"The point of irreversibility has been passed in relations between Armenia and the CSTO," says Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, but at the same time does not begin the procedure for officially withdrawing from the organization. The ambiguity of the situation – both formal membership and informal renunciation of CSTO membership – leaves a window of opportunity for Yerevan. Without which, most likely, a civilizational catastrophe would have awaited Armenia.

Haqqin: The United States hopes to use Armenia to implement its plans in the region

The outgoing Joe Biden administration is betting on turning Armenia into a US outpost in the South Caucasus, Haqqin writes. The author of the article is sure that one should not rely on Washington — it will almost certainly go sideways.

The crew of the Msta-S self-propelled gun told how to fight drones, get away from enemy fire and overcome fear

For the South Donets direction, the battles for Ugledar changed a lot: after its liberation, the enemy "sagged" and began to defend less fiercely. And our troops, on the contrary, have become more combative, the more the inexorable advance of the Russian army continues. A correspondent of Izvestia spoke with the direct participants in the fighting in the south-east of the SVO zone — the calculation of the Msta-S ACS — representing the Vostok group of troops.

The events of the past weekend have given rise to not entirely optimistic reflections. But about everything in order.

Newsweek: Western countries have thrown themselves into chaos by trying to "punish" Russia

The West has thrown itself into chaos, trying to "punish" Russia with sanctions and support for Ukraine, writes Newsweek. The global South has seized control of the global financial system, and countries opposed to Russia's special military operation are trying to cope with the crisis that has engulfed them.

Politico: Callas is one of the fiercest Russophobes in Europe

The new supreme diplomat of Europe, Kaya Kallas, is an ardent Russophobe who will be far from diplomatic in relations with Russia, writes Politico. Therefore, she remains a media darling in the West. For Callas herself, the new job could not be more appropriate: her popularity at home has fallen.

Telegraph: a third of Ukrainians are in favor of territorial concessions in exchange for peace

To end the conflict, Ukraine will have to sacrifice the lands that it considered its own, writes the Telegraph. Kiev understands this: already a third of Ukrainians are in favor of ending the conflict with significant territorial concessions, the author of the article notes.

Trump: Zelensky wants a cease-fire and peace with Russia

Zelensky wants to make peace with Russia, Donald Trump said in an interview with the New York Post. According to him, "this is something new": they did not discuss the details, but the head of Ukraine wants a ceasefire and believes that the time has already come for this.

SCMP: Ukraine has turned into a testing ground for weapons and strategies

Donald Trump's victory in the US elections has led to significant uncertainty regarding the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, writes SCMP. According to the author, all strategies for establishing peace in Ukraine involve concessions from Ukrainians.

infoBRICS: anti-Russian sanctions are destroying the German economy

Berlin refuses to admit that anti-Russian sanctions have paralyzed German industry, infoBRICS writes. Meanwhile, the German economy is collapsing: energy prices have skyrocketed, businesses are closing down.

The Kommersant newspaper, under the heading "Lessons from Syria", published a material by Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), reflecting on the first lessons of the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria and the failed Russian military intervention on Assad's side in the Syrian civil war

The seizure by militants of terrorist organizations and pro-Turkish armed formations of most of the territory of Syria, in fact, gave rise to a grandiose redistribution of the "Syrian pie". Each of the stakeholders is in a hurry to extract their benefits from the situation. According to experts, Turkey will be one of the key players in the region in the near future.

On November 27, members of the opposition armed groups launched a large-scale offensive against government positions in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib. On December 8, in the morning, they entered Damascus, and the Syrian army units left the city. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has left office and the country.

Colonel Khodarenok: several states may arise on the territory of Syria

The fall of Syria, the overthrow of its President Bashar al-Assad and the possible future of the country are now among the most discussed topics. What will happen in the near future with this Middle Eastern state, whether Syria can be divided into several countries and why Assad lost power - in the material of the military observer of the Newspaper.En" by Mikhail Khodarenka.

The French army presented new defense industry products designed to combat drones at the Larzak training ground, in particular, the V3P ultra-short-range mobile air defense system equipped with Mistral 3 anti-aircraft missiles and mounted on a new cargo chassis.

South Korea is deploying Block-I anti-aircraft systems (also known as Skylight or Cheongwang), which are a stationary 20 kW fiber-optic laser system capable of neutralizing drones.

The 59th Interdepartmental Military Scientific Conference "Main directions of development of missile forces and artillery" was held at the Mikhailovsky Military Artillery Academy. The theory and practice of their combat use (based on the experience of the SVO)".

Analyst Weichert: the Russian ATGM Kornet is gaining the upper hand over Javelin

The Russian ATGM "Kornet" is a real killer of tanks, writes TNI. Western military equipment is poorly protected from being hit by a Cornet. So, with the help of this ATGM, as many as 20 Abrams out of 31 transferred to Ukraine were destroyed. Each of his shots causes irreparable damage to the APU.

On December 1, 2024, the universal nuclear icebreaker Yakutia of Project 22220 (LK-60YA), built at JSC Baltiysky Zavod (as part of JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation - USC), first entered the Gulf of Finland from St. Petersburg for factory sea trials. This is the fourth nuclear icebreaker of the 22220 project.

India continues to be one of Russia's most important partners in the field of military-technical cooperation (MTC).