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Lithuania is the only one of the three states to have a land link to a fellow NATO ally, Poland. The three Baltic states have also attracted journalists who have fled Russia. DEFENCESpurred by Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, the three Baltic states sharply increased military spending. According to NATO estimates for 2022, all three exceeded the NATO agreement to spend 2% of gross domestic product on defence. Since the invasion of Ukraine, the Baltic states have requested the forces deployed are beefed up to 3,000-5,000 troops in each state.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Boris Pistorius, Andrius Sytas, Edmund Blair Organizations: NATO, RAND Corporation, European Union, Corruption, German, Thomson Locations: VILNIUS, Lithuania, Baltic, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Soviet Union, Siberia, Soviet, Russia, Belarus, NATO, Poland, Russia's Kaliningrad, Estonian, U.S, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, United States, West, Moscow, Vilnius, Russian, Crimea, Germany, Britain, Canada, British

☆ Russia is 'accepting risks' and dropping its guard against other threats to hold its ground in Ukraine, British military says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Shifting the bulk of its military to Ukraine has made Russia vulnerable elsewhere, experts say. The war has become a nearly all-consuming effort for Russia's military. Units from across Russia are now "bearing the brunt" of the Ukrainian counteroffensive that kicked off in early June, the British Ministry of Defense said in an update published Thursday. "The way Russia is accepting risks across Eurasia highlights how the war has dislocated Russia's established national strategy," the ministry said. "Russia has really made itself vulnerable globally," Dara Massicot, an expert on the Russian military at the Rand Corporation think tank, said in April.

Persons: —, Ukraine's, Ben Wallace, Muhammed Enes Yildirim, Dara Massicot, Adm, Tony Radakin, Radakin, ANATOLII STEPANOV, Christopher Cavoli, Cavoli, we've, Justin Bronk, They'd, Bronk, they're Organizations: Service, British Ministry of Defense, Russian, Eastern Military District, 61st Naval Infantry Brigade, NATO, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Arms Army, Rand Corporation, US European Command, Royal United Services Institute Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, Belarus, Zaporizhzhia, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Crimea, Velyka, Donetsk Oblast, Bakhmut, Moscow, Russian, Oskol, Ukraine's Kharkiv, AFP, British, Kaliningrad, Finland

"It's all about containing those kinds of capabilities from the north," retired U.S. Major General Gordon B. Davis Jr. told Reuters. "With five submarines we can close the Baltic Sea," Linden told Reuters. The region from the Baltic in the south to the high north may become almost an integrated operating area for NATO. It was first shipped from Germany across the Baltic Sea, then trucked nearly 900 km to the north. "It would make it very difficult for the Russian Baltic Sea fleet to operate in a free way," he said.

Persons: Mika Hakkarainen, Finland –, Major General Gordon B, Davis Jr, Fredrik Linden, Sweden's, Linden, Samu Paukkunen, Paukkunen, Sebastian Bruns, Michael Maus, Kurt Rossi, Rossi, Tuomo Lamberg, Bruns, Nick Childs, Anne Kauranen, Johan Ahlander, Jacob Gronholt, Sabine Siebold, Sara Ledwith Organizations: NATO, Reuters, Fleet, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Major, Analysts, Northern Fleet, Kiel University's Institute for Security, NATO's, Transformation, Field Artillery, U.S . Army, Baltic, Commission, Security, Cooperation, Naval Forces and Maritime Security, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Fouche, Pedersen, Thomson Locations: TORNIO, Finland, KARLSKRONA, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Stockholm, Ukraine, Moscow, Europe, RUSSIA, Russian, Murmansk, Kola, Barents, North America, Greenland, Iceland, Helsinki, Baltic, Nord, Russia's, Denmark, Kiel, Rovaniemi, Santa Claus, United States, Britain, Germany, –, St, Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Sweco, Swedish, Gotland, Karlskrona, Oeland, London, Birmingham, Tornio, Oslo, Copenhagen, Brussels

