Moscow Conference On International Security Identifies Main Threats To Peace

Moscow Conference on International Security Identifies Main Threats to Peace

The eighth Moscow Conference on International Security completed its work on Thursday. It was attended by over 1,000 guests from 111 countries, including major experts, 35 delegations led by defense ministers and 19 delegations headed by chiefs of staff

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th April, 2019) The eighth Moscow Conference on International Security completed its work on Thursday. It was attended by over 1,000 guests from 111 countries, including major experts, 35 delegations led by defense ministers and 19 delegations headed by chiefs of staff.

The participants of the conference discussed the current state of things in the middle East, with a focus on stabilizing the situation in Syria, peacemaking and expanding military cooperation. They also touched upon regional security in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The participants also stated their concern over the deployment of weapons in space and the development of missile defense systems, focusing on their possible use to launch a preemptive strike.

NATO delegations abstained from attending the conference in Moscow again.

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, who inaugurated the conference, called on the West to make Europe a "standard of security" amid its division into political blocs and the US withdrawal from a number of agreements, which damaged the security situation in the region.

"We are witnessing now how the language of ultimatums, sabre rattling and chauvinism returns to the Old World. I would like to call on our Western partners to make Europe the standard of regional security, as this reflects our common interests," the official said.

Patrushev also noted that a new race for the African natural resources was going on.

"An increase in instability is observed in Africa, where a new round of struggle for its natural resources flares up. Moreover, we often see attempts by non-regional players to reshape the continent without taking into account the will of the Africans themselves," Patrushev said.

At the same time, he added, in order to achieve its goals, the West uses not only direct force scenarios, but also means of hybrid influence, such as economic and political pressure bypassing UN decisions and rules of international law, mass protests provoked and guided from outside, threats of military intervention, assassination attempts on top political leadership and large-scale aggressive propaganda.

The latest example is Venezuela, Patrushev specified.

"Today, a number of countries have fallen victim to such a strategy, and their list is constantly expanding," Patrushev said.

According to Patrushev, artificial intelligence and genetics are potentially as deadly as traditional weapons of mass destruction.

"The rapidly accelerating scientific and technological progress allows to create offensive means using information technology, artificial intelligence, genetics and synthetic biology. And they are often as deadly as weapons of mass destruction," the Security Council secretary said.

He called for the prompt establishment of a regulatory framework within the United Nations that would prevent the use of these technologies for undermining international security.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in his address that the United States had officially stated in its documents that the country's missile defense systems were aimed against Russia.

"Following the US withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty [INF], it became obvious that development of this type of weapons was aimed at undermining the deterrence potential of Russia and China. Our partners have categorically denied this during numerous negotiations," Shoigu stated.

The United States has repeatedly stated that missile defense is being created against a North Korean or an Iranian threat.

"However, the US concept documents officially enshrine the anti-Russian nature of the missile defense," Shoigu added.

He also stressed that no missile defense system was able to provide the United States with 100 percent protection of facilities, and Russia had proved this by quickly creating penetration aid means.

In the meantime, the uncontrolled and unlimited deployment of anti-missile systems undermines trust and stimulates an arms race, and the US withdrawal from the INF shows its neglect of multilateral agreements and international institutions, Shoigu noted.

Shoigu called on the United States to withdraw troops from Syria and transfer the territories of the Rukban and Al-Hol refugee camps to government forces. According to him, the Russian side is particularly concerned about the difficult humanitarian situation in these camps. More than 40,000 refugees are residing in the Rukban camp, while 67,000 refugees are staying in Al-Hol.

"The situation currently remains tough only in those regions that are not controlled by the Syrian government ... We have repeatedly urged the United States to liquidate [dissolve] the [Rukban] camp, to give the civilian population the opportunity to return to their former places of residence. However, there is no reaction. The camp continues to function, remaining one of the main factors for the growth of extremism and terrorism and setting the stage for new generations of jihadists," Shoigu said.

In addition, according to the minister, there is oil smuggling in the territories that are not under control of the Syrian government.

"The photos show kilometers-long oil caravans carrying out its [oil] illegal export. The question is where the money from the oil goes to," Shoigu said, showing photos of the convoy.

Russian Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov dedicated his speech to the situation in Europe. According to him, Russia is forced to strengthen the troops of the Western and Southern military districts of its Armed Forces in connection with the increasing threat from the NATO countries.

"In order to counter the deployment of alliance troops near the Russian borders and the NATO's '4 to 30' initiative [to counter Russia], we are forced to strengthen the troops of the Western and Southern military districts. This is being implemented within the established number of the Russian Armed Forces by reducing the composition of other military districts," Gerasimov said.

