The Vice President of the USA at the conference in Munich called to confront the Russian Federation

Russia lost more than 300 thousand people killed and wounded in the war in Ukraine and “emptied its arsenals.” This was stated by US Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, which opened on Friday.

Russia’s war against Ukraine was one of the main topics of the US vice president’s speech. Harris emphasized that the United States is committed to protecting its NATO allies, rejecting the opinion of the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who makes the US’s ally obligations dependent on NATO member countries’ defense spending. The vice-president also stated the need for further support of Ukraine and opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom she called an “authoritarian emperor”.

Harris began her speech with a comment on the news of the death of Putin’s opponent Alexei Navalny in a Russian colony. “If this is confirmed, it will be another proof of Putin’s brutality, no matter what version they propose. Let’s be clear: the Russian authorities are responsible,” Harris said.

Many participants of the Munich Security Conference also expressed their condolences over Navalny’s alleged death and blamed the Russian authorities for it.

The traditional Munich conference takes place from February 16 to 18. It is attended by high-ranking representatives of many countries and international organizations. Russian officials are not invited. Among the guests of the conference was Alexei Navalny’s wife Yulia, who called for solidarity and promised that the Russian authorities would face severe consequences if reports of her husband’s death were confirmed.

The theme of Russia’s war against Ukraine is one of the main topics at the conference, along with events in the Middle East and the general theme of growing instability in the world. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who arrived in Germany, is expected to take part in the conference.

• It is not the first time that American officials have estimated Russia’s losses in the war as close to 300,000 people. Also on Friday, an unnamed high-ranking representative of the US military department in a conversation with journalists estimated these losses at 315 thousand – killed and wounded. This is reported by Reuters. The Ministry of Defense of Russia does not officially provide data on losses. Independent journalists and volunteers have established the names of more than 30,000 dead Russian soldiers.
• The same representative of the US administration noted that Russia spent about 211 billion dollars on military operations during the two years of the war, and also lost more than 10 billion dollars due to canceled orders for the sale of weapons abroad. According to the estimates of the US administration, Russia’s indirect costs for the war may exceed 1.3 trillion dollars – we are talking about unreceived budget revenues.