The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Iron Fist - Russian Armor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW06R...eature=related

Main Battle Tank, T-90

M1 Abrams Vs T90 (video presentation): http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=2

The T-90S Russian battle tank embodies advanced scientific solutions and in terms of its combat and technical characteristics is not inferior to the best foreign tanks, rather, it outdoes them in some parameters. By the early-1990s, the Uralvagonzavod State Production Association had developed and put into series production the T-90S new-generation Russian gun-missile tank, incorporating the unique design solutions and the best layout and structural features of the T-72 and T-80 tanks. The Uralvagonzavod State Production Association developed the T-90S tank following a thorough analysis and understanding of the tactics and strategy of employment of tanks in a modern combat environment and on the basis of extensive experience gained in the operation of the T-72 tank in different countries, including the results of their tests in severe conditions.

The T-90S tank features characteristics that are typical of all other Russian tanks: low weight, small size, powerful weaponry and high mobility. The weight of the combat laden tank is 46.5 tons and its crew is three men. The T-90S tank retains the basic national tank design concept, i.e. the classical layout, where the main armament is arranged within a rotating turret, the propulsion plant and transmission are arranged in the hull's rear, and the crew members are seated separately: the commander and the gunner sit in the fighting compartment, and the driver in the driver's compartment. The T-90S tank's main armament is represented by a 125mm enhanced-accuracy smooth-bore gun mount featuring a built-in alignment system and an easily detachable barrel. The gun is stabilized in two planes and loaded by an autoloader, whose magazine stores 22 rounds to be fired first. The use of the autoloader has made it possible to bring the rate of fire to 7 or 8 rounds per minute, which is a significant advantage of this tank over the majority of its foreign competitors. The high level of fire power has been achieved through the installation of a gun that features better ballistic properties. It is also attributable to the enhanced gun's firing accuracy and longer range (including firing missiles), application of more powerful ammunition, improved characteristics of the fire control system, and reduced first-round firing preparation time...

Source: http://warfare.ru/?lang=&linkid=1778&catid=244

Main Battle Tank, Chiorny Oriol (Black Eagle)

Black Eagle (video presentation): http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=0

The newest Russian main battle tank (MBT) named Chiorny Oriol (Black Eagle) was shown for the first time at the second VTTV-Omsk-97 International Exhibition of Armaments, Military Equipment and Conversion Products ended early September in Omsk, Siberia region, Russia. The tank was demonstrated at a distance of 500 meters from the spectators. During the demonstration, the tanks turret, gun and armament system were carefully concealed. Chief of the Main Armour Command of the Russian MoD, colonel-general Sergei Mayev, and Deputy Director General of Rosvoorouzhenie company, Sergei Bukharov, who have inspected the tank on a closed proving ground of Omsk Transport Machinebuilding Plant (OTMP), refused to comment on its characteristics.

However, as well-informed specialists in Moscow report, the Chiorny Oriol represents a mobility test-bed of a 21th century tank and is a result of radical upgrading of the T-80U MBT carried out under the direction of the Designer General Boris Kurakin. The selection of the T-80U as a base for development of the 5th generation MBT derives from the fact that it is rightfully considered as the best MBT in the world which suc-cessfully combines all the basic performance characteristics: speed, maneuverability, fire power and protection system. The Chiorny Oriol has the same overall dimensions as the T-80U does, nevertheless it has a lower silhouette which makes it less distinctive on the terrain. The experts believe that in terms of combination of the basic charac-teristics such as maneuverability, fire power, armour piercing capability and protection this MBT will surpass the Western MBTs such as M1A2 Abrams, Leclerk and Leopard-2 by a factor of 1.5-1.7...

Source: http://warfare.ru/?lang=&catid=244&linkid=1780

Infantry Fighting Vehicle, BMPT

BMPT (video presentation): http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=7

The Urals Transport Machinery Design Bureau Federal State Unitary Enterprise and the Uralvagonzavod Production Association State Unitary Enterprise demonstrated for the first time a new tank support combat vehicle (Russian acronym BMPT) at the 2nd Urals Exhibition of Armaments and Military Equipment held recently in Nizhni Tagil (Sverdlovsk Region, Russia). The concept of such a unique combat vehicle was conceived long ago, however its implementation was delayed. In 1997, the BTR-T heavy armored personnel carrier, developed on the basis of the T-55 battle tank, was demonstrated at the Exhibition of Armaments and Military Equipment in Omsk (Russia). Now, drawing on experience gained operating armored vehicles in local conflicts, designers have developed the BMPT combat vehicle on the basis of the most mass-produced T-72 battle tank. The combat vehicle features armor protection equal to that of the battle tank and powerful armament capable of neutralizing and defeating antiarmor-capable targets and manpower, and operates in a common battle formation.These features help significantly increase combat effectiveness of tank units and decrease their losses from enemy close-combat assets.

