Since HMS Defender’s recent freedom of navigation operation close to Crimea, there has been an interesting public debate about the legal aspects of innocent passage. My attention has been drawn to this article by professor Stefan Talmon where he makes the case that Russia’s suspension of this right in certain areas in the Black Sea […]
Russia
HMS Defender’s encounter with Russia’s coastguard off Crimea
Here are a few quick thoughts on yesterday’s incident where Russian ships and aircraft fired warning shots on the British destroyer HMS Defender off Crimea. This was a deliberate freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) by the Royal Navy. HMS Defender purposefully transited closer than 12 nautical miles from Crimea. This point is important to stress […]
Do tripwire forces work?
Not according to Paul Poast and Dan Reiter. In this article in War on the Rocks titled Death without deterrence, or why tripwire forces are not enough they argue that nobody is deterred by a militarily insignificant body of soldiers whose only job it is to die. Though tripwire forces offer little deterrence power, larger […]
Russian submarines are dangerous, says U.S. general
Joseph Trevithich writing for The Drive: A senior U.S. military officer has again sounded the alarm about the threat that advanced, very-quiet, cruise-missile-armed Russian submarines, as well as Chinese ones, increasingly present to the United States. At a hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday, U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who is head of U.S. Northern Command […]
Silo-based nuclear missiles are better than their reputation, and Stanislav Petrov did not save the world
Pavel Podvig has some interesting points on his blog about the Soviet Union’s nuclear strategy and the value of silo-based missiles. Pavel’s point is that silo-based ICBMs are much more useful than they are typically made out to be: Silo-based multiple-warhead ICBMs have a consistently bad reputation with the arms control crowd and nuclear hawks […]
Some thoughts on HMS Dragon’s FONOPS off Crimea
Last week, first deputy director of FSB and leader of Russia’s border control service Vladimir Kulishov made some noticeable comments to RIA Novosti about an incident in October 2020 involving the British destroyer HMS Dragon. The British warship crossed the territorial waters off Crimea in what must be characterized as a Freedom of Navigation Operation […]
The future of the Russian Navy – Last episode of interview with Jonas Kjellén
Here is the third and last episode in my interview with Jonas Kjellén. Here we discuss the future trends and developments for the Russian Navy. According to Jonas, the future looks bright for the Russian Navy. They now have lead ships ready for many classes, and in the coming years we will see serial production […]
The ships in Russia’s Baltic Fleet – Part 2 of my interview with Jonas Kjellén
This is part two of my interview with Jonas Kjellén. We particularly discussed the Baltic Fleet’s abilities for minelaying and amphibious operations, but other types of maritime operations were touched on as well.
Interview with Jonas Kjellén about the Russian Baltic Fleet – Part 1
Here is an interview I did with Jonas Kjellèn from FOI about the Russian Baltic Fleet. Jonas recently authored a really good report on the topic. This is part one of the interview. The next ones will be available in the coming weeks.
No turning back
Sam Greene on his blog: By the summer of 2019, it should have been clear that this prediction was wrong. The Kremlin ramped up arrests and street violence (albeit not to American levels on the latter count), culminating in the arrest of some 11,000 people in January 2021. Since then, they have moved to bar […]