A K-29 helicopter of Russia's Black Sea Fleet has detected and destroyed a Ukrainian drone boat in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, which was heading towards Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.
"At about 10:45 Moscow time [07:45 GMT] on October 6, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack using an unmanned boat on objects on the territory of Russia was stopped. During a patrol by a Ka-29 naval aviation helicopter of the Black Sea Fleet in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, a Ukrainian armed forces drone boat was discovered and destroyed, heading towards the Crimean Peninsula," the ministry said in a statement.
On October 4, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russian aircraft of the Aerospace Forces had thwarted an attempt to infiltrate the Crimea by a Ukrainian forces landing group that was heading for Cape Tarkhany on a fast military boat and three jet skis.
Russian Air Defenses Strike Down Multiple Ukrainian Drones Over Belgorod Region
“On October 5, at about 11:30 p.m. Moscow time, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles on facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation was stopped. Air defense systems on duty destroyed five Ukrainian UAVs over the Belgorod region,” the ministry said.
On Thursday evening, the Defense Ministry already reported two downed Ukrainian drones.
Earlier efforts by the Kiev regime were also thwarted by Russian forces in the Belgorod region, with officials having downed some six drones.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its air defense systems had destroyed a Ukrainian drone over Belgorod Region at about 10:30 p.m. local time.
"Our air defense system had downed six drones over Belgorod and Belgorod Region. Preliminary, there are no casualties. Response teams are clarifying information about the consequences on the ground," Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram at the time.
Overnight Friday, reports citing preliminary findings detailed that Russian forces were also working to repel an attack by Ukrainian drone boats in Sevastopol, according to city governor Mikhail Razvozhayev.
Ukraine has repeatedly attacked Russia's Bryansk, Belgorod and Kursk regions with drones over the past few months. On Wednesday alone, Russian air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 31 Ukrainian drones over the country's territory overnight.
Russian Armed Forces Carry Out 20 Attacks on Ukrainian Positions
After several delays, Ukraine launched its much-hyped counteroffensive against Russian forces in early June. Citing the needs of this stalled campaign, Kiev urged its Western donors to increase military and financial aid.
Aircraft and heavy flamethrower systems of the Russian Armed Forces have carried out 20 strikes on the positions of the Ukrainian forces in the direction of Kupyansk, said Sergei Zybinsky, head of the press center of the Zapad battlegroup.
"In the direction of Kupyansk, Su-34 fighter-bomber crews carried out seven airstrikes on the temporary positions of Ukrainian units of the 7th rifle battalion and territorial defense units in the areas of Nevskoye, Novolubovka," Zybinsky said.
He added that crews of Ka-52 and Mi-28 attack helicopters and the group's attack aircraft carried out 12 missile attacks on the concentrations of troops, weapons and military equipment of the Ukrainian 25th airborne brigade, the 14th and 32nd mechanized brigades in the areas of the settlements of Sinkovka, Ivanovka, Stelmakhovka and Berestovoye.
Furthermore, in the direction of Makeyevka, a heavy flamethrower system hit the concentration area of the 66th mechanized brigade.
Total enemy losses amounted to up to a unit of soldiers, two tanks, seven mortars, an AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radar station, six pick-up trucks and two drones, Zybinsky concluded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a session of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi on Thursday, where he delivered a keynote speech and took questions from the audience.
During the event, which lasted for nearly four hours, Putin shared his thoughts on a wide array of issues, including the Ukraine conflict, the recent flare-up in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the role of the West in the origins of current tensions.
Putin also outlined his vision for a more fair and equitable model of international relations, and provided an update on Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
1. West ‘pillaging’ the world
Western countries have accumulated their riches and influence through centuries of “endless expansion,” colonialism, and economic exploitation, Putin claimed.
He argued that the model, built on subjugation and blatant disregard of other nations' legitimate interests, is the source of contemporary tensions and will “inevitably lead us into a dead end.”
2. Outlook for ‘new world order’
Putin outlined six principles of international relations Russia wants to see as the foundation of a “more equitable world order.” These include the rejection of “artificial barriers” between countries and opposition to a single power dictating its will.