The BMPT’s hull is the same as that of the T-72 battle tank. It is provided with explosive reactive armor (ERA) on the frontal armor plate, ERA-applied screens to protect side plates, as well as grilled shields to protect the hull rear. The welded turret is provided with a filler and built-in ERA. The distinguishing feature of the BMPT combat vehicle is its low-profile turret mounted on a tank chassis. The turret is equipped with up-to-date weapons for defeating antiarmor-capable targets and enabling tanks to advance, leaving close antiarmor-capable targets for the BMPT to take care of. The BMPT crew consists of five men. The BMPT armament can effectively defeat both lightly armored ground and aerial targets and heavily armored tank-type ground targets. Its main armament consists of the 30mm 2A42 automatic gun and coaxially-mounted AG-30 or AGS-17A grenade launcher stabilized in two planes, and the Kornet ATGM system provided with a semiautomatic jamproof laser-guided system.

Source: http://warfare.ru/?lang=&catid=245&linkid=1785

Infantry Fighting Vehicle, BTR-T

The BTR-T most distinguishing feature is its low-silhouette turret mounted on the tank chassis with a platform that mounts a modern gun-missile armament. The BTR-T can be used to transport motorized infantry subunits in eventual NBC and hostile fire environment and effectively defeat hostile targets. Extensive experience gained from combat actions, including local conflicts, dramatically revealed the need to protect the personnel of motorized infantry elements from modern means of destruction. Existing wheeled vehicles such as the BTR-80 and BRMD, and tracked vehicles like the BMP and MT-LB, cannot always provide protection for troops on the battlefield. While implementing the concept of maximum protection, the Design Bureau of Transport Machine-Building jointly with the Transport Mashine-Building Plant state-run production association developed and manufactured a prototype of the BTR-T heavy armored personnel carrier developed from the T-55 tank capable to fight modern means of destruction on a par with main battle tanks.

The T-55 tanks and their modifications became outdated and cannot be effective in current conditions. They were discarded from the inventory of Russia's Armed Forces. A great number of these tanks were delivered to many countries. And now they can be re-equipped to be used as heavy highly-protected armored personnel carriers. The plant plans to carry out the modernization of outdated tanks to convert them into BTR-T heavy armored personnel carriers using the customer's production facilities and delivering components from Russia. The BTR-T most distinguishing feature is its low-silhouette turret mounted on the tank chassis with a platform that mounts a modern gun-missile armament. The 30mm automatic gun and Konkurs ATGM are mounted on the turret. Such an armament is able to defeat both lightly armored ground and air targets and heavily armored ground targets. Reconfiguration of the crew compartments created enough space in the hull to accommodate a commander, driver and five assault troops. The vehicle's protection is dramatically increased due to installation of a smoke screen generating system, and improved anti-mine and built-in explosive reactive armor (ERA) protection systems.

Source: http://warfare.ru/?lang=&catid=245&linkid=1787

Infantry Fighting Vehicle, BMP-3

BMP-3 (video presentation): http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=1

The BMP-3 is the latest IFV model of the Russian BMP family bearing the best design features of the BMP-1 (1966) and the BMP-2 (1980). Its missions are: to provide armour and NBC protection to infantry troops; to enhance their fire power and mobility in the battlefield; to engage enemy manpower (in the open or sheltered), pill-boxes and ground materiel including tanks and armoured vehicles as well as slow/low flying helicopters. The fire can be conducted from the vehicle stationed, moving or afloat. The design is characterized by the rear arrangement of engine-transmission compartment. The fighting compartment comprises gunner's and commander's stations in the turret. The control compartment in the front part of the vehicle accommodates central driver's seat with two side seats of assault party. The assault troops compartment divided from the engine compartment with a bulkhead accommodates 5 (7) men. Arrangement of hatches and doors is troops-friendly allowing their quick mounting and dismounting the vehicle on the move.

Source: http://warfare.ru/?lang=&catid=245&linkid=1784

Armored Personnel Carrier, BTR-90

BTR-90 (video presentation): http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=7

The BTR-90 Armoured Personnel Carrier is a 21st century combat vehicle possessing high mobility, enhanced firepower and survivability due to innovations, implemented in design and armament. The BTR-90 APC outperforms significantly both well-known Russian APCs and up-to-date foreign-made APCs, due to its superior technical characteristics, enhanced fire power, mobility, and survivability. Both mechanised infantry and marines can employ this vehicle for fire support, personnel transportation, surveillance, reconnaissance, and patrolling tasks. A wide variety of highly mobile vehicles with sufficient armour protection for combat, command, control, communication, technical and medical support missions can be developed on the basis of the BTR-90 chassis. The BTR-90 APC has a closed hull made of welded armoured steel plates. The hull layout is developed on the basis of the combat experience in various regions of the world and expertise assessments.

