Global security news

The Drive: The Russian army remains the Soviet "dumb hammer", which is incredibly heavy

The Russian armed forces are a legacy of the Soviet era and remain a "blunt hammer" that is still incredibly heavy. In these words, in the American edition of The Drive, columnist Tyler Rogovey described the modern Russian army concentrated in the regions bordering Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz discussed the Ukrainian crisis and considered strengthening NATO's eastern flank in case of Russia's "invasion" of Ukraine, the White House reports.

Estonian Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets and United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on Russia at Wednesday's meeting to de-escalate through dialogue with the United States, NATO and the OSCE.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his colleagues from France Florence Parly, Germany Christina Lambrecht and Great Britain Ben Wallace during a meeting in Brussels confirmed the importance of NATO unity to counter Russia's policy, Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby said.

The US military deployed the M-LIDS system at the Polish airport

The United States has transferred new equipment to combat unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Poland. Radars, air defense systems (air defense) and a system of protection against drones were noticed at the airport of the city of Zamosc, Defense Express reports.

The United States believes that Russia's statements about the withdrawal of troops from the border with Ukraine do not correspond to reality, allegedly Moscow is actually increasing the number of its troops, the Axios portal reported, citing a senior representative of the American administration.

The units of the logistics brigade of the Western Military District (ZVO) arrived at the point of permanent deployment after the completion of the planned exercises. This was announced on Thursday, February 17, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Armored vehicles and objects of the conditional enemy were destroyed in the framework of the exercises "Allied Determination-2022", which are taking place on the territory of Belarus, by calculations of multiple rocket launchers (MLRS) The Eastern Military District, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

A video has appeared with Tu-22M3 bombers with supersonic anti-ship missiles (PKR) X-22, as well as MiG-31K fighters with the Dagger aviation complex, which Russia has transferred to Syria against the background of the presence of NATO aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean Sea.

As part of the planned rotation of the withdrawal of forces of the Western Military District, the 27th Motorized Rifle Brigade was withdrawn from Moscow to the Belgorod Region. In one locality, the name of which is familiar to all researchers of the Battle of the Kursk Bulge [Kastornaya], among other things, more than 20 T-90M tanks were transferred.

Another echelon with military equipment of the units of the Southern Military District crossed the Crimean Bridge on its way to the point of permanent deployment after the end of the Belarusian-Russian exercises. This was announced on February 17 by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

19FortyFive was horrified by the capabilities of Russian flamethrowers.

Portal 19FortyFive dedicated an article to the heavy flamethrower system "Pinocchio". The author notes that, perhaps, this is Russia's most powerful weapon that does not use nuclear technology. TOS-1 and variants of this weapon can cause incredible damage. So, one installation is capable of setting fire to an area about the size of two football fields.

Deputies of the Senate (upper house) of the Parliament of Kazakhstan at a plenary session on February 17 approved a bill on ratification of the agreement between the republic and Russia on military cooperation, RIA Novosti reports.

Russia will decide for itself how and in what ways to ensure its security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

Russian electronic warfare systems can create big problems for high-tech armies. Tanks, artillery installations and drones equipped with various electronic devices can fail due to electronic warfare systems.

The Kremlin is concerned about the aggravation of the situation in Donbass and recalled that it had long warned about the danger of excessive concentration of the Ukrainian military on the demarcation line.

Vladimir Putin does not have a joint inspection of military exercises in Belarus together with Alexander Lukashenko in the schedule, but the presidents can agree on "anything" at a meeting on Friday, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian leader, said on Thursday.

The Russian military will return from Belarus after the exercises to their places of deployment. This was stated by Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, answering journalists' questions.

"This is out of the question now," Peskov said in response to a question about the possibility of the presence of Russian military in Belarus after the exercises. After the maneuvers, "at the end of one or another phase of the exercises, the troops are withdrawn to their permanent location," he noted.

Russian Su-35 and Belarusian Su-30SM fighters have worked out the procedure for conducting air combat at low altitudes as part of a joint exercise. This was announced on Thursday, February 17, by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

On Thursday, February 17, the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, made a new statement regarding the return of our troops to their places of deployment.