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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Belousov will be Minister of Defense

2024-05-13

Direct Translation via Google Translate.

Putin appoints a bean counter to the post of Russian Minister of defense
[ColonelCassad] Putin nominated Belousov to the post of Minister of Defense.

What a twist.

More from the Financial Times:
Putin replaces security chiefs in surprise reshuffle
Vladimir Putin has replaced two of his longest-serving security officials in a surprise reshuffle, suggesting the Russian president is dissatisfied with the handling of his two-year invasion of Ukraine.

Putin, who was sworn in for a fifth term in office earlier this week extending his quarter-century rule until at least 2030, has moved Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister since 2012, to become head of Russia’s security council on Sunday, according to the upper house of parliament.
Putin kicked Shoigu upstairs.
Andrei Belousov, a deputy prime minister and longtime economic adviser to Putin, is to replace Shoigu.

Nikolai Patrushev, a hawkish former spy and one of Putin’s closest aides who has led the security council since 2008, will take up an unspecified new position.

Putin’s appointments mark the biggest shake-up of his security officials in a decade and a half, even as his forces continue to advance against Ukraine’s outmanned, outgunned army.

The Kremlin painted Shoigu’s move as part of efforts to rein in Russia’s runaway defence spending. On Putin’s orders to supply armed forces fighting in Ukraine this has been earmarked for the current year at a record Rbs10.8tn ($118.5bn).

You can see Wikipedia's rundown on Belousov here

The Russian perspective from RIA Novosti
Cutting-edge ideas. What is known about Andrei Belousov
While the State Duma is approving the nominations of Cabinet members sent for approval, Vladimir Putin has begun consultations with the Federation Council. The president, together with the upper house, will have to determine the composition of the government’s power bloc and the head of the Foreign Ministry. One of the main intrigues in the Northern Military District is the future Minister of Defense. Unexpectedly for experts, Putin proposed Andrei Belousov for this post.

SUDDEN REPLACEMENT
For now, at the head of the Ministry of Defense - in an acting capacity, since the government resigned on inauguration day is Sergei Shoigu. He has been in this position since 2012, and before that he headed the Ministry of Emergency Situations. All these years, according to opinion polls, he was regularly among the officials with a high level of trust.

Three weeks ago, the military department found itself in the center of public attention, but not in connection with the Northern Military District. Deputy Minister Timur Ivanov was detained on suspicion of taking a bribe.

The Kremlin did not connect this with the head of the Ministry of Defense. However, on May 12, Putin proposed changing the minister. According to the list received from the president to the Federation Council, Shoigu is the only one from the power bloc who was decided not to be reappointed.

HEREDITARY ECONOMIST
While Shoigu was among the most recognizable ministers, Andrei Belousov, who worked in the economic bloc, did not appear on television screens so often.

But in big politics, the former first deputy prime minister in the government of Mikhail Mishustin is an experienced person.

A hereditary economist, his father helped develop the economic reforms of the 1960s. Ph.D. At the end of the USSR - employee of the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute, Institute of Economics and Forecasting of Scientific and Technological Progress. Since the 1990s - at the Institute of National Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In 2006, Belousov was appointed deputy minister of economic development and trade, and in 2008 - director of the department of economics and finance of the government apparatus.

In the Cabinet of Dmitry Medvedev, he is the manager from Russia at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. And since 2013, he has been Putin’s assistant on economic issues. In addition, in 2015-2018 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rosneft.

CYBERNETICS METHODS
Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov emphasized: Andrei Belousov is not just a civil official, but an accomplished successful specialist. If the Federation Council approves him, he will become the second non-military Minister of Defense after Anatoly Serdyukov.

His knowledge and experience will be useful, since, according to Peskov, the department “must be absolutely open to innovation, the introduction of all advanced ideas, and the creation of conditions for economic competitiveness.”

“That is why the president chose the candidacy of Andrei Removich Belousov,” the press secretary emphasized.

It was no coincidence that we started talking about innovation. By specialty obtained at Moscow State University, Belousov is a cybernetic economist. And obviously, the stake now is not only on the economic merits of the applicant, but also on his ability to “refresh” the work of the department with non-standard methods.

From a comment in a video posted on the V Kontakte page of Military Informant
Ivan Ivanov

The transfer to the post of head of the Security Council is similar to another taxi driver’s signature hit:

1) they were transferred specifically to the Head, so that our suspicious armchair expert/kitchen-political lochtorat very predictably the whole crowd would not think that Khuzhenetovich had fallen into disgrace.
Khuzhenetovich is the patronymic of Sergey Shoigu.
Experts everywhere are already explaining to the scammer that this is a transfer_with_increase, because they say the Security Council includes all the security forces and the Defense Ministry, including, and therefore Khuzhenetovich now became the head not only of the Defense Ministry, but also of all the security forces.