The power plant is located in the aft, combat compartment - in the front, assault team compartment - in the middle of the body. This provides the most adventurous distribution of payload on the tires and favourable conditions for aimed employment of the APC’s organic armament and assault team’s weapons on the move, as well as concentration of fire of all weapons in front hemisphere. The commander and gunner are accommodated in the turret, and the driver and seven troopers - in the middle part of the vehicle. The commander is able to carry out all-round surveillance, target designation and, if necessary, take control over organic weapons. The members of the crew and assault team can use top hatches of the turret and the hull, as well as middle side doors for dismounting/boarding, even on the move. The organic weapon set is located in the rotating turret and stabilised in two planes. It comprises the 30-mm 2A42 automatic gun, 7.62-mm PKT coaxial machine-gun, and 30-mm AG-17 grenade launcher. The launcher of an up-to-date anti-tank guided missile system is installed on the turret to engage heavy armoured tank-type targets. A detachable launching unit allows launching anti-tank missiles from the ground also.

Source: http://warfare.ru/?lang=&catid=245&linkid=1789

Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle, BRDM-2

In an attempt to improve the amphibious characteristics and increase the combat power of their wheeled reconnaissance vehicles, the Soviets produced the BRDM-2. This vehicle differs from the original BRDM in that the powerplant has improved and moved to the rear of the vehicle, and that a small 14.5mm machinegun-armed turret has been fitted. This turret is identical to that found on the BTR-60PB armored personnel carrier. The original BRDM (BTR-40P) first appeared in 1959. The BRDM-2 also is known as BTR-40P-2 or BTR-40PB (hence also BTR-40P-2rkh or BTR-40PB-rkh, etc.). It was first seen in 1966 and by the mid-1980s was rapidly replacing the BRDM in the Soviet and Warsaw Pact armies.

Source: http://warfare.ru/?lang=&catid=245&linkid=2183

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

The year Russia flexed its diplomatic muscle

This was the year that Vladimir Putin bared his chest for the world. Pictures of the Russian president fishing shirtless in Siberia with his biceps bulging, were distributed by the Kremlin with a clear message: a tough leader for a tough country. In 2006, a resurgent Russia asserted itself principally through the energy markets by demanding higher prices for its oil and gas and threatening to cut off those refusing to pay. This year, Moscow has flexed its muscles over a much broader front, challenging the US and the European Union over issues ranging from missile defence and Kosovo to election observers.

This approach has generated growing criticism in the EU and the US. But within Russia, a dose of foreign policy nationalism has gone down very well, boosting Mr Putin's popularity, contributing to his party's triumph in this month's parliamentary elections. The Russian leader is now well placed to manage next year's presidential poll, after nominating Dmitry Medvedev as his successor and having Mr Medvedev name Mr Putin as his future prime minister. Mr Putin set the tone early in the year with a widely reported speech in Munich in which he attacked the US, saying: "The US has overstepped its borders in all spheres - economic, political and humanitarian, and has imposed itself on other states... Local and regional wars did not get fewer, the number of people who died did notget smaller but increased. We see no kind of restraint - a hyperinflated use of force." Given conditions in Iraq, his claims were not wholly unreasonable. But his tone reminded many observers of the rhetoric of the cold war. The Russian president was deliberately antagonising and provoking his western counterparts. His words have been accompanied by action, notably in the field of military security. The Kremlin is furious at Washington's plans to install anti-missile defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Russian officials reject American arguments that the missiles, an element in a global shield against "rogue" states, will not and could not be aimed at Russia or Russian missiles. In the Kremlin's view, the US claims are disingenuous, as any missile base could easily be expanded at a future date. Russian officials also see the plans as a political provocation - an extension of western power into Moscow's former sphere of influence. Officials argue that having failed to stand up to the west over Nato expansion and raised more effective questions about EU enlargement, Russia must not give any more ground. Under former president Boris Yeltsin, who died this year, an impoverished Russia robbed of its self-confidence often grumbled at the west but was too weak to respond. Under Mr Putin it is reacting by attacking some of the core east-west security agreements struck during the cold war. This month, Russia is pulling out of the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty - an agreement limiting troop deployments in Europe - on the ground that it was never ratified by western countries.

Moscow is also questioning the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, which restricts the stationing of medium-range missiles, on the grounds that ownership of such weapons is no longer the preserve of the US and Russia. The arguments are at an early stage but could complicate discussions over an even more significant agreement - the Start treaty, controlling long-range weapons, which expires next year. Russian officials argue that there is nothing unreasonable in their actions, adding that it was Washington that first abrogated an arms control treaty when, in 2001, it pulled out of the 1972 Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty so that it could develop the missile shield. Russian analysts also point out that in practical terms, Moscow's military power is a fraction of the US's. Even after recent increases, Russia's defence budget is about 5 per cent of the US's and will struggle to finance even the renewal of ageing Soviet-era arsenals, let alone fund a significant expansion.

