Washington Casts Doubt on Russian Navy's Abilities - September, 2008

Commenting on the upcoming plans for Russian-Venezuelan naval exercises, the US State Department's very own redneck spokesthing Sean McCormack said - “they found a few ships that can make it that far,”. Ouch!!! Hey there Vlad Pewt'n (or Medvedwhatever), them are fight'n words, if I may says so.

Regardless of the redneck's oinking, Russia's nuclear capable strategic bombers have already made it to Venezuela (Hugo Chavez says he will fly in one of them), with the small yet highly suggestive flotilla of nuclear capable warship not too far behind.

How idiotic can Washington continue being? The West seems to have sunk to depths never before seen. And I'm afraid there is nothing anybody can tell these people to put them in their place. It's all a matter of perspective. They are on one side of the political/ideological/financial fence, we on another. They have one view of the world, we have another. They have their set of explanations and excuses, we have ours. In the end, no one is right, no one is wrong. Simply put, we are their enemies/competitors and they are ours.

Arevordi

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Washington Casts Doubt on Russian Navy's Abilities

September, 2008

Commenting on plans for Russian-Venezuelan naval exercises, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack quipped that “they found a few ships that can make it that far,” the Associated Press reports. The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed plans for the exercises in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday. The Western media are tying the exercises to recent events in the Caucasus. That perception was aided by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s statement that the presence of U.S. warships in the Black Sea would not go without response by Russia. However, official Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrey Nesterenko emphasized that the exercises are “a planned event not connected with the current political conditions in the Caucasus.” The official goal of the exercises is to strengthen relations between the two countries. The maneuvers will be the first of their kind for the two countries. They will include joint search and rescue and communications training.

Source: http://www.kommersant.com/p-13173/Ru...val_exercises/

Russia Says its Navy Ready to Thwart Any Threat to Security

Russia's Navy remains a strong force capable of repelling any attack by a potential aggressor, a Navy spokesman said on Tuesday. "The Navy remains a serious deterrent prepared to thwart any threat to Russia's national security, and if necessary provide an adequate response to any act of aggression," Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said. Russia announced on Tuesday it will send a naval task group, comprising nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Velikiy (Peter the Great) and support ships, for a sortie in the Atlantic Ocean, and to participate in joint naval drills with the Venezuelan navy in November. Washington immediately responded by mocking the Russian move, which is widely considered a response to NATO's increased naval presence in the Black Sea following a brief military conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack jokingly said that if Russia really intended to send ships to the Caribbean, "then they found a few ships that can make it that far." Commenting on this statement, Dygalo said: "Do not forget that the Russian Navy has nuclear submarines and surface ships capable of conducting training and combat missions anywhere in the world."

For instance, the Pyotr Velikiy is a Kirov (Orlan) class nuclear-powered guided missile heavy cruiser, which has a practically unlimited operational range and carries 20 SS-N-19 Shipwreck surface-to-surface missiles with either nuclear or high-explosive warheads and about 500 surface-to-air missiles of different types, supplemented by a large number of other weaponry. "The return of the Russian Navy to global oceans is an accomplished fact, whether you accept it or not," the official said. Russia announced last year that its Navy had resumed, and would build up, its constant presence in different regions of the world's oceans. A naval task force from Russia's Northern Fleet, consisting of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, the Udaloy-Class destroyers Admiral Levchenko and Admiral Chabanenko, as well as auxiliary vessels, conducted from December 2007 to February 2008 a two-month tour of duty in the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic. The Navy spokesman stressed that Russia has no intention of 'brandishing a stick' and threatening other nations. "The main goal of the Russian Navy is to ensure the national security of the country; those who attempt to find any secret agenda in the upcoming joint naval exercises between Russia and Venezuela are mistaken," Dygalo said. "During the drills, ships and naval aircraft will practice coordinated maneuvering, search-and-rescue, and communications," he said, adding that cooperation between foreign navies is normal international practice.