“Nobody has the right to control the world at the expense of others or in their name,” Putin said.
3. Russia not seeking ‘new territories’
According to Putin, Russia is focused on protecting the people of Donbass and Crimea in the conflict with Ukraine, rather than “looking for new territories.” He reiterated that the current crisis was triggered by the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev, which empowered Ukrainian nationalists and was rejected in Crimea.
The largely Russian-speaking peninsula voted to break away from Ukraine and join Russia the same year, while the Donbass regions of Donetsk and Lugansk declared independence from Kiev.
The two Donbass republics, along with Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, eventually became part of Russia after holding referendums in September 2022.
name,” Putin said.
4. Ukraine’s staggering battlefield losses
The Russian leader said that Moscow estimates that more than 90,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed or seriously wounded during the “so-called counteroffensive,” which was launched in early June. Kiev’s forces also lost 557 tanks and roughly 1,900 armored vehicles, he claimed.
The Ukrainian authorities do not release their total casualty figures, and neither does Russia.
5. Moscow ‘overcame’ sanctions
Russia has successfully reshaped its economy towards self-sufficiency and new markets since the EU and US first imposed restrictions on Moscow in 2014.
“We overcame all problems, which arose from the sanctions, and started the next stage of development,” Putin said.
6. Nagorno-Karabakh clash was ‘inevitable’
The president dismissed accusations that Moscow abandoned its ally Armenia when Azerbaijan re-established control over its breakaway ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh last month. Baku’s victory and the disbandment of the local military force triggered a mass exodus of the Armenian population from the region.
According to Putin, Russia did everything it could to mediate the conflict and had offered Yerevan a compromise regarding Nagorno-Karabakh. He argued that an armed clash was “inevitable” after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan officially recognized the enclave as Azerbaijani territory.
7. Russia might be forced to ditch major nuclear pact
Work on the Sarmat silo-based intercontinental ballistic missile has “effectively been completed,” the president said. He also revealed that Moscow had also successfully tested the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile.
Putin warned that Russia might consider revoking its ratification of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) because it has still not been ratified by the US. The president did not rule out “mirrored responses” to Washington’s policies on the issue.
Pepe Escobar: Putin and the Magic Multipolar Mountain
There was a whiff of Thomas Mann’s 'The Magic Mountain' at the 20th Valdai annual meeting this week at a hotel over the gorgeous heights of the Krasnaya Polyana. north-west of the picturesque resort Sochi.
But instead of a deep dive into the lure and degeneracy of ideas in an introverted community in the Swiss Alps on the eve of the First World War, we immersed ourselves in powerful new ideas expressed by a community of Global Majority intellectuals on the possible eve of a psycho neocon-intended WWIII.
And then, of course, President Putin intervened, striking the plenary session like lightning.
This is an unofficial Top Ten of his address, before the Q&A which was characteristically engaging:
“I even suggested joining NATO for Russia. But no, NATO does not need such a country (…) Apparently, the problem is geopolitical interests and an arrogant attitude towards others.”
“We never started the so-called war in Ukraine. We are trying to end it.”
“In the international system, lawlessness reigns supreme.”
“This is not a territorial war. The issue is much broader and more fundamental: it is about the principles on which a new world order will be built.”
“The history of the West is a chronicle of endless expansion, and a huge financial pyramid.”
“A certain part of the West always needs an enemy. To preserve the internal control of their system.”
“Perhaps (the West) should check its hubris.”
“That era (of Western domination) is long gone. It’s never coming back.”
“Russia is a distinct civilization-state”.
“Our understanding of civilization is quite different. First, there are many civilizations. And none of them is better or worse than the other. They are equal, as expressions of the aspirations of their cultures, their traditions, their peoples. For each of us it is different.”
On The Road to “Asynchronous Multipolarity”
The theme of Valdai 2023 was, most appropriately, 'Fair Multipolarity'. The key axes of discussion were presented in this provocative, detailed report. It’s as if the report had prepared the stage for Putin’s address and his carefully crafted answers to the questions from the plenary.