The missiles dispute has developed in line with other east-west, arguments, notably over Kosovo, where the diplomatic conflict is coming to a head. Moscow has stood by its traditional ally, Serbia, and backed Belgrade in its refusal to contemplate Kosovo's independence. Russia this summer prevented a US-led bid to secure United Nations approval for an independence plan and has promised to maintain its veto. The likely result is a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo, supported by the US and most EU members, though not the whole Union. Russia is responding by encouraging separatists in the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and in Moldova. But how far Moscow intends to go is still unclear. Russia has also been embroiled in arguments with its neighbours, notably Estonia where the clumsy dismantling of a Soviet-period war memorial provoked demonstrations by local ethnic Russians, a wave of protest from Moscow and cyberattacks on Estonian government websites. Georgia has accused Russia of interference in its affairs, including an alleged missile attack on an official outpost. In Ukraine, aides to Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-west president, have complained about Russian political backing for separatist parties.

Meanwhile, Kremlin officials have ruthlessly pursued their main domestic aim - to remain in power after next March's presidential election. Russia has brushed off international criticisms of the parliamentary election and its failure to grant early access to monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Last week, Mr Putin named Mr Medvedev, chairman of Gazprom and a first deputy prime minister, as his chosen successor. Mr Medvedev, a relatively pro-western liberal who owes most of his career to Mr Putin, is viewed favourably by investors. But the endorsement of the taciturn lawyer is also seen as proof of Mr Putin's determination to maintain a hold of the levers of power after he steps down. Mr Medvedev more or less confirmed this by declaring that he would appoint Mr Putin as prime minister if, as seems certain, he is elected president, to ensure political and economic continuity. Elsewhere in the region, parliamentary elections in Ukraine resulted in a strong showing for Yulia Tymoshenko, the maverick former prime minister. But prolonged in-fighting involving Ms Tymoshenko, Mr Yushchenko, and Viktor Yanukovich, the prime minister, have delayed the formation of a government. In Georgia, president Mikheil Saakashvili responded to demonstrations and calls for his resignation with a state of emergency and the announcement of a snap presidential election on January 5.

Further west, Polish voters unexpectedly ended two years of rule by its combative prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the conservative Law and Justice party. The country rejected his divisive tactics and his clumsy handling of foreign affairs in favour of the conciliatory policies offered by Donald Tusk, leader of the liberal Civic Platform and the new prime minister. In south-east Europe, Romania and Bulgaria rejoiced at joining the EU in January but have since been beset by criticisms from Brussels about their shortcomings in running the public administration and the courts and in fighting corruption. But their difficulties pale in comparison with the challenges facing most of the former Yugoslavia, where there are renewed fears of violence in Kosovo and in Bosnia. The EU is trying to ease tensions by engaging governments in talks on association agreements that are designed to lead to future membership.

Almost everywhere in the region, energy remains high on the agenda. With oil prices hovering below $100 a barrel, energy-importing countries are concerned about securing supplies - and reducing their reliance on Russia, the largest oil and gas supplier. The year has seen increased competition for hydrocarbon resources and government moves to strengthen control. In Russia, Gazprom, the state-controlled energy group, started the year by wresting control of the big Sakhalin-2 gas project from Shell, the Anglo-Dutch group, and its Japanese partners and paying $7.5bn for a 50 per cent-plusone- share stake. In Kazakhstan, the administration is now embroiled in talks with Italy's Eni over the future of the huge Kashagan oilfield. Elsewhere, Chinese investors are competing for access to central Asian resources with Russian and western companies. The unexpected death of Turkmenistan's leader, Saparmurat Niyazov, has led to a flurry of interest in hiscountry, with foreign companies seeking investment projects.

Meanwhile, among the consuming nations of the EU, there are efforts to reduce dependence on Russian-supplied fuels by developing alternative routes, including the Nabucco gas pipeline, which would run from the Caspian region to central Europe via Turkey. But Gazprom has responded with its own plans, notably South Stream, a pipeline that would run from Russia under the Black Sea via the Balkans to central Europe, and Nord Stream, the controversial Baltic Sea pipeline. Financing will be an issue for all these projects. Across the region, economies have grown at unprecedented rates in the past few years, generating rising living standards in most countries, even if tens of millions still struggle with poverty. In a recent annual economic survey, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development forecast an average increase in gross domestic product for the region in 2007 of 7 per cent - the highest ever. It predicts a slow down next year to about 6 per cent. Officials are watching the impact of the global financial turmoil and decelerating growth in the US but so far do not see any significant overall effects. Others are less sanguine, including the International Monetary Fund, which has warned of the risks to countries with high current account deficits, such as the Baltic states, Romania and Bulgaria.

