RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP 15 APRIL 2021 by Patrick Armstrong

UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR. Lots of heavy stuff moving in Russia; especially big artillery systems: 2S4 heavy mortars, 2S7 long-range guns and Iskanders. (Powerful counter-battery fire would be both effective and semi-deniable). Stockpiles of equipment near Voronezh. Two armies (corps) plus airborne formations (probably more than NATO could field anywhere in real life; certainly never as quickly). What most impressed me were ships from the Caspian Sea Flotilla being transferred via the Volga-Don Canal. Never forget that the really important stuff is not visible – the Russians are the best at operational-level deception. A Ukrainian convoy by comparison – pathetic mix of civilian vehicles and elderly APCs. (Incredibly, despite all the genuine videos, CNN still fakes it.) NATO huffs and puffs; Blinken ditto; Berlin throws some cold water on Kiev. Ritter calls Kiev’s “NATO fantasy” a “suicide pill”.

AND THEN AGAIN, MAYBE NOT. Just reported that the two US warships will not enter the Black Sea; they are presently moored in Crete. Kiev changes its tune. Maybe the war hawks got the message: Moscow is determined, willing and more than capable.

BIDEN-PUTIN. At the US request, a phone call: White House take, Kremlin take. Biden talked tough (Ukraine, “cyber intrusions and election interference”), Putin mentioned Minsk agreement. No mention of Navalniy; I guess he’s passed his best-before date. Biden proposed a face-to-face meeting in a third country; I can’t believe that he will dare meet with Putin: look at his carefully scripted press conference. Probably won’t happen any way after this “national emergency” stuff.

INCOHERENCE. Killer, no soul but “stable and predictable relationship with Russia“; more sanctions (love the election tampering charge – they’re not even trying to make sense now) but mostly rational DNI report. Now a “national emergency“. The self-delusion in Washington is stunning: “Freedom and justice for all”. Who’s in charge? Whoever it is, Washington is not agreement-capable.

HOW TO FIX UKRAINE. My idea. Dmitry Orlov’s more interesting suggestion.

SPACE STATION. The ISS is coming to the end and Putin has signed off on plans to build a new one. I’ll bet China signs on.

ARCTIC. CNN excitedly discovers “huge Russian military buildup in the Arctic“; amusingly says “The Russian build-up has been matched by NATO and US troop and equipment movements.” Nope: Russia is far, far ahead of all the others: other than nuclear submarines, none has anything to compare.

SILENCE. Will be the sound that we hear in response to Lavrov’s call for a treaty banning weapons in space. (Not presumably to include the many communications and geo-locating satellites Russia and others already have up there. Bit of hypocrisy there: not weapons as such but necessary for many.)

HYPERSONIC. US test failure. The game of catch-up continues.

COVID. The EU’s vaccine rollout has been a dud and many countries are trying to obtain the Russian vaccine. CNN, for once, covers the issue reasonably evenly: reactions range from a welcome solution to the problem to those pesky Russians trying to divide us again. A German news outlet says Washington is trying to pressure Berlin and Korybko speculates that the tension in Ukraine may be related. One watches, somewhat dumbfounded – more evidence of things falling apart.

RUSSIA-TURKEY. I guess it’s time to teach Ankara another lesson: flights to Turkey have been severely restricted. Because of COVID; nothing to do with Ankara’s fiddling around in Syria or Ukraine. They say. Russian tourism is a big part of Turkey’s GDP. Moscow’s last shutdown brought results.

USA/AFGHANISTAN. Starting 1 May, all US troops to be out by 11 September. NATO’s too. Some questions: what about contractors, advisors, air power; but the biggest is how patient will Taliban be? – that’s another deadline passed. Neocons – Bolton, Haas, Boot – protest. The Pentagon too? We’ll see. Whether it happens then or later, the Afghans have defeated another mighty empire.

PUTIN DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. 111 things Putin weaponised. Where does he find the time?

STASIS. We get closer to what Scott Adams foresaw: Biden in the White House, belief that the election was rigged. Rassmussen poll: “A majority (51%) of voters believe it is likely that cheating affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.” What happens if that number grows to, say, two-thirds?

UKRAINE/USA. Foreign interventions have a nasty habit of coming home. “Far-right extremists see the war zone there as a laboratory where they can gain actual combat experience to bring back home.”

© Patrick Armstrong Analysis, Canada Russia Observer

About Patrick Armstrong

https://patrickarmstrong.ca/about/
This entry was posted in Patrick Armstrong, Russia. Bookmark the permalink.