The Russian Navy retained the vast majority of the former Soviet naval forces, and currently comprises the Northern Fleet, the Pacific Fleet, the Black Sea Fleet, the Baltic Fleet, the Caspian Flotilla, Naval Aviation, Naval Infantry (marines) and coastal artillery. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to a severe decline in the Russian Navy, but the recent rearmament program until 2015 put, for the first time in Soviet and Russian history, the development of the navy on an equal footing with strategic nuclear forces. Out of 4.9 trillion rubles ($192.16 billion) allocated for military rearmament, 25% will go into building new ships. Russia's Navy commander, Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky, said in July that the Navy command had decided to form in the future five or six aircraft carrier task forces to be deployed with the Northern and Pacific fleets. At present, Russia has only one operational aircraft carrier, the Nikolai Kuznetsov, which was commissioned in the early 1990s and has recently re-entered service after a prolonged overhaul.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080909/116641317.html

Russian Strategic Bombers Land in Venezuela

Two Russian Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers have landed at a military airfield in Venezuela, Russia's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday. The Tu-160 Blackjack is a supersonic, variable-geometry heavy bomber, designed to strike strategic targets with nuclear and conventional weapons deep in continental theatres of operation. The bombers will conduct a number of training flights over neutral waters in the next few days and later return to their home base in Russia, the ministry said in a statement. The planes landed at Venezuela's Libertador airfield and during the flight to the South American country were accompanied by NATO fighters. "The flight itinerary extended over neutral waters in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans. The Russian bombers were accompanied by NATO fighters," the statement said. Russia earlier announced it would send a naval task force from the Northern Fleet on a tour of duty in the Atlantic Ocean and participate in joint naval drills with the Venezuelan navy in November. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on September 1 that Venezuela welcomed the Russian Navy and Air Force on its territory. "If the Russian Navy arrives in the Caribbean or the Atlantic it may certainly visit Venezuela, we have no problems with that and would warmly welcome it," Chavez said. "And if Russian long-range bombers should need to land in Venezuela we would not object to that either. We will also welcome them," he said.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080910/116695660.html

Venezuela to Expel U.S. ambassador

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday he is recalling his own ambassador from Washington and expelling the U.S. ambassador from Venezuela. "He has 72 hours, from this moment, the Yankee ambassador in Caracas, to leave Venezuela," Chavez told a crowd of supporters. The president said he was making the moves "in solidarity with Bolivia and the people of Bolivia." Bolivia's Evo Morales accused the United States Thursday of fomenting a coup d'etat by rich eastern department landowners against him, the country's first Indian president. "We have seen reports about President Chavez's remarks but have not received any official diplomatic communication," said Gordon Duguid, a State Department spokesman. "Our embassy in Caracas is looking into these reports." Also Thursday, Chavez accused the United States of having backed a coup plot against him. "When there's a new government in the United States, we'll send an ambassador," he said. "A government that respects Latin America." Earlier Thursday, Chavez said he has uncovered a U.S.-backed plot to remove him from power. "It's the empire that's behind this," he told supporters in a nationally televised address. "They go around looking for a way to stop our revolution and, with it, to strike all the processes of change that are occurring in our Americas, in the Caribbean, in Central America." Chavez then played a four-minute tape of what he said were conversations among current and retired members of the Venezuelan military discussing whom they could count on to support a movement against the presidential palace. Chavez, who was briefly detained in a failed 2002 coup attempt, said the former plotters "are the same people involved in this coup attempt. Behind them is the American empire." But he said the presence of two Russian warplanes on Venezuelan soil for a training exercise "is a warning" to the rest of the world that Venezuela's allies include Russia and other countries. Chavez added that, should any country in Latin America be overthrown, he would interpret that to be "the green light to undertake military operations of any sort in those countries, and restore power back to the people." And he had a message for President Bush, beseeching him, to "go wherever you have to go and leave the Latin-American people alone." He added, "If they kill me, my God, I don't fear for me, but for what comes after." A U.S. State Department spokesman denied involvement in any coup attempts in Venezuela or Bolivia.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/am....us/index.html

