| Abu Fath Al-Pastuni | Abu Fath Al-Pastuni | Jemaah Islamiah | Southeast Asia | 20031214 | |||||
| Ahmed Fathy Mehalba | Ahmed Fathy Mehalba | al-Qaeda | Home Front | 20040110 | |||||
| Al-Sayyid Ahmad Fathi Husayn Alaywah | Al-Sayyid Ahmad Fathi Husayn Alaywah | al-Qaeda | International-UN-NGOs | 20051002 | Link | ||||
| Ali Fathi al-Shishani | Ali Fathi al-Shishani | Chechnya | Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia | 20060130 | Link | ||||
| Fathallah Arsalane | Fathallah Arsalane | Adl wal Ihsane | Africa: North | 20031104 | |||||
| Fathallah Arsalane | Al-Adl Wal-Ihsane | Africa: North | 20040321 | ||||||
| Fathallah Arslane | Fathallah Arslane | Al-Adl wa al-Ihsane | Africa North | 20060528 | Link | ||||
| Fathi Hatziv | Fathi Hatziv | Hamas | Israel-Palestine | Palestinian | Arrested | Runner | 20020516 | ||
| Hamas activist from Kafr Kafin, who was arrested at the beginning of Operation Defensive Shield. | |||||||||
| Fathi Shkaki | Fathi Shkaki | Islamic Jihad | Israel-Palestine | 20040324 | |||||
| Fathi al-Razem | Fathi al-Razem | Palestinian Authority | Israel-Palestine | Palestinian | 20020128 | ||||
| Fathi al-Razen | Fathi al-Razen | Palestinian Authority | Israel-Palestine | Palestinian | 20020111 | ||||
| Fathi al-Shikaki | Fathi al-Shikaki | Islamic Jihad | Middle East | 20021024 | |||||
| Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi | Fathur Roman Al-Ghozi | al Qaeda | Southeast Asia | 20021205 | |||||
| Fathur Roman al Ghozi | Moro Islamic Liberation Front | Southeast Asia | 20030610 | ||||||
| Fathur Al-Ghozi | Jemaah Islamiyah | Southeast Asia | 20031012 | ||||||
| Fathur Roman Al-Ghozi | Jemaah Islamiyah | Southeast Asia | 20021108 | ||||||
| Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi | Moro Islamic Liberation Front | Southeast Asia | 20030908 | ||||||
| Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi | Moro Islamic Liberation Front | Southeast Asia | 20020205 | ||||||
| Fathur Rahman Al Ghozi | al-Qaeda | Terror Networks | 20030119 | ||||||
| Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi | Jemaah Islamiyah | Southeast Asia | 20031204 | ||||||
| Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi | Jemaah Islamiah | Southeast Asia | 20030906 | ||||||
| Fathur al-Ghozi | Jemaah Islamiah | Southeast Asia | 20030312 | ||||||
| Fathur Rahman Ghozi | Jemaah Islamiyah | Southeast Asia | 20031117 | ||||||
| Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi | Fathur Rohman | Jemaah Islamiah | Southeast Asia | 20020211 | |||||
| Nouredine el Fathni | Nouredine el Fathni | Hofstadgroup | Europe | 20051221 | Link | ||||
| Yasser Fathi Frayhat | Yasser Fathi Frayhat | al-Qaeda | Israel-Palestine-Jordan | 20060106 | Link | ||||
| Yasser Fathi Ibraheem | Yasser Fathi Ibraheem | al-Tawhid | Axis of Evil | 20030123 | |||||
| Yasser Fathi Ibrahim | Yasser Fathi Ibrahim | al-Qaeda | Iraq-Jordan | Jordanian | Arrested | Cannon Fodder | 20021214 | ||
| Drove the getaway car in the Laurence Foley assassination | |||||||||
| Yasser Fathi Ibrahim | al Qaeda | Middle East | 20030204 | ||||||
| Home Front: Politix |
| Jeep ends multi- million dollar contract with Bruce Springsteen after his divisive anti-Trump comments in Europe |
| 2025-05-21 |
[X]
Related: Bruce Springsteen 04/08/2025 Tariff Tantrums: While Boomers Rage and Millennials Panic, Gen X Knows We've Got a Country to Save Bruce Springsteen 11/08/2024 It Wasn't Just Kamala - a Look at Who and What Else Lost in Tuesday's Election Bruce Springsteen 11/07/2024 List of people that will be leaving the country because of a Trump victory. Related: Jeep 05/01/2025 Fifty Years After Saigon: Remembering the Nobility of a Betrayed Cause Jeep 04/19/2025 Texas man accused of disemboweling father, saying aliens harvested his organs Jeep 02/15/2025 Like Father, Like Son: Granddaughter Who Killed Grandfather Acted in the Spirit of the Tarkhov Family |
| Link |
| -Great Cultural Revolution |
| It's Time to End Federal Control of Education and Restore Parental Authority |
| 2025-05-16 |
America’s Founding Fathers never intended for Washington, D.C., to dictate how children in Kansas or Kentucky learn to read, write, and think. Education was, and should be, a local and parental matter. President Donald Trump rightly stated in Executive Order 13985, Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping, "The experiment of controlling American education through federal programs and dollars...has plainly failed our children, our teachers, and our families." That failure is clearly documented by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often referred to as "The Nation’s Report Card." Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, NAEP scores had stagnated or declined. Today, nearly 40% of fourth graders read below basic level, despite record federal funding. Billions of taxpayer dollars have produced declining literacy. It’s not just ineffective—it’s indefensible. |
| Link |
| -Short Attention Span Theater- | |
| The 5th classical music festival 'Cantata' will be held throughout Russia for the first time | |
| 2025-05-17 | |
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [Regnum] The 5th Anniversary International Festival of Classical Music "Cantata" will go beyond the Kaliningrad Region for the first time. This was announced on May 15 by the press service of the organizers."The opening of the festival will be preceded by the grand All-Russian classical music marathon "Cantata. Russia", which will be dedicated to the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland and will become one of the key events of Russia Day," the statement said. It is noted that the festival marathon will be held from June 12 to 15, 2025 in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Yaroslavl, Sevastopol, Nizhny Novgorod, Yakutsk, Kaliningrad, Yuryevets, Crimea, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and Vladivostok. The concert program will include music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, represented by a suite from the ballet Swan Lake and the aria of Joan of Arc from the opera The Maid of Orleans, as well as Alexei Chernakov with a piece specially composed for Russia Day and Sergei Prokofiev with his cantata Alexander Nevsky. As reported by Regnum News Agency, in 2024 the Cantata festival was held from June 3 to 9 in Kaliningrad and the Kaliningrad region with the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives, the Moscow government and the Kaliningrad region government. It included a series of live concerts and performances in picturesque and historically significant places in the region. Works by Russian and foreign composers were performed by internationally renowned artists. Over 200 people took part in organizing the festival, including over 100 volunteers. Various works were performed by 330 artists.
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| Link |
| Africa North | ||||
| Death of controversial warlord sparks new round of war in Libya | ||||
| 2025-05-15 | ||||
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
A TROUBLED COUNTRY Constant shootings and armed clashes are nothing new for modern Libya. Even after the end of the active phase of the civil war, the country is oversaturated with armed elements, whose activity is impossible to control. The Libyan capital, Tripoli, is suffering the most. Constant clashes have earned it the slang name of "bee city" - a reference to the fact that the city is divided into sectors ("honeycombs"), each of which is secretly controlled by one of the armed groups that inherited the war. The Libyan authorities try to re-educate yesterday's militias from time to time. Some of them have even been integrated into the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense, turning them into "brigades", but such a consensus is usually limited to a formal assignment. The groups control the shadow business sector - smuggling, illegal migration, drug trafficking, and engage in kidnapping. Others, however, skillfully combine robbery with big political games, converting shadow influence into public influence. Among these was one of yesterday’s field commanders, and now the head of the apparatus for supporting stability under the Libyan presidential council, Abdel Ghani al-Kikli. THE ALMIGHTY "GANIVA" Al-Kikli, known by the nickname Ghaniwa, had an extremely controversial reputation among his fellow citizens. A man with a criminal past, he managed to build a career during the civil war and put together a small personal army,
Not the least important role in al-Kikli's rise was played by his entry into the inner circle of the current Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah. Ghaniva enjoyed his patronage, which allowed him to promote his own creature to various ministries and departments, keep financial flows under control, and even influence the central bank's rate. In addition, al-Kikli did the current authorities a great service by drawing under his wing most of the youth gangs of northwestern Libya, who, after the end of the fighting, were looking for a permanent strong leader. This later helped Dbeibeh in 2022 to thwart former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha's plans to carry out a "bloodless coup" (with the support of paramilitary youth) and retain power in his own hands. Ghaniva managed to strengthen his personal army with new recruits, turning it into a formidable argument in the division of spheres of influence in post-war Libya. UNSTABLE ALLY However, over time, Dbeibah considered his former ally too unstable and began to distance himself from him more and more. Moreover, in pursuit of profit, Ghaniva increasingly came into conflict with officials in his office and commanders of other groups. He sabotaged the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and even, according to some reports, “threatened to turn weapons” against his former partner, threatening him with the fate of Muammar Gaddafi. It is noteworthy that shortly before the high-profile murder, one of the major local newspapers, controlled by Dbeibah loyalists, published a devastating article dedicated to al-Kikli. It reported that Ganiva aimed to gain control over the country's oil sector, and in the future, to take the prime minister's seat. And for these purposes, he intends to "sow discord" in the ranks of the militias stationed in Tripoli. It is difficult to judge whether the deceased al-Kikli actually had such aspirations. It is also difficult to say whether Dbeibah's agents were involved in the case. Although the command of the 444th Brigade, at whose headquarters the murder took place, is part of the prime minister's "personal army", he clearly did not give a direct order. The attack was more likely a revenge attack on al-Kikli by the commanders of a rival brigade, which Ghaniva had tried to disperse several times, but to no avail. Now, with his death and the subsequent flight from the capital of his two closest associates, it is unlikely that his personal army will be restored to its former glory. The assets left without a master will go to other, more accommodating groups. DOMINO EFFECT Although the unrest in Tripoli was relatively quickly suppressed by the army and police, and the situation, according to local officials, was “returned to a peaceful course,” the negative momentum managed to spread beyond the capital. Numerous militias considered the unrest that had begun as a signal for a new redistribution of spheres of influence. Among other places, the clashes affected the city of Tajura, east of the capital, where during intense fighting between loyalists of different groups near the Al-Judaydah prison, part of the protective structures were destroyed and prisoners fled. The incident is interesting because a significant portion of the prison's "residents" were convicted of serious crimes, including working for terrorist organizations. Some field commanders who lost the "backroom war" with the Libyan government were also held there. The situation is made even more piquant by the fact that law enforcement officials cannot yet determine exactly how many prisoners have left prison and who should be caught first - after the start of the civil war in the country, "prisoner lists" were kept unsystematically, and the casemates often contained more people than were listed on paper. Against the backdrop of unrest in the capital, representatives of the alternative center of power, the Libyan House of Representatives, which controls the east of the country, have predictably come into motion. Columns of armored vehicles of the Libyan National Army (LNA), controlled by the House, left Benghazi and moved towards Tripoli. According to Libyan publications, by May 14, the LNA's advance forces reached the city of Sirte, which is 450 km from the capital. However, commanders from the east are in no hurry to proclaim a new “liberation campaign” on Tripoli, fearing to repeat the mistakes of 2019. Then, the arrogance of the LNA command led to the offensive on the capital stalling, and after the entry of the Turkish contingent into the country, it failed. This time, Tripoli's opponents will prefer to wait until it exhausts itself in endless strife and skirmishes and can no longer offer serious resistance to the fresh forces of the LNA.
