Pravda.ru / Russia

Russia is not interested in the Davos forum from the point of view of strategic prospects, because the forum is devoted to outdated economic models

To expand the horizons of its "red lines," Russia should get out of someone else's economic project, political analyst Leonid Krutakov said.In an interview with Kommersant, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov outlined Russia's "red lines," which Western "partners" are not recommended to cross. Serious Western politicians should not only understand but also respect this, he added. "Russia has the right to defend the interests of its compatriots, especially when they are persecuted in many countries, when their rights are oppressed, as it happened in Ukraine," Sergei Lavrov said.He referred to Russia's action in the Crimea after the coup in Ukraine. "The first thing that the Ukrainian parliament did after the coup was the law which said that the Russian language should know its place. This place, roughly speaking, was simply under the bench," Lavrov said."Two days later, there were statements made that the Russians would never honour Bandera and Shukhevych, so the Russians should be expelled from the Crimea. After that, the Supreme Council of the republic was in the hands of thugs. Russia could no longer stand by and look at how Russian people would be killed there," the Russian Foreign Minister said.Political analyst Leonid Krutakov told Pravda.Ru that Ukraine has been and still remains Russia's "red line." "NATO's presence is absolutely excluded there - this is an absolutely clear condition that is constantly voiced at all closed and open meetings."As for the Donbass "red line," Russian President Putin clearly stated that Russia would never let anyone to destroy and massacre those people.Russia has "red lines" not only in the "Russian world," the political scientist noted. Russia's "red line" in Syria is the preservation of Syrian statehood. The world has seen what happened to Iraq and Libya, and one can see chaos in the Middle East at the moment, where the state framework and public consensus have been breaking down. This is the reason why Russia vetoed the decision of the UN Security Council to create a no-fly zone over Syria, having thus prevented the development of the "Libyan scenario."To make the West respect Russia's taboos, "it's about time Russia needs to exit someone else's project," said Leonid Krutakov. "Politically, we advocate sovereignty, but economically, we live in the institutional environment created by the Western world - their banking system of dollar settlements, stock markets, and the West will continue putting pressure on Russia through these institutions because Russia is a competitor on the political field," he said."The United States does not have a picture of the strong Russia, and the Americans will never allow us to become strong. The conflict is so obvious that we were shown through sanctions that we do not have the common financial market. Russia is not strong enough to exit the Western system alone, so we need to cooperate with other countries that share the same view of the world's future - China, India, the BRICS, SCO, Eurasian Economic Union - to create a separate monetary system. Otherwise we will lose in the long term," the political scientist summed up.Lyuba LulkoPravda.Ru Read article in Russian

The USA does not have a picture of the strong Russia, and the Americans will never allow Russians become strong. Sanctions show how obvious the conflict is

The media interpretation of the remarks by Putin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov about the contacts between Russian and Ukrainian presidents was incorrect. The rumours about Putin's secret contacts with Poroshenko appeared after Dmitry Peskov's interview on Rossiya 1 TV channel. In this regard, Peskov stressed that "no one said anything about any meetings." During the interview, a journalist wondered about the time of the most recent meeting between the two presidents recalling such "contacts from last year, when the press was notified about them several months afterwards." According to Peskov, "President Putin has a huge number of meetings and contacts that are not of public nature. "We do not report anything about those meetings, and this is common practice. The president's working day ... is much busier than one can see it on television. Indeed, there are meetings about which we do not inform the press," Peskov said.The Ukrainian side has already announced that President Poroshenko did not hold bilateral meetings with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after the conclusion of the Minsk agreements. However, not so long ago, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, who earlier became the main mediator in Erdoğan's apologies to Putin, said that Poroshenko had asked him [the Kazakh president] for help in finding a compromise with Russia. After attempts to commit subversive activities in the Crimea, Russian President Putin stated that  Ukraine had "crossed the line" and "proceeded to terror" adding that the Norman format meeting in China was not going to take place. Poroshenko was reportedly begged the Chinese side to find an opportunity for his arrival at the G20 summit, although to no avail. It was also reported that Poroshenko and Putin conduct secret telephone conversations. The Security Bureau of Ukraine supposedly classifies those talks not to cast any suspicion on the Ukrainian president. It was in particular said that the two presidents talked to each other on the phone in April. "The presidents would periodically switch to irony not to quarrel with each other," a source from the Ukrainian administration said. Pravda.Ru Read article in Russian