In related news:

Deadly clashes strike Bolivia's east

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (right) with his Bolivian counterpart and close confidant, Evo Morales

Eight people died Thursday of gunshot wounds in clashes between pro-autonomy militants and Bolivian government supporters in Providencia in the northeastern department of Pando, an official said. Hugo Mopi, spokesman for the governor of Pando, near the border with Brazil, said another 30 people were wounded in the clashes. The dead were supporters of autonomy, and included an employee from the Pando provincial government, an environmental engineer and a housewife, Mopi said. In the southeastern province of Tarija, near the border with Argentina, 88 people were wounded in similar clashes, Tarija government officials said Thursday. Also in Tarija, where most of the country's natural gas comes from, autonomy supporters blew up a pipeline, resulting in $8 million in losses of exports to Argentina and Brazil, the officials said. It will take 15 to 20 days to fix the pipeline, they said. But that may not be the only pipeline interruption. Pro-autonomy groups seized control of a pipeline valve in the nearby town of Yacuiba, also in Tarija. Local authorities and the leader of the national opposition, Jorge Quiroga, accused the federal government of organizing armed bands of militias to take control of Cobija, the capital of Pando. Pro-autonomy groups remained in control Thursday of Santa Cruz, where work had stopped at all central government offices. Meanwhile, American Airlines has suspended its twice-weekly flights to Santa Cruz's civilian airport. A low-profile federal military presence was guarding strategic installations, including a refinery and a small military airfield. Local television showed pictures of people breaking into stores, though many stores remained open. But government supporters in the eastern provinces appear poised to strike back. Peasants who make up the base of President Evo Morales' party have threatened during the past two days to encircle Santa Cruz. The clashes come a day after Morales ordered the expulsion of U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg and accused the U.S. government of encouraging the anti-government protesters and supporting his overthrow. A State Department spokesman on Wednesday called Morales' assertion that Goldberg had encouraged anti-government protests "baseless." On Tuesday, Morales expelled agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration from the Chapare region, the third-largest coca-producing region in the world, saying the government could no longer protect them. He ordered Goldberg out, too, during a meeting that the ambassador had called to protest the DEA agents' expulsions. On Thursday, the United States kicked out the Bolivian ambassador. "We regret President Morales has chosen this course," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters Thursday. "It will prejudice the interests of both countries, undermine the ongoing fight against drug trafficking and will have serious regional implications." An embassy spokesman said Thursday that the State Department plans next week to issue a report critical of Bolivia's compliance with anti-drug efforts. Morales draws much of his support from coca growers.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/am...hes/index.html

Russian Warships Exercise in Atlantic

Joint exercises with Venezuelan ships will be held in the Atlantic Ocean in November of this year as part of the military preparedness plan. Viktor Dygalo, head of the information and public relations service of the Russian Navel Fleet stated that Russia will send a detachment of ships from the North Sea Fleet led by the heavy atomic cruiser Peter the Great. Aircraft carriers will also take part in the exercise, Dygalo said. The ships will carry out a number of joint exercises, including maneuvers, search and rescue and communications training. Dygalo said that he exercises have been in the planning stage for a year and the decision to hold them was made in July at a meeting of the Russian and Venezuelan presidents. Andrey Nesterenko, official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry repeated that the exercises are the result of lengthy planning. “It is a planned event not connected with the current political conditions in the Caucasus,” he said. If the exercises take place, he added, they will not be directed against any third countries.

