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One of Per/Norway’s shared articles
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/03/boom-russia-now-demands-europe-pay-gas-rubles/
was captioned as an “MIGA view of Putin’s brilliant move”.
Having not given a crap about sites like the Gateway Pundit for nearly four years now, I was surprised to see them be cited here. Unless the intention was to show what certain Make-Israel-Great-Again types of people think of things. And after all the hawkish behavior Trump displayed toward Russia, until that point I thought it unthinkable that these types would talk positively about Putin or Russia in general.
Some of the commentators recall Trump’s statements bemoaning European reliance on Russian gas and position it as something he was correct on, as if Trump were some moral figure to follow.
I’ve seen this same sentiment in a few readers of English RT as well, like in this article. At least one netizen has complained that, unlike CGTN, English RT appeals to a Trumpist Right and fails to showcase Russian culture and society, but I digress on that.
Hard to say if that allegiance towards Trump is considered ‘neoconservative’, notwithstanding any neocons, self-proclaimed or otherwise, who hated him. Or if Trump’s statement re: Russian gad can be considered Russophobia (and considering his imposition of sanctions on NS2 during his presidency, I’m leaning towards a ‘yes’).
It is clear from the attitude of the WH that the Biden administration wants the war to continue for as long as possible.
One point made in the interview with Chas Freeman was that even if the Russians eliminated the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, Zelensky is in no position to negotiate as long as Washington wants the sanctions to go on, which, as we know from experience, could be a very long time indeed. What point would there be for Moscow to compromise if the sanctions continue regardless?
Zelensky got himself between a rock and a hard place between Washington and the neo-Nazis in his own country. Unless the Russians can engineer a regime change in Washington, the future of this planet looks bleak.
Losing is not an option.
I watched a charity concert, raising money for Ukraine in 2008, last night on Youtube, ‘Queen + Paul Rodgers: Live In Ukraine 2008’ ….. if Ukraine became a separate country after the collapse of the soviet union and has abundant natural resources, huge agriculture and a lot of the USSR industry, why the need for a charity concert in 2008?
It seems to me, from all I have read, that Ukraine has always been a basket case ….. like Poland, just a pain in the arse.
and …. like Poland, useful, very useful, for whichever great power is pulling the strings
It seems to me that the suicidally-insane animus of our Western plutocracy against Russia and in particular Putin arises from the conquest of Russia being a necessary preliminary to the conquest of China, and that the plutocracy were actually feasting fat on Russia when someone they thought was their comprador as much as Yeltsin turned on them.
In short, the accelerated drive of NATO east and the 2014 coup have all been the acts of a predator cheated of its prey.
What are the best studies of what happened in Russia when Western plutocratic rapacity was unleashed there?
I am aware that the usual unemployment, dispossessions and so on skyrocketed.
Rapacity of course has no limits–see Lebanon and Sri Lanka for small examples, and this telling gem from America, where the populace continues to allow themselves and their children to be driven into the ground by the plutocracy:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/27/us/mobile-home-park-ownership-costs.html
Woman found tortured in Mariupol Azov “military base” in the basement of a school, Nazi Swastikas burned into her flesh. The evil of the Ukrainian Nazis knows no bounds
https://youtu.be/6LQSYmda0Sc?t=119
the absurdity from the deputy mayor still in his basement bunker..upto 40000 from beseiged cities have been taken by Russia to be slave labour in Siberian camps..people given 15 mins to leave…children separated from families….and kept in hospitals…men taken over the border and been checked over for neo nazi memberships and association…obviously the mayor prefers them to be human shields and hostages to Azov….not letting people and children go to safety . Hope he gets put on trial.
“However, we will not freeze, starve or die for Ukraine. Because there is a Hungarian interest, and that is our priority”
Worth to read what is written today in a Hungarian news paper.
https://magyarnemzet.hu/velemeny/2022/03/volodimir-zelenszkij-elnok-urnak-es-a-tobbieknek?fbclid=IwAR3AXvDydY1ONlkTemv-BS6zwKkncJ6u9GDG9sjxTxWTWIdFtKEkZGei-1s&utm_source=mandiner&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=mandiner_202203
Some humor before bedtime – I could not help myself adding a clipping from the Swedish online news organisation Omni, published around 10PM UK time.
Headline reads: – Experts: Ineffective weapons make it difficult for Russia
42 minutes ago
Russia has fired more than 1,200 robots during the invasion of Ukraine, and as stocks dwindle, they may be forced to switch to less advanced systems, reports DN (Sweden’s largest system-media-newspaper).
Britain states that Russia mainly relies on long-range robots fired from Russian airspace – 60 percent of such attacks fail, according to the United States.
Joakim Paasivi, a teacher at the Swedish National Defense College, is struck by how poor the Russian firings were.
“Either the weapons are bad or the Russians are clumsy when it comes to programming them,” he told DN.
The sanctions make it difficult for Russia to obtain microchips for advanced weapons, according to Paasikivi’s colleague Ilmari Käihkö, associate professor.
– If they can not manufacture them, it will be difficult to continue the war on the same scale.
Yes, Russians are indeed not only incompetent, they are also clumsy :-)
Wishing you all a tranquil night.
Wrong year, wrong city, wrong army
There is a misattributed video doing rounds on the Internet today,
Dr.Tara:
“The commander of the Mariupol neo-Nazis tried to escape with his troops in disguise, which was captured by Russia and turned into a city where the Russian-speaking people beheaded and beheaded for their crimes.
I said you might want to see some Russian propaganda lies alongside the true news of Western sympathizers.”
The commander is not from the Azov Battalion but a lieutenant colonel of the Ukrainian army. The place is not Mariupol, but the city of Donetsk. The time is early 2015. The context is the battles for the Donetsk International Airport. Givi’s group had captured some ten Ukrainian solders. There is a video where Givi says some choice words to lieutenant colonel at the airport.
On the same day an artillery shell had hit a trolley bus in the center of Donetsk, killing sone 20 people. The location is near to where the Toscha-U killed some 10 civilians this month. The lieutenant colonel was taken to see the results of the massacre.
The tweeted video does not show the destroyed bus. There is one body seen lying on the street at the end of the video.
The misattributed video was also shown on some Greek news show.
Mariupol is turning into a giant humanitarian disaster. There are no services of any kind, “no fire departments, rescue services, or ambulances operating in the city,” civilians are in shock, and the storming armies have no time to deal with refugees while fighting a war of attrition. Azov scum has been reduced mainly to Azovstal, chosen place for their final demise. A smaller group has taken the police school as their final site.
