Category Archives: Russia

Military, NATO, Russia, United States

Russia performs combat drills in regions shared with NATO states…

RUSSIAN MILITARY 

Intro: Russian military practice live firing and anti-submarine combat in Baltic and Arctic

The Russian navy is continuing anti-submarine combat drills in both the Baltic and the Arctic Barents Sea.

Russian military operations have been steadily increasing this year, but the ones being carried out in the Baltic and Arctic are the most controversial. This is largely due to Russia sharing both regions almost exclusively with NATO member states.

Its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad borders Poland on one side and Lithuania on the other, while the other four countries who have a territorial claim on the Arctic besides Russia are all NATO members – Denmark, Norway, Canada and the United States.

Russian corvette Soobrazitelny: one of the ships of the latest class of corvettes of the Russian Navy, the Steregushchy class. It joined the Baltic Fleet in 2011. The ship is fitted with anti-aircraft capabilities.

Russian corvette Soobrazitelny: one of the ships of the latest class of corvettes of the Russian Navy, the Steregushchy class. It joined the Baltic Fleet in 2011. The ship is fitted with anti-aircraft capabilities.

Intelligence suggests that the Russian Baltic Fleet have sent out three corvette vessels (Boykiy, Stoykiy and Soobrazitelny), along with two anti-submarine Ka-27PL helicopters, against its designated enemy. This is believed to be the Russian submarine Vyborg.

The Vyborg is deemed by military analysts as one of the quietest submarines in the world, and in this instance was tasked to disrupt the ships’ landing attempts.

After tracking the submarine, the corvettes and helicopters managed to force the submarine to resurface. The ships have also practiced live artillery fire at naval and aerial targets.

Russia’s North Fleet also sent out vessels to simulate anti-submarine combat, dispatching the Brest and Yunga anti-submarine ships into the Barents Sea near the Arctic. These crews have performed torpedo attacks and have fired the reaction engine-bomb installation RBU-6000, which relates to the fleet’s anti-submarine rocket launcher.

Intelligence also suggests that the ships have conducted practice with its naval fleet air-arm, not just with the Ka-27 helicopters but also with its Il-38 maritime patrol plane. They have also performed refined communications and simulated emergency responses on board.

In May, too, Russia practiced live firing in the Baltic when it sent its largest amphibious hovercraft into the region. Defence officials from both Lithuania and Estonia have expressed concern at the number of Russia military exercises near their territories, saying that such snap drills by Russia could be exercises being used as cover for a larger redeployment of forces toward their borders.

 

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European Union, Government, National Security, NATO, Politics, Russia, United States

The Pentagon says Putin is ‘Playing with fire’ over nuclear threats…

NUCLEAR THREATS

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, addresses his military.

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, addresses his military.

A senior Pentagon official has warned that Russia is ‘playing with fire’ when it suggested that it could use nuclear weapons to settle international disputes, and accused Moscow and Vladimir Putin of trying to intimidate NATO through such threats.

‘Anyone who thinks they can control escalation through the use of nuclear weapons is literally playing with fire,’ U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defence Robert Work told a House Armed Services subcommittee. ‘Escalation is escalation, and nuclear use would be the ultimate escalation.’

While Moscow has not issued any direct nuclear threats, Kremlin officials have made several references to their nuclear arsenal and announced the construction of 40 new nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, a move that Washington has denounced as ‘sabre-rattling.’

Leaked documents from a meeting between U.S. and Russian officials revealed that Russian officials discussed a ‘spectrum of responses from nuclear to non-military’ if NATO went ahead with its plans to enhance its military presence in the Baltic States.

Russia has also threatened several Baltic nations that they would be considered potential nuclear targets if they joined NATO’s missile defence program. In March, the Russian ambassador to Denmark warned that ‘Danish warships would be targets for Russia’s nuclear weapons,’ if the country joined the military alliance.

The Baltic States have seen a growing number of incursions and flyovers from Russian bombers and ships. Russian planes were intercepted over the Baltic Sea 10 times in the last week alone.

Mr Putin, in a March documentary on the annexation of Crimea, said he was prepared to place Russia’s nuclear forces on alert.

Moscow’s recent military overtures were also condemned by the US: ‘Senior Russian officials continue to make irresponsible statements regarding its nuclear forces, and we assess that they are doing it to intimidate our allies and us,’ Mr Work said. ‘These have failed. If anything, they have really strengthened the NATO alliance solidarity.’

The statement from Russia comes shortly after NATO announced a major escalation of its own military presence in Eastern Europe, which would see thousands of vehicles and troops deployed across Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland.

 

 

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Britain, Government, National Security, Russia, Society, Technology, Terrorism, United States

Russia funded cyber terrorists targeting West under guise of Islamic State…

CYBER TERRORISM

A cyber security expert has warned that Vladimir Putin’s Russia is funding Islamic State hacking groups which pose a serious threat to some of the UK’s largest organisations.

Richard Turner, President of EMEA, has claimed his firm has proof that a crack team of highly skilled hackers with links to the Kremlin are targeting UK energy suppliers, defence networks, financial and telecommunication companies.

Mr Turner also claims they are responsible for bringing down a major television broadcaster in France.

Islamic State (IS) cyber terrorists were cited as the source as TV5 Monde was taken off air and the websites of smaller companies were hit by pro-IS propaganda in April. Mr Turner says, however, that the attacks were not carried out by IS but by a troupe of cyber terrorists, known as the APT28 group, which he believes are being sponsored by the Russian government and are masquerading as IS.

The security chief warns that hackers could easily bring down a media organisation in the UK or US. Mr Turner said his company has been tracking the work of APT28 since 2007.

An analysis of the information and data within the cyber caliphate website during the French attacks has been identified as being the same online data used by ATP28 in the past.

Their motives, according to Mr Turner, could be to push the news agenda away from Russia or by spreading fear and disinformation. He said: ‘If you can disrupt broadcast media through a cyber-attack you get the upper hand in spreading fear and propaganda.’

Mr Turner says that such attacks have been present for a number of years now and that many firms and individuals are only starting to realise the extent of it.

Such reports come amid increasing tensions between the west and Russia. RAF aircraft have been deployed numerous times over the past few months to fend off Russian bomber jets that have made frequent incursions into UK airspace. Russia has also beefed up its nuclear weaponry in response to US government plans to base military hardware in Eastern Europe.

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