67 Responses to RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP 15 APRIL 2021 by Patrick Armstrong

  1. Fred says:

    “What happens if that number grows to, say, two-thirds?”
    We’ll have riots in the streets. Which will serve as a fine distraction as Biden packs the court.

  2. Deap says:

    Following your links re: “far right extremists”. What makes someone a “far right’ member versus an antifa extremists, an anarchist, a far left extremist, etc?

    As a member of the “right” (a conservative” I don’t own these people and want no association with them. They are not “far right” to anything I support.

    Linked May 2020 article making this “far right” labeling claim: https://www.counterextremism.com/press/new-cep-report-career-break-or-new-career-extremist-foreign-fighters-ukraine

  3. Vig says:

    Yes, stranger than fiction sometimes:

    Department of State
    @StateDept, United States government organization, @SecBlinken: Standing for people’s freedoms and dignity honors America’s most sacred values. At our best, we stand for freedom and justice for all. Not just here at home, but around the world.

    Standing for Freedom and Justice for All?

    Setting the Scene for Global Destruction. Now It’s the Arctic, Brian Cloughley, April 13, 2021, Strategic Culture

    The scene-setting by Washington’s military-industrial complex and in the Pentagon’s sub-office in Brussels includes warnings about a Russian “buildup” in the Arctic, as reported by CNN which quoted a Pentagon representative as saying “Russia is refurbishing Soviet-era airfields and radar installations, constructing new ports and search-and-rescue centres, and building up its fleet of nuclear and conventionally-powered icebreakers.” This activity is indeed taking place, and is happening in Russian sovereign territory, which has nothing to do with the Pentagon or anyone else. It’s not in any way similar to the U.S. military’s overseas “forward military presence” of some 200,000 troops in over 800 bases around the world.

    USA Today states that Trump “opened additional bases in Afghanistan, Estonia, Cyprus, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Niger, Norway, Palau, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Somalia, Syria and Tunisia”, which seems pretty impressive, but in reality-land is entirely counter-productive. And it seems that Uncle Joe isn’t going to close down any of them.

    USA today states it is not sure how many he closed. But Germany?

  4. Peter Williams says:

    I just love how Russian heavy artillery pieces are named after flowers – Tulip, Peony, Carnation etc.

  5. aka says:

    BTW the Strategic Culture foundation seems to be sanctioned by the US Treasury for being a SVR outlet. Southfront is also sanctioned.
    https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0126

    • Peter+VE says:

      Thank you to the Treasury for a handy list of news sites which are not beholden to the Blob! How soon before this one joins them?

    • James says:

      Does this mean that it is now illegal for me to give money to Southfront? Is it now illegal for me to provide services to Southfront?

      • carl says:

        From the link in the previous posting:

        “SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS
        As a result of today’s designations, all property and interests in property of these targets that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. Additionally, any entities 50 percent or more owned by one or more designated persons are also blocked. In addition, financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned entities and individuals may expose themselves to secondary sanctions or be subject to an enforcement actions.”

        • Pat Lang says:

          carl

          James is a Canadian.

          • James says:

            Yes Colonel, I am, but I will stay on the safe side when it comes to these matters. I now wish that I had given Southfront money when these sanctions were not in place.

          • LeaNder says:

            All credit cards we use in “the West”, presently, are issued are American institutions, basically. PayPal is American too. Can’t be that difficult to order institutions, who are within US jurisdiction, to collect whatever James et al. tries to give to whoever.

            Technically all they needed to do is an algorithm that automatically collects everything going to a some person or institution.

            That wouldn’t be the first time US laws are meant to apply extraterritoriality. Maybe based on US law the money didn’t even need to be returned to the sender? Extraterritorial forfeiture?

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States#Statistics

            But interesting. Thanks for the link, aka.

          • Pat Lang says:

            LeAnder

            There is no doubt that the data can be had. The doubt is whether or not “Le Petit Justin” would hand James over to us. Would Merkel?

          • LeaNder says:

            The doubt is whether or not “Le Petit Justin” would hand James over to us. Would Merkel?

            on what legal basis?

          • Pat Lang says:

            LeAnder

            One would be devised if desired.

          • LeaNder says:

            if desired.

            That’s too cryptic for me.

            To pick up on an above comment by “Vig”.

            Are you suggesting: if the direct more outspoken approach by ‘former/not legally voted out of office’ president Trump does not work to make all those residents in the 800 bases around the world willing to financially provide/deliver on given US security, the US will find other ways?

