Fogbow

The Kremlin said on Monday it was worried about the state of affairs in Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region, where it said Ukraine and other European countries were stirring up the situation.

Moscow last week told the West that it would view any actions that threatened Russian peacekeepers in Transdniestria as an attack on Russia itself, a warning that came amid increased concerns in Moldova, a small ex-Soviet republic located between Romania and Ukraine, of a possible Russian threat.

Moldova's pro-European president, Maia Sandu, this month accused Moscow of plotting a coup, something Russia denied.

"Naturally, the situation in Transdniestria is the subject of our closest attention and a reason for our concern," Peskov told reporters. "The situation is unsettled, it is being provoked, provoked from outside.

"But we know that our opponents in the Ukrainian regime, the Kyiv regime, as well as those in European countries, are capable of various types of provocation."

Russian government officials will be banned from using most foreign words when carrying out their duties, according to an amended law on the formal use of Russian that President Vladimir Putin signed on Tuesday.

Since launching the invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Putin has said he wants to protect Russia from what he calls a degenerate West that he alleges is trying to destroy the country.

The amendments to the 2005 law are designed to protect and support the status of Russian, according to a text posted on the government's website.

"When using Russian as the state language of the Russian Federation, it is not allowed to use words and expressions that do not correspond to the norms of modern Russian ... with the exception of foreign words which do not have widely-used corresponding equivalents in Russian," says the text.

A list of foreign-based words that can still be used will be published separately. The amendments do not mention any punishments for those who fail to respect the updated law.

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 6:56 pm how will they be able to follow the maintenance manuals for all those foreign products

Sam the Centipede wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 3:25 am

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 6:56 pm how will they be able to follow the maintenance manuals for all those foreign products

No need: they have memorized "1 of cement, 2 of sand, 3 of gravel" for fixing everything.

A demographic crisis is unfolding in Russia. Over the past three years, the country has lost about 2 million more people than usual due to war, disease, and the mass exodus, – The Economist

The life expectancy of Russian men at the age of 15 has fallen by almost five years to the level of Haiti.

In April 2022, no more Russians were born than during the months of Nazi occupation. Also, many men of draft age have died or left the country, so women now outnumber men by at least 10 million.

The war is not the only or the leading cause of these troubles, but it has deepened them. According to Western estimates, 175,000-200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded over the past year. Somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million, mostly young, educated people, fled abroad to escape the meat grinder. In fact, the losses in the war further burden the sick population, which is already decreasing.

Perhaps Russia is entering a fatal cycle of demographic decline.

‘He is my best friend’: 10 years of strengthening ties between Putin and Xi
The Russian and Chinese leaders have met more than 40 times in recent years, fortifying personal and formal relations

Helen Davidson in Taipei
Tue 21 Mar 2023 10.57 GMT

A visit by China’s president, Xi Jinping, to Moscow this week has shone a light on his strengthening relationship with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

The two leaders have met more than 40 times in recent years, growing increasingly familiar, and now refer to each other as “dear friends”. Xi has been described as a great friend by other world leaders before, including Robert Mugabe and Donald Trump, but does not always reciprocate the compliment like he has with Putin.




timeline and more in the full article: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... ina-russia

Xi invites Putin to China in show of support as Moscow talks continue
Chinese and Russian leaders to discuss Ukraine in formal talks after friendly dinner, while Fumio Kishida meets Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv

Helen Davidson in Taipei, Justin McCurry in Tokyo and agencies
Tue 21 Mar 2023 12.30 GMT

Xi Jinping has invited Vladimir Putin to visit China this year in a symbolic show of support after the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s president over accusations of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children.

The Chinese leader extended the invitation during a meeting on Tuesday morning with the Russian prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, as part of his state visit to Moscow.

Putin and Xi are to hold a second day of talks later on Tuesday, as the internationally isolated Russian leader said he was open to discussing China’s proposals on the fighting in Ukraine and the US called on Xi to press him to “halt the war crimes”.

Xi’s trip to Moscow has been viewed as a major boost for Putin, who is subject to an international criminal court warrant. The Chinese leader is expected to continue to position himself as a potential peacemaker in the Ukraine war during his two-day visit to Russia – his first state visit since the invasion.

On Monday, Xi and Putin held four and a half hours of talks, calling each other “dear friend”. The talks were accompanied by a six-course meal that included blini with quail and mushrooms, fish and pomegranate sorbet, according to a menu published by a state media journalist. In a rare move, Putin escorted Xi to his car after the talks, and the two were seen smiling together.




https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... to-ukraine

Private Chat Leaks Show Moscow Officials in State of Panic Over Putin Arrest Warrant

Allison Quinn
Thu, March 23, 2023 at 12:09 PM GMT+1

While Moscow has publicly dismissed the Hague’s arrest order for Vladimir Putin as nothing more than a meaningless piece of paper, some government officials reportedly descended into a full-blown panic in private chats after the news broke—with some wondering if they’d become the next Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels.