☆ Russia conducts tactical fighter jet drills over Baltic Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

June 27 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry said early on Tuesday that it was conducting tactical fighter jet exercises over the Baltic Sea with the main goal of testing readiness to perform combat and special tasks operations. "The crews of the Su-27 (fighter jets) of the Baltic Fleet fired from airborne weapons at cruise missiles and mock enemy aircraft," the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app. "The main goal of the exercise is to test the readiness of the flight crew to perform combat and special tasks as intended." The ministry said that in addition to improving skills, the fighter jets crews are on "round-the-clock combat duty" guarding the air space of Russia's Kaliningrad exclave. Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Shri NavaratnamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Lidia Kelly, Shri Navaratnam Organizations: Baltic Fleet, Thomson Locations: Baltic, Russia's Kaliningrad, Melbourne

☆ Russia asks IAEA to ensure Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant security
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 23 (Reuters) - Russia urged the International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday to ensure Ukraine does not shell the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, saying it was otherwise operating safely. Alexei Likhachev, chief executive of the Russian state nuclear energy firm Rosatom, made the comments at a meeting with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi in the Russian city of Kaliningrad, Rosatom said in a statement, after Grossi visited the plant last week. "We expect concrete steps from the IAEA aimed at preventing strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, both on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and on adjacent territory and critical infrastructure facilities," Rosatom quoted its chief as saying in a statement. The IAEA said this week that the power plant was "grappling with ... water-related challenges" after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam emptied the vast reservoir on whose southern bank the plant sits. Moscow and Kyiv have regularly accused each other of shelling Europe's largest nuclear power station, with its six offline reactors.

Persons: Alexei Likhachev, Rafael Grossi, Rosatom, Grossi, Kevin Liffey Organizations: International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Armed Forces of, Kyiv, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Russian, Kaliningrad, Armed Forces of Ukraine, Moscow, Kyiv

☆ Russia re-deploys combat-ready marines and airborne troops, implying they blew up Khakhovka dam to gain military advantage, Ukrainian defense minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Khakhovka dam in southern Ukraine was mysteriously damaged, triggering intense flooding, this week. A Ukrainian official claims Russia blew it up to prevent a counteroffensive in the south. She said that Russia is now re-deploying its most combat-ready units to more needed areas. Ukrainian deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram on Sunday that Russia is now moving its most combat-ready units, including marines, airborne troops, and the 49th army, away from Kherson. She claimed that this backs up the theory that Russian forces sabotaged the dam in order to narrow the possible areas that Ukraine's army could take action.

Persons: —, Hanna Maliar, Vitaly Nevar Organizations: Service, United Nations, International Army Games, REUTERS, Reuters Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Ukrainian, Kherson, Kaliningrad, Vitaly Nevar Russia, Norway, Russian

☆ Russian schools are spending thousands to teach children as young as 12 how to operate drones, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russian schools are teaching children how to operate drones, independent outlet iStories reported. Some of the students are as young as 12 years old, iStories said. The report comes amid a general militarization of Russian schools. The report comes amid a general militarization of Russian schools. In an intelligence update earlier this year, the British Ministry of Defence tweeted that secondary school students in Russia will be learning basic military skills from September 1 onwards.

Persons: iStories, —, Petersburg, Vladimir Putin Organizations: Service, British Ministry of Defence Locations: Kaliningrad, St, Russia, Soviet Union

☆ Russia's fearsome S-400 air-defense missiles are getting unexpected missions as Moscow struggles in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Russia's S-400 is a highly regarded weapon designed to intercept a variety of aircraft and missiles. But in Ukraine, Moscow has pressed its S-400s into service to intercept US-made HIMARS rockets or, more bizarrely, to bombard Ukrainian cities. Ukraine has used the S-300 — predecessor to the S-400 — and the American-made Patriot to intercept Kalibr cruise missiles and even Kinzhal hypersonic weapons. A more suitable system to destroy HIMARS rockets would be Israel's Iron Dome, which has frequently intercepted small rockets and even mortar shells. An S-400 missile is launched at a military base in southern Russia during an exercise in September 2020.

