Ukraine Russia War Archives - Lokmarg

Ukraine – A Dangerous Military Rehearsal

By Jasdev Singh Rai 13th July 2023

History has shown that liberal democracies tend to be the most dangerous in wars, using weapons that others hesitate from deploying. It was the United States that first used nuclear weapons in the Second World War in Hiroshima and, egged on by the British, a second one was lobbed at Nagasaki. There was no call for a second atrocity of that level.

The United States used napalm, Agent Orange, phosphorous and similar agents in Vietnam. It also used cluster bombs in Laos and some other countries. These are still being cleared. However, both Russia and Ukraine have used them. Cluster bombs are considered to kill more civilians than enemy soldiers.

That the USA is now sending these bombs to Ukraine may be a sign of the fatigue setting in United States or a realisation that Russia won’t be defeated. This war has essentially been a war for defending American global hegemony and, on the part of Russia-China, to push it back now and move on to a new world order.

That it is ultimately about the new world order rather than Ukraine, is evident from the constant usage of the words ‘challenge to world order’ or international rule based order. No one seems to be defining what this international rule based order is or what world order is being challenged. Words are used carefully to leave impressions without exposing what they are really meant to be.

The current world order is Pax Americana which seems to be weakening at the moment. Pax means peace. It is peace on America’s terms. The rule based order simply means that the rules of international relations, nation states etc are made by USA, UK and to some extent EU. They decide whose borders can change when and who can get independence etc.

There are other undercurrents that are at play in Ukraine. Eastern Europe and Russia were not involved in colonialism of the type the occidental world engaged in. These countries are less inclined to be evangelist about ideology.

EU and NATO on the other hand still have colonial mentality and seek to change the world into democracies of the kind they prefer. NATO has managed to recruit some of the Eastern European countries to this but is now pushing Ukraine to bring down Russia a peg or two to maintain belief in liberal democracy as a better system.

The difference between the Occident and Russia is that the Occident gains territory by converting rather than annexing it. It annexes it ideologically and makes it its foot soldier as it has done with Poland and much of Eastern Europe and now seeking to do with Ukraine. Russia and China gain territory by occupying and installing governments controlled by it. Ukraine thus is simply a pawn in this game. The average Ukrainian is a helpless victim in a global game of hegemony and being pushed by its own Ukrainian leaders to risk their lives in this. A lot of Ukrainian hierarchy have benefitted financially from this. The United States itself has admitted that corruption is widespread in Ukraine. The US can throw a lot of money at the opportunists in Ukraine who force their countrymen to join the war.

ALSO READ: Theatre of War Horrors in Ukraine

However, the USA seems to be getting a bit stretched by the resources on another yet wasteful war. It lost enough in Afghanistan and now is seeing Ukraine falling apart. In desperation, it is willing to use hideous weapons.

Moreover, there are a number of US and British personnel now stationed in command centres in Ukraine training and directing the war. They probably run into thousands; Russia has hinted to USA that it will attack the command centres in a clear message that it will kill American and British officers if F-16 aircraft are handed to Ukraine.

The war therefore is being run by USA with NATO, but with Ukrainians as the soldiers. It is not surprising then that Zelensky gets frustrated quite often. He is quite aware that he is but a pawn. He angrily asks for more weapons so that he can ‘finish’ the job for USA. Ukrainian politicians are habitually saying that they are fighting for the survival of the West. They don’t say survival of Ukraine.

Ukraine was never under threat. All it had to do was accept autonomy for the Donbass as UK has done for Scotland and Northern Ireland. It could have retained its territorial integrity. However, as a few American politicians and Generals have said, Ukraine cannot decide without the USA agreeing to it. In effect Ukraine has become a vassal State for NATO under USA, and Russia is now seeking to break it to control parts of it.

Russia too has been quite brutal in this war. It is considered to have blown the Nova Kakhovka dam to sabotage the Ukraine counteroffensive. However, Russia has also been a bit naïve in some ways. It could have gone in all guns blazing at the start and taken over Kiev. It chose to send in forces to scare Ukraine and gain its agreement to its terms.

An agreement was reached with Ukraine to talk about mutually acceptable terms and Russia withdrew. But Ukraine under instructions from USA, then reneged on this. Russia has still been reluctant to use some of its most dangerous weapons. It is fighting an old-style territorial war with Ukraine. There may be many reasons for this.

