Russia's defense minister has proposed increasing joint military exercises between Russia and its Asian allies to counter U.S. security escalation. Sergei Shoigu said that the deployment of US-led military infrastructure in the region is a direct threat. He also voiced Russia's claims that Ukraine was behind the recent terrorist attacks. Near Moscow, despite Kiev's denials.
Russia and its Asian allies should expand joint military exercises as they face a direct threat from US attempts to expand its security influence in the region, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says. said Friday.
He was speaking at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a security group that includes Russia, India, China, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
“I think all present share the view that the deployment of military infrastructure in the region by the United States and its allies is unacceptable,” Shoigu said.
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“Such intentions should be considered a direct threat to the stability of the SCO area.”
In this photo published on April 24, 2024, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspects the progress of construction and modernization of infrastructure facilities at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia's Arkhangelsk region. (Russian Ministry of Defense/Handout/file photo via Reuters)
He told a meeting in Kazakhstan's capital Astana that South African countries should expand the scope and geography of military exercises.
His speech underscored Russia's intentions to strengthen military ties with its Asian partners and resist the erosion of its influence in Asia, despite heavy demands on the military in the more than two-year war in Ukraine. emphasized.
This week, Shoigu's position has come under greater scrutiny than usual in the country after one of his MPs was arrested in a bribery scandal, a development that weakens him politically. There is a fear.
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In his speech, he accused the US-led QUAD and AUKUS countries of trying to reshape the Pacific security architecture in their favor and said pressure was mounting on China over Taiwan. .
Shoigu said the main threat in Central Asia comes from “radical terrorist groups in Afghanistan.” He said the United States is working to regain the influence it lost in the region after the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in 2021.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for killing more than 140 people at a concert hall near Moscow last month, and the United States said the group's Afghan network had planned the attack. Shoigu reiterated Russia's claim that Ukraine was behind it, a claim denied by Kiev and called nonsense by the United States.
Regarding Ukraine, Shoigu said foreign advisers were helping Kiev prepare sabotage operations on Russian territory and that Ukraine was using Western weapons to attack Russian civilian infrastructure. He provided no evidence to support his claims.