Center for International Studies

  Will Putin be able to persuade Lukashenko to directly involve the Belarusian army in the war with Ukraine?   By: Nika Chitadze Professor of the International Black Sea University        Director of the Center for International Studies  President of the George C. Marshall Alumni Union, Georgia - International and Security Research Center   As is known, Russian President Putin flew to Minsk on December 19 with his "landing" - Minister of Defense Shoigu and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lavrov, and held very serious talks with his Belarusian counterpart Lukashenko, which could greatly influence the course of the Russian-Ukrainian war in the next two to three months.  The details of Putin's visit to the capital of Belarus were shrouded in secrecy - motorcades of Russian and US presidents usually use two identical armored limousines, which constantly change places in the motorcade to make it difficult for potential attackers of that parti...

  How much did Russia spend in the war against Ukraine? Nika Chitadze. Professor of the International Black Sea University Director of the Center for International Studies  According to reports, Russia spent about 82 billion dollars in 9 months, which is about a quarter of Russia's annual budget.   It should be noted that Russia spends about 200 dollars per soldier. After the mobilization, the total cost of the salaries of the soldiers involved in the fighting amounted to 2.7 billion dollars. Also, the compensation amount allocated to the families of the wounded and dead soldiers exceeded 3.5 billion dollars.   Russia used up to 50,000 shells per day, which is worth more than 5.5 billion dollars. Russian forces have launched more than 4,000 missiles at Ukrainian cities, the cost of each of them is 3 million dollars.   In addition, Russia lost 278 aircraft, each worth an average of $18 million, as well as 261 helicopters worth $104 million. The to...