As a senior NATO officer has said, Ukraine is also an experimental ground for both sides on how wars will be fought in future as well as real testing ground for some of the weapons. The USA has been handing out some experimental weapons and testing them in Ukraine. NATO and Israel have also tested their missile defence equipment against some of the most advanced Russian aircraft. Where they have been shown to be defective, lessons have been learnt.

Russia too has been doing that. Both have also increased the sale of their weapons worldwide. It is one thing to see missiles and fighter jets in an Arms show, but quite another when they are tested against sophisticated defence equipment. Britain’s Himars and American Patriot defence systems have both been show-cased here. Russia claims to have learnt a lot about sabotaging them while NATO is learning what needs to be re-engineered.

It has been surprising why Russia did not resort to the form of warfare that United States deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan. In both, America went in with the hammer, conquered everything and destroyed the defences. Russia could have destroyed all Ukrainian infrastructure such as railway lines, roads, airports etc. This could have made it difficult for any equipment to come into Ukraine. Russia however chose to destroy a few as warning and permitted an endless supply of weapons to Ukraine. The possible reason must be that both Russia and USA now see the war as a training ground for a future war.

There is another lesson that Russia may have learnt from American excursions in the last five decades. The USA goes in heavy but then gets stuck in a quicksand taking years to extricate itself from the trap. It eventually lost in Vietnam, in Iraq and in Afghanistan among other places. Russia has avoided that prospect and has perhaps been hoping for a shorter war lasting two to three years in which all will be decided.

The other dimension to this war may be the American establishment trying to take its revenge on Putin for having installed Trump in USA as President. It made the Pentagon and USA establishment a laughing stock. Putin was able to manipulate the American system and place a President at the highest office amenable to him. The American establishment want to send a clear message to Russia. Prigozhin revolt could have been an American stunt without the later knowing that he was a pawn. Putin has been more resilient.

The war will end sooner or later with Russia getting most of what it wants and rest of Ukraine becoming part of the ‘West’. There are however two other rogue elements. Poland is greedily eyeing parts of Ukraine and hopes the western part of Ukraine falls to it. So does Hungary which is looking at the Southwestern regions of Ukraine. Both countries are hoping that Ukraine will fall apart. Putin appears quite OK with this. In fact he hinted at this at the beginning of the attack on Ukraine.

One feels extremely sorry for Ukrainians. Ukraine has become the Afghanistan of the Balkan region. It is sought by great powers, not for resources but to entrench their own hegemony and power in the world. Afghanistan has been constantly on the menu of Pakistan and Iran who had hoped that it would disintegrate with each taking parts of it. Afghanistan has survived. Will Ukraine survive the great powers and their games and the opportunist designs of Uktraine’s neighbours?

Evil Russia Will Be Defeated Like Nazi Germany: Zelenskyy

By LokMarg 8th May 2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed that the “evil” Russia will be defeated just like Nazi Germany was beaten in World War II, according to the Kyiv Post.

In a speech to mark Victory in Europe Day, Zelenskyy said, “All the old evil that modern Russia is bringing back will be defeated just as Nazism was defeated,” Zelensky said in a video statement standing in front of a war memorial.

“Just as we destroyed evil together then, we are destroying a similar evil together now,” he added.

Zelenskyy also announced that he had submitted a Bill to parliament to formally commemorate World War II in Ukraine on May 8 and celebrate Europe Day on May 9. This is yet another step to distance his country from the traditions of Russia, reported Kyiv Post.

His address comes on the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender to Allied forces on May 8, 1945, and one day ahead of Victory Day in Moscow, which celebrates the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, Zerlenskyy tweeted, “It is on May 8 that most nations of the world remember the greatness of the victory over the Nazis. The world admires all those who were protecting and protected life. Who threw down the Nazi flags on the liberated territory and who opened the gates of the concentration camps. Who restored freedom to the nations, who destroyed and condemned Nazi evil.”

“It is on May 8 that the world honours the memory of all those, whose lives were taken by that war. It is pure history, without ideological admixtures. And it is the history of our people, our allies, the entire free world. Today, we are returning it to our state. Today, I submitted a bill to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine proposing that May 8 be the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in the Second World War of 1939-1945,” he added.

The Ukrainian President conveyed his condolences to all those people who died in the Second World War. “Glory to each and every one who fought against Nazism and won! Glory to all our heroes of different times, to whom we equally owe our lives!” he added.

