MOSCOW, May 22. /TASS/. Russia and Belarus held large-scale nuclear deterrence exercises, drawing close attention from NATO; Cuba is preparing its population for possible tensions with the United States; and Moscow seeks a new model of relations with Washington based on mutual respect, recognition of interests, and dialogue despite ongoing political tensions. These stories topped Friday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
Izvestia: Russia-Belarus nuclear drills spotlight Moscow’s strategic triad and expose NATO concerns
Launches of the Yars, Kinzhal, Zircon and Sineva missile systems, the deployment of a nuclear-powered submarine, operations involving strategic aviation and heightened scrutiny from NATO – Russia and Belarus have concluded a joint exercise of their nuclear deterrence forces. All elements of Russia’s nuclear triad took part in the drills. Russian President Vladimir Putin described the strategic forces as a guarantor of the Union State’s security and stressed that the country would continue to develop them without entering a new arms race, Izvestia writes.
More than 64,000 personnel, over 7,800 units of weapons and military equipment, including more than 200 missile launchers, over 140 aircraft, 73 surface ships and 13 submarines – eight of them strategic – took part in the exercises.
Summing up the training operation, Vladimir Putin stated that all assigned tasks had been fully accomplished. According to him, Russia will continue systematically developing all components of its strategic forces while maintaining them at a level of necessary sufficiency. At the same time, Moscow does not intend to be drawn into an arms race.
Earlier, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance was closely monitoring the drills. Western media outlets have already described them as "a signal to Europe," intended to remind the continent that Russia remains a force that must be reckoned with, the Neue Zurcher Zeitung newspaper wrote.
NATO’s heightened attention to these exercises is no coincidence: the lag of Western powers in the sphere of nuclear weapons delivery systems is becoming increasingly evident, military expert Dmitry Boltenkov told Izvestia.
"The share of modern equipment in Russia’s strategic nuclear forces stands at 100%, and a number of the country’s newest developments have no equivalents anywhere in the world," he explained.
"The decision to conduct the exercises precisely now is linked to several factors at once. First, in spring, mobile ground-based missile systems can operate effectively in forested terrain, where they are easier to conceal. Second, there is the tense situation near our borders. In addition, the exercises coincided with the Russian president’s visit to China, which can also be viewed as a demonstration of the capabilities of the strategic forces," military expert Viktor Litovkin noted.
Media: Cuba prepares population for possible US attack
Cuba’s refusal to pursue a political transition amid a US oil blockade of the island and a full-scale domestic energy collapse has prompted Washington to toughen its rhetoric. On May 20, former Cuban President Raul Castro was accused of conspiring to murder US citizens in connection with an incident dating back 30 years. The move inevitably evokes memories of the operation to seize Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and significantly increases pressure on Cuba. At the same time, while a military scenario remains uncertain, its likelihood has become greater than before.
At first glance, the unexpected decision to bring charges against Castro became a continuation of the systematic pressure that the US leadership has been exerting on the Cuban authorities since Washington paused its war against Iran, Kommersant writes.
Several media outlets, including Politico and The New York Times, reported that the United States is now more willing than before to consider a forceful regime-change scenario. Politico noted, however, that the White House has not yet made a final decision on radical steps, though Donald Trump’s mood could shift at any moment.
A US Navy carrier strike group has entered the Caribbean Sea, the United States Southern Command announced. The group includes the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz – a full-fledged mobile base designed for prolonged operations far from shore. Under the current circumstances, the Cuban population is actively preparing for a potential escalation, Russian Ambassador to Cuba Viktor Koronelli told Izvestia.
"Civil defense drills coordinated by the National Civil Defense Staff are conducted regularly on the island," the diplomat stressed. "Naturally, against the backdrop of threats from the United States, increased attention is currently being devoted here to relevant exercises and recommendations," he said.
"Donald Trump can say things that directly contradict each other. We remember perfectly well how smoothly negotiations with Iran were progressing before he launched a military operation," Egor Lidovskoy, Director General of the Hugo Chavez Latin American Cultural Center, told Izvestia.
According to him, Cuba would have no chance of withstanding a full-scale conflict with the United States without support from allies. However, if Havana managed to repel the first US strike and present it effectively in its media coverage, approval ratings for Trump and the Republican Party would collapse.
Nevertheless, most experts remain convinced that the United States will not launch a full-scale intervention. A far more likely scenario would involve a limited operation directed against the Cuban elite.
Vedomosti: Ryabkov outlines new model for US-Russia relations based on mutual respect, recognition of interests
An acceptable model for relations between the United States and Russia implies an ideologized yet mutually respectful coexistence based on reciprocal recognition of each other’s interests and readiness to resolve emerging issues through dialogue, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Vedomosti. He also stressed that Moscow remains prepared for other possible scenarios.
Ryabkov clarified that given the current dynamics and intensity of bilateral contacts at various levels, there are no grounds to speak of any slowdown in dialogue.