It was in particular said that the two presidents talked to each other on the phone in April. They had to maintain irony during the conversation not to quarrel

World's most powerful nuclear submarines, Arkhangelsk and Severstal, are to be dismantled after 2020. The Russian federal nuclear power watchdog, Rosatom, found their further exploitation unprofitable. The submarines have already been withdrawn from the combat structure of the Russian Navy. Why such a hurry? The work on the submarines started in December 1973. The construction of the first heavy submarine strategic missile cruiser of Project 941 (codenamed "Akula", NATO reporting name SSBN "Typhoon"), the Dmitry Donskoy nuclear cruiser, was launched in 1976. The sub entered the combat strength of the Northern Fleet in 1981. The Dmitry Donskoy was the only submarine that was modernized and re-equipped for Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Dmitry Donskoy will remain the only underwater cruiser of Project 941, which remains part of the Russian Navy. A total of six cruisers had been built afterwards, but three of them (TK-12, TK-202 and TK-13) were withdrawn from the Russian Navy in 1996-1997 due to the lack of funds. It is worthy of note that it was the United States that covered the costs for the dismantlement of those submarines.

World's most powerful nuclear submarines, Arkhangelsk and Severstal, are to be dismantled after 2020 - their further exploitation is unprofitable

The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the United States of the covert transfer of money assets to opposition groups in Russia to destabilize the political situation in the country. The announcement from representatives of the foreign ministry came in response to the recent article published on BuzzFeed. The article disclosed confidential information about transactions of Russian diplomatic institutions in the United States. In particular, the article said that the authorities of the United States were studying "suspicious money transfers" of the Russian embassy in Washington. Representatives of the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs stressed that such information was "deliberately falsified and maliciously interpreted for the next round of accusations connected with Russia's alleged interference in US elections. It goes about conventional salary transfers, which "they try to make look like conspiracies."

Russia accused the United States of the covert transfer of money assets to opposition groups in Russia to destabilize the political situation in the country

Russia works to neutralise the USA's Prompt Global Strike strategy. The Pentagon has admitted that Russia has an unmanned submarine capable of carrying a powerful nuclear munition.To destroy an enemy in 48 hours, the United States pays first priority to high-precision weapons - hypersonic shells fired from surface vessels. In addition, the strategy involves the use of the nuclear triad shooting non-nuclear projectiles. However, before anything can be made, aircraft will have to take off and gain altitude. There are effective anti-aircraft and air defence complexes against ICBMs, whereas submarines appear to be most invulnerable. A recent report from the Pentagon, published on January 14, says that Russia works to develop its undersea fleet. Advantages of the submarine fleet Submarines can strike targets when approaching enemy's sea borders, and one does not have to maintain costly aircraft carriers and military bases for the purpose. Medium-range sea-based missiles are exempt from the INF Treaty. The launch of Caliber cruise missiles from the water area of the Caspian Sea on terrorists in Syria showed the effectiveness of such weapons to the whole world. To crown it all, Americans and Europeans periodically detect Russian submarines off their coasts, but they are unable to track them.For the time being, the United States has a quantitative and qualitative advantage over Russia in the submarine fleet, but, according to their own forecasts, the Americans will lose it by the end of the 2020s, if they do not take adequate measures.Russia, on the contrary, has been taking great effort to take its submarine fleet to a new level. Russia eyes Project 955 Borei nuclear-powered submarines armed with ballistic missiles. There are three of them in the Russian Navy - Yuri Dolgoruky, Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh. Five more subs are to arrive before 2020. Russia's Borei class submarines are more sophisticated than Ohio subs of the USA. It uses state-of-the-art noise-absorbing coating, more advanced hydroacoustic and navigation equipment, a higher level of automation.Another pinnacle of the Russian submarine fleet is the nuclear-powered Yasen submarines. These subs are superior to USA's Virginia submarines for their low-noise and missiles on board: Caliber missiles are more effective than USA's outdated Tomahawks.By 2020, the number of Yasen submarines (now Severodvinsk and Kazan subs) is expected to be increased to eight. Russia also has 20 diesel-powered submarines (Varshavyanka Project) - a class that the Americans do not have, which minimises the quantitative backlog on nuclear submarines  plus SSBN (38 - 56). Diesel-powered boats are inferior in terms of their atomic capabilities, but they are equipped with formidable Caliber cruise missiles. America needs to hurry up The Navy Times reported a year ago that according to the current US Navy purchase plan for 30 years, the fleet of multipurpose nuclear submarines in 2022 would be less than the permissible minimum of 48 boats, whereas only 41 submarines would remain in another six years. This is 25 subs below the new plan of 51 boats, which is to be implemented by the middle of the century, Real Clear Defense wrote. One needs to produce two multi-purpose submarines a year to make up for the Los Angeles class submarines (36 units) starting from 2027. As for SSBN submarines (ballistic missile boats), one will have to build at least one Columbia type boat annually to replace the ageing Ohio class.The first submarine of this type will reach its service life in 2027. Thus, one needs to start the construction no later than in 2021.

