India is about to make a break from Russia over the provision of mid-air refuellers, citing a lack of safety and technical standards to keep its fighter aircraft airborne. This breaks Russia’s 50 year monopoly over providing the Indian air force with aircraft. India’s Air Force has stated that the Russian Ilyushin-78 refuellers do not meet the required tender objectives and that it prefers the Airbus A330 MRTT a military derivative of the Airbus A330 airliner.
Category: Russia
Vietnam has recently completed a US$1.8 billion deal with Russia that will send six Kilo-class attack submarines to the Southeast Asian nation.
This move by Vietnam may be in response to China’s military buildup in the region and its growing economic influence in Southeast Asia.
Vietnam has been troubled by civilian unrest recently in protest of a growing Chinese presence in the country and the prospect of “Sinification.”
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) met last week in Moscow to discuss the possibility of increasing the coalition’s collaboration on military training to combat terrorism, extremism, and separatism.
Although the organization – made up of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – has maintained that it is not a political/military alliance, it seems that they have been moving towards that direction since Russia took the SCO presidency in August 2008.
As part of the SCO’s “Peace Mission 2010,” military exercises will be conducted in Kazakhstan with the bulk of the armed forces participating in the drills hailing from Russia and China.
“Specific anti-terrorism activities will be practiced at drills in Kazakhstan. All previous and upcoming military exercises involving SCO countries are of a counter-terrorist nature,” said Russia’s Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov.
In an effort to maintain a smaller yet more effective fighting force, Moscow announced that it will release approximately 36,000 officers this year.
“We believe that in the final account, no more than 36,000 or 37,000 servicemen will be fired (in 2009), maybe more, maybe less,” said Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov to local reporters on Tuesday.
This will be followed up next year when Russia plans to reduce their military forces from 1.13 to 1 million troops and cut its officers by nearly half, down to 150,000.
Mr. Pankov has confirmed that this is still the agenda despite these lay-offs coming at a time when Russia is experiencing unemployment around 10 percent.
Russian officials have claimed victory in the Chechen Republic on Thursday after a decade long battle against terrorists and Muslim separatists in the region.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Chechnya has been the site of two wars and was accused of producing the terrorists responsible for the 1999 bombings in Moscow.
Chechnya’s President Ramzan Kadyrov has emerged victorious in the conflict, but has come under harsh criticism for what critics have seen as violations of human rights.
Although seemingly effective, President Kadyrov’s speed and brutality in dealing with the situation over the last few years has reportedly included kidnapping, torture, and executions.
Nevertheless, Russia’s National Antiterrorist Committee has stated that the decision to end the security regime was necessary, “to guarantee conditions for the further normalization of the situation in the republic and for the development of its social and economic spheres.”
NATO announced on Wednesday plans to conduct military training exercises from May 6th to June 1st near the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
Georgia has been a hot topic recently in the wake of the brief war over South Ossetia last summer between Russian and Georgian forces.
In an authorized statement, NATO officials have stated that the operation, which will send 1,300 troops from 19 nations, has been planned since the beginning of last year, before the Georgian-Russian conflict.
Tensions between Russia and the NATO alliance have been fierce in the past and many coalition members are concerned with interfering in countries deemed by Moscow to be within their traditional sphere of influence.
A pipeline blast along Turkmenistan’s border with Uzbekistan last Thursday has halted natural gas exports completely from Central Asia’s top producer.
Turkmen officials blame the sudden decrease in imports from Russia’s state-owned Gazprom for the explosion.
“This accident happened due to a unilateral and egregious violation by Russian company Gazprom Export of agreements and rules of natural gas purchases,” said the Turkmen Foreign Ministry in a prepared statement on Friday.
The Turkmen natural gas pipeline was exporting between 70 and 80 million cubic meters a day before the explosion brought transportation to a stop.
The East Siberia – Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline funded by Russia’s state-owned Transneft will reach the Chinese border within the next few weeks, according to a government report read by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
This February, Russian and Chinese governments agreed to the construction of the ESPO oil pipeline as well as a long term deal which will supply China with much needed oil to support its burgeoning economy.
In the report, Putin also announced that the government would be spending 3 trillion rubles (US$90 billion) on anti-crisis measures, 1.4 trillion (US$42 billion) of which will be supported by the federal budget.
“Anti-crisis measures stipulate 1.4 trillion rubles in funds. On the whole, taking into account the effects of tax cuts, Central Bank funds, the National Welfare Fund and other sources to fight the consequences of the crisis and help the economy rebound, a total of 3 trillion rubles has been allocated,” said Prime Minister Putin.
In a joint project between Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) and the European Space Agency (ESA), six individuals were locked up in a capsule in Moscow yesterday to simulate conditions for a manned mission to Mars.
The all-male ensemble of volunteers includes two Europeans and four Russians who will spend three months closed off in the 550 cubic meter facility in an effort to test the physiological and psychological effects of isolation.
The two Europeans, a 28-year-old engineer in the German army and a 40-year-old pilot for Air France, were selected from an applicant pool of over 5,600 individuals.
The Russians involved in the experiment include two cosmonauts, a doctor, and a sports physicist.
A great deal of effort has gone into simulating the conditions expected in a real mission, including a 20 minute time delay in communications and a limited supply of provisions.
The IMBP and ESA are planning on sending another six individuals into the capsule at the end of the year for a 520 day period.
A manned mission to Mars is estimated by experts to take approximately a year and a half and both the ESA and NASA have separately sketched dates around 30 years from now for such a mission.
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev announced on Tuesday that his country is planning a “comprehensive rearmament” of its military.
Experts have remarked that the brief war with Georgia last summer revealed substantial weaknesses in Russia’s armed forces, specifically with communications and the nation’s air force.
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has said recently that Russia is planning on having at least 70 percent of its military “modern” by the year 2020.
Similarly, President Medvedev said that the, “most important task is to reequip the (Russian) Armed Forces with the newest weapons system.”
This news comes amid a string of recent events that have hinted at Russia’s desire to maintain a leading world military force.