Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Definably a double. No way he would go that near complete strangers, he would not go that near people he knows

Public Putin has wrinkles on his cheeks. And a more puffed up appearance.

Private politician. No.

Could even be three of them.

The puffed up guy it's even possible sometimes that it looks like a mask outline superimposed on a head.

Switching sides Toby? Never thought I'd see the day.

Welcome aboard.

Hopefully the stress of this war and in particular the Wagner incident knocks 10 years off Putin's life.

Looks like a rat in all pics IMO.

It's a sidetrack, but I think you're stretching credulity with that post. Look at the area between the lower lip and chin. It is uneven with a slight droop on the right side of the face. This is entirely consistent across the first three pictures. The only one that's even slightly dubious is the bottom pic. Just my lying eye's worth :)

An update from Hanna Maliar, Deputy Minister of Defense about advances at several directions:

How dare you insult rats in that manner!!!

in the words of Oscar Wilde:

it would take a heart of stone not to laugh

The latest from Bakhmut Demon.

There's a lot of evidence to suggest that the Russians replaced Wagner with recently mobilized forces who have been struggling to contain the Ukrainian counter-attacks.

I get the feeling this is a diversionary attack to try and pull Russian forces from the south. The Ukrainians have been consistently talking up attacks around Bakhmut for two months now. Makes me think they are trying to goad Putin into reinforcing the area.

The Russians are their own worst enemy it seems lol, what better way to bolster their war effort than to imprison some of the more competent generals.

Surovikin began the large scale bombing of infrastructure, and constructed a huge network of defensive lines in the south, east, and in Belgorod/kursk on the border. I think it was him who ordered retreat from Kherson too, which was the right call from a strategic pov else they would have eventually been trapped on the north bank.

Once gerasimov was appointed as head of the war above surovikin, the bombings became more indiscriminate attacks on civilians, there was a failed winter offensive, and then an attempted coup in protest at how sh*t gerasimov and shoigu are at leading the military

Thank God Putin values loyalty above competence, if this keeps up Ukraine surely will be able to sever the landbridge

I know we are all concerned about these massive Russian fortification lines that have yet to be encountered,

But,

Are we sure Russia has the manpower, will or resources to man then?

Sorry to be a broken record but RE: Putin out and about meeting people. He ain't running the show anymore. Somebody is telling him that he needs to keep up appearances, to say XYZ, to attend XYZ.

Prigozhin had insurance when they went on the match and were not obliterated. Whatever the insurance is, it is dictating whatever Vladimir Putin is doing right now. He has been beyond uncharacteristic this week. And he knows himself as former KGB, behaving uncharacteristically is a view for suspicion.

That's the interesting thing to wonder about. Wagner's rebellion last weekend gave the impression that between Rostov and Moscow there was no-one available to intercept or halt the Wagner advance. If it is true that there really wasn't any kind of army division available to head down the road to stop them, that might suggest that Russia has deployed everything they've got into Ukraine.

Any breech of the frontlines might therefore be catastrofic for a Russian force that has no means to stop the AFU from swinging around and attacking their positions from behind.