Yesterday the President of the Russian Federation took part in an extended board meeting of the Ministry of Defense.
This is a yearly event meant to recap the developments in the military sphere over last year and to give a high level outlook of the future. This goes from strategic overview to details of operations. It touches on weapon supplies, technical development, medical, social and housing issues of the military. The addressee is mainly the Russian military but also the national and international public.
President Vladimir Putin spoke first, followed by a detailed presentation by Defense Minister Andrey Belousov followed by another Putin talk. Both Putin parts are available in English at the Kremlin site. Belousov’s presentation is only available in the Russian language transcript of the event. Karlof1 has put up an English machine translation of all parts at his website. There is also a video of the event available with English live translation.
The whole thing is lengthy.
The most important point, in my opinion, of Putin and Belausov said is about the potentially upcoming conflict with NATO. Russia feels threatened!
This from Putin’s first part [emph. add.]:
We are aware that that the Kiev regime is backed by the potential of the countries comprising the world’s largest military-political bloc, NATO. Large-scale military assistance is being continuously provided, with advisers, instructors, and mercenaries dispatched, and intelligence data shared.
…
Today, we can see that the geopolitical situation remains tense throughout the world, and even critical in some regions. NATO countries are actively building up and modernising their offensive forces, and creating and deploying new types of weapons, including in outer space.Meanwhile, people in Europe are being indoctrinated with fears of an inevitable confrontation with Russia, with claims that preparations must be made for a major war. Various figures who have held or continue to hold positions of responsibility appear to have simply forgotten what that responsibility entails.
They are whipping up hysteria, guided by momentary, personal or group political interests rather than the interests of their people. I have said many times that this is a lie and an irrational narrative about an imaginary Russian threat to European countries. But they are doing this deliberately.
The truth is that Russia has always, until the last possible moment tried, even in the most complicated circumstances, to find diplomatic solutions to differences and conflicts. Responsibility for the failure to use these chances lies squarely with those who believe that they can use the language of force with us.
We continue to call for developing mutually beneficial and equal cooperation with the United States and European countries, and for creating a joint security system in the Eurasian region. We welcome nascent progress in our dialogue with the new US administration, which cannot be said of the current leaders of the majority of European countries.
At the same time, we realise that our Armed Forces remain the key guarantor of Russia’s sovereignty and independence in any international situation. As I have stated, we must work consistently to strengthen them.
Belousov echos this (machine translation, emph. add.):
Analysis of the military-political situation shows that threats to military security have changed significantly over the past three years. The North Atlantic Alliance continues to build up its coalition forces, actively preparing for the deployment of intermediate-range missiles, updating the range of nuclear weapons, modernizing air and missile defense, and changing the system of mobilization deployment. The efficiency of the transfer of alliance troops to the eastern flank is increasing, for which it is planned to introduce the so-called military “Schengen”.
Military spending is increasing significantly. Today, the alliance has an annual budget of $ 1.6 trillion. Taking into account its gradual increase to five percent of the national GDP, the NATO budget will grow by more than one and a half times – up to $ 2.7 trillion.
All this indicates that NATO is preparing for a military clash with Russia. The alliance plans to achieve readiness for such actions by the turn of the 2030s. This was repeatedly openly stated by official representatives of the NATO bloc. We don’t threaten – we are threatened.
In accordance with the significant threats to military security, the construction of modern and high-tech Armed Forces is being carried out. I will focus on the most important points. …
Followed by Putin in his second part with regards to Ukraine:
They engineered a coup, initiated military operations, and deliberately – I am convinced, deliberately – precipitated a war.
President Trump has said that had he been in office at the time, none of this would have happened. He may well be right. Because the previous administration deliberately brought matters to an armed conflict. And I think the reason is clear: they believed Russia could be swiftly broken up and dismantled. European “swine underlings”1 immediately joined the efforts of that previous American administration, hoping to profit from our country’s collapse: to reclaim what had been lost in earlier historical periods and to exact a form of revenge. As has now become evident to all, every one of those attempts, every destructive design against Russia, has ended in complete and total failure.
Russia has demonstrated its resilience in the economy, finance, domestic politics, the state of society, and, ultimately, in its defence capability.
…
And our Armed Forces are on the rise. I repeat, much remains to be done, but it will all be done. We have always stated – and I want to reaffirm this – that we remain ready for negotiations and ready to resolve all the problems that have arisen in recent years through peaceful means. The United States administration has demonstrated such readiness, and we are engaged in dialogue with it. I hope the same will eventually occur in Europe. It is unlikely with the current political elites, but it will be inevitable as we continue to strengthen, if not with the present politicians, then with a change of political elites in Europe.
1 ‘swine underlings’ is a verbal translation from the Russian [под-свинки] ‘under-pigs’. It means ‘small piglets’ who are completely depending on the mother sow.
Russia is much smaller than a united NATO. It has way less people and money. NATO countries are arming up. Their populations are actively manipulated into seeing Russia as THE enemy. Russia is in a security dilemma:
[A] security dilemma is when the increase in one state’s security leads other states to fear for their own security. Consequently, security-increasing measures can lead to tensions, escalation or conflict with one or more other parties, producing an outcome which no party truly desires; a political instance of the prisoner’s dilemma.
Europe pretends to be in a security dilemma. There is no way that Russia, with half the population size of the Soviet Union and without Warsaw Pact allies, could march to Berlin. It is completely unrealistic to say that Russia is a danger for the rest of Europe.
But when Belousov says “we are threatened” he is stating a fact.