Besides a humanitarian disaster, from videos we can see Mariupol is an ecological disaster zone, with ongoing fires everywhere that no one is putting down, tones of trash all over the city, bodies rotting in open air, many people buried their relatives where they could, nazi scum made a hell out of Mariupol before they go rotting in the seven level of hell, along with all the nazi trash.
https://voenhronika.ru/publ/vojna_na_ukraine/karta_boevykh_dejstvij_na_ukraine_segodnja_vecher_27_marta_izjum_gorlovka_mariupol_25_video_2022/60-1-0-11733
Map of military operations in Ukraine today-the evening of March 27. Izyum, Horlivka, Mariupol (25 videos, 2022)
In the Kiev direction, in the Chernihiv and Sumy directions, an operational pazu is underway – Russian troops have stopped advancing. The offensive of the media Ukrainian governor Kim from Nikolaev on the Russian Kherson has not yet taken place and there are big doubts about its success.
The main events are taking place in the Donbas, where battles were fought for the village of Dolina – in the center of the road between Izyum and Slavyansk. The Russian Armed Forces are expanding their bridgehead in the direction of Barvenkovo and to the west along the Seversky Donets River. All of the above is done with the obvious task of reliably protecting the flanks.
In the south, the offensive continues in the direction of Kurakhovo.
In Mariupol, the enemy group is divided into two parts (see other material for more details, https://voenhronika.ru/publ/vojna_na_ukraine/poslednie_svodki_i_video_iz_mariupolja_vecher_27_marta_boeviki_azova_zazhaty_na_zavode_i_oni_obrecheny_15_video_2022/60-1-0-11732).
A large-scale humanitarian catastrophe and chaos is brewing in Ukraine. If you have the opportunity to leave , do so immediately.
US intelligence warned the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine about the preparation of an additional group of Russian troops in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation, whose goal is to strengthen the attack in the direction of the eastern front. According to the Pentagon, after the fall of Mariupol, a full-scale operation of Russian troops in this direction will begin.
During the entire offensive operation (since February 24), the irrecoverable losses of the Russian Armed Forces and Rosgvardiya in the Izyumom direction do not exceed 80 people, and only in the last 4 days of fighting at the AFU “zadvukhsotili” at least 250 – a source familiar with the situation. In this regard, the growing anger of the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is not surprising.
———————–
Lone Wolf
To tie a modest update together into what Lone Wolf just posted:
This is what I’m starting to piece together. Since Mariupol is reaching its terminal stages, Russia has decided to rest its troops for a little bit in preparation for a massive push on the eastern ‘cauldron’. This is why they haven’t been very active in any of the other theatres and have in fact pulled back slightly in the Kiev / Kharkov areas, in order to fall back to defensive lines and rest and regroup. Same goes for Nikolayev/Kherson area.
I’m going to classify my analysis of Russia’s next move into several main pieces of evidence / reasonings that I’ve syncretized into determining Russia’s current plans:
1. There is not only a growing amount of rumors about new Russian reserves being deployed but there’s been some video footage of some of them, particularly in the north for now https://www.bitchute.com/video/MFPqPpwWPzZm/
As well as new pontoon crossings being established on the Donets river where new arrivals are being concentrated in the Izyum region. Lone Wolf posted that U.S. intel sources / Pentagon themselves have stated that not only is a large group of RF forces gathering in Belgorod but, “According to the Pentagon, after the fall of Mariupol, a full-scale operation of Russian troops in this direction will begin.”
If you recall the same sources also said a week ago that Belarus would enter Ukraine only after “phase 2” had begun for the purpose of pinning Ukr reserves in the West of the country, while Russia completed the cauldron closing operation in the east.
2. There is of course the recent announcements from MOD that the ‘most important objective’ right now is the liberation of Donbass territories — this one is a given.
3. There is the recent major uptick in strikes on Ukrainian rear groups and supplies/depots in order to drain the entire operational front particularly of fuels/lubricants. This is important: Russia is doing this in advance because it is clear they are planning for the possibility that the JFO grouping will soon be massively retreating and Russia is setting the stage for their complete inability to do so. The plan is likely to continue hammering their supply in this final stretch of time leading up to the fall of Mariupol in preparation for the phase 2 offensives on the JFO in Donbass. This is why night after night we’ve been seeing fuel depots being hit everywhere from Kramatorsk, to Lyvov and Dubno, to all around Kiev and many other cities. In short, they’re slowly softening up and tenderizing the cauldron before the final attack.
Now one important word on something from the above that no one has mentioned yet. Some might ask, how will Russia inject more forces if it’s been claimed they’ve already deployed all of their capable forces to theatre. And here’s where I think we’ve all been “had” by western propaganda. You see, that whole figure we’ve been relying on this entire time, of the alleged Russian 100-150k troops in Ukraine was only according to the “Pentagon”, which at the time (at the beginning of the operation) they had great incentive to lie and make Russia sound not only as “intimidating” as powerful in order to galvanize public hysteria, but also to develop the narrative that “mighty Russia with all its forces is unable to defeat Ukraine”. But the truth is, not once has any number been officially given or confirmed whatsoever, and I started to suspect something was off about those “150k” figures and 120 BTG battle groups, that were being bandied about by everyone. I no longer think this is the case, and am starting to strongly suspect that Russia has in fact committed far less forces so far than anyone thinks. No one can know for certain but it could be anything from 50-80k. I’ve deduced this from studying the various fronts/groupings over the course of the past few weeks and never quite feeling satisfied that what I was seeing was a 150k force. I’ve never seen any evidence to support that Russia was using anything more than 50-70k troops only. Remember, when you watch footage of the Georgian War of 2008, it looks just as busy militarily and yet Russia for half the time was only using something like 20,000-40,000 troops, until a little more poured in at the very end.
Not only is this the typical way for Russia to operate, they always start with a lower amount, then continue to develop new fronts and pour in more later, but the amounts could very well be similar as well. In many of the Ukrainian fronts, I’m seeing mostly only advanced forward groups of VDV that might be a battalion or brigade in size at most. You have to realize, for there to be 150,000 troops as the Pentagram claimed, you’d have to be seeing massive WW2 era “Army Groups” of 30-50k troops each and no where have I seen such a large amount. As we discovered a while back the “40 mile long convoy” ended up being a complete hoax. I could very well see the count being something like 20-30k troops around Kiev, 10-15k around Kherson, 10-20k in the Kharkiv region and 10-20k in the Zaporzhzhia Oblast / Mariupol region. This would put the total count at anywhere from about 50k to 85k give or take. These numbers are commensurate with the types of troop levels my own eyes have seen. Show me a single video where anyone has seen anything even beginning to resemble an entire ‘Division’ let alone a WW2 era Army Group.
