The drills will last until April 7 CHISINAU: Joint Combined Exchange Training exercises involving units of special forces from Great Britain, Moldova, Romania and the United States kicked off in training centers in Moldova, the Moldovan Defense Ministry said on Monday. "The exercises are being held for the four countries’ special forces to exchange experience and improve interoperability," the ministry said in a statement. "The soldiers will practice shooting and parachute jumping as well as field maneuvers," it added. The drills will last until April 7. Moldovan citizens have been ..read more

 The program to resume the production of Tu-160 planes, upgraded as Tu-160M, was set in motion by the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin MOSCOW: The upgrade of the Tu-160M strategic missile-carrying bomber will enable it to carry new weapons, including advanced armaments, Russia’s state corporation Rostec said on Friday, following a trip by its Director General Sergey Chemezov to the Gorbunov Aviation Plant in Kazan. "The company produces upgraded Tu-160M strategic missile-carrying bombers. The decision to resume their production was made by the president of Russia. Upgrade ..read more

 Nikolay Korchunov pointed out that Russia did not see any issues in the Arctic region that would require a military solution YAKUTSK: NATO’s military activities in the Arctic region cannot but alarm Russia, Nikolay Korchunov, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-At-Large and Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials of the Arctic Council, said on Wednesday. "We can see military tensions rising in the Arctic region as NATO member states have stepped up their drills and expanded the scope of these drills. All this certainly causes us concern because the rise in tensions is evident. Of cour ..read more

No military installations were in the vicinity of the drone attack, an aide to the regional leader has claimed Several Ukrainian drones were brought down by air defenses in the town of Dzhankoy in Crimea late on Monday, local officials have said. Debris from the destroyed UAVs damaged a house and a shop in the area, the leader of the Republic of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, wrote on Telegram on Monday. One person was injured in the incident, he added. The victim was a 33-year-old male who suffered shrapnel wounds. He was hospitalized, and his life is currently not in danger, the head of the ..read more

 It is stated that Russian forces eliminated as many as 80 Ukrainian personnel, three armored combat vehicles and a D-20 howitzer in that area in the past 24 hours MOSCOW: Russian forces destroyed three US-made counter-battery radars of the Ukrainian army over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Tuesday. "Three US-manufactured AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radars were obliterated in areas near the settlements of Shandrigolovo in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Orekhov in the Zaporozhye Regio ..read more

KALININGRAD: Over 10 crews of advanced Su-30SM and Su-30SM2 fighter jets from a naval aviation regiment of the Baltic Fleet kicked off tactical flight drills with bombing and missile strikes in Russia’s westernmost exclave of the Kaliningrad Region, the Fleet’s press office reported on Monday. "During the drills, the pilots are exercising to destroy enemy military hardware columns, command posts and amassed manpower, military-industrial facilities, adversary aircraft, airborne and amphibious assault forces, and also to provide fire support to units of the Baltic Fleet’s army corps," the press ..read more

  ANKARA: Ankara may approve Sweden’s application for NATO membership in time for the alliance’s summit in Vilnius in July, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday. "Last Friday, I spoke with the Swedish foreign minister. I told him about the decision on Finland, so that he learned about it from us first. <…> He expressed hope that the NATO accession process would be completed by the alliance’s summit, to which I replied, ‘It all depends on you,’" Cavusoglu said. Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership in May 2022 but their bids were blocked by Turkey, which ..read more

MOSCOW: Russia’s armed forces struck 92 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions in 114 areas over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Sunday. "Russian operational/tactical and army aviation aircraft, missile troops and artillery struck 92 artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military hardware in 114 areas over the past day," he said. Battles in Kupyansk direction The western group of the Russian forces struck Ukrainian manpower and equipment in the Kupyansk area, eliminatin ..read more

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has spoken with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin over the phone to discuss security issues of mutual interest, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday. "On February 12, 2022, Defense Minister of the Russian Federation Army General S. Shoigu and Secretary of Defense of the United States L. Austin held talks by phone," the statement said. According to the ministry, "the security issues of mutual interest were touched upon." (Source: Tass ..read more

When Ethiopia’s intelligence agency recently uncovered a cell of 15 people it said were casing the embassy of the United Arab Emirates, along with a cache of weapons and explosives, it claimed to have foiled a major attack with the potential to sow havoc in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. But the Ethiopians omitted a key detail about the purported plot: who was behind it. The only clue was the arrest of a 16th person: Accused of being the ringleader, Ahmed Ismail had been picked up in Sweden with the cooperation of friendly “African, Asian and European intelligence services,” the Ethi ..read more