Chronicles of Russia’s Сollapse: 14.04.2022

 #RussiaDisintegration #РазвалРоссии

Compiled by Liza Tumanova for Free Idel-Ural.

Military actions

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 197 children have been killed and more than 351 injured. The data are not final, as work is underway to establish casualties in places of active hostilities and in the territories temporarily occupied by Russia.

The Russian military reported to Putin that there had been a fire on the missile cruiser Moskva which resulted in detonation of ammunition. Although in fact the cruiser was hit by two AFU missiles and sank some time later.

For the fifteenth time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have attacked Russian military positions in Chornobaevka, Kherson region. This time the Ukrainian military destroyed a Russian ammunition depot.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine launched a Russian-language version of the platform about the war in Ukraine war.ukraine.ua for the Russian audience.

Russia’s special services have launched a plan to carry out terrorist attacks on its territory, which they accuse Ukraine of committing. Russia says that Ukrainian troops have shelled three settlements in the border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod.

In the first days of the invasion, there was continuous shooting near the Office of the President between the Ukrainian military and Russian saboteur and reconnaissance groups trying to eliminate the Ukrainian leadership. The Russians failed.

In Mariupol, Russian soldiers force civilians to wear a white ribbon as “their own” mark. In this way they use the civilian population as bait for the Ukrainian military.

Между Украиной и РФ состоялся четвертый обмен пленными.There was the fourth exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia.

The Russian military stole radioactive items from the police station in Chernobyl and sent them to their relatives in the Russian Federation.

Up to 40% of Russian contract servicemen refuse to go to war  in Ukraine again, according to Ruslan Leviev, the founder of the Russian independent analytical group Conflict Intelligence Team. The number of such conscientious objectors is growing.

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian personnel losses have totaled about 19,900.

Moldova accused Russia of trying to recruit Moldovan citizens for the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. presidential administration has decided to intensify intelligence information sharing with Ukraine to help it defend itself more effectively.

As a result of shelling Kharkiv on Wednesday, 4 civilians were killed and 10 wounded.

On Thursday, the Russians carried out MLRS and artillery 34 strikes on Kharkiv. Eight civilians were wounded and one person was killed in the region.

Units of the antiaircraft missile forces of the AFU shot down two Russian fighter jets during the previous day.

Ukraine blew up a bridge with Russian equipment heading towards Izium, including an armored Tiger vehicle, a Kamaz truck and three Ural trucks, moving to reinforce their grouping in Kharkiv region.

Because of massive bombing and shelling of Ukrainian towns and villages by the Russian armed forces, 1,014 educational institutions have been damaged, 91 of which completely destroyed.

Together with the sunken cruiser Moskva, Russia lost 16 cruise missiles.

Bankova has revealed Russia’s new plans in Ukraine. Because of regular failures, the Russian Federation has changed its tactics. Now it will concentrate on Donbass, the East, the South, and wants to recreate a “Stalingrad history” there.

The Russians have resumed shelling in Sumy region. Some border settlements were shelled with artillery and mortars. 120 mm mines were dropped and private houses were damaged. One mine destroyed a private house, going straight into people’s rooms. This has been the first attack in 10 days.

Ukraine has gained access to the data of the courier service through which soldiers of the Russian army sent looted goods from Ukrainian civilian families. After retreating from Kiev region, looters sent the items from Belarusian Mozyr, Russian Kursk and Zheleznogorsk, and other border towns. This map provides complete information about the Russian army of marauders – where they live and where they sent their loot. The map will be updated.

Documents obtained by Ukrainian intelligence indicate that the Russian military was planning to capture Ukraine under the guise of military exercises. In particular, the troops operating in Chernihiv and Sumy directions were tasked with capturing the left bank of Kyiv.

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan and Ukrainian Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova held a joint briefing after a trip to Bucha, where the bodies of civilians killed by the Russians are being exhumed.

A Russian shell hit Elena Selikhzyanova’s house in Luhansk region. The mother of five-year-old twin boys Nazar and Timur fell to her knees, pulling her sons under her to protect them from shrapnel. All three lost their vision due to the shrapnel, which also injured their hands and face. There were severe burns on her skin, a small piece of glass went into Elena’s eye, and she also had a broken leg. The boys’ mother lost her sight completely. Nazar lost an eye.

Turmoil in the RF

The Kremlin has said that should Sweden and Finland join NATO, they become enemies of the Russian Federation.

Russian army command failed to implement their mobilization plans in the North Caucasus region to recruit locals to participate in the war against Ukraine. The main reason for that is the unwillingness of the local population to participate in hostilities. Therefore, the command of the armed forces of the Russian Federation intends to launch a new mobilization wave at the national level.

The Russians stopped buying buckwheat and sugar and now opt for strong alcohols instead. Experts explain an increase in alcohol purchases by the fact that Russians are trying to spend less money in bars. 

The tax service stopped reading letters sent from domains other than .ru and .su. This way the department tries to protect itself from “computer attacks and malware.”

Russia pledges to release the first SSJ-100 plane constructed using import substituted component parts until the end of 2023.

A class action was filed against Yandeks.Ede due to leakage of the clients’ personal data in March. 

“You have to assign small and medium businesses the task of cobbling together nails. Russia will be flooded with them”. The Speaker of the Federal Council Valentina Matvienko was surprised why Russia doesn’t produce nails and offered to fix it. The entrepreneurs now think how to implement this. Minpromtorg states there is no nail shortage in the country.

Omsk officials demanded Whoosh to remove the electric scooters from the city within 10 days when the service started to operate. They say that Whoosh didn’t pay the land rent fees for parking. Whoosh claims that the city hall refused to cooperate. 

