Precisely.
I guess they're not bothering with the "referendums" any more.
Annexation would be bad news for Abhasian or South Ossetian - guess who'd get drafted to the Russian army right after they became a part of Russia.
Translation: oh, we never really wanted Ukraine so we're taking Georgia instead. They have a good rugby team and ours needs the new blood.
Their dropping of the pretence their interventions have anything to do with "liberation" would be amusing if only that all the tankies will either miss this comment - or twist their logic to maintain their anti West stance.
There's a not unreasonable theory he's being paid by some Russian interests; the EU parliament already had an issue with corruption lately - I doubt that was the only case.
"The West, of course. Duh..."
From that article:
"Putin as he prepares to launch an expected bid to be re-elected next March for six more years in the Kremlin."
Gee I wonder who'll win that election?
Somewhere. just like Prigozhin, he has a grip on Putin, and maybe its enough to bring Putin down if anything happens to him? Otherwise, he'd be long gone.
Putin blames the west... blah blah blah
Seems that Putin has managed to solve the spare parts problem's or at least some of them, for the western planes he hijacked back in Feb last year.
How Russia keeps its fleet of Western jets in the air | Reuters
Russian soldier
What's "The colony" when it's at home? Sounds more than a bit dystopian.
Also, do we know what condition these soldiers receive in PoW camps? I can't help but feel sorry for that guy: not remotely fit for serving in the army, and just looked bewildered, if not a bit relieved to be captured after what I presume was mobilisation. I'd hope he gets a modicum of comfort in the PoW set-up, has the possibility to return home.
lol
It means a penal colony. In Russia, there are not enough jails, and many prisoners are placed in labor camps, which are also known as "colonies".
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/04/world/europe/russia-penal-colony-brittney-griner.html
Personally, I do not feel even remotely sorry for this guy. He was not mobilized, he signed up voluntarily, probably in exchange of cancelling his prison sentence.
Ah right, forgot Russia still had penal colonies. No less dystopian in explanation. And without knowing the sentence, I'd be slow to dismiss the guy; given we've seen brutal murderers exonerated after returning home, while political enemies rot in jail on trumped-up charges, I'd not be surprised if this guy simply stole food for his family. Not like anything else in Russia makes sense.
I would hope that the AFU are treating their POWs decently. Beyond their moral (and legal) obligation to treat their prisoners humanely and with at least basic respect for thier human rights; it is also tactically wise to make surrendering to the AFU attractive to the Russians. There you have the choice between being cold, hungry & pushed towards certain death, or the certainty of shelter & food far off from the fighting if they surrender.
One drawback is that the AFU is understandibly inclined to trade these POWs for Ukrainian POWs. Meaning that the Russian troop's brief respite in a Ukraine prison / camp might end with them back in the hands of a Russian military who might have a special kind of "welcome" planned for those who dane to surrender.
Bypassing Russian radar and filming it with a drone
It won't be Prigozhin or Surovikin that bring Putin down. If it happens I think it will be the people who put him in power in the first place, the FSB.
He's fired so many high ranking military officers and people in the intelligence community, that there's a strong possibility that some of them are keeping a low profile and are plotting something behind his back, or at least I hope they are. Stalin did a proper job when he fired people, as they were never seen again, Putin might be over confident about the ability of his own security pals keeping tabs on them.
them damn Amuricans and Gayropa of course...
Hopefully not a once off but the beginning of something bigger....
Putin bots will be on later to say it was a goodwill gesture from Russia for their pilot to defect
how is a helicopter lured into Ukraine?
thats a mad story.
Tbf, Russia is quite good at having her own ships sunk
There's some mixed reporting on it going on. Some saying this was an operation thats been in the works for a while. And that two of the passengers ended up being shot dead when they realised they were landing in ukraine and resisted.
I guess we wait and see.
It's the general approach of the Govt. there, not just the dancing.
May also be personal perspective once you hit 70 definition changes.
Ukraine offer financial rewards for any Russian soldier who hands over a jet, helicopter, tank etc. There's a sliding scale depending on the value of the item. Last I heard it was around $500k for a helicopter.
But you can't just show up in a helicopter, you'd be shot down. They have to reach out to SBU and pre-arrange the defection. From the sounds of it, it was a long operation, the pilots family were already brought to Ukraine.
Lure is maybe the wrong word, it makes it sound like the pilot was tricked.
In sure the Russians will see that helicopter again soon lol
I hope their robot will be as realistic as their action movies
In reality it's probably only pilots and submarine captains with Scottish accents that they need to keep an eye on. Very difficult to make it across the minefields/trenches/hedgehogs in a tank, even if pre arranged.
That would be the Silovicki, Putin's old friends from his FSB / KGB days. But you have to include the military as well....they are a separate entity. And the ones Putin fears the most, I think. While the Silovicki are raking in the cash, he will be OK. but even now. I'd say that the military commander's, who are seeing the harsh reality's of the war first hand, and facing growing resistance, may well be the first to break ranks, and call a halt.
Kinda fits here:
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://we.vanillicon.com/v2/e050b53be62f0ae2404c620976170938.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w2.vanillicon.com/v2/23a17162c37eb6bc3dac0636b261afca.svg)
