ChrisO_wiki

Independent military historian and researcher. Also (for now) at https://www.twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki

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npub143897ww7gfcz95kgre76hfzh0uazp9atjvnfpq5ule6e758h0g5sqaxw3c

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ChrisO_wiki_at_mastodon.social@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs2cnjl880yyupz6typuldt53th7w3qj74exf5ss2w0uavl2rmh52gprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wdmksetjv5hxxmmdqyt8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wvfskueq7u5h09

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relay.noswhere.com

relay.nostr.band

relay.mostr.pub

Author Public Key

npub143897ww7gfcz95kgre76hfzh0uazp9atjvnfpq5ule6e758h0g5sqaxw3c

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Last Notes

2024-09-09 06:45:36

1/ At least 100,000 tons of Russian fuel is estimated to have been destroyed in Ukrainian drone attacks. The attacked fuel depots were built underground for protection but were rebuilt on the surface to save money. Now they may have to be buried again. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/106/244/669/799/409/original/f6a090c8855a0748.mp4

2024-09-07 10:12:47

1/ A heavily publicised anti-UAV system adopted by the Russian National Guard turns out to have been smuggled in from China and apparently falsely represented as Russian by its supplier. At least one person has been charged in Russia for weapons smuggling. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/095/734/107/173/256/original/ed7640566a75736f.jpg

2024-09-07 10:12:47

2024-08-29 20:40:41

1/ At least 50,000 Russian convicts have joined the Russian army, with tens of thousands dying in battles in Ukraine. Convicts are still joining, but what makes them want to risk death? Prisoners say that sadistic treatment in penal colonies makes war preferable to prison. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/047/243/084/850/861/original/279c5a6dc493be5c.jpeg

2024-08-29 08:34:18

1/ Russian soldiers and their relatives are buying their own body bags, due to a lack of assistance from the Russian Ministry of Defence. A crowd-funded effort in Chelyabinsk has sought to purchase "bags for the 200s" at a cost of 200 rubles ($2.18) each. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/044/386/974/142/781/original/338e2a30803fcdd8.jpeg

2024-08-29 07:40:58

1/ Moscow police are to be paid a 50,000 ruble ($558) bounty for each person they 'persuade' to sign up for military service, including immigrants and homeless people. The initiative will create more incentives for corruption for Russia's already notoriously corrupt police. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/044/176/949/096/218/original/90b11eb6c0b7a1b5.jpeg

2024-08-28 08:49:30

1/ One of the suspects in the murder by torture of the so-called "Donbas Cowboy", self-proclaimed communist and Texan Russell Bentley, has been released. His widow Ludmilla warns that people might think that "the Russian army is a bunch of criminals who do whatever they want". ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/038/780/126/621/756/original/77745fd9ce65ca1a.mp4

2024-08-26 17:47:23

1/ Over 600,000 Russians are estimated to have left their country since 2022 in the biggest exodus since the post-Soviet period. Many have left to avoid being mobilised to fight. One man managed to escape into exile after deserting the Russian Army twice. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/029/574/590/009/066/original/e572a60c92667eab.jpg

2024-08-26 08:33:34

1/ A group of Russian junior commanders have published an appeal to the military authorities about the use of violence and extortion by their battalion commander and his deputy, as well as the theft of money from the salary cards of dead soldiers. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/027/396/965/631/922/original/e927cda09d7eea94.mp4

2024-08-20 07:28:13

1/ Wounded Russian conscripts and mobilised soldiers are reportedly being handcuffed and tortured in a dilapidated building in Mulino, Nizhny Novogorod, to 'remotivate' them into going back to fight in the war in Ukraine. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/993/165/881/114/990/original/200fc59f56fbbf3d.mp4

2024-08-19 23:12:13

1/ Russian conscripts are now fighting, dying and being captured in large numbers in Ukraine's Kursk offensive. As this is the first time that conscripts have been a significant factor in the war, let's look at who the conscripts are and why so many have surrendered. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/991/210/105/566/253/original/6c158f3c96cdb593.jpeg

2024-08-16 17:44:04

1/ Russell Bentley, the so-called "Donbass Cowboy" from Texas who fought for the 'Donetsk People's Republic' (DPR), is reported to have been tortured to death in an abandoned mine being used as a concentration camp for 'remotivating' Russian soldiers who refuse to fight. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/972/938/081/866/852/original/ac32b0f7f145e9d8.jpeg

