Today, the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs briefed the North Atlantic Council on activities by Russian operatives inside the Czech Republic, which resulted in the explosions in 2014 of ammunition storage depots at Vrbetice. The explosion caused the deaths of two people who worked at the site as well as very substantial material damage. The…
Defence
Putin’s goals in the red-hot Donbass
Today, trust between the West and Russia is at its lowest level in recent history. Experts compare the current confrontation with the Cuban missile crisis. However, now the rhetoric and threats from the top leadership of the opposing sides have reached such an intensity that the timidly discussed possibility of a war between Russia and…
Russia Must Withdraw Troops from East Ukraine: Stoltenberg
Russia must immediately stop building up troops on the border with Ukraine and withdraw from Eastern Ukraine. NATO chief Stoltenberg made this appeal after a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Koeleba. The NATO chief has spoken of the largest Russian military presence on the border since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. According to Ukraine, the Kremlin…
EPP Calls for Military Support for Ukraine
The EPP Group has called for military assistance for Ukraine and new sanctions against Russia. “Russia amassing more than 40,000 troops near the Ukrainian border is an escalation and a serious threat to European stability and security as well as to Ukrainian sovereignty”, said EPP Group Vice-Chairwoman Sandra Kalniete MEP ahead of today’s debate on…
Russia Rattles Sabres in Donbass
The intensification of hostilities in the east of Ukraine, the transfer of additional heavy equipment and thousands of servicemen to the Rostov region by Russia have raised the spectre of the start of a major war in the Donbass again. Moscow is trying to show that it still retains a pseudo-dominant role in the post-Soviet…
Brussels Airport Tests Drone Detection System
Brussels Airport and skeyes have tested the operational use of drones at and around the airport. In a secure environment, they deployed an innovative safety drone, which can be controlled from a large distance to find out how drones can increase the safety, security and efficiency of airport operations. In addition, they tested a drone…
China Projects Naval Power
The Communist Party (CCP) of China is quietly but steadily modernising its naval power for the political goal of expanding its influence in the far seas in Asia and Africa through penetrative power projection operations, according to a report compiled to help the American Defence establishment to better understand the balance of strategic competition between…
Bleak Foreign Policy Outlook for Russia
Externally, the arrest of Ukrainian journalist Vladislav Esipenko in Crimea is not connected with the sensational statement of US President Joe Biden about Russian President Vladimir Putin. The events are separated by some time interval. But, there is actually a connection, as there is with the date of the seventh anniversary of the commemoration of…
World’s Largest Military
NATO Defence Expenditure Published
NATO collects defence expenditure data from Allies on a regular basis and presents aggregates and subsets of this information. Each Ally’s Ministry of Defence reports current and estimated future defence expenditure according to an agreed definition of defence expenditure. The amounts represent payments by a national government actually made, or to be made, during the…