Two MiG-31K fighters were transferred from Russia to the Khmeimim air base in Syria for the first time. They are carriers of hypersonic missiles “Dagger”. The information was shared in the Ministry of Defense.
The joint exercise of the forces of the permanent task force of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea and the aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces began on Friday, June 25.
For the exercises in the Syrian Arab Republic, a pair of MiG-31K aircraft was flown from Russian airfields, which can use the latest hypersonic missiles from the Kinzhal complex, the military department said.
The commander of one of the MiG-31K crews said that by order of the command, the carriers of hypersonic missiles will perform “training tasks” in Syria.
“We have always shown the Americans there that we can get them”
A large-scale exercise of the ship group of the Russian Navy and naval aviation took place in the central part of the Pacific Ocean. Such naval maneuvers in this region are held for the first time since the collapse of the USSR. MK asked the former commander of Long-Range Aviation (1997-2003), a member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Mikhail Oparin, to comment on the flights of our long-range aircraft over the Pacific Ocean.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
According to the Ministry of Defense, at one of the stages of the exercise, two Tu-142M3 long-range anti-submarine aircraft flew from the Yelizovo airfield in Kamchatka to the maneuver area in the central Pacific Ocean. The flight lasted more than 14 hours, the planes covered 10 thousand kilometers.
How important are such flights and what tasks are solved during them? These questions were answered by the ex – commander of the Long-Range Aviation, Lieutenant General Mikhail Oparin. According to him, full-range flights are very important, including for demonstrating the capabilities of our aviation. After 1991, during the Yeltsin era, Russia unilaterally refused to fly strategic aircraft on air patrol. At the same time, the Americans have never stopped such flights.
– When I took command in 1997, the first thing we did after a six-year break was to restore flights of strategic aircraft to remote geographical areas, – said Mikhail Oparin. – We started flying first towards the North Pole, to Canada, then – “around the corner”, that is, bypassing Scandinavia to the North Atlantic. In the east-flights over the Pacific Ocean. Wewe have restored all the skills of the crews to perform flights over neutral waters, and they are not so easy to develop, For years the flown crews have been preparing for long-distance flights. And the very organization of such flights, with refueling in the air — is a very difficult task.
According to the general, the Long-Range Aviation Command began patrolling flights even before the decree of President Yeltsin.
– When our “strategists” passed over the Arctic, along Canada, the Americans raised a cry: these are sticking out again! What are they doing there? The most striking thing is that the Russian press then supported the Americans. Such was the time. We in the command went a little crazy. We were then, I remember, both in the tail and mane. But we have restored the skills of the crews. And since 1998, we have started to conduct these long-distance flights regularly. This was task number one.
Later, when I had already quit, they also paid attention to this. My son served in the Long-range Aviation. He and his fellow soldiers mastered these flights across the Pacific Ocean, towards San Francisco. 20 hours duration of the route.
So this area of the Pacific Ocean, where the fleet maneuvers are taking place now — is our native area. We have been holding him at gunpoint since the cold War.
I do not know whether our planes flew to Guam, the main naval base of the United States, during these exercises. But we always “showed them a fig” there, so that they knew that we would get them here too.
In general, long flights are a common job for”dalnikov”.
The final decision on the route of the British destroyer Defender near the Crimea was made by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This was reported by the Telegraph newspaper, citing sources in the Ministry of Defense.
According to the publication, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab expressed concern about the plan of Defense Minister Ben Wallace to send a destroyer along this route.
“Then the decision was sent to Downing Street for the Prime Minister to make the final choice. As a result, the destroyer carried out a peaceful passage through these waters, ” The Daily Telegraph quotes the source as saying.
The Prime Minister of Great Britain did not confirm this, that the decision on the passage of the ship was made by him personally.
“This is the decision of the Ministry of Defense, but if you want to know my opinion, I believe that it is necessary to use international waters,” Johnson said.
Earlier, the FSB published a video recording of negotiations between Russian border guards and the crew of the British destroyer Defender at the moment when it violated the territorial waters of Russia. The recording shows how Russian border guards first monitor a foreign vessel. At that moment, two fighters flew over him.
According to Bloomberg, the proposal of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron to invite Russian Leader Vladimir Putin to a meeting with the leaders of the European Union countries did not meet with support in the EU.
