Armée Russe / Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

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Citation :

Russia Vows to Keep Arms Deals With Caracas After Chavez Death

MOSCOW, March 6 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will continue military-technical cooperation with Venezuela regardless of who takes over power in the Latin American country after the death of its charismatic socialist leader Hugo Chavez, a Russian arms trade source said on Wednesday.

Chavez, 58, died on Tuesday following a two-year tough battle with cancer, leaving the country in a political turmoil.

“Whoever comes to power in Venezuela, our military-technical cooperation will continue because it is aimed primarily at safeguarding the national security of the country,” the source told RIA Novosti.

The official added that some defense contracts with Caracas include the construction of arms factories and servicing centers for military equipment, which helps the development of Venezuela’s economy in general.

“These areas, as a rule, are a priority for any government,” the source said.

Chavez had ambitious military plans, which he began implementing some time ago.

Between 2005 and 2007 Venezuela reached deals to buy $4-billion worth of arms from Russia, including Sukhoi fighter jets, combat helicopters, and over 100,000 light weapons, primarily the famous AK-103 assault rifles and a license to produce them in Venezuela.

Chavez's government also secured a $2.2-billion loan in 2010 to purchase a large batch of Russian weapons for its army, including 92 T-72M1M main battle tanks, about 240 BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles and BTR-80 armored personnel carriers, and a variety of artillery systems.

The source said that Russian and Venezuelan officials met in Caracas earlier this year and reaffirmed their mutual desire to expand cooperation in a variety of areas, including military-technical, oil exploration and transportation.

According to Russian experts, Venezuela is expected to become the world’s second largest buyer of Russian weaponry after India by 2015.

Citation :

Russie: un sous-marin mis à l'eau en mai 2014



MOSCOU, 30 janvier - RIA Novosti  

Le Rostov-sur-le-Don, deuxième sous-marin à propulsion diesel-électrique du projet 636 Varchavianka destiné à la flotte russe de la mer Noire, sera mis à l'eau en mai prochain aux Chantiers navals de l'Amirauté de Saint-Pétersbourg, a appris l'agence RIA Novosti auprès du constructeur.

"La mise à l'eau du deuxième sous-marin de la série est prévue pour mai prochain", a indiqué une porte-parole de l'entreprise.

La source a ajouté que le Krasnodar, quatrième sous-marin du projet, serait mis en chantier le 20 février 2014 dans ce même chantier naval.

Le Novorossiïsk, sous-marin de tête du projet 636, a été mis en chantier en août  2010. Sa mise à eau a eu lieu le 28 novembre 2013. La construction du troisième submersible du projet, Stary Oskol, a débuté en août 2012.

Au total, les chantiers navals de Saint-Pétersbourg doivent construire six sous-marins de ce type pour la Marine russe d'ici 2016.

Baptisé "trou noir" par les experts de l'OTAN pour sa discrétion, le sous-marin diesel-électrique polyvalent du projet 636 "Varchavianka" (Improved Kilo, selon le code de l'OTAN) appartient à la 3e génération de sous-marins. Il a un déplacement de 2.350 tonnes en surface et de 3.950 tonnes en plongée et une vitesse de 17/20 nœuds. Le sous-marin a 45 heures d'autonomie. Il peut être doté de 4 missiles Kalibr, de 18 torpilles de 533 mm (six tubes) et de 24 mines et

http://fr.ria.ru/defense/20140130/200349159.html

Citation :

U.S. Says Russia Tested Missile, Despite Treaty


WASHINGTON — The United States informed its NATO allies this month that Russia had tested a new ground-launched cruise missile, raising concerns about Moscow’s compliance with a landmark arms control accord.

American officials believe Russia began conducting flight tests of the missile as early as 2008. Such tests are prohibited by the treaty banning medium-range missiles that was signed in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader at the time, and that has long been viewed as one of the bedrock accords that brought an end to the Cold War

...

But even with the best of intentions, establishing what the Russians are doing may not be easy. The elaborate network of verification provisions created under the medium-range missile treaty is no longer in effect, since all the missiles that were believed to be covered by the agreement were long thought to have been destroyed by May 1991

NYT!

vivement le revival du cold war   

sauf que la partie se jouera à 3 cette fois si...

c´est le plus croustillant  

Citation :

Russia may quit START III after US deploys destroyer in Europe

If the US continues to boost its anti-missile capabilities through developing missile defense system in Europe, Russia may have no other option but to withdraw from the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), warns the Russian Foreign Ministry’s top disarmament official, Mikhail Ulyanov. The news comes as the US's ballistic missile defense destroyer has been deployed in Spain to strengthen NATO’s anti-missile shield in Europe.