Foreign investment is running at record levels, with the EBRD forecasting an inflow of $76bn for 2007. The lion's share is going to central and south-east Europe, with the republics of the former Soviet Union attracting far less. While investors are increasingly willing to assume the risks involved in putting money deep into Russia and other ex-Soviet states, they still feel more comfortable in present and prospective EU member states. However, the region has a long way to go before achieving living standards comparable to those in western Europe. It was only last year that average incomes finally exceeded 1989 levels. And some countries have still to pass that statistical milestone, including Russia (which should do so this year), Ukraine and Georgia. Within countries there are sharp differences between wealthy cities, such as Prague, Kiev and Moscow, and the impoverished provinces. Similar gaps exist between resource-rich regions, such as western Siberia, and poor ones such as the troubled northern Caucasus.

Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4b197342-a...0779fd2ac.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia starts nuclear deliveries to Iran

Russia on Monday announced the start of nuclear fuel deliveries for Iran's first atomic power station, brushing aside US and Israeli claims that Tehran harbours secret bomb-making plans. "On December 16, 2007, Atomstroiexport began delivery of the fuel for the initial installation at the future Bushehr power station," the state-run corporation said in a statement. The delivery process will take up to two months to complete, Atomstroiexport said, with the Russian-built station starting to generate electricity in approximately six months time. The still-unfinished Bushehr is the xxxel in the crown of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nuclear power ambitions.

Iran confirmed the Russian shipment and in a fresh show of defiance toward the West, repeated that it would refuse UN demands to give up work on enriching uranium. Israel and Western governments, led by the United States, have long argued that Iran's civilian programme is being used as cover for a bomb-making project. Russia rejects this and Moscow's position was bolstered earlier this month when the US intelligence community contradicted the White House by reporting that Iran had stopped a drive for nuclear weapons in 2003. The US report provided Russia with its "final argument," Fyodor Lukyanov, at the journal Russia in Global Affairs, told AFP.

The Russian foreign ministry stressed in a statement that deliveries were made under control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It added that spent fuel from Bushehr would be "returned to Russia for reprocessing and storage" -- part of a plan to ensure that the fuel does not go astray. IAEA officials monitored the sealing of the nuclear fuel two weeks ago at a factory in Novossibirsk ahead of the delivery. The decision to send fuel -- which in its current state is fit only for civilian use -- marked a diplomatic victory for Russia, which has been building Bushehr since 1995. "The Russian-Iranian cooperation on the Bushehr power station visibly demonstrates that one can effectively and reliably guarantee the realisation of national plans on developing the civilian atomic energy sector," the foreign ministry statement said.

In addition to rejecting US calls for the suspension of Bushehr, Moscow has also sold Iran anti-aircraft missiles and other high-tech weapons reportedly deployed by Iran's military in defence of nuclear installations. Western powers, led by the United States, are pushing for a third UN sanctions resolution against Tehran to punish its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment -- a process that could eventually lead to weapons-grade uranium. Russia's delivery of fuel makes the possibility of passing further UN measures increasingly unlikely however, analysts said. "Russia and China, which were already against sanctions, will now be even more confident," Lukyanov said.

Iran in any case shows no sign of buckling under the pressure. The head of Iran's atomic energy organisation Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said that enrichment was needed for "a 360-megawatt nuclear reactor in Darkhoyen" in the western Khuzestan province. "The fuel for this power station must come from Natanz," the site of Iran's uranium enrichment plant, he said. Meanwhile, the Israeli daily Maariv reported over the weekend that a delegation left Israel for Washington last week "with the goal of proving to the Americans that the Iranian nuclear weapons programme is definitely still in development."

Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...KpRJ37qPnpUVGw

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia test-fires new intercontinental missile

Russia on Monday test-launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile, part of a system that can outperform any anti-missile system likely to be deployed, according to the officer in charge of missile forces. The missile was launched from the Tula nuclear-powered submarine in the Barents Sea in the Arctic, a statement from the Russian navy said. It hit a designated area in the Kura testing ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula on Russia's Pacific coast. "The launch was conducted from an underwater position as a part of training to test the readiness of the marine strategic nuclear forces," the statement said.

A spokesman would not say what type of missile was tested. Itar-Tass news agency said the Tula carried Sineva missiles commissioned by a decree from President Vladimir Putin in July. Missile tests have become regular occurrences by the armed forces in the past few years. They are viewed by the political and military leadership as evidence of a revival of military might. The commander of Russia's strategic rocket forces, speaking after the launch, said Russia could thwart any anti-missile system that could be put in place for years to come. "The military hardware now on our weapons, and those that will appear in the next few years, will enable our missiles to outperform any anti-missile system, including future systems," Col.-Gen Nikolai Solovtsov was quoted as telling journalists.

