Month: May 2022

The Russian regions’ patronage over destroyed Ukrainian cities is a “genius” idea. Not even because the war is in full swing or because people were not asked as usual. This is where a contradiction between governors’ interests, for whom the priority is to demonstrate their loyalty to the center, and those of residents, at whose expense this very patronage will occur, will become fully apparent.

To avoid more senseless bloodshed, the Kremlin must lose what empire it still retains.

Near Vilnius, a secret conference of Putin regime opponents from Russia and Europe  took place. It was organized by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. Politicians, businessmen, human rights activists and journalists (70 participants whose names and positions are classified) have discussed different scenarios in which Vladimir Putin could be stripped of power because of his decision to wage war against Ukraine.

Putin, members of his family and cronies have long been hiding in bunkers somewhere in the Altai Mountains. Now, other officials are beginning to prepare in secrecy for the worst-case scenarios of the war in Ukraine. According to reliable “Utro TV” sources, in the last few days government employees of some federal structures (Presidential Administration, Government Apparatus of federal ministries, State Duma, Federation Council) have received notification from FSO and FSB of possible urgent evacuation from Moscow in case of “urgent need”. By urgent need, they mean, in particular, a possible threat of nuclear weapons used against russia. According to the plan, the officials’ families will also be evacuated.

Telegram channel 1ADAT (the movement in occupied Chechnya against Kadyrov’s viceroys of the occupiers) reports on how the Kremlin appointees in the republic are trying to ensure that the relatives of those who died for Putin’s ambitions do not receive any compensation. Although the bunker rat personally promised millions even for wounds, let alone death.

The so-called speaker of the State Council of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov says that English is not necessary for those who will not go to London. Konstantinov suggests removing English from the school curriculum, replacing it with the study of “our own languages”. Since this representative of the occupation authorities works for the Kremlin, one might think that he refers to indigenous languages of the Russian Federation. But no.

In Kyiv oblast, in the village of Bolshaya Dymerka, Brovary district, which had been under Russian occupation, a manual for the Russian military was found with instructions on how to communicate with the local population and what narratives to avoid. Pictures of the instructions were published  by Ukrainian volunteer Melania Podolyak in her Telegram channel. The manual says that you can kill, seize, pillage justifying it by saying that it is all the Ukrainians’ and the US’s fault. Cynicism has reached the “Russian propagandist” level.

When it became known that russia had begun reactivating ancient T-62 tanks, it was understandable: after all, one-third of the new tanks had burned down in Ukraine and there was nothing to replace them with. But optimists hoped that the tanks would be sent for modernization, because they are not even equipped with dynamic protection, so the turret of this under-tank is penetrated even by an elementary RPG-7. However, it turned out that no one was going to modernize the reactivated vehicles, they were simply shipped off in the direction of Ukraine. It is easy to see that the special operation is going according to ‘the plan’.

The old woman with the Soviet flag was a failure for the Kremlin propagandists. After her image was replicated to the point of absurdity, it turned out that the real Anna Ivanovna supported the AFU and cursed the occupiers. The untalented team had to look feverishly for a new symbol for the special operation. The new hero was eight-year-old Alyosha, who saluted a column of russian tanks on the roadside. And they are in a hurry to capitalize on this propaganda, before it turns out that the boy, for example, works for Ukrainian intelligence.

The Chuvash holiday Akatuy (the end of spring field work) has been celebrated in Ulyanovsk for 30 years, but this year an anti-war stand appeared at the celebration with the words “Bāpçācāp tēnche” – for those who do not know Chuvash, it was duplicated in Russian: “Peace without war”.

During the three-month war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has turned both the “war party” and those who want peace against him. The Kremlin hopes that he will leave “in the foreseeable future” and is already looking for a successor.

The pro-Kremlin media spread the story of the “Russian Spartans,” defenders of the village of Slatino in Kharkiv oblast. Legend has it that on May 15, 11 Russian soldiers were defending against an enemy that was not twice, not ten times, but 30 times larger! Of course, the defenders repulsed all assault attempts, waited for help, inflicted colossal losses on the Ukrainians, and did not lose a single soldier themselves. The story is beautiful, just a pity it has been made up. This can be understood from the way the authors have bullshitted about the forces of the parties, but what about the facts?

Russia on the whole and the colonies in particular likely lack good news. A series of humiliating defeats and the defeat of a few battalion-tactical groups at the attempt to cross the Seversky Donets River, the complete withdrawal of the Russian troops from five regions (Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernyhiv, Sumy and Mykolaiv regions) are difficult to be powdered by Soloviov’s and Skabeieva’s speeches. The matter is that in the coming weeks the situation is going to get only worse as Ukrainians have already made a significant counter-offensive success in the Kharkiv region. By the end of May, the Kharkiv region is so far likely to be the sixth region which the Russians will heroically retreat to the previously prepared positions’. 

On one of the Radio Liberty’s sites, the Buriat publicist Radzhana Duhar-De Ponte has published an extensive article running about the fate of her people and their responsibility for the war against Ukraine. She does not absolve the Buriarts of the responsibilty, she suggest sharing it with the ethnic Russians equally though. The publicist reminds of the mere statistics: there are 462, 000 Buriats in the Russian Federation whereas the number of ethnic Russians is 111 million.  It is far from being equal. Why did the Buriats then become the face of the war?

Kremlin propaganda has been affecting Russians since diapers. And that’s hardly an exaggeration. Imperial chauvinism and war are instilled in Russian children from the first years of life.