"Rather, it should be noted that after moving comparatively quickly last year in those areas where years of stagnation were obvious and harmful to both sides, we are now shifting to resolving more multidimensional problems rooted in complex political and legal intricacies in relations. There is nothing impossible about this, but success will require political will from both sides <...> Decisions and the ultimate choice rest with the American side," he said.
Standing in the way of a new model of bilateral relations is not only the continuing and still powerful ideologization of American foreign policy, but also a domestic political factor – namely the absence of a pro-Russian lobby in the United States alongside the presence of anti-Russian lobbying groups, according to Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics.
The expert also stressed that the United States still perceives Russia as a country that lost the Cold War, which is why a significant portion of the American foreign policy establishment remains convinced that Moscow should make concessions in order to preserve relations with Washington.
The United States still considers itself the world’s sole superpower and remains interested in preserving its global leadership, which prevents it from engaging in an equal dialogue with Russia, Pavel Koshkin, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies, told Vedomosti. In his opinion, overcoming this mindset in the near future is unlikely, since Russia is frequently used as a tool for mobilizing voters and party allies during election cycles.
Izvestia: EU debates admitting Ukraine before conflict ends amid fears of clash with Russia
Kiev could join the European Union before the conflict with Moscow is resolved, head of the European Parliament’s delegation for cooperation with Ukraine Pekka Toveri told Izvestia. Earlier, the European Commission announced plans to resume negotiations on the matter in June. However, the EU remains divided over the Ukrainian issue, while individual member states continue to put forward their own demands to Kiev. Experts believe Brussels will not be able to admit Ukraine into the EU in the near future due to fears of a clash with Russia. EU enlargement has stalled and is increasingly becoming a toxic issue, while the bloc’s last successful accession took place more than 10 years ago.
Ukraine received EU candidate status in 2022. According to the European Commission’s latest report, Kiev has made notable progress in carrying out key reforms and fulfilled the conditions necessary to launch negotiations on three of the six accession clusters.
"I personally believe, and I am convinced this idea enjoys broad support, that we should admit Ukraine into the EU even if an open conflict between Ukraine and Russia is still ongoing. If we fail to do so, it will become an open invitation for Russia to continue the conflict as a means of hindering Ukraine’s integration with the West," Pekka Toveri told Izvestia.
Natalya Eryomina, professor at St. Petersburg State University, told the newspaper that Ukraine’s accession to the EU in the near future is unlikely because such a decision requires unanimity. At present, however, not all EU member states support such a scenario.
Ukraine’s accession to the EU carries high risks of a direct military confrontation between Brussels and Moscow. Much depends on the borders within which the EU plans to admit Ukraine into the bloc. The European Commission told Izvestia that it supports Ukraine’s accession within its "internationally recognized borders."
At the same time, the likelihood of deploying a military contingent to Ukraine remains low even under such circumstances, Egor Sergeev, Senior Research Fellow at the MGIMO Institute for International Studies under the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Izvestia.
"This issue still remains an instrument of media policy in the hands of certain European countries, since the number of direct levers of influence over the Ukrainian issue is limited. The risks associated with deploying such a contingent significantly outweigh the possible benefits of such a step for the initiating countries," Sergeev said.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Europe braces for prolonged fuel crisis
The fuel crisis triggered by the war in the Middle East risks dragging on for at least four months even under the most optimistic scenarios, UAE Industry Minister Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber warned.
The government of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed its agreement with this forecast not in words but through action. It authorized imports of aviation and diesel fuel produced from Russian raw materials in third countries. The opposition has accused Starmer of making impermissible concessions to the Kremlin. Experts interviewed by Nezavisimaya Gazeta believe the UK’s decision reflects a pragmatic recognition that Western economies cannot fully exclude Russian oil from global markets without risking fuel shortages, inflation, and broader energy instability amid the Middle East crisis.
Commenting on Starmer’s cabinet decision in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Pavel Sevostyanov, Associate Professor at the Department of Political Analysis and Socio-Psychological Processes at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, stressed that this does not represent an abandonment of sanctions logic, but rather a recognition that energy security is once again becoming more important for Western economies than political symbolism.
"Following the spike in oil prices and the risks to supplies through the Middle East, the British authorities tacitly acknowledged that the global fuel market currently cannot be deprived of Russian oil without harming their own consumers and aviation sector," the expert noted.
For the UK, the benefit is pragmatic – it reduces the risk of shortages of diesel and aviation fuel, as well as containing inflation, Sevostyanov believes. In his opinion, countries with high import dependence on petroleum products – above all parts of the EU and certain import-dependent states – may take similar steps if price volatility persists.
"Russia gains the main advantage: the West is de facto acknowledging that Russian oil remains a systemically important element of global energy even under sanctions. But Moscow should not relax: this is not about lifting restrictions, but rather a temporary exception. The West will continue searching for ways to reduce dependence on Russian energy resources in the medium term," Sevostyanov believes.
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