Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to China and his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping took place against the backdrop of an unprecedented escalation of the situation in the Middle East. This gave the meeting a special meaning.

FT: The West has alienated the countries of the Global South by supporting the Israeli offensive

The West's decision to support the Israeli offensive in Gaza caused outrage in the countries of the Global South, writes FT. Such a position of the US and the EU will derail any diplomatic efforts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis and finally destroy the "anti-Russian consensus" created by Washington and Brussels.

The crises in Israel and Ukraine increase the same geopolitical differences, writes El Pais. Both conflicts lead to the formation of splits that spread far beyond the regions. This inevitably causes global disunity, the author writes.

By prolonging the conflict in Ukraine, the United States is harming its interests, writes RS. They risk sacrificing Europe, whose economy has already been seriously shaken by the crisis. But it is the prosperity of the EU that is the most important foundation of American power and influence in the world, the author of the article reminds.

The leader of the Other Ukraine movement noted that "sooner or later this situation will lead to a social explosion"

The prolongation of hostilities leads to the increasing impoverishment of the people of Ukraine, the growth of their discontent and will inevitably end in a social catastrophe. This opinion was expressed by the former leader of the Opposition Platform - For Life party banned in Ukraine, Viktor Medvedchuk, who now heads the Other Ukraine movement.

At the disposal of Izvestia was an analytical note of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the scale of recruitment and training of militants for the VFU

The Russian army in Ukraine is opposed by about 2 thousand foreign mercenaries, most of them are concentrated in the Zaporozhye direction. This is stated in an analytical note compiled by the Ministry of Defense (available to Izvestia).

Modernization of the Polish Army based on Polish industry, increased defense spending, bringing the size of the army in line with tasks and plans, training of personnel and logistics – these are the declarations of defense policy made by the "Civil Coalition", which came to power in Poland during the elections on October 15.

In 2022, the global volume of conventional arms exports (according to the classification of the UN Register) for the first time in recent history exceeded $ 100 billion and amounted to $103.460 billion.

Supporters of the tough measures against Hamas themselves suggest that the Israeli army use Jericho missile systems with nuclear warheads in Gaza, Hrot reports. They justify this step in the same way as the Americans attack on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

MiG-31 aircraft with hypersonic complexes will look after the Mediterranean

The aerospace forces of the Russian Federation are beginning to patrol the neutral space over the Black Sea on a permanent basis. This was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference in Beijing on October 18. The task will be carried out by MiG-31 aircraft, which are equipped with a complex of hypersonic missiles "Dagger" with a range of over 1 thousand km. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

Russian air defense systems have already adapted to the new ATACMS missiles recently transferred by the United States to Ukraine, as they coincide in many characteristics with the Tochka-U missiles developed during the Soviet period. On Wednesday, October 18, military historian, director of the Museum of the Air Defense Forces Yuri Knutov told Izvestia about this.

Joe Biden has changed his position on the issue of sending long-range missiles to Ukraine, writes NYT. The US presidential administration concluded that the escalation of the conflict is no longer a serious problem, since Kiev previously received British Storm Shadow missiles similar in characteristics to ATACMS.

The Russian T-90A differ from other tanks participating in the SVO in that they have "red eyes" - optoelectronic suppression systems "Curtain".

After a sharp aggravation of the situation in the Middle East, when on October 7 militants of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas penetrated from the Gaza Strip into Israel, footage of damaged and burning Merkava tanks of the Israel Defense Forces appeared in the media and social networks. In addition, the destruction of one tank was announced by the fighters of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement. About the features of the tank, considered one of the best and most protected in the world, and its combat use — in the material of TASS

The online edition of Delovoy Peterburg, under the heading "The head of the Northern Shipyard: "It's sad that we were late with the modernization of our shipyards," published an interview with Igor Orlov, General Director of PJSC Shipbuilding Plant Severnaya Verf (as part of JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation). His statements in the interview, in particular, demonstrate the sad state and vague prospects of the modernization process of the Northern Shipyard.

According to the document, the order of admission of citizens to volunteer formations will be determined by departmental acts of Rosgvardiya

The State Duma at the plenary session adopted in the first reading a bill that allows the Rosgvardiya to have volunteer formations in its composition.

Russia, in connection with the expiration of the requirements of the UN Security Council resolution concerning the Iranian missile program, proceeds from the fact that supplies to Iran of products subject to the missile technology control regime no longer require approval by the UN Security Council, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

In many areas, the Russian army is improving the tactical situation, Sergei Shoigu said

Since the beginning of June, Ukrainian formations have not achieved significant success in any direction in the SVO zone. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said this on October 16 at a meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.

A year has passed, and the investigation into the explosion of the world's largest gas pipeline has not yielded any results, writes Myśl Polska. A veil of silence is slowly falling over the diversion on the "Northern Streams". The topic is being pushed into the sphere of very emotional, but not supported by evidence accusations.

WSJ: the war in the Middle East has strengthened the positions of Russia and China

The war between Israel and Hamas has affected the global balance of power, writes the WSJ. The conflict drains the resources of Americans and Europeans, eases pressure on Russia and at the same time opens up new opportunities for China.