2024-08-16 08:26:06

1/ Russia is reportedly creating 'Kursk battalions' of newly enlisted conscripts, many of whom are barely trained teenagers paid only $0.75 a day, who are being sent to Kursk to fight the Ukrainian incursion. Some are being forced to sign contracts to fight at the front lines. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/970/744/598/130/696/original/09b088ba80afb4ad.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/970/744/609/846/490/original/e5a21511c72c80a8.jpeg

2024-08-15 07:50:20

1/ Hundreds of Russians who have refused to fight for various reasons – age, sickness, mental health – are reported to have been taken from a military base where they were being held and flown to Kursk, where they will likely be used in efforts to repel Ukraine's incursion. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/964/941/283/065/622/original/b1b4b2bf049f12a3.jpeg

2024-08-14 18:52:49

1/ Numerous adverts have appeared on Avito, Russia's equivalent of eBay, seeking workers to dig trenches in the Kursk region. It's likely that this is related to the rapid construction of a trench network located well behind the current front line. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/961/884/294/252/981/original/18cf38ffb8328a29.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/961/884/296/569/615/original/94c85087398c8190.png

2024-08-14 16:05:35

1/ Russia's far-right ultranationalist NOD movement has held a march in Magadan in Russia's Far East, demanding that Washington, D.C. be attacked with RS-24 Yars and RS-28 Sarmat ICBMs, plus the Poseidon intercontinental nuclear torpedo, in revenge for "Kursk and Kherson". ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/961/220/800/180/911/original/7766ab9449f2d5d6.mp4

2024-08-11 08:12:27

1/ Gloomy assessments by Russian milbloggers suggest that Russia faces serious difficulties in defeating Ukraine's Kursk offensive due to a lack of strategic reserves, a reliance on a "patchwork" of badly attrited units, and the weakening of other fronts. ⬇️

2024-08-07 17:10:49

1/ Russian milbloggers are furious at the failure of Russia's Ministry of Defence to protect the Kursk region border from the current large-scale Ukrainian incursion. They call the situation there "hell on earth".
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/921/846/812/617/986/original/001026a765148c34.mp4

2024-07-28 16:28:23

1/ Russian forces in southern Ukraine appear to be experiencing an increasingly desperate shortage of water. Water rations for all personnel – from soldiers in the trenches to fighter pilots – are now limited to only 1 l (36 oz) per day, as little as 8% of what they need. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/865/057/175/159/536/original/4b9c6b996fc8d540.jpeg

2024-07-26 17:59:27

1/ The aviation component of Russia's nuclear triad is said to be at serious risk of failure due to possible corruption at Russia's United Engine Corporation. This has come to light after the crash of a Tu-160M strategic bomber on which Vladimir Putin flew in February 2024. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/854/090/410/983/313/original/a24398864d997b96.png

2024-07-24 07:41:33

1/ Despite searing temperatures of up to 40°C (104°F), Russian fighter pilots in Ukraine and southern Russia are reportedly being issued with only 1 litre (36 oz) of water to drink per day. In between sorties, they are said to be driving around nearby villages begging for water. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/840/335/667/984/792/original/b3bc3dd220b369cc.jpeg

2024-07-23 21:45:29

1/ Former Wagner mercenaries, their families, and ex-members of other Russian mercenary and volunteer units are reportedly being left "on the brink of poverty" without employment, assistance or prosthetics, despite Russia creating a fund to help ex-soldiers. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/837/992/603/503/319/original/e6296897c07c463a.webp

2024-07-15 18:54:00

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5/ "Customers offer from $1,500 to $2,000 for setting fire to cars of Ukrainian security forces and employees of the territorial recruitment centres in Lviv, Kyiv, Dnipro, Odesa and other cities. The requests are posted in Russian, their authors are recently registered users who have not been active in other sections of the site. They communicate with the performers via encrypted messengers or Telegram."

2024-07-15 18:53:43

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4/ According to Important Stories:
"The ads are posted in a section for so-called "athletes" – physically strong people willing to beat up or maim others for a reward, as well as commit arson and other forms of property damage. Initially, the practice of hiring these people was widespread in the drug market to "punish" unscrupulous drug couriers, but later spread to other areas.