The Government of National Unity (GNU) says it has taken full control of Abu Salim, a key district in the capital Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , following a military operation launched amid fierce festivities with gangs. Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah announced late Monday that the operation had "ended successfully," praising security forces for what he called a "major achievement" in restoring order and asserting state authority. Writing on social media, Dbeibah commended the Ministries of Defence and Interior, as well as the army and police, saying: "This is a decisive step toward ending irregular gangs and reinforcing the principle that there is no place in Libya except for state institutions and the rule of law." The Ministry of Defence later confirmed the end of operations, saying a long-term plan to stabilise the area would now be implemented. Abu Salim is a stronghold of the Stability Support Apparatus, a powerful militia led by Abdul Ghani al-Kikli — widely known as "Ghnewa." Fighting erupted after reports circulated claiming Ghnewa had been killed, although the circumstances remain unclear. Armed festivities spread rapidly across parts of the capital, forcing the closure of roads and businesses and sparking panic among residents. On Tuesday, the Emergency Medicine and Support Centre confirmed the recovery of six bodies from areas surrounding Abu Salim after the fighting subsided. The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) expressed "grave concern" over the escalating violence, particularly the use of heavy weapons in densely populated civilian areas. It called on all parties to exercise restraint and protect civilians. Local emergency services declared a state of alert and urged residents near conflict zones to remain indoors. The GNU’s Interior Ministry said it was "closely monitoring" developments and working to restore calm in Tripoli’s southern and western suburbs. Social media footage appeared to show government-aligned forces capturing key buildings formerly occupied by the Stability Support Apparatus and the affiliated Internal Security Agency. GNU's Ministry of Defense declares truce and ceasefire in Tripoli [LibyaObserver] The Ministry of Defense of the Government of National Unity (GNU) has announced the beginning of a ceasefire implementation across all conflict areas within the capital, Tripoli. The Ministry clarified that what it described as regular forces, in coordination with the relevant security agencies, have begun taking the necessary steps to ensure deescalation, including deploying neutral units at several flashpoints. The Ministry called on all parties to fully adhere to the ceasefire and refrain from provocative statements or any field movements that could reignite tensions. The statement emphasized that their response to recent developments was part of their national duty, aimed at maintaining public order and preventing any exploitation of the situation to pursue agendas that conflict with the path of the state and its legitimate institutions. The Ministry also stressed that unity, the reinforcement of the rule of law, and the dismantling of random armed manifestations remain top priorities, and that no reality will be allowed to be imposed by force of arms or outside official frameworks. The capital Tripoli witnessed a dangerous security escalation on Tuesday night and early Wednesday, marked by intense armed clashes in the city center. This prompted the declaration of a state of emergency, the suspension of classes and exams, and the rerouting of flights from Mitiga Airport to Misrata Airport. Several neighborhoods across the city—from east to west and south—experienced heavy armed clashes involving medium and heavy weaponry, causing panic among residents in densely populated areas. Related: Abu Salim district: 2022-12-18 Libya militia held Lockerbie suspect before handover to US Abu Salim district: 2020-05-07 Haftar’s militia groups have showered Abu Salim district with indiscriminate rockets Abu Salim district: 2019-05-01 Air strikes, roadblocks trap civilians in Tripoli Related: Ghaniwa 05/30/2020 GNA Ghaniwa Al-Kikli militia kill humanitarian activist in her apartment Ghaniwa 07/08/2018 Violent clashes rock Tripoli once again Ghaniwa 05/01/2018 Overnight heavy fighting rocks Libya's capital Related: Government of National Unity: 2024-11-18 What’s Preventing Turkey from Enforcing Security and Economic Deals in Libya? Government of National Unity: 2024-11-18 Libya’s New “Morality Police” Who Are They and Why? Government of National Unity: 2024-09-19 Violent Clashes Erupt in Libyan Capital | ||||
| Link |
| -Great Cultural Revolution |
| Democrats Drag America Into the Mouth of Their Madness |
| 2025-05-15 |
| [JOHNKASSNEWS] Watching the Democrats storm the Immigration and Customs enforcement facility in New Jersey, applauding themselves and singing their creaky old ’60s protest songs like a collection of cos-playing Pete Seegers dressing up as clergy, and threatening the government to protect illegal migrant criminals and gang members, I couldn’t help but think of France. Why France? We’re on our way, aren’t we? Only a moron couldn’t see it. And only a servant of the Democrats—or CNN anchor Jake the Fake Tapper—would watch this and say nothing. Just imagine their current revolutionary princess—Alexandria Ocascio-Cortez— leading the Democrat Party back in the late 1789 at the storming of the Bastille. You can see her there, can’t you? Of course you can. You see it there just as you can see her here. Can’t you? And the French Revolution was born. The lopping off of heads began. They hated Christianity. The Roman Catholic church was in their way, an impediment to their ambition. They were their own gods. They had their slogan, "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité." The Jacobins of our own time—we call them Democrats—have their slogans and their leaders, full of pride, full of anger, full of rage. And violence. Violence in their rhetoric, violence in their speeches, violence in their imagery. In the France of 1793, not the United States of 2025, they not only believed in the death penalty, they embraced political murder as a nation of zealots. Approximately 16,594 people were officially executed by guillotine, the severed heads raised aloft to the lusty cheers of the mob. According to the World History Encyclopedia, an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 individuals were executed without trial, and some 10,000 died in prison. In France. And in the United States of 2025, the Democratic Jacobins in America, led by their revolutionary princess Alexandria Ocasio Cortes threatens anyone who dares stop them by supporting the law. That’s the key to understanding this political drama now. It’s all about public outrage and performance art, but if and when they grab power in the mid-term elections next year, the heads will roll. As the Federalist’s Todd Bensman reminds us, "Where Was Democrats’ Outrage When Obama and Biden Deported Illegal Alien Housekeepers and Gardeners?" Bensman writes, "...Americans need to be reminded that no such war for their hearts and minds happened when Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton collectively deported millions of illegal aliens who also merely worked hard, paid taxes, and stayed out of U.S. prisons and off gang and terrorism intelligence databases. "When Democrats carry out deportations, there is nary a peep of protest from this very same peanut gallery. When the Biden administration secretly air-deported hundreds of thousands of Central American and Haitian mothers with babies in their arms just a couple of years ago, there were no stories planted to spin up a rage machine. Those operations drew no tear-jerking stories in the corporate press — or really, any coverage at all. "And when Biden was vice president, he and Barack Obama practically got a blank media hall pass when they air-deported tens of thousands of unaccompanied illegal alien children back to Central American tarmacs to shut down a surge of those in 2015. Most Americans still don’t even know they did that, not to mention the millions of other non-criminal family members and oft-vaunted "breadwinners" they deported during all eight of their years in office. "And Bill Clinton? His party base lauded him in the mid-1990s when he spearheaded tough deportation-centric legislation known as the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. "The coming war on Trump’s mere remake of Democratic Party deportation programs lays bare the profound double-standard hypocrisy of the activists waging it along with their partisan media allies who so willfully believe that a unique new MAGA inhumanity is afoot. "It isn’t. This is an old story with new, politically motivated framing." And the political left is always making threats to rally their followers to the barricades before the head lopping can really begin.
