Andrey Belousov

Russia has issued a warning to NATO, indicating the potential for a "direct confrontation" in the Black Sea amid an escalation in US drone activities in the region. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Defense Minister Andrey Belousov has instructed the military to propose operational responses to what Moscow perceives as provocations.

The defense ministers of Russia and the United States engaged in a telephone conversation for the first time in over a year, reported Reuters. The two sides presented starkly different accounts of the discussion.

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov revealed that Ukrainian forces have been compelled to retreat between eight and nine kilometers in "significant sections" of the Kharkiv region's conflict zone due to pressure from Russian troops. Belousov's statement, quoted by Reuters, highlights the ongoing dynamics of the conflict in Ukraine.

According to a report from TASS, Russian President Vladimir Putin is making a change in leadership by replacing Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The news, shared on the official Telegram channel of the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament in Moscow, indicates that Andrey Belousov, a former deputy prime minister in previous Russian governments, is being proposed for the position.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday moved to replace defense minister Sergei Shoigu in a major shake-up to Russia's military leadership more than two years into its Ukraine offensive.

Putin proposed economist Andrey Belousov as Shoigu's replacement, according to a list of the ministerial nominations published by the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament.

This was stated by the deputy head of the Russian delegation, Andrey Belousov, commenting on the Memorandum on Security Assurances in connection with Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which was signed in 1994. That agreement was signed by the United States of America, Russia, the United Kingdom and Ukraine in Budapest.