2) Attentive people know the fate of a huge proportion of the highest stripes who commanded the return to their native harbor: a wave of “heart attacks, strokes, traffic accidents, accidents”, etc.

Perhaps this will be the case with this bearer of too many secrets, which even more concern the very, very highest persons of the state and the management processes at the very top.

There will be an “honorable retirement” as head of the Security Council, then a sudden illness and untimely departure for the new incarnation of this lover of pagoda-style villas.

More from the V Kontakte page of Irina Belokolos
A complete list of candidates proposed by Vladimir Putin for the posts of heads of law enforcement agencies.
– for the post of Minister of Internal Affairs – Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kolokoltsev; -- No change

– for the post of Minister for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief – Alexander Vyacheslavovich Kurenkov; -- No change

– for the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs – Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov; -- No change

- for the post of Minister of Defense - Andrey Removich Belousov;

– for the post of Minister of Justice – Konstantin Anatolyevich Chuychenko; -- No change

– for the position of Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service – Sergey Evgenievich Naryshkin; -- No change

– for the position of Director of the Federal Security Service – Alexander Vasilievich Bortnikov; -- No change

– for the post of Director of the Federal Service of National Guard Troops – Zolotov Viktor Vasilievich; -- No change

– for the position of Director of the Federal Security Service – Dmitry Viktorovich Kochnev; -- No change

- for the post of Head of the Main Directorate of Special Programs of the President - Alexander Leonidovich Linz. Former advisor to Boris Yelstin -- No change

Link

Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

General Armageddon returns before the offensive: Will be Suvorikin be Deputy Defense Minister

2024-05-01

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

These rumors have been circulating in Russian media for the last two weeks, that General Surovikin will take a portfolio in the Russian Defense Ministry some time before Vladimir Putin's presidential inauguration, May 7th.

Other rumors have been that current defense minster Sergey Shoigu will be replaced, possibly with General Valery Gerasimov.

The rumor behind that is that Shoigu, in league with Ivanov, either was behind or approved the "shell starvation" imposed on Wagner Group chief Yevginy Prigozhin, meaning he may have known about deputy defense minister Timur Ivanov's skullduggery and failed to inform Putin about it.
[TSARGRAD.TV] Insider telegram channels carried bad news for Kyiv and its Western overlords - before his inauguration, Vladimir Putin decided to give them a surprise that they would not be happy about: to return Army General Sergei Vladimirovich Surovikin to the front. Which can only mean one thing: a powerful offensive by the Russian army is coming.

The legendary “General Armageddon” completes his affairs in Africa, where, thanks to his efforts, the enemies of Russia are now doing very badly, and returns to the Russian lands, exhausted by the war with Ukraine. They have been talking about a return since the beginning of the year.
Currently, it is reported that Suvorikin is somewhere in Africa in a semiofficial capacity.
True, the sources of such news, or rather, gossip, were not the most reliable - various pro-Ukrainian Telegram resources. Blogger Sergei Kolyasnikov, known under the pseudonym Zergulio, called all these rumors and speculations about Surovikin nothing more than “lying nonsense.” And the general continued to remain in the African wilderness.

Well, the enemies of our country in the West could only continue to intensely study the routes of the Russian commander and fear his return to the active army.

In particular, when last fall Ksenia Sobchak published a photograph of Sergei Surovikin, who was walking arm in arm with his wife, this photo caused heated discussions not only in Russia and Ukraine, but also, for example, in the UK. Thus, Center for Information Resilience researcher Michael Sheldon used maps to determine where the military leader was that day.

I think the British are afraid of Surovikin’s return to the system and structure of the Russian Ministry of Defense, so they are trying to discredit him as much as possible through informational means,

Political scientist, candidate of philosophical sciences Yuri Baranchik told Constantinople then, explaining the phobia of the Anglo-Saxons. The British are afraid of the general’s return, since the line of defense he built, against which several waves of attack broke up, where the enemy lost a lot of equipment, including British equipment, has proven to be extremely effective.

It was. But now Zergulio himself started talking about Surovikin, and not some enemy provocative sources.

The return of a combat general with extensive and comprehensive combat experience would benefit the common cause. Even the very fact of the presence of General Armageddon at the front will cause diarrhea and corruption among the Nazis and their patrons from the USA and NATO. They still drop bricks when they hear the words “Surovikin line”,

— the blogger noted, noting that the decision to return Surovikin to the front can only be made by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, that is, Vladimir Putin.