☆ The widow of Putin's political mentor and mother of his rumored goddaughter is increasingly voicing concerns about Russia's war in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A prominent Russian senator with close ties to Putin is increasingly criticizing the war in Ukraine. Sen. Lyudmila Narusova, whose late husband was a mentor to Putin, has been a skeptic of the war since the start. "Nobody has explained how victory is supposed to look," Narusova told an interviewer with Forbes Russia in an April video, according to a translation in The Washington Post. "I think they themselves do not know what they are doing," Narusova told the independent Dozhd channel in February 2022, per The Times. His widow's public defiance is a sign of the worry growing among top Russian officials ahead of Ukraine's much-anticipated counteroffensive.

☆ Russia scrambles jet as France, Germany conduct NATO patrols
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 15 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry scrambled a fighter jet on Monday after it said it detected French and German patrol aircraft flying towards Russian airspace, the ministry said in a statement. France and Germany said its planes - a French Atlantic 2 maritime patrol aircraft and a German P-3C Orion - were conducting regular flights as part of a NATO exercise and behaved in accordance with international law. Russia said its Su-27 jet returned to base after the French and German ones turned away from Russia, the defence ministry said, adding that it had scrambled the jet to "prevent the Russian state border being violated." "There was never any intention to enter Russian airspace, these aircraft always keep a safe distance. "As part of a NATO exercise, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet interacted with an Atlantic 2 maritime patrol aircraft off the Baltic States today.

☆ Kremlin calls Polish decision to rename Kaliningrad 'hostile act'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Soldiers build razor wire fence on Poland's border with Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad near Bolcie, Poland November 3, 2022. Arkadiusz Stankiewicz/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via REUTERSMay 10 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Poland's decision to rename the Russian city of Kaliningrad in its official documents was a "hostile act", as bilateral ties continue to fray over the war in Ukraine. Kaliningrad was known by the German name of Koenigsberg until after World War II, when it was annexed by the Soviet Union and renamed to honour Soviet politician Mikhail Kalinin. Relations between Poland and Russia have historically often been very strained, including during and after World War Two. Most Poles believe the Soviet Union replaced Nazi occupation with another form of repression.

☆ Military object found in Polish forest was Russian missile - media
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WARSAW, May 10 (Reuters) - The military object found in a Polish forest in April was a Russian CH-55 missile, Polish private media outlets RMF FM and Polsat News reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources. The area where the object was found is hundreds of kilometres from Poland's borders with Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Private broadcaster RMF FM reported on Wednesday without naming its sources that the preliminary findings of Poland's Air Force Institute of Technology was that the object was a Russian CH-55 missile. Private broadcaster Polsat News also reported without naming its sources that the object was a CH-55 missile. A Polish government spokesman and the Air Force Institute of Technology could not immediately be reached for comment.

☆ Ukraine vs. the Axis of Illegitimacy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Holman W. Jenkins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Journal Editorial Report: Xi meets Putin in Moscow to cement ties. Images: Shutterstock/Handout via Reuters Composite: Mark KellyChurchill’s “bodyguard of lies” will have been working overtime in the runup to Ukraine’s anticipated spring offensive. Contrary to the justifications of Vladimir Putin and his Western echo chamber, Mr. Putin shows by his behavior he knows NATO is no threat to Russia. He denudes his ultra-vulnerable Kaliningrad sector—surrounded by NATO on four sides—of forces to send them to Ukraine. He is blasé about Finland joining the alliance, though it extends by 830 miles the border he must defend against NATO.

