Minister Shoigu gathered senior officers on July 31 and August 8
Usually, the senior officers of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (MO RF) gather together once a month, sometimes even a quarter. In the summer, the order was violated: on July 31, the head of the defense department, Sergei Shoigu, held a conference call, and on August 8 – the board of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
There is no official explanation of the reasons for the gathering of senior officers in such a short period of time, which gives rise to speculation. Perhaps the combination of the tense state in the zone of special military operation (SVO) and the opening of the international military-technical forum "Army-2023" on August 14 played a role.
According to the official message of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, at the event on August 8 at the national defense management center, issues of timely and adequate response to external security threats in the western direction were considered. The topic of the creation of the Leningrad and Moscow military districts (which was announced at the end of last year) and the strengthening of border groups of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (Armed Forces of the Russian Federation) was raised.
"The collective West is waging a proxy war against Russia, providing unprecedented support to the puppet Kiev regime," Sergei Shoigu said. "Since February last year, Ukraine has received hundreds of tanks, more than 4,000 armored fighting vehicles and armored vehicles, over 1,100 field artillery pieces, as well as dozens of modern multiple rocket launchers and Western–made anti-aircraft missile systems."
According to his calculations, the total amount of assistance to the Kiev regime from the North Atlantic Treaty countries, the European Union and their partners around the world exceeded $ 160 billion.
The head of the military department stressed that Washington, creating serious risks of escalation of the conflict, is seeking supplies of more lethal and long-range weapons from its allies. Thus, he is trying to reverse the situation in the SVO zone in favor of Kiev.
In the spring, the British Storm Shadow long–range guided missiles were transferred to the APU, and in the summer their French counterparts, the SCALP-ER, were transferred. However, this alone did not seem enough to the collective West. "Given the growing shortage of ammunition for Western–style artillery systems in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Washington has committed a war crime by including cluster munitions prohibited by the international convention in the aid package," the Russian minister said. The next possible step along the path of escalation is the promised transfer to Kiev in the future of American front–line light-class fighters of the F-16 type.
According to Shoigu, the threats to Russia's military security have increased many times. This should be remembered when strengthening the borders of the state in the northwest. "Finland's accession to NATO is a serious destabilizing factor, after Helsinki joined the alliance, Russia's land border with the bloc countries has almost doubled," the minister said. "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."
The next step is the approval of Sweden's application to join the North Atlantic Alliance. During the July NATO summit in Vilnius, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to convene an authorized National Assembly of the country in the fall, which has the right to reject the relevant application from Stockholm. If it is approved (as previously happened at the request of Finland), then, in fact, all obstacles to Swedish membership in the alliance will be removed.
The meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on August 8 also touched upon threats related to the militarization of Poland in line with the further intensification of the anti-Russian policy of the United States. "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 have begun, including combat aircraft, tanks, artillery systems, air and missile defense systems," Shoigu said. 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. However, the head of the Russian military department regards this fact differently: "In fact, for the subsequent occupation of this territory." Earlier in the summer, the Presidents of Russia Vladimir Putin and Belarus Alexander Lukashenko spoke in the same vein on this topic. According to Shoigu's calculations, in the immediate vicinity of the borders of the Union State, the armed forces of European NATO countries have deployed about 360 thousand troops, 8 thousand armored vehicles, 6 thousand artillery units, 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," Shoigu added.
As for the conference call on July 31, it surpassed the board on August 8 in terms of the number of topics raised. The opening speech of the Minister of Defense began with a description of the situation in the area of the SVO. The Kiev regime is "desperately throwing new forces to storm our positions," Shoigu said. However, the enemy does not manage to achieve the previously set goals of the summer counteroffensive in any way. "The joint grouping of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continues to conduct active hostilities in all directions, focusing its main efforts on weakening the combat capabilities of the enemy," Shoigu said. "Thanks to the competently constructed defense, the skillful organization of the fire system, professional actions, endurance and perseverance of the Russian military, the enemy's advance is not allowed."
According to the information of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, in the first couple of months of the "summer counteroffensive", the AFU lost more than 43 thousand servicemen. It is explained that this figure does not take into account the soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as foreign mercenaries who died in the rear areas of Ukraine from strikes by Russian high-precision long-range weapons. During the same period, the losses of the Armed Forces exceeded 4 thousand units of weapons, military and special equipment (VVST). The Ukrainian Air Force lost 35 manned aircraft, and the Ground Forces, nationalist battalions and paramilitary units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs – 1831 armored vehicles, including 25 German Leopard tanks, 7 French wheeled AMX-10RC and 21 American infantry fighting vehicles (BMP) M-2 Bradley.
