TSAMTO, December 22. The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation – First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Army General Valery Gerasimov, held a briefing for military attaches of foreign states on December 22.
Below are the theses of Valery Gerasimov's speech as presented by the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
"This year, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation solved multifaceted tasks. I will focus on the main one – a special military operation.
The President and the Minister of Defense yesterday at an expanded meeting of the Board covered in detail the course of its conduct. I'll add a few words.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, the vector of the formation of the statehood of Ukraine with the help of Western countries has been carried out as "Anti-Russia". 2014 was the apotheosis when a coup d'etat was carried out in the country, and neo-fascists professing Bandera Ukrainian nationalism came to power.
Neo-fascists have unleashed an internal armed conflict in the south-east of Ukraine. From their point of view, it was aimed at suppressing dissent, and simply – the desire of the people of Donbass to speak Russian.
By the beginning of this year, Ukraine, with the direct support of Western countries, had transformed into an extremely hostile state to Russia.
Ardent Russophobia was propagandized among the population, neo-Nazi ideology actually became the state. The active militarization of the Ukrainian state and society was carried out with the aim of forcibly returning Donbass and Crimea.
In order to eliminate the military threat from Ukraine, since February 24, the Armed Forces have been solving the tasks of a special military operation.
It began with strikes with high-precision long-range weapons, during which aircraft at airfields, air defense systems, control points, warehouses and arsenals with ammunition were hit. Using the results of the fire damage, the created groups of troops went on the offensive in the designated areas of responsibility.
It should be noted that the fighting unfolded over a vast territory and was fierce from the very beginning.
By carrying out active offensive actions of groups of troops, the Luhansk People's Republic was liberated, the port city of Mariupol was taken with minimal losses, full control over the Azov coast, the territories of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions was established.
Despite significant losses among personnel and military equipment, the enemy continued to actively resist due to the increase in comprehensive military assistance from the United States and its allies, as well as mobilization measures.
At the suggestion of Western curators, high-precision and long-range weapons appeared in the hands of neo-Nazis, the use of which, among other things, created a threat of destruction of the hydraulic structures of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power plant, which could lead to flooding of the territory of the Kherson region, blocking and destroying part of the forces of the Southern grouping of troops on the right bank of the Dnieper. In this regard, a decision was made to evacuate the civilian population and an organized withdrawal of troops from this territory was carried out.
I would like to note that during the fighting Kiev uses terrorist methods of struggle, such as the use of civilians as a "human shield", blocking the exit of civilians from cities along humanitarian corridors organized by the Russian side, the use of artillery on civilians in order to intimidate them, torture of prisoners of war, shelling of cities with prohibited phosphorus ammunition and mining anti-personnel mines of the "petal" type. The organization of attempts on journalists and representatives of administrations in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions have become the norm for the Ukrainian leadership.
In the summer of this year, Ukraine resorted to the tactics of nuclear terrorism, threatening Europe with a nuclear catastrophe at the Zaporozhye NPP. Systematic shelling of its territory is carried out almost daily. And only thanks to the competent and effective actions of the units of our Armed Forces to cover the nuclear power plant, it is possible to keep this nuclear facility safe.
Today, the United States and its allies are consistently increasing the volume of military assistance to Kiev to make the conflict protracted. The total foreign financial assistance to Ukraine amounted to almost $100 billion.
The United States, Great Britain, Poland and Romania make the most significant contribution to the supply of weapons.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, Western countries have handed over to Kiev four aircraft, more than 30 helicopters, over 350 tanks, about 1,000 armored combat vehicles, at least 800 armored vehicles, as well as up to 700 artillery systems, 100 multiple rocket launchers, 130 thousand anti-tank weapons, over 5.3 thousand portable anti-aircraft missile systems and more less than 5 thousand unmanned aerial vehicles for various purposes.
Despite the large-scale military and financial assistance provided by the West to the Kiev regime, as well as the sending of mercenaries to the conflict area, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue to carry out a planned special military operation to fulfill all the tasks set by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
As part of the operation, more than 1.3 thousand critical objects were hit by high-precision long-range missiles. This made it possible to significantly reduce the combat potential of the Ukrainian armed forces, disrupt the command and control system, paralyze the work of the military-industrial complex, and significantly complicate military transportation.
Hypersonic weapons were used for the first time in combat conditions. The Dagger aviation missile system has shown high efficiency and invulnerability against air defense systems deployed in Ukraine.