Meanwhile, Russia fired eight long-range missiles at the city overnight Sunday, Ukraine’s air force said in a statement, CNN reported.

At least one person was killed and three were injured in that missile attack which strikes on the southern port city of Odesa on Monday, according to the spokesman for the head of the regional military administration.

“A guard at the warehouse where an enemy missile hit was killed. His body was found under the rubble,” the spokesperson wrote on Telegram.

“Around midnight, the Russian occupiers attacked Odesa Oblast with Tu-22M3 long-range bombers. A total of eight missiles were launched from the area of Cape Tarkhankut (occupied Crimea),” the air force said, adding: “Some of the missiles did not reach their targets,” according to CNN. (ANI)

Hope Springs As Winter Fades

By Amit Sengupta 20th February 2023

April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain,

Winter kept us warm, covering

Earth in forgetful snow, feeding

A little life with dried tubers…
–TS Eiliot

If it was a hard winter, can spring be far behind? Surely, like the ‘Four Seasons’ of Vivaldi, it seems to be eagerly waiting at the next bylane, not lurking in the shadows, but hiding within the leaves and petals of old trees, smelling of bark soaked with dew and a narrow street full of little shops selling cotton saris and cotton nostalgia. The cold, frozen, mournful sound of the violin, moving inside the inner rooms of the unconscious, looking for warmth, will now give way to the vivacious, flowing, youthful, rippling music of the change of seasons, like the sun playing with the shimmering blue of the simmering waters of a naughty, unruly, mountain spring.

Life is not elsewhere, unlike what Milan Kundera wrote. Life is here and now, at this moment, living out its daily drudgery with its dogmatic demands, and, yet, looking for that sheer moment of liberation which shall soak the deepest core of the inner self, the hidden core, that raw, pure core, which the world cannot see, and which the world shall never see, as Jorge Luis Borges wrote in his famous: ‘Two English Poems’.

I can only offer you desolate and solitary streets, empty spaces, unknown destinations, he wrote, something which only his camouflaged core would know, and which has been preserved for the most precious friendships only. Spring brings back the two English poems because life is not elsewhere, and, because, as Pablo Neruda wrote, I live suddenly; at other times, I follow.

The zigzag, bubbly, lovely, happy-go-lucky mountain river, like a shining, silver, short story, in sharp sunshine, not knowing its destiny, celebrating the journey itself as the destination. Like that immortal Rafi song in ‘Hum Dono’, an anti-war film: Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya… har fikr ko dhuen mein uraata chala gaya…

The smile of an unknown man or woman, wrote Albert Camus, in an unknown town with pebbled streets, could make his day. He would carry that smile all day long inside him, and not even a grey twilight zone, smelling of whiskey, sadness and departures, could take away the beauty of that unknown smile.

It is like walking with deep attachment and exile at the same time. Like a stoic doctor walking with his medical bag, willfully choosing to remain steadfast in the city of Oran, where the people are trapped by a deathly epidemic, a rat-trap caused by rats. As in the great book by Camus, The Plague, located in the backdrop of World War II, and under the diabolic and sinister shadow of fascism in Europe, the impending death spectacles of the holocaust and mass murder of millions of Jews in the Nazi concentration camps run by Adolf Hitler, Eichmann, Goebbels, Goering and his buddies.

It is also located in the deathly realism of an epidemic, hence, the signs in our contemporary realm, especially in India, seem stunningly similar. There is evil stalking the air. There is the bad smell of bad faith in the air. There are frauds and scum-bags ruling the roost. There are one thousand lies, repeated again and again, thereby turning them into the ‘manufactured consent’ of truth.

The dark memories of the past remain etched, in the newspapers, documents, fact-finding reports, testimonies, books, documentary films, graveyards and homes. In old photographs, half-burnt in the carnivorous fires. You suppress and censor them, they come back, as if through a divine intervention. There are tears inside photo albums, there are black holes in the heart.

Like wars. Like the 20 million or more, mothers, young daughters, sons in the Red Army, who died in Soviet Russia defending their homeland; and, finally, defeating the fascists, trapped in the snow. Like in Ukraine now, Russian soldiers, Ukrainian civilians and soldiers, all the dead, young and old, families mourning, sleepless, millions turned refugees, children orphaned, separated from their mothers.

And these were the soldiers, across the border, whose ancestors fought together, hand-in-hand, against the might of Hitler’s murderous army, and whose memories are still soaked with such infinite sacrifice, comradeship and bravery! How much more cruelty and suffering can human civilizations celebrate and inflict upon itself? Who would win and lose in the final instance of such mindless devastation?

