Juan Pablo Duch
Correspondent
La Jornada Newspaper
Tuesday, December 17, 2024, p. 23
Moscow. Russia is preparing to face any scenario in its growing confrontation with the West and does not rule out that within a few years, during this decade, there will be a war in Europe with the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), stated yesterday the Russian Minister of Defense, Andrei Belousov, when speaking to attendees of the expanded meeting of the army’s top brass, headed by President Vladimir Putin.
We base ourselves on what the decisions taken by the North Atlantic alliance summit in July of this year say, as well as what emerges from the main documents of the United States and other NATO countries.Belousov added.
For his part, the head of the Kremlin, who approved the report presented by the minister on what the military had accomplished during 2024 and set the priority tasks for next year, emphasized that Russia does not threaten anyone with its nuclear arsenal and said that everything what it does to modernize its weaponry of this type should be seen as part of its containment policy.
In this regard, he offered that, as soon as possible, serial production of the new hypersonic ballistic missile will begin. Oreshnik (Hazel) of up to 5,500 kilometers in range, blaming the United States for breaking the treaty banning short- and medium-range missiles and for having plans to install this type of weapon near Russia’s borders.
Putin was pleased to have released in the recent 12 months 189 locations in Ukraine and by the fact that, on average, Every day a thousand people join the army under contract and, in line with the narrative of the Russian authorities, he asserted: We are not fighting against the Ukrainian people, we are fighting against a neo-Nazi regime in kyiv that seized power in 2014 through a coup d’état.
In this context, the Minister of Defense expressed that the Russian army fulfilled the tasks set by Putin this year. in the midst of a harsh confrontation with the collective West, which continues to become more intense and broader.
The Russian president agreed: The West continues trying to impose its rules on the world, but for it there is only one: its own.which pushes Russia up limits in which you cannot not answer.
Belousov reported that the Russian army “liberated about 4,500 kilometers of territory occupied by the enemy (Ukraine) and, according to him, Neo-Nazis control less than 1 percent of Lugansk and still 25 to 30 percent of Donietsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
The head of the Defense portfolio revealed that, now, Russia’s military spending is equivalent to 6.3 percent of GDP or, in other words, 32.5 percent of the federal budget.
It is a lot of money, approximately 2.5 percent of GDP more than before, and it must be spent very rationally.since Russia cannot continue increasing these disbursements eternally, we must also develop the economy, education, health and sciencePutin noted.