Yevgeny Prigozhin no longer rails against the Russian military leadership. Igor Girkin, aka Strelkov, sentenced in absentia in The Hague for the downing of flight MH17 that killed 298 people, was eventually arrested and therefore silenced in July, not for war crimes, but after he left Vladimir’s leadership Putin had labeled “mediocrity.” . coward”. Political opponents who have decided to stay in the country, such as Vladimir Kara-Murza or Alexei Navalny, have long faced long prison terms in conditions that no Russian human rights organization can claim nor be reported by the media .
With the regime becoming increasingly authoritarian, there is no one who strays from the line to publicly question the statements of the man who has led Russia for more than 20 years, either as president or prime minister. He, along with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, described the Ukrainian counter-offensive as “a failure”. But there are several signs that the days in Russia are far from smooth.
Kiev attacked Moscow’s morale by publicizing the defecting captain’s call for other Russians to follow suit. According to Ukrainian military intelligence, this was the culmination of an operation that lasted for months.
In his most recent statements, Putin has returned to an ideal subject for distraction: the Ukrainian president’s religion. In the recent past, Minister Sergei Lavrov’s remarks about Adolf Hitler’s “Jewish blood” about Volodymyr Zelensky’s Jewishness became an embarrassment that prompted the Russian leader to apologize to then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Now it is Putin himself who has backtracked on the accusation, accusing the West of installing the former ruler, with Jewish roots, “to the most repugnant level” to “cover up the glorification of Nazism” and create an “anti “government” – human essence that forms the basis of the modern Ukrainian state”. Putin’s justification for the “special military operation” is the alleged “genocide” of Russian-speaking Ukrainians by neo-Nazis, hence the continued alleged “demilitarization” and “denazification”.
On the ground, in the southeastern part of the front in Zaporizhia, Kiev says it has overcome the first Russian line of defense and is now trying to break through the second line in an area with lower mining density. While Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu denies Ukraine’s advances, in line with Putin’s statements the day before, the statements of a Russian pilot who defected and urged compatriots to follow his lead still echo.
Captain Maksym Kuzminov, 28, flew into Ukrainian territory last month in an Mi-8 helicopter. Now, in statements to Ukrainian military secret services in a video posted on YouTube, the Russian military has explained its decision not to get involved in war crimes and appealed to other Russian pilots to follow suit.
In exchange for his safety and that of his family, the Ukrainian services offered him new documents and financial compensation during an operation that lasted months and demanded “maximum secrecy” because Russia is using “unprecedented measures” to prevent its pilots from having any contact with “unverified” people revealed the Ukrainian military secret.
“You won’t regret it at all. You will have absolutely everything for the rest of your life,” Kuzminov challenged in the video, addressing the Russian pilots. According to the video, Kuzminov was injured after landing, but received medical attention in time. Ukrainian secret services confirmed that two other crew members died after they refused to surrender. According to Kiev, Kuzminov provided “very valuable information about the enemy army’s aircraft, communication systems and airfield network”.
After British military services reported that Moscow is trying to recruit Armenians and Kazakhs, the Cuban government revealed it was ending a human trafficking network that took Cubans to fight in Ukraine.
In addition to the loss of the helicopter and the three crew members, there is a symbolic defeat. Taking into account the desertions that have been registered for months, the uncertainty about the fighters of the Wagner mercenary group and the human losses in the battle – Washington estimates that there are half a million dead and wounded on both sides – the Russian leadership is trying to fill vacancies fill in as best as possible. Russian Security Council Vice President Dmitry Medvedev reported that 280,000 people have joined the armed forces since the beginning of the year as authorities try to prevent an unpopular general mobilization.
A few days ago, British military intelligence said Moscow was trying to recruit recruits from Armenia and Kazakhstan through online advertisements. And now the Cuban government has announced that it is ending a smuggling network of people recruited to fight as mercenaries in Ukraine.
Havana, reflecting Moscow propaganda’s views on the war in Ukraine, showed no trace of internationalist solidarity here and announced that it was dismantling the network. “Cuba is not part of the armed conflict in Ukraine,” the foreign ministry reminded, after stating that “it is and will act energetically” against anyone “participating in any form of human trafficking for the purpose of recruitment so that Cuban citizens can use weapons against any country”.
While Cuban communism refuses to get involved in the war, North Korean communism could prove to be a valuable ally for Moscow. Constrained by economic sanctions, Russia will prepare Kim Jong-un’s visit to Vladivostok. Unlike Havana, Pyongyang has been on the Russian side at the United Nations and will now prepare to sell artillery ammunition and raw materials to the Russian defense industry.
“It says a lot about the fact that Russia should turn to a country like North Korea to bolster its defense capabilities,” said US national security adviser Jake Sullivan a day after the attack. The New York Times have brought the news of the train journey of the North Korean dictator. From the 10th to the 13th, Vladivostok will host the 8th Eastern Economic Forum.
Source: DN