A number of other Russian insider telegram channels wrote about Surovikin’s return to the Ukrainian war as a settled issue.

It’s too early to say how and where, but already this year the honored military leader will return to Russia and receive a well-deserved position. Operation "Surovikin line" did its job,

— reported the Win/Win channel.

In turn, the channel “On March Z” stated that “the decision of the Supreme Commander to return Surovikin to duty exists.” And the position of military adviser in Sudan and Syria, which he held before, will allegedly be taken by his former subordinate - the ex-chief of logistics of the Aerospace Forces and chief of the logistics staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Trishunkin.

The position to which Surovikni will return has not yet been disclosed. But in light of the upcoming reshuffles, he may become Deputy Minister of Defense. Literally: “A military general should be in his place, and not drive tramps through the sands,”

- the resource reports.

It should be noted that not everyone believed such information. In particular, in a conversation with Tsargrad, State Duma deputy Lieutenant General Andrei Gurulev said that if the president decided to return Surovikin, then he will return him. But when asked about the likelihood of such a decision, he answered “hardly.”

In a conversation with Tsargrad, military expert retired captain of the first rank Vasily Dandykin expressed his opinion.

Tsargrad: In your opinion, is it worth believing such insights?

Vasily Dandykin: As a military man, albeit in the reserves, I will say this: there is enormous interest in this person, especially after he left the post of head of the Northern Military District, so let’s better see what will happen and how. Everything is the will of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

Not only Easter and Victory Day are approaching, but also May 7 (the inauguration of the president and the resignation of the government). Next there will be, if not global, rearrangements. In the life of every high-ranking boss there are ups and downs, but no one has canceled the concept of “personnel reserve”. If there is a need for a person, taking into account his professional experience, then he will be available.

- The decision is up to the president...

— Appointments of specific people, both in military service and in civilian service, occur unexpectedly for us, including for telegram channels. And the Supreme One takes a preliminary look, evaluates, and consults. Despite the fact that Surovikin commanded the Aerospace Forces, he has extensive experience in combined arms training and command on the ground. It all depends on how the situation develops at the front, and here, I think, no matter how you look at it, it leads to the fact that we need to attack and liberate our territories. Which is exactly what we are doing now.

So what?

Despite the fact that the likelihood of the famous general returning to duty is now greater than ever, we will still wait for news. But, of course, I want them to be exceptionally kind. A professional can be in demand at all levels - starting from the battalion, regimental level and so on, especially when it comes to the offensive. And people with combat experience are very needed here.

Related from regnum.ru
The page with the biography of Deputy Minister Ivanov has disappeared from the Ministry of Defense website

A page with the biography of Deputy Head of the Russian Ministry of Defense Timur Ivanov , who was arrested as part of a case of receiving a bribe on an especially large scale, disappeared from the “Management” section on the official website of the department.

Also, there is no longer any mention of Ivanov on the page where all deputy ministers are listed. At the same time, the links that search engines still provide for the corresponding request are redirected to the subsection about the structure of the Ministry of Defense.

Previously, on the missing page with the deputy minister’s biography, it was indicated that Ivanov was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III and IV degrees, the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, I degree, and other awards.

As reported by IA Regnum , law enforcement officers detained Timur Ivanov on the evening of April 23. The next morning the court arrested him until June 23. The Deputy Minister of Defense was charged with receiving a bribe on an especially large scale. According to the investigation, Ivanov, having entered into a criminal conspiracy, received property benefits from contracting and subcontracting work for the needs of the military department. The Deputy Minister of Defense did not admit his guilt in committing the crime .

The Basmanny District Court of Moscow arrested the real estate and bank accounts of Ivanov and his relatives, imposing restrictions on the assets of the accused, his ex-wives and five children.

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov at a briefing on April 26 called for trusting only official information and focusing on official statements on the case of the Deputy Minister of Defense.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

Once-Hesitant China Lends Full Support to Russian Invasion of Ukraine as Anniversary Nears

2024-02-03

[Breitbart] Defense Minister Dong Jun of China reportedly declared that Beijing would “not change or abandon [its] established policy” in support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine this week – a full-throated endorsement presenting a shift from the Communist Party’s prior attempts to remain “neutral” in the conflict.

The Russian state outlet RT reported that Dong made the remark during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Shoigu on Wednesday. Dong’s meeting with Shoigu marked his debut on the international stage, as communist dictator Xi Jinping appointed him to the position of defense minister on December 29. His predecessor, Li Shangfu, disappeared without explanation in August and subsequently lost his position in October, leaving China with no defense minister for two months. Li’s whereabouts, or why he disappeared, remain a mystery at press time.

