Day 904
Proof of dead hang
To put it another way, Anton and Alina, reporting from Berlin and London, respectively, might be fucking nutcases for even filing this story, and the editors of The New York Times could be called a bunch of idiots for publishing it1.
Notshift is not a verb. But the real coup de grace of this reportage is that the authors cite lunatic opposition politician Lev Shlosberg, the straight-shooting patriot from Pskov with a heart of gold, who rambles about “the energy of dissatisfaction,” so, you see, Putin is not anti-Russia or anything, just brain dead.
Spare me. Spare me the song and dance about “the erased red line that seemed untouchable.” Pardon your cherry-picked quotes and my misplaced sensitivity, but this is crap. Maybe NYT correspondents should hop on a plane, travel to Kursk and do some actual reporting. Or send Val.
Looking on the bright side, the photographs are excellent.
About 45 minutes into the chit chat below, Khororkovsky recalls chuckles between top dogs in Moscow about getting rid of more than half of the empire’s extraneous population. Russia’s ideal population would be just 50 million, more than enough to manage exports of raw materials, threaten Russia’s neighbors and protect the ruling elite.
Yuriy posts this.
Ukrainian drones attacked Russian military airports in Voronezh, Kursk, Savasleyka and Borisoglebsk last night.
The video above is a drone hitting Savasleyka military airport yesterday. We don’t know, exactly, the results, but we hope damage was extensive.
I went back and re-read Novaya Gazeta’s investigation about the creation of Wagner PMC in early 2014 and the role played by Oleksiy Dyumin, who Putin this week put in charge of cleaning up the Kursk incursion mess2.
Indeed, Dyumin played a key role as Putin’s sidekick in the creation of Wagner PMC, annexation of Crimea, invasion of eastern Ukraine, et cetera.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, the then 33-year old Z tagged to run the Donetsk Regional Administration in July 2019, is suspected of receiving unlawful gains. He was tagged to run the state anti-monopoly agency in 2023.
The above video is Z introducing Kyrylenko as Donetsk region boss in 2019. Syrsky is there.
Ukraine’s Incursion Into Russia Flips the Script on Putin. The reality of 130,000 displaced Russians and a chaotic official response may begin to puncture the official line that Russia is steadily heading toward victory (The New York Times, August 15, 2024)
Задачи ставили генералы. Как была создана ЧВК «Вагнер» и при чем здесь нынешний тульский губернатор Алексей Дюмин (Новая Газета, June 29, 2023)