi on September 29, 2021 and in its aftermath, the music changed. Professor Alexander Dugin, a Putin advisor and a leading light of the Eurasian school attached historical significance to the meeting: “At this summit, the heads of the two states drew their red lines and a roadmap for the new world. From now on, Turkey and Russia have embarked on a new path, and this will affect both regional dynamics and the whole world. “[1] The pro-Kremlin television commentator and presenter Dmitry Kiselyov pronounced that Erdogan and Putin had achieved unity on almost all issues.[2] During the summit Putin emphasized the quest for compromises, but Russian commentators believe that Erdogan generally acceded to Putin, and drew encouragement from a Turkish military withdrawal from Idlib in Syria. In seeking to explain the more accommodating policy of Erdogan, Russian commentators concentrated on Turkey’s economic and political vulnerability. The latter was the result of a chill between Erdogan and the Biden administration that deprived Erdogan of the option to play both sides.
Russia is delaying the appointment of panels of independent experts to monitor violations of U.N. sanctions on South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic (CAR)and Mali, diplomats said on Wednesday, leaving their work in limbo.