Dong used his first prominent appearance as defense minister to endorse the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which approaches its second anniversary in late February.

Link

Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

ISW: Wagner boss rise in decline after failure to take Bakhmut

2023-01-24

[Kyiv Independent] Private mercenary Wagner Group boss appears to be on the outs with the Kremlin after failing to make good on repeated promises of capturing Bakhmut in Donestk Oblast with his troops, the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest update.

According to the D.C.-based think tank, "Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had likely turned to Prigozhin and Prigozhin’s reported ally, Army General Sergey Surovikin, to continue efforts to gain ground and break the will of Ukraine and its Western backers to continue the war after the conventional Russian military had culminated and, indeed, suffered disastrous setbacks."

"Putin apparently decided to give Prigozhin and Surovikin a chance to show what they could do with mobilized prisoners on the one hand and a brutal air campaign targeting Ukrainian civilian infrastructure on the other. Both efforts failed, as Prigozhin’s attempts to seize Bakhmut culminated and Surovikin’s air campaign accomplished little more than inflicting suffering on Ukrainian civilians while expending most of Russia’s remaining stocks of precision missiles."

Prigozhin was using reports of the mercenary group's gains in and around Soledar in Donetsk Oblast as a way to promote the Wagner Group's reputation as an effective fighting force, the ISW wrote in an earlier update.

Any hopes that Prigozhin may have had to seriously challenge the Russian Ministry of Defense and General Staff, headed by Sergey Shoigu and Army General Valeriy Gerasimov, "now seem to have been delusional," the ISW wrote.

Link

Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

The logistics of the Kremlin's mobilization plan

2022-09-22

[Meduza] Meduza has learned from sources close to the Kremlin and to the leadership of several Russian regions that responsibility for carrying out Russia’s newly announced mobilization will fall primarily to regional governors. According to the sources, the federal authorities, including the Defense Ministry, plan to give the governors approximate numbers of people to be sent to the war in Ukraine.

A source close to the Putin administration told Meduza that the basic procedure for the upcoming mobilization has already been determined. According to the plan, many Russians will be summoned to their enlistment offices in a just a matter of days.

"[First,] they’ll call them in to verify their data. [Then] they’ll insistently propose that people sign contracts voluntarily. They’ll successfully manage to pressure quite a few people by mentioning the new articles in the Criminal Code, among other things. Not everyone is legally literate. And those who don’t agree will be released and then mobilized later — and that time, it won’t be voluntary," said the source.

In addition, according to Meduza’s sources, the Kremlin intends to use mobilization to fix personnel shortages in the "military civil administrations'' they've set up in Ukraine’s occupied territories. While many ambitious officials from Russia’s regions were willing to travel to the Donbas, the Kherson region, and the Zaporizhzhia region earlier in the war, the number of volunteers "greatly diminished" after Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive and the deaths of multiple Russian-backed occupation officials. A source close to the Kremlin said the following:

Now things will be simpler. If you call a [reluctant] official to the enlistment office, he won’t be able to evade [his appointment]. He’ll be given a simple choice: "You have an in-demand officer’s education after graduating from a university’s military department or serving in the army, and you’re being drafted. But there’s another option: you can work as a housing official in Kherson or Melitopol. Sound good?

Of course it’s better to work in the rear than on the front.

State corporations, as well as "government-adjacent" companies, will help regional governments with the mobilization process. A source close to the leadership of one state company told Meduza that businesses have already been given "approximate guidelines" as to how many employees will need to be mobilized, and that these numbers amount to about one percent of the total number of employees on reserve. (Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Russia’s "partial mobilization" will affect "300,000 reserve troops" out of the full 25-million-person "mobilization reserve.")

Link

Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Defense problem

2022-09-08

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Commentary by Russian blogger Donetsk
[DonRF] Blue - enemy control, red - ours. What does Balakleya give to the enemy?
See the graphic at the link
It gives a significant, by the standards of this conflict, advancement, a direct threat to Kupyansk and Izyum, and, with a favorable development of the situation, the capture of a significant part of the KhNR. Plus media bonuses - an arsenal (I was assured that it was taken out) and the city.

Small, but a win. What does this bring us? You can forget about offensive operations in the north. In principle, until the recapture of the lost areas. We have not lost the city; there are battles going on. It all depends on the reserves and on which units are holding it. For the same regiments mobilized in the DLNR ...
Emphasis mine: AKA a meeting engagement.
For understanding - the Soviet motorized rifle regiment is three motorized rifle and tank battalions, artillery and anti-aircraft divisions, an anti-tank battery, reconnaissance and rear services. A total of 2600 people, 40 tanks, 147 infantry fighting vehicles, 8 self-propelled guns, 9 ATGMs, 6ZSU, 6 air defense systems.

