Russia (bbabo.net), - The end of the week was marked by a whole series of talks on security issues in general and the situation in Ukraine in particular. The dialogue was conducted not only by politicians, diplomats, but also by the military.
So, at a meeting in Moscow with his British counterpart Ben Wallace, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu critically assessed the current relationship between Moscow and London.
“Unfortunately, the level of our cooperation is close to zero and is about to cross the zero meridian and go negative. Which I would not like very much. Therefore, I really hope to have the opportunity to discuss the most pressing issues with you. Without any injection and raising the temperature even higher in relations between Russia and the countries of the NATO bloc, and especially with Great Britain, taking into account the historical experience of our cooperation and military cooperation," Shoigu addressed Wallace.
He stressed that today there is an exorbitant concentration of attention on issues that, according to Russia, could be resolved calmly, in a dialogue between all countries, without the threat of imposing certain sanctions. “Already, in my opinion, there are no words left in either English or Russian dictionaries that could designate these sanctions. “And “catastrophic”, and “amazing”, and “destroying”. Many different words," Shoigu noted.
Meanwhile, the military-political situation in Europe, according to him, is becoming more tense. And not through the fault of Russia. "We do not quite and do not always understand the reasons for this tension. But nevertheless, we see that it is growing," our minister said.
This requires the adoption of urgent measures to ensure security guarantees for the Russian Federation. Shoigu focused his colleague's attention on the lack of answers to Moscow's key demands. Namely, the rejection of NATO expansion, the non-deployment of strike weapons near Russian borders, and the return of the bloc's military potentials and infrastructure in Europe to the positions of 1997, when the Russia-NATO Founding Act was signed.
Our minister emphasized that it is impossible to reduce military-political tension and build a solid European security architecture without resolving these issues.
Shoigu is confident that Western countries need to contribute to reducing tensions. First of all, for this it is necessary to stop stuffing Ukraine with weapons. "It's coming from all sides, it's being done publicly. It's being done in a revealing way. It's not entirely clear why," the minister stressed. He also asked Wallace directly why Britain sent its special forces to Ukraine and how long they will be there?
Shoigu reminded his colleague of the sad experience of pumping weapons into Afghanistan, where weapons worth almost $80 billion were recently abandoned. "If we talk about Javelins, anti-tank installations, then more than 100 of them were left in Afghanistan. If we talk about MANPADS to combat aircraft, then more than 150 of them were left," the head of the Russian military department listed. Moscow is confident that all this, of course, poses a threat today. Especially considering the fact that only recently the number of fighters of the terrorist organization ISIS banned in the Russian Federation has doubled in Afghanistan. "And it is difficult for us to understand in what hands these weapons will fall. We would not want this topic to go by the wayside. Like the topic of refugees from Afghanistan. Like the topic of drug trafficking from Afghanistan," the Russian Defense Minister stressed.
On the same day, topical issues of international security were discussed by telephone between Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Chairman of the Committee of Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces Mark Milley. A day later, this topic became the subject of a telephone conversation between Sergei Shoigu and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
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Ministry of Defense
US submarine spotted near Kuril Islands
At the Main Directorate for International Military Cooperation of the Russian Ministry of Defense, a note was handed to a representative of the Office of the Military Attache for Defense at the US Embassy in Moscow. This was done in connection with the violation of the state border of Russia by an American submarine. This incident in our country is regarded as a gross violation of international law. "The provocative actions of the US Navy ship created a threat to the security of Russia," the military department said. RF. The Russian Defense Ministry insists on the need for the United States to take measures to prevent such situations in the future. And our military warned: they reserve the right to take all possible steps in their territorial sea to ensure the security of Russia.
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