Wrote Svetlana Alexievich, who lived across all the borders in the pre-and-after era of the Soviet Union, in that heart-breaking collection of intimate, invisible stories, ‘The Unwomanly Face of War’: “And, finally – Victory… If life for them used to be divided into peace and war, now it was into War and Victory. Again, two different worlds, two different lives. After learning to hate, they now had to learn to love again. To recall forgotten feelings. Forgotten words. The person shaped by war had to be shaped by something that was not war.”

Meanwhile, The Telegraph from Kolkata reported a story of love in the time of the earthquake, with 40,000 dead in Turkey and Syria. When Amina Khatoon saw the news of a Turkish woman and her children stuck under the rubble, the Rohingya refugee in Delhi did not think twice before selling her last piece of jewellery to buy relief material for donation.

“The contribution is bound to pinch Amina, 56, and her family, who fled Myanmar 18 years ago, more than most of the donors at the Turkish embassy here. Their hut in a slum on the banks of the Yamuna was lost to a fire in 2018. She bought a pair of gold bangles with four years’ savings in 2021, as insurance for a calamity. The same year she had to sell one of them for a surgery she needed.”

She said: “This is a big calamity. Had I been back home in Myanmar, we would have sold some of our land and donated. I feel good that I am able to do something because I had this bangle. We have faced what people there are facing after the earthquake — to be without a home and support,” Amina told The Telegraph in Rohingya and halting Hindi, with her son, Hussain, translating.

“With ₹65,000 from the sale of the bangle, and some more money from their savings, Amina’s family bought cookies, jackets, milk powder, women’s clothes and blankets; filled two taxis with it and drove to the embassy from their slum in Zakir Nagar.”

Indeed, among thousands of similar stories from the ravaged landscape, when four little kids were finally taken out of the rubble in Syria, you should have seen the sublime smile on the face of the woman in the rescue team who first took the kid in her arms. The crowd roared in collective joy, as if a goal has been scored in a tense football match.

That is why, after a hard winter and cold wave, and the warmth of the ‘rajai’ smelling of naphthalene in old trunks, mixing with the faint fragrance of forgotten petals and leaves in forgotten books, life must now give way to the rippling river in Spring sunshine. Let the new season resurrect compassion, hope and resilience, amidst despair, doom and death. Let its restless freshness spread its wings, and destroy the bad smell in the air — and the evil stalking the land and the landscape.

Propaganda War: Ukraine Through Facts & Fictions

By Jasdev Singh Rai 3rd January 2023

News media like to put out that they are objective, balanced, unbiased and free from interference. This is particularly claimed by liberal left leaning press in the West and some State-owned media groups on both sides. But some critical evaluation of their articles and editorials exposes them to be as unabashedly propagandist as the most unapologetic biased news media. They just do it subtly as evident in the coverage of the Ukraine conflict. Through the fog of misinformation, disinformation and censorship, it is difficult to know which side to believe and which media to trust.

Within a week of the attack by Russia, the general theme in almost every western media was that Russia’s attempts to conquer Ukraine had failed and the war is proving to be longer than expected! This line was promoted in countries that unsuccessfully spent a good 20 years to ‘conquer’ Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. How a week in war translates into ‘failure’ and 20 years as ‘near success’ is a logic that only the media can twist as fact.

Ukraine was part of the USSR and if anyone knew the number of weapons and fighting skills of Ukrainians, especially after three years of engagement in Donbas, it was the Russians. They seemed prepared for a longer war, possibly a year, given the number of troops they had assigned and the supply lines created as well as preparations for sanctions. But a lot more has been censored and disinformation is ripe on both sides.

Before the attack, some of the liberal Press in the West had also carried article and newsbriefs of Nazi type units, called Azos including in respected sites such as Bllingcat, who allegedly had infiltrated and taken over a lot of institutions in Ukraine. Since the conflict, there is almost no mention of Azos or Nazi-type groups dominating the decision making bodies in Ukraine and in fact media like BBC have been accused of whitewashing Ukrainian Azov contradicting their own previous reports.