The concept of multipolarity in the Russian space was first articulated by the late, great Yevgeny Primakov in the mid-Nineties. Now, the road to multipolarity is based on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s concept of “strategic patience”.
In a crisscrossed cornucopia of nation-states, larger blocs, security blocs and ideological historic blocs, we’re now deep into mega-alignments - even as the political West cultivates its universalist ambitions. The Eurasian “non-bloc” is in fact a mega-alignment, as much as the revitalized Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which finds its expression in the G77 (actually formed by 134 nations).
The ideal path to follow might be horizontalism - in a Deleuze-Guattari sense - where we would have 200 equal nation-states. Of course the collective West won’t allow it. Andrey Shushentov, Dean of the School of International Relations at MGIMO University, proposes the notion of “asynchronous multipolarity”. Radhika Desai of Manitoba University proposes “pluripolarity” - borrowing from Hugo Chavez.
The risk, as expressed by Turkish political scientist Ilter Turan, is that by trying to build a replica of the present system via, for instance, BRICS 11, we may be racing towards a parallel system that simply cannot organize itself as the leader of a new order. So, a clearly possible outcome is a bipolar system – considering the impossible convergence of common values.
At the same time, a South-east Asian perspective, expressed by the President of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, Pham Lan Dung, points to what is really relevant for middle and small countries: everything should proceed on the basis of South-South friendships.
The BRICS Bank: It’s Complicated
In one of the key panels on BRICS as a prototype of a new international architecture, the star of the show was Brazilian economist Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr, who drew on his vast former experience at the IMF and as Vice-President of the NDB – the BRICS bank – for a realist presentation.
The key problem of the NDB is how to maintain unity while navigating power politics and reaching the upcoming stages of de-dollarization.
Batista outlined how a new international financial architecture may imply a future common currency. He stressed the success of implementing two practical experiments: a BRICS monetary fund (called the Contingent Reserve Agreement, CRA) and a multilateral development bank, the NDB.
Progress though “has been slow”. The monetary fund “has been frozen by the five Central Banks”, and must be expanded. Links with the IMF “must be severed”, but that incurs “fierce resistance” by the five Central Banks of BRICS members (and soon there will be 11).
Turning the NDB around will be a Sisyphean task. Disbursement of loans as well as project implementation have been “slow”. The US dollar “is the unit of account for the bank” - which in itself is counter-productive. The NDB is far from being a global bank: only three countries so far have joined. Current NDB President Dilma Rousseff has only two years to turn it around.
Batista remarked how the common currency idea first came from Russia, and was instantly embraced by Lula when he was Brazil’s President in the 2000s. The R5 concept - the currencies of all current five BRICS members start with a “R” - may endure; but now that will have to expand to R11.
The first substantial step ahead, after revamping the NDB, should be a currency from an issuing bank backed by bonds guaranteed by member countries, freely convertible, with currency swaps denominated in R5.
A healthy prospect is that Russia will appoint the next bank President starting in 2025. So the way forward substantially depends on Russia and Brazil, Batista emphasized. At the BRICS 11 summit in Kazan in south-west Russia next year, “a key decision should be made”. And during the Brazilian BRICS presidency in 2025, “the first practical steps should be announced”.
Looking For a New Universality
Almost all panels at Valdai focused on how to develop an alternative system, but the two main themes were inevitably the lack of democracy in current international institutions and the weaponization of the US dollar. Batista correctly observed how the US itself is the main enemy of the US dollar when using it as a weapon.
At the Q&A, Putin addressed the key issue of economic corridors. He noted how BRI and the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) might have different interests: “Not true. They are harmonious and complement each other”. This is reflected in how they are geared to “ensure new logistic routes and industrial chains”, and all that “complemented by the real productive sector”.
Going forward, there’s a pressing need to coin a new terminology for this emerging new “universality” - even as nations continue to behave most often by following national interests.