2024-07-15 18:53:30

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3/ The independent Russian news outlet Important Stories has discovered that on 6 June, adverts appeared on one of the largest Russian-language dark web platforms asking for people to set fire to military vehicles in Ukraine.

2024-07-15 18:53:12

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2/ The Ukrainian publication Strana reports: "A Mitsubishi Pajero of a serviceman from the 80th Separate Assault Brigade was set on fire in Lviv. Two bottles of kerosene were found at the scene.
Two vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were burned in Odesa. Namely, a SsangYong and a Nissan Navara.
The fourth case was recorded in Rivne. A Nissan X-Trail was burned there, which volunteers brought to the Ukrainian Armed Forces for transfer."

2024-07-15 18:52:54

1/ Ukrainians are reportedly being recruited by Russians on the dark web to carry out arson attacks in Lviv, Kyiv, Dnipro, Odessa and other cities for between $1,500–2,000 each. Ukrainian Army vehicles have already been reported burned in three cities. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/792/001/401/736/984/original/7f203af153d22fbd.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/792/012/385/592/033/original/3379eaab8931cca1.jpeg

2024-07-06 21:20:54

1/ Russian soldiers are still being sent to fight in Ukraine with broken legs, despite protests from Russian milbloggers. Meanwhile, injured soldiers who recorded a video last week have had their crutches taken away or have been sent to a torture camp. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/741/636/123/340/060/original/050ae5a89daf540b.jpeg

2024-07-05 16:56:50

1/ Badly wounded Russian soldiers, some on crutches, are being sent to fight in Ukraine. Russian milbloggers say it is because of huge losses and shortages of personnel, as well as bureaucratic mismanagement and the military's culture of lying to superiors. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/734/934/245/067/931/original/c03b65a6d32a8662.mp4

2024-06-26 19:07:52

1/ Former Wagner Group mercenaries are finding it hard to obtain even low-paid civilian jobs such as warehouse staff, construction workers, or security guards. Employers are expressing concern that they will have "outbreaks of aggression" and "rush at people with a knife." ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/684/490/081/364/248/original/7d269ed80c304523.jpeg

2024-06-23 18:16:54

1/ Injured Russian soldiers report that they are being sent straight back to fighting in Ukraine without any medical treatment or admission to hospitals. Their superiors are unsympathetic: "Fuck you and your fucking splinters! Don't fucking piss me off! I'll fucking kill you!" ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/667/302/547/911/174/original/9b22ccec4a06f18d.png

2024-06-22 18:36:44

1/ Russian military recruiters are now offering criminal suspects and accused a deal to avoid a trial by going to fight in Ukraine. It's the latest example of how Russia is tackling manpower shortages in the ongoing war by targeting a wider pool of potential recruits. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/661/718/621/022/309/original/afac3b17c4aaf40f.jpeg

2024-05-20 08:07:29

1/ Two more incidents have been reported of Russians being fined or denounced for association with the colours of blue and yellow – Ukraine's national colours. They include a journalist who was denounced for being photographed in a yellow jacket against a blue sky. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/472/386/790/188/139/original/46dbbe39a235921d.jpeg

2024-04-30 08:10:44

1/ Konrad Muzyka of Rochan Consulting has published an excellent if rather gloomy thread on the current situation in Ukraine. In the interests of helping it to reach a wider audience, I thought an English translation would be useful. https://twitter.com/konrad_muzyka/status/1784875510805262538

2024-04-16 07:21:39

1/ Russia is considering resuming production of low-quality gasoline to make up for shortages caused by Ukrainian attacks on its oil refineries. However, this is likely to cause damage to vehicles, which owners may find difficult to repair due to a shortage of spare parts. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/279/705/686/901/262/original/c14836d698350cd6.jpeg

2024-01-30 18:20:45

1/ Vladimir Putin has reportedly built a luxury residence on an estate twice the size of Monaco, on the shore of Lake Ladoga just 31 km (19 miles) from the Finnish border. The Dossier Center has published some remarkable drone images of the complex. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/846/283/052/154/880/original/c220cfa806f04c90.jpeg

2024-01-26 21:05:50

1/ Convicts who have fought for the Russian army in Ukraine say they have been abandoned by the state, left without arms, legs or the compensation they were promised. They say that arbitrary executions of convict soldiers are commonplace and life expectancy is only "hours". ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/824/282/653/912/883/original/3cfcc04ab58ec50b.jpeg

