Communist Bloc Military Updates: Stability-2008/Autumn-2008 war games underway in Russia, Belarus; 40,000 troops deployed for Centre-2008 Ural drill

- Multi-Front Stability-2008/Autumn-2008 War Games Designed to Test Russia's Nuclear Triad and Counter Potential Threats near Country's Borders (read NATO)

- Russian President Medvedev Attends Test-Launch of Tactical Missile as Centre-2008 Maneuver Mobilizes 40,000 Troops near Industrial City of Orenburg

- Medvedev Addresses Military Commanders, Pledges Missile Defense Shield for Russia (to Supplement System Currently Protecting Moscow)

- Communist Bloc Military Coordination Exposed: Visiting Venezuelan President Chavez Rubs Elbows with Medvedev, Putin, and Sechin at Orenburg, Observes Russia's Largest Land-Based War Game in 20 Years (above)

Pictured above: Russian tanks fire during a military exercise near the Siberian city of Kemerovo on September 26, 2008.

Under the title "The world should unite against the USA," Soviet communist organ Pravda editorialized on September 21: "The anti-Russian rhetoric rolling off the tongues of the senior members of the Bush regime, and the continued anti-Russian hysteria coming out of the McCain-Palin camp, points towards the existence of a demon waiting to lunge behind the eyes of a country which appears to relish conflict and highlights the existence of a power-hungry clique which perpetuates itself through the manipulation of fear."

Uniting against the USA may be the very reason behind the Union State of Russia and Belarus' massive, four-week war game Stability-2008/Autumn-2008, underway since September 22. State-run Voice of Russia reports: "Russian Air Defence Special Forces have joined the Belarussian troops in the “Stability-2008” strategic exercises. The campaign began on September 22 and will be held in different regions of Russia and Belarus till October, 21st. The units will practice strategic deployment and interoperability of various units in missions in territorial waters, exclusive economic zones and specific regions of the world’s oceans. The cruisers of the Russian North Fleet are also taking part in the exercises."

The most capable component of the Russian Navy, boasts state-run Novosti, the Murmansk-based Northern Fleet will contribute "various warships, nuclear-powered and diesel submarines, naval aviation and coastal troops" to Stability-2008. Belarus, unlike Russia, is land-locked and possesses no navy. "The Stability-2008 drills," explains Novosti, "will last until October 21 in various regions of Russia and Belarus with the goal of practicing strategic deployment of the Armed Forces, including the nuclear triad, to counter potential threats near the Russian border." Stability-2008/Autumn-2008 is nothing other than a dress rehearsal for Moscow's stated intention to "neutralize" planned US NMD installations in Central Europe, including interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic.

Pictured here: Russian helicopter gunships fire anti-missile flares during a military exercise near Kemerovo on September 26.

On Russia's Pacific coast, units of the Far East Military District involved in Stability-2008 will deploy throughout Sakhalin and Kuril Islands in tactical "anti-terrorist" operations, a familar rubric employed by the Kremlin to disguise its war preparations against the Western Alliance. Russia has controlled the southern four Kuril islands since the end of the Second World War, when the Soviets invaded and occupied them. Since Moscow and Japan never signed a peace treaty, the two states are still technically at war. State-run Interfax reports:

A tactical exercise, Bereg (Coast), will be held in Russia's Far East from September 29 to October 25 as part of the Stability 2008 strategic command-post drill.

The exercise will involve the headquarters, formations and units of all-arms forces of the Far East Military District, based in Primorye, as well as the Far East air and air defense forces and the Pacific Fleet, the Far East Military District reported on Thursday.

The maneuvers will be supervised by Col. Gen. Vladimir Bulgakov, the troops commander of the Far East Military District.

"The drill aims to practice the formation and deployment of the combined force in a simulated operation to defend the infrastructure of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands from possible terror attacks, and to guarantee safe navigation," the Far East Military District said.

Also, the troops will practice operations to localize and put down armed conflicts and terror operations, and to deal with natural and man- made disasters.

Meanwhile, troops of the Volga-Urals Military District are wrapping up the Centre-2008 motorized infantry war games with the third and final stage, according to Itar-Tass, taking place 45 miles from the industrial city of Orenburg. According to Russian Army Colonel Igor Konashenkov 9,000 officers and soldiers, 1,000 tanks, armored personnel vehicles, and artillery systems, 40 interceptor aircraft and helicopters, and ground-to-air missile regiments. Centre-2008 began on September 1 and passed through three stages executed under the command of General Vladimir Boldyrev, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army. The first stage included a joint Russian-Kazakh tactical exercise, including live firing practice. The second stage included command-and-staff exercises and tactical operations of the division, brigade, and regiment scale in the Urals region. Novosti, also citing General Boldyrev, states that a total of 40,000 servicemen ae presently taking part in Centre-2008's last stage and that, moreover, this is "the largest exercise of its kind in 20 years."

Earlier today Russian President Dmitry Medvedev attended the test launch of a Tochka-U tactical missile at the Orenburg war game. The Tochka-U, or SS-21 Scarab according to the NATO designation, has a range of 120 kilometers. After viewing the Centre-2008 maneuvers, reports The Times, Soviet Komsomol graduate Medvedev assured military commanders:

We will build new space and missile defence shields and put our armed forces on permanent combat alert. All combat formations must be upgraded to the permanent readiness category by 2020. Russia will begin mass production of warships, primarily nuclear cruisers carrying cruise missiles and multi-purpose submarines. A guaranteed nuclear deterrent system for various military and political circumstances must be provided by 2020.

