DefenceTalkRussian President Vladimir Putin heads to China on Tuesday to shore up eastern ties as relations with the West plunge to new lows over the Ukraine crisis. During a two-day visit to Shanghai, Putin and Chinese host Xi Jinping will seek to clinch a raft of agreements including a landmark gas deal crucial for Moscow […]https://www.defencetalk.com/putin-heads-to-china-as-ukraine-sinks-ties-with-west-59617/

DefenceTalkRussia will build a unified network of naval facilities on its Arctic territories to host advanced warships and submarines as part of a plan to boost protection of the country’s interests and borders in the region, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday. “We need to strengthen our military infrastructure. In particular, to create in our part […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-to-build-network-of-modern-naval-bases-in-arctic-putin-59383/

DefenceTalkRussia has begun preparations for terminating bilateral agreements with Ukraine related to the status and operation of the Black Sea Fleet, a Kremlin spokesman said Friday. The decision was made at a meeting of the country’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin. According to spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the measures to be scrapped include a […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-moves-to-scrap-black-sea-fleet-agreements-with-ukraine-59186/

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/

DefenceTalkRussia’s military will have 500,000 soldiers serving on professional contracts within a decade, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday. Half of the armed forces will be made up of professional service personnel by 2022 under plans to shift away from conscripts and more than double the number of contract soldiers from the present 220,000. But […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russian-military-to-recruit-500000-professional-soldiers-by-2022-49907/

DefenceTalkPresident Vladimir Putin said Tuesday the share of modern weaponry in Russia’s armed forces would reach 30 percent in 2014 and urged the military to stay alert for threats and challenges. The armed forces would receive more than 40 inter-continental ballistic missiles, 210 warplanes and helicopters, and more than 250 armored vehicles in a year, […]https://www.defencetalk.com/putin-says-russia-will-upgrade-its-weaponry-49903/

DefenceTalkPresident Vladimir Putin is to visit Iran in August to try to restart talks on Tehran’s controversial nuclear drive, a Russian newspaper reported Wednesday. Putin’s visit is planned for mid-August, shortly after Iran’s moderate new president Hassan Rowhani takes office on August 3, Kommersant reported, citing sources in the Kremlin and the Iranian foreign ministry. […]https://www.defencetalk.com/putin-to-visit-iran-for-nuclear-talks-report-48618/

DefenceTalkRussian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow has held back on delivering sophisticated S-300 missiles to the Syrian regime, while UN investigators said they have “reasonable grounds” to believe both sides in the conflict have used chemical weapons. Putin, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said Russia has so far refrained from […]https://www.defencetalk.com/putin-holds-back-on-syria-missile-delivery-48044/

DefenceTalkRussia will continue to build up its own defense capabilities according to foreseeable threats stated President Vladimir Putin at a meeting at the Defense Ministry, reports the Voice of Russia’s correspondent from the session. There are multiplying and expanding zones of instability on the planet: with non-stop armed conflicts in the Middle East, Central Asia, […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-will-continue-building-up-its-defenses-47084/