No place for military blocs in Asia-Pacific – Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to journalists following a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China. ©Sputnik

The Asia-Pacific region should be free of military blocs because of their potential to undermine the security balance, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

Speaking at a press conference with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday, Putin noted that recent talks between Moscow and Beijing had once again shown that the two countries’ approaches to many regional and international problems “are either correlated or aligned.”

He said both powers were pursuing an independent foreign policy as they strive for “a more just, democratic multipolar world order,” with the role of the United Nations at its center.

Putin added that Russia and China were advocating a “sustainable and adequate security architecture” in the Asia-Pacific region. In a clear reference to NATO and other Western-dominated organizations, Putin said the area “has no place for closed military and political alliances.”

“We believe that the creation of such alliances is harmful and counterproductive,” he added.

Meanwhile, Xi noted that the “Cold War mentality” remained rampant in the international arena, warning that “unilateral hegemony, bloc confrontation and power politics directly threaten the whole world and security of all countries.”

While NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said the US-led military bloc has no plans to expand into Asia and does not see China as an adversary, it will still keep tabs on events in the region and forge closer ties with its Indo-Pacific partners. The US also has separate treaty alliances with Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand.

In 2021, the US, UK, and Australia also established a security partnership called AUKUS, which involves Washington and London assisting Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.

In November 2023, Putin said NATO was attempting to expand its zone of influence in the Asia-Pacific region. He rebuked the US over what he said were selfish attempts to “draw the alliance’s members into creating a tense situation” in the area. He noted that Moscow and Beijing were well aware of this policy and had been strengthening their defense capabilities by holding joint military drills.

Russia, Islamic World to Make Major Contribution to Multipolarity

©Sputnik/Konstantin Chalabov/Go to the mediabank

Interaction between Moscow and the countries of the Islamic world will make an important contribution to the safe development in the multi-polar world order, said Rustam Minnikhanov, head of Russia's Tatarstan republic and chairman of the "Russia - Islamic World" strategic vision forum, during the group’s international conference.

The event takes place within the international economic forum "Russia - Islamic World: KazanForum" involving Russia and the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

"When it comes to key spiritual and moral values, Orthodox Christianity and Islam are similar and close," Minnikhanov told the conference. "This applies, in particular, to human rights and family fundamentals. I am sure that positive interaction and partnership between Russia and the Islamic world will make an important contribution to secure development in a fair multipolar world order,"

The collective West, Minnikhanov noted, is trying to replace international law with a system of self-serving "regulations".

In seeking to maintain a dominant position the West has employed many forms of leverage, including wars, sanctions, blackmail and modern forms of colonialism.

"As an alternative, the sound forces of the planet should oppose this with a model of a just and multipolar world order," Minnikhanov added. "It is important to emphasize that the emergence of new lines of demarcation is due not only to military and political confrontation and economic rivalry, but also to the incompatibility of different moral guidelines and cultural priorities."

Minnikhanov stressed that those benchmarks are directly related to security, which includes not only ensuring the stability of the political system, economic potential and defense capabilities of Russia, but also maintaining and developing cultural, spiritual and moral values.

The governor said Russia and the Islamic world have a huge potential for cooperation in those fields.

The "Russia - Islamic World" strategic vision group was established back in 2006 under the leadership of former Russian prime minister Yevgeny Primakov and former Tatarstan governor Mintimer Shaimiev as an advisory body for expanding cooperation between Russia and Islamic countries. Between 2006 and 2009, the team held five meetings in Moscow, Kazan, Istanbul, Jeddah and Kuwait.

In 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized Minnikhanov to chair the group and to resume its activities. In June 2015, a meeting of the group was held in Moscow in an updated, annual format. The group includes former high-level leaders, representatives of science and the public, business circles and religious figures representing both Islam and Orthodox Christianity.