In this quote Medvedev proposes a Russian missile defense shield, although a network of 68 short-range interceptor missile sites currently protects the city of Moscow itself. To some extent, too, Russia possesses a nuclear deterrent in the form of an aging "nuclear triad" of silo-based and road-mobile ICBMs, submarines, and bombers. The USA boasts the same aging nuclear triad, minus the road-mobile launch platforms. Lastly, Medvedev refers to the placing of the Russian armed forces on "permanent combat alert."

Putin publicly issued similiar instructions to his strategic bomber crews in August 2007 when he, also observing a war game (on that occasion with Chinese participation), declared: "I made a decision to restore flights of Russian strategic bombers on a permanent basis, and at 00:00 today, August 17, 14 strategic bombers, support aircraft and aerial tankers were deployed. Combat duty has begun, involving 20 aircraft." Thus, we learn that last year the Russian military was placed on combat duty, while now the Kremlin's forces are to be placed on "permanent combat alert." War, anyone?

Intriguingly, Venezuela's communist dicator Hugo Chavez, presently rubbing elbows with the neo-Soviet leadership on the second day of his eighth trip to Russia, was also present in Orenburg to observe the Centre-2008 maneuvers. Journalist Steve Gutterman writes: "Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was expected to watch a major Russian military exercise Friday, a display of muscle and a signal of tightening cooperation between two countries seeking to decrease U.S. global clout."

Pictured above: President Chavez with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin (background, left). In this photograph Chavez is holding a model of the Tu-160 supersonic strategic bomber. Two real Blackjacks were based in Venezuela earlier this month for a week of drills over the Caribbean Sea, an unprecedented development since the end of the Cold War. The presence of two Russian bomber crews in the South American country coincided with the Venezuelan armed forces' repulsion of a mock US invasion, the latest of several such exercises over the few years. For his part, Sechin has made two trips to Havana since July and one each to Caracas and Managua earlier this month.

Since Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua are under communist domination and closely situated to the southern flank of the USA, cultivating alliances with their governments is no doubt strategically important from the Kremlin's point of view.

Moscow Deploys Missile Frigate to Patrol Pirate-Plagued Somali Coast

In response to an act of high seas piracy near Somalia, reports Novosti below, the Russian Navy is dispatching the Neustrashimy "semi-stealth" missile frigate from the Black Sea Fleet to the Indian Ocean. The ship's armament includes SS-N-25 Switchblade anti-ship missiles, SA-N-9 Gauntlet surface-to-air missiles, a 100-mm gun, torpedoes, and depth charges. Last night armed men in three cutters sped toward the Ukrainian freighter Faina as it neared the Kenyan port of Mombasa, forcibly boarded the vessel, and kidnapped its crew. Among the crew--which is now held hostage near a tiny village in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia--were three Russian, one Latvian, and 17 Ukrainian citizens.

Russia sends warship to fight piracy near Somalia
17:10 26/ 09/ 2008

MOSCOW, September 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Navy has sent a missile frigate to waters off the Somali coast to fight piracy in the region, a Navy spokesman said on Friday.

"The Neustrashimy (Fearless) frigate from the Baltic Fleet left the main naval base in Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad on Wednesday to ensure security in several regions of the world oceans," Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said.

He added that Russia had decided to periodically send its warships to regions plagued by sea piracy to protect its citizens and commercial vessels.

Pirates are increasingly active in the waters off Somalia, which has no effective government and no navy to police its coastline. The International Maritime Bureau said more than 30 incidents of piracy were registered in the region in 2007. According to UN data, 26 attacks have been committed so far this year off the coast of the East African nation.

Russian nationals are frequently among the crews of civilian ships hijacked by pirates off the Somalia coast. In the most recent case pirates off the coast of Somalia seized a Ukrainian ship en route to Kenya with three Russian, 17 Ukrainian and one Latvian national on board.

"We are planning to participate in international efforts to fight piracy off the Somalia coast, but the Russian warships will conduct operations on their own," Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky earlier said.

At the beginning of June, the UN Security Council passed a resolution permitting countries to enter Somalia's territorial waters to combat "acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea."

The Neustrashimy is the only Project 1154 Yastreb class missile frigate in active service with the Russian Navy to have been built before the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is designed as a general purpose ASW ship to follow on from the Krivak class frigates and incorporates some 'stealth' technology.

The ship's armament includes SS-N-25 Switchblade anti-ship missiles, SA-N-9 Gauntlet SAM, a 100-mm gun, torpedoes and depth charges.

The frigate also carries a Ka-27 ASW helicopter.

According to the The Times, the Faina was loaded down with rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft guns and 30 Russian T-72 tanks (pictured here), all of which were bound for South Sudan's regional government. "They really hit the jackpot this time," commented a regional arms expert. "There is not much they can do with the tanks, but the RPGs and the Zu-23 anti-aircraft guns will soon find their way into Somalia’s arms markets. These are the sort of weapons that fighters in Somalia really like." The unexpected presence of 30 Russian tanks in hold of the Faina, destined for South Sudan, proves that the Kremlin, which also supports the genocidal central government in Khartoum, is playing all sides in that country's endless series of conflicts.

As an endnote, 60 Russian bomb disposal experts are moving about the territory of ally Serbia, disarming explosives dropped by NATO warplanes in 1999. Voice of Russia reports that the Russian sappers, who arrived in July, have removed more than 40 explosives near the Nis airport and will return next year to defuse unexplosed ordnance in other Serbian regions. Under any and all pretenses expect the Kremlin to insert its agents, advisers, and assets abroad.