Equally interesting is that there is very little journalist reports of Ukrainian men paying human traffickers to get out of Ukraine to escape being forced to join the defence. On the other hand, narratives of Russian men escaping Russia to dodge conscription make headlines in most western Press even when Russia lets them leave. Most Press gives the impression that the recruits in Russian Army have been forced to fight against their will while the average able bodied Ukrainian young man has rushed to the defence of motherland or fatherland. But some rare media has covered stories of Ukrainian men being forced at gunpoint to fight against their will. Why is the male human trafficking trade in Ukraine doing so well, if young men are queuing up to fight?

Take another bit of reporting. Every week, the media has reported deaths of Russian Generals, commanders etc. But no Ukrainian officer seems to have died in this 10-month old war. Amazing. It appears Ukrainian officers are invincible or simply sending the young men to slaughter while themselves staying safe in command centres in Kyiv.

Or another fact that is standing out as a sore thumb. Without evidence western commentators are pushing the line that Russia wants to revive the USSR and we are led to believe that Russia has lost this war. At the beginning, Russia spelt out its aims. It was going to ‘free’ Donbas’ and reduce Ukraine’s military capability. It has taken Donbas. It has now almost wiped out Ukraine’s arsenal. Ukraine is now dependent on weapons from the West. How long will the west ‘donate’ its own supplies?

Facts and fictions are not amiss on the other side either. Russia has been stating that this was a ‘special operation’ and not a war. Some of its media say that at end of every article. With thousands of their own soldiers dead and significant part of the enemy territory taken with daily casualties running into thousands, it is difficult to understand when a war is and when a special operation is. A Special Operation normally lasts a few weeks, is swift with very few casualties. To call this ‘special operation’ after 10 months of fighting and hundreds of thousands dead, is fictional absurdity if not denial.

Russia has claimed that it has broken the will of Ukrainians. Has it? Russian media also latches onto stories of men escaping conscription in Ukraine, suggesting Ukrainian are fighting unwillingly. Ten months later, it continues to be challenged on all fronts. Weapons alone do not win wars, unless armies are willing to fight. Ukrainians have shown true grit in the face of a formidable army. Russia is now using some brutal and indiscriminate tactics.

Russian news media also trots daily victories with few exceptions where it says that its forces have performed a tactical withdrawal. Given the number of claimed victories, Russia should have taken all of Ukraine by now. In fact, tactical retreats mean Russians have been forced out or lost in those towns. Russians who question the ‘victories’ end up silenced or in prisons. The truth is as the Government wants it, not what it is. Allegedly quite a few high-profile Russians also seem to be falling from windows especially when they have been critical of Government policy in Ukraine.

Russia goes on about de-Nazification of Ukraine. There is no evidence that the majority of Ukrainians are racists or ‘Nazi’ like. Moreover, there are plenty of extreme Right wing nationalist groups in Russia who have links with similar groups in the West.

Through the mirrors of fiction being promoted facts can be obscure but quite simple. Russia had reached an understanding with major western powers after collapse of USSR that NATO would not expand into ex-USSR countries. NATO did expand and had come close on the doors of Russia by encouraging Ukraine to join. Professor Mearsheimer’s talk is the most concise analysis of this conflict. There were also agreements about installing missiles in Ukraine. The Ukraine Army was being trained to act as a first shield against Russia. To protect itself, Russia had started insurgency in Donbas. It took Crimea in 2014 to stop its base being taken away in the Black Sea.

To convince its own side about the necessity of invasion, Russia raised the fighting in Ukraine Donbass region as ethnic cleansing of Russian speaking Slavs. It was a narrative that fired Russians. Russia also raised spectre of chemical weapons factories in Ukraine near its borders. The attack was legitimised in the eyes of ordinary Russians.

Russia prepared for a longer war with strategies to deal with sanctions and weaponization of financial institutions against it. Russia weaponised gas and oil in retaliation. Its economy has in fact grown.

ALSO READ: Ukraine War – A Diplomatic Opportunity For India

On the other side, the war is actually a proxy war for USA and the UK in an attempt to weaken Russia. The Ukrainians are victims who have been forced into a fight in support of American foreign policy. The US has a number of experts and senior army officers in Ukraine. There were chemical and bio labs even admitted by a US assistant Secretary of State as well as cautioned by WHO. It makes no sense for the US to have sent senior secret service personnel to shut down what it calls ordinary labs testing for chlamydia and strep bacteria.

Both sides are pushing propaganda narratives. The West continues to promote the narrative that Russia is losing the conflict as it failed to take Ukraine in the first week. It also promotes the narrative that Putin and his circle want to restore the USSR. Western media hardly ever mentions the agreement not to expand NATO. But some pragmatists such as Kissinger are calling for negotiations.

