At the time of writing, 8PM in Moscow, the Russians have received no reply from the US.  So it appears that the US side, which had declared that an answer would be forthcoming for Friday, has changed their mind.

Yesterday Putin had a 4 hour long presser, which further incensed the War Party and its propaganda machine (aka “the West’s free and democratic media”).

Judging by the many statements coming out from “mainstream” western politicians, the USA’s reply, when it comes, will be what Putin called “chatting forever”, i.e. they want to draw Russia into endless and mostly meaningless negotiations while continuing their public grandstanding.  If so, that was to be expected.

I might be wrong here, but I get the feeling that one of the reasons the Russians made their ultimatum both very unambiguous and public is that they were fully expecting the West not to offer any meaningful reply.  In fact, I am increasingly suspecting that they deliberately created the conditions to make sure that the West would ignore Russian demands.  Why?

Because that would untie the hands of the Kremlin to take unilateral actions.  What kind?  That nobody knows, but I can think of three off the top of my head:

  • Deploy the Belgorod with its Poseidons
  • Let the EU freeze and pay $2’000 per 1000m3 of gas
  • Make a political move either towards the LDNR, or Belarus or China

This would be some possible first steps to “turn up the pain dial” I mentioned yesterday.

Putin has just announced that for the first time the Russians have fired a volley of Zircon hypersonic missiles.  The test was successful.

Let’s see what happens next.

The Russians (in both Moscow and the LDNR) are reporting that there are currently 4’000 US “military advisors” in the Ukraine and that US PMCs have brought chemical weapons to the LOC to have the option to organize a false flag attack.  According to LDNR officials, these chemical munitions are droppable by drones.  The personnel servicing them has been provided with an antidote.

I wish a peaceful and joyful celebration to those who celebrate the western Christmas today.

I leave you with on open thread over the week-end.

Andrei