Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1988

June 15:

Russia has launched military exercises in the Arctic in the latest sign of the Kremlin's growing focus on the strategically-vital region. According to the International Business Times, the new drills - the latest in a series of maneuvers undertaken by the Russian military over the past year - "will involve mine detecting, antiaircraft drills and anti-submarine defenses" in the Barents Sea. "Artillery squads will perform live firing to destroy sea-based and coastal targets, including fast-moving small-size objectives and floating sea mines, while anti-aircraft missile and artillery system teams will repel air attacks from various altitudes and directions," a spokesman for the Russian military's Northern Fleet has confirmed.

June 16:

If the United States moves ahead with its plans to station military equipment in Eastern Europe, Russia will respond by expanding its military build-up near Ukraine, a senior Russian defense ministry official has warned.The Washington Times cites Gen. Yuri Yakubov as saying that America's planned deployment would precipitate a fortification of Russian forces "on the Western strategic front.” "If heavy U.S. military equipment, including tanks, artillery batteries, and other equipment really does turn up in countries in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, that will be the most aggressive step by the Pentagon and NATO since the Cold War," Yakubov warned.

Worries over an increasingly aggressive Russian military posture are forcing Sweden to arm itself, the Kremlin's Sputnik news outlet reports. In the wake of a series of submarine sightings and airspace violations, Swedish authorities are refocusing on long-delayed military procurement programs. These include the NH90 helicopter, which is designed for anti-submarine warfare, as well as the Gripen E fighter plane. "With what is happening in the Baltic, it is very important" to fast track these initiatives, Swedish procurement chief Lena Erixon has said.

June 17:

Russia's plans for nuclear rearmament are stoking fears among NATO officials. State news agency Itar-TASS reports General Philip Breedlove, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, as saying that the Kremlin's plans to add over 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles to its arsenal this year alone belies the argument that Moscow is a "responsible" nuclear power. "This is not a way that responsible nuclear nations behave," the General has said in comments to reporters. "A rhetoric which ratchets up tensions in a nuclear sense is not a responsible behavior and we seek and ask that these (nuclear) nations handle this particular type of weapon in a more responsible way."

June 18:

Despite signs that the European consensus regarding Russia could be crumbling, Russian financial experts are bracing for long-term economic pain. The Kremlin's Sputnik news outlet cites VEB Bank Deputy Chairman Andrei Klepach as saying that sanctions levied on the Russian Federation by Europe over its conduct in Ukraine are not likely to be removed in the near future. "I think that the sanctions won't be extended for a half year, but far longer," Klepach told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The situation, according to Klepach, is serious - but survivable. "We have ways to get out of the slump that is currently seen and considerably increase [our] growth rate for 2016," he reassured observers. That, however, requires Russia "getting over the investment crisis" it currently finds itself in, Klepach noted.