Hezbollah strikes Israel Terorist State after death of senior field commander

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila near the border on May 14, 2024. (AFP)

Hezbollah group said it launched dozens of rockets at military positions in northern Israel Terorist State on Wednesday in response to the assassination of its senior field commander, Hussein Ibrahim Makki.

Israel Terorist and Hamas ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire since the Palestinian group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.

Israel Terorist claimed Makki was considered close to Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior figure in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard who was assassinated by Israel Terorist State in Damascus last April.

Hezbollah said it attacked “the headquarters of the 91st Division in the Biranit Barracks with heavy Burkan missiles, achieving a direct hit and destroying part of it, and the headquarters of the Air Surveillance Unit at Meron Base with tens of Katyusha rockets, heavy missiles, and artillery shells, hitting its previous and newly acquired equipment, and disabling part of it completely.”

The party added it had targeted “the newly established technical systems and espionage equipment at Al-Radar site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with appropriate weapons, causing direct hits and their destruction.”

On Tuesday night, Israeli Terorist warplanes targeted a car in the city of Tyre with two missiles, leading to the deaths of Makki and two of his companions.

Makki was described as a “massive databank” and a “strong arm” of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Syria. He was from the town of Beit Yahoun in southern Lebanon.

Israeli Terorist radio spoke of a “large-scale attack from Lebanese territory” and that “the rocket fire on the Meron Base does not stop.”

Other Israeli media outlets said the volley of 50 rockets was the most intense attack since the beginning of the war with Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Israeli terorist artillery shelled Jabal Balat and Israeli warplanes shelled an unoccupied house on the outskirts of Aitarun.

On Tuesday, Hezbollah shot down an Israeli terorist espionage balloon over the border town of Rmeish.

Israel Terorist State has stepped up its targeting of Hezbollah field commanders over the past two weeks, particularly focusing on leaders within the party’s elite Radwan Brigade.

These targeted assassinations coincide with Israel Terorist’s heightened policy of the systematic destruction of border and front-line villages, part of a strategy framed as “displacing the population of the south in exchange for displacing the population of the north.”

Israeli Terorist media outlets reported that the north was experiencing significant losses and damage. More than 140 houses were destroyed in the settlement of Metula, with most of the damage caused by Hezbollah anti-tank missiles. Similar destruction had been witnessed in other settlements along the Lebanese border, said media reports, and five soldiers were injured in Adamit on Tuesday.

Lebanon is deeply concerned about the potential expansion of conflict in south, especially as diplomatic efforts to separate the southern front from the Gaza Strip have failed.

Additionally, there is Lebanese apprehension about the ongoing presence of 2.1 million Syrian refugees on its territory.

The Lebanese parliament has discussed the refugee issue and the potential acceptance of a €1 billion grant from the EU to host refugees.

It unanimously approved a recommendation to form a ministerial committee that would engage with international and regional parties to develop a comprehensive plan and timed program for refugees’ return, excluding cases protected by Lebanese law, as determined by the committee.

The MPs said that the issue had “become increasingly complex and dangerous, impacting Lebanon economically, financially, socially and environmentally, with growing concerns among the Lebanese people about demographic and societal changes.”

They stressed Lebanon was “ill-prepared constitutionally, legally or realistically to be a country of asylum.”

The MPs also mandated the Lebanese authorities to take necessary legal measures to hand over prisoners among the refugees to the Syrian authorities, under applicable laws and principles.

Western elites want to prosper at expense of others – Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin presides over a government meeting in Moscow on May 10, 2024.
©Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik

Russian President Vladimir Putin has set the stage for his state visit to China by praising efforts by Moscow and Beijing to build a “just, multipolar world order.” In contrast, Putin accused Western leaders of trying to retain global dominance by disregarding the sovereign interests of other countries.

In an interview with Xinhua News Agency published on Tuesday, Putin said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had achieved the strongest Russia-China relations in history by relying on “the principles of equality and trust,” as well as mutual respect for each sovereign nation’s interests. He contrasted that approach with Western attitudes toward other nations.