What’s clear is that the collective West’s "universality” is not valid anymore. A remarkable panel on 'Russian Civilization Through the Centuries' showed how the notion of “universality” actually entered Western civilization through St Paul - after his Damascus moment - whereas the Indian notion of equilibrium inbuilt in the Upanishads would be way more appropriate.
Still, we are now in hot debate over the notion of the “civilization-state”, as configured mostly by India and China, Russia and Iran.
Pierre de Gaulle, grandson of the iconic General, expanded on the French notion of universality, embodied in the much-quoted slogan “liberté, egalité, fraternité” – not exactly upheld by Macronism. He made a point to stress he was the “sole representative of France” at Valdai (only a handful of European academics came to Sochi, and no diplomats).
De Gaulle reminded everyone how Saint Simon was a Russophile and how Voltaire corresponded with Catherine the Great. He alluded to the deep Franco-Russian cultural ties; a “shared community of interests”; and “the bond of Christianity”.
De Gaulle emphasized the “tragic mistake is to see Russia through Western eyes”. He invoked Dostoevsky as he lamented the current “destruction of family values” and “existential void” inbuilt in the process of manufacturing consent. He pledged to “fight for independence”, just like his grandfather, under the seal of “faith, family and honor”, and stressed “we must rethink Europe”, inviting “war profiteers to come to Russia”.
Top of The Hill: a Cathedral or a Fortress?
Beyond Valdai, and especially throughout the crucial year of 2024 - while Russia holds the presidency of BRICS - there will be much further discussion about “poles” of ancient civilizations. A broad coalition of states that support multipolarity actually do not support the “civilization” concept; instead, they support the notion of people sovereignty.
It was up to Dayan Jayatilleka, former Sri Lankan plenipotentiary ambassador to Russia, to come up with a brilliant formulation.
He showed how Vietnam faced a proxy war against the hegemon successfully – “using 5,000 years of Vietnamese civilization”. That was “an internationalist phenomenon”. Ho Chi Minh took his ideas from Lenin – while enjoying full support from students in the US and Europe.
Russia might therefore learn from the Vietnamese experience how to conquer young hearts and minds across the West for its quest towards multipolarity.
It was clear to the overwhelming majority of analysts at Valdai that the concept of Russian civilization is an “existential challenge” to the collective West. Especially because it includes, historically, the radical universality of the Soviet Union. Now is time for Russian thinkers to work hard on refining the internationalist aspect.
Alexander Prokhanov came up with another startling formulation. He compared the Russian dream with a cathedral on the top of a hill, whereas the Anglo-Saxon dream is a fortress on the top of the hill, engaged in constant surveillance. And if you misbehave, you “will receive some Tomahawks”.
The conclusion: “We will always be in conflict with the West”. So what? The future, as I discussed off the record with Grandmaster Sergey Karaganov, one of the founders of Valdai, is in the East.
And it was Karaganov who arguably posed the most challenging question to Putin. He stressed how nuclear deterrence does not work anymore. So should we lower the nuclear threshold?”
Putin replied, “I am well aware of your position. Let me remind you the Russian military doctrine has two reasons for the possible use of nuclear weapons. The first is if nuclear weapons are used against us – as retaliation. The response is absolutely unacceptable for any potential aggressor. Because from the moment a missile launch is detected, no matter where it comes from - anywhere in the world's oceans or from any territory - in a retaliatory strike, so many, so many hundreds of our missiles appear in the air that no enemy will have a chance of survival, and in several directions at once.”
The second reason is “a threat to the existence of the Russian state even if only conventional weapons are used.”
And then came the clincher – actually a veiled message to the characters whose dream is “victory” via a first strike: “Do we need to change that? Why? I see no point. There’s no situation when something can threaten the existence of the Russian state. No sane person would consider the use of nuclear weapons against Russia.”
The TOS-1A Solntsepyok (Scorching Sunlight) is a heavy flamethrower developed by Russia. It is capable of firing rockets filled with thermobaric warheads, which are designed to create a high-pressure explosion and incinerate targets within a radius of up to 300 meters. The Solntsepyok is mounted on a tracked chassis.
