EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell presented the first-ever European Defence Industrial Strategy. The strategy is designed to strengthen the European defense industry in modern realities. During the presentation, Borrell noted that the member states of the European Union (EU) have increased defense production by 50% since 2022. According to Borrel, the sharp increase in the…
The NATO military budget for 2024 increases by 12%
The North Atlantic Council announced an increase in the civil and military budgets. Thus, the civil budget will amount to €438.1 million, while the military budget is set at €2.03 billion. These amounts are 18.2% and 12% higher than the budgets for the current year. The alliance's press release says that the NATO common…
US administration requests $2.2 bln for the enriched uranium production
The White House has sent a request to the US Congress to allocate $ 6 billion to ensure "Protect American Security and Bolster Energy Independence," $2.2 billion of this amount is planned to be spent to "improve long-term, domestic enrichment capabilities for low-enriched uranium and high-assay low-enriched uranium." The press release says that the allocation…
Stability is Cracking: Interim Results of the NPT Review Conference
The Tenth NPT Review Conference is still ongoing, and this year the conference is taking place in very specific circumstances and in the context unprecedented tension between the nuclear weapons states since the end of the Cold War. Thus the statements made by the parties during the conference to some extent clarify the shape of…
Temporary Measures: Russia’s MFA on the START Inspections
Russia decided to temporarily exempt the inspection activities from the facilities subject to inspection under the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START). The Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the message at the website on 8 August. The Ministry infromed the US through diplomatic channels. The…
Global Economy: Balancing in the Storm
A perfect storm – this is how, according to WEF experts, the current geo–economic situation in the world can be characterized. Instead of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the world economy is facing new shocks that could lead to a decline in economic growth, accelerated inflation, energy and food crises. The prospects of the world…
SIPRI: The World Enters a New Era of Risk
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has published a report on risks for global security and environment. The authors state that the much severe risks are hiding behind the headlines of the conflict in Europe and the aftershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic. The deepening twin crises in security and the environment become a trend of the…
Siemens Leaves Russia
The German company Siemens has announced its decision to leave the Russian market due to the special military operation in Ukraine. Earlier, on March 2, the comapny announced the suspension of deliveries and work on new businesses in Russia, reducing its activities to servicing existing projects. In a statement published on May 12, the company…
Finland Terminates the Contract with Rosatom
Rosatom has expressed its "sincere disappointment" related to the decision of the Finnish party to terminate the contract for the construction of the Hanhikivi-1 NPP by Fennovoima Oy. The contract for the construction of the NPP was signed by Rosatom's subsidiary ROOTS Project Oy and Finnish Fennovoima in 2013. On May 2, 2022, Fennovoima announced…
World military expenditure reaches it peak
SIPRI reports that total global military expenditure reached $2113 billion in 2021, increasing by 0.7%. The five largest spenders were the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom and Russia, together accounting for 62% of expenditure. Military expenditure reaches record level in the second year of the pandemic. This was the seventh consecutive year…