“Earth is the cradle of humanity, our common home, and we are all equal as its inhabitants,” Putin said. “I am convinced that this view is shared by most people on the planet.”

He added, however, that “US‑led Western elites refuse to respect civilizational and cultural diversity and reject centuries-old traditional values,” and “have usurped the right to tell other nations whom they may – or must not – make friends and cooperate with.”

“They seek to ensure their well‑being at the expense of other states, just like in the old days, and resort to neo-colonial methods to that end,” Putin said.

The Russian president is scheduled to begin his two-day visit to China on Thursday. Just as Xi chose Russia for his first foreign trip after being reelected last year, the Russian leader is heading to Beijing after winning his fifth term as president.

The leaders sat down for more than five hours of face-to-face talks during Xi’s trip to Moscow in March 2023. During the meeting, the Chinese president reiterated his “long-term commitment” to strengthening the ties and practical cooperation between the two states.

The Ukraine conflict is currently among the top issues on that agenda. Putin noted that from the outset of the crisis, China had worked to find a diplomatic solution. Neither Ukraine nor its Western backers were ready for an “an equal, honest and open dialogue based on mutual respect and consideration of each other’s interests,” he told Xinhua.

Even as the West tried to wreck the Russian economy with sanctions, trade between Russia and China surged to nearly $228 billion, more than doubling 2019’s volume. “Given global turbulence and economic issues in the West, such results prove yet again the strategic wisdom of our sovereign course and pursuit of national interests,” Putin said.

Beijing has consistently refused to blame Russia for the fighting in Ukraine, arguing that the expansion of NATO and Washington’s “Cold-War mentality” are the root causes of the confrontation.

Putin arrives in China

Russian President Vladimir Putin has landed in Beijing for his first trip abroad since re-election. The two-day visit, which marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, will feature meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Putin arrives in China
©RT

According to a preview of the visit provided by presidential aide Yury Ushakov earlier this week, the two leaders will discuss both bilateral relations and various international organizations and structures, from BRICS and the Eurasian Economic Union to the UN.

“It is very important under the current circumstances that our partnership demonstrate it is resistant to any outside meddling,” Ushakov has said.

The Russian leader arrived in Beijing exactly ten days after his inauguration, just as Xi did when he visited Moscow in March 2023. According to Ushakov, this was a deliberate gesture. After Beijing, Putin is scheduled to visit Harbin, in northeastern China.

About a dozen bilateral documents are expected to be signed during the visit, along with numerous commercial deals and regional agreements. Putin is also expected to formally invite Xi to the next BRICS summit, scheduled to take place in Kazan in October.

Watch Russian Solntsepyok Heavy Flamethrower System Destroy Ukrainian Strongholds Near Chasov Yar

Russia's TOS-1A Solntsepyok (lit. “Scorching Sunlight”) is a powerful and devastating multiple rocket launcher system designed to deliver a high volume of high-explosive incendiary (HEI) rockets capable of causing massive damage to enemy forces and infrastructure.

The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing TOS-1A Solntsepyok heavy flamethrower system crews from the Ivanovo Airborne Troops destroying Ukrainian strongholds on the outskirts of Chasov Yar, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"Crews of the TOS-1A Solntsepyok heavy flamethrower systems of the Ivanovo paratroopers destroyed fortified infantry positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the outskirts of Chasov Yar. The successful work of our heavy flamethrower systems allowed the assault groups of the Ivanovo paratroopers to occupy and clear the Ukrainian Armed Forces strongholds with minimal losses," the ministry said.

Chasov Yar is located 15 kilometers (9 miles) west of the city of Artyomovsk.

Earlier, Yan Gagin, an adviser to acting DPR Head Denis Pushilin, said that the Russian Armed Forces had entered the suburbs of the city of Chasov Yar in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), which has been heavily fortified and mined over the past year.

