Disputes about who will pay for maintaining ukrainian combat capability continue to grow, the question is not only about money, there is also the question of their own weapons, European Countries one after another. What is happening in connection with ukraine is completely unprecedented, before it all started, no one in a nightmare could imagine a proxy war between russia and the west on the territory of ukraine, and even with such bitterness that could lead to Nuclear Escalation , there simply were no historical parallels of this kind, but if you still try to find these parallels, then the closest thing that comes to mind is the first world war. I will name three similarities. The first is the july crisis of 1914, the assassination attempt in sarajevo. It provoked a spiral of escalating tensions that ended in a paneuropean war. Nobody seemed to want her. And the way this conflict unfolds reminds me of the mood unintentional escalation. The second parallel is the nature of the bloodshed, human losses, on the ukrainian side, beginning to take on proportions comparable to the first world war. And the third parallel, during the first world war, there were calls to stop the massacre, begin a diplomatic settlement, and agree on peace. But everyone resisted this call. The politicians did not want peace because they believed that politically they were risking too much power and prestige in this case. As a result , the massacre continued for an extra 2 years, as i see signs of the same now, but i hope that the public mood will force politicians to listen to reason. We will talk about the european weapons potential and the prospects for its development with a participant in the dai meeting, our good friend Maxim Shapovalenko. Maxim, hello. Hello, fedor. There are some new moans about the fact that weapons are running out, money for them is running out in europe. What is this, is it a political game or are there really problems . I think there is both, there is, of course, certainly, i would he called this not a very effective use of funds by the ukrainian side, because over the winter of last year and the spring of this year, a lot of money was spent, including derivative purchases, arms transfers, but we see that there is no result. Suffered on the ground, so there is certainly dissatisfaction, regarding the European Partners of ukraine, with the way funds are spent, there are really large losses in the material part, and there are, i think, there are , of course, unconditional elements of the political game here, but then, what we see is certainly associated with large losses, all the reserves of soviet equipment were essentially raked out to the whole world, not only in europe, and what is now being supplied from the arsenals of western countries is all the equipment that was in storage, it is also not infinite, its reserves are not infinite. In the summer of 2023, the council of the European Union approved an act to support the production of ammunition. As a matter of urgency, brussels was ready to allocate half a billion euros for the production of shells, missiles and cartridges. But since world war ii, the european arms market has changed a lot. To the beginning of xx centuries, the British Empire was one of the largest creators and. On the eve of the first world war, they launched a good lee enfield rifle into production, through the efforts of the american hiram maxim, they mastered the maxim machine gun known to us and successfully bought the machine gun of another american, lewis, familiar to us from the white sun of the desert. He did not get along well with the army authorities, but the invention was appreciated in britain. After the end of the war, the industry began to decline, and for the next. World war, britain was illprepared. Her own the submachine gun, mainly due to its appearance, received a playful nickname plumbers joy. However, the biggest decline, oddly enough, began during the cold war. Nato standardization created fierce competition between western manufacturers. What was required was not diversity , but a single standard, and the british were not very good at competing, because even their own elite. Units did not use english weapons, here is the famous photograph of thatcher with sas fighters who are armed with german submachine guns. It is not surprising that the iron lady decided to privatize the factories in prestigious enfield. To make the Purchase Look attractive, along with the production there was a contract to supply the british army with its own l85 rifle, but this weapon was not a commercial success. But it turned out that the land on which the plant stands is very expensive, production was closed, and the territory was given over for the development of offices and luxury housing. As a result , only small arms firms remained in britain, supplying weapons to millionaires like doublebarreled shotguns at the price of a rollsroyce, or sniper rifles, for example, from the wellknown company acjurce international. The weapons are expensive, but rare and niche. France after graduation. World war ii was among the winners, it received the technology of mauser and walters production, so james bonds favorite pistol could have been marked made in france, but the french