          • Pat Lang says:

            LeAnder

            Le Petit Justin is the Canadian PM. He is a total ass and may decide to punish anyone for anything.

        • English Outsider says:

          Yes, Sanctions Implications. I looked at that bit of the notice and with some distaste.

          It’s a short step from there to blocking, if that’s technically possible. If not then all readers of material that does not conform to the Roveian narrative can effortlessly and at little cost be hoovered up into the databases and equally effortlessly monitored.

          Creepy. Given a choice I’d prefer the old Stasi.

    • JerseyJeffersonian says:

      This is sort of like how Chelsea Clinton is thumping for the removal of Tucker Carlson from Twitter; she doesn’t like the back talk, something captured succinctly in this response to her effrontery:

      ‘Mocking Clinton, journalist Glenn Greenwald simply wrote: “Please remove from the internet any content that displeases or otherwise causes any discomfort for Chelsea Clinton.”‘

      So, yeah, the same principle applies here. Screw these “whited sepulchres”. How I conceive of them is as follows; those who wish these sepulchres to be venerated take great pains that they be thickly slathered with an oh so respectable, dissimulating coating of whitewash, but in reality, as tombs, their genuine function is as repositories for corrupt, rotting meat.

    • LondonBob says:

      I always I enjoy reading Alastair Crooke on Strategic Culture, it reflects poorly on us he is not published in any British magazine or newspaper.

    • Feral Finster says:

      So much for freedom of speech.

  6. Bill H. says:

    “(Incredibly, despite all the genuine videos, CNN still fakes it.)”

    Not really all that incredible. The take videos of Russian equipment in motion they would have to be in Russia, surround by the Russian military they are maligning, which would be very dangerous, at least in their feverish little brains. CNN reporters do not do danger. They report from rooftops in Baghdad.

    My favorite is the reporter in flak vest and buckled helmet, with a dozen soldiers strolling around in shirt sleeves and bare heads.

    • Rick Merlotti says:

      Yeah, Chickenhawk Noise Network.

    • LeaNder says:

      Not really all that incredible.

      One needs to start with basic pressures in ‘picturizing’ a given message speedily in the diverse news department. There is an archive of some old, some newly arrived imagery. …. sarcastically speaking: apparently Bellingcat hasn’t delivered the appropriate images yet?

      I forget how many decades ago a cousin of mine was pictured at his task in the laboratory. It made him aware of how many times this specific ‘take’ was ‘misused’ in news contents that had nothing to do with the original content and/or shot.

      A man at his task in a lavatory, a train transporting tanks? Armory transported where ever?

      ******
      Among journalists, I knew there was basic wisdom about ‘faked’ images, since partly at whatever time they were part of the process. Faking presence about ‘shooting in the mountains’? Practically on the scene in the Middle East from wherever? Why would that be different somewhere else? You may want to check the average length of a news item. Images stick, but for how long did you really see them?

    • LeaNder says:

      but yes, print media should be more careful.

  7. Rick Merlotti says:

    Thanks, Patrick. Always look forward to your sitrep links (and your pungent comments).

  8. Christian J. Chuba says:

    “Putin critics cite Sputnik V vaccine debacle as attempt to further divide Europe”

    This is one of those stories where it is a good mental exercise to try to extract the facts scattered in the layers of BS. It was just incredible. So here is my summary.

    Part 1: the facts
    Russia delivered 200,000 doses of Sputnik V gratis to Slovakia with a contract to deliver 2M more doses. The US/NATO agents busted a gasket, replaced the prime minister and prevented Slovakia from using any of the vaccines. They even refused to return the 200,000 doses so that Russia could use them somewhere else.

    Part 2: the hysterical wailing
    Evil Putin is using a divide and conquer strategy to try to destroy Europe but NATO vigilance prevented the Slovakians from being poisoned by this defective product and foiled the local Russian collaborators. Russia is eagerly peddling Sputnik V because it is the first new export item they have developed since the end of the Cold War [I don’t know I thought Novichok was pretty good]. India is reconsidering their purchase because the Russians are also selling it to Pakistan (??????? wtf is that supposed to mean?????)

    I can’t believe an article like this got past any editor, is there a point where people in the U.S. will catch onto the fact that they are reading complete nonsense?

    • Lobo says:

      I’m waiting for someone to publish a book titled The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Moscow…and for CNN to “confirm” its authenticity.

    • Yeah, Right says:

      Novichok is a Soviet-era family of (apparently) non-lethal super-lethal supremely-dangerous nerve agents that you can safely carry around in a perfume bottle even though it is applied as a gel on a door-nob.

