President Vladimir Putin fired the country's defense minister Tuesday, two weeks after a criminal probe was opened into alleged fraud in the sell-off of military assets.
Vladimir Putin fired his powerful defense chief over a corruption scandal Tuesday, but a heady mix of sex, power struggles and military vendettas dominated talk in Russia about what was really behind the downfall of the man who has overseen the nation's most radical defense reform in decades.
Russian President Vladimir Putin fired the country's defense minister on Tuesday, two weeks after a criminal probe was opened into alleged fraud in the sell-off of military assets.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta's unusual offer to China's military to join a major U.S.-led naval exercise in the Pacific prompted several U.S. security officials to express fears privately that China will gain valuable war-fighting intelligence from the Rimpac, or Rim of the Pacific, exercise.
Russian President Vladimir Putin named a new Cabinet on Monday that retained some of the outgoing government's key figures but added a few fresh faces, cementing his grip on power as he begins his third presidential term.
Russia's top military officer warned Thursday that Moscow would strike NATO missile-defense sites in Eastern Europe before they are ready for action, if the U.S. pushes ahead with deployment.
Russia's top military officer has threatened to carry out a preemptive strike on U.S.-led NATO missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe if Washington goes ahead with its controversial plan to build a missile shield.
Russia's defense minister called for an immediate cease-fire in Libya on Tuesday, telling Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates that it is the best way to avoid civilian casualties.