So what does this mean? That Russia would have upwards of 80-100k more troops still remaining in reserve, if this theory is correct. And now, as outlined above, more and more evidence appears to point in this direction as suddenly the Pentagon has shifted its tune from “Russia has used 100% of its 150k forces” to “uh, Russia is amassing another large battle group in Belgorod, and new forces are streaming in from north of Kiev.” In fact a Forbes article from a week ago claims Russia has used already 190k troops in Ukraine which clearly is no where near reality.
Here’s some interesting numbers I’ve come up with: Russian ground forces are officially listed as 280k total, i.e. that’s the size of the entire Russian ground active duty forces in the country (this doesn’t count another 400-500k “reserves” but they are out of the question right now as Putin promised not to use them nor conscripts).
However this 280k counts both contract soldiers and conscripts, and we know Putin won’t use conscripts. The percentage of conscripts to kontraktniki that I could find is about 38/62, which would mean out of those 280k about 174,000.
However apparently this ‘ground troops’ figure does not count Airborne and Spetsnaz, which Russia has the most of in the world of any other country. About 45k VDV and 17-20k Spetsnaz. The conscript percentage in those are much less but let’s just say roughly that adds at least another 45k more available contract troops, give or take. So arguably, Russia would then have about 174k + 45k — but wait let’s not forget the navy, which Russia has reportedly 160k troops, some percentage of them must be Marines able to be used as ground forces, and in fact we’ve seen footage in Mariupol that claims to show ‘Russian Marine’ forces yesterday. No idea how many Marines but one can assume at least similar to the Spetsnaz / VDV, maybe 10-20k.
And then lastly, according to some sources the Russian national guard ‘Rosgvardia’ forces are separately counted and are a massive 340k in size. So if this is not part of the main RF ground forces number, this gives another huge troop force potential.
In short, Russia should be able to have at least 210-230k-ish active duty contract forces able to serve not counting the Rosgvardia numbers. And honestly, it seems the most I’ve seen so far of Russian forces in action is Rosgvardia. I don’t think we’re seeing anywhere near the full forces Russia can deploy. There is no way they have 180k in theatre currently or anywhere close to that when they had 20-40k in Georgia and the size of operations in the footage looked roughly similar. Of course one can argue ‘well Georgia had only 20-30k troops and Ukraine has 250k’ but this is why many experts like Andrei Martynov have expressly stated “Russia is outnumbered by multiples of its force” as Andrei has stated days ago in a video, and remember LPR / DPR troops which might count anywhere in the 20-40k range depending how much they were able to mobilize in their full mobilization efforts, are pinning most of the Ukr cauldron themselves. It’s hard for me to believe Ukraine has 100k around Kiev and 100k around Kherson because you would be seeing battles that rival WW2 battle of Kursk in sheer magnitude and I have not seen a single piece of evidence, photo or footage that shows me more than 5-7 Ukie soldiers at a time….I’ve never even seen more than 2 Ukie tanks ever together.
How close to reality is any of the above? I don’t know, and neither does anyone else other than Russian MOD. But I feel quite certain Russia has many troops left to deploy for phase 2 which will start after the fall of Mariupol.
Please do chime in and tell me if I’m wrong if you happen to have some evidence to the contrary of anything I said, particularly in regard to CURRENT Russian troop levels in Ukraine which I maintain has never been officially declared nor even truly professionally estimated (I don’t count Pentagram propaganda as ‘professional’ evaluation)
In other quick news: Russia continues to take prisoners all over:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/TyHWsEuPFoH4/
https://www.bitchute.com/video/jJU1H0mRLS0C/
Adding another piece of evidence to the above: https://twitter.com/Suriyakmaps/status/1508192434202845187
another video of reinforcements coming from the north when Western sources claimed Russia had none left and had already “committed 100% of its allotted forces to Ukraine”.
There is obviously a big reshuffling of forces happening in the north Kharkov / Izyum / Suma / etc region in preparation for phase 2. This explains why some small towns were “retaken” by Ukraine in that region because Russia is moving forces around to more strategically placed locations.
I fully concur. Russia has been holding back up until now.
What I’d like to emphasize is the things we are NOT seeing. Those are often as telling (or even more so) than the things we do see, but are easily overlooked. From the west’s point of view, conditioned as it is by the US’s reliance on brute force and overwhelming firepower to achieve its ends, these ‘absences’ are interpreted as weakness, stalling efforts, supply problems, etc. From this perspective, the absence of something on the battlefield equals the lack of it in general. Like, ‘the Russians aren’t using massive firepower so they must be running low on ammo’.
It does take guts to hold back the way the RF seems to have been doing. There are two competing approaches to conducting military operations from a loss prevention perspective. The first, and most popular, is to create as large a numerical advantage as you can to overwhelm the opponent. The idea is that by having far superior numbers you have more firepower meaning you can eliminate the opposition quicker. And by reducing the amount of time your own forces are exposed to enemy fire, you are reducing overall losses.
The second one does the opposite, here you assign as few of your own units as possible, in fact just the absolute minimum to achieve specific goals. Here the reasoning is, is that by exposing the lowest possible number of troops to enemy fire, you reduce your own risk of taking casualties. But by having the initiative, you can still accomplish a succession of (local) successes, even with inferior numbers, which together build up to overall victory, all the while keeping your risk of taking casualties low.
It looks to me like the Russian Army is using a combination of the two approaches. It uses as few ‘bodies’ on the line of contact as possible, which keeps casualties low, but combines that with using overwhelming stand-off firepower.
Effectively, they are forcing the enemy to do what I mentioned in point one, concentrating forces, but in the Ukrainian’s case almost exclusively for defensive purposes. But this concentration in specific areas makes them MORE vulnerable to taking losses, not less, as they are defending and reacting, and don’t have the initiative.
Up until now it has mostly been a war of one-sided attrition. What we have NOT seen is the kind of large scale mobile maneuver warfare that has been standard Russian doctrine. I strongly suspect it will come, but only when the General Staff decides it has sufficiently weakened the enemy. Because of the reluctance of inflicting civilian casualties (a highly commendable relief btw after NATO’s terror-war on terror), this takes a lot longer than it would if the supporting civilian infrastructure would be targeted.