Russia has developed an unmanned submarine capable of carrying a powerful nuclear munition. Two years ago, the Americans could not even think Russia could do it

The Bank of Russia holds a third of its currency assets in the United States. The USA may impose sanctions on the bank. Earlier, the US had frozen the assets of the National Fund of Kazakhstan, which suggests that Russia's reserves may found themselves in a similar situation as well. Given the current state of affairs in the US-Russian relations, investments of the Bank of Russia in dollar assets look risky. However, should the Russian gold and foreign exchange assets be frozen because of sanctions, this will become a declaration of war, President of the Foundation for Economic Research, economist and publicist Mikhail Khazin said in an interview with Pravda.Ru. "About a third of the Bank of Russia's gold and currency assets are in the US. Can they be frozen due to new sanctions?""Technically, they can be, and Kazakhstan is an example. Practically, such a move will be the declaration of war, and the declaration of war will immediately trigger a whole bunch of various problems.""Can the United States do it?" "They've done it to Kazakhstan.""Why doesn't Russia anticipate such a development?""This is a difficult question. One has to understand that the people both in the Russian government and in the Central Bank always choose the IMF between the IMF and Russian interests.""What should we do not to let them freeze our assets?" "This is a very complex system of maneuvers, but it can be possible to overcome this." "Experts say that it is useless for Russia to completely abandon investments in the US, because this may ruin the investment rating.""We need the investment rating to receive foreign investments - this is what matters for the Russian economy. This is a mistake, because it is already clear that foreign investment does not get the Russian economy moving. Therefore, we should switch to domestic investment, where the rating will play an auxiliary role."The system, in which we were purposefully planted, to make us pay first priority to foreign investment is called the Washington Consensus. It was invented especially for former socialist countries. It is about time Russia should pull out of it. However, we have people on key positions in Russia, who put IMF interests above Russia's interests."Pravda.Ru Read article in Russian

The Bank of Russia holds a third of its currency assets in the United States. The USA may impose sanctions on the bank at any moment