“The heads of state and government of the European Union at the summit in Brussels rejected the initiative to invite the President of Russia,” the message says.
Earlier, the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov confirmed Merkel’s initiative to hold a summit of Russia and the European Union. However, in addition to the support of President Macron, this proposal must be approved by all members of the European Union.
The United States of America welcomes the decision of the European Union to introduce a new package of economic sanctions against Belarus, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said.
“The United States welcomes the announcement by the EU Council of targeted economic sanctions against the regime of Belarus. Together with our partners, we demand accountability for the ongoing human rights violations and the incident with Ryanair on May 23, ” he wrote on Twitter.
As part of the next restrictions, Brussels has banned providing financial support to Belarus, transferring technologies and equipment for tracking on the Internet, military and dual-use products. In addition, EU members are prohibited from trading potash fertilizers, petroleum products, tobacco products and raw materials for them with the Belarusian side.
According to the TV channel “1+1”, the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, in an interview with journalists, skeptically assessed the “viability” of the Minsk agreements signed in 2015. In this regard, the Ukrainian leader called for trilateral negotiations between Moscow-Washington-Kiev to intensify the process of resolving the conflict in the Donbas.
“Agreements signed in 2015… barely alive… But this is the only document…. This agenda does not need to be closed, but another one needs to be opened, ” Zelensky believes.
According to him, such an updated agenda can be given by a meeting with the presidents of Russia and the United States.
& quot; In any case, you need to try”, – the President of Ukraine summed up.
If none of the ways to resolve the situation in the Donbass does not work, the issue of severing ties with the region will be put to an all-Ukrainian referendum. This was stated by the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky in an interview with the Ukrainian TV channel “1+1”.
Zelensky described the Minsk agreements as “barely alive” and expressed hope that his meetings with US and Russian Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin will help to intensify the process of resolving the situation in the Donbas.
Zelensky stressed that negotiations are currently underway to organize a meeting of the presidents of Russia and Ukraine. Recall that Zelensky came to power under the slogan of ending the war in the Donbass, but despite the existence of a cease-fire agreement, the Ukrainian armed forces periodically fire at settlements of territories controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.
The FSB has published a video recording of negotiations between Russian border guards and the crew of the British destroyer Defender at the moment when it violated the territorial waters of Russia. The recording shows how Russian border guards first monitor a foreign vessel. At that moment, two fighters flew over him.
Then, when the fact of violation of the border is established, they make attempts to contact him. However, the British Navy ship continues to move on a forbidden course.
As a result, after several warnings, it was decided to open a warning fire. “Perform a warning fire! Exclude a hit!”quot;, – says the commander of the vessel.
Then it is shown how flames escape from the ship’s guns. Three shots were fired. After the shots, Defender left the Russian Sea.
Before that, the Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador to Moscow in connection with the situation around the violation of the Russian state border by a warship. Meanwhile, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that the provocation with the British Navy destroyer in the Black Sea was necessary to consolidate the myth of Russia’s unpredictability in the Western information space.
Microsoft has introduced the next updated version of its Windows operating system. The presentation was held during an online event.
The company itself called the Windows 11 operating system the most important update over the past decade. At the same time, the operating system has retained many of the principles that played a key role in previous versions of the system.
Meanwhile, the interface of the new operating system can no longer be called the same. For example, the Start menu has moved to the center of the lower bar. The taskbar is drawn differently. But the translucency of the interface, familiar to many users on the Windows 7 operating system, has returned.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that he does not intend to participate in the summit of Russia and the European Union if the summit is held in the format of a meeting between Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the European Union countries, writes De Telegraaf.
Rutte noted that he has nothing against Putin’s meeting with the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. However, he himself will not participate in the summit.
The NOS TV channel reports that Rutte’s reluctance to participate in the summit is connected with the case of the Malaysian Boeing. 192 Dutch citizens were killed in the crash of the plane.
The leaders of Lithuania and Latvia also spoke out against the summit with Putin. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda called such a meeting “an attempt to secure a jar of honey by coming into contact with a bear”.
Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed to hold a summit between the EU and Russia. Merkel’s initiative was supported by French President Emmanuel Macron and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