Over the last weeks I’ve continuously and anxiously been expecting it (the breakout of large armored formations) ‘any minute now!’, as I want it to be over with. But now I’m more and more seeing the wisdom of the current, more measured, approach.
Still, only time will tell if the General Staff made the right choices.
What I failed to understand is that desipte the neo nazis being embedding with the regular Ukrainian forces, the former must be in the ration 20:2. in each brigade/division. When the regular ukie forces do not want to fight, they can simply liquidate the neo nazis from their respective battalion/brigade or whatever and then come for the truce with the RF forces. They regular ukie forces must take the initiative to come forward and stop the bring bring about the peace, initiate coup against Ze and his gang with the help from RF forces. This will prevent further destruction of the country.
Earlier I saw many comments stating that the regular ukie forces couldn’t lay down arms because the nazis are not letting it.If they wanted they could easily overpower the nazis as they have vast numerical advantages in each formations-division/brigade etc.
To me it looks like both the regular forces and neo nazis are hand in gloves and want to take it to the finish line. My view.
yeah it’s just a western lie that nazi lovers were only in Azov. Firstly, there’s way more units other than “Azov” which are openly nazi, such as Svoboda and Right Sector. Right Sector’s official membership is listed as 10,000+ people. Svoboda Party’s membership is 15,000 and it also openly uses nazi symbols and recruits open nazis. National Corps party is another openly nazi party with 15,000 membership.
There are probably others but these are the biggest I know of off the top of my head that contributed the most to all the 2014 events. So just between these groups and Azov Battalion, there’s at least 50-70k open nazis right there.
Then the rest of the country widely either worships or reveres Stepan Bandera as he’s a national figure and his portrait is usually hung in the offices of most Ukrainian politicians as was seen on video many times past few weeks.
From The Gateway Pundit:
Zelensky Ready to Make Concessions with Russia — Will Discuss Adopting a Neutral Status for Ukraine and Will Agree to Promises on Crimea
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/03/zelensky-ready-make-concessions-russia-will-discuss-adopting-neutral-status-ukraine-will-agree-promises-crimea-video/
Too late Kerensky, you’re SOL.
@ Nightvision on March 27, 2022 · at 10:10 pm EST/EDT
To tie a modest update together into what Lone Wolf just posted:
Well, you’re being modest with your update, which I would categorize as interesting.
There is an honest effort to back up your assertions with recent data, though given the sketchy nature of the info, there is not much to count on. Regardless, the bird view of Russia’s ground forces deployed in Ukraine is, in general, and IMHO, a non verifiable probable approximation. Debunking the “150k” figure was a good point of departure, and your reasoning behind the forces deployed in key areas seem, given the battlespace, possible.
Of course, only Russia’s MoD knows the number of forces deployed, but the calculation made based on a month of boots on the ground, advances and current positioning, seems plausible. The US/Eurostan hype about the number of Russian troops at the border before the special operation, has to be discarded and be used only as a point of reference re: troop operations in Ukraine. We have to remember that Russia was counting on a conservative operational forward group in Ukraine, while keeping its reserves for a larger confrontation with the US/NATO, which might still come, we just don’t know how it is going to be manifested.
The second phase will obviously add new and fresh forces to the already tired and depleted current numbers after a month of intense fighting, as Russia goes in for the kill of the nazi regime. Mariupol and Kharkov are a classroom for the Russian army, which is known for learning quickly and applying that knowledge to the ongoing battlefield conditions. The new phase will be defining, and will allow to compare current estimates to second echelon deployments.
Thanks for all your work.
———————————
On another note, VZGLYAD had a very good article on the Russian Navy preparations for war with the West.
Those in the know might remember the rumors about Commander Qasem Soleimani (may Allah sanctify his secret) being the architect of Russia’s intervention in Syria. The rumor goes he went to Moscow as an envoy from Iran’s Supreme Leader, and laid out the ME battle landscape to the Russians, pointing out the danger the taqfiris poised for Russia’s soft underbelly, the Caucasus.
Long story short, Russia made the decision to support Syria from becoming a “caliphate” (read, a CIA/MI6/Mossad substation in the ME), which brought Russia the added perk of two ports in warm waters, Tartus and Latakia, and by now, several military bases across Syria. Whether Russia at that time saw Syria as a strategic factor in her positioning vis-a-vis a potential war with the West, we will never know, the point is it became a cardinal location from which Russia could reach the entire Mare Nostrum and the whole of Europe.
The article doesn’t mention any of the above, only Russia’s naval preparations for a war with the West, but this is the background that allowed Russia to be in Syria at a pivotal moment of confrontation with the US/NATO. We can say that Russia is indebted to Iran, and in particular to Commander Soleimani, for allowing Russia this strategic positioning in the ME.
https://m.vz.ru/society/2022/3/27/1149758.html
The Russian Navy was preparing for a major battle with the West
The special operation in Ukraine has been underway for a month. You can hear the army and pilots, the landing on Gostomel, the battles of the militia and special forces in Mariupol. The role of the Navy remains behind the scenes-and quite unnecessarily. What battles did the Russian squadron prepare for in the Mediterranean and how does it affect the ongoing operation right now?
The Russian fleet began its deployment long before the operation began. After scaring NATO a bit off Ireland and the British coasts, the ships left for the Mediterranean to join up with the Navy in the Mediterranean. There also came a detachment of ships from the Pacific Ocean. By the twentieth of February, Russia had two missile cruisers in the region – “Marshal Ustinov” and”Varyag” (“Moscow” remained in the Black Sea), the frigate “Admiral Kasatonov”, two BOD, a number of weaker ships and several diesel submarines with “Caliber”.
Containment in the Mediterranean
NATO could not remain indifferent. To meet our rather large forces, they brought out as many as three aircraft carrier groups, including one American. For some time, our fleet operated in several detachments – while the Northern Fleet detachment led by Ustinov was maneuvering south of Sicily, the Pacific Fleet, together with the Mediterranean group, formed a powerful “fist” in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, not far from Syria. NATO ship groups, however, kept out of the range of our missile systems, and a strike on them would have required serious efforts…
Lone Wolf
I’ve had a Nobel Peace Prize idea:
US and Rus should have three globally-televised debates, Biden-Putin, Harris-Mishustin and Blinken-Lavrov.
