DefenceTalkMoscow has deployed six SU-27 fighters and three military transport jets to Belarus, in an apparent reaction to growing NATO activity near the Belarusian border, the Russian defense ministry said Thursday. “The air crews of the Russian jets will be on combat duty with their Belarusian colleagues for purposes of air reconnaissance and ensuring defense […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-flies-warplanes-to-belarus-for-joint-combat-duty-59034/

DefenceTalkMore U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcons will deploy to Poland in the coming days and weeks, a Pentagon official said here today. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak spoke yesterday, and Siemoiniak thanked the secretary for looking at options for basing, said Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. “No decision [have […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-will-beef-up-air-operations-in-poland-58981/

DefenceTalkFrench President Francois Hollande said a controversial sale of two state-of-the art warships by France to Russia was still on course despite Moscow’s widely opposed stand over Crimea. The 2011 sale of the Mistral warships, worth one billion euros ($1.4 billion), was already a deep source of concern for France’s NATO and European Union allies, […]https://www.defencetalk.com/france-says-warship-deal-with-russia-still-alive-58968/

DefenceTalkKosovo’s government proposed on Thursday creating a 5,000-strong army to “protect sovereignty” of the ethnic Albanian territory, six years after it seceded from Serbia. The army would double the size of the current civil emergency Kosovo security force (KPS), said a statement issued after a cabinet session. Since the end of 1998-1999 war between independent-seeking […]https://www.defencetalk.com/kosovo-to-create-own-army-to-protect-sovereignty-58961/

DefenceTalkFollowing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s announcement today during Senate testimony that the United States is augmenting its participation in NATO’s air policing mission in the Baltics and will increase joint training through its aviation detachment in Poland, a defense official provided additional information. In a statement provided on background, the official said the United States […]https://www.defencetalk.com/6-f-15s-kc-135-to-augment-nato-mission-in-baltics-58946/

DefenceTalkUkraine warned Sunday it was on the brink of disaster and called up military reservists after Russia’s threat to invade its Western-leaning neighbor risked sparking the worst crisis since the Cold War. US President Barack Obama and his Western allies took turns admonishing Russia as Ukraine looked on the brink of losing control of Crimea […]https://www.defencetalk.com/ukraine-mobilizes-army-as-west-warns-russia-58902/

DefenceTalkRussian leader Vladimir Putin told US President Barack Obama in a telephone conversation Sunday that Moscow reserved the right to protect its own interests and those of Russian speakers in the event of violence breaking out in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. The Kremlin press service said Putin responded to Obama’s expression of concern over possible […]https://www.defencetalk.com/putin-tells-obama-russia-will-act-in-case-of-ukraine-violence-58899/

DefenceTalkUS Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday joined NATO in warning Russia not to take any action that could lead to “miscalculation” amid rising tensions on Ukraine’s majority-Russian Crimea peninsula. Speaking after pro-Kremlin gunmen seized regional administration buildings in Crimea and Moscow ordered snap combat readiness drills near the border, Hagel warned: “I am closely […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-nato-warn-russia-to-avoid-miscalculation-over-crimea-58888/

DefenceTalkThe United States has raised concerns with Moscow over a reported Russian test of a cruise missile and is evaluating whether it breaks a 1987 treaty, a US official said Thursday. Washington has raised “the possibility of… a violation,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, amid reports that Russia had tested a new ground-launched cruise […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-warns-moscow-of-concern-over-cruise-missile-test-50215/

DefenceTalkThe accord with Iran to curb its nuclear program means a planned NATO anti-missile system in Europe, hotly opposed by Moscow, is no longer necessary, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavarov argued Wednesday. Moscow fears the system would compromise its own defences while NATO says the project is meant only to protect Europe from Iranian development […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iran-nuclear-accord-nato-missile-defence-unnecessary-russia-49898/