The Russian Defense Ministry has released a clip showing the TOS-1A Solntsepyok heavy flamethrowers of the Western Military District destroying Ukrainian fortifications and strongholds in the forests of the Kupyansk region.
The footage shows combat vehicles moving from camouflaged positions to firing points, targeting and firing at previously identified fortifications and strongholds of the Ukrainian forces in the forest area, as well as monitoring the defeat from a reconnaissance drone.
Russian Kinzhal, Iskander Missiles to Make Short Work of German Air Defenses in Ukraine
Berlin is preparing to send additional air defense weaponry to Ukraine, ostensibly to 'protect grain shipments' to Europe in the wake of the collapse of the Black Sea Grain Deal in July. Russia will dispatch with the German deliveries, and Berlin’s rationale for their transfer is designed only to fool ordinary Germans, observers told Sputnik.
Informed sources told US business media this week that the German government is going to send an additional IRIS-T medium-range air defense system more than a dozen Gepard anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine. The air defense weapons – which are expected to arrive in the country before the end of the year, are purportedly meant to protect grain shipments to Europe up the Danube River and via other so-called "Solidarity Lanes" to get Ukrainian foodstuffs out of the country to international markets.
Germany, the second-largest donor of advanced weaponry to Ukraine within NATO after the United States, has already sent over €17.1 billion ($17.96 billion US) in arms assistance to Kiev, including at least six IRIS-T medium-range missile launchers. Berlin has also sent nearly 50 Flakpanzer Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns – with the vintage 1970s flak guns upgraded and fitted with modern electronics. Up to 30 more Gepards are expected to be delivered "in cooperation with the United States."
The air defense weapons, taken directly from the Bundeswehr's own stocks, have complicated Germany's €100 billion push to build up its armed forces and to create several new divisions. Kiev, for its part, has been calling on NATO to send more "outdated but still effective Soviet" air defense missiles its way alongside Western systems like the IRIS-T and the Patriot.
Grain Deal Stagmire
Kiev and its allies wouldn't need their "Solidarity Lanes" in the first place if the West implemented Russia’s demands for the Black Sea Grain Deal, which allowed Ukraine to export tens of millions of tons of foodstuffs via the Black Sea in an agreement facilitated by Turkiye and the United Nations. Russia walked out on the Grain Deal in July, citing the failure by the West to facilitate the export of Russian grain and fertilizers, and the fact that the vast majority of the exported Ukrainian grain was sent to rich countries in Europe and Turkiye, instead of going to the world’s poorest nations to prevent starvation, as originally intended. After pulling out, Moscow announced plans to provide tens of thousands of tons of grain to six African nations free of charge.
On Monday, Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s number two diplomat at the UN, reiterated that Moscow currently has no plans to return to the Grain Deal, because Russia’s conditions have not been met, and the UN has not provided any viable workarounds.
Alternatives for Germany
The delivery of German air defense systems to Kiev won’t affect Moscow’s stance, and the Russian military will do its best to make short work of any additional NATO weapons sent to Ukraine, independent Russian military expert and Air Defense Forces reserve officer Vladislav Shurigin told Sputnik.
“We took part in the Grain Deal when it was a matter of international – not even obligations, but international responsibility, which we were asked to share on behalf of the UN. The Grain Deal was concluded not on behalf of Germany, the United States or Ukraine, but under the guarantee of the UN, which proved completely incapable of fulfilling its promises,” Shurigin said.
Shurigin considers the IRIS-T to be one of the last formidable medium-range air defense system at Ukraine’s disposal, and says the German-made platform is “modern” and “quite effective,” making it a priority for Russia to “identify and destroy them.”
“If we can identify them while they are being transported to Ukraine or through Ukraine, we can try to destroy them there. If we identify them from some position [after they’ve been set up, ed.] “combined air strikes can be organized using both missiles and drones…These are among the targets marked top priority, and when they are identified, the reaction is immediate; everything is thrown in to destroy them,” Shurigin stressed.