Source: http://www.kommersant.com/p-13169/Ru...val_exercises/

Abkhazia Seeks to Join CIS, Russia-Belarus Union State

Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia is seeking to join the CIS and the Russia-Belarus Union State, the republic's president said on Thursday. The CIS, the Commonwealth of Independent States, is an alliance of ex-Soviet states. Russia recognized the independence of Georgia's breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia on August 26, two weeks after it had expelled Georgian troops from the region following Tbilisi's August 8 offensive against South Ossetia. "I think that after signing the cooperation agreement we will apply to join the Union State. If the CIS expands, we are also ready to participate as well as in the Collective Security Treaty Organization," Sergei Bagapsh told a meeting of the Valdai Club. He said Abkhazia would sign what he called "fundamental" treaties with Russia and South Ossetia on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance in the next few days. Bagapsh dismissed reports that Abkhazia was seeking associate territory status with Russia. "The issue is out of question. Russia has no claims, nor does it want to cede anything," he said, adding that the people of Abkhazia had chosen independence by referendum. The Abkhaz leader said, however, his republic would continue to develop friendly ties with Russia, which he described as Abkhazia's "reliable partner, people who helped us during difficult times." Bagapsh said that Abkhazia wanted to establish a peaceful, democratic and legal-based state. "We do not want war against anyone," he said. "We do not need a single square meter of Georgian territory, but we will not cede our land either, nor the Gali district, or the Kodori gorge." Bagapsh announced his republic would sign an agreement with Russia on the deployment of Russian military bases in Abkhazia to prevent further conflict and strengthen its defenses. He said the agreement would prevent "genocide and a repetition of events in South Ossetia." This year, the Valdai Club will discuss the 21st century international geopolitical revolution and Russia's role in it. The discussions are organized by RIA Novosti, the Foreign and Defense Policy Council, The Moscow News paper, the Russia in Global Affairs and Russia Profile magazines.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20080911/116708965.html

Russia to Deploy Regular Forces in Abkhazia, South Ossetia

Russia will deploy not peacekeepers but rather its regular troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced. “After signing and ratifying the treaty that we have initialed today, they [the troops] will be there under the internationally legal basis. These aren’t the peacekeepers, these are the military contingents, which strength is determined by the Defense Ministry through consultations with its partners in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and which will be there as the troops of a foreign state ensuring, at request of respective party, its security,” Lavrov told journalists Tuesday. Russia’s relations with South Ossetia and Abkhazia are reaching the principally new ground; one of the highlights is ensuring proper functioning of economies of these two republics, Lavrov pointed out after the meeting with foreign ministers of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. “In general, we are sure that, with these two documents signed, all complex of our relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia will shift to the principally new basis,” Lavrov emphasized. “We face the large-scale tasks of post-conflict rehabilitation of South Ossetia to secure normal functioning of economies both in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, improve living level of nations of these republics,” Russia’s minister said.

Source: http://www.kommersant.com/p-13179/Re...tia_Abkhazia_/

South Ossetia May Intend to Join RF

South Ossetia intends to become part of Russia, the republic’s president, Eduard Kokoity, told the international Valdai Club. “We do not intend to make an independent Ossetia,” Kokoity said. Rather, he explained, South Ossetia will unite with North Ossetia. Kokoity stated that the West promised to recognize an independent Tskhinvali, if an independent Ossetia was created from the North, which is part of Russia, and the South. “Western experts, political scientists, proposed that we convince North Ossetia to secede from Russia. They promised recognition before Kosovo,” Kokoity said. He did not answer a foreign journalist’s question about how long South Ossetia would be able to remain independent, preferring to say that the most important thing for North and South Ossetia is the restoration of historical justice. “It is more a humanitarian problem than a political problem,” Kokoity said, adding that the unification of North and South Ossetia is the only way to preserve the nation. “I would be very glad if we were part of Russia,” he said. Later, according to the Interfax information agency, Kokoity contradicted himself and stated that South Ossetia will remain independent. A number of South Ossetian officials have said that the republic will become part of Russia within several years.

Source: http://www.kommersant.com/p-13194/Ru...etia_conflict/