In a seemingly banal speech, V. Putin confirms his military supremacy over Europe

Finally, will the mountain have given birth to a mouse? In his annual speech to the Russian parliament awaited with anxiety so much by the Russians that the Ukrainians and the Belarusians, Vladimir Poutine did not finally make any sensational announcements concerning a possible attachment of the Ukrainian secessionist provinces of Donbass or Belarus to the Russian Federation. Tensions remain at their highest in both countries, however, while the gathering of Russian forces at Ukraine's borders and the deployment of security forces in Belarus remain very high. Without prejudging the future consequences of these two files, Vladimir Poutin having a conference with his Belarusian counterpart this afternoon and the Russian parliament still being convened in emergency session in 2 days, the Russian president however managed to show the Europeans , upstream of potential future actions, that it now had absolute military superiority on the continent.

The Russian armies have indeed succeeded in the tour de force of moving and deploying 48 combat brigades, a third of its land combat forces, but also a large number of combat aircraft, and a very significant fleet of several dozen vessels war although specialized for an intervention in the Sea of ​​Azov, in just a few weeks. In total, between 110.000 and 120.000 Russian soldiers were mobilized in this region, even though many regional exercises put other regions on alert, such as the Baltic Sea. The Russian armed forces had already assembled very large forces during the last annual exercises, such as Zapad 2017 which brought together more than 70.000 men, And especially Vostok 2019 which brought together 300.000, including more than 100.000 actually deployed during exercise. But the predictability of the exercise, and figures difficult to validate on the ground, had lessened their political effects on the international scene.

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