Russia & CIS

According to the plan of "TurAz Falcon - 2018" joint flight-tactical exercises, combat aircraft conducted joint flights along the route at a given altitude.

I have an explainer article about the Vostok exercise on the Washington Post Monkey Cage blog today. Here’s a sampler…

Military analysts around the world are keeping a close eye on Russia’s annual fall military maneuvers, as this year may turn out to be the largest post-Cold War show of force. Vostok-2018 kicks off this week in Russia’s Far East and the Pacific Ocean, along with auxiliary exercises before and after the main event.

The big news this year is the addition of joint exercises with China. What do these military exercises entail, and what do you need to know?

1. What are these war games?

The Vostok exercise is part of an annual rotating series of large-scale exercises that serve as the capstone to the Russian military’s annual training cycle. The series rotates through the four main Russian operational strategic commands (Eastern, Caucasus, Central and Western) that give name to the exercises. “Vostok” means east; last fall’s Zapad-2017 took place along Russia’s western border.

Similar major strategic operational exercises took place each fall throughout the Soviet period as well. However, unlike past military readiness drills, the Defense Ministry has billed Vostok-2018 as a strategic maneuver exercise, in which the forces are divided into two groups that engage each other rather than fighting against an imaginary opponent, as was the case in all previous iterations.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Viktor Zolotov, the chief of the Russian National Guards (Federal National Guard Troops Service), published a video address to opposition activist Alexei Navalny. In his address, Zolotov called Navalny out in a duel and promised to make a "juicy meat chop" out of him. The video comes as Zolotov's reaction to the recent investigation conducted by Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) into the procurement of foodstuffs for the Russian National Guards at inflated prices."With respect to me, you had insulting, slanderous reflections, and it's not customary for army officers to forgive that," Zolotov said in the video message posted on the YouTube channel of the Russian National Guards on September 11. "From time immemorial, the scoundrel would be punched in the face and summoned to a duel," he added. "Mr. Navalny, no one stops us from returning at least part of those traditions, I mean demanding satisfaction, I simply challenge you to a duel - to a ring, tatami, you name it, where I promise to make a fine, juicy meat chop out of you," Viktor Zolotov said sitting in front of the camera. It is worthy of note that Zolotov had earlier served as a security guard for President Putin. Zolotov also promised to trample on Navalny and use him as a door mat. "If, Mr. Navalny, you ever again speak in an insulting or slanderous tone about me or my family members, I promise you that before I step over you and use you as a door mat, I will arrange a show for the entire staff of the National Guards," said Zolotov.It is worthy of note that Viktor Zolotov challenged Navalny at a time when the latter is serving his 30-day arrest in Moscow and has no way to respond.In his video address, the director of the Russian National Guards recalled another investigation conducted by Navalny's Anti-Corruption Fund  - about the property of Zolotov's family. The report, published in 2016, evaluated Viktor Zolotov's property at 663 million rubles."I'm not a poor man indeed. Unlike you, when you were just learning to sit down on a pot, I had served in the army, worked at a factory production, was, by the way, an outstanding communist worker, and later engaged in business activities," the military man said. Earlier, officials at the Russian Guards called Navalny's investigation of the purchase of food products for the agency "falsified and provocative." "The deliveries of food and the provision of food services for the troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation is carried out by an organisation appointed by the government of the Russian Federation in accordance with the current legislation," Zolotov said.We would like to note here that Alexei Navalny's team continues investigating into a variety of "corruption schemes", while all of those investigations have a zero degree of effectiveness. Navalny's Anti-Corruption Fund had conducted investigations into "cases" of Dmitry Medvedev, Yuri Kovalchuk, Igor Shuvalov, Igor Sechin, Vyacheslav Volodin, Alisher Usmanov and others. Many of them sued Navalny and won the trials. Mr. Zolotov could follow in their footsteps and do the same. It appears that someone at the top let Alexei Navalny become such a principled oppositionist to release the steam of people's discontent. Navalny himself profits from creating his image of a person, who unmasks others. In fact, however, he is a competent narrator of "scary" stories, a populariser, who wants to be the leader of Russia's opposition, if not president. Many in Russia found Viktor Zolotov's address to Navalny ridiculous. "We have no doubt about the wonderful physical shape of Mr. Zolotov, but we do have doubt of whether he is a man of a high intellectual level," bloggers write on social media. 