The move, allegedly aimed at neutralizing the Iranian threat, has sparked polemics about Russia's possible withdrawal from the START nuclear treaty.

Deployment of the Navy destroyer USS Donald Cook, equipped with the Aegis shipboard integrated combat weapons system, was announced by the US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Munich Security Conference.

"An important posture enhancement is European missile defense in response to ballistic missile threats from Iran,” Hagel said, adding that the US is committed “to deploying missile defense architecture there,” as a part of Phase 3 of the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA).

Hagel also said that over the next two years, three additional Aegis-enabled missile defense-capable destroyers will join NATO forces in protecting the European continent.

"We are concerned that the US is continuing to build up missile defense capability without considering the interests and concerns of Russia,” Ulyanov told Interfax. "Such a policy can undermine strategic stability and lead to a situation where Russia will be forced to exercise [its] right of withdrawal from the [START] treaty.”

Ulyanov said that the legal basis for Moscow scraping the START treaty is legislated for within the text of the agreement, which Russia says it has so far fully implemented. In certain exceptional cases, involving a known threat to national security, both Russia and the US have the option to quit the treaty.

"As at September last year Russia had 473 deployed carriers with 1,400 warheads, the USA - 809 and 1,688 respectively. The figures are constantly changing - there are reductions in some places and increases are possible in others. The main thing is to reach set levels by the agreed date," he said in an interview with Interfax.

He reminded Interfax that START III implies that the sides should reach the level of 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and heavy bombers (HB), 1,550 warheads on them and 800 deployed or undeployed launchers of ICBM, SLBM and HB in seven years after its enforcement, i.e. in 2018.

"No intermediate stages are implied. This gives the sides the possibility to flexibly build programs, adapting their strategic potential to the requirements of the treaty," Ulyanov said.Besides, the treaty is not limited to the ceilings. "In fact only eight lines in a package of over 300 pages consisting of the treaty, protocol and addenda deal with them," Ulyanov said."

Thus, the implementation of the new START Treaty is a much broader and more multifaceted task that the implementation of provisions of Article II. It is apparent already now that the sides will have their hands full even after 2018 when the levels stipulated by it are reached," Ulyanov concluded.

Russia won't diclose tactical nuclear weapon numbers or locations - Foreign Ministry

Russia does not intend to disclose information about the storage locations for its tactical nuclear weapons or about their amount, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry department for security and disarmament Mikhail Ulyanov has said.

"Yes, we are invited to adopt some confidence-building measures by disclosing the storage places of the armaments and their quantity. But whom will it make life easier for, if we disclose such information? Only for terrorists. Should we be creating problems there where they are absent so far?" he wondered in an interview with Interfax.

Commenting on the calls from the United States and NATO to reduce Russian tactical nuclear armaments Ulyanov said: "The subject of Russian tactical nuclear armament is far-fetched and fanned quite artificially".

"In the past 20 years Russia reduced its tactical nuclear armaments by 75%. All these armaments are deployed solely on Russian territory. They are stored at centralized facilities, i.e. are not deployed and pose no threat to anyone," he said.

Meanwhile, "the situation is absolutely different with NATO and the Americans," he said." Approximately 200 tactical nuclear warheads are located in six countries of Europe and they are deployed. Which means they pose a potential threat to us," Ulyanov said.

"Moreover, NATO has such a notion as nuclear sharing which means that pilots from non-nuclear countries are trained to pilot nuclear-carrying aircraft," he went on to say. "From the viewpoint of nuclear nonproliferation this is a violation of the letter and sprit of the NPT. Many countries share this viewpoint," Ulyanov said.

"We are not refusing to conduct a dialogue but we don't see a subject for even a preliminary conversation until all these weapons are withdrawn beyond Europe and before the infrastructure that permits their rapid return to the European continent is liquidated," the diplomat said.

"The practice of the said exercises should also be stopped," he said.

Voice of Russia, Interfax

Sochi’s Anti-Aircraft Missile Defense System


Tor-M1 air defense missile systems

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La Russie envoie 4 avions d'assaut Su-25 au Kirghizstan  

MOSCOU, 3 février - RIA Novosti

La Russie enverra quatre avions d'assaut modernisés Sukhoi Su-25 à la base aérienne russe de Kant au Kirghizstan, a annoncé lundi à Moscou le service de presse de la Région militaire centrale des Forces armées russes.

