Gagrule.net

Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide

Russia, Serbia To Hold Joint Military Drills

By

By RFE/RL’s Balkan Service

November 06, 2014

BELGRADE — Russia and Serbia are preparing to hold their first-ever joint antiterrorist exercises on Serbian territory.

RFE/RL’s correspondent in Belgrade reports that six IL-76 aircraft from Russia arrived at a Belgrade airport on November 6.

Russian media quoted Defense Ministry officials in Moscow on November 5 as saying units from paratroopers in Tula will take part in the joint maneuvers, which are scheduled in the coming days.

The exercises will be held near the city of Nikinci in the northern province of Vojvodina.

Serbian military analyst Ljubodrag Stojadinovic told RFE/RL that joint maneuvers with Russian troops on this scale have never been held in Serbia.

He added that in holding the maneuvers, Moscow is trying to demonstrate that it has allies in Europe.

Armenia, Artsakh Conduct Large-Scale Military Drills

By

artsakh-drillSTEPANAKERT (RFE/RL)—The armed forces of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have been engaged in large-scale military exercises in the past few days, a Defense Ministry spokesman in Yerevan confirmed on Thursday.

Artsrun Hovhannisian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am) that the drills are a scheduled arrangement. “From year to year these drills become more upgraded in terms of their nature, depth and professional features in accordance with the requirements of the time,” he said.

The Defense Ministry official described the military exercises as “multifaceted and diverse,” saying that they involved both current armed forces and reserves.

“The goal of any exercises is to raise the combat readiness of the armed forces,” Hovhannisian added.

The official representative neither confirmed nor denied media reports about assemblies of reservists, adding that the reserve force is also part of the armed forces. However, he did not link the drills to the current situation at the Armenian border with Azerbaijan. According to him, the situation at the borders is relatively calm today.

Azerbaijan, too, regularly holds large-scale military exercises along the border with Nagorno-Karabakh. It has repeatedly threatened to use military force to regain control of the region that broke free from Baku’s rule as a result of hostilities against Armenians in the early 1990s. Authorities in Baku, at the same time, have also expressed their hope to settle the dispute diplomatically through internationally mediated talks with Armenia.

In early August, Armenia and Azerbaijan appeared to be on the brink of renewed hostilities amid an unprecedented escalation of violence in the conflict zone. The sides blamed each other for skirmishes and commando raids in which at least two dozen servicemen were killed.

Relative calm was restored after a Russia-mediated meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev.

The two leaders last met with the mediation of French President Francois Hollande on October 27. At the Paris talks the parties were urged to show ‘political will’ to overcome their differences and prepare their peoples for peace.

Retrial of military officers accused of plotting coup starts in Turkey

By

184349The retrial of 236 military officers accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the government of then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan began Monday, Nov 3, months after the country’s highest court ruled that the suspects’ right to a fair trial had been violated, the Associated Press reports.

In 2012, a total of 326 officers were convicted of plotting to overthrow the country’s Islamic-based government in 2003 in a plot dubbed “Sledgehammer,” receiving sentences of up to 20 years imprisonment.

In June, Turkey’s constitutional court ordered many of the officers released pending a retrial.

The original trial helped curtail the military’s hold on Turkish politics, but the case was marred by the suspects’ long pre-trial confinement and judicial flaws, including allegations of fabricated evidence.

 

AP. Retrial begins in Turkey of alleged coup plot

Russian-Armenian Military Drill Targets ‘Ottomania’

By

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—Russian and Armenian troops simulated on Friday a joint operation against an imaginary enemy dubbed “Ottomania” by their commanders on the third 14960089029_91dd822b2d_bday of their joint exercises held in central Armenia.

Practicing what was clearly a joint response to possible Turkish invasion, they pounded “enemy positions” with heavy fire from tanks, self-propelled artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems. The infantry participating in the exercises was also backed up by unmanned aircraft belonging to the Russian military base headquartered in Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city close to the Turkish border.

Mikael Grigorian, an Armenian army general commanding the drills, stressed that drones have never been used in Russian-Armenian war games held in the past. “There were many novelties today and you probably saw them,” told reporters at the vast Alagyaz shooting range near the northern slopes of Mount Aragats.

“We are using here rocket artillery on a full scale. All artillery detachments are involved right now,” Pavel Aleksyuk, the deputy commander of the Russian base, said for his part.

The annual five-day exercises got underway on Wednesday, involving more than 1,500 Russian and Armenian soldiers and around 300 artillery systems, tanks, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles. Russian MiG-29 fighter jets stationed in Yerevan were also due to be used in the joint maneuvers stemming from Armenia’s military alliance with Russia.

Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian has repeatedly said that Armenia hosts Russian troops on its territory primarily because of a perceived security threat from Turkey, rather than Azerbaijan. “With the existing forces at our disposal, we not only can defend ourselves against Azerbaijan but also take, if need be, preemptive, counteroffensive or other measures,” Ohanian said in February.

