Maniobras

Rusia comienza a apretar el acelerador de las palabras y los gestos, después de los discursos de Putin y Lavrov, ya comentados en Astroboy. Las maniobras, suponemos, permitirían: (1) evaluar hasta donde se les frunce el culito a los chicos de la NATO, sobre todo a los patoteritos menores (Hollande, Cameron, etc.); (2) como consecuencia de lo anterior, ver qué gestos contrapone Occidente, y en particular la NATO; (3) por último, apreciar qué tipo de noticias y análisis pasan la férrea censura impuesta por (no a) la prensa occidental, a los efectos de ir preparando a la gilada (esto es, la Humanidad) para los acontecimientos del futuro mediato. 

Veamos primero, como contexto, esta noticia de RT en español del día de hoy:

Putin: "Los intentos de hablar con Rusia en el lenguaje de los ultimátums son estériles"

Texto: Las medidas restrictivas unilaterales impuestas contra Rusia por EE.UU., la UE, Japón, Australia y otros países son ilegítimas y no tienen futuro, afirmó el presidente ruso, Vladímir Putin, en una entrevista con la agencia de noticias turca Anadolu.

Este tipo de presión no solo perjudica directamente la economía, sino que también amenaza la estabilidad internacional, afirmó Putin en una entrevista concedida poco antes de que efectuar su próxima visita oficial a Turquía, donde participará en la quinta reunión del Consejo de Cooperación de Alto Nivel ruso-turco. 

"Los intentos de hablar con Rusia en el lenguaje de los ultimátums y las sanciones son absolutamente inaceptables y no tienen ninguna perspectiva. Con ello, nuestra respuesta siempre ha sido y será equilibrada y va a tener en cuenta los derechos y obligaciones de Rusia en virtud de los tratados internacionales, incluso en el marco de la Organización Mundial del Comercio", declaró el mandatario ruso. 

Asimismo, Putin señaló que los directivos de las principales empresas occidentales que operan en Rusia no ocultan su preocupación por las sanciones y confirman su disposición a seguir cooperando con sus socios rusos. "Esperamos que prevalezca el sentido común. Hacemos un llamamiento a superar esta lógica viciosa de restricciones y amenazas,  a cambiar el rumbo para buscar soluciones mutuamente aceptables a los problemas acumulados", agregó Putin. 

Además, el presidente manifestó que Rusia considera que la lucha contra los terroristas y extremistas en el Norte de África y Oriente Medio, incluida Siria, es una de las prioridades de la comunidad internacional. "Estamos convencidos de que los esfuerzos para contener esta amenaza deben ser aplicados sobre la base de las decisiones del Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU, en el marco de un estricto cumplimiento del derecho internacional, en particular de los principios de la soberanía estatal y la no injerencia en los asuntos internos de los Estados, y que eso debe hacerse de forma transparente y sin ninguna agenda 'oculta'", concluyó Putin.

Al mismo tiempo, RT manda fruta vaporosa con esta nota, también el día de hoy:

Título: Rusia lanza con éxito un misil intercontinental Bulavá desde un submarino nuclear

Texto: Las pruebas del misil balístico intercontinental Bulavá se han saldado con éxito, informa este viernes el Ministerio de Defensa de Rusia. El misil ha sido lanzado exitosamente desde el submarino nuclear de crucero Alexandr Nevski.

Según detalla el Ministerio, las pruebas han sido llevadas a cabo en aguas del mar de Barents. Durante el lanzamiento, el submarino estaba en posición sumergida.

"La trayectoria del misil balístico intercontinental Bulavá fue la planeada y los datos del control objetivo confirmaron que las ojivas del misil llegaron con éxito al campo de tiro de Kurá, en Kamchatka", ha comunicado el portavoz del Ministerio, Ígor Konashénkov.

Ha sido la primera vez que el Alexandr Nevski participó en las pruebas del Bulavá, un misil de un alcance estimado de 8.000 kilómetros que es capaz de dividirse en entre 6 y 10 ojivas hipersónicas independientes de alta maniobrabilidad. El submarino nuclear estratégico entró en servicio en 2013 y forma parte del proyecto Boréi. Cada submarino de esta clase cuenta con 16 lanzadores de misiles. Su armamento incluye también sistemas de defensa aérea portátil y torpedos. Pueden operar a una profundidad de entre 400 y 480 metros y alcanzar una velocidad de 15 nudos en la superficie y de 29 nudos bajo el agua.