      Or in a water bottle. Whatever. I’ve lost track. Was it sprinkled on someone’s underpants, or was that last week’s explanation?

      But definitely not developed for the post-cold war export market.

      I do like the “fact” that the Slovakians are complaining that the State Institute for Drug Control doesn’t know the details of the contract signed with Russia.

      Ahem. There is now a new government.

      So the institutions of state can solve that particular puzzle by opening the filing cabinet in the Prime Ministers Office and having a sticky-beak inside.

      Perhaps Matovic took the key with him when he vacated the office?

  9. Pingback: Links 4/17/2021 – Financial News 1

  10. English Outsider says:

    The BBC take on the position in the Ukraine –

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-56776463

    The art of omission at its most effective.

      • English Outsider says:

        Just as well he left out the Opium Wars.

        Wodehouse, that most perfect of stylists, was not as lost in his imaginary world as all that. I suppose his main sources for pastiche or parody were the Bible, Shakespeare, American gangster idiom and such novelists as Ethel M Dell. That’s where he got his square jawed characters who went out to often unspecified parts of the Empire and did often unspecified great things. Wodehouse rips them to pieces, as he also shreds the English Blut und Boden Fascists of the pre-war years. I suppose I, courtesy of old second-hand bookshops, must be one of the few who’ve read Ethel M Dell. Often wonder what people who haven’t make of Wodehouse.

        Dickens is I think misrepresented in the article. His extraordinarily vivid characters derive from his personal and first hand experience. He knew little of Empire or had little contact with it, but knew enough to rip apart Mrs Jellyby’s misdirected do-goodery in Borioboola-Gha. I thought of Mrs Jellyby when President Biden’s philanthropic schemes for South Amrerica were being discussed on the Colonel’s site recently.

        https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/jun/20/backbencher

        In fact the British Empire, for all the harm it did, is a transient affair not to be confused with the great continental land empires. Disraeli got going with the “Queen Empress” braggadocio in the late nineteenth century and barely twenty years later Kipling was writing the prophetic obituary of that chapter of English history.

        It’s an accurate article as far as I know – the exploitation of the Indian peasant, for example, was shocking in its ruthlessness. We get a more balanced account of the Irish famine from modern Irish historians though in my view, for all Victoria’s munificant £5,000, the failure to get to grips with that famine was not only a condemnation of the neo-liberals of that era. It removed for all time any prospect of peaceful union between Ireland and England. Don’t forget Dr Johnson’s remark when Union was being mooted many decades earlier. ““Do not make an union with us, Sir. We should unite with you only to rob you. We should have robbed the Scotch, if they had had anything of which we could have robbed them”.

        https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/seeing-is-believing-an-irishman-s-diary-on-samuel-johnson-and-ireland-1.4337810

        Seems the great Doctor knew all about Empire.

  11. Pingback: Enlaces 17/04/2021 | capitalismo desnudo | My blog

  12. J says:

    Imagine a ‘nuclear’ Ukraine going to war with a ‘nuclear’ Russian Federation. There are possible portends of this given recent statements by both the head of the Ukraine and Ukraine’s Envoy to Russia. Looks like the Ukraine government are using the ‘nuclear Ukraine’ card to push their way into NATO.

    Zelensky: It’s time for proposals for Ukraine to obtain NATO MAP, EU plan

    https://www.unian.info/politics/zelensky-it-s-time-for-proposals-for-ukraine-to-obtain-nato-map-plan-to-join-eu-11389369.html

    Ukraine’s envoy on Russia’s build-up: Either joining NATO or restoring nuclear status

    https://www.unian.info/politics/russia-s-build-up-either-joining-nato-or-restoring-nuclear-status-ukraine-s-envoy-to-germany-11389207.html

    Now a look at recent American views of a U.S. war with Russia over the Ukraine.

    https://antibellum679354512.wordpress.com/2021/04/14/tulsi-gabbard-and-tucker-carlson-war-with-russia-over-ukraine-could-produce-unimaginable-nuclear-catastrophe/

  13. J says:

    Russian FSB used one of their honey-traps to ensnare a Ukraine diplomat in St. Petersburg.

    FSB detains Ukrainian diplomat in St. Petersburg for obtaining classified data
    https://tass.com/emergencies/1279355

  14. J says:

    Video of Carlson and Tulsi Gabbard issues warning about potential war with Russia

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iywKH60NUGg

  15. Feral Finster says:

    After living much of my professional life in Ukraine, my solution for Ukraine is simple.