Russia on the other hand continues to promote the story that Ukraine has been taken over by Nazis and is an existential threat to Russia as well as trying to annihilate Russian-speaking Ukrainians.

Through all this maze of fiction on both sides when even reputable media have compromised, the only reliable analysis is to look at what has been achieved and look at social media from both sides. But freedom loving west has blocked many of Russian media as has Russia in retaliation. Truth is the first casualty of war and is being killed on both sides.

Ukraine Claims It Killed 400 Russian Troops In Makiivka, Russia Says 66

By LokMarg 2nd January 2023

Ukraine has claimed that 400 Russian soldiers were killed and 300 others injured after Ukrainian armed forces struck a Russian military base in the Makiivka region of Donetsk, The Kyiv Independent reported citing the Strategic Communications Department of Ukraine’s military post on Telegram.

According to the Ukraine-based news publication The Kyiv Independent, Russian soldiers were stationed in a local school building. Ukrainian General Staff has not reported on the strike in Makiivka. However, in its daily update, Ukraine’s General Staff said that 760 Russian troops were killed on December 30.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry said that Ukraine’s strike has killed 63 soldiers of Russia through US-manufactured HIMARS, TASS reported. Speaking to reporters, the Russian Defence Ministry said that Ukrainian forces hit six rockets HIMARS at the temporary deployment point of one of the units of Russian armed forces in the Makiivka region of Donetsk. It further announced that Russian air defence systems shot down two HIMARS rockets.

“The Kyiv regime struck with six rockets of the US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system at the temporary deployment point of one of the units of the Russian armed forces in the area of the settlement of Makeevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” TASS quoted the Russian Defence Ministry as saying.

“As a result of the destruction of four missiles with a high-explosive warhead of the temporary deployment point, 63 Russian servicemen were killed,” it further said.

The Russian Defence Ministry in its daily report on January 2 said that its air defence facilities shot down 15 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles near Shipilovka, Liman, Kremennaya, Ploshchanka, Chervonaya Dibrova, Petrovskoye, Novognatovka, Nikolayevka, Skelki, Ocheretovatoye, Rubanovka and Lopatki.

Furthermore, the Russian Defence Ministry in its statement released on the website said that Moscow intercepted three rocket-propelled projectiles launched by Olkha and Uragan multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) near Krasnaya Gora, Podgornoye and Radensk.

In the statement, the Russian Defence Ministry said that Russia destroyed two US-manufactured M-777 artillery systems at their firing positions near Chasiv Yar and Minkovka. It further claimed that one Polish-manufactured Krab self-propelled howitzer has been destroyed near Antonivka and four Ukrainian D-30 howitzers have been destroyed at their firing positions near Serebryanka. (ANI)

India To Receive 3rd S-400 Air Missile Defence System In 2023

By LokMarg 24th December 2022

Notwithstanding its ongoing conflict with Ukraine, Russia will start supplying the third squadron of the S-400 air defence missile system to India from January-February next year.

“Indian teams including Air Force personnel were in Russia for the equipment. The supplies for the third squadron are planned to begin from early next year in the January-February timeframe,” defence sources told ANI.
The sources said the only issue between the two countries regarding the supplies is that of making payments in view of the international restrictions on financial transactions with Russia.

India has already operationalised its first two squadrons of missile systems. The first two squadrons have been deployed to take care of the Ladakh sector along with the sensitive Chicken’s neck corridor in West Bengal and the entire northeastern region.

The system with its missiles of different ranges can take on enemy ballistic and cruise missiles, fighter aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles flying at distances up to 400 kilometres.

India has signed a deal worth over Rs 35,000 crore to acquire five squadrons of the S-400 air defence missiles from Russia over three years and deliveries of all units are expected to get over by end of the next financial year.

The S-400 is believed to be a game changer by the Indian Air Force which has strengthened itself in terms of air defence capabilities in a big way in the last few years with the arrival of the indigenous MR-SAM and Akash missile systems along with the Israeli Spyder quick reactions surface to air missile systems.

The S-400 missile systems have also taken part in exercises and the adversaries have been rattled as they are aware of the additional capabilities of the Indian system over the Chinese ones, sources said.

Now both China and India have their respective S-400 air defence systems deployed along the Line of Actual Control.