Pero lo más interesante viene a continuación. La edición en inglés de RT (la española no, l.p.m.) informa:

Título: Russian battleships in the English Channel, say they’re training

Texto: Russia’s Northern Fleet has been conducting naval training near Dover. Two battleships and two supply vessels worked on operations and communications in conditions of adverse weather and heavy marine traffic.

“Today a squadron of warships and support vessels of the Northern Fleet headed by a large anti-submarine ship, the Severomorsk, crossed the narrowest part of the English Channel and passed into the Bay of the Seine,” said Russia’s defense ministry.

The crews held a series of survival exercises in case of flooding or fire, as well as anti-submarine training.

After the training, in one of the world’s most crowded waterways, where the squadron was constantly shadowed by the British Navy’s HMS Tyne offshore patrol vessel, the task force went further and anchored in the international waters of the Seine Bay to wait out a storm.sh Navy’s HMS Tyne (Image from wikimedia.org)
Both Britain’s and France’s navies confirmed the location of the Russian ships, but denied that the Russians were doing any training.

“They are not holding exercises. They're just waiting in a zone where they are allowed to be several times a year," the French Navy's information service said as cited by Reuters.

"Our information indicates that the ships are transiting and have been delayed by weather conditions. They are not exercising in the Channel, as some Russian headlines would have us believe,” said NATO's military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jay Janzen.

Russia’s Navy reported that the crews are not going to sit out the storm in an idle manner. Instead, the crews will train in repelling underwater warfare attacks and practice radio-electronic warfare.

The captains of the task force use every opportunity to test their crews should a situation arise.
While sailing in high latitudes, Russian sailors trained by providing assistance to a vessel in distress. They also did electronic communication training and cargo transfers from ship to ship.

When NATO patrol aircrafts approached the task force in North Sea waters, air raid alerts were sounded and crews trained air defense maneuvers.

Combat duty assignments of the large anti-submarine ship, the Severomorsk, specifically practiced the detection and elimination of waterborne targets.

The task group left its homeport of Severomorsk above the Arctic Circle on November 20 and has already covered 1,700 nautical miles, crossing successively the Barents Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the North Sea before entering the Strait of Dover.

Northern Fleet warships will steam for the Gulf of Aden to protect vessels there from Somalia pirate attacks.

La noticia es corroborada por la marina británica. Al respecto, leemos en Zero Hedge:

Título: Russian Warship Flotilla Enters English Channel For Military Exercises

Texto: The French delivery of two Mistral ships to Russia may be postponed indefinitely (a move which ultimately would cost Hollande over $4 billion in contract breach penalty fees he simply can't afford to pay), but that doesn't mean the Russian navy has been hobbled or is hiding in the corner. To the contrary: according to the following tweet from the UK Ministry of Defense, Russia's navy is getting quite bolder.

What happened?

As Bloomberg reports, at least 4 vessels which departed the Russian Northern Fleet main base on November 20, led by anti-submarine ship Severomorsk, entered English channel for exercises that include anti-sabotage training, damage control in case of fire and water intake, state-run news service RIA Novosti says, citing statement from Navy.

Reuters confirms that a squadron of Russian warships entered the English Channel on Friday to hold exercises, RIA news agency reported, the latest apparent show of military might since ties with the West plunged to Cold War lows over Ukraine.

RIA quoted the Northern Fleet as saying its vessels, led by anti-submarine ship Severomorsk, had passed through the Strait of Dover and were now in international waters in the Seine Bay to wait for a storm to pass. "While it is anchored the crew are undertaking a series of exercises on how to tackle ... infiltrating submarine forces and are training on survival techniques in the case of flooding or fire," RIA quoted the Northern Fleet as saying in a statement. The Russian navy could not reached for comment and the Defence Ministry declined to comment on the report.

Naturally, NATO - afraid of looking even weaker than it is - was quick to downplay the incident since a lack of retaliation would make the defensive alliance appear quite prone to "penetrations" by Russian forces: France's navy confirmed the location of the ships and said it was not unusual to have Russian warships in the Channel. "They are not holding exercises. They’re just waiting in a zone where they can be several times a year," said the French Navy's information service.

Lieutenant-Colonel Jay Janzen, NATO's military spokesman, also said the alliance was aware of the Russian ships' location. "Our information indicates that the ships are transiting and have been delayed by weather conditions. They are not exercising in the Channel, as some Russian headlines would have us believe," he said.

And if they were in fact "exercising" it would simply mean that NATO exercises in the Black Sea miles away from the Russian coast, are finally being met in kind by a Russia which with every passing day is making it clear its "concern" of western reprisals and retaliation to Russian actions, which in turn are a consequence of NATO expansion eastward, is increasingly more negligible.