“China’s state-run oil refiner, Sinopec, has paused discussions with Russia about a petrochemical investment and a deal to market Russian gas in China, Reuters sources suggested on Friday.
Reuters sources have suggested that the reason for the pause in talks is due to China’s wariness over its own companies butting up against Western-levied
BREAKING NEWS: China’s Sinopec Bows Out Of Russian Petchem, Gas Projects
Home Latest Energy News
China’s Sinopec Bows Out Of Russian Petchem, Gas Projects
By Julianne Geiger – Mar 25, 2022, 3:30 PM CDT
China’s state-run oil refiner, Sinopec, has paused discussions with Russia about a petrochemical investment and a deal to market Russian gas in China, Reuters sources suggested on Friday.
Reuters sources have suggested that the reason for the pause in talks is due to China’s wariness over its own companies butting up against Western-levied Russian sanctions.
While the petrochemical deal wasn’t named, Reuters sources said it was in the site selection process and was supposed to be similar in size to the $10 billion Amur gas chemical complex in Siberia. Amur is a joint venture between Sinopec and Russian Sibur.
The new investment in question—which was also a deal with Sibur—was estimated at $500 million for a gas chemical plant.
Sinopec reportedly paused the talks when it realized that one of Sibur’s minority shareholders and board members, Gennady Timchenko, had been sanctioned by the EU and Britain due to his ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Timchenko was also on Novatek’s board until Monday, when he resigned.
Russia is China’s second-largest oil supplier and third-largest gas provider.
Sinopec did not comment on its plans.
The Amur project is also in jeopardy, as funding sources in Russia, including from Russia’s state-run Sberbank, also find themselves limited due to sanctions.
Sibur has denied that a new project with Sinopec similar to Amur was in the works. It did say, however, that Sibur continues to work with Sinopec on the Amur project.
“Sinopec is actively participating in the issues of the project’s construction management, including equipment supplies, work with suppliers and contractors. We are also jointly working on the issues of project financing,” Sibur told Reuters.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently met with Sinopec, CNPC, and CNOOC—its three energy giants—to review its ties to Russia. Reuters sources have suggested that those companies have been told to tread carefully in its dealings with Russia and to not make any rash moves in buying Russian assets.”
The EU asks me to buy locally, to reduce emissions and save fossil fuel. Meanwhile, the same EU buys natural gas from across the ocean, when it is available locally by pipeline from Russia.
EU should consider making methane for itself ….it has more than enough s–t from its politicians and hubris.
Although Putin said twice that Ukraine may lose its statehood and Putin is a man of his word, some still doubt that Russia could absorb Western Ukraine adducing many difficulties. We all know it’s only matter of time before the Donbass becomes part of Russia. Russia will not say “no” twice to Donbass. If Russia absorbs more than Donbass, it’s an all or nothing situation. It’s curious that it is so. A little is “thievery” (not possible to justify well), all is her “right” (possible to justify). There are practical considerations too. How do you leave the rest unabsorbed, what happens there? What some say could happen to Western Ukraine now could perhaps happen then; that is, it could become absorbed by Poland (or NATO).
Russia doesn’t want Galicia at all they want the south-east and south.
From the Russian point of view, one should think about an immediate export ban of all goods to those countries
– who provide military support to Ukraine overt or covertly,
– stationing military personnel and infrastructure in Eastern Europe,
– whose military expenditure exceeds a certain threshold,
– have imposed sanctions on Russia,
– whose media report inflammatory and undifferentiated,
-…
For the future then gladly with rubles.
By the way, same for syria.
Germans outlawing the letter Z
In Berlin soll das Zeigen des „Z“-Symbols der russischen Streitkräfte strafrechtlich verfolgt werden. „Wird der Kontext zum Krieg hergestellt mit der Verwendung des weißen Z, wie es auf den russischen Militärfahrzeugen zu sehen ist, dann bedeutet das natürlich die Befürwortung des Angriffskrieges“, sagte Innensenatorin Iris Spranger (SPD) dem Tagesspiegel (Montag): „Das wäre strafbar, da schreiten wir auch sofort ein.“
Auch andere Länder wie etwa Bayern, Nordrhein-Westfalen und Niedersachsen haben angekündigt, das öffentliche Tragen des Symbols zu ahnden. Grundlage ist demnach Paragraf 140 im Strafgesetzbuch, der das Billigen bestimmter Delikte unter Strafe stellt. Möglich seien bis zu drei Jahre Haft oder eine Geldstrafe.
Machine translation;
In Berlin, showing the “Z” symbol of the Russian armed forces is to be prosecuted. “If the context of the war is created with the use of the white Z, as can be seen on the Russian military vehicles, then of course that means advocating a war of aggression,” Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) told the Tagesspiegel (Monday): “That would be punishable, we will intervene immediately.”
Other states such as Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony have also announced that they will punish the public wearing of the symbol. The basis is therefore paragraph 140 of the Criminal Code, which makes the approval of certain offenses a punishable offence. Up to three years imprisonment or a fine are possible.
Link to article
https://mobile.scribblelive.com/Event/Ukraine-Konflikt/?Theme=13112
Some Germans must have showed a “Z”, which I think shows a patriotic sector that wants Germany to be more independent, etc., right? If they haven’t yet, it shows even more that this sector exists and is strong enough to make the SPD Interior Senator and some important states come out like this. It must be the only place in the world where people are thinking about the Z like that.
There are different guesses about what the Z represents. My guess is that it can’t be a total coincidence that Zelensky begins with Z, or that when assigning the Z they did not think about this. I think his name is at least one of the reasons why the Z was chosen. If an H had been placed on Russian tanks in WWII, this would apply but more clearly. (I have never seen someone like Ze, so to me a Z idea would sound all right, you know what I mean?)
Daily report from “Military Chronicle,”https://voenhronika.ru/
Coordinates of the location where Ukronazis committed atrocities and war crimes against Russian soldiers are already known to the Russian Army, we can expect hell is going to rain on this nazi scum.
Advanced units of the Russian Marines have reach the HQ of the Azov battalion in Mariupol, where they found maps, documents and diagrams of the nazis’ defensive positions and tactics.
Finally, an explanation of Russian tactics in cities encirclement, and factors that determine the prolongation of a battle against encircled forces.