The United States plans to deploy a missile defense system in central Europe to defend against attacks by rogue states and it is not aimed at Russia, but Moscow says the system threatens its security and has promised counter-measures. Solovtsov, quoted by Russian news agencies at a site outside Moscow, said new missile systems could be deployed in the coming years in Russia, based on the Topol-M system being developed for more than a decade. He also said the proposed U.S. anti-missile systems, to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic, could be viewed as legitimate targets by Moscow if circumstances warranted. "We are obliged to take appropriate measures to ensure that Russia's potential for nuclear deterrence is in no way devalued," he told reporters. "I cannot rule out that should such an attempt be undertaken and in the event of a decision by top military leaders, these anti-missile sites in Poland and the Czech Republic could be selected as targets for our ... missiles."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...26908520071217

Russia to double ICBM launches after 2009 - commander

Russia will double its test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles after 2009, the Strategic Missiles Forces (SMF) commander said on Monday. "The number of launches will almost double after 2009 or 2010," Colonel General Nikolai Solovtsov told a news conference. He said Russia is putting an average of three mobile and three or four fixed-site missile launching systems into operation every year.

He said new missile systems to be adopted soon by the SMF would enable the force to infiltrate any defenses, even those that have not been established yet, but did not specify the systems. The general said that if U.S. missile defense elements are deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic, Russia's Strategic Missile Forces could aim long-range missiles at these sites. "We have to take appropriate measures to prevent the weakening of Russia's nuclear deterrence under any circumstances. And I do not rule out that... some intercontinental ballistic missiles could be aimed at these Polish and Czech facilities," Gen. Solovtsov told journalists. Russia will operate 48 fixed-site Topol-M (NATO reporting name SS-27) ballistic missiles by the start of 2008, an SMF spokesman said.

The SMF said previously that the system will be equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV) in the next two or three years, adding the new system will help penetrate missile defenses more effectively. As of December 2006, Russia's SMF operated 44 silo-based and three mobile Topol-M missile systems. Col. Alexander Vovk also said Russia will conduct 11 launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2008. "A total of 11 combat training and test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles are planned to be conducted next year," he said. He said the adoption of a new ICBM, RS-24, would greatly strengthen the SMF's strike capability and Russia's nuclear deterrent, as well as that of its allies until the mid-21st century.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071217/92814830.html

[Illuminator]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

PRESS RELEASE


Statement by Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Kosovo Settlement


2033-17-12-2007

The situation in Kosovo settlement has reached the critical line.
The authorities in Kosovo unambiguously speak of an intention to unilaterally declare their independence in violation of UN Security Council resolution 1244. Instead of putting an end to the provocative statements we are becoming witnesses of connivance by a group of countries at this illegal move which may lead to serious adverse consequences for regional and international stability. In substantiation of that position they hopelessly suggest that the province’s independence is inevitable, supposedly having been brought about by all events of the previous period.

This evolving situation is a direct consequence of the serious distortions in Kosovo settlement, to which the Russian side has invariably drawn the partners’ attention. The key objectives of achieving high politico-democratic standards of life in the province, proclaimed by the international community and flowing from UNSCR 1244, were replaced with a policy of accelerated sovereignization of Kosovo. The non-Albanian population, primarily the Serbs, still have not got minimum guarantees of security and the ensuring of their rights, and the problem of refugee returns to Kosovo is in no way being tackled. The declared slogan of building a multiethnic society actually turns into its opposite.

By encouraging the separatist aspirations of Pristina, the US and some EU nations openly ignore the useful ideas and suggestions resulting from the talks held between the sides under the aegis of the mediation troika. That in the 120 days of dialogue a final compromise has eluded the parties is being used for absurd claims that the negotiation potential is exhausted. What will happen in the world if the same yardstick is applied to other conflicts?

The reality, however, is that the parties were successfully drawn into a close direct dialogue, most substantive since 1999. Belgrade and Pristina embarked on overcoming their alienation, and the talks themselves became a serious factor working for stability in the region. The results would have been more impressive, if destructive signals had not been continuously sent from certain capitals that they support the idea of Kosovo independence. The launched process, in our firm conviction, offers the chance of eventually arriving at a solution. But one gets the impression that this is why somebody would like to wreck the dialogue as soon as possible in order to fulfill their promises to the Kosovo separatists.

The situation threatens a downward slide to an uncontrolled crisis, unless settlement stays on an international legal course. Instead of this we see a feverish search for pseudo-legal arguments as a smokescreen for unilateral actions in Kosovo affairs. UNSCR 1244, from which our partners have got used to singling out only the obligations of Belgrade, but not of Pristina – they are now simply trying turn this resolution inside out. They claim that it does not close the way for Kosovo independence and allows for changing international presences bypassing the UNSC and without the consent of the sides. Such tightrope walking and such unilateral interpretation of SC resolutions undermine the authority of the decisions of the Security Council in crisis settlement.

