Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated weekday guide to major national security news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news. RUSSIA-UKRAINE DEVELOPMENTS A group of former U.S. national security officials held secret talks with Russians close to the Kremlin, including Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov, intending
(Own report) – The German Bundeswehr is continuing its combat exercises in the Indian and Pacific Oceans and will deploy more naval and air force units to the Asia-Pacific region next year. This was confirmed by the German Defense Ministry on the occasion of Minister Boris Pistorius’ current visit to Asia that began at the end of last week in Singapore. As the first German defense minister in a long time, Pistorius attended the Shangri-La Dialogue, currently the most important security conference in Asia and held talks with his Singaporean counterpart Ng Eng Hen. Singapore, which spends three percent of its GDP on the military – over US $10 billion a year – is not only the US forces’ most important cooperation partner in the region, but also one of the major non-NATO customers of German arms exports, and is intensifying its cooperation with the Bundeswehr. At the same time, the USA is expanding its combat drills in Southeast Asia to record highs, while China is seeking to pre