"Une patrouille d'avions d'assaut modernisés Su-25SM viendra prochainement compléter le parc aérien de la base russe de Kant au Kirghizstan", a indiqué le service de presse dans un communiqué.

Le ministre russe de la Défense Sergueï Choïgou a annoncé lundi que Moscou entendait renforcer le potentiel de sa base aérienne de Kant située à 20 km à l'est de Bichkek.

En septembre 2013, la Russie et le Kirghizstan ont signé un accord sur la création d'une base unifiée regroupant toutes les unités militaires russes stationnées au Kirghizstan à ce jour. A savoir le centre d'essai de matériels sous-marins de Karakol (situé au bord du lac d'Issyk Koul), le centre de liaison de la Marine russe de Kara-Balta (58 km à l'ouest de Bichkek), le laboratoire radio-sismologique de Maïli-Suu (région de Djalalabad, sud) et la base aérienne de Kant. La Russie entend regrouper ces quatre sites sous un commandement unique.

La base de Kant a été officiellement ouverte le 23 octobre 2003 en tant que composante aérienne des forces de déploiement rapide de l'Organisation du traité de sécurité collective (OTSC).

Créée en 2002, l'Organisation du traité de sécurité collective, parfois qualifiée d'"Otan russe", est une organisation politico-militaire qui regroupe l'Arménie, la Biélorussie, le Kazakhstan, le Kirghizstan, la Russie et le Tadjikistan.

http://fr.ria.ru/defense/20140203/200375312.html

Citation :

Russia May Build New Aircraft Carrier by 2023 – Designer



MOSCOW, February 3 (RIA Novosti) – The development and construction of a new aircraft carrier for the Russian navy could take about 10 years, a St. Petersburg-based ship design bureau said Monday.
Sergei Vlasov, general director of the Nevskoye design bureau, said the overall cost of the ship could range between 100 and 250 billion rubles ($2.8-7.1 billion).
“If the ship will be armed with a variety of weaponry, its cost will skyrocket, but if it will carry only air defense systems, the cost will be less,” the official said.
Vlasov said his bureau could design both a nuclear-powered and conventional version of the aircraft carrier. The former would have a deadweight of up to 85,000 metric tons, while the latter – up to 65,000 tons.
The nuclear-powered ship would be able to carry some 70 aircraft and helicopters, while the conventional vessel – up to 55, he said.
Vlasov added that the new carrier would serve as a seaborne platform for new-generation fixed- and rotary-winged aircraft, in particular a fifth-generation fighter set to replace the Su-33 multirole fighter aircraft currently in service, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
According to Vlasov, the Russian navy needs at least four aircraft carriers: two for the Northern Fleet and two for the Pacific Fleet.
At present, Russia has only one aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, built in 1985, with a displacement of 55,000 metric tons, a crew of 1,500 and capability to carry more than 50 aircraft.

http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20140203/187171199/Russia-May-Build-New-Aircraft-Carrier-by-2023--Designer.html

Nakhimov :

Citation :

L'armée russe se dote d'une police militaire



Le président russe Vladimir Poutine a signé un décret entérinant la création d'une police militaire en Russie, rapporte mardi le service de presse présidentiel.

Comme annoncé auparavant, la police militaire sera chargée de défendre les droits des militaires et du personnel civil du ministère de la Défense, ainsi que d'assurer la discipline, l'ordre et le respect de la loi au sein des forces armées. Elle assurera également la sécurité des sites militaires du pays.

Du point de vue structurel, la police fera partie des forces armées russes et sera dirigée par le ministre de la Défense.

http://fr.ria.ru/defense/20140204/200378089.html

Citation :

La Russie, troisième plus gros budget de défense au monde

LONDRES, 4 février - RIA Novosti

La Russie a le troisième plus gros budget de défense au monde (68,9 milliards de dollars en 2013), selon un rapport annuel du cabinet d'experts IHS Jane's.

"2014 sera la première année depuis 2009 où les budgets militaires nationaux repartiront à la hausse. Quatre des cinq marchés de défense les plus dynamiques du monde se trouvent au Proche-Orient. La Russie s'est hissée au troisième rang, devançant la Grande-Bretagne et le Japon", est-il indiqué dans le rapport.

