Russia

[Slim Cognito]

And if you don’t buy that, let me show you to the window.

[Volkonski]

Reuters@Reuters·37sSatellite images prove Russian failure to withdraw troops, NATO says http://reut.rs/34Gw9Iv

[RVInit]

And if you don’t buy that, let me show you to the window.

[Volkonski]

Travis Akers@travisakers·Feb 15Cyber Awareness: Russian-controlled troll/bot farms, used for information warfare, will be highly active over the next 48 hours, spreading propaganda from the Kremlin.

Be vigilant in what you read and hear this week regarding Ukraine, and resist sharing uncorroborated reports.

[Volkonski]

Reuters
@Reuters
·
5m
Putin tells Russian government to house people leaving Donbass http://reut.rs/3gZtPi0

[Volkonski]

Ken Dilanian
@KenDilanianNBC
·
7m
New from
@ckubeNBC

Defense officials say Russia now has between 40-50% of it’s military forces around Ukraine in attack position, defined as the last covered and concealed position before the line of departure. They’ve reached this level of readiness in the last 48 hours.

[Volkonski]

Guess they couldn't hear eachother across that huge table before.

[Volkonski]

[Suranis]

If I was Ukraine and wanted to push some buttons, I wouldn't waste time and precious ammo shelling rebel cities. Much expenditure, zero gain. I'd be blowing up Russian army dumps and supplies, not to mention all those chunky soft helicopters laid out in a row.

The Russian propaganda makes no sense.

[Volkonski]

[Suranis]

That does put a human dimension to it, doesn't it. People cant be happy to drop everything on the orders of Daddy Putin just to make him look good. You cant enjoy the services of a refugee camp and still think Putin is a tough guy who does not give a fuck what anyone thinks, becasue your daily gruel ration says he bloody does. The only reason you are there is so he wont look like a villian.

It has the potential of turning his own people against him for being such an ass to his own peeps.

[Volkonski]

Julia Davis
@JuliaDavisNews
·
30m
There is a disturbing tendency I'm noticing lately on Russia's state TV: referring to Americans and Ukrainians as "dogs." Dogs that bark, bite, need to be put to sleep, need to be hit with a stick, etc.

Also, denigrating US participation in WWII: "All about lend-lease & profit."

Ingrates. Herbert Hoover should have let them starve after WW I.

[jcolvin2]

Ingrates. Herbert Hoover should have let them starve after WW I.

The Ukraine was also suffering famine, along with Russia’s Volga river valley, and benefited from the ARA.

[Volkonski]

Alexander Lanoszka
@ALanoszka
·
15h
Local eyewitnesses report heavy drinking, black market selling of fuel supplies, and lots of trash left behind by Russian soldiers in southeastern Belarus during military drills. All this implies poor discipline and even low morale among Russian troops.

I can believe this. Those soldiers are away from home in the dead of winter. They are being prepared to invade a country about which they feel no animus or fear.

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

I hope that Boris is wrong.

[Suranis]

https://twitter.com/kshmatsina/status/1 ... 8912267264

Katsiaryna Shmatsina
@kshmatsina
This article describes some of the effects of having Russian military in large numbers in Belarus. TLDR: It's not pretty, for the locals, the soldiers, the Russian army or Putin. 1/9
belprauda.com
Будни «Союзной решимости – 2022»
Продолжающиеся на территории Беларуси военные учения «Союзная решимость - 2022» точно во
12:52 PM · Feb 18, 2022·Twitter for iPhone

COVID is ripping through the units stationed in Belarus. Official stats have case numbers breaking all records. Army units have *really* high numbers at all ranks & they infecting the locals. Many soldiers are treated in field hospitals (tents?) as local facilities are full 2/9

Local residents are concerned with the behaviour of soldiers, who blow off steam & the article hints that soldiers from other parts of Russia (non-Slavic) are the centre of tensions. Nothing like racism to help an army unite. 3/9

RU military seems to be stripping whole areas of forest of firewood to heat camps & food,leaving little left for locals to heat their homes. Nature park areas are also damaged with the Russian army not cleaning up after themselves. Sounds like a problem Napoleon would've had.4/9

An extended period of heavy vehicles in the area has damaged roads & other infrastructure. The article says the Russians don't care and that probably there isn't the money to repair what were new roads anyway. 5/9

That soldiers drink is well known but the soldiers are taking it to extreme.Some nearly froze to death drunk on moonshine,they haven't got a lot of money to buy booze & property has started being stolen to pay for it.Drinking is "non-stop",dangerous moonshine being no barrier 6/9

Videos of soldiers complaining of bad food have been uploaded to social media. If unable to barter for food (see next tweet), domestic animals vanish. Locals are too scared to report any of this to their authorities who probably can't do much to young men with guns anyway. 7/9

Due to boredom, alcoholism, bad food & poor pay, soldiers are starting to sell/trade military equipment for goods. Diesel fuel & uniforms are common goods but the article reports even weapons can be acquired - all written off as "losses". 8/9

So Putin has to decide to invade soon or go home before those of his soldiers who aren't incapacitated with COVID drink themselves to death after robbing his army blind leaving it unable to fight and stuck in a country they've trashed. 9/9

[Volkonski]

[Kendra]

RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE US: Russian troops are just on Russian territory.

MARGARET BRENNAN: They're also in Belarus.

AMBASSADOR: For drills.

BRENNAN: That were supposed to end today. Are they leaving?

AMBASSADOR, PIVOTING TO WHATABOUTISM: The US has many military bases too.

[Slim Cognito]

Is there any talk of disgruntled Russian soldiers going AWOL?

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[Suranis]

Is there any talk of disgruntled Russian soldiers going AWOL?

Too early for that. They still have alcohol and they still have plenty of food and firewood they can steal from the populace, and still have girls/boys/cattle they can rape. When that stuff runs out, that is when soldiers start to wander off.

Its back to good old medieval sieges. There is only so long you can sit around an area before supplying your army gets hard, or even worse that your army gets besieged by someone else. The people in the castle generally had to make sure they had enough supplies to wait them out.

190k men takes a lot of effort to keep supplied. And Russia is adding onto that logistics strain by grabbing people and shoving them into camps. There is only so long they can maintain that kind of effort with no positive outcome.

[Volkonski]

[Uninformed]

Being unable to see the “logic” behind Putin’s machinations re Ukraine I have started to wonder if this is a simply step in the undermining of the USA’s presence/power in Europe as part of long-term manoeuvring to, allied with China, attempt the same globally. Then again it might be time to take my tinfoil hat off.