1st Slavic Brigade in 2022. Via social media As Russian losses in Ukraine deepened last year, the Kremlin drafted hundreds of unfit, middle-age men in Irkutsk Oblast in southern Siberia, gave them a m...
Tag: kremlin
Sanctions On Russia Still Aren’t Working
TOPSHOT – Ukrainian tanks move on a road before an attack in Lugansk region on February 26, 2022. – … [+] Russia on February 26 ordered its troops to advance in Ukraine “from a...
Russia Doubled Its Army In 2022. But Its Casualties Doubled, Too.
Mobilized Russian marines after they were captured outside Vuhledar. Via social media Kremlin officials knew as early as last spring that they had a manpower problem. Russia’s wider war in Ukraine the...
Now Russia Is Adding Inferior Optics To Its T-80 Tanks, Too
A T-80 with the 1PN96MT-02 sight. Russian defense ministry photo We already knew that the Russian army—in a desperate effort to make good its losses in Ukraine—was pulling old T-72 tanks out of storag...
How We Got Here And What To Do About It
(Photo by Mikhail KLIMENTYEV / SPUTNIK / AFP) (Photo by MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty … [+] Images) SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images As we watch the horrors unfolding in Ukraine, we canno...
Congress Pushes US Energy Transition Through Tax Credits — But Will It Work?
A large solar photovoltaic solar project under construction near Santa Nella CA in the California … [+] Central Valley. getty If left to market forces, commodities and industries tend to be more...
These Are Some Of The Most Famous Ukrainian Works Of Art Looted By Russia
Topline Russian forces have stolen thousands of pieces of Ukrainian artwork and damaged hundreds of cultural sites since the beginning of the Kremlin’s invasion nearly 11 months ago, including ancient...
Ukraine Deradicalized Its Extremist Troops. Now They Might Be Preparing A Counteroffensive.
A 98th Azov Battalion M-113. Via social media The narrative the Kremlin advances to justify its brutal war on the Ukrainian people—that Ukraine is a far-right Nazi regime bent on destroying Russia—is ...
The Film Industry Is Terrified Of Vladimir Putin
Almost a year ago, Vladimir Putin started massing his forces for the invasion of Ukraine. It’s been some ten months since he invaded. Correction, add eight years to that, because he started in 2...
Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia is bad news for the Kremlin
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman met this week in Riyadh to di...
A Fierce And Furious Russian Punkster In New York
Max Pokrovskiy of Nogu Svelo! at The Cutting Room, New York. September, 2022 Max Pokrovskiy Facebook Page Veteran rocker Max Pokrovskiy, leader of the popular Russian pop-punk rock band Nogu Svelo!, u...
The Russians Have Lost Nearly 300 Aircraft Over Ukraine—Mostly Drones
A Russian fighter burns after being shot down over Ukraine in March 2022. Via social media Ukrainian troops have brought down 278 Russian aircraft in the eight months since Russia widened its war on U...
Putin Critic And Tycoon Oleg Tinkov Renounces Russian Citizenship
Topline Former banking tycoon Oleg Tinkov renounced his Russian citizenship, he announced on Instagram Monday, months after the ex-billionaire accused the Kremlin of forcing him to sell his stake in R...
The Russian And Ukrainian Armies Brace For The Dreaded ‘Wet Cold’ Winter
A Ukrainian tank in the Donbas mud. Ukrainian defense ministry photo There are two winters in Ukraine. The first, in the final couple months of the year, are cold—but not cold enough for a deep freeze...
12,000 Russian Troops Were Supposed To Defend Kaliningrad. Then They Went To Ukraine To Die.
The 11th Army Corps in 2017. Russian defense ministry photo Six years ago, the Russian navy formed a new army corps whose job it would be to defend Kaliningrad, Russia’s geographically separate outpos...
As Ukrainian Forces Close In, A Regiment Of Russian Draftees Begs For Help
The 127th Rifle Regiment pleads for assistance in June 2022. Via social media Three weeks after the Kremlin announced a nationwide mobilization meant to make good Russia’s steep losses in Ukraine, sig...