"Les dépenses militaires russes devraient progresser de 44% ces trois prochaines années. Selon un projet de loi adopté par la Douma (chambre basse du parlement russe), les dépenses militaires russes augmenteront de 68 milliards de dollars en 2013 à 98 milliards de dollars en 2016. Ces projets portent la Russie au troisième rang mondial… Ces fonds supplémentaires devraient servir à moderniser les armements et équipements, à organiser des exercices et à améliorer les conditions de vie des militaires", estiment Craig Caffrey, expert d'IHS Jane's.

Les Etats-Unis restent en tête du classement des dépenses militaires avec un budget militaire de 582,4 milliards de dollars. La Chine arrive en deuxième position avec 139,2 milliards de dollars. La Grande-Bretagne (58,9 mds USD) est quatrième, le Japon (56,8 mds USD) est cinquième et la France (53,1 mds USD) est sixième.

Selon IHS Jane's, les dépenses militaires sont en hausse depuis deux ans en Russie, en Chine, en Inde, en Arabie saoudite et à Oman. Le budget militaire de l'Arabie saoudite a triplé en dix ans et la Chine dépensera plus pour sa défense que l'Allemagne, la France et la Grande-Bretagne réunis.

http://fr.ria.ru/defense/20140204/200384130.html

Citation :

Des batteries Iskander non loin de Sotchi ?




En décembre dernier la Russie déployait des batteries de missiles sol-sol Iskander dans l’enclave de Kaliningrad, un territoire coincé au milieu de l’Union Européenne, un peu à la manière de la Suisse mais en moins riche (notamment en matière de chocolats et de fromages à trous) et potentiellement un peu plus belliqueux. La réaction de l’OTAN ne s’était pas faite attendre avec un renforcement de ses moyens de combats en mer Baltique.
Cette fois-ci plusieurs médias indépendants russes, mais aussi géorgiens, indiquent que de telles batteries seraient déployées autour du site olympique de Sotchi. Il est largement compréhensible que la Russie privilégie la sécurité dans l’instable région du Caucase, comme les Britanniques l’avaient fait à Londres il y a deux ans, mais ce déploiement de missiles balistiques pourrait bien être vécue comme une nouvelle provocation de Moscou. Notamment de la part des Américains et de l’UE.
Cependant la Russie a dorénavant placé ses missiles hors de portée des escadrilles de chasse de l’OTAN, sauf peut être si celles-ci étaient prépositionnées à Incirlik-AB en Turquie. Reste aussi l’US Navy qui pourrait faire patrouiller un de ses portes-avions en Méditerranée orientale, donc à moins de 2000 kilomètres de la région… juste histoire de rappeler aux Russes qu’ils ne sont pas totalement tous puissants dans le Caucase.
Il reste toutefois qu’aucun grand média occidental n’a repris l’info et que celle-ci doit donc être considérée avec la plus grande prudence. En ces périodes où les rumeurs prennent des proportions alarmantes, sachons raison garder. Pourtant ce déploiement est bien dans l’esprit actuel des dirigeants de Moscou pour qui la sécurité et la protection de leur pays passent avant toute considération idéologique, et notamment humaniste.

http://www.avionslegendaires.net/2014/02/actu/des-batteries-iskander-non-loin-de-sotchi/

Borey :


Yasen :



source : Russian Naval Aviation FCB

Citation :

Russian Air Force Receives Israeli Designed UAV

Russian Air Force has received six ‘Outpost’ (Searcher-II) UAV’s. The platoon will be based in RAF’s air base in Kamchatka and will perform tactical reconnaissance sorties in the region.



The ‘Outpost’ UAV has been produced by UZGA at its Nizhny Tagil factory, under license from Israeli IAI.

http://i-hls.com

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La Russie terminera en 2014 les essais officiels du sous-marin Lada


Les essais officiels du sous-marin Lada seront terminés en 2014. Le sous-marin sera ensuite mis en service dans la marine russe, a indiqué ce jeudi l’architecte en chef du bureau d’études Rubin, Igor Molchánov.