2024-01-15 10:27:29

1/ The Russian government has hidden a vast amount of data from the public in an apparent attempt to conceal the impact of the war in Ukraine. An analysis shows that almost 500 datasets have been removed since February 2022, covering everything from weather to state pensions. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/759/487/353/561/724/original/242e8e7f31779268.png

2024-01-08 09:34:24

1/ A GRU project to create a 'volunteer corps' to replace the Wagner Group is reported to have run into severe problems, with crippling shortages of fuel and lubricants hampering operations in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka areas.
The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that an acute lack of fuel and lubricants has affected almost all units of the 'volunteer corps' created by the GRU's First Deputy Head, Lt Gen Vladimir Alekseev, particularly in the areas of active combat in Bakhmut and Avdiivka. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/719/642/666/511/585/original/e974825271d72305.jpeg

2024-01-03 09:51:26

1/ An 18-year-old Russian has become the youngest person confirmed to have died fighting for the Russians in Ukraine. His death, only two and a half months after signing up, followed the Russian government's decision in 2023 to let teenagers go to war straight from school. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/691/397/722/029/264/original/a4a78c606b0eca32.jpeg

2023-11-30 09:07:49

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6/ 🔺 Volgograd resident Arsen Melkonyan beat to death realtor Roman Grebenyuk after an online argument with his sister. He was jailed for 11 years in 2022, served 6 months in Ukraine, and returned home subsequently.
🔺 Vadim Tekhov (pictured here) stabbed his ex-wife to death in 2021 in view of a surveillance camera, while under house arrest for attempted murder. He was jailed for 16 years, went to Ukraine and was set free in November 2022. He was subsequently accused in a drug trafficking case.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/498/707/177/419/218/original/3021b81183bf92cc.webp

2023-11-30 09:07:06

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5/ 🔺 Vyacheslav Samoilov killed his partner Olga Shlyamina, dismembered her with a hacksaw and hid the body parts in different places. He was jailed for 9 years and 7 months but returned home in 2023 after spending only three months at the front.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/498/705/211/566/397/original/f8ff23003b926083.webp

2023-11-30 09:06:41

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4/ 🔺 Artem Buchin raped and killed 23-year-old Tatyana Rekutina in 2022 and was jailed for 20 years in February 2023. He went to Ukraine in August 2023 and was back in his home town by November.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/498/703/491/214/486/original/d250bd26620d0803.webp

2023-11-30 09:06:20

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3/ 🔺 Vladislav Kanyus, jailed for 17 years in 2022 for raping and strangling his ex-girlfriend. The police failed to respond to multiple calls from neighbours who heard her screams. He signed a military contract, served in Ukraine, survived and returned to Russia a free man.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/498/702/143/223/196/original/c6312030944a8f79.png

2023-11-30 09:03:59

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2/ The independent Russian outlet Agency. News has compiled a list of released murderers who have fought in Ukraine. Their pardons have caused great distress to relatives of the victims. Cases include:

2023-11-30 09:03:33

1/ Last week's news that two Russian cannibals had been pardoned and sent to fight in Ukraine has highlighted the ongoing trend of convicted murderers being recruited for the Russian Army or Wagner Group. At least 17 murderers are known to have been released after fighting in Ukraine. Some have gone on to commit fresh crimes back home. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/498/687/696/225/284/original/7bd1b42fc9aaaf59.webp
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/498/687/728/496/661/original/706cf45f4a9444fc.webp
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/498/688/066/488/956/original/35be4371545adae4.webp

2023-10-20 07:20:46

1/ In the second of a pair of videos recorded by a doomed 'Storm Z' squad of Russian convict soldiers before they went on their final assault, two men speak about their experiences on the front line in Ukraine. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/266/127/900/182/053/original/53287aad2dd874b6.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/266/130/997/265/699/original/81ae46f803299783.png

2023-10-18 07:00:46

1/ Russian convicts fighting in Ukraine are becoming 'ghost soldiers' when they die. Their relatives lack any documentation that they ever signed contracts and are being denied compensation for their deaths, and their bodies are not being returned for burial. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/254/725/251/632/158/original/30f20fda6abfdd84.jpeg

