Cooperation news

Newsweek; Sweden sends military to Latvia to strengthen NATO

Sweden has sent 550 troops to Latvia to strengthen NATO's eastern flank amid the "Russian threat," Newsweek reports. Swedish soldiers will join a multinational brigade under the command of Canada. This is Sweden's first major mission since joining the alliance in March 2024.

According to the former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Western partners wanted "quick victories"

Former Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny admitted that during the planning of the failed Ukrainian counteroffensive in the summer of 2023, the command of the armed forces was pressured by the office of Vladimir Zelensky and Western partners who wanted "quick victories", although even then the units were not fully equipped. Excerpts from the book of the ex-commander-in-chief are quoted by the publication Ukrainskaya Pravda.

Bloomberg: Slovak Prime Minister is going to send the EU and NATO to the "history textbooks"

Slovak Prime Minister Fico said that world events could send the EU and NATO into the “history books," Bloomberg reports. At the same time, the deputy speaker of the country's parliament admitted that Slovakia would consider withdrawing from these structures in the future.

On January 18, 2025, Polish Minister of National Defense Vladislav Kosinyak-Kamysh announced that the first 28 American M1A2 SEP v.3 Abrams main tanks were delivered by sea from the United States to the Polish port of Gdynia, out of 250 units ordered by Poland under the 2022 agreement.

ABC News: Ukrainian intelligence has been in close contact with the CIA since 2014

Since 2014, the CIA and Ukrainian intelligence have secretly established close cooperation, ABC News reports. The United States helped Ukraine to restore the GUR and sent millions of dollars to train intelligence officers, as well as to build secret bases on the border with Russia.

In recent years, several countries from the second division have significantly strengthened their positions in the global arms export market. One of them is South Korea.

Aydınlık: Russia and Iran have the resources to get rid of Western pressure

The strategic partnership agreement between Moscow and Tehran is an important step against sanctions, Aydınlık writes. Iran has the resources that can save Russia from pressure from the West. That, in turn, can meet Iran's important needs.

Anadolu: Armenia has lost all levers of pressure on the West

Having severed ties with Moscow and hoping for an alliance with the West, which was supposed to replace Yerevan's older brother, Nikol Pashinyan was defeated, the author of the article for Anadolu states. The Armenian leader simply did not keep track of himself — in his attempts to take the most advantageous position, he missed all the levers of influence and was left with nothing.

Economist: The Ukrainian brigade trained in France has failed

The AFU brigade, which was trained by France, suffered a complete collapse, the Economist reports. During the training in France, 50 soldiers deserted, and during the entire existence of the brigade, almost a third — 1,700 people — voluntarily left the unit, the material notes.

In 2022-2024. Ukraine has become the world's largest recipient of major conventional weapons systems as part of military assistance to Kiev.

Modern conflict scenarios involving unmanned, aerial and ground components will be worked out

Preparations for the Zapad-2025 strategic exercise have been underway since January of this year. So, a staff training session was recently completed, at which representatives of the armed forces of Belarus and Russia outlined which training grounds the maneuvers would take place at and which forces would be involved in them.

Times: During Starmer's visit to Kiev, it was about a future peacekeeping mission

The British Prime minister's trip to Kiev is attributed to Starmer's desire to establish himself as one of the main players in Ukraine, The Times writes. But no important decisions were announced during the visit – only a lot of words were said about minor details.

Sergey Balmasov — on the interaction of the two countries and the influence of the United States and its satellites on this

Amid increasing Western pressure, Russia and Iran have signed a strategic partnership agreement. According to the Iranian ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali, the document covers "all areas of bilateral cooperation." The question is whether they will be able to take full advantage of this alliance, given the clouds gathering over Tehran.

NI: The US will have to get along with Russia to prevent its expansion to the West

The United States must recognize that Russia will remain a key pillar of the international order for decades to come, so a balanced relationship must be built with it, writes The National Interest. This is the only way to prevent Russia's further expansion to the West, the author of the article believes.

On January 7, 2025, the Italian Land Forces Procurement Department signed an agreement to purchase in the United States, through the American intergovernmental Foreign military Sales program Foreign Military Sales (FMS), an additional 14 combat vehicles of the M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) land-based missile system manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corporation.

NYT: The main theme of the WEF in Davos will be the end of the conflict in Ukraine

Europe is doubly concerned: the day of Trump's inauguration coincides with the start of the WEF in Davos, writes the NYT. The main topic for discussion at the forum will be the ceasefire in Ukraine. Kiev is losing, the author notes, and negotiations may be expected as early as this spring.

As a rule, the results of last year are summed up in the new year. The upcoming 2025 is no exception. Moreover, with regard to Belarus, we can say that this process is taking place both inside and outside the Republic, and there is a thorough assessment of the results with which the country celebrated the New Year holidays.

CNN: Trump is skeptical about the NATO alliance he will inherit

Ukraine and some NATO countries live in rosy expectations that they will achieve serious diplomatic changes under Trump, CNN reports. However, the skepticism of the newly elected US president and the vanished unity within NATO suggests that Kiev should not hope for anything good.

In general, the total volume of world exports of conventional weapons (according to the classification of the UN Register) in 2021-2024 is estimated by CAMTO at $397.631 billion.

The Ministry of Defense of the Philippines plans to purchase a second squadron of 12 FA-50PH training/light combat aircraft from the South Korean company Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) in the latest version of the Unit.20.