Russia - threadbanned users in OP

So other than PUTIN who else is on the ballot?

AL JAZEERA have a live page on this event:

Just noticed the camera on the soldiers helmet too. So authorities are watching and recording everything in the vote centre.

The state is like a tightly screwed shut pickle jar. Which begs the question - Why bother with the sham elections at this stage?

They've gone a long way from what would be considered normal behaviour and legalised behaviour in a vote centre such as a country like Ireland where pictures are prohibited inside and posters have to be a certain distance from a centre.

No wonder Donald Trump loves Putin and his way of running a country. Any gobdaw with paid for guns and muscle can rule a country indefinitely then.

As regards the French, to be blunt the Foreign Legion provides a degree of flexibility to the country. Compared to the casualty aversion of other Western countries. Considering recent withdrawals of the French from parts of Western Africa, imagine they would be the unit of choice for any intervention.

In terms of Russian losses, think the number is less than 400,000. Still unimaginable for the Twenty first century. There's also the matter of materials. The Russia is going to run out of x by month blank articles are fairly careless journalism. The Russian are feeling the strain none the less. Attacking positions with Chinese golf carts and 1960s era armour is certainly not a good sign from their perspective.

2M reservists figure was dreamt up by Konoshenkov, Shoigu, or maybe Solovyev. 400k casualities are reported by Ukraine but a number not that far off confirmed by other sources.

Worth remembering that it's only a fraction of the armed forces who are actually at the front line at any one time. There's also a huge logistical operation behind that which needs manning. Think of all the things that those on the front line might need and then think that none of that stuff spontaneously happens.

As for the Nepalese, Indians, auld lads etc., it's long appeared to be Putin's strategy to toss 'expendables' at the guns first and foremost, as their loss won't be so bitterly felt by the ordinary Russian people. I don't know precisely what state Russia's professional force is in, but it's got to have taken a battering over the last few years. They'll be looking to preserve whatever's left of that, plus keep the political backlash against the war to a minimum by not sacrificing the young men of the urban centres until no choice is left.

again - in theory. Prigozhin's drive to Moscow indicated it could not be the case. Easy boarder crossings into ruSSia suggest the same. Remember - everything the world knows about 'mighty ruSSian army' is what they showed us in a form of cartoon drawings. 😁

Citizens giving their votes in this sham

What will happen after the demise / removal of Putin is the same as what happens when rats are locked in a barrel, or other enclosed space without food or water. They will fight each other, until only the strongest rat remains. And that's one of the reasons why there's so many private militias' in Russia.

Putin doing a great job of speeding up demographic collapse. A true mastermind sending hundreds of thousands of men to their deaths and causing over a million to leave the country.

Ah ah ah ah ah ah (*laughter in French*)

Dont forget in ye're numbers - the Rosgvardiya or the The National Guard of the Russian Federation ( Putins personal army pretty much ).

Manpower - 340,000 or so