2023-10-16 20:37:22

1/ Russian convicts who signed six-month contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defence to fight in Ukraine in exchange for a pardon are dismayed to find that they are now being threatened with death or torture unless they sign new contracts for up to a year. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/246/615/377/006/733/original/517b64e52c8e8ff9.jpeg

2023-10-01 12:16:05

1/ Russia has become a police state without enough police, due to a crisis in policing caused in part by the war in Ukraine. Poor salaries, lack of funding, political purges and a focus on punishing political dissent are resulting in murders and rapes going unpunished.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/159/708/948/161/137/original/e294da923cb75fb2.jpg

2023-09-25 20:59:59

1/ Russia is creating new reconnaissance and assault brigades to defeat Ukrainian fortifications in offensive operations. The new units will be equipped with armoured vehicles and trained in close-quarters fighting and the use of drones for reconnaissance. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/127/795/771/639/260/original/bce751128a80d42c.jpg

2023-09-22 18:28:16

1/ Wounded Russian soldiers and their relatives say they are being sent back into battle without being treated, and in some cases are not paid injury compensation or even their regular salaries. It's been blamed on a shortage of frontline manpower. Some are choosing to flee. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/110/211/684/759/283/original/9d234cc8851b22f8.png

2023-09-21 11:28:20

1/ In another indication that a fresh wave of mobilisation may be coming, companies in Moscow are seeking to recruit an unprecedented number of specialists in managing military and mobilisation records – twice the peak number recorded during the last mobilisation. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/102/898/915/726/882/original/666a26b82e73fb11.jpeg

2023-09-18 17:43:51

1/ Russian soldiers say hundreds of their number are being killed trying to retake newly liberated Andriivka. Even artillerymen are being sent in as infantry in 'meat assaults', "literally [armed] with shovels" and without artillery support. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/087/388/031/774/666/original/2992304d759dac06.jpeg

2023-09-06 16:39:52

1/ General Sergei Surovikin, who disappeared in apparent disgrace after the Wagner Group's mutiny in June 2023, has been "found another position" with the Commonwealth of Independent States, according to State Duma Deputy and retired Colonel General Viktor Zavarzin. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/019/189/166/104/683/original/bebd9fab329aac72.jpeg

2023-09-06 07:44:00

1/ Russian sources say that General Surovikin's publicised reappearance in Moscow indicates that he is still regarded by close allies of Vladimir Putin as a potentially useful counterweight to an increasingly powerful Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/017/081/960/312/391/original/8dda0fe7c94e221e.jpeg

2023-09-05 07:23:55

1/ Half of the soldiers from the mobilised "Leningrad Regiment" are said to have been killed fighting near Bakhmut. Survivors say they were given little equipment or ammunition, and have been maltreated by incompetent officers who sent them into deadly positions. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/011/340/312/298/542/original/6c4ba573798037e5.png

2023-09-04 16:49:12

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4/ "It is no secret that in many villages and small towns, remote from regional and district centres. from regional and district centres, there are very, very many chronic problems: no money, no roads, no schools and often not even shops. But it is often there that the brave men live who stand up for the defence of their homeland. And the death of such guys on the battlefield is also a reality of life."

2023-09-04 16:48:40

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2/ The group is fanatically pro-Putin and pro-war. A recent post on its Telegram channel condemns the upcoming Russian presidential election as too costly and says: "Putin is more than a president. [He is] a tsar, emperor. Russia doesn't need elections. Russia needs Putin."
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/007/900/047/188/662/original/017ff53ea1eadb42.jpeg

2023-09-04 16:47:54

1/ The Union of Soldiers' Widows of Russia claims that compensation payments for husbands killed in Ukraine are providing an "economic salvation for the Russian countryside". It praises the economic benefits of the "soldiers' coffins" provided by the state. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/007/895/862/933/788/original/1ac7c57daca75949.jpeg

2023-09-02 19:50:00

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5/ However, Wagner members and their families say in chat rooms that in reality, many have been left without medical care and documentation. The Wagner call centre seems to have shut down abruptly following Prigozhin's death and is no longer taking inquiries.

2023-09-02 19:49:49

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4/ MO reports that the hospitals which were treating Wagner fighters have all ceased doing so. Wagner's head of medical services has claimed that the last wounded patient was transferred for treatment, and all insurance payments, compensation, salaries and bonuses were paid.