So, if you can cut through the whiny sentimental weeping and AOC’s drama-queen bit, and the old Pete Seegar protest songs outside that ICE facility in New Jersey, what do you find? A ravenous appetite for power. Pure power. Who are the Democrats fighting for? The child rapists? The murderers? The gangbangers? The sex-traffickers? The beasts who murdered and raped the young nurse in Georgia, Laken Riley and the mother of five in Maryland, Rachel Morin. And beasts like these also sexually assaulted and murdered Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old American girl in Texas. Former President Joe Biden opened the American borders and let in between 12 million to 20 million of these illegal criminal migrants. The corporate legacy media lied for Biden and they gaslit other concerned Americans. They harassed anyone who cried out and called them fascists. Biden and the Democrats let in the worst of the worst. And now AOC and the others threaten us with more violence. This is who they are. They’re showing all of us. All who are of the left are doing anything they can to stop the lawful deportation of the criminals. That is who the Democrat Party have become. It’s more than idiotic political theater. It is dangerous and stomach turning. All you have to do is look up the French revolution. The ICE facility in Newark isn’t the Bastille, but they’d like it to be. It works for them. According to the left wing news site Politico: "Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s Friday arrest fired up liberal Democrats in and outside of New Jersey, turning his hours in federal custody into a political moment for progressives and the region’s immigration activists while boosting the mayor’s national profile as he runs for governor. "Free Ras Baraka! Free Ras Baraka!" protesters chanted for hours outside the federal facility where Baraka was held Friday. He’d been arrested earlier that day at another protest outside an immigration detention center on a trespassing charge. By the time he was released that night, a wave of support had formed following his arrest, which came after armed federal officers got involved in a scrum with three members of Congress who were seeking to tour a new Trump administration Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Newark, Delaney Hall." It’s obvious that the Democrats think they’re above the law. Baraka is using this to launch his New Jersey campaign for governor. What is the cost? "Democrats across the country have major trouble following that "no one is above the law" precept they keep invoking — as witness multiple recent scuffles as the left goes to bat for illegal immigrants," argues The New York post in an editorial. "First up, at New Jersey’s Delaney Hall Detention Center — which houses border-jumpers accused of crimes ranging from rape to murder — Reps. Robert Menendez Jr. and LaMonica McIver got into an altercation with ICE agents as McIver tried to force her way into the facility. "Also protesting was Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who ended up in cuffs and custody for his part in the fracas." Menendez, son of the corrupt Senator, went on TV this weekend, insanely, to blame the immigration enforcement officers he and his colleagues went after. In the view of the Democrat Jacobin Party, every criminal and thug who crossed our border illegally deserves to stay here forever and hoover up infinite tax dollars. "And Democrats get to do whatever they want, whenever they want, with zero consequences ever or else it’s fascism," says the Post. Stupidity is not only reserved for Democrats. The corrupt and craven Republican establishment led for years by China supporter Sen. Mitch McConnel is on its last legs. Consider his ally, the Republican fool from North Carolina, Sen. Tom Tillis. "Tom Tillis is part of an establishment GOP that now has waning power, has waning influence in Washington. And this is sort of the last gasp of the Mitch McConnell wing of the GOP that’s slowly disappearing," Federalist Senior Editor John Daniel Davidson said on Newsmax. "It’s, frankly, to me, disgusting to hear someone like Tillis say that he opposes Ed Martin because he defended defendants on January 6th, when one of our own Founding Fathers, John Adams, defended British soldiers who killed American patriots. Offering legal defense for the accused is not disqualifying. If anything, it shows Ed Martin’s commitment to the rule of law, as does the pardons that freed up resources in the DOJ to go after actual violent criminals in Washington, DC." Yes, the Democrats are power mad, and determined to destroy our nation because they hate it. And Republicans like Tillis and McConnel? I’ve seen the spineless half of the bi-partisan combine destroy a great state of Illinois. For Illinois and Chicago there is no reprieve, no sanctuary. The Combine chopped Chicago and Illinois to bits, and sold off the scrap. Just as they will destroy America herself. Think of 1793 and now think of 2025. There is only one responsible thing to do: See them clearly for who they are and what they want. And vote like the life of your nation depends upon it. Because it does. Let’s hope the American people wake up and wash their eyes before the 2026 mid-term elections, so they might save the country. If they don’t save it, at least polish the face-cages for the rats. And polish up Madame Guillotine. Because I think she’ll be busy, |
| Link |
| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Priest from Sudzha: A thousand people were burned alive in our temple |
| 2025-05-13 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Marina Akhmedova [REGNUM] In the most desperate hours of August 2024, when Sudzha was being captured by the enemy army, many people showed themselves to be absolutely heroic, evacuating the townspeople and - under shelling and explosions - returning for more.  One of the first and most fearless rescuers was the rector of the Trinity Church, Fr. Evgeny (Shestopalov). At first, he hid the children in the church, then tirelessly took them to safe places. Some of Fr. Evgeny's parishioners are no longer alive. Father Evgeny told the editor-in-chief of the Regnum news agency Marina Akhmedova about his experiences - and how he tried to explain everything that happened to himself. How did people behave during the occupation? Why is it easier for a believer to survive in extreme conditions? How can one rid the soul of hatred? And what is it like to serve in a church, in the basement of which are the remains of several hundred victims of a terrible war? NOT FEAR, BUT BEWILDERMENT — Friends, good afternoon. Today we are finally visiting the priest whom I have been wanting to visit since August of last summer. But it was impossible because he was in Sudzha during the Ukrainian Armed Forces offensive. This is Father Evgeny, the rector of the Trinity Church in Sudzha. Father Evgeny, I have the simplest questions. How did the offensive begin for you? — I’ll tell you the main things. At three o’clock in the morning, between five and six, a siren sounded. Although we had long been accustomed to the sounds of sirens, explosions, drones flying overhead, we immediately woke up with the feeling that something was wrong. Four houses burned down in June — it was, apparently, a test run. And indeed, the attacks began right around the temple. At about six in the morning, we went out, the children with me. We looked at the destroyed houses near the sanitary and epidemiological station, talked to the neighbors. And we decided to take a broom and sweep the street. Because everything was covered, it was impossible to drive a car: glass, nails, boards, stones. And we had such a good intention: to sweep the street. — To leave? — No, just to restore order. No one was going to leave. I got in the car and drove around the city. We saw that the court was destroyed, the prosecutor's office was hit directly. The National Guard was burning. An apartment building on our square… — What does a person feel who has lived his whole life in his city and has seen this? — There was misunderstanding, honestly. There was no fear. There was bewilderment and a premonition of something very bad. And when we started taking children from the neighborhood, I realized that there were no options: we had to open a church. My church is old, from 1812. The walls are massive, the vaults are powerful. - Why not run away? — We thought it would all pass right now. Well, two or three hours, maybe a day or two. But we had a premonition that it was not without reason. There had never been such a massive shelling. Fourteen hours of non-stop artillery and mortar work. We heard the takeoff and then, two or three seconds later, the landing. We climbed the bell tower, tried to find a connection. There was no water, gas, electricity. I jumped out, drove to Soldatskoye, bought bread, water, came back, gave it to people. Then I realized that I had to leave. And on the seventh we began to evacuate people. — Why didn’t you go yourself? — The task was to save children, invalids, old people who were hiding in my church. Their houses were already burning there in Zaoleshenka. — And did you record a video then? — Yes, I recorded a video. I posted it later, in my group, when I climbed the hill and there was a connection, out of a desire to warn people, to tell them that everything is really scary, and that we have a place where they can save themselves. There were only 200 people in my group. These are my city parishioners. It so happened that the video spread and I was seen everywhere, all over Russia. But that's not the point. Hiding in the temple was no longer safe. We spent the night, cooked on a fire. We fed everyone. I went to Soldatskoye several times, and that's where I sent it from. I just didn't know that the video wouldn't reach anyone, because there was no connection in all of Sudzha. And my group only included Sudzhans. And the people who saw this video were those who had already left Sudzha. Well, that's good. They should have known what was going on. And as soon as I showed up at Bolshoy Soldatskoye, the calls started: Father, take those away, help these leave. Addresses started coming in, hundreds of addresses - who stayed where. Parents, grandfathers, grandmothers, some grandmothers with children. It was impossible to read, to perceive, to comprehend. I realized: the scale of the tragedy was such that the whole world would now know about Sudzha. I was returning closer to evening, taking people away - everyone we could take out of the temple, we took out. The guys from the Patriot center helped us, the head of the city Vitaly Slashchev took the children out in his car. Many people had the opportunity and courage to go, they also picked up and took out. There were many people, well, and we were among them. HEART ATTACK ON LEGS — And when you received these hundreds of requests, you didn’t say to yourself: this is too much, I’m just a human being, I can’t handle this. I have to leave myself… — It was a shame to refuse. - And in front of whom? - In front of people. They saw me as the only way to connect. — And why did they see salvation in the priest? — Probably because I was returning. And on the 7th, when I was driving from Bolshoe Soldatskoe around five o’clock, I came across an armored personnel carrier with ten Ukrainian servicemen with blue armbands on their sleeves. We just met eyes like that. And I realized that the enemy had already completely occupied the entire city. That was August 7th. — How did you perceive these people? — It was fine. They met us at the dam with machine guns, they jumped out of the bushes so rudely. I explain: I am a priest, although I am sitting in a T-shirt, imagine, it is hot. I am leading parishioners out of Sudzha. They swore, threatened that if they saw us again they would shoot us, all obscenities. But they let us go, they did nothing. That is, probably, some people still had something human. - And when was there no longer anything human? — We saw the consequences. Burnt cars, people shot on the road, soldiers killed in cars. Here, very young boys. Well, for example, here is a situation. It was a second, a split second: from the side of the road we saw just legs, children's, in tights. It was a girl. I can't say for sure, because in those moments and even now a lot of things are remembered as if in a fog. — And you didn’t complain then? - I grumbled. What are you talking about? I grumbled at the government, at the army, I swore at everyone. — And what about God? - No, I didn't complain about God. Somehow that didn't happen. — And how did you explain to yourself these little children’s legs in tights? — I was even afraid to think about it. Yes, I probably had a heart attack on my feet somewhere around those days. Apparently, adrenaline, a feeling of fear and the state you are in, it somehow played a role. I didn’t even notice that I had a heart attack. - Look, we are sitting here, it seems to me that nothing could be more beautiful than this spring blossoming, the trees are just beginning to blossom. And in this world, on the side of the road, there are children's legs in tights. How can all this be brought together? — In soul. I think we were all given this