Secondary formations were planned to be weaker, but with equipment. In principle, that regiment is equal to the brigade now. Therefore, by the way, UAVs and communications could not have bothered in the USSR either - there was no reception against scrap.

And in the DLNR, a regiment is light infantry without heavy weapons. In the units which are lucky there are mortars and several armored personnel carriers. That is, in fact, for the third time (Ingulets, Vysokopolye, Balakliya), the strike falls on light infantry of the militia type. And this is not an accident. The Ukrainians not idiots, sitting on the other side. Soberly assessing their strengths and capabilities, they choose areas for operations where second-class units are located.

And we closed a number of sites with them. Why is it clear is the front (calling things without euphemisms such as lines of contact) has a huge length, with a small number of troops.

The enemy, for a second instance, has a threefold advantage in people. And to cover this huge line with something of little value is a huge temptation. They cover it ... in the first line. It is clear that when personnel units strike, light infantry retreats. It has no means to reflect this. And the nuances of mobilizing resistance to hundredth regiments are not added.

Of course there is a way out. All and sundry talk about it. There are even two of them - to attack on their own, and then the enemy will defend themselves, or else form normal regiments, already from citizens of the Russian Federation who have completed contract service, with normal equipment and normal staff.

And take hundredth regiments to the rear and retrain them. In terms of both weapons and personnel. Then yes, there will be an effect. In the meantime, we have what we have. Namely, enemy strikes where they were not expected, and these are the situations when winter comes suddenly, like with Soviet road builders.

Let's see how the situation will end. I'm skeptical about Ukrainian peers, if only because "guys go, there's no one there" does not differ from "lads, go, there's no one there" practically nothing. It’s just that the bells themselves are not good, moreover, rather in the media field than in the military. In the military, we can resist, but the fact that we have a tank biathlon and beautiful maneuvers:

The Supreme Commander-in-Chief observed the maneuvers. Vladimir Putin arrived at the Sergeevsky training ground together with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. They were present at the final part of the exercise, which involved more than 50,000 military personnel, thousands of pieces of military equipment, many aircraft and warships.

Donetsk refers to a recently released video which showed a rather dour looking Vladimir Putin entering a press box with an apparently cowed Sergey Shoigu and his defense ministry chief of staff
This does not overlap the results of SVO. Basically. And these results of the last two months are modest. And it’s good if this time is spent on creating new combat units that have been trained and tested ... And preparing a new campaign in order to finally pacify the unexpectedly peppy pig. But if all this has been spent:

Russia is working with the UN to ensure that the Istanbul agreements are fulfilled, although the West continues to prevent food from reaching world markets

For something like this, then I can’t even begin to predict where this will lead. Not from inside, nor the outside. The weak are beaten, as one prominent politician said. The people will understand and accept everything. One vessel is a reality, but the partners will finish it off. Without options.

Later:
Evening

[DonRF] Throughout the operation, I try to maintain a minimum of neutrality in relation to the authorities and command. For the goals of the NWO are declared noble, the stakes are high, and it is stupid to beat the captain in a stormy sea.

Moreover, I can repeat that the current offensives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are more of a media nature, and their success is determined not by the high qualities of the enemy, but by frank hatred in our country. This does not apply to fighters and commanders, the army, the National Guard, Corps and PMCs which are fighting. Heroically. And that's bad. Heroism is always the consequences of mistakes and is worth the loss.

Our troops are fighting. The state does not fight. And hence the consequences. While in the form of flowers in the south and north. We will continue to play - there will be more. There are no morons, no Selyuks and no downs. And it is high time to understand this.

Link

Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Russian Perspective: Operation to Denazify Ukraine: Operational Brief August 2nd (updated)

2022-08-03

Direct Translation via Google Translate.

Kindly note that several entries in this article were removed because they included discussions of the grand strategic level.
[NewsFrontInfo] 21:47 The SBU has detained several hundred civilians since the beginning of the SVO. Most of them are random people.

According to Country V, hundreds of citizens have been detained in Ukraine in the five months since the beginning of the Russian special operation in Ukraine. The SBU is actively looking for "spotters" and "traitors", but finds completely random people.

"The key problem is the lack of any adequate methods of digital warfare by the SBU. The cyber police are outsourced, and the hardware is damaged by the fighting," said a channel source familiar with the situation.

