Russia’s Shoigu Accuses West of Seeking to Expand Ukraine War to Asia-Pacific 

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, center, takes a seat for the opening ceremony of the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. (AP)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, center, takes a seat for the opening ceremony of the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. (AP)
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Russia’s Shoigu Accuses West of Seeking to Expand Ukraine War to Asia-Pacific 

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, center, takes a seat for the opening ceremony of the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. (AP)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, center, takes a seat for the opening ceremony of the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. (AP)

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the West wants to expand the conflict in the Ukraine to the Asia-Pacific region, Russian state media reported, citing comments made at a Beijing defense forum on Monday.

Speaking at the Xiangshan Forum, China's biggest military diplomacy event, Shoigu said NATO is covering up a build-up of forces in the Asia-Pacific region with an "ostentatious desire for dialogue", Russia's TASS news agency reported.

Shoigu said NATO countries were promoting an arms race in the region, increasing their military presence and the frequency and scale of military drills there.

US forces will use information exchanges with Tokyo and Seoul on missile launches to deter Russia and China, Shoigu said. He also accused Washington of trying to use climate change and natural disasters as an excuse for "humanitarian interventions".

Shoigu said the emergence of new security blocs such as the Quad and AUKUS undermined the role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and nuclear non-proliferation efforts in the region.

At the same time, he said, Russia's move to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty did not mean the end of the agreement, and Russia was not lowering its threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.

"We are only seeking to restore parity with the United States, who have not ratified this treaty," Russia's RIA news agency quoted Shoigu as saying. "We are not talking about its destruction."

Shoigu said that Moscow was ready for talks on the post-conflict settlement of the Ukraine crisis on further 'co-existence' with the West, but that Western countries needed to stop seeking Russia's strategic defeat.

Making clear the conditions for such talks were not in place yet, Shoigu said: "It is also important to ensure equal relations between all the nuclear powers and permanent United Nations Security Council members who carry special responsibility for upholding peace and global stability."



Pakistani Security Forces Kill 9 Militants in a Raid near the Afghan Border

Pakistani security officials control the entrance to the capital of Balochistan province, as the opposition party Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) holds a march in Quetta, Pakistan, 06 April 2025. EPA/FAYYAZ AHMED
Pakistani security officials control the entrance to the capital of Balochistan province, as the opposition party Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) holds a march in Quetta, Pakistan, 06 April 2025. EPA/FAYYAZ AHMED
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Pakistani Security Forces Kill 9 Militants in a Raid near the Afghan Border

Pakistani security officials control the entrance to the capital of Balochistan province, as the opposition party Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) holds a march in Quetta, Pakistan, 06 April 2025. EPA/FAYYAZ AHMED
Pakistani security officials control the entrance to the capital of Balochistan province, as the opposition party Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) holds a march in Quetta, Pakistan, 06 April 2025. EPA/FAYYAZ AHMED

Pakistani security forces raided a militant hideout in the restive northwest near the Afghan border, killing nine militants, the military said Monday.

The military said in a statement that a high-value militant Shireen was among those insurgents killed in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

All the militants who were killed were the "Khwarij,” a phrase the government uses for Pakistani Taliban, and Shireen was behind last month's killing of an army Capt. Hasnain Akhtar in a shootout in the region, the military said.

The Pakistani Taliban are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The group is an ally of the Taliban in Afghanistan and has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power there in 2021.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks, most claimed by TTP.

Though Pakistan often conducts operations against the militants, the latest raid in Dera Ismail Khan came a day after troops killed eight militants in the northwestern North Waziristan district as they tried to cross the border with Afghanistan.