Súbita prontidão russa à guerra: 38 mil homens, 15 submarinos, 41 navios, 110 aviões e helicópteros.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the order to bring the country’s Northern Fleet to full alert in a snap combat readiness exercise Monday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.“The main task of the [combat readiness drill] is to assess the armed forces from the Northern Fleet’s capabilities in fulfilling tasks in providing military security of the Russian Federation in the Arctic region,” Gen. Shoigu said.
The Northern Fleet was brought to alert at 8:00 a.m. Moscow time (05:00 GMT) and includes 38,000 military personnel, 3,360 pieces of equipment, 41 ships, 15 submarines, and 110 airplanes and helicopters, Shoigu added. “New challenges and threats of military security demand the further heightening of military capabilities of the Armed Forces and special attention will be paid to the state of the newly formed strategic merging [of forces] in the North,” Gen. Shoigu said. The exercises will be held on land, in sea and air and will run for five days beginning March 16, the general said. Last week, Norway began its largest military drills in decades, in its northern Finnmark region near the Russian border. The exercises comprise 5,000 military personnel and will be held until March 18.
Também aciona a Frota do Mar Negro, onde OTAN faz exercícios de guerra bem na fronteira russa.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – A tactical group of Russian Black Sea warships is holding military exercises targeting decoy “enemy” bombers and ships, Black Sea Fleet information support head Capt. 1st Class Vyacheslav Trukhachyov said Thursday. “A Bora-class air-cushioned ship, as well as Ivanovets-class cutters and [other auxiliary ships] have conducted marine battles using rockets and live-fire artillery against target positions imitating marine targets,” Capt. 1st Class Trukhachyov told journalists. He said the crews of the warships would soon hold naval exercises using anti-air defense systems employing target exercises against decoy “enemy” bombers in the region. An Su-24 Fencer fighter bomber from the Black Sea Fleet will face off with ships and Be-12 Mail amphibious aircraft will release air targets for the warships, he said.
The current Russian military drills are taking place concurrently with NATO naval drills in the Black Sea. On March 4, six NATO warships, including Turkish, Bulgarian and Romanian vessels, arrived to the Black Sea to start joint drills, according to NATO Maritime Command. The joint NATO exercise, led by US Rear Adm. Brad Williamson, includes simulated anti-air and anti-submarine warfare drills, small boat attacks and ship-handling maneuvers. NATO has been boosting its military presence close to the Russian border after Crimea broke away from Ukraine to join Russia March 2014. Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern over NATO expansion toward its eastern borders.
Magnitude excepcional: "Rússia move 30 mil homens e mil tanques bem rápido, impressionante".
"Esta é uma demonstração das capacidades militares da Rússia, do reforço de suas forças militares", afirmou o cientista político Nikolay Petrov. "O que me preocupa é saber que os russos podem, efetivamente, mobilizar 30 mil homens e mil tanques em um mesmo lugar, muito rapidamente. Foi muito impressionante", disse nesta sexta-feira o general Ben Hodges, comandante das forças terrestres da OTAN. Para o analista militar independente Pavel Felguenhauer, as manobras mostram que o Kremlin considera todos os cenários, inclusive a possibilidade de deterioração da crise na Ucrânia. Neste contexto, "interferências" militares dos Estados Unidos e de outras potências ocidentais poderiam forçar o governo russo a se preparar para um confronto nuclear.