From Yerevan’s perspective, the Russian military presence precludes Turkey’s direct military intervention on Azerbaijan’s side in the event of another full-scale war for Nagorno-Karabakh.

A Russian-Armenian agreement signed in 2010 extended that presence until 2044 and upgraded the security mandate of the Russian base. Moscow has since beefed up the base numbering between 4,000 and 5,000 soldiers with heavy weaponry. It is due to deploy about two dozen combat helicopters in Armenia late this year.

BREAKING NEWS: Thursday, August 7, 2014 9:57 PM EDT Obama Authorizes Limited Airstrikes in Iraq if Needed

By

President Obama said he had directed United States military forces to conduct targeted airstrikes on Islamic militants if they move to take Erbil, in northern Iraq, threatening the American citizens and military personnel there.
And he said that, at the request of the Iraqi government, he has authorized the military to help provide humanitarian assistance to Iraqi citizens, many of them religious minorities, who are trapped on a mountain.

READ MORE »
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/obama-weighs-military-strikes-to-aid-trapped-iraqis-officials-say.html?emc=edit_na_20140807

(Video) Graduates of Armenian military schools get diplomas in solemn ceremony

By

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan participated yesterday Dzidernagapert (Yerevan) ceremonies of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Vazgen Sargsyan Military arton101840-320x228Institute. A ceremony during which the cadets were received who had completed their training in 2014. Serzh Sargsyan congratulated the young officers of the Armenian army trained Vazgen Sargsyan Military Institute. During his speech, the Armenian president said further “tilting here to Dzidernagapert at the memorial of the eternal memory of our innocent victims of genocide (…) we say it is over time or aggression Armenian people could go unpunished. In our attackers we say, be careful here is Armenian land where you are going to die! . “Armenian President asked the military to take action to bring peace to the country.” Homeland needs a lot of you, “said Sarkisian.

Israeli military starts ground operation in Gaza

By

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to start a ground operation in Gaza, his office has announced. The new phase of Operation Protective Edge has already resulted in tens of civilian 39.sicasualties and one Israeli soldier.

“The prime minister and defence minister have instructed the IDF to begin a ground operation tonight in order to hit the terror tunnels from Gaza into Israel,” the statement said.

A large IDF force has launched a new phase of Operation Protective Edge, starting a ground operation in the Gaza Strip, an IDF spokesperson has confirmed.

Israel had originally organized about 48,000 reserve soldiers for the operation, but on Thursday another 18,000 were called up, as reported by the Associated Press. It’s unclear how many are actually involved in the ongoing ground offensive.

Russian parliament ratifies agreement on military-technical cooperation with Armenia

By

June 25, 2014 | 13:29

216225The Federation Council, upper house of Russian parliament, ratified the agreement on  development of military-technical cooperation with Armenia, ITAR-TASS reported.

The document was signed on June 25, 2013, in Armenia’s capital city Yerevan. The agreement is with respect to the extension of the terms for the use of military equipment and arms, and their utilization, modernization, repair, operation, manufacture, and development.

According to the treaty, the supplies will be carried out according to the contracts signed by responsible organizations of the parties without licenses for export and import.

 

BREAKING NEWS: Obama Says U.S. Will Send Up to 300 Military Advisers to Iraq

By

20prexy-master675

NYT President Obama said Thursday that the United States will deploy up to 300 military advisers to Iraq to help beleaguered security forces fend off Sunni militants, edging the United States back into a military conflict that Mr. Obama thought he had left behind.
Mr. Obama also said the United States was gathering intelligence on the positions of militant fighters to identify targets, and said, “We will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if we conclude the situation on the ground requires it.”
The president emphasized again that he will not send combat troops to Iraq, but he said the United States would help the Iraqis “take the fight” to the militants, who he said pose a threat to Iraq’s stability and to American interests because Iraq could become a sanctuary for terrorists who could strike the United States or its allies.

Turkey: LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE GIVEN TO SEPT. 12 LEADERS

By

Daily Sabah report,

Two surviving leaders of 1980 military coup Gen. Kenan Evren and Gen. Tahsin Şahinkaya sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.

1403085997419During the hearing at the Ankara 10th High Criminal Court, Özdabakoğlu told the court that both former generals had planned the coup a year before Sept. 12.

Evren, 95, the former chief of the General Staff who led the 1980 coup and president of Turkey from 1982 to 1989; and Şahinkaya, 88, commander of the Turkish Air Forces (THK) during the coup period, are the only surviving leaders of the 1980 coup.

Since the beginning of the Sept. 12 coup trial in April 2012, the coup leaders have not attended any of the hearings, citing health problems. They sent medical reports to the Ankara court through their lawyers. In their testimonies, both Evren and Şahinkaya pleaded not guilty and expressed reluctance to respond to questions on the coup charges.