That’s according to a new report from the independent outlet Verstka, which spoke with sources close to the Kremlin and several sources in parliament about the reaction behind the scenes.

The news spread “like fire” in private chats between officials in the presidential administration, one source close to the Kremlin said, adding that reactions were “strong, mostly unprintable.”

Witnesses Unravel the Chinese Mass Murder Mystery That Could Ruin Putin

“There was a sense that they [in the West] had crossed the line, that it was like a slap in the face for all of us,” he said.

Others suddenly began to realize that they too could face war crimes charges.

“There was an instant thought that there are not only sanctions against [us], but also more serious things, that it would be impossible to leave the country,” one source in a government ministry was quoted as saying. He said he himself did not expect to face any criminal prosecution, but that other members of the government could “maybe” go down.




https://www.yahoo.com/news/private-chat ... 38709.html

Dad’s Army: List Of Russian Army Equipment Deployed In Ukraine Older Than Our Parents

Wednesday, March 22, 2023
By Stijn Mitzer, Joost Oliemans and Kemal

Those expecting the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine to be a spectacle of Russian military might were soon left sorely disappointed. Yet the degradation of its combat abilities has continued apace, and one year into its war the cracks in the Russian military machine are starting to widen into chasms. Sustaining losses that meanwhile number over 1800 tanks and more than 2000 IFVs, the Russian Army has already reached the point at which it is no longer able to replace lost equipment with armament that is at least roughly equivalent to the combat worth of the equipment lost. [1] In order to replace its lost T-72B3 Obr. 2016s and T-80BVMs MBTs, the Russian arms industry hasn't churned out any of the much anticipated T-14 Armatas, but rather begun introducing hundreds of refurbished or upgraded variants of the antiquated T-62 MBT and even 1950s-era T-54s in an unmodified state. [2]

The situation is hardly any better for other components of the Russian Army, with 1950s and 1960s-era BRDM-2 AFVs and BMP-1 IFVs and BTR-50 APCs finding their way to frontline units as Ukrainian forces are starting to take delivery of advanced Leopard 2A6s, M1 Abrams MBTs and M2A2 and CV90 IFVs from partners in the West. While Russian tank repair plants busy themselves upgrading ageing equipment to feature additional protection so that they can theoretically stand a chance on the battlefields of Ukraine, the brunt of its reactivated relics is sent to the front in a virtually unmodified state, save for an oil change.

This emerging makeshift military has meanwhile included a hodgepodge of other antiquated materiel, including howitzers from the 1940s, AFV-mounted naval guns from the 1950s and even Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifles that have been noted to be in service with Pro-Russian forces of the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics since 2022. In order to continue to supply its freshly drafted or recruited forces, the Russian MoD will undoubtedly be forced to look into yet more forgotten corners of military storage depots to keep the gears of its army from grinding to a halt. The resulting decay of combat efficiency is likely to accelerate as poor equipment and complicated logistics lead to an uptick in casualties, the requirement for additional arms increases again, and consequently the need to reactivate even more obscure remnants of the Soviet ghost exacerbates.



https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2023/03/d ... -army.html

Putin prepares Russia for ‘forever war’ with west as Ukraine invasion stalls
The Russian president has managed to rally people around the flag with talk of a fight for national survival

Pjotr Sauer and Andrew Roth in Moscow
Tue 28 Mar 2023 10.44 BST

One evening in late December, as Muscovites strolled along their city’s brightly lit streets in anticipation of the end-of-year celebrations, a group of old friends gathered for dinner at the flat of a senior state official.

Some of the guests present, which included members of Russia’s cultural and political elite, toasted a new year in which they expressed hope for peace and a return to normality.

As the night went on, a man who needed little introduction stood up for a toast, holding his glass.

“I am guessing you are expecting me to say something,” said Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s longtime spokesperson, according to one of the two people who separately recounted the evening to the Guardian under conditions of anonymity.

“Things will get much harder. This will take a very, very long time,” Peskov continued.

His toast darkened the mood of the evening among the guests, many of whom have said in private that they oppose the war in Ukraine. “It was uncomfortable to hear his speech. It was clear that he was warning that the war will stay with us and we should prepare for the long haul,” one guest said.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... ion-stalls