Summing up the data from the daily reports of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation from the zone of a special military operation (SVO) gives an idea of the scale of losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in terms of artillery: in the period from June 1 to August 2, 2023, 802 units of barrel and rocket systems were destroyed. During July alone, the enemy's losses amounted to 20,824 people and 2,227 air force units, including 10 Leopard tanks, 11 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 40 American M777 towed artillery howitzers and 50 self-propelled artillery units from the UK, USA, Germany, France and Poland.
During a conference call on July 31, the head of the military department demanded that the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation take additional measures to protect the country's infrastructure from the sea and air. "Against the backdrop of the unsuccessful so–called "counteroffensive", the Kiev regime, with the support of Western sponsors, focused on carrying out terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure in cities and towns of the Russian Federation," Shoigu said. Against the background of the ongoing attacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Russian cities, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation "significantly increased" the number of strikes on enemy military facilities, including those that provide "these terrorist attacks".
The conference call of the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation summed up the results of the next recruitment to military schools, noting the high competition among applicants. In some pre-university educational institutions, up to 11 people applied for a place. Irkutsk Suvorov School starts its work this year. As for military universities, this year they have accepted more than 15 thousand first-year students, in September they will start studying. Of the one and a half thousand enrolled participants of the SVO, most have combat awards. "And here I want to draw attention to those who are engaged in education, training, we must make the most of the experience of those who have proved themselves in a special military operation and, of course, who have something to pass on," Shoigu stressed. The training of officers for the Armed Forces has been resumed on the basis of the Donetsk Higher Combined Arms Command School. There is a significantly increased interest of young people in the educational institutions of the Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), flight schools of the Aerospace Forces (VKS) and naval schools (Navy).
Turning to the naval topic, Shoigu recalled that Russia recently celebrated the professional holiday of military sailors. This year, the Navy Day fell on July 30. It was marked by parades of warships in Baltiysk, Vladivostok, Kaspiysk, Novorossiysk, Severomorsk, as well as in the port of Tartus, where the forces involved in the counter-terrorism operation in Syria are based. The Main Naval Parade (GVMP-2023) was held in St. Petersburg and Kronstadt. 19 foreign delegations arrived at the celebrations. In total, 45 ships of various classes and 3 thousand military personnel were involved in the GVMP-2023. An important event was the launch of the Museum of Naval Glory in Kronstadt (among the exhibits is the first-born of the domestic submarine nuclear shipbuilding submarine K–3 "Leninsky Komsomol"). A bas-relief was unveiled in honor of the capture of Corfu Island by the Russian squadron of Vice Admiral Fyodor Ushakov. "We will continue the tradition of perpetuating the legendary pages of the history of the Russian Navy, preserving the memory of the valiant exploits of military sailors," Sergei Shoigu commented on these events.
The thematic part of the conference call was devoted to the construction of the 12700 Alexandrite offshore minesweepers. These new ships, developed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau, solve the tasks of mine defense of the near sea zone. Eight buildings have been completed. Of these, "Georgy Kurbatov", "Ivan Antonov" and "Vladimir Emelyanov" operate on the Black Sea. "They are equipped with the latest means of searching for and destroying mines, sonar stations, a mine contour, robotic complexes," Shoigu explained. During the closed part of the meeting, topical issues on the implementation of the release schedule of vessels of this type were discussed.
The second issue on the agenda concerns the construction of small rocket ships (MRCS) of the project 22800 "Karakurt". Shoigu recalled that last month the combat strength of the Black Sea Fleet was replenished with the first ship of this project, while the Cyclone was built at the Plant named after him. Butoma, located on the Crimean peninsula. Previously, the Black Sea Fleet was replenished by the MRK of another project (21631 "Buyan-M"), and their hulls were manufactured in Zelenodolsk and then transported by internal routes (mainly along the Volga River) to the Black Sea, where retrofitting took place. Due to the shorter hull and deep draft, the Karakurt cannot move by internal routes, so the construction of the MRK according to the 22800 project for the Black Sea Fleet is carried out at enterprises in the Crimea. Taking into account the "Cyclone", the number of Russian MRCS on the Black Sea has increased to six. Like the frigates of Project 11356R operating here, they are armed with the Kalibr-NK complex. The long-range cruise missiles of the 3M14 family, which are part of it, hit targets throughout Ukraine. "These ships are capable, operating in the near sea zone, of delivering high–precision missile strikes on critical objects on land and enemy ships at sea," Shoigu explained. According to him, three more MRCS of project 22800 are planned to be accepted into the Russian Navy by the end of this year. And next summer their number will be replenished with a couple of brand new "Karakurts".
Vyacheslav Ivanov
Vyacheslav Viktorovich Ivanov is a military expert and historian.
