The US ambassador to NATO calls Putin's warfare incompetent and at the same time ruthless. She is therefore concerned about the Alliance's dwindling ammunition supplies. Meanwhile, the US judiciary is breaking up a ring through which Moscow is illegally procuring sanctioned weapons.
The US Permanent Representative to NATO, Julianne Smith, has reported that nearly all members of the alliance are depleted of their arsenals and ammunition. At an event hosted by the Center For Strategic and International Studies (CISI) think tank, Smith cited defense alliance efforts to address the deficit by urging military industries to increase production. However, efforts to achieve this would have to be better coordinated, particularly between NATO and the EU.
Regarding the Russian conduct of the war, the diplomat said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is proving to be quite "ruthless". She added that the Kremlin is also showing itself to be incompetent, unable to handle "simple things" like "logistics and control". "We also observe that Putin does not always match goals with capabilities," Smith said.
British intelligence also reported that the Kremlin is under internal pressure. Disagreements about the nature of Russia's warfare in Ukraine have reached into the military leadership. Recent comments by ex-Russian intelligence officer and former separatist leader Igor Girkin are a sign of the tense debate, the UK Defense Ministry's daily briefing said this morning. Girkin, who is held responsible, among other things, for the downing of a passenger plane over the Donbass, says he voluntarily spent two months in a battalion at the front in Ukraine, the British said. After that, he acknowledged a "crisis in strategic planning" in Moscow. He also mocked the Kremlin's current focus on building defenses and questioned their usefulness.
The US judiciary has once again broken up an illegal network that is said to have supplied Russia with military technology for the war against Ukraine despite the sanctions in force. A total of seven suspects - five Russians and two Americans - have been charged, the US Department of Justice said. In October, US investigators had already brought charges against several people who are said to have illegally equipped Russia with military technology.
The accused on Tuesday are said to be connected to two Moscow-based companies that operate on behalf of Russian secret services. They are said to have procured military technology in the USA on behalf of the Russian government and exported it to Russia via Europe. Ammunition for sniper rifles and so-called "dual use" goods - ie goods that can be used for both civilian and military purposes - are said to have been smuggled. Three of the accused have since been arrested, it said. One of them - according to the Ministry of Justice an employee of the Russian domestic secret service FSB - was taken into custody in Estonia. He is said to have been stopped at the border with Russia with various electronic goods such as semiconductors and ammunition. The two Americans were also arrested. The other accused are still at large.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said no criminal activity would be tolerated in support of the Russian military's war effort. The US continued to vigorously enforce its economic sanctions and export controls against those "that allow the Russian government to continue its unjust war in Ukraine."