Operational-tactical and army aviation performs tasks with high combat tension, making about 150 sorties daily. It destroyed more than 11 thousand units of weapons and equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Unmanned aerial vehicles are actively used to conduct reconnaissance and strike operations. With their help, about 8 thousand objects were opened and more than 600 objects were destroyed.
In order to stabilize the situation, protect new territories and conduct further offensive actions, it was necessary to increase the combat and numerical strength of groups of troops and forces.
For these purposes, a partial mobilization was carried out, during which 300 thousand citizens who are in reserve were called up for military service.
I would like to emphasize the active civic position of the country's population. Without waiting for summonses, more than 20 thousand people joined the troops as volunteers.
With the mobilized citizens, training for combat operations is organized – from practicing individual skills to combat coordination as part of units.
Partial mobilization made it possible to significantly increase the combat capabilities of the troops, increase the combat and numerical strength of formations and units, and create additional reserves.
As a result, groups of troops of the Russian Armed Forces have intensified hostilities, causing irreparable damage to the enemy in manpower and equipment. They have taken control of five times more territory of Ukraine than the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics used to occupy.
Currently, the line of contact stretches for 815 km. Taking into account the ongoing measures to increase the combat capabilities of the groups of troops, the situation on the front line is stabilized, the main efforts of our troops are focused on completing the liberation of the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic. In addition, fire damage continues to be inflicted on critically important objects of transport and energy infrastructure in the depths of the territory of Ukraine, places of storage and storage of fuel and lubricants, missiles and ammunition, weapons and military equipment, as well as operational reserves in temporary locations.
The result of the West's actions was also the actual collapse of the arms control system that had developed in previous decades.
Currently, only the START Treaty has been preserved from the entire set of arms control instruments. However, after the covid restrictions, not all the mechanisms of this agreement operate as it was intended before the signing of the agreements. Sanctions restrictions, thoughtlessly imposed by European countries on any military contacts, have also been added to the problems.
NATO's activities continue to have a serious impact on the security situation in Europe. The United States views the Alliance as one of the instruments for protecting American interests on a global scale to the detriment of the security of European countries.
Practical steps to integrate Sweden and Finland into the alliance as soon as possible show that, under a far-fetched threat from Russia, Washington is trying to bring the NATO bloc as close as possible to our borders by involving new satellites.
The actions of the Alliance only increase tension and reduce the level of security on the Russia–NATO contact line.
The United States and its allies are also aiming to strengthen the geopolitical confrontation with Russia in the Arctic. The right of our country to use the Northern Sea Route is disputed, which is one of the main challenges to security in the region.
Along with this, NATO, under the pretext of "reacting" to the activities of the Russian Armed Forces in the Arctic, is implementing a set of measures to strengthen the alliance's "northern flank", is conducting an aggressive information campaign accusing Russia of militarization of the Arctic.
In the Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation, approved this year, the continental shelf beyond the 200-mile exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation in the Arctic Basin and the waters of the Northern Sea Route are classified as vital areas for ensuring national interests in the World Ocean.
Our presence in the Arctic is not connected with a demonstration of military force, but with ensuring the security of the economic development of the region, including navigation along the Northern Sea Route, and the implementation of projects in the field of natural resource extraction.
At the same time, the Alliance seeks to globalize its functions and extend its sphere of influence to other regions of the world.
In Central Asia, the policy of Western countries, dictated by the growing rivalry for control over fuel, energy and other raw materials of the regions, has a negative impact on the situation.
An important place in the realization of aspirations is given to increasing cooperation in the military sphere and strengthening influence in Transcaucasia, including by demonstrating an imaginary readiness to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.
But the experience of Afghanistan shows the opposite. After a 20-year stay in this country by the United States and NATO member countries participating in the Resolute Support mission, the collapse of the Afghan statehood and economy occurred. Security threats emanating from the territory of the country – the spread of religious extremism, international terrorism, drug trafficking and illegal migration – destabilize the situation in the region as a whole. It is impossible for Afghanistan to solve these problems on its own.
The situation in Syria remains tense. The main destabilizing factors in the country include the ongoing occupation of its sovereign territory, as well as the threat from radical extremist organizations emanating from the Idlib de-escalation zone, the implementation of sabotage and terrorist actions, including against Russian military personnel.
In the eastern direction, the military-political situation is being formed against the background of attempts by the United States to break the existing system of regional cooperation based on ASEAN in the Asia-Pacific region.