In general, the work of the SBU on the "search for spies" is based on the methods of the last century. These are passport checks, interrogations, and often torture.

"Everything ends as usual. Bribes are taken from the rich and the poor are taken away. The accusations of collaborating with the “enemy” of young children look especially terrible,” notes the interlocutor of “Country V."

21:47 Ukrainian media: Ukrainian volunteer Serhiy Gnezdilov wrote on Facebook a story about "six days of hell" in Peski, where he is now fighting. Judging by his information, everything is very bad with the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Gnezdilov writes that the enemy fires 6,500 shells per village per day. "Two mortars 82 and 120 are working from our side. Sometimes he wakes up and “sneezes” two artillery barrels towards Donetsk. We almost do not answer," the military man reports.

According to him, the Russians are hitting with large calibers, and many of his comrades have already been killed: "The bodies of those who were dearer to me than my relatives are lying in the heat in the trenches torn apart by 152-caliber. Counter-battery fire is absent from the word "completely", the enemy, without any problems for himself, puts an artillery shell in our trenches, dismantles very strong, concrete positions in tens of minutes, without a pause and minimal rest, pushing through our line of defense," Gnezdilov reports.

He writes that the day before yesterday - that is, on Sunday - the Armed Forces of Ukraine suffered heavy losses in the dead and wounded in Peski: “The reserve goes to the position, close the breakthrough with itself, and after five minutes out of 15 people only one remains intact."

Soldiers have not seen artillery support for a week now.

"Right now we are losing Peski, all our human and material possibilities are almost exhausted,” writes Gnezdilov.

The fact that the enemy advanced in the Peski area was officially acknowledged by the Ukrainian General Staff today for the first time.

21:46 The first dry cargo ship with Ukrainian grain arrived in Istanbul, - the media, citing the Turkish Ministry of Defense.

21:46 There was a hit on the territory of a military unit in the Chervonograd region, there were two explosions, - the head of the Lviv OVA Kozitsky. There is no information about the victims, the extent of the destruction is currently being established, he said.

21:04 The Pentagon appropriates the funds allocated to Ukraine. Colonel Douglas McGregor, a former adviser to the US Secretary of Defense, said in an interview that the funds allocated as aid to Ukraine are actually returning back to the United States without reaching the recipient.

"We must not forget about money. All those billions of dollars, where are they? Most of them simply do not reach Ukraine. Huge sums end up in the Pentagon as compensation to the armed forces for the fact that equipment and resources were transferred to Europe," he said.
It's okay. It's printed money anyway.
21:04 A blow was struck at the deployment point of the Ukrainian "Foreign Legion" in the Nikolaev region, up to 250 mercenaries were destroyed, most of which are EU citizens," - Russian Defense Ministry

19:00 "Howitzer ready for battle": Russian artillery works on the positions of nationalists in the Kherson region

18:10 Ukrainian air defense is trying to bring down cruise missiles over the Nikolaev region

16:53 Zelensky's office said that Germany is blocking the allocation of 8 billion euros of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine.

15:46 Equipment for reading ID-cards was installed in the passport offices of Kherson and Nova Kakhovka. It is no longer necessary to bring a paper statement of the place of registration.

14:51 Ukrainian troops, with strikes from the MLRS, again set fire to fields with wheat in the Pologsky district of the Zaporozhye region, local farmers reported and showed video

14:09 The Armed Forces of Ukraine do not let people go home: hundreds of people cannot return to Kupyansk. An unofficial corridor has been operating in the area of the Pechenezh dam for several months: every Monday, and sometimes more often, people could move between the two districts of the Kharkiv region.

However, recently this "shop" has closed: hundreds of people who traveled to Kharkiv on business are now unable to return home. The Kyiv regime reacted to numerous reports, including Western media, of a massive flow of people leaving for Russian-controlled territories.

14:09 As a result of the morning strike of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on Nikolaev, the dormitory of one of the universities was destroyed. Apparently, another location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

13:06 During a special operation in Ukraine, the Russian military destroyed:

- six launchers and over 200 MLRS HIMARS missiles;
- 33 American M777 howitzers;
- five launchers of the Harpoon anti-ship missile system.

13:06 Russian defense minister Sergey Shoigu called the number of air targets intercepted by the Russian army in July:

- 34 Ukrainian aircraft;
- 39 missiles of the Tochka-U complex;
— 226 shells of multiple launch rocket systems.

12:00 Head of the Ministry of Reintegration of Ukraine Irina Vereshchuk announced that mandatory evacuation from Donbass has begun

"The first train arrived this morning in Kropyvnytskyi. Women, children, old people, many people with limited mobility. Everyone was met and settled, everyone was helped," Vereshchuk said.