The deployment of the missiles has been planned in such a way that the entire northern to the eastern sector with China would be covered by them. The system is being transported to India by both air and sea routes by the Russians who are taking no chances in view of the ongoing international scenario.

India and Russia are also working closely on the joint production of the AK-203 assault rifles in Amethi and some of the machinery from there have already arrived at the production area.

Russia has been one of the biggest suppliers of weapon systems to India and all three forces have relied heavily on military supplies.

In the last few years, India has acquired weapons from Russia’s rival, the US, as well as European countries including France but still has more than 50 per cent of critical fighting systems from Russia in the Air Force and the Army. (ANI)

India-Russia Summit Not To Take Place This Year

By LokMarg 10th December 2022

The annual India-Russia summit in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was slated to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to take place this year due to “scheduling issues” sources said.

“Reports of PM Modi not meeting Putin due to nuclear threat is baseless. The meeting is not taking place due to scheduling issues,” sources told ANI.
The annual summit between the Indian Prime Minister and the Russian President is the highest institutionalized dialogue mechanism in the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Several media reports speculated that the annual in-person summit had been cancelled due to the Russian President alleged threats to use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war.

“The meeting between New Delhi and Moscow is not taking place due to scheduling issues,” the sources said adding that the decision has nothing to do with the ongoing Ukraine conflict.

Since 2000, India and Russia have maintained an annual summit mechanism. The last annual summit was held at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi in December 2021 which Putin attended in person and this year PM Modi was slated to travel to Moscow for the summit.

Due to COVID-19, in-person summits were not held in 2020.

In 2021 PM Modi and Putin held their first 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue and also signed an agreement for the procurement of 6,01,427 assault rifles AK-203 through Indo-Russia Rifles Pvt Ltd, under the military-technical cooperation arrangement for 2021-31. The India-Russia 2+2 Dialogue marked the first 2+2 meeting between the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries.

In September this year on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand when the two leaders met for a bilateral meeting, PM Modi told President Putin that this was “not an era of war.” This statement by PM Modi also was cited at the G20 Summit in Indonesia’s Bali.

In November this year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Moscow and held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in which Jaishankar raised concern about the consequences emanating from the Ukraine conflict that have affected energy and food security around the world.

Holding the press briefing with Lavrov, Jaishankar said he exchanged views on international issues with the Russian side, in which the Ukraine conflict was the dominant feature.

On November 17, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin was received in New Delhi by Vinay Kwatra, India’s Foreign Secretary, and held extensive foreign policy consultations with Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West). Following the talks, India and Russia agreed to “deepen cooperation” on counter-terrorism issues and “enhance bilateral coordination” at the United Nations.

India and Russia have also held wide-ranging discussions on issues on the United Nations Security Council agenda and recent developments, according to a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Vershinin congratulated India on its upcoming Presidency of the UN Security Council in December 2022. (ANI)

Farooq Hopes Modi Will Be Successful In Ending Russia-Ukraine War

By LokMarg 21st November 2022

National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Monday expressed hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be successful in “ending the Russia-Ukraine war” that has stretched for nearly nine months.

The NC chief stated that the war has created havoc on the global economic situation.
“I am happy that India has got the presidency of the G20 Summit. It could be that India has the burden of all these countries. And I hope that the Prime Minister will be successful in ending the Russia-Ukraine war which has created havoc on the economic condition,” Abdullah said while talking to the reporters here.

The war that started in February this year has claimed the lives of thousands of people on both sides.

Abdullah’s statement comes after the G-20 communique in Bali echoed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, as it said that “Today’s era must not be of war.”

PM Modi, in his statement to Putin in a bilateral meeting on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Samarkand in September this year, had said “now is not the time for war”, referring to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The G 20 communique said, “It is essential to uphold international law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability. This includes defending all the Purposes and Principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and adhering to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and infrastructure in armed conflicts. The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. The peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital. Today’s era must not be of war.”

The NC chief further took a swipe at Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his “will talk to Kashmiri youth instead of Pakistan” remark during his rally in J-K, and said that India has a fight with Pakistan and that we will have to talk to the neighbouring country.

“The other thing is that regarding the problems that we have with our neighbour, it may be possible that the countries will find a solution to it. Home Minister says that he will talk to the youth and not Pakistan. But the fight is against Pakistan, not the children. I am tired of telling him to have talks with Pakistan. India has to talk to Pakistan at some point in time,” he said.