test. Everyone. We didn’t understand it right away. There were a lot of questions, especially from people, well, not close to the church. One, just one question: why? Why? Children, old people, women, who certainly didn’t fight with anyone, who may have relatives somewhere in Ukraine. They probably even have some connections, because we live in the border zone. Why? We couldn’t find answers then. God thinks differently than we do. — Do you think there will ever be an answer? - Well, I probably found it. Apparently, because of our sins. So that we would understand differently where we live... One person from Sudzha said wonderful words: "We are the happiest people. We now have only what we are given. Because everything we had, the Lord took from us. And we must get used to it." And he didn't just take away material things - he simply took out the soul. Because the Motherland is not a house, not a garden, not a farm that you are used to. You understand, it is much more. It is people, atmosphere, relationships. I have never seen a better place than Sudzha, I simply have not seen one. I am not from Sudzha. I was born in the North Caucasus and grew up in the city of Kurchatov. From there I joined the army. Worked at a nuclear power plant. And from there I entered the university. And only then did I end up in Sudzha. But for me, this is my homeland. Our great actor Yevgeny Leonov once said some wonderful, simple to the point of ugliness words about the homeland as the unity of the people. If very different people strive for unity, they are invincible. Maybe I am taking it out of context, but that is how I remember it. And here it is indeed. We meet Sudzhans in Kursk, with whom in Sudzha, perhaps, we would not have greeted. And here we hug each other, cry. - And Sudzha is dear to everyone. — To the question "For what?" My first thought as a believer: for sins. We have sinned before God somewhere. That's one. And secondly, we have stopped appreciating what the Lord has given us. I speak for myself, I can't speak for everyone. Deaths are in God's hands. We will never understand this. God thinks differently than we do. Maybe he protected our relatives and friends who died in Sudzha from some sins. Although good, wonderful people, believers, died. The same Slavik Kazak, the same Yura, a former Makhnovist, a villager, who came to my church. I can name many people. The same boys who lived next to us, Sasha, Vanya, Maxim. — Why did they die? - They were simply shot. Some for breaking curfew, some for something else. ON EARTHLY AND DIVINE JUSTICE — This is the moment of faith, which is quite difficult to understand… There is a parable about Job, from whom the Lord took everything, and then rewarded him with everything. But how? You can return the land, wealth, home. But children? To replace children with others, some people with others, I could never understand that. — You know, God is unfair. He has no justice. Justice is purely human, invented by people. Let us recall the parable of the workers. People who endured the heat and toil and labor all day received as much as a man who came and worked for one hour. Yes, the Lord rewarded everyone equally. And then those people who worked all day were indignant and asked: “Lord, why is this so?” And God says: “I want it this way.” Where is justice? It is God's will. He decided so. And with time we may understand something for ourselves, why he decided so. Why we, in particular, lived through all this, endured it. Maybe Sudzhi has some future purpose that we don't know yet. And again, when I say that God is unfair, I know what I am talking about. God's will is not always accessible to human understanding. How God thinks, we really don't know. That's why faith is needed. — And love? — I love God. I know that everything, sooner or later, is for our good. We won’t understand it now. - At that moment, of course, I didn’t understand it either. When you were hiding, when Slavik and Sashka were shot… - No, we cried, worried, were angry, indignant. But no one complained about God. Not even my loved ones. We were offended by our army, which for some reason withdrew its troops from Sudzha. There was no one to protect us. There were boys on the border, against whom there were several brigades of well-armed enemies. They simply crushed all defenses, which in fact did not exist. We understand that the Lord does not send us trials beyond our strength. But at the time, it didn't seem that way to us, to me for example. In some places it was scary, excuse me, to the point of shitting - from these sounds, from the whistle of shrapnel. From the sight of tanks we drove past, from enemies with blue armbands. I didn't see their faces, because everything was erased, everything was kind of blurred. There was a situation when in the last days we were returning to Sudzha through Makhnovka. It was either August 11 or 12 already. Our helicopter tried to stop us - to warn us that we should not go there. It hovered above us and released heat charges above us. Do you know how scary it was! We even saw the pilots' faces... But we went anyway. — But is there some kind of presence of God in this? It’s scary, you can’t go back there, and the body may not obey: the will is embedded inside. — Well, who did we rely on when we were driving back every day? We were returning late at night, because we were trying to take the last people not just to the point where they were picked up, but to take them to Kursk, and, well, deliver them to their loved ones. We went to bed late. In the morning we woke up, drank coffee, got in, filled up the car, and drove back again. - This cannot be explained rationally in any way. Only by this manifestation of God in man. — Yes, you overcome yourself. You understand, you think, well, that's it. Family and friends are here. The worst thing that could happen has already happened. We already have everything: there is no city, there is nothing. But there are people we can help. So, we have to go. Well, that's it. You overcome yourself, and then the fear disappears. When you are already in the city, some kind of unhealthy, I would even say, excitement appears. Probably adrenaline, the effect of this hormone. NARROWING OF SPACE — And how did the space feel? Here is the garden where we are now sitting quietly. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming — a real blessing. But if we imagine that the enemy is approaching: the picture is completely different. We will perceive both the sun and the flowers differently. Does the space change? — It changes a lot. It narrows in the literal sense. You don’t pay attention to anything: here is the target, you are flying towards it, a turn here, a turn there. God has no space, no time. And I’ll tell you straight: someone must have been leading us, leading us right there. We stopped exactly one and a half meters from the mines. We drove past the tanks. The military told us: don’t even think about driving, equipment just fired at us. And then the soldier looked at us like this: aren’t you a priest? Then drive. Pray, he said, and drive. - Our little soldier? - Ours. They say: we are leaving our positions, we were ordered to retreat. They were driving back, and we were driving there to jump out into the city. The guys from the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade forbade us to go. They said: guys, well, you won’t get through, they’ll just shoot you. We went along a different road, and there were tanks here. We drove past them, thank God. And when Natalya Mikhailovna and I jumped out of Makhnovka, and a column of these enemies came towards us. So leisurely, they weren’t afraid of anything! They felt like they were at home. These machine guns were on top. There were probably six cars. And we were this little box, a black car in an open field. Now he’ll turn around, give a burst, there’ll be nothing left of us… Natalya Mikhailovna sits and says: yes, I’m ready. And her mother, who is 96 years old, said: “What’s wrong with you, Natasha, I want to live!” That's it. And that's it. And they suddenly turned onto Konopelka, didn't see us. And we followed them out onto the Belgorodskaya highway and headed towards Belitsa. Also a miracle. For me, for example, it's a miracle that the Lord simply led us away. It's amazing. There are many such unusual moments. The space narrows: as if there is some kind of narrow path. - And what is this path of yours now? — Now — just to return to the temple. With a prayer, so that prayer would sound in ours. After all, let's say, there were no eight months. I was there on Great Friday, sang the troparion before the Shroud. — You now understand more about God than you did before this offensive? — On the contrary. Less. Now I will tell you honestly: I know nothing. I stood at the altar for 33 years. I thought that I was just like that, a more or less understanding, somewhere a little educated priest, believing to the best of my ability. I have not stopped believing, but I know that I know nothing. I have not stopped loving God. I understand that He loves me. And we are people, we love as if under certain conditions. But divine love, it is unconditional. It is eternal. - If it is unconditional, then these are the people who killed the little girl, shot Sashka and Slavka. It turns out that God will forgive them anyway, right? - I can't say anything about forgiveness. It's His prerogative. - But he probably loves them too? - Of course he does. And he deprived them of their minds only because of his love. I think so. Because people who go and kill innocent civilians trying to save themselves from their own weapons, from their own invasion - they are deprived of their minds. Their God has already abandoned them. He did not stop loving them, he simply deprived them of their minds. This is pure madness. It is difficult to explain and understand. It must be taken for granted. This is how He arranged our life for us. Both ours and the lives of those people who are now in heaven. Apti Aronych ( Alaudinov. - Ed.) said: after so many years of war, I have become accustomed to death. That's what he said: "accustomed to death." I say: Apti Aronych, how can one become accustomed to death? How can one become accustomed when even a person who has logically come to the end, well, let's say, as a result of an incurable disease, dies - you still can't come to terms with it, everything in your soul is torn apart. He says, well, somehow I am calmed. — And you? - Oh, come on, I'm scared. I've committed so many sins that it's just scary to imagine how to pray for them all before God. DIDN'T LOSE THE SENSE OF GOD AND SENSE OF HUMOR - How is that? You've done so much, you've taken so many people away. Rarely would a person go there. Don't you feel that you've been cleansed of some sins? - No, no, what are you saying, no. On the contrary, I realized that I was a more sinful person. I realized that I didn’t live like that, I didn’t pray like that. And now I don’t live like that, and now I don’t pray like that. I talked to people who remained there, in Sudzha, under occupation. So I divided them into several categories. First: people strictly, rigidly observed all the fasts, all the morning and evening rules. They prayed. They did not lose their sense of humor, did not lose their sense of God, their understanding of what was happening. Yes, they also saw death. But the Lord protected them because of these prayers. They did not even know that hundreds of corpses were lying all over Sudzha. — Didn't leave the house? — They went out. They looked for water, got it somewhere. They helped other people. But prayer! Prayer, supported by faith, it somehow protected them. And the Lord protected them. They are healthy, they have kept their minds. There were other people. They hid from fear, got drunk and tried to somehow just save themselves. That's it. They were all shell-shocked. They were all on the verge of a mental breakdown. There are people who, well, being atheists, also prayed, but in their own way. Maybe God accepted their prayers in his own way, because they did it from the heart. They survived because they worked. They cleaned their houses, looked after their neighbors, fed them, protected them. They did their daily work. — So it was prayer through work? - Yes, it is a form of salvation in the situation they found themselves in. And there were also people who decided to do nothing. Just hide, just conceal themselves, survive, eat what was stored in the basement, like mice. These people were the ones who died most often. They were covered, they were pelted with grenades. — Did they just come in and throw grenades? — I know of such cases. Yes, simply. And there are some amazing things. They threw grenades into a basement, and there were soldiers there. And they survived. Of course, they were all deafened, wounded, but they survived. They didn’t even check the basement: they thought that after something like that no one could survive there. But they all calmly came out, shell-shocked, but absolutely alive. Somehow you can’t explain that either. And many people who have left Sudzha now are full of such stories. At first glance, insignificant, but on the other hand, when you think about it and understand that