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Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Ukraine's drone attack on Russian air bases is lesson for West on its vulnerabilities
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel The targets were Russian warplanes, including strategic bombers and command-and-control aircraft, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The weapons were Ukrainian drones, each costing under $1,000 and launched from wooden containers carried on trucks."Operation Spiderweb," which Ukraine said destroyed or damaged over 40 aircraft parked at air bases across Russia on Sunday, wasn't just a blow to the Kremlin's prestige. It was also a wake-up call for the West to bolster its air defence systems against such hybrid drone warfare, military experts took advantage of inexpensive drone technology that has advanced rapidly in the last decade and combined it with outside-the-box thinking to score a morale-boosting win in the 3-year-old war that lately has turned in Moscow's deeply the attack will impact Russian military operations is unclear. Although officials in Kyiv estimated it caused $7 billion in damage, the Russian Foreign Ministry disputed that, and there have been no independent assessments. Moscow still has more aircraft to launch its bombs and cruise missiles against the operation showed what "modern war really looks like and why it's so important to stay ahead with technology," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr the West is vulnerableFor Western governments, it's a warning that "the spectrum of threats they're going to have to take into consideration only gets broader," said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in the past decade, European countries have accused Russia of carrying out a sabotage campaign against the West, with targets ranging from defense executives and logistics companies to businesses linked to drones have been seen in the past year flying near military bases in the US, the UK and Germany, as well as above weapons factories in weapons and other technology at those sites are "big, juicy targets for both state and non-state actors," said Caitlin Lee, a drone warfare expert at RAND in Washington."The time is now" to invest in anti-drone defences, she options to protect aircraft include using hardened shelters, dispersing the targets to different bases and camouflaging them or even building President Donald Trump last month announced a $175 billion "Golden Dome" programme using space-based weapons to protect the country from long-range mentioned were defences against drones, which Lee said can be challenging because they fly low and slow, and on radar can look like birds. They also can be launched inside national borders, unlike a supersonic missile fired from "dramatically increase" the capacity by a hostile state or group for significant sabotage, said Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at IISS."How many targets are there in a country? How well can you defend every single one of them against a threat like that?" he resourceful, outside-the-box thinkingIn "Operation Spiderweb," Ukraine said it smuggled the first-person view, or FPV, drones into Russia, where they were placed in the wooden containers and eventually driven by truck close to the airfields in the Irkutsk region in Siberia, the Murmansk region in the Arctic, and the Amur region in the Far East, as well as to two bases in western Security Service, or SBU , said the drones had highly automated capabilities and were partly piloted by an operator and partly by using artificial intelligence, which flew them along a pre-planned route in the event the drones lost signal. Such AI technology almost certainly would have been unavailable to Ukraine five years video showed drones swooping over and under Russian aircraft, some of which were covered by tires. Experts suggested the tires could have been used to confuse an automatic targeting system by breaking up the plane's silhouette or to offer primitive protection."The way in which the Ukrainians brought this together is creative and obviously caught the Russians completely off guard," Barrie photos analysed by The Associated Press showed seven destroyed bombers on the tarmac at Irkutsk's Belaya Air Base, a major installation for Russia's long-range bomber force. At least three Tu-95 four-engine turboprop bombers and four Tu-22M twin-engine supersonic bombers appear to be the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, the outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian military has adopted a creative approach to warfare. Its forces deployed wooden decoys of expensive US HIMARS air defence systems to draw Russia's missile fire, created anti-drone units that operate on pickup trucks, and repurposed captured compared Sunday's attack to Israel's operation last year in which pagers used by members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria. Israel also has used small, exploding drones to attack targets in Lebanon and US used Predator drones more than a decade ago to kill insurgents in Afghanistan from thousands of miles away. Developments in technology have made those capabilities available in smaller compared the state of drone warfare to that of the development of the tank, which made its debut in 1916 in World War I. Engineers sought to work out how to best integrate tanks into a working battlefield scenario - contemplating everything from a tiny vehicle to a giant one "with 18 turrets" before settling on the version used in World War drones, "we are in the phase of figuring that out, and things are changing so rapidly that what works today might not work tomorrow," he the attack affects Russian operations in UkraineThe Tu-95 bombers hit by Ukraine are "effectively irreplaceable" because they're no longer in production, said Hinz, the IISS expert. Ukraine said it also hit an A-50 early warning and control aircraft, similar to the West's AWACS planes, that coordinate aerial attacks. Russia has even fewer of these."Whichever way you cut the cake for Russia, this requires expense," said Thomas Withington of the Royal United Services Institute in London. "You can see the billions of dollars mounting up,"Russia must repair the damaged planes, better protect its remaining aircraft and improve its ability to disrupt such operations, he said. Experts also suggested the strikes could force Moscow to speed up its programme to replace the underscoring Russian vulnerabilities, it's not clear if it will mean reduced airstrikes on has focused on trying to overwhelm Ukraine's air defences with drones throughout the war, including the use of decoys without payloads. On some nights last month, Moscow launched over 300 drones."Even if Ukraine was able to damage a significant portion of the Russian bomber force, it's not entirely clear that the bomber force was playing a linchpin role in the war at this point," Lee air force data analysed by AP shows that from July 2024 through December 2024, Russia used Tu-22M3s and Tu-95s 14 times against Ukraine but used drones almost every operation might temporarily reduce Russia's ability to launch strategic missile attacks but it will probably find ways to compensate, Lee said.