    Decorate every last tree, telephone pole and lamppost from Lvov to Donetsk with Ukrainian nationalists, aka unreconstructed Nazis. We can use alternative methods if we run out of poles or rope.

    Full disclosure: I speak Russian and Ukrainian, although I have not a drop of Slavic blood in me. I am not related to a Russian or Ukrainian person by blood or marriage, so I have no ethnic dog in this fight.

  16. Deap says:

    US State Department keeps Russia at Level 4 – Do Not Travel: Covid and especially avoid (US unrecognized annexation of) Crimea

    “Do not travel to Russia due to COVID-19. Exercise increased caution due to terrorism, harassment, and the arbitrary enforcement of local laws.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 4 Travel Health Notice for Russia a due to COVID-19.

    Travelers to Russia may experience border closures, airport closures, travel prohibitions, stay at home orders, business closures, and other emergency conditions within Russia due to COVID-19. Visit the Embassy’s COVID-19 page for more information on COVID-19 in Russia.
    ………………
    Do Not Travel to: Crimea due to Russia’s occupation of the Ukrainian territory and abuses by its occupying authorities.

    Terrorist groups, transnational and local terrorist organizations, and individuals inspired by extremist ideology continue plotting possible attacks in Russia. Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, local government facilities, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, major sporting and cultural events, educational institutions, airports, and other public areas.

    U.S. citizens, including former and current U.S. government and military personnel, who are visiting or residing in Russia have been arbitrarily interrogated or detained by Russian officials and may become victims of harassment, mistreatment, and extortion. For this reason, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow has advised all U.S. government and Department of Defense personnel to consider carefully travel to Russia.

    Russian officials may unreasonably delay U.S. consular assistance to detained U.S. citizens. Russian authorities arbitrarily enforce the law against U.S. citizen religious workers and open questionable criminal investigations against U.S. citizens engaged in religious activity.

    Russia enforces special restrictions on dual U.S.-Russian nationals and may refuse to acknowledge dual U.S.-Russia nationals’ U.S. citizenship, including denying U.S. consular assistance to detained dual nationals, and preventing their departure from Russia.

    Due to the Russian government-imposed reduction on U.S. diplomatic personnel in Russia, the U.S. government may have delayed ability to provide services to U.S. citizens, especially in the Saint Petersburg area.
    ………….
    Crimea – Do Not Travel

    The international community, including the United States and Ukraine, does not recognize Russia’s purported annexation of Crimea. There is extensive Russian Federation military presence in Crimea.

    The Russian Federation is likely to take further military actions in Crimea as part of its occupation of this part of Ukraine. There are continuing abuses against foreigners and the local population by the occupation authorities in Crimea, particularly against those who are seen as challenging their authority on the peninsula.

    The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens traveling in Crimea as U.S. government employees are prohibited from traveling to Crimea.

  17. fakebot says:

    Thank you Patrick.

    Wireless services have gone down in Canada. I wonder if they will blame Russia?

  18. Feral Finster says:

    I can tell you why those two USN ships were not ordered into the Black Sea, because they would have to either be used or be an idle threat.

    Biden’s state department orders Zelenskii to attack Donbass. (Zelenskii won’t be given a choice.) Either Ukraine succeeds this time and the US takes a victory lap (and Ukraine makes plans to assault Crimea), or Russia is forced to intervene. Either way, the Biden Administration will use this as an excuse to put further pressure on Germany to cancel Nordstream 2.0.

    Now, if those ships are in the Black Sea at the time of the assault, there will be calls to use those ships. Something something muh American credibility! The closer those ships are to harm’s way, the more idle the threat if they are not used.

    If Biden does nothing, he will be pilloried by Team R as weak and ineffective. If the ships join in and they are unable to change the outcome on the battlefield, Biden will be urged to further escalate.

    Finally, there is a very real possibility that one or both ships will be sunk, in which case, the calls to escalate further will be overwhelming, and we all know where that will lead.

    The Biden Administration is happy to use Ukraine as a sacrificial lamb, actually more like sending a cocker spaniel to pick a fight with a pit bull, but it isn’t necessary to risk further escalation for the Administration to get what it wants, namely, cancellation of Nordstream 2.0.

    • So what are the two British ships going to do next month?

      • English Outsider says:

        Dunno. I wondered that but my knowledge of naval tactics is nil. Get hold of some interesting EW data? Screen the Ukrainian boats accidentally ramming the bridge? Or maybe the Americans just forgot to tell them that the gig was off.