Russia launched its largest military exercises in modern history in the morning of September 11. The exercises, called Vostok 2018 (East 2018) involve about 300,000 troops, 36,000 tanks, armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, more than 1,000 aircraft, helicopters and about a hundred warships.The manoeuvres that will last through September 17 are held to practice massive air strikes, interception of cruise missiles, landing missions of sea and airborne assault forces, as well as actions of mobile groups in the deep rear of the enemy under the conditions that would be as close to combat conditions as possible, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said. Russia has not held such military exercises since 1981, when the USSR conducted Zapad-81 manoeuvres. Vostok 2018 war games are held under the status of an international event. They involve the troops of the Eastern and Central Military Districts, forces of the Northern Fleet, all formations and military units of the Airborne Forces, long and military transport aircraft. Chinese and Mongolian armed forces will join the war games at a certain stage of their development. The most dynamic part of the war games will unfold on one of the largest range grounds of the Transbaikal region - Tsugol. More than 7,000 units of military hardware and special equipment, about 250 aircraft and helicopters have been delivered to the site. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation tried to make the task for participants as much complicated as possible - they will have to act in the rapidly changing environment and take prompt and non-standard decisions. In particular, the war games will see the Russian military practice mobile defense and operations to destroy enemy with the use of artillery fire and military aircraft. Robotic equipment  and unmanned aerial vehicles are to be used in the operations as well. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, almost all models of military hardware and weapons available in the arsenal of the Russian army will take part in Vostok 2018 drills, including Iskander missile systems, upgraded T-72, T-90 and T-80BVM tanks. Su-34 bombers and Su-35 multipurpose fighters will protect ground forces from the air. Mi-28 and Mi-35 attack helicopters, Tu-95MS strategic bombers, as well as long-range Tu-22M3 missile carriers. Su-24 bombers, Su-25 interceptors and Su-25 interceptors from the Chelyabinsk region, Perm and Krasnoyarsk territories were delivered to the range ground. Vostok 2018 war games will be held with the use of the combat experience that Russian forces have gained in Syria. The naval part of the manoeuvres involves forces of Pacific Northern Fleets of the Russian Federation - about 80 ships and supply vessels. In the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk and in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean, Russian warships will show resistance to air attacks, strike retaliatory blows on groups of ships and launch Caliber missiles.Vostok-2018 war games are held on nine range grounds, in the waters of the Bering Sea and in the Sea of Okhotsk, in Avachinsky and Kronotsky bays. These are two-way manoeuvres with two opposing groups participating: the Central Military District and the Northern Fleet "fight against"  the troops of the Eastern Military District and the Pacific Fleet. NATO considers these exercises as preparations for a large-scale conflict Vostok 2018 war games have caused serious concern for the United States and its NATO allies in Europe, especially the Baltic countries and Poland. NATO officials said that Vostok 2018 war games demonstrate "Russia's emphasis on the work to practice participation in a large-scale conflict."Le Nouvel Observateur quoted French military expert Pavel Felgenhauer, who said making references to the Russian General Staff that a major war in the world would unfold after 2020. It would be either a global war or a series of major regional conflicts, in which the United States and its allies would be Russia's enemy, the expert added. Russia holds the international war games with the participation of Chinese and Mongolian troops against the backdrop of growing tensions with Western countries, the Ukrainian crisis, the conflict in Syria and countless accusations of Russia's interference in internal affairs of Western countries. In 1981, the USSR held Zapad 81 exercises that mobilised between 100,000 and 150,000 troops of the Warsaw Pact countries in Eastern Europe. Zapad 81 were the largest manoeuvres ever organised in the Soviet era. Servicemen from the People's Republic of China have never taken part in Russia's strategic military exercises. For Vostok 2018 war games, China will send about 3,000 troops, as well as aircraft and helicopters of the People's Liberation Army of China.Since 2003, Russia and China have held about 30 military exercises, but none of them have targeted Russia's strategic efforts to ensure security. The PLA takes part in Vostok 2018 war games not only for integrated, anti-terrorist exercises with the police, but also for strategic exercises - a goal that the Chinese had set for themselves long ago, senior fellow at the European Council for International Relations (ECFR), Gustav Gressel told DW, adding that the Chinese military wanted to learn the experience that Russia had gained in Syria. Kremlin officials say that Russia is holding such large-scale war games because of the need to maintain Russia's defensive capability in the current international situation, which can often be very aggressive and unfriendly. Spokespeople for the Defence Ministry of China stated that the PLA takes part in Vostok 2018 war games to develop the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership and further strengthen the ability to jointly respond to various security threats.