Over 600 administrative lawsuits on defamation of Russian troops have been filed since March. The resolution has been passed on more than a half of them and the penalty imposed. 

11348 new coronavirus cases were registered in Russia. 

The Moscow court changed the custodial restraint for Navalny’s proponent Lyubov Sobol to the penal colony. Sobol was convicted in summer 2021 under the criminal lawsuit filed against Navalny’s supporters following mass demonstrations in 2021. She fled Russia. In autumn she was put on a wanted list. 

The criminal case was initiated against the editor-in-chief of “Novy Focus” who was accused of spreading “fakes” about the Russian army. The magazine reported on the refusal of 11 riot police officers from Khakassia to participate in the war.

The Ministry of Energy explained that its decision to close access to data on oil production and exports has to do with possible pressure on Russian companies. Earlier, the Central Dispatch Department of the Fuel and Energy Complex stopped publishing monthly oil statistics.

Russia’s state media watchdog Roskomnadzor issued an order to block the second domain name of Meduza news agency.

An employee of the Elista mayor’s office was arrested for spreading “misinformation” about the Russian military in Telegram.

In Voronezh and Kaluga regions, classes in schools will begin with the raising of the Russian flag.

The publisher of the Altai newspaper Listok is under arrest for publishing articles about the war.

Navalny called on the United States and the EU to open an “information front” against the Kremlin and cover social media advertising costs for independent media.

The co-founder of the Hydra darknet marketplace was arrested in Moscow.

Friendly fire

The American Monotype removed access to its type specification catalog from Russia.

Finnish packaging manufacturer Huhtamaki has decided to suspend its operations in Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian market accounts for about 3 percent of its total sales. About 700 people work at the Russian enterprises of the company.

Indian IT company Infosys is going to leave Russia.

Google noticed the canceling of One storage subscription signed up in Russia through the App Store.

Employees of the companies that own the brands Oreo, Nestle and Pepsi in Europe started criticizing them because of their refusal to leave Russia. 

 What is left of economics

Google stops monetizing content that spreads fake news about Russia’s war against Ukraine, denies or justifies it. It also applies to materials that deny the tragic events. Such a decision will be a severe blow to Russian propagandists.

The wrecked cruiser “Moskva” became the most expensive Russian equipment destroyed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to Forbes. Its cost is $750 million.

The Russian container market will face a significant shortage of containers after the international lines that left Russia finish evacuating their fleet.

At the beginning of trading on the Moscow Exchange, the euro added more than 3.5 rubles and exceeded 90 rubles for the first time since 6 April. The dollar also rose by 3 rubles.

The Dutch authorities have banned local energy companies from paying for Russian gas in rubles.

During trading on the Moscow Exchange on Thursday, shares of Petropavlovsk, one of Russia’s major gold mining companies, fell by 8 percent.

A number of Russian companies are unable to pay their foreign currency debts due to regulatory restrictions on transferring payments through Western banks.

In the first quarter, Citigroup’s net profit fell by 46 percent due to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Russia risks defaulting on two Eurobonds issues due to making payments in rubles instead of dollars.

Premium car sales in Russia dropped by more than 40 percent in March.

Big global trading houses are planning to cut their oil and fuel imports from Russian state oil companies as early as 15 May to avoid violating sanctions.

Ireland supports the introduction of an embargo on Russian oil to strengthen the 6th EU sanctions package.

Since 14 April the UK has banned iron and steel imports from Russia.

International isolation

Ukraine is revising the necessity to have works of Russian writers included in the school curriculum as part of foreign literature classes.

The Parliament of Moldova banned the use of St. George ribbon as well as Z and V symbols.

Ukraine will play at the 2022 Men’s Volleyball World Championship instead of Russia.

The Federal Office of the Criminal Police of Germany, an equivalent of the American FBI, has identified the owner of the Dilbar superyacht. According to the Federal Office, it belongs to Alisher Usmanov’s sister. The agency believes that the yacht falls under the EU sanctions.

French authorities have frozen more than 40 properties owned by sanctioned individuals, including Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

The Australian authorities have added 14 new Russian legal entities in their sanctions list. The list includes, inter alia, Russian Railways, Gazprom, Alrosa, United Shipbuilding Corporation, Transneft, Rostelecom and RusHydro.

Haas, the American «Formula-1» team, refused to give back €12 millions to the team’s sponsor «Urakaliy», a shareholder of which is Dmitriy Mazepin. Even before the UN imposed sanctions on the billionaire, Haas had unilaterally terminated the sponsorship agreement with the Russian company and the Russian team’s pilot Nikita Mazepin.

Two business partners of the billionaire Roman Abramovich — Evgeniy Tenenbaum and David Davidovich — have come under Great Britain’s sanctions. London has frozen their assets worth up to £10 billions ($13 billions) and forbidden Davidovich to enter the Kingdom.

In Fiji island, a superyacht the owner of which is considered to be Suleiman Kerimov was seized.

War in Ukraine raises a threat of hunger and poverty for the fifth of the Earth’s population.

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has banned Z and V symbols and recognized the invasion of Ukraine as genocide.

Russia was not reelected in some UN bodies: Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and UN Women.

The UN has closed a «loophole» that allowed the governments of member countries to export the weapon to Russia despite the embargo that was enacted in 2014 after Russia had annexed Crimea. Among the biggest exporters were countries having large defense industries, including France and Germany. 

Turkey will keep «the balanced position» and join in imposing sanctions on Russia, if they are agreed and approved at UN level.