Lithuania prepares for similar "hybrid" attacks as Ukraine suffered this year:
Lithuania is creating a rapid-reaction force to counter unconventional threats highlighted by the crisis in Ukraine.
The Baltic country's top general said on October 13 that 2,500 troops will be on high alert and ready to respond to "hybrid warfare" involving unconventional attacks by unmarked combatants, like those in eastern Ukraine and Crimea.
Major General Jonas Vytautas Zukas told reporters: "We must immediately increase our readiness for unplanned military actions during peacetime."
He said new threats include "manipulating national minorities, provocations, attacks by nonstate armed groups, illegal border crossing, [and] breach of military transit procedures."
Kyiv and NATO accuse Russia of using those tactics to annex Crimea in March and aid pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Russia denies involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
NATO member Lithuania's new force is to begin operating on November 1. (AFP and Xinhua)
That concludes our live blogging for Monday, October 13.
From our newsroom:
The Russian ruble hit new all-time lows against the euro and dollar on October 13 despite recent government intervention.
The ruble dropped to 51.33 to the euro -- breaking the previous low from March -- and fell to 40.49 to the dollar.
The record lows came after Russian Central Bank chief Elvira Nabiullina said the bank had pumped some $6 billion into propping up the currency since October 3.
International sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and Moscow's support for pro-Russian rebels have cut several major Russian firms off from key international debt markets.
Russia's oil-dependent economy is also hurt by low oil prices, dropping to $88 per barrel on October 13.
The International Monetary Fund said capital flight from Russia will reach some $100 billion this year and inflation is more than 8 percent.
Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax
Interfax reports that a third Lenin statue has been pulled down in Dnipropetrovsk's Kryvyy Rih. The first two were a full statue downtown and a bust in the courtyard of a residential building.
Wonder how many more statues are hiding in Kryvyy Rih.
Loyola University's Michael Khodarkovsky in the opinion pages of "The New York Times":
"...[P]ronouncements by the Russian president and his close advisers are increasingly stated in vague and mystical language, with references to the “Russian world.” The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, explained during his regular TV program on Sept. 8 that the “Russian world” is a distinct civilization and that its unique spiritual and cultural values must be preserved. According to the patriarch, it includes Ukraine, Belarus and any non-Slavic peoples who share these values. He derided the concept of a melting pot, suggesting that it was a perfect example of the failure of contemporary Western civilization.
Such pronouncements may appear bizarre. Yet they cannot simply be dismissed as the ideas of the political fringe because they belong to the Kremlin’s inner circle. In a desperate attempt to preserve their power, Russia’s ruling class has concocted an ideological brew that borrows from every corner of the repressive and outdated world of Slavic nationalism, isolationism and anti-Westernism.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, was right when several months ago she described Mr. Putin as inhabiting his own mental universe. Worse, the worldview of Mr. Putin’s Russia leaves little room for compromise.
A Reuters exclusive by Ron Bousso and Joshua Schneyer hints at another blow to Russia's economy, if it is indeed true:
Saudi Arabia is quietly telling the oil market it would be comfortable with much lower oil prices for an extended period, a sharp shift in policy that may be aimed at slowing the expansion of rival producers including those in the U.S. shale patch.
Some OPEC members including Venezuela are clamouring for production cuts to push oil prices back up above $100 a barrel.
But Saudi officials have given a different message in meetings with investors and analysts: the kingdom, OPEC's largest producer, will accept oil prices below $90 per barrel, and perhaps down to $80, for as long as a year or two, according to people who have been briefed on the recent conversations.
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