San Francisco Chronicle
5 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Ukraine's drone attack on Russian air bases is a lesson for the West on its vulnerabilities
The targets were Russian warplanes, including strategic bombers and command-and-control aircraft, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The weapons were Ukrainian drones, each costing under $1,000 and launched from wooden containers carried on trucks. 'Operation Spiderweb,' which Ukraine said destroyed or damaged over 40 aircraft parked at air bases across Russia on Sunday, wasn't just a blow to the Kremlin's prestige. It was also a wake-up call for the West to bolster its air defense systems against such hybrid drone warfare, military experts said. Ukraine took advantage of inexpensive drone technology that has advanced rapidly in the last decade and combined it with outside-the-box thinking to score a morale-boosting win in the 3-year-old war that lately has turned in Moscow's favor. How deeply the attack will impact Russian military operations is unclear. Although officials in Kyiv estimated it caused $7 billion in damage, the Russian Foreign Ministry disputed that, and there have been no independent assessments. Moscow still has more aircraft to launch its bombs and cruise missiles against Ukraine. Still, the operation showed what 'modern war really looks like and why it's so important to stay ahead with technology,' said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Where the West is vulnerable For Western governments, it's a warning that 'the spectrum of threats they're going to have to take into consideration only gets broader,' said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. In the past decade, European countries have accused Russia of carrying out a sabotage campaign against the West, with targets ranging from defense executives and logistics companies to businesses linked to Ukraine. Unidentified drones have been seen in the past year flying near military bases in the U.S., the U.K and Germany, as well as above weapons factories in Norway. High-value weapons and other technology at those sites are 'big, juicy targets for both state and non-state actors,' said Caitlin Lee, a drone warfare expert at RAND in Washington. 'The time is now' to invest in anti-drone defenses, she said. Low-cost options to protect aircraft include using hardened shelters, dispersing the targets to different bases and camouflaging them or even building decoys. U.S. President Donald Trump last month announced a $175 billion 'Golden Dome' program using space-based weapons to protect the country from long-range missiles. Not mentioned were defenses against drones, which Lee said can be challenging because they fly low and slow, and on radar can look like birds. They also can be launched inside national borders, unlike a supersonic missile fired from abroad. Drones 'dramatically increase' the capacity by a hostile state or group for significant sabotage, said Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at IISS. 'How many targets are there in a country? How well can you defend every single one of them against a threat like that?' he said. Ukraine's resourceful, outside-the-box thinking In 'Operation Spiderweb,' Ukraine said it smuggled the first-person view, or FPV, drones into Russia, where they were placed in the wooden containers and eventually driven by truck close to the airfields in the Irkutsk region in Siberia, the Murmansk region in the Arctic, and the Amur region in the Far East, as well as to two bases in western Russia. Ukraine's Security Service, or SBU, said the drones had highly automated capabilities and were partly piloted by an operator and partly by using artificial intelligence, which flew them along a pre-planned route in the event the drones lost signal. Such AI technology almost certainly would have been unavailable to Ukraine five years ago. SBU video showed drones swooping over and under Russian aircraft, some of which were covered by tires. Experts suggested the tires could have been used to confuse an automatic targeting system by breaking up the plane's silhouette or to offer primitive protection. 'The way in which the Ukrainians brought this together is creative and obviously caught the Russians completely off guard,' Barrie said. Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed seven destroyed bombers on the tarmac at Irkutsk's Belaya Air Base, a major installation for Russia's long-range bomber force. At least three Tu-95 four-engine turboprop bombers and four Tu-22M twin-engine supersonic bombers appear to be destroyed. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, the outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian military has adopted a creative approach to warfare. Its forces deployed wooden decoys of expensive U.S. HIMARS air defense systems to draw Russia's missile fire, created anti-drone units that operate on pickup trucks, and repurposed captured weapons. Experts compared Sunday's attack to Israel's operation last year in which pagers used by members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria. Israel also has used small, exploding drones to attack targets in Lebanon and Iran. The U.S. used Predator drones more than a decade ago to kill insurgents in Afghanistan from thousands of miles away. Developments in technology have made those capabilities available in smaller drones. Hinz compared the state of drone warfare to that of the development of the tank, which made its debut in 1916 in World War I. Engineers sought to work out how to best integrate tanks into a working battlefield scenario — contemplating everything from a tiny vehicle to a giant one 'with 18 turrets' before settling on the version used in World War II. With drones, 'we are in the phase of figuring that out, and things are changing so rapidly that what works today might not work tomorrow,' he said. How the attack affects Russian operations in Ukraine The Tu-95 bombers hit by Ukraine are 'effectively irreplaceable' because they're no longer in production, said Hinz, the IISS expert. Ukraine said it also hit an A-50 early warning and control aircraft, similar to the West's AWACS planes, that coordinate aerial attacks. Russia has even fewer of these. 'Whichever way you cut the cake for Russia, this requires expense," said Thomas Withington of the Royal United Services Institute in London. "You can see the billions of dollars mounting up,' Russia must repair the damaged planes, better protect its remaining aircraft and improve its ability to disrupt such operations, he said. Experts also suggested the strikes could force Moscow to speed up its program to replace the Tu-95. While underscoring Russian vulnerabilities, it's not clear if it will mean reduced airstrikes on Ukraine. Russia has focused on trying to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses with drones throughout the war, including the use of decoys without payloads. On some nights last month, Moscow launched over 300 drones. 'Even if Ukraine was able to damage a significant portion of the Russian bomber force, it's not entirely clear that the bomber force was playing a linchpin role in the war at this point,' Lee said. Ukrainian air force data analyzed by AP shows that from July 2024 through December 2024, Russia used Tu-22M3s and Tu-95s 14 times against Ukraine but used drones almost every night.
Boston Globe
02-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Ukraine's drone attack on Russian warplanes was a serious blow to the Kremlin's strategic arsenal
While some Russian military bloggers compared it to another infamous Sunday surprise attack — that of Japan's strike on the U.S. base at Pearl Harbor in 1941 — others rejected the analogy, arguing the actual damage was far less significant than Ukraine claimed Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up A look at what warplanes were reported hit: Advertisement Russia's bomber assets For decades, long-range bombers have been part of the Soviet and Russian nuclear triad that also includes land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and atomic-powered submarines carrying ICBMs. The strategic bombers have flown regular patrols around the globe showcasing Moscow's nuclear might. During the 3-year-old war in Ukraine, Russia has used the heavy planes to launch waves of cruise missile strikes across the country. The Tupolev Tu-95, which was code named Bear by NATO, is a four-engine turboprop plane designed in the 1950s to rival the U.S. B-52 bomber. The aircraft has an intercontinental range and carries eight long-range cruise missiles that can be equipped with conventional or nuclear warheads. Advertisement Before Sunday, Russia was estimated to have a fleet of about 60 such aircraft. The Tupolev Tu-22M is a twin-engine supersonic bomber designed in the 1970s that was code named Backfire by NATO. It has a shorter range compared with the Tu-95, but during U.S.-Soviet arms control talks in the 1970s, Washington insisted on counting them as part of the Soviet strategic nuclear arsenal because of their capability to reach the U.S. if refueled in flight. The latest version of the plane, the Tu-22M3, carries Kh-22 cruise missiles that fly at more than three times the speed of sound. It dates to the 1970s, when it was designed by the Soviet Union to strike U.S. aircraft carriers. It packs a big punch, thanks to its supersonic speed and ability to carry 630 kilograms (nearly 1,400 pounds) of explosives, but its outdated guidance system could make it highly inaccurate against ground targets, raising the possibility of collateral damage. Some Tu-22Ms were lost in previous Ukrainian attacks, and Russia was estimated to have between 50 and 60 Tu-22M3s in service before Sunday's drone strike. The production of the Tu-95 and the Tu-22M ended after the 1991 collapse of the USSR, meaning that any of them lost Sunday can't be replaced. Russia also has another type of strategic nuclear capable bomber, the supersonic Tu-160. Fewer than 20 of them are in service, and Russia has just begun production of its modernized version equipped with new