Contents tagged with Shoygu

  • Lavrov expresses concern over NATO activity near Russian borders

    RIA Novosti reports that the Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov stated that Russia could not disregard the increase in NATO activity near their borders.

    “We cannot disregard such a serious destabilizing factor in the Atlantic, as the revitalization of NATO activities on the Russian border,” he said following talks in Madrid with the Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell.

    Lavrov added that he discussed with his Spanish colleague the relationship between Russia and the European Union and …

  • Russian Defense Minister warns Europe of 'serious consequences' if the US withdraws from Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

    Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu stated that the withdrawal of the US from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty would have serious consequences primarily for Europe, Interfax reports.  

    “We are interested to see the reaction of Europe to the US decision to withdraw from the INF. And I would like Europe to know and understand the consequences that would follow in the case of the deployment of medium-range missiles in Europe, ”said Shoygu.

    The decision of the United States will …

  • Shoygu and Mattis meet in person for the first time

    The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation press service reported on Facebook that Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu and the United States Secretary of Defense, James Mattis met in person for the first time at the international summit in Singapore. According the Russian Ministry of Defense, Mattis and Shoygu shook hands at the entrance to the hall before the start of the summit’s official part.

    It is reported that the head of the Pentagon expressed condolences to Shoygu in regards …

  • Putin’s ratings plummet due to unpopular pension reform

    In under a year, Russians’ faith in their president Vladimir Putin has fallen by 20 percentage points, Levada Center reports. In November last year before the start of the presidential election campaign, this figure was 59%, but by September 2018 it had dropped to 39%. In the period between June and September, he lost 9 percentage points. The distrust rating simultaneously grew from 7% to 13%.

    The pension reform and socio-economic issues have affected the population’s faith in all office- …

  • Media: Syria received S-300 missile systems from Russia for free

    Russia provided the advanced S-300PM air defense system to Syria’s military free of charge, transferring three battalions with eight launchers each, TASS reported citing a military-diplomatic source.

    The source clarified that on October 1st, three S-300PM battalions with eight launchers each were delivered to Syria. He added that previously the equipment was in service of the anti-aircraft missile regiments of the Russian Air Force, now re-equipped with the S-400 Triumf system.

    “It underwent …

  • Kremlin: Russia completed delivery of S-300 missile systems to Syria

    Russia completed the delivery of the S-300 antiaircraft system to Syria despite Israel's protests and Washington's fears that the delivery of the anti-aircraft system will strengthen Iran and will lead to an escalation of the Syrian conflict.

     “The work was completed one day ago,” Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu reported to President Vladimir Putin during a meeting, a fragment of which was broadcast on the Russa-24 state-run TV channel. Shoygu added that anti-aircraft systems will serve …

  • US State Department concerned that Russia’s S-300 missile systems will threaten US troops in Syria

    US administration believes that Russia supplying Damascus with an S-300 ground-to-air missile defense system will only increase the tension in the region and pose a threat to the US military personnel in Syria. This was noted by a US State Department spokeswoman, who commented on Moscow’s decision to reinforce Syria’s anti-air defense systems. The decision was made in connection with the accidental loss of a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance plane to friendly fire in Syria last week.

    “Russia …

  • Russian Defense Ministry publishes details of Il-20 crash in Syria

    Russia’s Defense Ministry has reaffirmed its accusation that Israel was responsible for the downing of the Russian Il-20 reconnaissance plane close to Syria’s Latakia. On September 23, the department’s official spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov presented a by-the-minute account of what happened over Latakia based on radar data, Deutsche Welle reports.

    “The presented objective data is evidence that the actions of the Israeli fighter pilots, which led to the deaths of 15 Russian soldiers, …

  • Kremlin: Russia intends to conduct major military exercises every five years

    Russia intends to conduct major military exercises every five years, said Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu on Russia 1 TV channel, reported RIA Novosti.

    He said that when the Supreme Commander-in-Chief [Putin] approves a plan for carrying out major maneuvers next year, a “main outline” of events is given. “The only thing that does not fall into this plan are unexpected inspections. Naturally, we have been planning these exercises and we plan to conduct them every five years,” the …

  • Russia: Joint exercises with China will be held regularly

    Beijing sent 3,000 troops to take part in Vostok-2018 (East-2018) military exercises.

    Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said that Moscow and Beijing plan to hold regular joint military exercises, similar to the exercises that are held this week.

    On Wednesday, Shoygu and his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe visited Tsugol training range in eastern Siberia, where joint military exercises with 300,000 Russian and 3,200 Chinese soldiers are held.

    The weekly military exercises Vostok-20 …