in fact the person was a hair's breadth from death, literally. They take it calmly, they talk. Many stayed, they don't want to leave anymore. They say: well, ours have already arrived, we'll wait until they finally liberate. Although the risk is high. — A hair's breadth from death - how does it feel? You were also a hair's breadth from death, what did you feel? - I didn't feel it. Then you start to analyze and think, well, maybe something would have turned a little bit in him, he was sitting five meters away from me, the safety was probably off. Just pull the trigger - and that's it. Isn't that a hair's breadth from death? Or when the column was coming out to intercept us. He would have turned towards us. What was stopping him? When we braked in front of the mines, literally intuitively, purely intuitively, we began to brake at a very high speed. — The residents of Sudzha also performed some kind of spiritual feat. And they were cleansed of hatred. — And there were those who behaved inappropriately. But that's human. People can't be condemned for that. And there were looters, just like the Ukrainian soldiers, they stole too. I don't condemn them either. Maybe they were trying to somehow escape hunger or they just wanted to make money with impunity, no one would know, no one would see. And who knows what thoughts they had. Honestly, everyone, everyone in Sudzha was on the brink of life and death. Everyone. The fact that they survived, stayed alive, yes, that's what the Lord decided. THE LORD WILL RESET THEM - Why don't you have a desire for revenge? I had a very strong desire when I came here in August and realized what was happening. - Well, I would probably be lying if I said that there was none at all. There was a period when I was overwhelmed with feelings that were not close to hatred, but probably to the desire for just retribution, or something. And then you gradually begin to think: well, who are you? You are not God to decide the fate of people and control their lives. After all, God's will is everything. And one way or another it will be done. And they will get what they deserve. Especially since they began to fight with God, destroying churches, monasteries - Gornalsky, St. Nicholas. It means they have one path. The Lord will nullify them. - And now it's been going on for so long, he just lets them drink until the end? — The ways of the Lord are inscrutable. I don’t know, maybe He gives us more time again — to test our patience, our endurance. Or maybe He gives them a chance to come to their senses, to surrender, to realize, to atone for their guilt once again. I don’t know. — We say: "we". We have to atone, we are patient. But we are not homogeneous. While someone was performing a feat of helping his neighbor, someone was simply stealing. And someone didn't care at all what happened in Sudzha. - Yes. There were many like that. We were created by God to be different. That is how the Lord created the world. But there are moments when we cannot boast of our differences. On the contrary, we must find common ground and be together. Like in war, in the face of death, like in the trenches, in the dugouts, when Muslims, Buddhists, Orthodox, Catholics are all nearby - all in a single impulse defending the Motherland. Even if it sounds somewhat pathetic now, I really do always talk about this. Now such concepts as patriotism, love for the Motherland, have acquired meaning, filled with real internal semantics. Finally, these words have gained weight. And we all feel this patriotism, we feel it to the point of goosebumps. It began back in 2022, when the Second World War began. We already realized this back then. We helped our army, we loved it and love it. And we collected money, and wove nets, and fed the boys, and bought them quadcopters, bought radios, weather stations. What we didn’t do for our army! — They are the ones who believe that the civilians themselves are to blame, they supported their army, which launched an offensive on their territory. - Well, it's not that simple. For example, I consider Donbass to be Russian. I consider Odessa to be a Russian city. I consider Nikolaev to be a Russian city. I consider Kharkov to be a Russian city. Honestly, I'm not some kind of, I don't know, chauvinist, I don't want to be an invader. But in fact, these are Russian lands, ironically, they ended up in a different legal field. And there is an opportunity to fix this, and for God's sake, I'm all for it. — And even at the cost of such suffering that Sudzha endured? — Sudzha really suffered for nothing. But it is not for us to judge. Not in military terms, not in psychological terms, not in spiritual terms. There is a lot of destruction. Magnificent temples have been destroyed. Not every city can boast such temples as we have in the Sudzhansky district. And they are destroyed. We will restore them. We will return and do even better. - But you won’t bring the people back. — And we will return people. Those individuals whom we lost — they did not die. We are believers, we understand that they are all with God. And if with God, then they are with us. The Church is one, but there is a militant Church and a triumphant Church. The triumphant Church is in heaven: our ancestors, our saints, our relatives and friends who have now left us, who were shot, are there. They are all in the Church, only in that one. And here is the militant church, where we still walk on the earth with our feet, wear our mortal bodies, and, unfortunately, sin. But we all have the opportunity to do something to tell the whole world that we are one. Just as the church is one, triumphant and militant, so we all in our nation, in our country must say and show the whole world that we are united. They will shit themselves when they understand that we are all together. They will be scared shitless when they understand that we are together: both Muslims and Orthodox. And people who are generally, so to speak, without religion, but they still go into battle for the Motherland. — We will probably approach the bottom of the cup of our trials when we learn to feel like we are in the same trench... — Yes! When we all understand that we are all in the same trench, everything will change. This corruption that we are mired in will go away. The authorities will eventually become closer to the people, this is already happening — a conversation between the people and the authorities. Even in our region — everything is changing before our eyes, everything is coming to some amazing state. We feel it, we see it, we are waiting for these changes. We are happy to make some contacts, because we are heard, we are listened to. I'M IN DEEP TROUBLE! — Why did you become a priest? — By chance (laughs). I was unbaptized, was into Eastern beliefs, a little bit of Blavatsky and all sorts of occult things. Well, in general, I was confused in life, understanding that there was something. And suddenly I meet a person who knows. And he spoke about it in such a way that I believed him. This is Father Nikolai Germansky, he still serves in Rakitnoye, God bless him. A wonderful priest. He baptized me, brought me to faith, and then introduced me to Bishop Juvenaly. And with his light hand, suddenly I — without an education, without anything, a student of the journalism department of Voronezh University — became a priest. He said that we need educated priests. I took two weeks of pastoral courses, two weeks — and became a priest. Although I came to him to ask for a blessing to leave the university. I thought that I would live somewhere near a church, ring bells, read books, take care of myself. Well, I wanted an easy life… I arrived like an apostle to a bare spot and realized: wow, I’m in deep trouble… And then I immediately felt that, it turns out, the Lord also gives strength. And what strength… — If only then, thirty years ago... - Thirty two. — …if you had miraculously foreseen those days: the offensive in August last year, the people who would die. And all that power that was coming at us. Would you have stayed there, what do you think? — If I say that I wouldn’t change anything, I’ll be lying. I would change something, of course, but I definitely wouldn’t leave. I wouldn’t leave Sudzhi. I would do something more to save it, to preserve it. I would dig trenches in my garden. Or, I don’t even know, I would get a machine gun for the bell tower (laughs ). I can’t tell you what I would do, but I wouldn’t leave Sudzhi. You know, once Bishop Juvenaly suggested that I go to Jerusalem for Easter. And after my first child, I had no children for seven years. And my second child was supposed to be born during these Easter days, in April 2001. I called the bishop and apologized. I said: my holy land is here, in Sudzha. And he said: worthy! You answered me worthy, Father, I understand you… I stayed and gave birth to a son. Now I know why Abraham gave birth to Isaac, and Isaac to Jacob... - And now I know why Sudzha is a holy land. For many reasons. — But in fact it hurts. Very much. It hurts to talk. To understand, to see your temple, to which you gave most of your life, — without windows, without doors, covered with stones, broken bricks, broken glass. But now I’m returning to Sudzha — and I still notice for myself that it is beautiful and in ruins. It is the best city, the best place in my life. Because there is a prospect of life to remove all this, clean it up, build anew, restore. The same with the church. I go into the church and am overwhelmed with such emotions that I would just fall down and cry. But the Lord somehow gives me strength. And I want to sing, read some prayers, shout with joy that the church is here, alive! After all, we have been working for so long to paint our church. How many teams came, different artists, including from Ukraine, worked with us, painted our church. How much prayer and love was invested in it! It has not gone anywhere. How much this church has actually endured! Just imagine, these are millions of bricks that have heard human prayers, cries, lamentations, tears, repentance, grief, cries of death for many, many years… In 1943, a thousand people were burned alive in my church. BAPTIZED BY FIRE INTO ORTHODOX - What do you mean, burned? — They burned them alive. There was a hospital there — Hungarian soldiers who refused to fight against the Red Army because they were trapped near Voronezh, and General Gustav Jani signed the capitulation. They were leaving through Sudzha, a junction station. The Germans took the train for their own purposes, and settled the wounded in my church. They also drove our people from the district prison there. There were wives of red commanders, wives of communists with children, Jewish families. They drove them together. They closed the forged doors, the forged bars — and set them on fire. — It must have been hard to serve there? - No. It's a long story, I'll tell you someday how we got them out, dug up 356 remains. The rest remained in the temple. We don't have enough money just to open the floors and get them all out. The floors are now concrete, filled in. - Why did they end up under the floor? — The floors were wooden, everything burned down, and the remains went down. People found those who were on top, carried them out, buried them right here, some in craters, some in a lime pit. And the rest all remained in the temple. And Bishop Juvenaly tells me: let them lie. How many such churches, he says, after the Tatar-Mongol invasion, after the French, after the Poles - how many such churches are there in all of Rus'? Let them lie. They were baptized into Orthodoxy by fire. - But last August all this could have happened again... — I thought about it. As soon as the children came in, we laid out the carpets. They were just crying, afraid of every sound. And now they are having fun, running around the church. I am watching them from the altar, and a thought flashed through my mind: the story of 1943 could repeat itself. My heart sank. And the next day we started taking them away. - And when will you return there? — I am there. I believe that I am there. I remained as the rector of the Trinity Church in Sudzha. Thanks to the ruling bishop, Metropolitan Herman. He was very touched by our situation and personally by me, he showed such interest in my life. He left me as the rector of the Trinity Church, and in principle I believe that I never left. Although in fact, yes, I am here. But I am returning. As soon as possible, I go to Sudzha. - Well, God grant us to come to you there sooner. - Come! - Thank you. |
| Link |
| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: May 10, 2025 |
