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Post by Cornflake on Jun 3, 2023 21:14:22 GMT -5
"Russian president Vladimir Putin's spending on personal security has skyrocketed this year, according to government data. It is likely that the Kremlin is ramping up measures to ensure the Russian leader's safety amid Moscow's Ukraine invasion. This also comes amid rise in drone strikes inside Russian territory." Hindustan Times. His spending on personal security is reported by some to be higher than spending on Russian military and border protection.
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Post by Russell Letson on Jun 3, 2023 21:37:49 GMT -5
He's an autocrat who has embarked on a crazily expensive and possibly doomed project, and it may be crazy and expensive and chancey enough to get some of his supporters eyeing his neck and thumbing their knifeblades. I suspect that many of those supporters are opportunists rather than Russian-nationalist ideologues, and Putin might be derailing their gravy train. If you're going to act like a Roman emperor, you'd better have a beefy, reliable Praetorian Guard. (It also helps to have a finger on the nuclear trigger and a mad gleam in your eye.)
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Post by Marshall on Jun 4, 2023 8:05:09 GMT -5
Yevgeny Prigozhin is waiting in the wings.
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Post by millring on Jun 4, 2023 8:12:34 GMT -5
And I thought your name was hard to spell. |
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Post by RickW on Jun 4, 2023 11:58:04 GMT -5
Been a ton of reporting in the last couple of years on the subject of his paranoia. Things like him only talking to people from the far end of an incredibly long table. He travels by armored train. The Ukrainians are now doing the smart thing by setting a few things off in Russia, so it sound like there are rebels, (and there may be,) and at least danger to the local population. Yeah, I’d imagine every opportunistic flunky is eyeing the throne. The other thought, that a legion of shining knights with great intentions will troop through the castle door and liberate the Russian people seems unlikely.
Also, Vlad was talking about taking out the Ukrainian government from the start, so, he’s probably pretty sure someone would want to return the favour.
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Post by dradtke on Jun 4, 2023 18:36:35 GMT -5
He also never goes any higher than the first floor.
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Post by TKennedy on Jun 4, 2023 18:42:19 GMT -5
He also never goes any higher than the first floor. That’s because he’s too short to reach the elevator buttons. |
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Post by coachdoc on Jun 4, 2023 21:11:48 GMT -5
Talking so much about any Vlad reminds me of Vlad the astrophysicist story. Heartwarming and gently humorous.
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Post by james on Jun 23, 2023 15:57:45 GMT -5
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Post by Marshall on Jun 23, 2023 16:22:14 GMT -5
Links no worky
The Russians are dug in good. Gonna be very nasty to try to get them out. They’ve had many months to prepare defenses.
I think they are expecting the Ukes to beat themselves bloody on the ramparts. Then maybe the Russians attack again.
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Post by james on Jun 23, 2023 16:28:06 GMT -5
Moscow Times links wonky? Prigozhin and Wagner Group are in an increasingly heated and combative looking set-to with Putin, Shoigu and Russian army regulars. Seems like a "developing story" as they say. ETA Washington Post gift link. - wapo.st/3XlnySn |
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Post by james on Jun 23, 2023 17:30:12 GMT -5
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Post by Cornflake on Jun 23, 2023 17:50:01 GMT -5
"Russian Generals Accuse Mercenary Leader of Attempted Coup"
-- NY Times
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Post by Cornflake on Jun 23, 2023 18:20:08 GMT -5
"There seems to be some faeces hitting some fans. Prigozhin features prominently."
That about captures it.
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Post by Marshall on Jun 23, 2023 18:28:29 GMT -5
Moscow Times links wonky? Prigozhin and Wagner Group are in an increasingly heated and combative looking set-to with Putin, Shoigu and Russian army regulars. Seems like a "developing story" as they say. ETA Washington Post gift link. - wapo.st/3XlnySnNot wonky. They don’t work; in that I can’t see them But the last WaPo link works. Crazy, crazy stuff with Prigozihn. He’s the loosest of cannons. And he has his own money source in the African diamond mines he controls. |
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Post by Rob Hanesworth on Jun 23, 2023 19:02:42 GMT -5
Moscow Times links wonky? Prigozhin and Wagner Group are in an increasingly heated and combative looking set-to with Putin, Shoigu and Russian army regulars. Seems like a "developing story" as they say. ETA Washington Post gift link. - wapo.st/3XlnySnNot wonky. They don’t work; in that I can’t see them But the last WaPo link works. Crazy, crazy stuff with Prigozihn. He’s the loosest of cannons. And he has his own money source in the African diamond mines he controls. It's a shame the links don't work for you. They work for me and are quite interesting. |
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Post by TKennedy on Jun 23, 2023 19:42:46 GMT -5
I read the accounts on AP and major outlets. Looks like kind of a big deal.
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Post by RickW on Jun 24, 2023 10:37:51 GMT -5
Very interesting morning news on all this. Wagner group is halfway to Moscow. Putin has said they’re all traitors and will pay, so at this point, Prigozihn is either going all the way, or he’s dying. He has 25,000 hardened troops, very well armed, led by experienced commanders, and what’s between them and Moscow is the Russian National Guard, which is made up of kids with little or no combat experience; reports are that there has been little fighting, the troops have been brushed aside. A couple of helicopters were shot down. As one commentator said, the Russians have now gone to having the second most powerful army in the Ukraine to having the second most powerful army in Russia.
Prigozihn has actually come out and said now that the war in the Ukraine was started on the basis of lies.
The Ukrainians must be rolling about laughing right now. One wonders if/when they are going to jump on the Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine. Of course, they may just wait a bit and see if those Russian troops there get called back to fight in what looks like a dandy little civil war, and the Ukes can then just walk in and take back everything the Russians captured.
Get out the popcorn, pop a cold one, this is going to be wild.
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Post by dradtke on Jun 24, 2023 10:44:45 GMT -5
Prigozhin and his Wagner Group troops control the port of Rostov-on-Don, where a lot of military supplies are stored. Now they're moving toward Moscow, with no protest or resistance from anyone along the route. Russian National Guard units are waiting outside of Moscow. The Wagner Group is a private mercenary military, a Russian version of Blackwater.
I wonder if Prigozhin looks good riding a horse shirtless?
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Post by drlj on Jun 24, 2023 10:45:40 GMT -5
Things could get interesting. Not necessarily better.
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