« Il reste quelques travaux à effectuer sur des équipements qui n’ont pas pu être essayés dans les eaux peu profondes de la Baltique. C’est pourquoi ils ont besoin d’être testés en plongée en mer du Nord, » a déclaré Molchánov. Il a ajouté que, une fois ces essais terminés, le sous-marin entrerait en service opérationnel.
Il a rappelé qu’un contrat avait été signé en 2013 pour la construction d’un 2è sous-marin de la classe Lada.
« Cependant, ce nouveau sous-marin sera considérablement différent du premier. Les différences seront de 2 ordres. D’abord, il s’agit d’améliorer les caractéristiques techniques et tactiques et la capacité de combat du sous-marin. Ensuite, il faut corriger les défauts apparus sur le premier exemplaire, » a expliqué le responsable.

http://www.corlobe.tk/spip.php?article33972

Citation :

Russia to Arm Warships with New Air Defense System



NEW DELHI, February 6 (RIA Novosti) – A naval version of the Tor short-range air defense system will be installed on all Russian warships, the manufacturer, Almaz-Antey Concern, said Thursday.
The new system, dubbed M-Tor, is a variant of the modernized Tor-M2KM system featuring modular assembly, high reliability and improved precision, according to Yuri Baykov, spokesman for Almaz-Antey.
M-Tor will gradually replace the outdated Kinzhal (SA-N-Gauntlet) systems, which have been in service since 1989, Baykov said at the DEFEXPO INDIA-2014 exhibition in New Delhi.
He also said Russia will offer Tor-M2KMs to India as part of the recently announced tender for 52 short-range air defense systems to form two missile regiments in the Indian army.
Almaz-Antey will test a modified version of the Tor-M2KM in the spring, mounted on a wheeled chassis manufactured by India’s Tata Motors, the official said.
According to the company, Tor-M2KM is a highly versatile air defense system that can be mounted on a wide variety of platforms, including railway cars, rooftops and ships.
“This expands significantly the scope of its operational deployment, as the system could be used to protect stadiums from airborne attacks during large international sports events,” Baykov said.
The system can simultaneously detect 48 targets, track up to ten targets and engage four of them at the same time.

http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20140206/187266299/Russia-to-Arm-Warships-with-New-Air-Defense-System.html

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Russie: neuf sous-marins mis en chantier en 2014-2015

La Russie mettra en chantier neuf sous-marins dont quatre SNLE en 2014-2015, a annoncé vendredi à New Delhi le directeur général des chantiers navals Sevmach de Severodvinsk (nord) Mikhaïl Boudnitchenko.
"En 2014, les chantiers navals Sevmach lanceront la construction de deux sous-marins nucléaires stratégiques de type Boreï, un sous-marin de type Iassen et un sous-marin spécial", a indiqué M.Boudnitchenko lors du Salon international des technologies et produits de l'industrie de la défense Defexpo India 2014.
En 2015, Sevmach mettra en chantier cinq sous-marins dont deux du projet 955 Boreï et trois du projet 885 Iassen, selon lui.
Capables de tirer des missiles balistiques intercontinentaux Boulava, les sous-marins nucléaires du projet 955 Boreï constitueront la base des Forces navales stratégiques russes après la mise au rebut des sous-marins de classes Akoula (Typhoon selon le code de l'OTAN), Kalmar et Mourena (Delta-3 et Delta-4 selon l'OTAN) en 2018.
Les sous-marins de quatrième génération du projet 995 Boreï ont un déplacement de 14.700/24.000 tonnes et peuvent plonger à 450 mètres de profondeur. Leur vitesse est de 15 nœuds en surface et de 29 nœuds en profondeur. L'équipage d'un sous-marin de cette classe comprend 107 sous-mariniers. Le premier sous-marin de la série, le Iouri Dolgorouki, a été remis à la Marine russe en janvier 2013 et le deuxième, l'Alexandre Nevski, fin décembre 2013.
Les sous-marins nucléaires du projet 885 Iassen ont un déplacement de 8.600/13.800 tonnes et peuvent plonger à 600 mètres de profondeur. Leur vitesse est de 16/30 nœuds. Selon les spécialistes de Sevmach, ce sont "les sous-marins les plus modernes et les moins bruyants de fabrication russe". Ces sous-marins sont dotés de missiles supersoniques de croisière de type Oniks et Kalibr et de torpilles à guidage automatique. Le Severodvinsk, chef de file du projet 885 Iassen, a été remis à la Marine russe fin décembre 2013. Deux autres sous-marins du projet 885, le Kazan et le Novossibirsk, sont actuellement en chantier à Severodvinsk. La remise du Kazan à la Marine est programmée pour 2015.

http://fr.ria.ru/defense/20140207/200412185.html

Citation :

Russian ICBM missile tests: What lies behind U.S. allegations?