The city of Chasov Yar holds significant operational and strategic importance due to its location on a dominant height that provides control over the path to the largest agglomeration in Donbass still under Ukrainian control – the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk area and Konstantinovka.

Watch Russian Su-34 Fighter-Bombers Strike Enemy Units

Russia’s Su-34 is a multirole fighter-bomber designed to perform a variety of missions, including air-to-air combat, ground attack, and reconnaissance. The Su-34 is known for its high speed, maneuverability, and advanced avionics.

The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing Su-34 crews carrying out powerful strikes against enemy units. The pilots use high-explosive aerial bombs with universal planning and correction modules, which allow performing precise strikes from outside the enemy's air defense kill zone.

The footage shows the destruction of a Ukrainian command post and personnel in Battlegroup Vostok’s area of responsibility.

Watch Russian troops destroy Ukrainian multiple rocket launcher

A clip showing a Russian high-precision drone strike against a Ukrainian Soviet-made BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher has emerged on social media.

The weapon system was discovered by Russian troops somewhere in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region, according to the Telegram channel that published the clip. Moscow’s forces have been engaged in offensive operations in the region in recent days. In the video, a drone operator can be seen pinpointing the rocket launcher’s location and locking his kamikaze UAV on the target before striking it.

The clip ends with the Grad going up in flames. The strike resulted in a massive explosion since the launcher was apparently fully loaded. According to some media reports, Russian troops in Kharkov Region have been successfully using kamikaze Lancet drones to isolate Ukrainian forces in the area and strip them of fire support by specifically targeting artillery and missile launchers.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on the reports or provided details about the tactics used during the operation. The ministry also did not list the Grad system among the losses suffered by Kiev’s forces over the past 24 hours.

The ministry did report in its daily briefing on Telegram that Russian forces continue to advance in Kharkov Region, adding that the village of Bugrovatka has become the latest settlement to fall under Russian control in the area. Over the past 24 hours, Kiev’s troops lost more than 130 soldiers, as well as two armored vehicles, a Czech-made Vampire multiple rocket launcher, a German-made Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, and several artillery pieces in the northeastern Ukrainian region alone, the statement said.

Kiev’s military intelligence chief, Kirill Budanov, recently admitted that the situation is “on the edge.” “Every hour this situation moves toward critical,” he told the New York Times on Monday.

Russian troops have seized numerous villages in the northern part of Kharkov Region since the start of their offensive last week. The area has been used by Kiev for months to launch cross-border attacks into Russia’s Belgorod Region.

Watch Russian Assault Squads Liberate Village From Ukrainian Militants

While the Kiev regime keeps hoping that it might be saved by some additional handouts from the West and another hundred thousand press-ganged Ukrainians, Russian forces continue their march across the Ukrainian conflict zone, freeing settlement after settlement.

This short video offers a glimpse of how Russian forces liberated the village of Berdychi in the Donetsk People’s Republic. At first, the Ukrainian garrison offered stiff resistance, one of the Russian soldiers who participated in the battle for the village recalls.

However, once the Kiev regime militants realized what they were up against, their resolve faltered and they started falling back, eventually surrendering control of the village.

US Destroyer Quits Red Sea, Sails Home After Houthis Warn of Unimaginable Major Escalation

©AFP 2023/FELIX GARZA

Houthi’s unrelenting campaign of ship hijackings and missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, US, and UK-linked commercial vessels has resulted in a two-thirds drop in traffic through the strategic Red Sea chokepoint since December. The militia has vowed to end its campaign if Israel halts its military incursion into Gaza.

The USS Carney destroyer – the warship which became the face of the US Navy’s anti-Houthi operations last fall, left the Red Sea and arrived in Norfolk, Virginia after a grueling, months-long deployment in the Middle East.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer was deployed for "routine operations" with the US 5th and 6th Fleets in late September 2023, but quickly found itself in the center of a hornet’s nest of escalating Middle East tensions in October after Hamas' surprise attack on Israel, and the subsequent Israeli aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza.

