Russia risks becoming 'economic colony’ of China: CIA chief
The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency has said that Russia is growing “more and more dependent on China” amid its isolation from the West following the invasion of Ukraine, and may become “an economic colony” of Beijing in the future.
William Burns.PAP/EPA/WILL OLIVER
William Burns made the remark in Houston on Tuesday night, the Reuters news agency reported.
Speaking at an event at Rice University, the CIA chief said: „If you look at the reality that Russia is becoming more and more dependent on China and in some respects runs the risk of becoming an economic colony of China over a time dependent for, you know, … export of energy resources and raw materials in that direction as well.”
Burns stated: “That all adds up, in my view, to a huge own goal for Putin’s Russia right now.”
Russia using vacuum bombs in Ukraine’s Luhansk region: ISW
Meanwhile, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War reported that Russian forces operating to the south of the city of Kreminna in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk province were equipped with thermobaric artillery, also known as vacuum bombs.
“Geolocated footage posted on April 10 shows elements of the [Russian] 76th Guards Air Assault (VDV) Division with TOS-1A thermobaric artillery operating 4km south of Kreminna,” the US think tank said on Tuesday night.
The footage suggests that Russian forces “have advanced” in the surrounding forest, the ISW added.
According to the US experts, additional geolocated footage published on Monday indicated that Russian forces „have captured Ukrainian positions in the forest just over 5 km directly south of Kreminna.”
No 'decisive offensive advantage’ for Russia
The ISW observed that the Russian command allocated TOS-1A systems to VDV forces for the first time on April 3, adding that there had been “a sizeable VDV commitment (including elements of the 76th and 98th Divisions) near Kreminna.”
According to the US think tank, TOS-1A systems will not offer Russia’s VDV forces „a decisive offensive advantage.”
However, “their application to operations near Kreminna may have assisted VDV elements in making localized tactical gains,” the ISW assessed.
Thermobaric weapons
Thermobaric weapons inflict damage by maximizing the shockwave and overpressure associated with an explosion, according to military experts.
On reaching their target, vacuum bombs eventually create “a massive fireball” that produces “an especially powerful blast wave, to include negative pressure (the vaunted vacuum effect) as the atmospheric oxygen is consumed by the explosion,” Maj. Matt Montazzoli wrote in an article for America’s West Point military academy.
This extraordinary pressure “collapses buildings, ruptures organs, and negates many forms of cover including underground facilities,” he said.
Montazzoli added that “thermobaric weapons have the potential to generate casualties that overwhelm military medical systems, to say nothing of their potential to inflict civilian harm.”
Vacuum bombs themselves “are not unlawful,” but “their use to directly target civilians would violate the law of armed conflict,” according to Montazzoli.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Reuters, ISW, West Point