☆ Russian navy vessels seen near Nord Stream before blasts - Nordic broadcasters report
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Russian navy ships were traced using satellite images and intercepted radio communication from the Russian fleet, the four broadcasters, Denmark's DR, Norway's NRK, Sweden's SVT and Finland's Yle, said. Authorities in Denmark, Sweden and Germany have said the explosions that ruptured the Nord Stream 1 and newly-built Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines that link Russia and Germany across the Baltic Sea were deliberate. The Kremlin on Tuesday denied Russian ships had any involvement in the sabotage and called for results of the investigations to be published. The Russian ships traced by the four broadcasters had all switched off their AIS signal, an automatic tracking system used on ship, they said. One of the ships in the area was Russian navy research vessel Sibiryakov, satellite images indicated.

☆ Moscow's 'special' forces: An inside look at how Russia's famed Spetsnaz really operate
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Mark Galeotti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +24 min

Russia's Spetsnaz forces are often depicted as a kind of Russian super troops. Osprey PublishingMost countries' special forces emphasize physical fitness, determination and aggression. Special people, for special tasksMembers of the Russian military's 16th Separate Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in 2018. Even so, being better than most of the Soviet army's miserable and recalcitrant conscript forces did not make most of them truly special, special forces. The special operations commandMembers of Russian's 22nd Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in November 2017.

☆ U.S. Asks Brazil to Hand Over Russian Accused of Spying
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Luciana Magalhaes | Samantha Pearson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A criminal complaint released by the Justice Department identifies Sergey Cherkasov in this photograph from over a decade ago. Photo: Department of JusticeSÃO PAULO—Brazil’s foreign ministry said the U.S. has requested the extradition of an alleged Russian spy, Sergey Cherkasov, who is accused by U.S. and Brazilian authorities of posing as a Brazilian student in Washington while carrying out espionage operations against the West. Mr. Cherkasov, 37 years old, originally from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, was arrested in São Paulo in October last year and sentenced to 15 years in jail for forging Brazilian identity documents. Russia’s government has demanded his extradition to Russia, accusing him of drug trafficking.

☆ 'Military object' found in Poland probably not fired from abroad, broadcaster reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSZAWA, April 27 (Reuters) - A military object found in a Polish forest was probably not fired from abroad and most likely belonged to the Polish army, private broadcaster RMF FM reported on Thursday. The defence and justice ministries did not identify what had been had found near the city of Bydgoszcz, beyond describing it as a "military object". RMF said that its sources had noted that fighter jets were repaired near the site, which was near an airport used by the military. "The Military Department of the District Prosecutor's Office in Gdansk, under the supervision of the National Prosecutor's Office, initiated proceedings regarding the remains of an aerial military object found in a forest several kilometres from Bydgoszcz," Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said on Twitter. The military police, regional police, the mayor of the village of Zamosc, the Gdansk prosecutor's office and a government spokesman all declined to comment further.

☆ How Putin spent 20 years rebuilding Russia's military 'and then just simply destroyed it' in Ukraine, according to an expert who watched it happen
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

Vladimir Putin has spent his two decades in power rebuilding and reforming Russia's military. Below, Galeotti describes those reforms, what they achieved, and how, in a devastating war in Ukraine, Putin has squandered the military he built. IGOR SAREMBO/AFP via Getty ImagesWhen Putin came to power at the end of the 1990s, what was the state of the Russian military? How did the Russian military underperform in that conflict in Georgia? What did those conflicts show about the capabilities of the Russian military and about the impact of those reforms?

☆ Front-line NATO allies worry they could be next after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and are getting ready for a fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Sinéad Baker | Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

These countries along the military alliance's front line are now scrambling to make sure they're protected should the Russian military ever come knocking. "There is an imminent need of a stronger NATO presence in our region," Estonia's Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said. For nearly 14 months, the Russian military has been bogged down by its grinding war in Ukraine. More boots on the groundSome leaders in the Baltic countries have said that they ultimately want to host more NATO troops, including permanent brigades, in the years to come. So as the threat landscape continues to shift, the Baltic defense has adapted along with it, Townsend said.

