President Vladimir Putin says Russia will maintain a high tempo of modernizing its military arsenals this year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, background center, leads a meeting with the top military brass in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Speaking Thursday at a meeting with the top military brass in the southern Russian city of Sochi, Putin said the Russian air forces would receive 160 new aircraft this year and the army is to get 500 new armored vehicles and artillery systems.
He added the navy would commission 10 warships.
Putin warned military industry leaders that they bear personal responsibility for meeting the new weapons procurement targets. Thursday's meeting was the latest in a series of conferences on military issues Putin chaired this week at his Black Sea retreat.
The Kremlin has conducted a sweeping military modernization program amid tensions with the West over the fighting in Ukraine, Syria and other disputes.
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania defended Wednesday the decision not to allow Russian and Belarusian observers to monitor its upcoming presidential election, accusing both countries of spearheading campaigns that "pose a threat to our national security.”
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe — which includes Lithuania, Russia and Belarus— usually sends multi-national observer teams to watch its 57 member states’ elections.
The election on Sunday comes at a time when Russia is making gains on the battlefield in Ukraine, where the war has entered its third year, fueling fears across all of Europe and especially in the strategically important Baltic region about Moscow’s intentions.
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry in a statement Wednesday said the country had invited OSCE observers to monitor the election "except for the aggressor Russia and its supporter Belarus” and accused them of being a threat to the Baltic nation's political and electoral processes.
It also called on the OSCE to reconsider continuing the membership of “countries that most flagrantly violate international law, human rights, and carry out aggression against Ukraine”.
Last month, the OSCE announced it wouldn't send any observers following Lithuania's decision. It said in a statement that signaling nationalities out of the invite was against the rules of equal treatment of all member states and “in breach of the commitments made by all participating States of the OSCE.”
However, the OSCE expressed “full confidence” in Lithuania’s electoral process, while pointing to the “value of an independent external assessment."
In the elections, the popular incumbent, Gitanas Nausėda, is favored to win another five-year term, competing against seven other candidates. If none wins the minimum 50% of votes, a runoff will be held on May 26.
Lithuania's president oversees foreign and security policy and is the supreme commander of the armed forces.
Among the 2,000 observers expected to monitor the balloting, there are 20 international observers from Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, as well as representatives of the United States Election Assistance Fund and the International Fund for Electoral Systems (IFES) office in Ukraine.
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Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda speaks during a joint media conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during the Lithuanian-German military exercise 'Grand Quadriga' at a training range in Pabrade, north of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania on Monday, May 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