The chief of General Staff also noted that, in response to the deployment of the US missile defense system in Europe, Russia was developing advanced weapons and delivering them to to its troops on a priority basis.

Gerasimov put the blame on the United States for the rising tensions in Europe, saying that the country pursued a confrontational approach it its relations with Russia.

"The termination of the destabilizing activity of the armed forces near the Russian western borders can be an important condition for reducing tensions, as well as the termination of deployment of additional troops and military infrastructure in the Baltic countries and Eastern Europe, and of the military build-up in the Black Sea," he said.

Meanwhile, Gerasimov emphasized that the Russian Armed Forces were open for military contacts with their US counterparts.

Speaking about Russian-US relations, Gerasimov stressed that it was likely that the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, START-3, would be ruined.

"The result will be a further crisis of trust and confidence, a new round of the missile arms race. First of all, it will affect the security of European states, because the United States is far away, across the sea," Gerasimov concluded.

Gerasimov also touched upon the situation in Syria. According to him, if Russia had not launched an anti-terrorist operation in Syria in 2015, the Arab country would have lost its statehood within a month or two. He also noted that no more than 10 percent of the country's territory remained under the control of the legitimate Syrian government at the time.

"If it was not for Russia, a quasi-state extremist entity with significant military capabilities would be created on the territory of Syria and Iraq by the end of 2015," Gerasimov said.

After Moscow joined the fight against Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia), the situation in Syria changed fundamentally: terrorists suffered significant damage in their military capacity, and their financial support was disrupted.

Gerasimov qualified the effect of the US anti-terrorist coalition as negative, since civilians and government troops had been put in the line of fire.

"According to the Syrian authorities, at least 3,000 people, including around 1,400 women and children, have been killed by the fire of the western coalition," Gerasimov stated.

At the same time, the United States, which used to actively bomb the Syrian territory, is not engaged in the economic rehabilitation efforts.

The missile defense systems that the United States plans to station in space could be used for carrying out preemptive strikes against Russia China and even envision the destruction of intercontinental ballistic missiles right in their launchers, Lt. Gen. Viktor Poznihir, deputy chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, said.

"Like in the case with MK-41 launching systems [US missile defense systems deployed in Europe and able to launch Tomahawk-type cruise missiles], we do not rule out the possibility that space means could be used for carrying out preemptive strikes against Russian and Chinese object. Taking into consideration the global functioning of the space systems, such strikes could be fired against installations of any state," Poznihir said.

Poznihir voiced the belief that since the United States was deploying its missile defense systems along the Russian borders, it could carry out a nuclear strike against Russia unexpectedly.

According to Poznihir, Washington creates a global missile defense system in order to be able to destroy the overwhelming majority of its adversaries' ballistic missiles in their launchers and intercept the rest of the missiles with the US anti-missile systems.

Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin voiced the belief that, given the existing situation, a small provocation could trigger a global crisis.

"Impulsiveness replaces weighted decision-making; selfish approaches prevail; the risk of so-called random conflicts, which arise due to unilateral and spontaneous actions of individual players, increases. More and more people around the world are drawn into conflicts of varying intensity," Naryshkin said.

He accused the United States and its allies in NATO of rejecting the basic rules of international cooperation, interpreting international law for their own benefit and damaging the free trade principle, which was fundamental for the financial and economic system that Washington itself had created.

Naryshkin cited multiple examples of Washington's actions that had promoted global escalation, such as recognizing Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and the Holan Heights as Israeli territory, withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal and meddling in the situation in Venezuela.

"[I believe that] the main reason of the processes that we witness is the unwillingness of the so-called West, headed by the United States, to accept the irreversibility of a multipolar world formation," Naryshkin added.

Washington's hope for a quick change of power in Venezuela has not materialized, as the government of the Latin American country has proven to be stronger than the United States expected, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Russian General Staff, Igor Kostyukov, said.

"US blitzkrieg on Venezuela has failed. Washington has miscalculated the strength of the legitimate government of the Republic [of Venezuela], its support by the population and the readiness of the Venezuelan security forces to protect the constitutional order. Hope for a bloody clash between the army and the people has not materialized either," Kostyukov said.

As Washington is afraid of engaging its national armed forces in the intrusion, "it wants to organize invasion by ts allies, first of all, Colombia," the GRU head said.

He added that Washington was forming illegal armed groups consisting of Venezuelan deserters, representatives of Central American criminal gangs and Colombian insurgents, who were already attacking Venezuelan infrastructure.

In order to justify the use of force, Washington is ready to accuse the Venezuelan government of sponsoring international terrorism, Kostyukov added.

He suggested that the United States could then try to stage "color revolutions" in Cuba and Nicaragua.