This is evidenced by the announcement of the AUCUS initiative by the USA, Australia and the UK. Plans to expand this partnership and connect new regional partners to it are not hidden. AUCUS is merging with NATO. At the June summit of the alliance, it was announced its intention to ensure its dominant role in the Asia-Pacific region. And this is despite the fact that all NATO countries are thousands of miles away from this region.
Another dangerous regional trend is the focus of AUCUS on the development of a nuclear submarine fleet in Australia. Nuclear submarines are supposedly necessary to deter the Chinese Navy. This logic repeats the actions of the United States when withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles Treaty. The destruction of this agreement was motivated by the opposition of Russia and China.
In order to destabilize the situation in the region, the United States is progressively implementing a set of provocative measures against China to support Taiwan's independence, accompanied by various public actions.
The problems of ensuring stability on the Korean peninsula, the settlement of interstate territorial disputes, including Tokyo's claims to the Russian Kuril Islands, as well as the growth of terrorist activity in the countries of the region remain unresolved.
In the current situation, the Russian Federation continues its planned activities to strengthen the country's defense capability.
During the year, the Armed Forces solved the tasks of increasing the combat potential, improving the training of personnel, methods of managing troops and weapons, as well as the supply of modern weapons and equipment.
The strategic nuclear forces continued to be re-equipped with modern and promising missile systems, modernization of long-range aircraft.
The share of modern weapons in the nuclear "triad" has been brought to 91.3%.
In the past year, the necessary measures were taken to increase the combat capabilities of general-purpose forces, including taking into account the experience of a special military operation.
The composition and organizational structure of formations and military units were improved. More than 3.1 thousand units of armored, rocket-artillery and other weapons have been delivered to the troops of the military districts, the Northern Fleet and the Airborne Forces.
To ensure the security of the Russian Federation, ships of the far and near sea zones are being built from ocean and sea directions, and the naval basing system is being improved.
In order to fend off potential threats to the Russian Federation in the aerospace sphere, the country's aerospace defense is being improved, the basis of which is the Aerospace Forces.
Formations and military units of the VKS are equipped with modern aviation complexes and modernized attack helicopters. New systems and radar stations for various purposes are being adopted by anti-aircraft missile and radio engineering troops.
The capabilities of unmanned aviation have increased due to the formation of new units and the equipping of the Armed Forces with modern complexes with reconnaissance and strike unmanned aerial vehicles.
Combat training remains a priority activity of the Armed Forces.
More than 2 thousand servicemen of the armed forces from 14 foreign countries took part in the multinational Coalition group of troops.
Next year, the main training events of the Armed Forces will be the maneuvers of the troops and forces "West-2023" and the joint operational exercise of the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation "Shield of the Union-2023".
For joint actions as part of the Coalition Group of Troops, it is planned to invite military contingents from the armed forces of the partner countries to the maneuvers.
In order to strengthen confidence-building measures, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation continues to increase the scale of cooperation with foreign partners.
Priority is still given to the development of partnership and allied relations with the CIS member states, the development of the military component of the CSTO, as well as the interaction of the defense departments of the SCO member states.
At the beginning of this year, a CSTO peacekeeping operation was conducted on the territory of Kazakhstan for the first time, which showed the readiness of the Organization's states to jointly solve problems and defend their interests. The success of the operation is the result of joint training activities carried out on a regular basis, which work out issues of counter–terrorism, as well as interaction in the performance of peacekeeping tasks.
This year, joint exercises "Frontier" with units of the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces of the Central Asian Security Region were held in Tajikistan.
A set of issues was worked out with the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces of the CSTO in the territory of Kazakhstan during the "Interaction" exercise. The forces and means of the Organization's intelligence demonstrated their skills in the exercise "Search", and the forces and means of logistical support of the troops - in the exercise "Echelon".
A joint Russian-Belarusian exercise "Allied Resolve-2022" was held on the territory of the Republic of Belarus.
Russian-Chinese naval and air patrols in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as exercises and trainings have become the practical implementation of the strategic partnership with China. The purpose of such events is to increase the combat coherence of the troops and forces of the two countries and the ability to withstand new challenges and threats. This cooperation is a natural reaction to the aggressive build–up of the US military potential in the region. At the same time, we are not going to create any alliances and new dividing lines in the region following the example of Washington. The exercises are conducted in strict accordance with international law.
Next year, work will continue to create conditions for stabilizing the situation at the global and regional levels, as well as the progressive and balanced development of the army and navy to ensure the peaceful socio-economic development of the country.
Military cooperation with the armies of foreign countries remains one of the priorities. We count on the active participation of military attaches in maintaining constructive interaction."