engines and avionics. Russia lost a significant part of its heavy bomber fleet in the attack 'with no immediate ability to replace it,' said Douglas Barrie of the International Institute of Strategic Studies, noting that Moscow's announced plan to develop the next generation strategic bomber is still in its early phase. Advertisement 'Ironically this might give impetus to that program, because if if you want to keep your bomber fleet up to size, then you're going to have to do something at some point,' he said. The A-50, which Ukrainian officials also said was hit in the strikes, is an early warning and control aircraft similar to the U.S. AWACS planes used to coordinate aerial attacks. Only few such planes are in service with the Russian military, and any loss badly dents Russia's military capability. Relocating bombers and impromptu protection Repeated Ukrainian strikes on the Engels air base, the main base for Russian nuclear capable strategic bombers near the Volga River city of Saratov, prompted Moscow to relocate the bombers to other bases farther from the conflict. One of them was Olenya on the Arctic Kola Peninsula, from where Tu-95s have flown multiple missions to launch cruise missiles at Ukraine. Several bombers at Olenya apparently were hit by the Ukrainian drones Sunday, according to analysts studying satellite images before and after the strike. Other drones targeted the Belaya air base in the Irkutsk region in eastern Siberia, destroying a few Tu-22M bombers, according to analysts. Ukraine said 41 aircraft — Tu-95s, Tu-22Ms and A-50s — were damaged or destroyed Sunday. in the attack that it said was in the works for 18 months in which swarms of drones popped out of containers carried on trucks that were parked near four air bases. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was briefed on the attack, which represented a level of sophistication that Washington had not seen before, a senior defense official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Advertisement The Russian Defense Ministry said the attack set several warplanes ablaze at air bases in the Irkutsk region in eastern Siberia and the Murmansk region in the north, but the fires were extinguished. It said Ukraine also tried to strike two air bases in western Russia, as well as another one in the Amur region of Russia's Far East, but those attacks were repelled. The drone strikes produced an outcry from Russian military bloggers, who criticized the Defense Ministry for failing to learn from previous strikes and protect the bombers. Building shelters or hangars for such large planes is a daunting task, and the military has tried some impromptu solutions that were criticized as window dressing. Satellite images have shown Tu-95s at various air bases covered by layers of old tires – a measure of dubious efficiency that has drawn mockery on social media.
Daily Mail
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Ex-New York gallery owner once dubbed London's 'most dangerous woman' faces jail for stalking campaign against British ambassador she met on dating app Bumble
A former New York art gallery owner once dubbed London 's 'most dangerous' woman' is facing years in jail for stalking the former British ambassador to Belarus. Farah Damji, 58, unleashed a 'reprehensible' campaign of harassment on Nigel Gould-Davies after meeting him on the dating app Bumble in July 2023. The former diplomat, 59, wept in court as he described how Damhi set about destroying his character within a month of meeting her. Damji sent 'defamatory' emails about Mr Gould-Davies copying in colleagues at Harvard University and New York Times editorial staff. She also stole a legally privileged document concerning Russia from Mr Gould-Davies' London home and threatened to post them online. Mr Gould-Davies is the former British ambassador to Belarus and currently a fellow with the International Institute of Strategic Studies. He is also an associate fellow of Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs and an expert on Russia. Mr Gould-Davies said he supported Damji after she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer but the stalker set out to ruin his life. Damji, who had articles published in the Independent and the New Statesmen, has convictions for fraud, theft, perverting the course of justice and three separate stalking charges. The daughter of the late South-Africa-born property magnate Amir Damji, was jailed for 15 months in 2010 for a £17,500 housing benefit fraud. Damji was locked up for five years in 2016 for stalking a church warden after they met on an online dating site. She attended his son's school and spoke with the deputy headmaster 'to make false allegations about the warden abusing vulnerable women.' Damji then continued to stalk the church warden, and sent emails to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissioner and an MP following her arrest. She was convicted of stalking involving serious alarm and distress, theft and two counts of fraud by false representation by a jury at Wood Green