There goes behind-the-scenes maneuvering around the United Nations leadership, whom they want, in breach of their prerogatives, to induce towards legitimizing future illegal moves. We are convinced that no one will succumb to blackmail. The authority of the UN is at stake. Kosovo settlement cannot occur outside the Security Council, the UN’s main body responsible for international peace and security.

Equally worrying are the Kosovo Force plans for repressive measures in the province against those who will not want to put up with Kosovo independence. Instead of restraining the separatists, KFOR is getting ready to suppress their opponents. This is a direct violation of its mandate, ruling out actions in favor of one side; it’s a path leading to a direct confrontation of the force with the province’s non-Albanian population.

We call on the UNSC permanent members, the Contact Group partners and the EU countries to once again consider all the consequences of a unilateral sovereignization of Kosovo, retain the settlement process in an international legal field and refrain from hasty decisions fraught with a destructive precedent for the entire system of international relations.

We stand for the continuation of dialogue between the sides and are open for discussion of its format and modalities. In the interest of stimulating the negotiation process, as in the resolution of other crisis situations, we suggest developing a roadmap in whose framework the well-substantiated interests of the sides and the priorities of leading international factors of Kosovo settlement could be taken into account and the landmarks outlined for movement by the sides towards agreement, including on lines of their Euro-integration perspective.

The Kosovo settlement Rubicon should be passed without tragic upheavals. Responsibility for this lies on all of us.

December 17, 2007

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia Warns of Targeting US Shield

Russia's nuclear weapons chief, General Nikolai Solovtsov said
that if the US shield undermines the Russian nuclear capability
it could be targeted by intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Russia's nuclear weapons chief threatened Monday to target a planned US missile defense shield in central Europe if Washington fails to take into account Moscow's worries, the Interfax news agency reported. General Nikolai Solovtsov, head of strategic missile forces, said such a decision could be taken if the US shield is seen to "undermine the Russian nuclear deterrent capability." In that case "I do not exclude...the missile defense shield sites in Poland and the Czech Republic being chosen as targets for some of our intercontinental ballistic missiles," Solovtsov said.

On Saturday, the Russian chief of staff, General Yury Baluyevsky, warned the launch of US interceptor missiles could accidentally trigger a Russian retaliatory strike. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk denounced the comments as "unacceptable" and said "no declaration of this kind will influence Polish-American negotiations." Solovtsov, speaking hours after state television showed images of a ballistic missile being test fired from a submerged submarine at a target on the other side of Russia, said the US was untrustworthy. "If the Americans signed a treaty with us that they would only deploy 10 anti-missile rockets in Poland and one radar in the Czech Republic and will never put anything else there, then we could deal with this," he said. "However they won't sign, they just tell us verbally, 'We won't threaten you.'

"They already cheated Russia once," he said, referring to North Atlantic Treaty Organization expansion into former Soviet-dominated territory after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. "Verbally they already told us that when we re-unite Germany there won't be one NATO soldier there. Now where are they?" East-West relations are increasingly strained as Russia and NATO countries argue over how to ensure security in the post-Cold War landscape. Russia froze compliance last week with the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which imposes strict limits on deployment of troops around the country. The Foreign Ministry offered reassurance Russia had "no current plans to accumulate massive armaments on our neighbors' borders." However the decision was criticized by NATO, the US and other Western powers.

Source: http://www.alalam.ir/english/en-News...20071217215540

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

The rhetoric coming out of Russia, convinces me that there must be serious talk within Russia's military circles of knocking out these sites. It will be "accidental" of course.

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

http://byzantinesacredart.com/blog/2007/11/russian-missile-shield.html

Russian Missile Shield in Serbia?

According to the Sunday edition of Belgrade daily Kurir, Moscow has decided to respond to the announced U.S. missile shields in Poland and Czech Republic by installing its missile shield on the river Drina, in Serbia. Allegedly, Serbia has already given its consent.

Presumably, this latest development is part of the detailed plans Moscow intends to carry out in order to take Serbia and Republic of Srpska in Bosnia entirely under its wing, outside the EU/U.S. sphere of influence.

The greatest majority of Serbs, disillusioned with the West during the past two decades of harsh sanctions, merciless vilification, bombardments, aggression and colonization, during which they were treated as the enemy of the West and continually punished both individually and as a collective, would welcome the more direct Russian involvement.

This is especially true at the point where the U.S., UK, German, French et al. drive to dismember Serbia and sever its southern province of Kosovo and Metohija appears to be entering the final stage, goading Kosovo Albanian separatist to obstruct every attempt at negotiated settlement and declare the unilateral independence, which the Western powers have promised to recognize soon after.