Asked to comment on what specific systems Russia could use to target NATO weapons like the IRIS-T, veteran Russian military expert Alexei Leonkov, editor of the Russian military affairs magazine Arsenal of the Fatherland, told Sputnik that these may include Iskander tactical missiles and Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched strike systems, “that is, weapons which the IRIS-T can’t intercept.”
“There are air-to-surface missiles in service with our Aerospace Forces. The main thing for us is to identify where the [enemy systems] are and where its components are located, that is, the launchers and radar system,” Leonkov said.
As far as the Gepards are concerned, Leonkov says their delivery seems designed to plug gaps in Ukraine’s air defenses caused by Russia’s drones. “How many will Germany deliver? I think probably as many as they can repair…Ukraine once had carte blanche – getting basically as much as they wanted. Now every country in Europe, including Germany, supplies only as many weapons as they can, based on their own capabilities and needs.”
Berlin, Leonkov noted, has been trying to improve the situation for itself, Kiev and its allies after the collapse of the Grain Deal, notwithstanding potential ‘landmines’ in the ‘Solidarity Lanes’ project as Poland, Slovakia and Eastern European countries increasingly reject Ukrainian foodstuffs in bid to protect their farmers’ interests.
“To bypass this blockage on the part of Poland, on the part of Slovakia, it’s been stated that the grain will be shipped as transit – that is, the railway cars will not be unloaded in Poland, but on German territory, or at ports from which dry cargo ships carrying the grain will exit,” the observer said.
Could Ukraine Deploy German Air Defense Systems in Other Theaters?
There is no guarantee that Kiev will not try to stand up its additional German air defense weaponry in other theaters, Shurigin said, because Kiev "never" really "keeps any promises, does not take into account any of its own guarantees, and uses every tool at its disposal exclusively for purposes it considers necessary and correct for itself. This same rule applies as far as not using [Western long-range] missiles to attack Russian territory," the observer noted, referring to the fact that such commitments have been made and broken repeatedly over the past year-and-a-half.
For his part, Leonkov believes any talk of limiting the placement of German weaponry is needed only by the German side, since Berlin recognizes that within the country, "there is a growing dissatisfaction among ordinary citizens about providing military assistance to Ukraine."
"So they've apparently decided to play a game," characterizing the arms deliveries as a defensive move to prevent Russia from striking grain storage facilities. "The public will not check this information, or perhaps won't understand it," with the move ultimately designed purely "to deceive the public," Leonkov concluded.
All instructors in units of the Russian Armed Forces have combat experience, and there are also those who have returned to service after being wounded, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
"I would like to mention our instructor officers who conduct additional training. All 100 percent who are involved in combat training in all directions have combat experience," Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
Among the instructors are those who were wounded in combat but returned to combat duty. Shoigu called such activities "the most effective use" of those who "really have rich combat experience.
The Russian Armed Forces have recruited 38,000 volunteers, people come motivated and ready to perform combat tasks, Shoigu said.
"During this period we have recruited 38,000 volunteers. People come highly motivated, ready to perform combat tasks. Someone already has combat experience, because many of the volunteers, having completed a six-month contract, return for a second time, and there are those who return for a third time," Shoigu said.
Sergei Shoigu drew attention to the organization of combat training of servicemen and volunteers in the reserve, the Defense Ministry said.
"In general, there is planned work, active in all areas. Today I saw and checked the work on combat training of reserve regiments on the ranges of the Southern Military District. There is simultaneous training of both contractual servicemen, recruited last month, and volunteers," Shoigu stressed.
Many women go as volunteers to the special military operation zone as medics and perform tasks as well as men, Shoigu said.
"I would like to speak separately about female volunteers - girls, you could say.
I met them there today at the training range, they are preparing at the same time. They are trained themselves, they have combat experience. They are doctors, medics. Girls from different places: from Tula, from Yalta, from Krasnodar and Siberia, from everywhere. And of course they are surprised when they ask me: "We have been here for a long time. We should have been sent there long ago," the minister said.
Sergei Shoigu added that reserve regiments for all groups of troops of the Russian Armed Forces operating in the zone of the special military operation have been formed and are being constantly replenished.