| 2025-05-11 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title. [Korrespondent] 14:40 The leaders of the "coalition of the decisive" together with US President Donald Trump have set a deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire. This was reported by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga.  12.37 Soldiers of the 34th eparate motorized infantry battalion of the 57th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade Volkodavy showed what the city of Volchansk in the Kharkov region has become a year after the start of the assault by the Russian Federation. The footage was published by the 34th separate motorized infantry battalion of the 57th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade. 12.24 In the Dniprovsky district of Kherson, as a result of a Russian drone attack, a 58-year-old man was injured. This was reported on May 10 by the Kherson GVA. It is noted that the man received a mine-explosive injury and shrapnel wounds. 12.15 In the village of Verbki, Kremenchuk district, on the morning of May 10, a man born in 1992 died as a result of an explosion of ammunition. This was reported by the Poltava region police communications department. 11:00 In St. Petersburg (Russia), guerrillas conducted reconnaissance at a plant important for the Russian military-industrial complex, which creates drones, radars and homing systems for missiles. This was reported by the ATESH guerrilla movement. 9:58 Russia is closing the airspace over the Kapustin Yar test site, from where it launched the Oreshnik missiles. This may indicate preparations for the launch of ballistic missiles, Militarnye reports, citing the official NOTAMs website. The skies over the test site will be closed for two days – May 12 and 13. Russia is likely planning to launch ballistic missiles. 9.44 Russian occupiers have created a new military base in Mariupol for units from the Rostov region. This was reported on May 10 by the head of the Center for the Study of Occupation, former adviser to the mayor of Mariupol Petr Andryushchenko, citing satellite images. 8.51 Over the past 24 hours, 196 combat clashes have been recorded at the front. This was reported on May 10 by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is noted that over the past 24 hours, aviation, missile troops and artillery of the Defense Forces hit seven areas of concentration of personnel and equipment, one control point for unmanned aerial vehicles, three artillery systems and two more important targets of the Russian invaders. 8.22 Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has ruled out a 30-day ceasefire unless the West stops supplying weapons to Ukraine, the Russian leader's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with ABC News. 7.50 The Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed 1,310 Russian occupiers in one day. The enemy's total combat losses from 24.02.22 to 10.05.25 were approximately 964,580 people. This was reported by the General Staff. 03.56 Iran is planning to transfer short-range ballistic missile launchers to Russia in the near future, which, according to the US, Tehran already transferred to Moscow last year for use against Ukraine. The Fath-360 launchers with a radius of 120 km could become a new weapon for the occupiers against Ukrainian positions on the front, military targets and frontline settlements. 01.25 During the so-called "ceasefire" on May 8 and 9, Russian troops continued to shell the Sumy region, as a result of which three civilians were killed and seven were wounded |
| Link |
| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Current information on the situation on the front line on May 8 (updated) |
| 2025-05-09 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [NewsFront] 20:55 The 255th Motorized Rifle Regiment successfully storms a strong fortified area of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the approaches to Mirnograd —video.  20:32 Fighters of the "East" group of forces help in everyday life for veterans of the Great Patriotic War living in the territory of the DPR. They prepare firewood, bring water, tend to their garden plots and do everything possible to make life easier for those who once fought for their homeland. Also, on the eve of Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War, the group's servicemen congratulated civilians in liberated settlements in the DPR. 19:50 Russian paratroopers in battle near Tetkino captured Ukrainian attack aircraft 19:20 The day before, on the outskirts of the settlement Liptsy, our reconnaissance located camouflaged enemy infantry fighting vehicle. FPV operators of the 11th Army Corps GV "Sever" carried out a series of targeted strikes, destroying an armored vehicle of the occupiers. 19:00 Shelters and UAV control points were discovered during a reconnaissance flight. And after the objects were detected, FPV crews took over. 18:10 Reconnaissance work of the 30th Motorized Rifle Regiment in the Sumy direction, where Russian soldiers continue to move forward. Video. 17:25 Armed Forces of Ukraine hit the Church of St. Theodosius of Chernigov “There were no casualties, since there are no people there; everyone was evacuated back in August 2024,” said Father John. 16:30 Since the morning the enemy leads massive shelling of Novaya Kakhovka and populated areas of the district 15:50 Tonight, after the start of the previously announced ceasefire, the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to carry out an offensive in one of the areas of the Chasovoyarsk direction. No one doubted that the Ukrainian militants would not observe the ceasefire, so the Volunteer Corps fighters were on guard and awaited another provocation. 15:00 Airborne Forces fighters are smashing columns of enemy equipment, repelling the offensive on Kursk Tetka Ivanovo paratroopers of the 217th Parachute Regiment of the North group of forces have been fighting hard for four days, destroying tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, obstacle clearance vehicles, ATVs and other equipment participating in the latest bloody offensive of the Kyiv regime. 14:30 Armed Forces of Ukraine inflicted a strike on Kursk region. A civilian was killed. The Glushkovsky district of the Kursk region was attacked. As a result of the shelling, a 61-year-old resident of the village of Glushkovo died. 14:00 Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the special military operation as of May 8, 2025 Before the ceasefire came into effect, units of the North group of forces inflicted defeat of concentrations of manpower and equipment of a tank, three mechanized brigades, an assault regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and two territorial defense brigades in the areas of the settlements of Ryzhevka, Pavlovka, Yunakovka, Miropolye, Turya in the Sumy region and Velykyi Burluk in the Khar'kiv region. 13:21 Before the ceasefire came into effect, units of the Center group of forces, as a result of active and decisive actions released Troitskoye settlement of the Donetsk People's Republic. 13:20 In accordance with the decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, based on humanitarian considerations, during the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Victory - from midnight on May 8, all groups of Russian troops in the special military operation zone will be completely stopped from conducting military operations and remained at previously occupied lines and positions. The Russian Armed Forces strictly observe the ceasefire regime. This includes not carrying out strikes by aircraft, missile forces, artillery, or unmanned aerial vehicles. ! Despite the announcement of a ceasefire, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have not ceased combat operations against Russian troops. They have made two attempts to break through the state border of the Russian Federation in the Kursk region, as well as an attack in the area of the settlement of Dzerzhinsk in the Donetsk People's Republic. Along the entire line of combat contact, Ukrainian units carried out 173 attacks from barrel artillery, tanks and mortars on positions of our troops, as well as four using multiple launch rocket systems. In addition, 300 strikes and ammunition drops from unmanned aerial vehicles were carried out. A total of 488 ceasefire violations were recorded. The deliberate destructive actions of the Ukrainian side towards Russia confirm the desire of the Kyiv regime to prevent the conflict in Ukraine from being resolved peacefully. In these conditions, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are responding in a mirror-like manner to violations of the ceasefire regime by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and will continue to act in accordance with the evolving situation, responding to all criminal encroachments by the Kyiv regime. 12:40 Ukrainian Armed Forces units on ATVs from Sumy Oblast again and again are trying to break through to Tetkino from the Budki/Iskriskovshchina settlement in order to intensify the assault operations. The paratroopers continue to clear Chapaev Street in Tetkino, driving the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the outskirts of the village. The Ukrainian Armed Forces' armored vehicle on the BMP that attacked the border near Budki in the direction of Tetkino has been destroyed. Now the enemy is using light vehicles to transport infantry and increase pressure on the Airborne Forces positions. 11:40 Artillerymen of the 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 29th Guards Combined Arms Army with the help of Krasnopol destroyed PVD and enemy positions in the settlement of Bogatyr and its outskirts 11:02 Scouts of the 6th Guards Army of the "North" group opened a camouflaged howitzer of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at a firing position in the Volchansk direction. FPV operators worked on the target, striking it with two kamikaze drones on fiber optics and destroying the enemy weapon. 10:28 Criminal Kyiv regime continues to shell the civilian infrastructure of populated areas on the left bank of the Kherson region. Yesterday, during the day, the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired: 6 rounds at the settlement of Novaya Kakhovka; – according to n.p. Gonostaevka two rounds; – Three rounds to the settlement of Kairy; – Two rounds in the village of Podstepnoye; – Three rounds in the village of Novaya Zburyevka; – Three rounds in the village of Golaya Pristan; - Three rounds to the village of Aleshki. In Aleshki, a paramedic was injured as a result of an attack by a Ukrainian Armed Forces drone on an ambulance. Also, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked a residential building in Knyaz-Grigorovka with drones; no one among the residents was hurt. During the night, the Kiev regime continued to shell civilian infrastructure in the settlements of Novaya Kakhovka, Proletarka, Peschanovka, and Aleshky, firing a total of 12 rounds from barrel artillery. Civilian casualties and infrastructure destruction are being clarified. 9:50 Russian intelligence officers opened movement of Ukrainian military personnel in a pickup truck in the direction of the state border. The target was attacked by UAV operators from the Northern Group, who used an FPV drone to fire at the target. Today, the Severians control most of the road routes in the north of the Khar'kov region, preventing the Ukrainian occupiers from reaching the border with the Belgorod region. 9:10 Dnepropetrovsk direction Before the ceasefire, Russian units continued advance in the Dnepropetrovsk direction in the landings southwest of Kotlyarovka and broke through to the eastern outskirts of Orekhovo. 8:20 Frontline report for the morning of 08.05.2025 At 00:00, Russia declared a limited ceasefire.Zaporizhzhya Front. No significant changes in LBS.They continuepositional battles in the area of Malaya Tokmachka, Stepovoye, Kamenskoye and several other areas. Long-range weapons are actively working on both sides. |
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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| 'Czechoslovakia is destined for the Red Army.' How the Red Army took Prague and Vlasov |