12:00 In Ukraine, the maximum contract period for military personnel with foreign citizenship or stateless persons has been increased to 10 years. Previously, this period was 1 year.

11:01 Personnel night arrivals in Nikolaev.

11:00 Zelensky asked the Odessa City Council to consider a proposal to demolish the monument to Catherine II. This is stated in his response to a petition with a proposal to install in its place a pedestal to porn actor Billy Herrington.

09:40 Inspection of a vessel with grain that left the port of Odessa will be held on Wednesday in Istanbul, RIA Novosti reports, citing a source familiar with the situation.

08:08 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky asked the Odessa City Council to consider a proposal to demolish the monument to Empress Catherine II.!

07:30 The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports:

North of Kharkov Russian offensive attempts towards Bayrak and Dementievka.

Attacks on Ivano-Daryevka resumed near Seversk.

Fighting continues in the area of Bakhmut and Zaitsevo (a village south of the regional center). Assaults on the Summit, Kodemy and Grass.

"Near" Peski fighting continues.

In the north of the Kherson region there was an assault on Trudolyubovka - near the border of the Dnepropetrovsk region. That is: the Russians are conducting offensive operations and reconnaissance in force in many directions at once.

01:41 Artillery battles on the front line Kherson - Nikolaev

Explosions are thundering in Nikolaev, MLRS are being hit from the direction of Kherson. In Nikolaev fire on shelling.

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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

~~Donbass~~ Lugansk republic fully liberated — Russian defense minister

2022-07-04

[RT] The last remnants of Ukrainian forces have been driven out of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced on Sunday. He reported the news to President Vladimir Putin

" ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Shoigu said Russian troops and Donbass forces had completely seized Lisichansk, the last major city which had remained under Ukrainian control since 2014, when the LPR declared its independence shortly after a coup in Kiev.

Russia and Ukraine reported heavy fighting around Lisichansk earlier this week, with the most fierce combat occurring at the city’s oil refinery.

News of the capture of Lisichansk comes after Ukrainian troops retreated from Severodonetsk, a nearby city on the opposite side of the Seversky Donets River, last week. The fighting for Severodonetsk had lasted for several months.

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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Putin cancels Azovstal assault

2022-04-22

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Commentary by Russian military blogger Andrey Chervonets
The Russian president ordered not to risk the lives of Russian soldiers and officers in vain.

Azovstal will be blocked so that the “fly does not fly” and the militants remaining on the territory of the industrial zone will be asked to lay down their arms.

Siege is also an effective method of fighting. And one of the oldest. And by the way, the cancellation of the "frontal" assault on Azovstal is not at all the cancellation of air, missile and artillery strikes on Azovstal.

The dung workers are now eating their last horseradish without salt in the cellars of Azovstal. And stick your nose out of these cellars are not able to. The leadership of "Azov" - Prokopenko, Palamar, as well as Western instructors, it is desirable for us to take them alive. These are very interesting interlocutors for our investigating authorities.

At Azovstal, a silence regime is declared daily from 14:00 to 16:00, all hostilities are completely stopped and humanitarian corridors are opened for the exit of civilians, who allegedly may be on the territory of the plant. But somehow no one uses this mode. If none of the civilians leaves the territory during this time, then either they are not there, or they are held hostage.

Mariupol itself, with the exception of part of the plant's territory, has been taken under full control.
Via Russia military journalist Boris Rozhin. Here is the text of the meeting between Russian Federation president Vladimir Putin and his defense minister, General Sergey Shoigu, where the news of the siege of Azovstal was announced. All in English.

Courtesy of Skidmark:

Left to starve in their tomb: Putin orders troops to seal Mariupol's last defenders - and thousands of civilians - in steelwork catacombs and 'not to let a fly escape' as Vladimir declares city 'liberated'

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]

Putin gave the order to seal off the steelworks Sergei Shoigu, his defence minister, on live television

Shoigu previously said more than 2,000 Ukrainian were still holed up in the plant

Russian president said he deemed it unnecessary for his troops to storm the steelworks

He called on the remaining Ukrainian fighters to surrender, claiming Russia would treat them with respect

Mariupol has been under siege since invasion began, and has been all-but razed

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria Two Syrian soldiers killed , nine wounded, says Russian Reconciliation Center

2022-02-17

Syrian Reconciliation Center announced two Syrian soldiers were killed and nine others and a civilian were wounded in different Syrian areas. #Syria #Russia #HTS.https://t.co/N5Lz4nOGk8
— NORTH PRESS AGENCY - ENGLISH (@NPA_English) February 16, 2022

QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Two Syrian soldiers were killed, nine other and a civilian were wounded in shelling conducted by militants of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) against the government posts in several Syrian governorates, Oleg Zhuravlev, deputy chief of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, announced yesterday.