Many videos.
https://voenhronika.ru/publ/vojna_na_ukraine/poslednie_video_s_ukrainy_den_28_marta_stalo_izvestno_kto_streljal_po_nogam_plennykh_soldat_rf_25_video_2022/60-1-0-11739
Latest videos from Ukraine – March 28. It became known who and where shot at the feet of captured soldiers of the Russian Federation (25 videos, 2022)
Details of the video with wounded prisoners of the Russian Armed Forces, who are shot in the legs, have become known. The footage shows gunners captured near Kharkiv, specifically on the western outskirts of the village of Malaya Rogan near Kharkiv (coordinates-49.939247, 36.477169). Earlier, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a counterattack in the Olkhovka area, east of Kharkiv, where they tried to outflank Russian positions. The strike group included selected National guardsmen, many of whom died under Russian artillery fire during the battle. The counterattack was stalled, and the nationalists suffered serious losses. they decided to take revenge on the artillery calculations that fell into their hands…
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https://voenhronika.ru/publ/vojna_na_ukraine/russkie_morpekhi_zakhvatili_bazu_azova_poslednie_video_shturma_mariupolja_polden_28_marta_10_video_2022/60-1-0-11738
Russian Marines have captured the Azov base! Latest videos of the assault on Mariupol – midday on March 28 (10 videos, 2022)
Today, advanced units of the Marine Corps of the Russian Armed Forces came to the barracks of the main base “Azov” in Mariupol. There was almost no resistance, and the Marines had already taken control of the base. It is expected that there will be a lot of tripwires and booby traps on its territory, so the cleanup will take a long time.
Russian and LPR troops are squeezing the Mariupol cauldron. They forced everyone into the Azovstal industrial zone. We managed to save a huge number of civilians.
People are streaming out from both the left bank of the Dnieper and the right. This is a heartbreaking picture, people spent a month in basements…
Under the guise of civilians, the Azov militants are also trying to get out. They are caught in packs. From the latter, the vehicle of the 43rd separate marine battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was intercepted. All were taken alive.
Some features of the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the city have also become known. This is how street maps and landmarks were found for directing artillery fire and defending buildings.
The enemy is sitting on the upper floors of buildings, working with machine guns, sniper rifles, aiming artillery. They actively use surveillance devices: they put a remote camera on a battery on a magnet or Velcro on the windowsill, change the battery once a day, and sit somewhere in the back of the building, not putting themselves at risk, until they see movement.
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https://voenhronika.ru/publ/vojna_na_ukraine/ustojchivost_oborony_v_mariupole_azov_na_samom_dele_ne_usilivaet_oborony_goroda_a_naoborot_2022/60-1-0-11734
Stability of defense in Mariupol. “Azov “does not really strengthen the city’s defenses, but on the contrary… (2022)
You’ve probably heard that the city is about to be cleared in the next week, in the next three days. In understanding these processes, it is useful to know the specifics of the loss of combat capability of units (analysis from the same author). Now it is time to say how the encirclement affects the combat capability of the troops.
Why is it that in some cases the encircled lose half their combat capability in 48 hours,while others are able to defend themselves for weeks or even months?
Very often the answer to this question is found in the spiritual sphere, in pure fanaticism and ideological frenzy, which is now often attributed to”Azov”. In fact, this is not the case at all.
There are 4 conditions that support the stability of the encircled troops and maintain their combat capability. First, there are insufficient forces on the offensive side. The second is the terrain that is favorable for defense, not offensive. Third , the encircled forces have large stocks of weapons, ammunition, and food. Fourth, the battles in the city are determined by the situation around it, and as history shows, a small part of the main group is released to storm, as in the example of Stalingrad.
Another reason for the prolonged assault is moral, ethical and political reasons, since in the spirit of World War II, the Russian army did not demolish the city with massive bombardments. This would have significantly accelerated the assault, but led to heavy losses among civilians.
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Lone Wolf
@ Saker
@ Amarynth
Andrei Martyanov (Reminiscence of the Future, http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/), in his later post highlights a video interview with Lieutenant-General of the Russian Army, Konstantin Borisovich Pulikovsky (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Pulikovsky), who Martyanov defines as “…a real product of Russian Academy of General Staff and with huge experience of leading armies.”The headline of his post reads, “Sadly, Only In Russian…” which reflects not only his willingness to share the content of the video with Commander Pulikovsky, but also his frustration for the language limitation. He also said, ” Finally, after the weeks of all kinds of “ANALysts” such as Podoloyaka, Rozhin (Cassad), what have you, real professionals are getting the tribune…” Martyanov has no love lost for Colonel Cassad (Rozhin.)
Coincidentally, “Military Chronicle,” (https://voenhronika.ru/) also highlights the same video in a post today, providing a short summary of the content.
https://voenhronika.ru/publ/vojna_na_ukraine/general_lejtenant_rossijskoj_armii_pulikovskij_pro_specoperaciju_na_ukraine_okruzhenie_kieva_vzjatie_izjuma_nochnye_okhotniki_2022/60-1-0-11735
Lieutenant-General of the Russian Army Pulikovsky about the Special Operation in Ukraine: Encirclement of Kiev, capture of Raisins, “Night Hunters” (2022)
The encirclement of Kiev will occur after the destruction of the AFU group between the Dnieper and the Donbass, in this regard, the capture of the main road junction in Izyum and the consolidation of Russian forces there is the most important event of the last weeks of the special operation.
More active use of combat helicopters at night and night strikes is associated with night movements of enemy forces, its regroupings. At night, this is clearly visible.
The armed forces of Ukraine since the 1990s had a high potential, and Soviet officers giving the oath of allegiance to the new state, including vowing to fight against Russia-there was such a paper.
As well as in the second video about Russia’s use of the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system, the surrender of the headquarters of Ukrainian officers, the civil position in Russian society and the influence of narcotic substances on nationalist battalions of Ukraine.
Konstantin Borisovich Pulikovsky commanded during the First Chechen War. He is also a Doctor of Political Science and a Candidate of technical sciences.
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Lone Wolf
PS: Suggestion: Given the importance attributed to the video interview, both by Martyanov and “Military Chronicle,” wonder if it would be possible to get a translation through the dedicated Russian translators that help the Saker. Thanks.
I am an old warrior, a very old warrior. I have seen death and I have given death so I do not fear death. What I fear is leaving my wife, my beloved Ye’leana with her black Turkoman eyes, alone in her two generations more of life she has after me.
Our war started in late 2013. The orcs planned to attack our Sevastopol and Novorossiya in March 2022, the orc armies, the strongest in Europe besides Russian Army, instead got preempted by President Putin and General Shoigu. As the saying goes, you either talk to President Putin or you will speak to General Shoigu. You opted for General Shoigu so choke on it, you got what you asked for, what you begged for.