could not take advantage of this knowhow, the fate of their arms industry literally repeated british history. The unsuccessful famas rifle forced the government privatized the state arsenal in shetelro, also known as masa , in its place elite housing blocks and a large archive appeared, the german heckler and koch were adopted into service, and the French Police received the domestic webre carbine, purchased, by the way, through germany, where there is little of it modified. Since the 1990s, spain has decided to follow the same path as france, but poland, the Czech Republic and bulgaria carefully maintain their production, although these are mainly soviet weapons, there is a powerful industry in belgium and italy and germany, although before the ukrainian crisis, berlin looked positively at the experience of london and paris. A lot has changed now. You say that, in general, you had little influence on the course of hostilities, but still, this is not entirely in vain, somehow, of course, if it werent for this support, everything would be much worse, but here, we really have. Dealing with simply the destruction of equipment without any special, let alone operational, even without any special tactical results, good, but regardless of the outcome of this company of lamentations europeans, the Defense Industry is facing a very intensive time, because at least to replenish reserves, or to create something new, how ready is europe for this . Well, i think, of course, europe is ready to a certain extent, but not to a great extent, like the americans, after all, the americans managed to preserve, well, with all the consolidation of the Defense Industry that took place in the nineties of the last century, they retained the backbone their own, the personnel composition of their Defense Industry, the europeans it was the same processes that took place in europe, but there it seems to me that they minimized it to such a very critical level, and lets say, if we take the production of, well, lets say, consumables, right . Ammunition, then the europeans certainly have a very bottleneck here , including in the field of special chemicals, these are explosives, and shell production, not to mention. About everything that requires a long execution cycle, there are armored vehicles, aviation equipment, antiaircraft missile systems, its just a question, so to say whether ukraine has such time to wait for the fulfillment of these orders, because the available stock, yes, thats what i said, transferred, yes, it is already almost exhausted, Everything Else is already at the level so to speak, well, security, from the European Countries themselves, well, thats it, the question is no longer only in ukraine, but lets say, a number of countries are already talking about the need for drastic militarization, like poland, yes, yes, yes, yes, this is such, well, because in firstly, it is necessary to get rid of the old, they did this, but so to speak, not in a row, but before at a certain level, because from a certain level, questions regarding National Security and the fulfillment of bloc obligations within nato begin, so yes, they will increase production, but this will take time, of course. In medieval europe, perhaps the first mercenaries were the vikings, who were hired into the personal guard of the byzantine emperors. For example, the future king of norway, haralt ii. He was the head of the emperors security. In 1474, the french king louis xxi entered into an agreement with several swiss villages. To each of which he undertook to pay 20,000 francs annually, and for this they had to deliver. People, if the king is waging war, this is how the swiss mercenaries appeared; in 1477, the swiss, who made up half of the lorraine army , completely defeated the Burgundian Army led by charles the bold. Then all the rulers of europe, in particular the emperor of the holy roman empire, maximilian ii of habsburg, drew attention to the swiss. He hired them to train his army, which consisted of. German mercenaries. Gradually with the acquisition of combat experience, the german lansknechts became competitors of the swiss. On may 6, 1527, during the war of the league of cognac, which got out of the control of the troops of Emperor Charles ii. The habsburgs invaded rome and subjected the eternal city to plunder and destruction. Pope, clement 7. Was able to escape and took refuge in the castle of the holy angel. Then lanskneft. Killed most of the swiss guarding st. Peters cathedral, since then many european monarchies began to hire lanznechts. They often fought on both sides of the conflict, took part in campaigns against moors in africa and clashes with the russian army of ivan the terrible in livonia. During the thirty years war, they showed high efficiency; it is not surprising that in addition to salaries, the mercenaries received income from robberies in enemy territories. Century , the famous flights of wild geese began in europe, as the irish were called who fled britain and entered service in the french crown. About 20,000 irish were in louis service. In the 19th century, with the advent of the era of conscript armies, mercenary activity in europe almost disappeared. Their services were useful in africa during in the second half