The people of Russia have probably lost hope for an opportunity to show influence on the fate of their country, even though the Constitution of the Russian Federation gives such powers to the people. Alas, the elections held in Russia on September 9 prove this thesis. Let's consider the most significant expression of people's power at the elections - the turnout. In many regions of the country, the turnout was "sadly low" and could barely catch up with the results of the previous similar elections. It appeared, though, that the turnout would be high, especially in light of the recent decisions that the government and the parliament have made with regard to the pension reform in Russia. It was believed that many voters would come to the elections to vote against some candidates and cast their votes in favour of others. However, the main outcome of the September 9 elections in Russia was voter apathy and mistrust. Shortly before the vote, millions in Russia signed petitions in protest to the initiative of the government to raise the retirement age. However, all those petitions went straight into the bin, parties supported the reform and then everyone could watch Putin's weak and inconclusive speech on TV. On September 9, about 60-70 percent of the Russian population simply decided not to execute their civil duty and preferred to ignore the vote. As Mark Twain once said, "if voting made a difference, they wouldn't let us do it." According to many experts, the election campaign of 2018 has set a record since 2013 in terms of the withdrawal of party lists from elections to regional parliaments and deputies. Eight lists had been withdrawn by September 2. The election struggle was not for votes, but for a possibility to get into the right lists.For example, the lists of Yabloko party were withdrawn from the elections to  regional parliaments in the Yaroslavl Region, the lists of Rodina party - in the Trans-Baikal Territory, Communists of Russia - in Kalmykia, the Party for Justice - in Yakutia and Great Fatherland Party - in the Nenets Autonomous region.As for individual candidates, the story is quite sad here too as all prominent candidates who posed competition to authorities were withdrawn from lists as well. For example, Maxim Suraykin, the head of Communists of Russia party, was removed from the election of the mayor of Moscow. Another candidate, Mikhail Balakin, was forced to defend his right to run at court.One way or another, but the elections have come to an end, and their final results are to be announced within the coming days. One can say for sure that the voting went without scandals and mass violations but under the condition of voter apathy. What does the Kremlin get after the September 9 elections? The Kremlin gets the candidates elected by only a third of Russia's population to continue to "express the will of the people" (under the Constitution) by raising taxes, managing the social sector in regions and implementing the pension reform. Meanwhile, Western publications dream about the day, when Russia falls into Ukraine's abyss of chaos as a result of a coup, in which active minority rises to topple the regime, while passive majority does not interfere. Russia's most recent elections, alas, have shown the growth in the share of passive majority that was supposed to rule the country through elections, but instead stopped trying and ceased to believe in such an opportunity. Most importantly and unfortunately, this is not just a signal or a message - this is the alarm. The political situation in Russia grows more critical while staying outwardly calm. On September 9, the Russians went to the polls to elect MPs, governors (in 22 regions), five mayors, including the mayor of Moscow. Sixteen regions held elections to regional parliaments, while campaigns to municipal legislative assemblies were held in several cities. All in all, the elections were held in 80 Russian regions.

There will be very active struggle for power in Armenia, Russian public figure, political analyst, director general of the Institute for Political Studies Sergey Markov told Trend Sept. 4.

Japan is known for its abundance of centenarians and can now lay claim to having the world's oldest living married couple, with a combined age of 208 - a feat the wife credits to her patience during 80 years of marriage.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger.

Turkish track and field athlete Ramil Guliyev has been nominated for the European Athlete of the month for August by the European Athletics Association.

Parvin Mirzazade, head of the state protocol department at Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, received newly-appointed Consul General of Turkey Zaki Ozturk in the Ganja city, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said in a message Sept. 4.

Currency reserves of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) amounted to $5,503.5 million by late July 2018, which is $402.3 million (7.9 percent) more than in the same period last year, according to statistical data posted on the CBA website Sep. 4.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an Order providing funds for the construction of Shamkir-Abbasli-Narimanli road in Shamkir district.

The signing of agreements between Russia and Azerbaijan will give an additional impetus to further development of relations between the two countries, trade representative of Russia in Azerbaijan Eldar Tlyabichev told Trend Sept. 4.

Although every single city has its specific beauty, some towns are distinguished by its historical background and some by its mountains and forests.

Iran and Azerbaijan will decrease preferential tariff between the ports of the two courtiers, under mutual agreement , Mohammad-Ali Hassanzadeh, deputy head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) for ports and economic affairs, said.

President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order to dismiss Etibar Pirverdiyev from the post of President of Azerenergy OJSC.

Oil prices rose sharply on Tuesday after the evacuation of two Gulf of Mexico oil platforms in preparation for a hurricane.

Head of the State Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ambassador Parvin Mirzazada, accepted the new Consul General of the Republic of Turkey in Ganja, Zeki Ozturk.

Typhoon Jebi hit Japan on Tuesday, forcing hundreds to evacuate.

Azerbaijan will hold the Nasimi Festival of Poetry, Arts, and Spirituality for the first time on September 27-30.