Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Will ya stop.

Ukraine faltering to the point Russia get a "win" and then roll on to face the west is a ship that sailed about 4 days after the 24/02/22.

From Feb 22-Mar 22 2022, 15000 protesting Russians were arrested in Moscow. And since then, there has been silent protests in Russian cities, where under the pretext of honoring the war dead by laying flowers at monuments, but they are in reality drawing attention to the war. While abroad, where Russians have settled, Georgia, Lithuania, Berlin, Barcelona, Paris, London, Serbia. have all held protests. Just because you do not hear to much about them now, does not mean that they are not going on. First point ( I've mentioned it before, anyway) Ethnic Russians are far from popular in the Republics. I learned this the hard way in my early days in Russia, when in my innocence, I inadvertedly called a colleague "Russian". I never made that mistake again. I was told in no uncertain terms, not to ever, ever call him a Russian again. 2nd point, Ethnic Russians are even less popular now in the Republics due to Putin definitely biased mobilization plans. So, while Putin has his supporters, there's many who do not agree with or support him, and I know quite a few of them ( I know quite a few of his dedicated followers too) But for sure, its not all cut and dried black and white, all Russians support Putin. They don't.

Judging by the movement on battlefield the Russian unannounced suppliers seem to be more reliable than the west who is losing this important strategic battle their are only so many Ukrainian fighters eventually they will cave

The west has not woken up when Ukraine and Belarus are gone they will be the next we il nuke you cannon fodder to be thrown at lets denazify Poland

10 year war ahead

A no fly zone and a NATO black sea protection fleet Russian stopped surveillance US drone taken out should have being a wake up call

Russians know article 5 is a joke they have tested it many more times than we know

Although the recent slide is attracting attention, it's interesting to look at the longer term trend.

The massive spike at the start of 2022 very visibly indicates the start of the war. After that we see a period of where the ruble traded in a range lower than the long term historical average. Presumably it was being artificially propped up by the Russian Central bank. Since December, it doesn't look like it's been able to continue supporting it.

Assuming that the ruble value is being determined mainly by free market forces now, it would seem that the economists have a bleak view of Russia's economic future. Many military analysts don't seem to have such a bleak view of the Russian Army's prospects. But I would have thought that the two were interlinked. Without a viable economic future, in the medium to long term the armed forces are going to suffer substantially.

Just before anybody says they don't deal with Dollar anymore which they actually do. The Ruble has dropped a lot over 12 months Vs other currencies too. I check China, India, Britain and eur all major drops. This makes importing more expensive for Russia and ultimately it means they'll burn through their reserves faster and when they do it will be more costly to borrow money.

Russia really shielded themselves from this war and 18 months in they're still going but give it another year, if the currency keeps dropping they'll not have a good financial outlook.

I agree with you re the Catholic Church, but where it differs from Russia, is that for Putin and Co, their lives depend on strangling dissent at birth, or even before. Had Putin been the head of the Catholic Church, it would still be alive and well and as powerful as ever. And as we have seen, and continue to see Putin is prepared to kill as many as it takes to preserve his own miserable life.

The Kerch bridge may have been hit again, telegram accounts reporting it.

The question is it a smoke screen drill. Or smoke screen activated after a successful hit. The black smoke would suggest so. I seen another imagine where there was more black smoke near the bridge but not on it. Maybe an air defence unit or a boat was targeted also.

This is what they're saying

The black smoke appears to be coming off the bridge, if drones/missiles were shot down then not sure what is causing that.

Whats the point of smokescreen in trying to deflect a gps guided missile?

I ignored this at first. Might be something.

Kerch bridge open to traffic again so failed attack.

In other news Russian mod confirms an SU-30 crashed in Kaliningrad while performing a training flight.

Russian SU-30 jet crashed near Kaliningrad.