Militants of the Syrian opposition factions targeted posts of the Syrian government in the countryside of Aleppo governorate, north Syria, killing one Syrian soldier and wounding four others and a civilian as well, Zhuravlev added.

Meanwhile, one government soldier was killed and five were wounded in mortar bombardment targeting the government sites in the countryside of Idlib governorate, northwest Syria, according to him.

Nine assaults launched by the terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS-formerly al-Nusra Front) were reported five of which were in Idlib and four in Aleppo, Zhuravlev explained.

On Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu inspected the Russian airbase at Syria’s Khmeimim.

Although the de-escalation zone in northwest Syria is subject to a Russian-Turkish ceasefire agreement signed in March 2020, the area witnesses frequent mutual bombardment despite the entry of the ceasefire into force.

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Science & Technology

Attack robots were used during Zapad-2021 exercise first time

2021-10-07

[TASS] Drills to practice new methods of conducting combat operations were central to the Russian-Belarusian strategic exercise Zapad-2021, in which some new weapon systems, such as attack robots, were used for the first time, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Wednesday.

"Central to the exercise were new forms and methods of conducting combat operations with due regard for the special features of current local wars and armed conflicts. Many things were tested in practice," Shoigu said while reviewing the results of the exercise.

In part, he said that for the first time an airborne battalion of the newest BMD-4M combat vehicles was parachuted at night in bad weather.

"Twenty one Ilyushin-76MD military transport planes parachuted 30 combat vehicles of a new generation," Shoigu said.

"It allowed for creating a 3D image of virtual combat space, thus making it possible to more accurately study the situation and drastically reduce the time commanders need to make decision," Shoigu said.

For effective fire adjustment and also for meeting the needs of reconnaissance groups unmanned aerial vehicles were used on a wide scale.

"A system of putting out of order a swarm of a hypothetical enemy's attack drones at a distance was employed successfully," Shoigu said.

At proving grounds near Kaliningrad attack robotized systems Platforma-M were used for the first time.

"Remote-controlled tracked robots performed quite well in coping with the task of destroying enemy manpower in urban conditions. At the Mulino proving ground (the Nizhni Novgorod Region - TASS) reconnaissance and fire support robots Uran-9 and Nerekhta were used in the combat formations of combined arms units," Shoigu said.

"Military command and control bodies practiced operation in the field at five proving grounds in Belarus and nine proving grounds in Russia. The Baltic Fleet's forces were dealing with their combat training tasks in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland," he added.

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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Russian Army to receive the first T-14 tanks by 2022

2021-08-11

The T-14 is a big change in Russian tank design, discarding with "inverted frying pan" motif of traditional tank turret design. The bigger change s the improved 125mm smooth bore main gun, said to be even more powerful than previous iterations.
[TASS] The Russian Army will receive 20 latest T-14 ‘Armata’ tanks by the end of this year, Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said on Tuesday.

"This year, 20 latest T-14 'Armata' tanks will arrive for the troops," the defense official said during the single military output acceptance day.

Also, "65 (each)T-90M Proryv serially produced tanks" will be handed over to the troops this year," he added.

The domestic defense industry will also deliver 18 medium-and heavy-class reconnaissance/strike drones to the Russian troops while a brigade set of the Iskander-M tactical missile system will arrive for the Army ahead of schedule, the deputy defense minister said.
A Russian missile brigade is about 20 launchers.
The Armata is a heavy tracked standardized platform serving as the basis to develop a main battle tank, an infantry fighting vehicle, an armored personnel carrier and some other armored vehicles.

The T-14 tank based on the Armata platform was shown to the public for the first time at Red Square’s Victory Day Parade on May 9, 2015. The new combat vehicle features fully digitized equipment, an unmanned turret and an isolated armored capsule for the crew.

2021 state defense order
According to Alexey Krivoruchko, this year's state defense order was fulfilled 34% in January thru June.

"As at the end of the first half of the year the 2021 state defense order for the supplies of new weapons and military equipment has been fulfilled more than 34% of the annual amount, which is in accordance with the expected target," Krivoruchko reported to Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.

He added that the conclusion of long-term state contracts had proved highly effective and guaranteed steady supplies of weapons and military equipment for the armed forces throughout the calendar year.

"The industry's pace of providing new weapons and military equipment ensures the fulfillment of the state defense order," Krivoruchko said.

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