of the 20th century, when the term wild geese was used, this was the name given to michaels battalion. In the congo took on a new meaning, and stories about soldiers of fortune received film recognition. But in the vatican , swiss mercenaries are in demand to this day; they exclusively make up the guard guarding the residence of the pope. Zelsky recently made it loud. A statement that ukraine intends, in cooperation with western partners, there are almost 15 countries there , to turn into a powerful hub, a place where weapons are produced for everyone, for all of europe, for the entire nato organization, well it is clear that there is some advertising here, but ukraine, in principle, in former times had quite a powerful potential, but of course, within the ukrainian ussr there were all nine defense ministries, this nine defense ministries, all nine allied ministries that were involved in the production of military products, but here he is in the current conditions, of course, i personally think of the old joke about an elephant in the zoo, that of course he will eat the congress, but who will give it to him, therefore, in the conditions in which the ukrainian economy, i very much doubt that they will be able to develop something serious , the production of something very serious, but unless drones are on their knees, they are doing something small, because firstly, and this was shown last year, the energy the system of ukraine, so to speak, stands, its functioning is in big question, the first, by the way, retaliation strike after the first sabotage on the crimean bridge showed how easily it can be done, without Serious Energy capacities, to produce something so serious , so to speak , very difficult, plus the enterprises themselves turn out to be objects of influence in the near zone, well, i think that there we are not even talking about zaporozhye anymore, but even in the deep rear they are exposed to the influence of our highprecision weapons, so i admit that they can deploy something, but about there is no need to talk about any serious production program, well, if you fantasize and imagine some kind of cessation of hostilities, one way or another, what remains is called the state of ukraine, there is no longer a risk of strikes there, in this hypothetical situation, is it possible to imagine that ukraine will be used, others will use it as a kind of platform, well, imagine . Its possible, of course, well, heres another aspect the personnel composition of the Defense Industry, it has been largely lost, well, due to natural reasons, yes, because for 30 years soviet personnel left the industry, and i dont really remember something about ukraine purposefully trained specialists in these areas, during this interwar period, as they say, uh, therefore, also theoretically i admit, but i think that mm, so to speak, their personnel potential will be limited; if they produce something, they will focus on some very, very specific products, such as drones, yes, something serious will most likely be purchased through militarytechnical cooperation with nato countries. I see, thank you very much, our guest was Maxim Shapovalenko from the center for analysis of strategy and technology. The pentagon announced that it is transferring to ukraine a large batch of iranian weapons confiscated on the way to yemen. Thats who i could imagine just recently that two Major Military powers in europe would fight on both sides with iranian weapons. Advertising for the iranian militaryindustrial complex is simply firstrate. But not about that now, but wed rather talk about something peaceful, like fashion. When we talk about the fashion industry, the first thing that comes to mind is luxury and style. But when it comes to iran, the conversation may seem strange, because the country has a strict islamic dress code and women wear hijabs, but ironically, in muslim iran this the industry is gaining momentum thanks to local Fashion Designers who are trying to combine Islamic Culture with modern fashion trends, the owner of this atelier, leila al bustani, is rich. With her is a team of designers who study the latest Industry Trends and sprinkle elements of islam into them. The thirtynineyearold Fashion Designer believes that the hijab is not a hindrance at all, only then will we get islamic fashion. In iranian culture, women are always modest, but those who want to combine beauty and modesty in their clothing have a hard time finding anything suitable on the market. Even as a child, my mother could not find islamic clothing suitable for my age, so she decided to sew such clothes herself. And i wanted to open my own studio of islamic clothing, which would be both fashionable and beautiful. Now ms. Albouni has her own showroom in the west of tehran, clients like her designs and the number of orders is growing. We have been working for 10 years, at first we had neither a workshop nor a store, now we have an atelier and two stores in tehran, and a representative of our company throughout country. In iran, women must wear the hijab in public. Some also wear a coat with buttons, called a manto , and a scarf covering the head, while others prefer the hijab to the chedra, a piece of cloth covering the head and upper body. Fashion