2023-09-02 19:49:40

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3/ Earlier, during Prigozhin's mutiny, Putin had said publicly that the Russian state had paid over a billion dollars to Wagner. It appears that this flow of money has abruptly been cut off, likely with dire consequences for thousands of Wagner fighters and their families.

2023-09-02 19:49:27

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2/ 'We Can Explain' (MO) reports that the Russian government appears to have abandoned its previous commitments to Wagner members following Yevgeny Prigozhin's death. Putin's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, said two days after Prigozhin died that Wagner now had no state funding.

2023-09-02 19:49:13

1/ Wounded Wagner fighters have reportedly been thrown out of hospitals with their treatments unfinished, their payments for medical care have been terminated, and payments and benefits to their families have also stopped. "A total scam!", says one outraged Wagnerite. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/997/284/527/849/709/original/27426275fb9b1ef6.jpeg

2023-09-01 20:53:04

1/ Hundreds of Russian soldiers from Chelyabinsk were reportedly locked into boxcars to prevent them complaining to visiting officials about the theft of their supplies and non-payment of their salaries. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/991/873/247/237/353/original/46564efb8948114a.jpeg

2023-08-31 20:25:41

1/ Men over 50, many with serious illnesses, are being forced to serve in the 'Donetsk People's Republic' armed forces despite this being illegal and in defiance of legal rulings and orders. "We turned out to be third-class people without rights", says one relative. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/986/103/167/574/493/original/507ba2db48c43700.png

2023-08-31 08:57:28

1/ Yevgeny Prigozhin's death may have cleared the way for Russia to send a 20,000-strong army corps to Africa. Other Russian mercenary groups also plan to go there. One mercenary leader promises that "the era of bare-assed Zulus with a Kalashnikov assault rifle is over". ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/983/397/041/539/334/original/e8fa101020561453.jpeg

2023-08-27 21:08:16

1/ More cases are being reported of wounded Russian and 'DNR' soldiers being imprisoned rather than receiving medical treatment. In some instances this is apparently happening as part of a military-run extortion racket. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/963/623/362/216/671/original/20acac23a6fc8393.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/963/623/372/034/521/original/442c6040bc3437dc.jpeg

2023-08-24 11:23:11

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3/ Members of Russia's upper house, the Senate, are also celebrating Prigozhin's death. "Yefim died — well, fuck him," the head of a Senate committee says.
Another senator says that he "does not care at all" what happened, and that "it will not affect the lives of ordinary mortals, you and me" in any way. According to a source close to Russia's Federation Council, military elites have reacted particularly strongly.

2023-08-24 11:22:37

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2/ The independent Russian news outlet Verstka has been interviewing Duma deputies about Prigozhin's death. "Everyone is shocked but, I would say, happy," a deputy says. His colleagues "unequivocally think it's revenge" by Putin after the mutiny in June.
Another deputy says "there are zero alternatives" to the theory that Putin had Prigozhin killed. He believes Prigozhin should have been eliminated two months ago after his mutiny; now, "we are dancing."

2023-08-24 11:21:58

1/ Deputies in Russia's State Duma are reportedly celebrating Yevgeny Prigozhin's death: "Yefim [Prigozhin] died — well, fuck him." They are in no doubt that Putin had him killed, but say they are happy about it: "we are dancing," says one deputy. ⬇️

2023-08-22 19:10:52

1/ A Russian marine, suffering from concussion, hearing loss and shell shock, says he was sent to Robotyne to be "disposed of". He was imprisoned and forced to pay a bribe to avoid being beaten, after he was refused medical assistance, and was then sent into a suicidal attack. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/934/847/716/614/266/original/cbd5791a3e0575cd.png

2023-08-22 11:09:59

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5/ "The bids specify foreign equipment, and it is reported that it is very expensive. Prigozhin allocates a budget for this, and receives fake receipts as a report. Nothing is actually purchased or demonstrated.
Lower-ranking employees simply steal phones and sell them on Avito [Russian equivalent of eBay]. Many enterprising people in Prigozhin's organisations find a use for the assets, while war fighters are not paid compensation for injuries." /end
Source:
https://t.me/vchkogpu/41053

2023-08-22 11:09:14

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4/ "There is a separate interesting scheme for security officers. The same gold mine exists there. Clever people steal Prigozhin's budget and make a profit on equipment purchases. The same deputy of Prigozhin, Valery Chekalov, covers them all. This is how the scheme works: Prigozhin receives requests to purchase equipment for the [Wagner Group's] security service, including for surveillance (yes, the businessman's company is also in charge of surveillance and surveillance).