| 2025-05-07 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Mikhail Kucherov [REGNUM] On the night of May 5-6, 1945, news arrived in Prague, the former capital of the Czechoslovak Republic and now the center of the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, that the Red Army had taken Berlin. On the morning of May 6, the head of the Protectorate government, the Czech Richard Bienert (who until then had been only a puppet of the Reich Minister for Bohemian-Moravian Affairs, Karl Frank ) appeared on Prague radio and announced the liquidation of German power. The Prime Minister called for a general uprising, and he ordered the German group in the city to capitulate.Belated courage did not help Mr. Binert - in the reborn Czechoslovakia he was convicted of collaborationism. The armed disobedience he had declared retroactively on May 6 had long since become an accomplished fact. Since the beginning of the month, the rebels in Prague had been fighting the Germans throughout the city. That one of the last bastions of the Reich would soon fall was obvious to everyone since the beginning of spring 1945. There was only one intrigue left: who would be the first to enter Prague – our troops under the overall command of Marshal Ivan Konev or the Americans from the army of General George Patton, who were less than fifty kilometers from the city. The rebel radio was broadcasting: “Build barricades! We will fight! The allied armies are approaching! We must endure!” On the night of May 6, the intrigue dissipated: it became clear which of the allies of the anti-Hitler coalition was breaking through to Prague. It was the Red Army. "INTO THE HANDS OF THE FUHRER" The war was reluctant to "leave" Prague, a city that had been under Nazi occupation for six months before the start of World War II. Historians argue about which European country should be considered Adolf Hitler's first victim : Austria, where the March Anschluss of 1938 was quick and almost painless, or Czechoslovakia, which was slowly torn apart piece by piece. In any case, after the Munich Agreement of September 30, 1938 (by which Germany, with the approval of Britain and France, took the Sudetenland from the Czechoslovak Republic), after Poland's invasion of the Tesin region and after the arbitration, by which Hungary occupied Transcarpathia and southern Slovakia, the remnants of Czechoslovakia had very little time to live. In March 1939, Slovak nationalists led by Father Jozef Tiso, on "urgent advice" from Berlin, proclaimed the independence of Slovakia, which became a satellite of the Reich. Then, in mid-March 1939, the Wehrmacht and the SS entered Prague. Edvard Beneš, the president under whom the “only democratic republic in Eastern Europe” was betrayed by its Western allies, fled to London in November 1938. Beneš’ successor Emil Hácha on March 15, 1939 handed over “the fate of the Czechoslovak people and country into the hands of the Führer of the German Reich.” Hácha became the first nominal “president” of the Protectorate. When, after the war, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel was asked at the Nuremberg Trials whether Germany would have attacked Czechoslovakia if Prague had been supported by the Western powers, the military leader answered honestly: "Absolutely not. We were not strong enough from a military point of view. The aim of Munich was to push Russia out of Europe, gain time and complete the armament of Germany." But in 1938, the West and Poland torpedoed the USSR's proposals for collective aid to Czechoslovakia. Hitler was able to gain time to prepare for war. And the mines, steel mills, and weapons factories of Bohemia and Moravia became a long-term support for the Reich. Suffice it to say that of the 1,366 German tanks sent to the Eastern Front in 1941, 360 were made in the Protectorate. SAND IN THE POWDER FLASKS For a long time, there was no talk of mass resistance to the occupiers. During the invasion, essentially the only one who stood up for the honor of the republic was Captain Karel Pavlik, the commander of a machine gun company in the town of Místek, who gave the order to shoot at the approaching Germans. From 1940, there were separate resistance cells oriented toward the exiled London government of Beneš, and from 1941, there was an organized communist underground with access to Moscow. But the most famous episode of the anti-fascist struggle in 1939–1944 was an action prepared not by the Czechs themselves, but by British intelligence. This was Operation Anthropoid – the liquidation in Prague in June 1942 of Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the RSHA (Reich Main Security Office) and acting Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. A lesser-known example of Czech underground work itself. In July 1941, defective grenade launcher rounds were delivered to the advancing Wehrmacht units in the Baltics. The mines were filled with sand instead of explosives. In one of these unexploded mines, the Red Army soldiers found a note left by a worker at a Czech arms factory: “We help as much as we can.” Surprising reports of ammunition continued to appear in 1942. The national uprising in “independent” Slovakia in August–October 1944 was perhaps a negative example for the Czechs, as it was suppressed by the Germans and Tiso’s collaborators. But already in September 1944, during the “ ninth Stalinist strike” – the East Carpathian Operation – the Red Army crossed the pre-war eastern border of the Czechoslovak Republic. The real catalyst for the “explosion” in occupied Czechia was the Moravian-Ostrava and Bratislava-Brno operations (both in March – early May 1945), as a result of which Soviet troops liberated most of the country. But in Prague and around it, the 900,000-strong Army Group Center of Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner continued to hold the line. "TO TAKE PRAGUE BEFORE THE RUSSIANS" From the west, from Saxony and Bavaria, US troops were advancing. On April 22, 1945, Patton's 3rd Army entered Western Bohemia. According to Winston Churchill, the American allies under Dwight Eisenhower should have moved on to Prague. The commander-in-chief of the Allied ground forces in Europe, British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, wrote in his memoirs: "The main task after the defeat of Germany was to establish a balance of power in Europe acceptable to us and the Western nations... This meant that we had to take Vienna, Prague and Berlin before the Russians." But Vienna was liberated by the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts by April 15. Montgomery lamented that the Allies had then had to divert forces to an offensive in southern France. On April 16, the 1st Belorussian Front under Georgy Zhukov began the Battle of Berlin. The Allies were again behind. When the Red Army crossed the Oder 50 km from Berlin, the Anglo-Americans were 500 km away, between the Rhine and the Elbe. That left Prague. If the Allied High Command had given Patton the order, he would have reached the Czech capital in 24 hours, Montgomery confidently believed. But, he lamented, the US Third Army had stopped at the Pilsen-Ceske Budejovice line, “for reasons that are not entirely clear to me.” Montgomery, citing American General Omar Bradley, spoke of some kind of agreement between the "Soviets" and the United States (led by Franklin Roosevelt until his sudden death in April 1945 ). The idea was that "Czechoslovakia was destined for the Red Army." Both Montgomery and Churchill considered this a "big mistake." STICKS, IRONS AND CULTIVATOR With the approach of the Red Army on May 1, 1945, the Czech National Council and the Communist Party began an uprising in the remaining occupied territory of the protectorate. The military leadership was taken over by the leader of one of the resistance cells, divisional general of the pre-war army Karel Kutlvášr, nicknamed the Cultivator. Incidentally, it is curious that his military career began during our Civil War - the Cultivator fought on the side of the Whites as part of the Czechoslovak Corps. From May 5, the suddenly emerging mass resistance in Prague erected barricades, the rebels tore down swastika flags and hung national blue-white-red ones instead. In battles with German units, they used everything that came to hand - sticks, old sabres, hunting rifles. Women even threw irons on the Germans' heads and poured hot water on them. The rebels managed to seize the central telegraph office, bridges over the Vltava, the post office, armored trains, and even disarmed several German units. The commander of Army Group North, Schörner, was furious - he ordered the uprising to be suppressed by any means necessary, bringing tanks into Prague. In order to prevent the destruction of the city by the Germans and to help the rebels, the Soviet command, at their request, accelerated the advance on the city. "WE CELEBRATED THE VICTORY AND WENT TO PRAGUE" On the night of May 6, units of three fronts, the 1st Ukrainian Ivan Konev, the 2nd Ukrainian Rodion Malinovsky and the 4th Ukrainian Andrey Eremenko, with a total of 400,000 people, hastily advanced to Prague. Together with them, the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps under the command of Ludvik Svoboda advanced against the Germans : it had been formed in the USSR three years earlier. Our units were transferred to Prague from the Berlin direction - they had to cover more than 100 kilometers a day. Despite the columns of prisoners stretching along the roads, which eyewitnesses testify to, many German units were not ready to lay down their arms even after the signing of the capitulation in Karlshorst. Sapper Nikolai Fedotov remembers well how joy and the need to remain vigilant when confronted with a treacherous enemy coexisted in those days: “On the night of the 8th, we were driving through the Ore Mountains, and the tanks’ radios reported the capitulation. We celebrated the victory in the mountains, and then we went out onto the highway and headed for Prague. The Germans also knew about the capitulation, they came out of the forest in groups and threw their weapons into the ditch. But some of the stubborn ones supposedly surrendered, but they let our men approach and shot them point-blank.” On May 8 at 20:00, Soviet commanders asked Schörner to lay down his arms, but there was no response. The strategy of the Nazis, especially the elite SS battalions, was to escape to the West and surrender to the Americans before the Red Army arrived. The loss of Prague cut them off from their escape routes. THE SMELL OF GUNPOWDER AND LILAC On the night of May 9, Soviet troops entered the city. And while some of the underground leaders clearly sympathized with London and Washington, ordinary Praguers were sincerely happy about the arrival of our army. According to veterans, they were never met as joyfully as in Czechoslovakia - with fresh cold water, bread, joyful hugs and armfuls of lilacs, which were strewn on tanks. "There were continuous demonstrations in the streets. When a Soviet officer appeared, he was immediately taken into friendly captivity, they began to hug, kiss, rock him. One after another, all my liaison officers were surrounded - kisses, treats, flowers..." - recalled Konev. But the Germans did not leave the city alone. Without regard for the historical heritage, they mined the famous architectural complex of the 17th century – the Prague Loreto. The same fate befell the military equipment factories, which until the last moment supplied the Wehrmacht with tanks and cars. Among them, according to the remark of a participant in those events, Yakov Fadeyev, was the underground enterprise “Skoda”: "42,000 prisoners of war worked there. The Germans, not wanting to give up either the equipment or the workers, mined the plant. When entering the territory, it was supposed to blow up. But our unit of miners found the cable intended for detonation in time. One senior lieutenant cut it and de-energized it. True, he died in the process - the resulting "voltaic arc" literally burned him." Since the Red Army had orders to preserve the city as much as possible, tanks and artillery were used cautiously to suppress the remaining German units. Residents of Prague ran up to the Soviet crews and asked them not to shoot at buildings of special value. "Look, there are tanks and guns buried behind the bushes on the other side. The Germans have a lot of people and equipment there," local residents told the Red Army soldiers before crossing the Vltava. The first Soviet tank was knocked out, but the rest managed to break through the German defenses with shells. By about 10:00 on May 9, the city was cleared of Nazis. The desperate Schörner changed into civilian clothes and flew to Austria, where he hid from the Americans until he was handed over to the Soviet side. Several divisions managed to break through to the American zone. The Red Army captured more than 860 thousand German soldiers and officers. TRAITOR UNDER THE BLANKET In historiography since the 1990s, a myth has spread that the so-called Russian Liberation Army (ROA) of traitor General Andrei Vlasov allegedly played a significant role in the liberation of Prague. In fact, the "head of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia" Vlasov by April-May 1945 had removed himself from the military-political leadership of the collaborators, was in a state of prostration and, at most, made plans to escape to the Anglo-Americans. The rebels of May 5–7 were conditionally supported only by the 1st ROA division under the command of another traitor, former Red Army Colonel Sergei Bunyachenko. The Vlasovites hoped to “show themselves” to the Americans by turning their bayonets against their former masters, to ensure an organized retreat to the West, and who knows, even to continue serving “against the Bolsheviks” under new sponsors. For their part, the pro-Western factions of the Czech rebels promised the Vlasovites political asylum in exchange for support, which, of course, turned out to be a fiction. Bunyachenko's troops were indeed able to drive the Germans out of some areas of Prague, but when they learned of the Red Army's advance toward the city, fear of legal retribution led them to the same place as many of the Nazis - to the US occupation zone, located 70 kilometers from the city. The Soviet command asked the Americans not to let the Vlasovites through, to which they agreed. The supposed agreements between the Roosevelt administration and Moscow, which had so upset Field Marshal Montgomery, apparently continued to operate. On May 12, Vlasov himself was captured. "The traitor was discovered by his own driver. The tank crews and the driver pulled Vlasov out from under the blankets, loaded him onto a tank and immediately sent him straight to the headquarters of the 13th Army. A miserable end, which quite naturally crowned the entire career of this renegade!", recalled Marshal Konev. Vlasov asked to meet with him. But the marshal, who considered this humiliating, resolutely refused and after delivering the traitor to his command post, immediately sent him to Moscow. Three days later, the Americans extradited Bunyachenko to Moscow and a year later the ROA leaders were executed by court order. The Germans were completely finished off on May 12, when after the battle near the village of Slivice the last three divisions of 5-6 thousand SS men, who had found themselves in a circle, laid down their arms. By that time, the Victory salute had long since died down in Moscow. The Soviet troops irretrievably lost 50 thousand people during the Prague operation, including in the "battles after the war", and a total of 140 thousand during the liberation of Czechoslovakia. A total of 429 Red Army soldiers who died in those battles are buried at the Olšany Cemetery in Prague. Here, as a symbol of historical continuity, is a memorial to Russian officers, participants in the Foreign Campaign of 1813, who died from wounds received in battles with Napoleon at Dresden and Kulm. The memorial is still surrounded with care and honor. Ordinary Czechs remember their defenders and liberators. |
