According to the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, on August 9, 2023, the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Army General Sergei Shoigu, held a meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation at the National Defense Management Center. During the event, issues of timely and adequate response to external security threats in the western direction were considered. In this regard, Army General Sergei Shoigu discussed with the leadership of the military department the creation of the Leningrad and Moscow military districts, as well as the strengthening of border groups of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
(c) The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
"The collective West is waging an indirect war against Russia, providing unprecedented support to the puppet Kiev regime," said Army General Sergei Shoigu, opening the meeting. - Since February last year, Ukraine has received hundreds of tanks, more than 4,000 armored fighting vehicles and armored vehicles, more than 1,100 field artillery pieces, as well as dozens of modern multiple rocket launchers and anti-aircraft missile systems of Western production. The total amount of assistance from NATO, the European Union and their partners has exceeded 160 billion dollars."
At the same time, the head of the Russian military department stressed that the United States, creating serious risks of escalation of the conflict, is seeking supplies of increasingly deadly and long-range weapons from its allies and thereby trying to turn the situation on the battlefield in its favor.
"In May, the British long-range guided missiles Storm Shadow were transferred to Ukraine. In the conditions of the growing shortage of ammunition for Western-style artillery systems in the armed forces of Ukraine, Washington committed a war crime by including cluster munitions prohibited by the international convention in the aid package," the Russian Defense Minister cites examples. He also mentioned the elaboration of the issue of the transfer of F-16 fighters to Ukraine.
Speaking about the fact that the threats to the military security of the Russian Federation have increased many times, Army General Sergei Shoigu also touched on the issue of the north-western strategic direction: "Finland's accession to NATO, and in the future - Sweden, is a serious destabilizing factor. After Helsinki joined the alliance, Russia's land border with the bloc countries has almost doubled. Additional military contingents and NATO strike weapons are likely to be deployed on Finnish territory, capable of hitting critically important objects in the north-west of Russia to a considerable depth."
During the meeting, threats related to the militarization of Poland, through which the United States conducts an anti-Russian policy, were also discussed: "Warsaw has announced its intention to build, as the Poles claim, "the most powerful army on the continent." In this regard, large-scale purchases of weapons from the United States of America, Great Britain and the Republic of Korea, including tanks, artillery systems, air defense systems, have been launched/About and combat aviation. In addition, there are plans to create a so-called Polish-Ukrainian connection on a regular basis, ostensibly to ensure the security of Western Ukraine, and in fact - for the subsequent occupation of this territory," Army General Sergei Shoigu said.
According to him, in the immediate vicinity of the borders of the Union State, the armed forces of European countries have deployed about 360000 military personnel, 8000 armored vehicles, 6000 artillery systems and mortars, 650 aircraft and helicopters. "The number of formations of non-regional states of the North Atlantic bloc has increased 2.5 times since February last year and exceeded 30,000 people," the Russian Defense Minister added.