London CNN —Europe’s air traffic control authority says it has been battling an ongoing attack, claimed by pro-Russian hackers, since Wednesday. There hasn’t been any impact on flights, though access to its website has been affected, according to the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation, or Eurocontrol. “There has been no impact on European aviation.”The International Air Transport Association also said air traffic was operating normally. “There has been no inconvenience to commercial air traffic, no disruption and no delays because of the cyberattack,” the industry group said. European countries have provided military assistance to Ukraine and imposed a raft of sanctions on Russia aimed at crippling its ability to wage war.

That man was the military commandant of Balakliia, a key figure in Russia’s six-month occupation of the eastern Ukrainian town. Town residents knew the commandant only by his call sign of “Granit,” the Russian word for granite, as Reuters reported in an October investigation into Moscow’s withdrawal from the town. One of the documents listed Valery Sergeyevich Buslov as among the Russian officers present in Balakliia, stating his role was military commandant. He has served as the Kaliningrad garrison’s military commandant, responsible for maintaining discipline among troops and sailors stationed there, according to a 2019 military newspaper article. By May, the military commandant had arrived in Balakliia, according to Oleksandr, one of the two female residents and another local woman.

☆ NATO's newest member means Russia's 'unsinkable aircraft carrier' will be even more isolated
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Constantine Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Finland also extends NATO's border along the Baltic Sea, which has been called a "NATO lake." That further isolates Russia's Kaliningrad region, which is surrounded by NATO member countries. Kaliningrad is a major military outpost, hosting Russia's Baltic Fleet and other forces, and has been called an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" that allows Moscow to project power deep into NATO and EU territory. However, some Baltic Fleet units were redeployed to Ukraine where they have reportedly suffered very high casualties. Russia's Baltic Fleet is based in Baltiysk and is composed of warships — mostly corvettes and a number of support ships — infantry and armored units, and aviation and air-defense forces.

☆ Map shows how Russia's border with NATO more than doubles with Finland as a member
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Sinéad Baker | Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Finland officially became a member of the NATO military alliance on Tuesday. Finland has an 830-mile border with Russia, meaning Russia's border with NATO more than doubles. Finland's presence in the alliance more than doubles the border between NATO countries and Russia. The increase in public and political support in Finland for joining NATO came after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He added: "In the event that the forces and resources of other NATO members are deployed in Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia's military security."

☆ US F-35 fighter jets sent to NATO's front line as Russia invaded Ukraine were out looking for missiles able to threaten planes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

As Russia invaded Ukraine, the US Air Force sent F-35 fighter jets to NATO's front line — the alliance's eastern edge. "The jet is always sensing, gathering information," a wing commander told Air Force Times. "We are facing a dynamic environment, and the deployment of F-35s to NATO's eastern flank enhances our defensive posture and amplifies the Alliance's interoperability," the commander of US Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa said at the time. We're not shooting anything or dropping anything," 388th Fighter Wing Commander Col. Craig Andrle told Air Force Times in a recent interview. Andrle told Air Force Times that one example of this involved Russia's S-300, which are long-range surface-to-air missiles systems.

☆ Oil settled up as rising supplies face Chinese demand hopes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Permian Basin rigs in 2020, when U.S. crude oil production dropped by 3 million a day as Wall Street pressure forced cuts. Oil prices settled up slightly on Wednesday as signs of ample supply, including growing U.S. crude inventories, offset growing hopes for higher demand after a jump in manufacturing in top crude importer China. Brent crude futures settled up 86 cents, or 1%, to $84.31 a barrel. In other signs of ample supply, Russia's oil production reached the pre-sanctions level for the first time in February, the Kommersant business daily reported. An official index showed China's manufacturing activity expanded in February at the fastest pace in more than a decade, feeding hopes for a boost in oil demand.

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