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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Illinois man sentenced to 53 years for hate crime killing of Palestinian child |
| 2025-05-03 |
| [IsraelTimes] Joseph Czuba stabbed to death Wadee Alfayoumi and knifed his mother Hanan Shaheen days after the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel A man from Illinois was sentenced on Friday to 53 years in prison after a jury convicted him of the murder of a 6-year-old Paleostinian American boy and the severe wounding of his mother in an October 2023 hate crime stabbing, The reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel... Sun-Times reported. Joseph Czuba, 73, stabbed and killed Wadee Alfayoumi and knifed Hanan Shaheen days after the October 7 attack by Hamas  ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...on Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw another 251 taken hostage. Prosecutors said the stabbing was sparked by anti-Moslem hatred. Czuba, who was the landlord for Shaheen and her son, stabbed the boy 26 times with a military-style knife with a 7-inch (18-cm) serrated blade, authorities said. Shaheen suffered multiple stab wounds in the attack that occurred in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago. Czuba was found guilty in late February. Shaheen testified during the trial that Czuba told her, "You, as a Moslem, must die." Other recent incidents raising alarm in the US about anti-Arab and anti-Paleostinian prejudice include the attempted drowning of a 3-year-old Paleostinian American girl and the stabbing of a Paleostinian American man, both in Texas. There has also been a massive rise in antisemitism and anti-Israel incidents. Incidents raising alarm over antisemitism and anti-Israel attitudes include an unsuccessful plot to attack a New York Jewish center and an arson attack on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence. Hate incidents have also been reported during protests and counter-protests related to the war. Related: Joseph Czuba 03/01/2025 Illinois man found guilty of murder, hate crime for killing 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy in wake of Oct. 7 Joseph Czuba 01/30/2024 Claim: Anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian discrimination in the US rose 180% after Oct. 7 Joseph Czuba 12/04/2023 Lawfare: Father of Palestinian American boy slain near Chicago files wrongful death suit |
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| Preserving Memory: The Genocide of the Soviet People Has Been Officially Recognized |
| 2025-04-24 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Elena Kuleshova [REGNUM] The Great Patriotic War left scars not only on people and in history, but also in human memory. For a long time, it was believed that the figure from school textbooks "twenty million dead" was military losses and "collateral damage". Over time, our understanding of history has become deeper and it has become clear that those millions of women, children, old people, and teenagers destroyed by the Nazis were not just “losses among the civilian population,” but the result of a planned, deliberate genocide of the Soviet people. It took quite a long time to reach this understanding: seven years ago, the Russian Search Movement initiated the all-Russian project “No Statute of Limitations”. It was first presented in December 2018 at a meeting of the Russian Organizing Committee “Victory”. The stated goal of the project was to preserve the historical memory of the tragedy of the civilian population of the USSR - victims of war crimes by the Nazis and their accomplices during the Great Patriotic War. The initiative was supported by over 2 million people, and additional work to find evidence of Nazi atrocities was carried out throughout the country by dozens of local history organizations and hundreds of activists. In 2025, having summarized the data received, a group of deputies and senators - 20 people in total - submitted to the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans' Affairs a bill "On perpetuating the memory of the victims of the genocide of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945." On April 9, it was sent to the Federation Council for consideration and adopted a week later. On April 21, 2025, the bill was signed by the President of the Russian Federation and acquired the status of a valid law. The main thing it defines is the concept of "genocide of the Soviet people". It is recognized as "the actions of the Nazis and their accomplices during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, aimed at the complete or partial destruction of national, ethnic and racial groups inhabiting the territory of the USSR, by: killing members of these groups; causing serious harm to their health; forcibly preventing childbirth; forced transfer of children; forced resettlement or other creation of living conditions calculated to physically destroy members of these groups." In addition, the law defines the forms of perpetuating the memory of victims, the procedure for reburial of their remains, ensuring the safety of burials or unburied remains, and regulates issues of organizing and conducting search work. The powers of Russian state authorities and local governments working to perpetuate the memory of the victims of the genocide of the Soviet people are also delineated. Now it has ceased to be simply a statement of fact and is the focus of attention of investigative bodies. "To date, 19 court decisions have already been made recognizing the crimes of the Nazis and their allies against the peaceful Soviet population as genocide, as a result of which about 4 million civilians suffered. The trials will continue," the authors of the bill claim. Even after 80 years, activists are finding previously unknown places of mass executions and archival documents confirming the atrocities of the occupiers. There is a lot of work to be done, because even the register of existing monuments to those killed during the Great Patriotic War is still in the process of being created, although it already includes data from 24 regions. For example, it included the Zhestyanaya Gorka memorial complex in the Novgorod region. Here, in a concentration camp near the village of the same name, about 3,000 people died in 1942–1943, including children aged 5 to 17. An examination established that children were shot in the back of the head, chopped with knives, stabbed with bayonets, and beaten to death with sticks. Based on these facts, a criminal case was opened under Article 357 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Genocide”. Journalist and member of the Human Rights Council Alexander Malkevich told the Regnum news agency that he ardently supports the innovations introduced by the law. "To be honest, I am surprised that it took so long to get around to eliminating this monstrous injustice. We are only just beginning to guess, especially young and middle-aged people, how many civilians died as a result of genocide. I am a native Leningrader myself and I know, unfortunately, that traces of these monstrous Nazi crimes are still being found in the Leningrad Region. At one time I lived and worked in the Novgorod Region, and unfortunately there is a lot of work there too," says Malkevich. According to him, it is necessary to collect together all the historical evidence of Nazi crimes, including in the new territories of Russia. "I hope that there will be strong-willed people who will create a museum entirely dedicated to the history of the fascist genocide, where everything will be shown using interactive technologies: the authentic setting of the concentration camp, and the torture chambers from the dungeons in Rovenki. I have been to Austria and to the Mauthausen concentration camp, where General Karbyshev was tortured. And all this also needs to be shown. To make it so that people literally feel with their skin what ordinary, peaceful people of our country went through during the war with Nazi Germany," our interlocutor is sure. And now search teams and associations engaged in the search and burial of the remains of the dead will be involved in collecting evidence. For this purpose, their activities are additionally regulated. Previously, search teams who discovered the burial sites of civilians could be brought to court under Article 244 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, "Desecration of the bodies of the dead and their burial sites." While the exhumation of the remains of soldiers and officers of the Red Army is regulated by the Law of the Russian Federation of January 14, 1993, No. 4292-1, "On the perpetuation of the memory of those killed in defense of the Fatherland," the work of search teams in this area is legal and honorable. The law resolves these contradictions by establishing a procedure for coordinating and conducting search operations in relation to the remains of the civilian population. In addition, searchers have the right to initiate a temporary ban on construction, excavation, road and other work if they are carried out at the site of such a burial. "Over the 37 years of the search expedition's work in the Novgorod region, we have repeatedly found joint burials of Red Army soldiers and civilians and did not divide them - we buried them together. And according to the new bill, if we find civilians who died during the Great Patriotic War, we stop the search work and hand the case over to investigators of the Investigative Committee, who add these cases to the general case of the genocide of the Soviet people," explains Igor Neofitov, Chairman of the Council of Commanders of the "Dolina" search expedition in the Novgorod region, to Regnum News Agency. And the searchers have quite a few such finds. Neofitov told, for example, how during the retreat of the Red Army in one of the Novgorod villages they did not have time to evacuate a hospital and the Germans shot over 300 wounded soldiers and officers. Along with them, 209 local residents were shot, in whose houses hospital wards were set up. In the "cauldron" into which the 2nd Shock Army found itself in 1942, there were not only military units, but also over a hundred villages and farmsteads, the majority of whose population perished. In the Partisan Territory, a vast forested area in the Leningrad, Novgorod, Pskov and Tver regions, behind German lines, it was difficult to separate partisans from civilians – everyone, young and old, took part in the popular resistance. It was here, about two years ago, that searchers discovered a dugout containing the remains of two adults and nine children – the Nazis shot them on the spot for “aiding the partisans.” And this is only the Novgorod region. Taking into account that there are more than 1,500 search teams operating in Russia, the scale of the work and the importance of the legislative initiative become clear. "I will express the opinion of probably all searchers: this is a very necessary bill, both legally and ideologically. Because we have finally paid attention to the partisans, and the underground fighters, and the concentration camp prisoners, who used to remain somehow on the sidelines. It is good that the law delineates the work, regulates the actions of the authorities and gives search organizations certain powers," says Neofitov. It is important that the law not only delineates the powers of government bodies at different levels, but also imposes on them the responsibility for the creation, preservation and restoration of monuments and other memorial structures and objects that perpetuate the memory of those who died in the Great Patriotic War. And although much time has passed, we can still restore the memory of the crimes against the Soviet people, not allowing the history of Russia to be rewritten and distorted, but on the contrary, casting it in bronze for future generations. |
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