A helicopter crash in the Baltic Sea has cost the lives of two Russian pilots. They were practicing deck landings on a new landing ship which will be delivered to the Navy in May. The helicopter crash is a sad culmination of a long series of bad luck with the ship which has been under construction for 14 years.
Russia
American journal calls Kuznetsov a bad aircraft carrier, Russian media has a fit
Entertaining case where an American website makes a silly listicle about bad aircraft carriers, and the Russian media rolls out a team of military experts to discredit the story.
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Fear of missile defense traces back to World War II for Russia
Article recommendation about the history of Russian concerns with Western missile defense technology. This is not a new thing, and there is little hope for arms control treaties that do not include missile defense.
Gerasimov on the characteristics of modern warfare
An analysis of general Gerasimov’s speech to the military academic community in March 2018. The speech confirms Gerasimov’s earlier statements about the nature of modern warfare. There is a clear focus on conventional military capabilities which is interesting considering president Putin’s dramatic talk about nuclear weapons earlier this month.
Let’s not question the future of Königsberg
Next time you think the Russians are paranoid for believing that NATO might attack them, keep this in mind: Jüri Saar has an article titled “The Future of Königsberg” in Diplomaatia, which is an Estonian think tank publication. In this he argues that the 1975 Helsinki Accords are no longer valid, and that Kaliningrad is […]
Book review: Near Abroad — Putin, the West and the Contest over Ukraine and the Caucasus
Gerard Toal has written an insightful book about the geopolitics of the former Soviet Union. Through case studies of South Ossetia and Ukraine, Toal unfolds the complexities of the geopolitical field and exposes prejudices on all sides.
Putin is popular, but his voters don’t necessarily agree on much
There is little excitement about the result of today’s presidential election in Russia, but that does not mean that there is nothing exciting about it. Sam Greene has a sharp analysis on his blog, Moscow-on-Thames: Vladimir Putin will win today’s elections because he is genuinely popular. We should be clear about that. But we should […]
Sailor fell overboard from Russian corvette in Baltic Sea
On Tuesday 13 March a crew member fell overboard from the Russian corvette Soobrazitelny in the Baltic Sea. Eight ships took part in the search-and-rescue operation, but the sailor was not found. That reports korabel.ru. The incident occurred just after midnight, and at 21:00 the search was canceled. With the present water temperatures around 0 […]
Podcast recommendation: WOTR – A big debate about a little nuke
There is a great discussion about Russia and nuclear weapons in this episode of the War on the Rocks podcast. The panel is terrific. Olga Oliker is brilliant, Frank Miller is wrong about most things concerning Russia but argues his case very well, and Vipin Narang has deep technical insights. Ryan and Usha do a […]
Russia’s new nuclear weapons are about missile defense
Vladimir Putin spent a surprising amount of time in his March 1st speech talking about nuclear weapons. Pavel K. Baev has some interesting considerations in Brookings about the possible motivations for this: Russia’s economic weakness is so profound that Russia cannot possibly engage in anything resembling a real arms race with the United States and […]