November 6:
The Russian government is beginning to move strategic arms in the direction of eastern Ukraine, NATO officials have noted. According to the Washington Free Beacon, as part of its ongoing efforts to destabilize Ukraine, Russia is deploying additional military units - including those "equipped with ballistic missiles" toward the common border between the two countries. These steps have been supplemented by stepped-up flights by Russian strategic bombers on Europe's northern coasts. These moves, military officials say, constitute a message from Moscow. "They're messaging us that they are a great power and that they have the ability to exert these kinds of influences in our thinking," suggests Gen. Phillip Breedlove, the Supreme Allied Commander of U.S. Forces in Europe.
U.S. Homeland Security officials are raising the alarm over a piece of malicious software, believed to be of Russian origin, that appears to have compromised U.S. critical infrastructure nodes. ABC News reports that the "trojan horse," which has infected software used "to control complex industrial operations like oil and gas pipelines, power transmission grids, water distribution and filtration systems, wind turbines and even some nuclear plants," is believed to have been planted by hackers affiliated with the Russian government. The problem, moreover, is longstanding; by governmental estimates, the hacking campaign to insert the bug has been taking place since 2011, although no attempt has yet been made to use it to "damage, modify, or otherwise disrupt" U.S. critical infrastructure systems.
November 7:
In what ranks as one of the more outlandish schemes to date designed to promote the glory of Vladimir Putin,the New York Observer reports that a Russian lawmaker has proposed making the sperm of the president available to Russia's women. Under the plan, proposed by Yelena Mizoulina, chairwoman of the Russian Duma's Commission on Women's Affairs, Children and Family, "each female citizen of Russia will be able to receive by mail the genetic material of the President, get pregnant from him and have a baby." The idea also carries monetary benefits. "These mothers will be receiving special allowances from the government," says Mizoulina, making siring the progeny of the Russian president both patriotic and profitable.
Russia’s strategic ties to Egypt continue to expand, RIA Novosti reports. According to Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, the government of Abdel Fatah al-Sisi is planning to purchase a slew of "modern" military equipment from the Russian Federation as part of the warming ties between Cairo and Moscow. Fahmy did not specify what systems the Egyptian government is seeking to acquire from the Kremlin, but did tell reporters that cooperation between the two countries is intensifying in "three main spheres – political, military and economic."
November 9:
Russia's push into the Arctic continues to gather steam. "Starting in 2017, the country will base MiG-31 Foxhound long-range interceptors in long-abandoned Soviet-era bases that it is currently renovating, according to Russian state media," writes Josh Rogin in The Daily Beast. This, however, is just the beginning. The news website notes that the Russian government has sketched out plans to base nuclear-capable strategic bombers in the region, to build more than a dozen airfields and ten radar posts in the area, to erect a "network" of Arctic naval bases, and is already beginning to permanently station ground troops in the region. These moves are all part of a grand plan by Moscow "to secure its claims in the north as the permanent ice caps recede."
The reasons for Russia’s interest are both economic and geopolitical. Economically, writes Rogin, "Russia's leaders are betting on the Arctic for the country's future economic growth." Politically, meanwhile, the Kremlin sees the area as a key component of its effort "to secure its strategic nuclear deterrent."
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