The military-political situation on the western borders of Russia remains tense. This statement was made by the Minister of Defense of Russia Sergey Shoigu at the opening of the meeting of the board of the department.
“The military-political situation in the Western strategic direction remains tense. It is characterized by the strengthening of NATO's military presence in Eastern Europe, the deployment of the US missile defense system in Poland and Romania, and the expansion of the military cooperation of the alliance with Finland and Sweden, ”said the head of the Ministry of Defense.
He noted that a set of measures will be implemented to neutralize threats. In this regard, the Minister mentioned more than 20 organizational measures to improve the military personnel in the Western Military District this year. According to him, we are talking about the training of coastal troops, air defense forces and logistics.
In addition to this, by the end of the year more than 1.3 thousand units of new and modernized equipment will arrive in the district, and manning of the district troops with contract soldiers will continue. In 2019, more than 9 thousand people were already selected, said Shoigu.
The minister also mentioned the Russian-Belarusian operational exercises “Union Shield - 2019”. According to him, the main efforts of the district command are aimed at holding this event. The exercises will be attended by up to 12 thousand military personnel and 950 units of military equipment.
Among other things, preparations began for three other exercises of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) countries under the names Interaction, Echelon and Search. They will be attended by servicemen from Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
It should be noted that in June Shoigu spoke about tensions near the borders of the CIS countries during a meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Commonwealth. He urged the participants to ensure security through collective efforts.
“Given the negative trends in global and regional security, the military-political situation on the borders of the Commonwealth remains extremely tense. In these conditions, challenges to the sovereignty of the CIS states are becoming more and more real, ”the minister said last June.
- Board meeting of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
- © mod_russia
Commenting on the words of Shoigu on the situation at the western borders, a military political scientist, head of the department of political science and sociology of the Russian University of Economics. G.V. Plekhanova Andrei Koshkin emphasized that it was the aggressive actions on the part of the North Atlantic Alliance, especially against Russia, that exacerbated the geopolitical situation on the European continent.
“Of course, the desire, the desire to deploy missile defense systems that are already in Poland and Romania, these are the advanced elements of the attack. Because the concept of the United States and its allies in Europe is the desire to deliver a preventive global comprehensive strike on Russia, ”the expert suggested in an interview with RT.
According to him, we are talking about the aggravation of the situation on the border between Europe and Russia. Koshkin believes that the US is showing a desire to "put all countries under arms."
“That's why the North Atlantic Alliance began to interact so actively with Sweden and Finland - to draw these two states into a militaristic hype against Russia, thereby strengthening the position of the NATO’s so over-inflated bloc, and thereby putting pressure on the Russian Federation from the position of all states, even, including those trying to form a certain neutrality in themselves, ”the expert concluded.
In turn, Konstantin Sivkov, deputy president of the Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences, doctor of military sciences, called Russia's actions in response to NATO activity adequate measures. According to him, the threat in the western directions is growing.
“Additional groupings of US troops are being created, are being expanded in the Baltic states, in Romania they are being created under the guise of a missile defense system, infrastructure is being developed for the use of medium and shorter range missiles. Exercises are constantly being conducted at our borders - in the Baltic Sea, in the North, in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea, almost in the Barents Sea, in the Black Sea, ”the expert summed up.
East direction
Separately, Shoigu touched on the situation in the Eastern strategic direction. According to him, in this region there is also a tendency to complicate the military-political situation.
“The actions of the United States and its allies are aimed at expanding its influence in the Asia-Pacific region, weakening the positions of Russia and China in Southeast Asia,” said Shoigu. “The actions of the United States and its allies are aimed at expanding its influence in the Asia-Pacific region, weakening the positions of Russia and China in Southeast Asia.”
According to him, the most important events will be the formation of the management of the mixed aviation division and anti-aircraft missile brigade.
He noted that by the end of the year the district will receive 1,743 units of weapons and military equipment. As a result, the proportion of promising samples will be 53%. There is also a staffing of the district with contract servicemen, of whom 4.5 thousand people were selected for the first half of the year.
In addition, over one hundred and twenty bilateral, command-staff and interspecific exercises are planned to be held during the year.
The minister also noted that the district’s troops took part in the aftermath of the floods in the Amur and Irkutsk regions. In addition, unmanned aircraft monitors areas of forest fires.
In conclusion, the college Shoigu mentioned the fifth anniversary of the International Mine Action Center of the Armed Forces, which took place on August 1. According to the minister, the center began work in 2015. His first major task was to clean the area of construction of the Crimean bridge from explosive objects. As a result, 387 dangerous objects were found in 340 hectares.
According to the head of the Ministry of Defense, the center later worked in Chechnya and Syria. According to Shoigu, the operation in the SAR was carried out as soon as possible, in combat conditions and has no analogues in the world.
According to its results, more than 6.5 thousand hectares of territory, 1.4 thousand kilometers of roads, 12 thousand kilometers of railways and more than 17 thousand buildings and structures were cleared in Syria. In total, over 105 thousand explosive objects were discovered during this work.