And you of the collective ‘west’ have said not one word. Not one.
The fighting in Ukraine, in Novorossiya, is very strong, brutal, but all war is brutal. In Mariupol the orcs are to this day resisting, shooting every day all day every night all night in to patently civilian occupied houses and flats buildings. It is unknown how many hundreds, how many thousands, of civilians, innocents, have died in this carnage. I have the images and evidence but I will never post evidence or images on this blog, all of you are too young to see, to comprehend, what is happening.
And you of the collective ‘west’ have said not one word. Not one word, that is, besides to denigrate our brave warriors fighting and dying to save the innocents.
I am dying. I have cancer that will kill me, there is no doubt. Don’t worry, my charming Ye’leana and I still laugh, we joke, we tease all day every day. What else can we do? We both know our fates now, good or not good. We have had a very good two decades together, far longer than most ever dream of having.
We have lost as of today, 28.03.22, 26 of our local boys and girls, all shown in the local news with their Military Photos. All are Spetznaz or Heavy Infantry, our men and women who went north to fight as they are ordered to do. It is a sadness but such is the life and such is the death of a soldier. All, each and every one, is Volunteer, we do not have conscripts in our Army. None. Our Medical Sisters are fighting like demons alongside their men, it is what they do if they must and now they must.
And you of the collective ‘west’ have said not one word. Not one.
We have lost in Novorossiya since 2014 and Minsk Agreements, Merkel’s Cease Fire Cease Fire which she and Ukraine had not the slightest intention of obeying, 17,000 dead innocent civilians and 27,000 wounded civilians. Why? Could no one hear the ceaseless roar of the artillery day and night, every day and every night, the screams of the wounded and dying? Could none of you who are mostly far more ‘educated’ than this old warrior not research and see, actually see, what was happening? Have none of you not seen the grandfathers and grandmothers, the fathers and mothers, the ordinary citizens carrying in pieces their dead? I think not. I think you don’t care.
And not a one of you said a word. Not one word.
I was born at the apex of my culture, my United States of America. I have watched as she waxed and now wains, in to nothing. You have gangs of rapacious thieves burning down your cities, the very cities built by hard work and willing hands.
I have of late, I do have a few friends still there, watched and listened to friends as they tell me shelves are empty in magazines. I have watched as you pay giant money for a few drops of petrol for your treasured personal conveyances. Are you nuts or just spoiled and patent idiots?
And not a one of you said a word. Not one word.
My, our local magazines, are full to the rafters. My current city, we pay $1.00 for a gallon of premium petrol my ancient A Klasse must have. Life is not bad in this ‘rusting gas station with an Army’. My house is large, almost 2700 feet of heated rooms and we must keep it warm because of my illness and two of our beloved children, blue Sophia and black/white and argumentative Ye’katarina, are getting old. I pay just under 20 dollars a month for heat, normal if not smaller than normal costs for a house this large. What do you pay?
And not a one of you said a word. Not one word.
Large firms in EU are closing, they can not afford the price for the natural gas they must have to produce steel, to stamp metal in to machines and cars. Now, since their rapacious appetite for cheap natural gas exceeds their willingness to go around the ‘sanctions’ they themselves put on Russia and since these sanctions violate the very contracts they so willingly signed, they are to be blunt screwed with their own greed. Again, choke on it. You are lucky, ‘winter’ for most of you is almost over but your huge natural gas storages are empty. Ded Maroz, Father Winter, will return as he always does. Power of Siberia pipe lines are now complete and shipping gas to Katai, the Katai who always pays and always wants more gaz. North Stream 2 is dead and Europe will pay through the nose for this agregious violation of signed contracts. You asked for it and you got it. Enjoy. We will be again toasty warm come November, our furry children snoring in the heat. You will sit and shiver.
And not a one of you, not a one, has said a word. Are you deaf and dumb or do you simply not hear, do you simply not see, as your, and my old, culture comes crashing down about your ears? You are a sadness, a sadness that I can not, and will not, do anything to help. You have made your now flea bitten nests and I now pity you, I know your fates better than you.
And not a one of you has said a word, not one single word.
Auslander
@ Auslander.
Thanks for sharing this piece of your life, I am blessed to have found it, and read it.
Yes, not a word.
The world was numbed to the suffering of Donbass, as it is to the suffering of Yemen. And when Mother Russia took the natural decision to go and protect her children, the numb, deaf and dumb, woke up from their stupor, to condemn the mother for protecting her children.
You’ve been a witness to tragic events, and your words are testimony to what your eyes have seen, most of it you cannot share with us. May Allah grant you ease in your illness and bless your walking, in this realm and the hereafter.
Lone Wolf
It is dawn this fine late spring day in Sevastopol, our late spring is finally upon us, a gentle caress of better days to come.
I have walked our children, my wife sleeps fitfully, dreams disturbing her soft slumbers, she finally sleeps. She stirs for but an instant as the first roars of combat disturb this pristine day, dawn of what should be a calm and silent day but will be another day of death and destruction surging in to our dawn, heading north. I think little of that, such is fate.
I have no pain this morning, finally no pain. No pain but the one scar on my face. I ignore this pain as someone’s unknown hand gently caresses the mark, this small red hole, the hand is not cold and not warm. And a voice, a man’s voice, softly speaks to me.
“Do you remember me? You killed me. My death was sudden, one moment I was a man, fierce I may have been, the next moment my last thought was your face, your emotionless face. You are Death, you are Death incarnate. You kill. You always kill. When will it end?”
“I have sorrow, I remember all of you, you gave me no choice. It was, it is, death of my wife, death of my children, or your death. I chose your death just as you chose your death. It means nothing and it means everything. I make no excuse, I had no choice as you made your choice. You are correct, I am Death when I have to be. You chose and I chose in that one instant of time when Fate’s hand comes in to play. You chose the wrong path. I chose the path you gave me.”
Today I go to # 4 Hospital. Someone who outranks me demands even though Hospital is crowded, not full but crowded, with our wounded from the north. When our excellent Doktor checks me yet gain, when Doktor decides if I get yet another scan, when my Doktor looks for yet more small, some tiny, lumps in my aging body, when I feed the vampires yet again, I will think in the silence, I will again contemplate what I have done, what I will do, what I must do.
If I have to, and I know I will have to, I will do it again. I am Russian. Not American. I am Russian. I am Солдат, old as I may be. I serve.