Twelve years after the Dayton Accords, US, EU and NATO have also continued their anti-Serbian policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, consistently siding with Bosnian Muslims and backing their drive to obliterate Serbian Republic created in Dayton in 1995. The latest decisions of the EU High Representative Miroslav Lajcak, strongly opposed by the Bosnian Serbs, are aimed at rendering Serbian nation in Bosnia voiceless — a first step in dissolution of the Serb entity through imposed “reforms”.

Kurir quotes the international politics expert and university professor Darko Trifunovic saying that the possibility of installing the Russian missile shield in Serbia is very real. According to him, United States are targeting Iran for dismemberment by promising an independent state modeled after the Serbian Kosovo province to the Kurds who, together with Azerbaijanis, comprise 48% of total Iran population. Russia and China are opposed.

“Serbia has been turned over to Russia not by its choice, because the West views and targets Serbia as a part of the Russian interest zone,” said Trifunovic.

Pro-Western Serbs Abused by the West Like No European Nation Since WWII

Russian daily Izvestya recently noted that “pro-Western Serbs have been hammered by the West like no other European nation since the WWII [...] their common state of Yugoslavia destroyed, their people expelled from each of the former republics with the U.S., German and British help, sanctioned and finally bombed for 78 days by NATO, at the hight of cynicism, Serbs were also scapegoated and blamed for all the civil wars and all the victims.”

“As if twenty years of suffering was not enough, Western powers are now insisting on further destruction of Serbia and Republika Srpska, the only two swaths of land where Serbs are allowed to live and call home,” Izvestya writes, concluding that Russia is the only country that can help Serbian nation regain its dignity and peace, and the only one Serbs today trust. The editorial calls for “decisive action on behalf of official Russia” which will put an end to further Western “abuse and killing of a nation.”

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Very interesting find Skhara. I had been looking for similar news/information but I was unable to find it. There is a noticeable lack of news information concerning Serbian-Russian relations. Nevertheless, we are seeing a steady escalation of tensions across the globe. This all has to do with the West's (USA/EU) attempt at global domination before the Russian Federation (and to a lesser extent China) become limiting factors for the West. I believe this will come to an eventual climax within the near future. And all it will take is a single shot, like the one a Serb nationalist nonetheless fired that started the First World War. One of my primary intentions of starting this thread about Russia's emergence as a super power was to inform the reader that Armenia's best chance for survival and prosperity lies with closer relations with Moscow and not Washington DC/Brussels. And the other reason for this thread was to inform the reader of relevant news developments revolving around the Russian Federation. Perhaps you have also noticed, there is a virtual blackout in the USA on real/accurate news regarding Russia. I can't yet fully explain why this is. Anyway, once you put all the major world hot spots - Persian Gulf, Caucasus, Middle East, Balkans, South America - under a geopolitical microscope you will find that the Russian factor figures prominently within them all.

So, as the 'Clintonian' saying goes, with a twist: It's all about Russia, stupid...

We should all thank God that Russia has risen from its ashes and is today seeking to reestablish itself as a global power. And this has come just in the nick of time, just when the evil of western aggression was beginning to manifest itself within various global theaters. Although things are still dangerous today, and will continue being so in the foreseeable future, just imagine the kind of geopolitical situation the world would have found itself in had Russia continued on the course that was artificially set up for it during the Yeltsin years. What would have become of the Caucasus, the Middle East, Central Asia, Persian Gulf, the Balkans? No, I am not kidding when I say this: the existence of a powerful Russian Federation imposing its will within various global theaters will eventually save western civilization, nation states and apostolic/traditional Christianity from destruction. And Vladimir Putin will be ranked amongst the greatest of rulers.

http://byzantinesacredart.com/blog/2...le-shield.html



Russian Missile Shield in Serbia?

According to the Sunday edition of Belgrade daily Kurir, Moscow has decided to respond to the announced U.S. missile shields in Poland and Czech Republic by installing its missile shield on the river Drina, in Serbia. Allegedly, Serbia has already given its consent...”

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

The rhetoric coming out of Russia, convinces me that there must be serious talk within Russia's military circles of knocking out these sites. It will be "accidental" of course.

I am also very hopeful that it will come to this. However, this is a very dangerous situation for Russia. In all honesty, I don't think Moscow is ready to take on the West as of yet. Their military hardware, although in a fast pace modernization program, is still very outdated and not prepared for a major war. Their financial/economic situation, although awash in petrodollars, is still heavily dependent on the West. Taking the above into consideration perhaps the West is taking this opportunity to have its way with Russia before Russia becomes truly untouchable. Nevertheless, Russia is being pushed into a corner, there is a very good chance it will fight back.