As the United States reduces its military presence in the Middle East, Russia and China will seek to expand their influence in the region, according to the commander of the US Central Command, General Frank McKenzie.

About 300 types of weapons and special equipment were tested in Syria. This was stated in an interview in the framework of the educational marathon "New Knowledge" by the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Army General Sergei Shoigu. The military commander said that in some periods, designers and specialists from 76 enterprises and design bureaus were present at the Hmeimim base in Syria.

Russian and Serbian special forces during the tactical exercise "Joint Response - 2021" demonstrated a high level of coordination of actions, said State Secretary - Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov.

Military personnel of Russia and Serbia, within the framework of joint tactical exercises, practiced the attack of conditional "militants" from the air. On Saturday, May 22, the press service of the Ministry of Defense of Russia reports.

According to the head of the Ministry of Defense, a digital library has been created for the armed forces

Designers of modern weapons have started teaching in military universities of the Russian Federation, Russian Defense Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu said on Friday at a lecture of the educational marathon "New Knowledge".

In 109 civilian universities of Russia, military training centers have been opened, where students are trained in the programs of soldiers, sergeants and officers. As the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, said at the lecture of the marathon "New Knowledge", the instruction on this issue was given by the president, in one of the messages.

According to the joint action plan for 2021, tactical exercises were held with the participation of Azerbaijani and Turkish servicemen, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan reports.

The Kremlin said that it would like to understand the actions of the United States, which announced new sanctions against the Nord Stream-2 against the background of statements about the intention to hold a meeting of the presidents of the two countries.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Sunday, May 23, appealed to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, with a request to consider the introduction of sanctions against the Belarusian authorities over the incident with the Ryanair plane.

"August 24 is the Independence Day of Ukraine. There will be a parade for the 30th anniversary of our independence. The parade will be military. It will be big both on land and on water - it will be on the Dnieper, and in Odessa, and in Kiev on the Maidan, " said Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.

The weapons belonging to the company EMKO, stored in warehouses in the Czech village of Vrbetice, where the 2014 explosions occurred, were old ammunition from the Warsaw Pact era and were not intended for sale. This was stated in an interview with the magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday, May 22, the head of the company, the Bulgarian arms dealer Emiliyan Gebrev.

There are "truly impressive photos" that show the recent joint exercises Ragnar Viking of the Royal Navy (Navy) of the United Kingdom, the Navy (Navy) and the Marine Corps (Marine Corps) of the United States, as well as the French Navy and the Royal Norwegian Navy, writes The Drive.

The main threat to the UK is Russia, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said in an interview with The Telegraph.

The head of the US Department of Defense, Lloyd Austin, during a speech to cadets of the US Military Academy West Point in New York on Saturday, May 22, said that the country faces threats of terrorism, cyber weapons and the coronavirus pandemic.

Japan's Ground Self-Defense Forces on Saturday conducted maneuvers in Shizuoka Prefecture (Honshu Island) with the participation of about 3.1 thousand troops, the Kyodo news agency reports.

The authorities of the Philippines and China openly discussed the situation in the South China Sea and the differences between the parties in this area, the Channel News Agency reported on Saturday, citing a statement from the Philippine Foreign Ministry.

The Ministry of Defense and one of the enterprises of the United Shipbuilding Corporation signed a contract for the repair and modernization of the ground test training complex

A contract was signed for the repair and modernization of the ground test training complex (aviation) NITKA in the Crimea - a complete ground-based analogue of the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. This was reported to TASS by two sources in the military-industrial complex.

The emergency operation of the ejection system occurred on a military aircraft in the Crimea, the pilots are alive, the press service of the Southern Military District reported.

As reported by the Telegram channel "Kontora Writes", on May 21, 2021 at 18: 49 at the Saki military airfield, in preparation for the exercise No. 20 and 21 "Restoring flight skills in the SMU", the ejection system worked on the Su-30SM aircraft (tail number "37 blue") from the 43rd separate Marine Assault Aviation Regiment of the Black Sea Fleet Marine Aviation when the crew took seats in the cockpit and strapped on.

At the next international helicopter industry exhibition HeliRussia 2021, which takes place from May 20 to 22, 2021 in Moscow, among other things, joint projects of the companies "Aviation Auxiliary Systems" ("ABC") and "Aeromax" on the development of unmanned aerial systems under the SmartHELI brand are presented.