2023-08-22 11:08:55

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3/ "One of the most common ways is to accumulate so-called "dead souls" [fake employees] in the staff and receive salaries for them. Mostly financiers and accounting staff are profiting in this way. In some departments, the number of such "zero" employees reached 30-40 people. Multiply this number by the average salary of an employee from 50K to 100K [rubles, i.e. $530-1060] and you will be surprised at the numbers that add up. And this is EVERY MONTH ...

2023-08-22 11:08:45

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2/ According to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, the looting is being overseen by Prigozhin's deputy Valery Chekalov, under whom "the company began to actively steal assets in a variety of ways."

2023-08-22 11:08:32

1/ While Yevgeny Prigozhin is away in Africa, back in Russia the Wagner Group is reportedly being looted by its managers and employees. Millions of rubles a month are said to be stolen through a variety of scams. ⬇️

2023-08-22 08:59:11

1/ With Ukrainian drones regularly hitting Moscow, the local police are reportedly very unhappy with the anti-drone guns they have been issued. The guns are said to lack the claimed range and are considered to be a bigger threat to policemen's testicles than to UAVs. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/932/442/928/200/438/original/4f421cb0ff1c7c47.jpeg

2023-08-21 07:05:26

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6/ Both have been annexed by Russia but Russian law doesn't yet operate there. The Russian army has taken advantage by imprisoning and torturing dissenting soldiers in improvised basement-prisons in the region without legal challenge.

2023-08-21 07:05:00

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5/ "So the DNR was once such a normative and practical testing ground for putting into practice all the things we think about but cannot do."
As Slavkov observes, the DNR (and its counterpart in Luhansk, the LNR) have been lawless zones for years, where citizens have been seized from the streets and forcibly mobilised into its 'People's Militia'. Many thousands have died as a result.

2023-08-21 07:04:47

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4/ "God forbid, someone was caught drunk – they go to the basement. And representatives of different detachments came there and could choose their own "robots": ... to wash somewhere, to clean something. ... Sometimes a nightclub was working somewhere. They would come, pick them up and take them to the front line. And these glamorous boys and girls in short skirts and stilettos, they were unloaded on the front line and they walked back to Donetsk on their own ...

2023-08-21 07:04:21

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3/ "In the Donetsk People's Republic, especially at the dawn of its birth, they applied everything that we talk about but cannot put into practice. Well, [due to] our routine, our legality, conservatism, indecision. Let's say curfew: if you get caught, no matter who you are, even the Pope, you still go to the basement. There was a strict order, now there are already indulgences. ... Unfortunately, we have to follow instructions, directives, decrees.

2023-08-21 07:04:08

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2/ In a newly published video, Slavkov praises the way that the 'Donetsk People's Republic' (DNR) deals with dissidents and offenders by imprisoning them in basements, using them for forced labour or sending them to the front line, and calls for Russia to do the same.

2023-08-21 07:03:58

1/ Russian propagandist Alexander Sladkov says that Ukraine's occupied Donetsk region is a place where "they applied everything that we talk about but cannot put into practice", and calls for a similar regime to be adopted in Russia. ⬇️

2023-08-19 23:09:48

1/ A Russian military recruiter has revealed that army recruitment is far below the needed levels, and that if they don't reach their target "within a month or two", there will be a second wave of mobilisation. It highlights the Russian Army's continuing manpower problems. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/918/799/233/741/179/original/687454e26c3c515c.mp4

2023-08-17 17:18:26

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2/ The 'Not the Norm' Telegram channel documents the Russian state's extensive efforts to imbue children with militaristic propaganda. It highlights how Russian companies are profiting from the requirement to integrate 'patriotic education' with the school curriculum.