“There is nothing like radicalisation. We are fighting a low-intensity war. There is no other way,” Abdullah added.

The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, talking about the elections that are due to be held in the Union Territory, said that it is up to the Election Commission and the Centre to conduct the polls.

“As far as the elections are concerned, we don’t know when they will be conducted. It is my duty to come and talk to the people and bring out their condition in front of the parliament and the Centre. It is up to the Election Commission and the government of India when to conduct the elections,” he said. (ANI)

Million Homes In Kyiv Without Electricity Due To Russian Attacks

By LokMarg 4th November 2022

Following massive Russian strikes on Ukraine as the tension between the two countries continues to escalate, almost half a million homes in Kyiv were without electricity on Friday, Al Jazeera reported citing Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko.

“4,50,000 consumers, that is households in Kyiv, are out of power this morning. It is one and a half times more than the recent days,” Klitschko said on Telegram, as he condemned the Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities and civilians.
Moreover, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also attacks infrastructure in the regions of Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia leaving numerous locals without electricity with about 4.5 million Ukrainian consumers dealing with massive power outages as of Thursday evening, Al Jazeera reported.

“The fact that Russia has resorted to terror against the energy sector indicates the enemy’s weakness. They cannot defeat Ukraine on the battlefield and therefore they are trying to break our people in this way,” Zelensky said.

Ukraine is under massive blackouts and the residents are under severe water shortages as one of the strikes hit an energy facility that powered 350,000 apartments in the capital, CNN reported citing Klitschko who further added that emergency services are making every effort to stabilize the situation.

Moreover, strikes were also reported in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia as well. Power outages caused by Russian attacks continued in Kyiv over the weekend. Klitschko said earlier it will take weeks to repair electrical systems.

Ukrainian officials believe Russia’s countrywide drone and cruise missile attacks are being carefully orchestrated to target important infrastructure as Ukraine heads into winter, reported CNN. By hitting thermal power stations, electricity substations, transformers, and pipelines, Russian forces have been directly impacting Ukrainians’ ability to access power, water, and the internet.

Russia suspended its participation in an UN-brokered grain deal viewed as key to addressing the global food shortage, according to the country’s defence ministry.

Moscow announced it was leaving the deal after blaming Ukraine for a drone attack on Crimea Saturday. Kyiv accused Russia of inventing “fictitious terrorist attacks” and using the deal as “blackmail.”

By Sunday, more than 200 vessels had been blocked from making shipments, Ukraine said. A growing number of Kyiv’s allies condemned Moscow’s move. (ANI)

Power, Water Cuts Hit Kyiv After Massive Russian Missile Strikes

By LokMarg 1st November 2022

Almost 80 percent of Kyiv residents on Monday faced power outages and water cuts as Russian missiles struck key infrastructure facilities in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and the central region of Cherkasy, Ukrainian officials said Monday.

The strike comes days after Russia blamed Ukraine for a drone attack on its Black Sea Fleet, CNN reported.
“Explosions and air raid sirens were heard in Kyiv early on Monday and 80 percent of residents were left without water – with many losing electricity, too – following power outages caused by Russian strikes, the capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said on Telegram.

Moreover, strikes were also reported in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia as well.

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko also urged the war-torn country’s citizens to stock up on water as the situation is worse.

“Currently, due to damage to the energy facility near Kyiv, 80% of the capital’s consumers remain without water supply,” he said on Telegram. “Just in case, we ask you to stock up on water from the nearest pumps and points of sale. Specialists are doing everything possible to return water to the apartments of Kyiv residents.”

CNN reported quoting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba that Kyiv has already finished agreements with at least 12 countries to obtain nearly 1,000 units of power equipment, including generators and the country is, at present, in touch with European Union (EU) and NATO.

Meanwhile, Kharkiv’s Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram that two missiles hit a critical infrastructure facility in the city. Parts of the Cherkasy region have lost power after a critical infrastructure facility was hit, regional military administration head Ihor Taburets said.

Power outages caused by Russian attacks continued in Kyiv over the weekend. Klitschko said earlier it will take weeks to repair electrical systems.

Russia suspended its participation in an UN-brokered grain deal viewed as key to addressing the global food shortage, according to the country’s defense ministry.

By Sunday, more than 200 vessels had been blocked from making shipments, Ukraine said. A growing number of Kyiv’s allies condemned Moscow’s move. (ANI)