The U.S. recently accused Russia of contravening the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in its testing of the RS-26 intercontinental ballistic missile. However, these allegations may conceal a hidden agenda

The United States has informed its NATO allies of American concerns over a possible breach of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) by Moscow. According to the U.S. media, these concerns were triggered by Russian cruise missile tests. RBTH has asked prominent military expert Viktor Litovkin to explain the situation.

The INF Treaty bans the production, testing and deployment of intermediate-range (1,000-5,000 km) and shorter-range (500-1,000 km) ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles by the United States and Russia.

Judging from reports in the American press, Washington believes that Russia tested a “suspicious” missile in 2008. The U.S. media are not saying what the missile was - but they are dropping heavy hints that we're talking about the RS-26, also known as the Rubezh and the Avangard.


Modern weaponry up close and personal

Modern weaponry up close and personal

The RS-26 Rubezh is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), meaning that it follows a ballistic trajectory to reach the target. Cruise missiles, on the other hand, fly horizontally just above the Earth's surface, sticking closely to the surface topography. ICBMs have a range of up to 11,500 km, whereas cruise missiles, as a rule, have a much more limited range of up to 3,500 km.

The cause of the latest ruckus is that, in a certain sense, the warhead used with the Rubezh ICBM behaves as a cruise missile in its own right. After being launched from a mobile ground-based platform, the RS-26 climbs straight upwards.

Once it has reached a certain altitude, it starts to follow a curved ballistic trajectory towards the target. Then during the descending section of that trajectory, with only a few hundred miles left to the target, the warhead suddenly takes a dive, loses altitude, and continues the approach as a cruise missile, i.e. flying horizontally along the Earth's surface. Detecting such a warhead by radars or other traditional means is impossible; neither can the warhead be intercepted.

A symmetrical response

These new Russian ICBM warheads were developed in response to America’s plans to deploy a global missile defense system along Russia's borders.

In fact, Washington was informed some time ago about the RS-26 Rubezh. Col. Gen. Vladimir Zarudnitsky, head of the Main Operations Department at Russia’s General Staff, spoke about the new missile system just over six months ago. “As part of the approved plan of augmenting the Russian armed forces, the MoD has conducted a test launch of the new Rubezh ICBM, which has greatly improved strike precision characteristics," the general said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

The missile was launched on June 6, 2013 from the Kapustin Yar missile range in the Astrakhan Region, and landed at the Balkhash range in eastern Kazakhstan. Prior to that, another missile was launched from the Plesetsk range in the Arkhangelsk Region, landing at the Kura range in Kamchatka, some 6,300 km to the east.

According to Gen. Zarudnitsky, once the Rubezh passes the trial program it will enter service with the Strategic Missile Troops (the Russian land-based nuclear forces). The first missile regiment will begin receiving these missiles later in 2014. The MoD is now working to deploy the requisite infrastructure and train the personnel.

Offense the best form of defense?

Some specialists say that Russia may actually have tested a cruise missile designed for deployment on long-range bombers or ships and submarines. Such missiles are not banned by the INF treaty.

The snag is that the test launch of the missile was performed from a platform on the ground, since it is much cheaper than conducting the same test launch at sea or from an aircraft. Though that may have been the detail that spurred the Americans to level accusations at Moscow, their motives are probably not what they seem to be.

For example, the Americans regularly test elements of their missile defense system at the Kwajalein atoll in the Pacific. The target missiles used during these tests are equipped with engines from intermediate-range missiles.

This has been pointed out on several occasions by Maj. Gen. Midykhat Vildanov, professor at the Academy of Military Sciences and one of Russia's most respected specialists on strategic weapons systems.

In an article published in the Nezavisimoye Voennoye Obozreniye (Independent Military Review) journal last July, he accused the Pentagon of violating the INF Treaty. More specifically, Prof. Vildanov insists that during the tests of their interceptors, the Americans use target missiles that have a range of over 1,000 km (1,200 km for HERA; 2,000 km for LRALT; and up to 1,100 km for MRT missiles).

This is a clear violation of the INF Treaty. The Russian Foreign Ministry complained about this back in January 2001, and again in August 2010, but met with no response from Washington.

Meanwhile, the Russian MoD says the charges of violating the INF Treaty leveled at Moscow by the American press have coincided with an interesting statement by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Hagel said that the Pentagon had sent the USS Donald Cook, a naval destroyer equipped with the Aegis missile defense system, to the Spanish port of Rota. Such coincidences are eerily reminiscent of the preventive propaganda attacks during the Cold War confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union.

http://rbth.ru/

Russian frigate leaves Sevastopol for Sochi security mission