Auslander
Auslander, my dear friend and comrade,
You are most noble. Sentinel and teller of Truths, keen eye and deft mind, always heartfelt.
Indeed, a soldier, Russian soldier through and through. The medal on your chest proves it. Your deeds prove it. Your service proves it. Your life has proven it.
We stand and salute you. We pray for you.
Thank you, my old friend and very close comrade. Wait until you see the next one, coming hopefully shortly.
Auslander
Now for a proper reply to you, my old and faithful comrade. I’m tired, to Oncology tomorrow, vampires are hungry, always hungry.
Thank you again for your heartfelt and much appreciated comments. VCO and I often write together, we are a team, sometimes a very dangerous team. She writes on another blog, a Russian blog, but does keep an eye out here often.
We thank you for your salute, it means quite much to us. I will try to uphold the honors you give me.
Auslander
Thank you, Lone Wolf, it pleases me that you enjoy what I write.
Mother has indeed taken Novorossiya under her wing, and Yemen unfortunately does not fall under this wing…at this time…but eventually she will. Mother will protect all and put an end to these endless slaughters. She must, and she will.
Auslander
I wish the Saker would post it as a guest column. I think our fight as people with a deadly disease is our last war that we win by dying as well as we can. Disease is an attack, after all. I knew it’s less expensive there but now I have a much more clear idea: “My current city, we pay $1.00 for a gallon of premium petrol my ancient A Klasse must have. Life is not bad in this ‘rusting gas station with an Army’. My house is large, almost 2700 feet of heated rooms and we must keep it warm because of my illness and two of our beloved children, blue Sophia and black/white and argumentative Ye’katarina, are getting old. I pay just under 20 dollars a month for heat, normal if not smaller than normal costs for a house this large. What do you pay?”
“…do you simply not see, as your, and my old, culture comes crashing down about your ears?”
The adoption of babies by homosexuals and lesbians was legalized in the way you point out: Not even churches said a word. It happened while they were all arguing about whether their marriages should become legal or not. In 2012, Candidate Mitt Romney said on TV that he was against homosexual marriages but in favor of their adoption of children (as if the latter were not more controversial and more important).
“Get the MiGs to the Ukrainian people”, Sen. Romney says now.
It’s not just Father Winter nowadays in Europe it’s Mother Summer and ever more-necessary AC (making the outside even hotter).
Europe will burn in her corrupt, overpopulated, and cruel, folly.
https://www.veteranstoday.com/2022/03/28/breaking-ukie-spy-ship-that-mined-black-sea-sunk-while-hiding-in-romanian-river/
Means Romania is now in Kaka soup and will cease to exist. It is already proved that it is Land of Roma who tossed the two drones shot down our way. They didn’t last long either and now both launch sites are ‘flat’. No ‘Patriot Missile Defense System’, a known dual use system, protection can help them and none could.
Auslander
Our world is silent but not silent. Our warships thunder out of harbor, to where I don’t know and if I know I will never tell. Of course I know, I always know, I am not deaf and I am not blind. I know, I always know. Some idiot somewhere in Ukrainah has decided to add to the chum base of Black Sea…again. And the guns roar… again.
And the guns, The Battery, still serving lo these 100 and more years later, the last Czar’s machinists were the best, yet again add their thunder to the roar of the guns. Our guns. The sweating gunners do the ever endless drill their Kommandeer yells to them over the noise, always the endless noise. ‘Load Shot!’. The mindless and unfeeling hydraulic rams work yet again after all these years, ramming in yet another unfeeling, unknowing, mindless pointed cylinder of death and hell fire. ‘Load Powder Canister! Load Second Powder Canister! Gunner! Range!’ The gunner reads his ancient instruments for the thousandth, for the ten thousandth, time, speaks in to his instrument yet again to Kommandeer. Kommandeer does not smile, he is without emotion. ‘Gunner! Load Third Canister. Gunner! AIM.’ as the ancient electric motors from Czar times close the breeches of the long tubes. The long steel cylinders slowly pivot upward as the huge three gun turrets turn east or west, unknowing and unfeeling as they are wont to do. ‘GUNNER! SHOOT!’ Gunner presses a green button made by his great great grandfather, gunner is himself not young, pressing one green button in sequence one at a time left to right. He moves one ancient switch and the second turret moves and fires it’s guns in sequence, always the same pattern, ‘1 Tube! 2 Tube ! 3 Tube !. Cyrillic is different from English. He moves his switch again and the third turret thunders to life…and death. And the ancient tubes recoil in their violence, hit the stops and recover. Always recover and return to ‘battery’, ready, ever ready, to load, aim and shoot yet again. What are they shooting at? I know not. But of course I know, I always know, I know all.
We have been to Hospital #4. It is busy, not overwhelmed but busy. We stayed silent, out of the way, just talking sometimes to the wounded if they wanted to talk. None are wounded seriously. Some are shocked when they hear my wife and me speaking English, some angry. My wife quietly shows them my book, my ‘Internal Documents’ book in all it’s glory, not the colour of a foreigner but different. Russian. She tells them and shows them my rank in the little book. The reaction is instant. They instantly Snap Too and Salute, often begging forgiveness for offending ‘Tovarich Kapitan Peervoi Rangeh’. My wife laughs at them. I do not, not at my rank. She tells them they can not offend this Senior Officer of Red Army Sevastopol, the Kommandeer of Red Army Sevastopol. I do from time to time reward them with a thin smile. They know and understand and in future, in publik or privat, Uniform or not, they will always render the proper respect and norms. Always. It is how we are, it is what we do, it is how we operate. Always proper, always by the book.
We have no women in service, only office and transport service is allowed for women. Some do serve as Field Medics but only with Regular Army, never, never, with Spetznaz or Heavy Infantry. They are trained and they can, and have, fought like the demons they are if needs be. It is better this way, far better, just as we are better, far better, than any other Army. And the orcs and nato know this fact, they well know and they fear, deeply. Instilling fear in your enemy is always good, a fear of the unknown, a fear of fierce and silent warriors coming for them. Will the coming be day or night, those small hours before dawn when babies are born and men die? This I do not know but I do know, I know all and I see all, even this small detail. I have done this, I have come for them in those times of deep slumber, fear gone. But fear they should because I and my men are black wraiths in the night, unseen and unheard. Until I/we strike. You do not know when I/we will come but you know I/we will come. And I will come for you. We will come for you. Enjoy your now short time left. We. Will. Come. For. You.