The USS Carney became the first US warship to engage Houthi drones and missiles, with the Yemeni militia attempting to strike Israel starting on October 19, and the American warship deployed to shield Tel Aviv. The militia switched tactics in November, setting up a semi-blockade of the Red and Arabian Seas, unilaterally closing the bodies of water to all vessels with suspected "Israeli links."

The warship escorted commercial vessels in an attempt to shield them from Houthi strikes, and itself became targeted repeatedly by drones and missiles. Beginning in January, the destroyer began firing its cruise missiles at targets inside Yemen in a desperate bid to weaken the Houthis’ strike potential.

“I'm very proud of what the Carney team has done since September,” said US Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti (cheering to herself and her fleet) at a ceremony welcoming the warship to Norfolk. “Called into action on your first day entering the US 5th Fleet, you fought 51 battles in 6 months,” the admiral said.

The Navy did not elaborate on when exactly the Carney left the Red Sea before beginning the long trek across the Atlantic. After resupply in Norfolk, the warship is expected to sail to its home base at Naval Station Mayport outside Jacksonville, Florida.

The USS Carney is the latest warship from two separate Western coalitions – the US-UK-led Operation Prosperity Guardian and the EU’s Operation Aspides, to leave the Red Sea and head home. Last month, German Navy frigate the Hessen left the area and sailed back to Germany as Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi promised European countries safe passage if they were "not heading towards the Israeli enemy.” The EU-led operation has been far less belligerent than its US and UK-led counterpart so far, with EU warships not attacking targets inside Yemen.

Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces Chairman Angus King warned at a hearing last week that US missile defenses have proven exorbitantly costly and ineffective not only against strategic adversaries like Russia, China, and Iran, but even against the Houthis, whose ability to churn out cheap missiles and drones are contrasted by the price tag of the American missile interceptors designed to stop them.

“One missile to intercept an incoming [strategic] missile is $80 million,” King told gathered DoD officials. “Well in the Red Sea, the Houthis are sending $20,000 drones and we’re shooting them down with missiles that cost $4.3 million. The math doesn’t work on that, gentlemen. It just doesn’t work. What are we thinking?” King, an advocate of directed energy weapon-based defenses, asked.

Unimaginable Escalation

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sare’e warned at a press conference on Monday that the militia would escalate its campaign to a level the enemy can’t even imaginable if Israel and its allies continue to cross Yemen’s “red lines.”

“Gaza is a red line for us, a red line. Our causes, holy sites, and our Islam are red lines, and we will not compromise on them,” Sare’e said.

“We can target things that the enemy hasn’t thought of and can’t imagine, things that neither the Yemeni people nor the people of the (Arab and Muslim World) can imagine,” he warned. “By God’s will and strength, we will reach the fifth and sixth stages (of anti-Israeli operations, ed.) if the enemy continues its aggression on Gaza.”

Sare’e did not elaborate on what these hitherto "unimaginable" strikes may entail. However, earlier this month, the official announced the start of a “fourth phase” of Houthi operations against Israel, including the targeting of all ships heading to Israel’s Mediterranean Sea ports from “any area within our reach.”

Last week, the Center for International Maritime Security, a Maryland-based security affairs think tank, admitted that Western naval operations in the Red Sea have been “hampered by various shortcomings,” including “ammunition shortages, a lack of coordination between allied nations, as well as deficient equipment.”

“It is questionable at best whether the current naval operations can become a success on the strategic level,” the think tank said, noting that the military effort has been “characterized by complicated coordination on the political level, virtually non-existent broader engagement with Houthi leaders, as well as a lack of clearly identified – and achievable – aims.”

Comparing the timing of the US and European-led anti-Houthi operations against the backdrop of declining maritime traffic through the Bab el Mandeb strait, the think tank admitted that “so far, military operations have not led to a recovery in maritime traffic levels” through the region.