
For the first time ever, Russia parachute drops an armoured personnel carrier – with crew inside!
The Russia Blog

Russia has announced ambitious plans to build six new aircraft carrier battle groups, a move which could return Russia to the top ranks of naval powers.

Nikolai Makarov is the Russian armed forces’ new Chief of Staff, and he has a mandate to reform one of Europe’s most powerful, yet backward, militaries.
Russia has written off Libya’s $4.6 billion debt in exchange for bilateral trade deals. The world’s attention has been on the arms deal, but lower profile deals are more valuable.

British RAF jets are intercepting Russian Tu-95 bombers once a week, at a cost of $12 million a year.

This weekend Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers violated Japanese airspace and then, in their most audacious flight for a fair few years, went on to ‘buzz’ the US Aircraft Carrier USS Nimitz. Not just once – twice.

In August 1939, just weeks before Hitler invaded Poland, the Soviet Union and Japan fought the largest tank battle the world had ever seen

Wow – Russia really is starting to strut its military stuff on the world stage again.
Two Tu-95 bombers flew to the US island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean, paying a surprise visit to the US military base there. Shocked US pilots on the base were forced to scramble to intercept the Russian bombers.… Read the rest
Russia is to increase its military and intelligence spending again:
“The situation in the world and internal political interests require the Foreign Intelligence Service to permanently increase its capabilities, primarily in the field of information and analytical support for the country’s leadership,” said Putin.
Or, to put it another way: ‘we need more spies’.
Which… Read the rest
The Russian Duma has today voted in favour of allowing Gazprom to form its own private army. Reuters reports:
A law backed by 341 lawmakers in the 450-seat State Duma lower house of parliament gave Gazprom, and oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, special exemption from strict limits on private businesses wielding arms.
The two state-controlled

More Russian servicemen are dying in combat this year than last, but overall deaths in the armed forces have fallen:
Battle casualties in the Russian Armed Forces continue to rise. They accounted for only 10 percent of all deaths in the Armed Forces in 2006, when 57 servicemen were killed in Chechnya. In the first
This beautiful map from Kommersant graphically demonstrates why Russia is concerned about the proposed US anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech republic.
If the US plan goes ahead as expected, high powered radars from Poland will be able to cover all of European Russia, and a good chunk of Siberia as well:

So, after spending the past few weeks ratcheting up the pressure, Putin has made an about turn and offered to work on a ‘joint’ missile shield with the United States.
Details of exactly how such a scheme would work are a little sketchy at the moment, to say the least, but it seems as… Read the rest
Russia test fired a new ICBM yesterday.
As you would expect, the western press – particularly in the UK – are muttering darkly about the new Cold War and a renewed arms race (see the Express and Guardian, for examples).
I was more interested by the following comment from First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei… Read the rest

Two British RAF Tornados were scrambled last month to intercept a two Russian Tupolev Tu-142 (Bear) bombers just off the Scottish coast last month, it has emerged. And here’s the picture to prove it:
It seems as though the Russian planes had taken a trip out to watch the Royal Navy’s recent… Read the rest
Winds of Change reports that Russia and India are considering whether to build the next-generation MiG together.
From India’s point of view, a firm development agreement that helps finance Russia’s next-generation plane is one way to restrict Russian cooperation with China along similar lines.
Winds of Change goes on to report that India’s… Read the rest
If you’re a Russian, how does it feel to be surrounded by the USA? This map shows just how many US bases ring Russia.

Captain’s Quarters wonders what’s behind the recent spate of nuclear ‘incidents’ that can be traced back to Russia in one way or another:
A couple of scenarios could be in play. The first is that Putin has decided to gain hard cash by putting fissile material on the black market, which is not only
The Jamestown Foundation notes that Defense Ministry tanks, under the command of the FSB, fired on Beslan School number one, as the school was being stormed. The revelation was made during the trial of Nurpashi Kulaev, the sole surviving hostage taker.
I have to say, I’m not actually all that surprised at this news.… Read the rest
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