2023-08-17 17:18:11

1/ 'Patriotic education' has become very profitable in Russia, with the federal and regional governments pouring millions of rubles into propaganda for schoolchildren. An entire industry selling ready-to-use patriotic educational equipment has appeared to capitalise on demand. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/906/089/530/454/414/original/0aa4975184352402.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/906/092/657/541/144/original/217b5145d6969c66.jpeg

2023-08-16 19:09:40

1/ An apparently leaked memo attributed to former Russian minister Dmitri Rogozin reports major shortcomings in the Russian army's equipment, including artillery far inferior to Western equivalents, a shortage of 152 mm shells, inadequate communications and obsolete UAVs. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/900/869/030/421/280/original/30e28ac1b044f9b2.jpeg

2023-08-15 13:14:16

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2/ According to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, which quotes an apparently leaked report, "drunken criminals of the Ministry of Defence, assigned to a military unit based in Chechnya, and an equally drunken military policeman confronted each other with weapons."

2023-08-15 13:14:01

1/ An exchange of fire in the occupied Ukrainian village of Urzuf, in which several Russian soldiers and bystanders were reportedly killed, is said to have been started by drunken Chechen soldiers fighting drunken convict soldiers. ⬇️
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1690410278238797824

2023-08-15 08:16:15

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4/ As the 'Horizontal Russia' Telegram channel notes, "Russian patriots are increasingly turning to ancient maps." In May, the head of the Constututional Court, Valery Zorkin, presented Putin with an old map claiming (incorrectly) that it had no Ukraine on it. /end
https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1661104957422968847

2023-08-15 08:15:50

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3/ The map combines the old USSR plus the old Russian empire, which included Alaska until 1867. However, it's quite unhistorical – Greece and the former Yugoslavia were never under Russian or Soviet rule, though they were claimed by 'pan-Slavists' in the 19th century.

2023-08-15 08:15:40

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2/ The banner has been displayed at Tambov's Training Centre no. 266, which trains tractor, forklift and truck drivers. It shows the old Soviet Union plus the former Warsaw Pact countries, the former Yugoslavia, Greece, Finland, the Caucasus, the Central Asian states, Mongolia and Alaska as part of a unified 'Russian world'.

2023-08-15 08:15:23

1/ A training centre in Tambov, Russia, has hung a banner showing a 'new Russian empire' comprising all of central and eastern Europe, a re-divided Germany, Finland, central Asia, Mongolia and Alaska, with the slogan "We will teach you to love the Motherland". ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/892/632/739/412/355/original/74afd8e7b3a78b0a.jpeg

2023-08-12 15:00:31

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2/ The memo follows one leaked last month which denounced Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin and other "hurrah-patriots" as a threat to the Kremlin. Solovyov's TV show on the Russia-1 channel was denounced for hosting a nightly "gang rape of the authorities".
https://mastodon.social/@ChrisO_wiki/110757905408859348

2023-08-12 15:00:18

1/ Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov has been denounced again in another memo to the Kremlin, reportedly written by the political strategist and Duma deputy Oleg Matveychev. It calls Solovyov and his colleague Margarita Simonyan "information structures of Prigozhin". ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/877/239/733/406/824/original/fdc95d2f2604dcba.jpeg

2023-08-11 20:13:55

1/ Injuried Russian marines near Robotyne in the occupied part of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya region were berated and beaten unconscious by their political officer when they asked for medical assistance. The incident was recorded and shows how Russia's political officers operate. ⬇️
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/872/810/428/542/938/original/138a25613b16dce5.webp

2023-08-11 07:56:28

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4/ Relatives say that the 20 survivors have been sent to the Russian "concentration rehabilitation centre" in the basement of the House of Culture in Zaitseve, which operates as an FSB-run torture centre to 'remotivate' reluctant soldiers.
https://mastodon.social/@ChrisO_wiki/110581932486996551

2023-08-11 07:55:20

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3/ They say that they had to attack a Ukrainian "fortress" guarded by four machine guns and a mortar. "In the course of a skirmish, sometimes a tank comes out. We have to go more than 50 metres across the open ground through minefields and capture 700 metres of forest, a strip."
According to the men, in only 20 minutes of fighting, 80 out of 100 were wounded. As for those who refused, the narrator says that their commander, call sign 'Utyos', "personally shot [them] in the legs."

2023-08-11 07:55:00

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2/ In an audio message published by the ASTRA Telegram channel, men from the Russian 15th Guards Motorised Rifle Regiment complain that they were "forced to take the so-called 'Moustache', it's a forest belt. We are forced to go to the minefields with our chests. Why are we so driven there? Because the bosses have already reported that they have already taken everything."