Crown Court today. Damji denied stalking Mr Gould-Davies and claimed the host of aliases she created were all real people and blamed them for harassing the diplomat. Judge Joanna Greenberg remanded Damji in custody ahead of sentence on July 11. During the four week trial Mr Gould-Davies was heard sobbing quietly behind a curtain as he told jurors he was a 'senior fellow for Russian and Eurasia at The International Institute for Strategic Studies - a think-tank.' Mr Gould-Davies said he met Damji on Bumble and knew her by the name 'Noor Higham'. He helped her set up a cafe called 'The View' on Caledonian Road, Islington, recording podcasts, helping move furniture and even 'serving customers there as well'. Mr Gould-Davies said he began to receive 'abusive and wounding and hurtful' emails from Damji within a month of meeting her. He added they were 'very vitriolic and very nasty' and 'really just attempts to destroy my character'. The former Associate Fellow at Chatham House said he was sent 'around 100' emails from the defendant using the aliases Holly Bright and Claire Simms. One email sent by Holly Bright told him: 'I've got photographs of a woman you bruised'. Mr Gould-Davies said he tried to reason with the 'chorus of attackers' via email and text. 'I frequently replied to Holly and Claire by both text and by email, particularly when they vilified me and abused me, to try and sort of understand why they were doing that and to reason with them and say 'no, what you're saying isn't true'. Events escalated when 'Holly Bright' contacted the head of HR at his workplace accusing the Harvard educated journalist of 'preying on vulnerable woman'. Mr Gould-Davies told the court she also sent emails to his local Labour MP Emily Thornberry. 'I realised that Noor was very nice to me when I was doing what she wanted, and if there was any kind of even small disagreement she would often sort of explode or suddenly turn on me. 'Suddenly I would get a message from Claire Simms or Holly Bright vilifying and laying into me.' He said Damji made up 'elaborate stories' to put distance between herself and the aliases she is said to have created. 'On one occasion Noor said, 'Oh Holly opened up my phone when I was in the shower', and on another occasion - it was a very elaborate story - she said 'Oh Holly hacked into my computer and left spyware there"'. Mr Gould-Davies said he had been asked to provide an 'expert view' on a civil dispute relating to an aircraft impounded in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. 'The key point is I was being asked to provide an expert view for the companies that were trying to get compensated by Russia, so this is something that the Russian state didn't like or didn't want. 'I was working with sensitive, legally privileged documents relating to the case and I had one of them printed out in my flat. 'Noor took it and sent me a photo from her WhatsApp showing that she'd taken it and threatening to put it on the internet.' Mr Gould-Davies was asked about a 'spoof' Twitter account allegedly set up by Damji with a bio including the words: 'failed spook, ex-ambassador, fumbling academic, mentally unstable Russian expert'. He said he had to write to his line manager to explain the existence of the 'disgusting Twitter account'. 'If (people) saw something from this account without finding out what the account was, then they would - its perfectly possible it seems to me - have thought this was from me.' Mr Gould-Davies told jurors that Noor did not 'deny' setting up the X account before later claiming it was Holly Bright's doing. Fighting back to tears Mr Gould-Davies told jurors: 'Like a fool, I accepted it.' 'I suppose I wanted to believe she hadn't created it', he said. He told jurors he felt he had an 'obligation to look after her' owing to her breast cancer diagnosis. Mr Gould-Davies then wept again as he detailed the 'suffering' he suffered at Damji's hands. 'I have to be a big pillow constantly punched and punched and I just have to absorb it beause she needs me', he said. Mr Gould-Davies only found out her name was Farah Damji when he made enquiries after the relationship ended about the identity of a person who created a fake website in this name with the hosting platform 'GoDaddy'. Damji had set up 'The View' by convincing a wide range of suppliers to give her help and free goods as a community interest company, including the use of premises rent free. Christiaan Moll, prosecuting, said The View linked her 'to a number of false emails and social accounts which we say are part of the evidence in this case.' Damji sent another email to the Ambassador of Kazakhastan in November 2023, referring to him as a 'severally dysfunctional cretin', said Mr Moll. 'The result was for Mr Gould-Davies very frightening and disorientating, especially when these emails made serious defamatory statements and baseless claims that he physically abused women.' She even created a spoof Twitter account in the name 'John Halligan' to mock Mr Gould-Davies. He eventually flew to Berlin 'to seek temporary refuge' in early 2024. 