Russia has been expanding its presence in the World Ocean. Western officials believe that Russia's increasing activity at sea comes as a proof of the country's "aggressive foreign policy," whereas Russian experts say that Russia takes measures in response to NATO's actions near Russian borders. The press service of the Russian Defense Ministry said on New Year's eve that the crews of 70 warships and support vessels of the Russian Navy would celebrate winter holidays when being on long-distance missions. The Daily Telegraph wrote soon afterwards that Russia's presences in the waters around Britain and in the North Atlantic has increased ten times over the past ten years. Officials with the British General Staff assumed that Russian submarines could cut underwater cables on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean to deprive the West of military and financial ties.President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov told Pravda.Ru, that the strength of naval groups of the Russian Navy in the World Ocean has grown considerably since the 1990s indeed. Russian warships, the expert said, conduct naval exercises, make long trips, including, to the American continent."This activity is required to stave off threats from our borders," the expert said. Compared to the 1990s, Russia's military doctrine has also changed, Leonid Ivashov added. In 1993, Russia announced that it had neither external enemies nor external threats. Presently, however, Russia admits the existence of external threats. "That is why Russian warships go on various missions in the World Ocean - to target aviation and naval assets on the territory of our potential adversaries," Ivashov said.Russia's activity near the shores of the British Isles is due to the Syrian campaign: "This is our response to NATO's activity in the Barents Sea and in the Arctic Ocean, where the Americans form Arctic NATO and constantly conduct exercises, test new models of ships and aircraft."Leonid Ivashov believes that there is no need for Russia to build a naval base in Sudan for the time being. "This was a proposal from the Sudanese side, and we said that we would think about it. First off, Russia needs to find an excuse to be there. If there is a threat coming from that direction, then we will think about it," Ivashov said.Political scientist, expert of the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Konstantin Blokhin, believes that it is about time Russia should stop reacting to someone else's actions and take measures to prevent threats. "For them, our weakness is an invitation to larger aggression. The entire military-political culture of the United States and the West is based on this assumption," the analyst told Pravda.Ru. From this point of view, the military base of the Russian Navy in the port of Sudan will help "balance the influence of the United States in this region," Blokhin said. The expert noted that China has been acting in this manner in the East China Sea lately. These days, Turkey and Saudi Arabia buy S-400 air defense missile systems from Russia. No one could even think that this could be possible ten years ago. Such a development designates the diminishing supremacy of the USA - not only in the Middle East, but also in other regions of the world. Pravda.Ru Read article in Russian 

Western officials believe that Russia's growing activity at sea comes as a proof of the country's "aggressive foreign policy"

It appears that Ukraine is working hard to build a US Navy base in the city of Odessa. US warships call at the port of Odessa once in every three months. Most recently, while the Russians were celebrating Orthodox Christmas, US destroyer USS Carney DDG-64 arrived in Odessa at nighttime.  According to representatives of the Sixth Fleet of the US Navy, the purpose of the mission is to conduct operations to ensure security at sea and strengthen combined readiness and naval capabilities among NATO allies and partners.The last time, when a US warship called at Odessa was in mid-November 2017 - USS James E. Williams stayed in Odessa for more than two weeks until December 2. The American destroyer was carrying 96 universal launchers with Tomahawk cruise missiles and 64 Standard-3 missiles.In turn, USS Carney DDG-64 destroyer is equipped with Aegis missile defence system and Tomahawk missiles. Also read: NATO ships will sink in ten minutes should they attack RussiaThe Carney destroyer is equipped with state-of-the-art radar equipment. Therefore, one may assume that one of the purposes of the mission to Odessa is intelligence and collection of classified information.In the Nikolayev region of Ukraine, US naval specialists continue the construction of the Operational Control Center for the Ukrainian Navy. The construction began in July 2017. Thus, as we can see, the Pentagon, under the guise of military assistance to Ukraine, has been deploying modern infrastructure in Ukraine to conduct military operations and NATO reconnaissance activities in the Black Sea.The port of Odessa is only 300 kilometres from the main base of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia in Sevastopol, so the activity of the US navy in the region is easy to understand. During the first days of 2017, the patrol anti-submarine aircraft of the US Navy P-8A Poseidon conducted a reconnaissance flight near the coast of the Crimea.The Kiev regime seeks Ukraine's accession to NATO, and the establishment of the US Navy base in Odessa is part of this plan. In December 2014, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill to abandon the non-bloc status. According to President Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's entry into NATO is "the main priority of Ukrainian foreign policy."In an interview with Bloomberg, Poroshenko called NATO "the only effective security mechanism in the world." Needless to say that the Kremlin is not going to sit on its hands. Aydin MehtiyevPravda.Ru Read article in Russian