experts say that with a little imagination, the hijab can look fashionable and beautiful. When i go on the podium, i find myself on the same wavelength with the audience, i see and feel their emotions. People often ask me where i bought these clothes and how i tied them scarf, reacts to me. Even religious leaders who condemn glitz and glamour, believe that it is necessary to develop islamic fashion, which corresponds to muslim commandments, because it introduces more people to the values of islam. Its great that more and more companies are following islamic fashion. Some women. They love the hijab only because society lacks diversity in islamic clothing, islamic fashion provides this diversity, the ulema imams should support it. While Fashion Designers struggle gain a foothold in the market, they lag behind in another. You dont often see outfits from leila albouni on the streets of tehran. Indeed, clothes from western designers are much more common; they are worn by young people. But surprisingly, this problem does not scare leila. She sees western fashion more as an opportunity than a challenge. Western fashion. I must produce clothes that are attractive to young people, which means i must know and feel their tastes, i also cannot stay away from world fashion trends, we need to accept them and create a combined version that meets the norms of our culture. Until now, many women who observe the islamic code of clothing are not even familiar with the term islamic fashion, which is why simple monto and monolithic black cedar prevail on the street, fashion trends. Clothing is a difficult matter, especially many designers barely make ends meet, they are not sufficiently funded , because of this , trying to stay afloat, production in the difficult Economic Conditions of our country, the government must support all manufacturers, but he doesnt have a hand in fashion, although the government is already taking steps in this direction. If the government provides us with media services, this will significantly help in promoting our products, we are still not on national television, many do not know us. Another problem is smuggling, out of the annual turnover of irans clothing industry of 8 billion, 5 billion comes from smuggling, the reason being that it is more profitable to import clothes than to produce them domestically. Smuggling is cheaper than ours products because we import Raw Materials and sew here. Most buyers prefer what is cheaper, but smuggled clothing has nothing to do with Islamic Culture. No matter what, iranian Fashion Designers work hard to comply with the islamic dress code. Clearly islamic fashion. Still out of favor with the iranian public, enthusiasts say that with enough government support, they can create demand for their stylish products. The week ended with news from oslo. The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on the award of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to iranian activist nargiz mahamadi. She, for womens rights in particular , actively opposes the death penalty. She herself is now in prison, serving another of her many sentences. The decision is quite traditional for the nobel committee; it often gets burned with politicians, especially in recent years. Before you have time to award the peace prize to one of them, he already finds himself involved in some next war. Therefore, human rights defenders are more reliable in this sense. In the old days, such a decision would certainly have a very Significant Impact on the internal political situation in the country concerned. Now it is not a fact that universal moral assessments given from the outside, in general, do not necessarily cause any reaction in the respective countries, sometimes they do not cause any at all. This is what. It was an international review, this time from sochi. See you next week. I was here last year, if you compare, then of course, this is truly a magical transformation of this wonderful city in lugansk peoples republic. Social facilities are being restored, roads have begun to be repaired, and schools are back in operation. The gardens of the site were empty, but now i am happy that the children are coming, somehow the city is beginning to blossom, in our native land we have nothing to fear, this is first of all, what is wine . Wine is the emotion you get after taking a sip. We are going to meet the youngest winemakers in russia. I became interested in winemaking at the age of 12; my father instilled this in me. My grandparents made moonshine, so i think it all started from this, winemaking has a million options, you can. Create, how much imagination do you have . Energy that charges and gives inspiration for new and new accomplishments and deeds. Meaningful and effective this is how Vladimir Putin assessed todays negotiations with the president of uzbekistan, shavkat mirziyoyev. Energy cooperation has become key. The parties signed an agreement on the supply of oil and Petroleum Products and confirmed plans to interact in the field of Peaceful Nuclear energy. And tomorrow the leaders will take part in the ceremony launch of russian gas supplies. It will go to uzbekistan via kazakhstan. In what other areas have moscow and tashkent agreed to expand partnerships