'The defendant was keen to ascertain his whereabouts and he continued to receive messages and phone calls.' Mr Gould-Davies received one email stating: 'I have people searching for you, we are everywhere, and Holly is in Berlin.' The prosecutor added: 'Social media evidence (also) suggests at the end of February 2024 Damji visited a town in southern Spain where Mr Gould-Davies' mother lives.' Jurors were played doorbell camera footage showing a woman sent by Damji to the former diplomat's home when he was staying was in Berlin. 'There is evidence that the defendant committed credit card fraud against the defendant in mid-December 2023, when one of his credit cards and indeed his passport disappeared without explanation, forcing him to cancel plans to visit his mother in Spain and instead spend Christmas with Noor,' said Mr Moll. Mr Gould-Davies' credit card bill showed unexplained transactions totalling £13,621 including several to a company called 'Flowers for Freedom'. 'The Twitter and Etsy accounts for these companies have the defendant's picture on them,' the prosecutor said. Damji was eventually arrested on her way to Berlin at Heathrow airport and she was interviewed several times by police on March 12, 2024. She first came to public prominence after she admitted having a kinky affair with Guardian columnist William Dalrymple. Damji also had a high profile affair with a senior executive at The Guardian. While serving her five year jail sentence imposed in 2016 the stalker, also known as Farah Dan, raised £5,000 asking for donations on Twitter to hire a top QC to appeal the conviction. She published 'character assassinations' online of individuals she was prohibited from referencing. She then penned a letter to a government body accusing the investigating officer in that case of 'stalking and harassing her'. Damji had complained that a police officer had 'scared' her elderly mother by contacting her without permission in a message sent to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). In 2020 she was convicted of two counts of breaching the restraining order in April 2018 and June 2018. But Damji fled to Ireland during her trial and she was jailed in her absence for 27 months after a judge described her as 'extremely manipulative'. She was finally re-arrested in County Galway in August 2022 and returned to Britain to serve her sentence. Damji, of Doughty Street, Clerkenwell, denied stalking involving serious alarm and distress, theft and two counts of fraud by false representation.
The Independent
04-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
The head of Myanmar's military government is in Russia for cooperation talks with Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin was holding talks on Tuesday with the head of Myanmar's military government, who is seeking to cement cooperation with Moscow as he faces isolation and sanctions from the West. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing is making his fourth trip to Russia since his army seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Western nations have ostracized Myanmar's ruling military and imposed economic and political sanctions in response to the takeover and the violent repression of opposition, which has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians and given rise to an armed conflict widely seen as a civil war. Welcoming Min Aung Hlaing at the start of the Kremlin talks, Putin noted growing bilateral trade and close cooperation on the international arena, and thanked him for sending six baby elephants to Moscow. Russia, along with China, is a major supporter and arms supplier to Myanmar. Russian-made fighter jets are used in attacks on territory under the control of ethnic minority groups, many of which are allies with pro-democracy resistance forces. Russia defends Myanmar's military government in international forums, and the ruling generals generally support Moscow's foreign policy agenda. The two countries have also held joint military drills and signed a pact on developing nuclear power. Ming Aung Hlaing thanked Putin for the assistance and emphasized his military government's support for Russia's military action in Ukraine. 'Russia is a key backer of the Myanmar military,' said Morgan Michaels, a Singapore-based analyst with the International Institute of Strategic Studies. 'In addition to diplomatic and symbolic support, it plays a vital role in enhancing and sustaining the regime's warfighting capacity.' Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for Myanmar's main opposition National Unity Government, said the military leader is in desperate need of international recognition and willing to trade the country's resources in exchange. 'So, to maintain his power, he will go to countries that will recognize him and provide him with some kind of assistance, and exchange what he wants with the country," Nay Phone Latt said Monday in a text message to the AP. __ Grant Peck and David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this report.
