Defence

Russia's biggest naval ship and only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, has been embroiled in a corruption scandal at the Murmansk shipyard where it currently is being repaired and overhauled. The ship is often used by Russia for power projection in the Mediterranean and elsewhere.

Boris Johnson, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, has today (16 March) published an Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy outlining the UK’s post-Brexit direction of travel.

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has issued an open invitation to prime minister Nikol Pashinyan and the leaders of the opposition to a meet amid a continuing political crisis and an impasse on the command of the armed forces. Pashinyan had a meeting with the army leadership this afternoon

The Chief of Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, Colonel General Onik Gasparyan, has been formally dismissed from his post, the office of Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday morning (10 March). The dismissal of Gasparyan has been at the centre of political and constitutional controversy for two weeks.

Russian media continue to speculate about a possible Chinese-Russian military alliance. The influential newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta says that this is unlikely. The newspaper cites Russian experts as saying that bloc concepts were obsolete.

Despite the deployment of the G5 force with the backing of France, the Sahel region continues to suffer from regular jihadist attacks. Although France and its allies participated in the G5 summit last week, they appeared to be pursuing diverging courses of action for combating threats from insurgents. 

"The US needs Turkey to counter Russia in the Black Sea region, the Middle East, and the South Caucasus. Turkey can also be useful in the US strategy to contain China", argues Benyamin Poghosyan in this op-ed. However given the number of problems between the two countries US-Turkey relations may normalise, but they will continue to develop in the cooperation/competition framework, he argues.

"The United States will work closely with our European Union partners and the capitals across the continent — from Rome to Riga — to meet the range of shared challenges we face. We continue to support the goal of a Europe whole and free and at peace."

Portugal's defence minister, João Gomes Cravinho, said in an interview that "European [military] missions are almost all in Africa and yet the political dialogue with African decision-makers is insufficient; we need to build and improve this bridge".