Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

The U.S. and Ukraine were in “close discussion” for Washington to supply another tranche of

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

for Kiev’s fight in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

reporters Nov. 18, a day after Klimko met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s ranking member, Bob Menendez, D-N.J., in a statement on Monday urged Trump to commit to strong actions before the president meets with Putin at the G20 summit this week.

“Once again, the Kremlin has shown that it only respects a strong adversary that is willing to stand up to bullies,” Menendez said.

Menendez called for tougher sanctions, additional NATO exercises on the Black Sea and for the U.S. to send more security aid to Ukraine, “including lethal maritime equipment and weapons.”

Menendez also warned the president against a repeat of his display at the U.S.-Russia summit in July, where Trump embraced Putin’s assertion that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, over the analysis of U.S. intelligence agencies and his national security advisers.

“At this precarious time, the U.S. cannot afford a weak performance by President Trump at the G20, like we saw in Helsinki. Mr. President this is your opportunity to finally show American leadership in defense of our principles and our close allies across Europe,” Menendez said.

Congress, Menendez added, should pass the bipartisan “Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act,” sponsored earlier this year by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. The bill adds measures to strengthen NATO and fight cybercrime, as well as new Russia sanctions on “persons that facilitate illicit and corrupt activities, directly or indirectly, on behalf of Vladimir Putin.”

In a tweet on Monday, the Republican co-chairman of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, Sen. Rob Portman, of Ohio, condemned Russia’s “unprovoked and unwarranted aggression” against the Ukrainian navy in the Azov Sea. He also called the blocking of the ships “an unlawful, hostile action” and said the U.S. "should join the international community in condemning it.”

Portman credited the administration for authorizing the use of lethal aid and facilitating the transfer of two excess Coast Guard patrol boats to the Ukrainian navy.

“That being said, we can, and should look to do more for the Ukrainians with both lethal and non-lethal aid,” Portman said in a separate statement on Monday. "We need to help the Ukrainian people to not only build their military capabilities, but also strengthen their democratic institutions. I will continue to take every opportunity to find ways to help Ukraine — legislatively and otherwise. They are a valued ally who need and deserve our continued support.”

The ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee’s sea power subpanel, Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., called on the United Nations to “sanction this outrage.”

Courtney expressed support for the Ukrainian navy’s right to pass through the Kerch Strait, as governed by international law and bilateral agreements — “not arbitrary Russian diktats ‘closing’ access to Ukrainian territorial waters.”

Click to expand...

Three Ukrainian ships are seen as they docked after been seized Nov. 25, 2018, in Kerch, Crimea. (AP)

Click to expand...

Jura said:

I have to leave in several minutes so I'll be quick:

gazeta.ru says (

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

) there's audio available from the yesterday's encounter, the part which appeared most recently at that link is

На дальнейших фрагментах записи становятся еще более тревожными. «Мне нужна помощь, мне нужна помощь! Такие географические координаты — 44, 51,0,37, 23, 4! ...

Click to expand...

Jura said:

Sunday at 8:49 PM
now

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

US lawmakers urge Trump to arm Ukraine, break silence on Russian blockade

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

...

Click to expand...

• 6 hours ago

Jura said:

... I've always preferred tactics to strategy

Click to expand...

After Russia fired on two

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Sunday, seizing the vessels and crew members, tensions on Russia’s doorstep appear to have reached a fever pitch.

The incident took place in the Kerch Strait — a key waterway to both countries that bridges the

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

and the

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

.

And while Ukraine is not

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, members of the Western alliance have issued formal condemnation of Russia’s actions, which appeared to be unprovoked.

“There is no justification for Russia’s use of military force against Ukrainian ships and naval personnel. We call on Russia to release the Ukrainian sailors and ships it seized, without delay,” a NATO statement issued Tuesday afternoon reads.

A U.S.-Russia conflict remains unlikely, but there are U.S. troops currently in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region that could respond.

Army
In Ukraine specifically, the Tennessee National Guard’s 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment has troops on the ground helping that country run its

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

.

The CTC — similar to the Army’s versions at Fort Polk in Louisiana, Fort Irwin in California, and Hohenfels in Germany — is an immersive program designed to get soldiers ready for combat deployments.

The Army also keeps a rotating armored brigade in Eastern Europe year-round, which partners with local forces from Latvia down to Bulgaria on military exercises.

The 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division is finishing up its rotation and preparing for the arrival of 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.

They are joined by the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, which spent Thanksgiving in Romania.

Marine Corps
The Corps keeps a relatively light footprint in the Black Sea region. The Marines operating in the area usually hail from the Black Sea Rotational Force — a handful of several hundred Marines and sailors who participate in security cooperation exercises across the region.

While modest in size, the Corps’ presence in the Black Sea serves as a powerful deterrent against would-be aggressors. Highly mobile and agile, the Marines in the Black Sea bounce around the region helping train and advise partner forces to boost collective security.

From July to September this year, the Corps kicked off three training evolutions with partner forces in Ukraine, Romania, and Georgia.

This year’s iteration of Sea Breeze in Ukraine involved roughly 50 Marines with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment. The training, which involved company sized mechanized attacks,

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

.

“Military activities will take place in direct proximity to the conflict zone in southeastern Ukraine where Ukrainian military units continue to shell peaceful Donbass cities every day despite a ‘bread truce’ announced on July 1 by the Minsk Contact Group,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a July Moscow briefing. “Attempts to flex muscles in these conditions will hardly help stabilize the situation in this region.”

Air Force
Similarly, the Air Force has held exercises of significance in Ukraine this year.

The California National Guard has been linked to Ukraine through a State Department partnership program since 1993, often rotating airmen through the country for training. That partnership has stepped up recently.