Russia’s Reindeer Brigade Is Fighting For Its Survival In Southern Ukraine
The 80th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade. Russian army photo In late 2014, the Kremlin organized a new army brigade for a new kind of war. Anticipating escalating tensions in the resource-rich—and ra...
In 2014, Ukrainian Defectors Formed A New Russian Brigade. In 2022, The Ukrainian Army May Have Destroyed It.
BTR-80s belonging to the 126th Guards Coastal Defense Brigade on a train from Crimea in August. Via social media When Russian troops invaded Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in February 2014, the Ukrainian...
Ukraine’s Counteroffensives Appear To Be Part Of A Much Bigger Plan—To Divide The Russian Army
A Ukrainian army BMP fighting vehicle. Ukrainian defense ministry photo A month into Ukraine’s twin counteroffensives in southern and eastern Ukraine, Kyiv’s overall strategy is becoming clearer. Expe...
A Day After Putin Announces Annexation, Troops Forced Out Of Lyman
Topline Russia said Saturday it was retreating from the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin decreed the city would be brought under Russian control through a ...
Thousands Of Russian Troops Are About To Get Trapped In Eastern Ukraine
Ukrainian troops inspect captured Russian T-80 tanks outside Kharkiv. Ukrainian defense ministry photo A month after launching a major counteroffensive outside the free city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukra...
The Latest Twist In The Crazy Energy Sector
A large disturbance in the sea can be observed off the coast of the Danish island of Bornholm … [+] Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022 following a series of unusual leaks on two natural gas pipelines runni...
Russia Will Annex Occupied Ukrainian Territories On Friday, Kremlin Says—Following ‘Sham’ Referendums
Topline Russian President Vladimir Putin will move to annex four Ukrainian provinces—some of which are not under complete Russian control—by signing a decree Friday afternoon, the Kremlin announced on...
The Ukrainian Army Reportedly Destroyed Another Russian Division
A Russian howitzer near Bakhmut. Via social media Three weeks ago, the Ukrainian army’s northeastern counteroffensive dismantled one of the Russian army’s elite units: the 1st Guards Tank Army. Now th...
Lyman, A Supply Hub In Eastern Ukraine, Is The Last Place A Russian Soldier Wants To Be Right Now
A Ukrainian 2S7 howitzer in action. Ukrainian defense ministry capture The Oskil River, running north to south from Russia all the way to the Donets River in eastern Ukraine, is a natural defensive ba...
Russia’s War Mobilization Is Pointless As Long As Its Army Lacks Trucks
A Russian army Kamaz truck, destroyed in northeast Ukraine. Via social media Russian authorities have begun rounding up the first of 300,000 draftees the Kremlin hopes will make good the steep losses—...
Russia Mulls Mass Mobilization. It Won’t Save Its Army In Ukraine.
Russian prisoners in Ukraine. Via social media Tallying devastating losses and rapid Ukrainian gains more than 200 days into its wider war on Ukraine, the Kremlin on Tuesday hinted it could take a ste...
‘Obligatory Rationing’—The Energy Nightmare Is Coming True
Natural gas NurPhoto via Getty Images The European energy fiasco is reaching a climax. As long feared, last Friday, the Kremlin-controlled gas giant Gazprom announced that it is shutting down Nord Str...
G-7 Unveils Price Cap On Russian Oil, Kremlin Vows To Fight Back
Topline Group of Seven countries announced Friday an agreement on a long-discussed price cap on purchases of Russian oil, shortly after the Kremlin threatened it won’t export oil to countries particip...
Russia Is Sending A Fresh Army Corps To Ukraine. Its Troops Are ‘Unfit And Old.’
3rd Army Corps tanks apparently bound for Ukraine. Via social media Photos that appeared online over the weekend, depicting Russian army armored vehicles on trains rolling out of the army training bas...
Russian Military Will Face Challenges Securing Occupied Territory In Ukraine
During their initial invasion of Ukraine, the Russian offense failed to break through a staunch Ukrainian defense. Although the Russians have regrouped and have seized portions of the Donbas region in...
Russian Journalist Who Protested Ukraine War On TV Charged With Spreading False Information
Topline Marina Ovsyannikova—a former Russian state television journalist who made headlines in March after she interrupted a live broadcast to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine—had her home raided Wedne...