Russia may launch naval base in Georgian breakaway region in 2024 January 11, 2024 at 11:47PM

A Russian naval base in Abkhazia, a breakaway territory internationally recognised as part of Georgia, may become operational in 2024, Russian state news agency RIA quoted Abkhazia's security council as saying on Friday.Russian and Abkhazian authorities agreed in October that Russia could open a permanent naval base in the town of Ochamchire.RIA quoted the secretary of Abkhazia's security council, Sergei Shamba, as saying that construction of the base had not yet begun, but that "its operation may begin this year".

China media warns against taking China's Indian Ocean research as threats January 11, 2024 at 11:07PM

Chinese state media warned on Friday that a report by a prominent US think tank on the military uses of Chinese scientific research across the Indian Ocean gave "ammunition" to countries bent on concocting threats from China. The report this week by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) "comes at a time when some countries need to manufacture a 'China threat' narrative in the Indian Ocean region and provides them with ammunition", the state-controlled tabloid Global Times said in an editorial.