The Air Force wrapped up

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, a large, multinational air exercise hosted by Ukraine in October.

"It was basically the largest of its kind in Eastern Europe ever,” Lt. Col. Robert Swertfager, the partnership program director for the California Air National Guard, told Military Times last month.

The exercise paired

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

with the Ukrainian Air Force during close-air support missions, cyber defense operations and air sovereignty defense.

Special operations airmen, to include pararescue jumpers and joint terminal attack controllers, trained throughout October in Ukraine.

The Air Force also has multiple air assets in Europe that fly reconnaissance and air sovereignty missions over NATO allies. One ongoing mission is through unarmed MQ-9 Reaper drones, which began ISR operations from Miroslawiec Air Base, Poland, in May.

Navy
The Naples-based U.S. 6th Fleet does not keep a permanent presence in the Black Sea, but maintains a rotational basis of warships and support vessels through the waterway. Sixth Fleet officials declined to say if any warships are heading there now, but the command always releases the names of vessels entering and exiting the Black Sea.

In the summer of 2017, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser Hué City and the Ukrainian auxiliary ship Balta conducted search-and-seizure training during exercise Sea Breeze. The Balta played the role of a “non-compliant” vessel and it was boarded by Hué City sailors.

Over the past 12 months, the guided-missile destroyers James E. Williams, Carney, Ross and Porter sailed the Black Sea, making stops in Bulgaria and Romania in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, the naval operation dedicated to NATO’s collective defense of the Black Sea.

Home-ported in Rota, Spain, the Carney also visited the Ukrainian port of Odessa on Jan. 8 and exited the Black Sea five days later.

The Harpers Ferry-class amphibious dock landing ship Oak Hill and the embarked 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit transited the Dardanelles Strait on March 7 to participate in the Romanian-led Spring Storm exercise.

On May 9, a detachment of the Sicily-based “Red Lancers” of Navy Patrol Squadron 10 brought their P-8A Poseidon planes to participate in NATO Maritime Group 2’s Sea Shield exercise.

On July 7, the 6th Fleet’s flagship Mount Whitney entered the Black Sea to participate in the annual Sea Breeze exercise with Ukraine. The nations focused on maritime interdiction operations, air defense, anti-submarine warfare, damage control drills, search and rescue, and amphibious warfare, according to the 6th Fleet.

The next month, the Military Sealift-operated expeditionary fast transport ship Carson City arrived in Constanta, Romania, where it dropped off the U.S. Army’s Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. The Spearhead-class vessel later shuttled soldiers and their equipment from Poti, Georgia, back to Romania.

Tensions with the nearby Russians haven’t come by sea but rather flared in the sky.

On Jan. 29, an Sukhoi SU-27 Flanker fighter intercepted a Navy EP-3 Aries II surveillance plane in international airspace over the Black Sea. According to the Pentagon, the interdiction became “unsafe” when the Russian pilot closed to within five feet of the Navy aircraft and veered into its flightpath, forcing the turbo-prop plane to fly through the fighter’s jet wash.

On Nov. 5, the incident was repeated. Videotaped footage released by the Pentagon showed a Flanker on the starboard side of a

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

banking right of its nose before the Russian hit his afterburners, forcing the plane to fly through the turbulent wash.

Click to expand...

Allowing ship-to-ship transfers in Norwegian waters from Yamal in Arctic Russia, one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, undercuts Europe’s energy diversification efforts, the U.S. State Department said on Friday.

By transferring LNG to more conventional tankers in Norway, the Arctic vessels cut in half the distance they would cover to deliver gas to Europe, enabling more frequent shipments from the Novatek terminal and increasing Russia’s gas exports.

Last week, the first such transfer took place off the Norwegian Arctic port of Honningsvag.

Asked what was the U.S. position on the activity in Norwegian waters, the U.S. State Department told Reuters: “At a time when Russian gas comprises a growing proportion of Europe’s energy imports, additional volumes of Russian gas will undercut Europe’s energy diversification efforts.

“We are working closely with our European partners to increase their energy security by promoting diversification of energy fuel types, energy routes, and energy source countries.”

Russia condemned the U.S. position.

“Such statements are a definitive example of resorting to political instruments for the sake of unfair competition, (and) direct infringement of trade freedom principles,” the Russian embassy in Oslo said in a statement.

The United States has been pressing Europe to cut its reliance on cheap Russian gas and buy much more expensive U.S. LNG instead, which many European countries, including industrial heavyweight Germany, have so far resisted.

It has called on European countries to reject Russian gas pipelines, which Washington says are being used to cement Moscow’s grip on Central and Eastern Europe..

In particular, the United States has said it could impose new sanctions on Russia to try to block the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline across the Baltic Sea to the European Union.

Norway, Europe’s second-largest supplier of gas after Russia, said it was not “concerned” by the ship-to-ship transfers.

“Europe has a well-functioning gas market. The planned ship-to-ship transfers of Russian LNG in northern Norway are a commercial project,” the Norwegian Ministry for Oil and Energy told Reuters.

“The fact that LNG is brought to the market via such transfers is not a concern for the ministry.”

Thanks to the ship-to-ship transfers off Norway, Yamal is expected to export as much as 11.7 million tonnes of LNG in the next seven months, according to the port hosting its ship-to-ship operations and Reuters calculations.

The ramp-up in output puts the Novatek terminal, in operation for less than a year, in excess of its nameplate capacity, with the Norwegian transfers the only way it can deliver the additional LNG to the market.

Yamal uses Arctic-class LNG tankers to carry the gas through the Barents Sea; these vessels then transfer the cargo to more conventional tankers in Europe, enabling them to return sooner to the facility and pick up more supplies.

Click to expand...