Ukraine is working hard to build a US Navy base in the city of Odessa. US warships call at the port of Odessa once in every three months

Russian politicians and experts shared their opinion with Pravda.Ru about most important events of the outgoing year 2017. Alexei Pushkov, member of the Federation Council Committee on Defence and Security:"The biggest event of the year is the success of the Russian operation in Syria and the liquidation of ISIL* as a combat-ready formation and even more so, a state formation in Syria. This, in my opinion, is the most important thing."Another most important event of the year, or, to be more precise, an anti-event, is the facf of USA's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This decision has set the Middle East on fire again, it became a gross violation of international law, because international resolutions of the UN and the UN Security Council, which the US supported, envisage a special status for Jerusalem."The decision to single-handedly recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital has come as a violation of all norms of international law. I think that this event is very indicative from the point of view of the role that Russia plays in the world and the role of the USA. Russia's role is stabilising and positive, whereas the role of the USA is destabilising and destructive."Evgeny Satanovsky, President of the Institute of the Middle East:"The biggest event of the year is the state of affairs in Syria. The Russian Federation has restored its military potential, and this means that a big war with NATO has been at least canceled." Anatoly Wasserman, political consultant, publicist:"I will remember the year 2017 for events that have not taken place. To be honest, I expected that the exhaustion of the current structure of the global division of labor was evident to everyone. Trump offers to dismantle this structure while it can still be done without catastrophic consequences. Nevertheless, this did not happen, and Trump himself was declared an incompetent figure, a Russian puppet, so this system will have to rot down to the bottom. In my opinion, Trump has not realised why so many people attack him from every direction, and he is still convinced that he is offering only good things. The trouble is that any good thing comes as an obstacle for those who profit from imperfections. "I will also remember 2017 for the unbridled and absolutely groundless campaign of slander against Russia in everything - from doping in sports to interference in the US elections. And, unfortunately, I will remember this year for the inability of Russian politicians to respond to all those attacks. In fact, there are only two people, who do something about it - President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov. Everyone else, as it appears, just stand and watch and do nothing. "Finally, 2017 will be remembered for the rise of the Russian economy, despite efforts of those, who believe in beneficial effects of unlimited personal freedom with no regard for society. Certainly, individual freedom is needed, but only within the limits that do not undermine the development of society. Without society, people will not be able to live, create - they will not be able to survive." *IS is a terrorist organisation banned in RussiaPravda.Ru Read article on the Russian version of Pravda.Ru

The Russian Federation has restored its military potential, and this means that a big war with NATO has been at least canceled

The list of people, whose names Russia will remember in 2017, contains the individuals, whom everyone knows, but not everybody likes. In 2017, those people have made a number of mistakes, the lessons of which Russia will have to learn in 2018. If we don't learn from those mistakes, other countries will teach us a few other lessons, but they will most likely be lessons of obedience. 1. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin takes the first place with his program of renovation. The program provides for the demolition of five-story "khrushchevka" apartment buildings (built during the times of Nikita Khrushchev). The word "renovation" was the most requested search inquiry on Russia's Yandex search engine. The program has divided Muscovites into two opposite camps, and no one can give a clear definition of whether this program is good or bad for people, especially for those, who currently live in Khrushchev's apartment buildings, but will have to move to new apartments against their own will. 2. Chairwoman of the Central Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina has worked hard in 2017 to legitimately impose state ownership on three of Russia's ten largest commercial banks. The liberal part of the Russian society was outraged saying that Nabiullina encroached on private property. In fact, the Central Bank has created a new tool for the recovery of the financial sector to protect the country from inflating credit bubbles. The Central Bank started playing the role of the regulator, corporate doctor and market player. As a result of this activity, a few Russian oligarchs have lost their financial assets and faced real prospects of criminal cases likely to be instituted against them.