        I paid for that Type 45, Mr Armstrong. Wasn’t easy. They’d better look after it.

        https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/uk-warships-sail-black-sea-may-ukraine-russia-tensions-rise-sunday-times-2021-04-18/

        But all that’s speculation. This isn’t. A recent airspace warning contains this paragraph –

        ” Throughout April 2021 there has been a large military build-up and an increase in ceasefire violations in this area, plus reports of GPS jamming and surveillance of civil flights by military systems – similar conditions to those prior to the shoot-down of MH17 in 2014.

        https://ops.group/blog/faa-issues-new-ukraine-warning/

        If they knew those were the conditions at that time in 2014, what was Ukrainian Air Traffic Control doing sending MH17 over an area that was known to be that dangerous?

        • Probably safe to assume that everything you hear from a Western source about Ukraine is false

          • English Outsider says:

            Well, they better look after my boat. A single scratch and I shall write to my MP. That’ll scare them.

            Oddly enough – for it’s impossible to have grown up and lived in England without coming into contact with servicemen – I’ve met few Navy types. None of my family were in it or had to do with the sea.

            Except one long departed relative who was hauled off the beach to captain a merchant ship in the Murmansk convoys. Survived, and still couldn’t quite get away from the life. He wandered up and down the Thames very happily in a launch he’d bought for his delayed retirement. Gleaming, I was told, with lots of brass. He liked brass.

            A holy terror on the road. There’s a lag between giving an order and anything actually happening when you’re changing course in a ship. He was so used to it that he drove his car the same way. His chances of survival, it was generally reckoned, had been a lot higher in the North Atlantic.

            So it’s a tenuous connection I have with those of our people who might be venturing into one of the most heavily defended waterways in the world, very tenuous, but enough for me not to want them doing the tethered goat act.

  19. Deap says:

    This “Team R” has no interest in either Ukraine or Russia – they can settle their own territorial disputes. Team R is no longer the neo-con MIC. Trump kept us out of gratuitous foreign entanglements. Bravo.

    Team R needs to rise up and defend our own borders, or all will be lost on the home front. That is what matters most.

  20. J says:

    Ukraine President wants a meeting with Putin, as millions of lives at stake .

    https://mobile.twitter.com/AFP/status/1384589530943066113

    IMHO Putin should demand the March 24 Ukrainian declaration of war with the Russian Federation be immediately rescinded, before any talks or discussions. And Putin should demand the Ukraine put an immediate stop to joining NATO.

    Putin should demand the Ukraine take a page from Switzerland and be neutral.

    • I have always said that Moscow wants three things from Ukraine
      1. that it pay its bills on time
      2 that it not be a launching pad for NATO
      3 that it not create some crisis every five years that keeps everybody in Moscow up all night.
      Or, to put it another way: that it be prosperous, neutral and stable.

  21. J says:

    Putin spoke this morning to Russian legislators, appraising of the current items and events.

    Putin also spoke to the idiot leadership of NATO and the asleep at the switch D.C., and he didn’t mince words.

    https://www.rt.com/russia/521688-putin-federal-assembly-speech-retaliation-measures/

    Putin promises ‘asymmetrical’ response to any threats made against Russia, promises those provoking Moscow will come to regret it

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has given a stern warning to anyone threatening the national security of Russia, telling officials that those responsible will “regret their actions like they have never regretted anything before.”

    IMHO NATO and D.C. need to pull their heads out of their arses, for mankind’s sake.

  22. J says:

    First it was bounties, now its crickets

    Pentagon investigated suspected Russian directed-energy attacks on U.S. troops

    Defense officials have briefed congressional committees on the use of mysterious weapons against American service members.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/pentagon-russia-attacks-us-troops-484150

  23. J says:

    Here we ago again, retro 1968, looks like the U.S. Ambassador to Russia’s spouse will have to serve their tea parties, instead of having it served by a Russian national maid. The D.C. club will need to put out wanted labor ads in U.S. newspapers seeking labor for their Moscow typing pool. Wait…..they did away with typewriters….but they still have copy machines. Hmm… interesting how history repeats itself.

    Putin signs decree on countermeasures to other states’ unfriendly actions

    The government is tasked to define number of individuals that can be employed by foreign missions

    https://tass.com/politics/1282561

    ‘Acting like a tiny pooch’: Czech ex-president ashamed of Prague’s policies towards Russia

    Vaclav Klaus believes that his country’s current authorities are seeking to score points with Washington and NATO

    https://tass.com/world/1282275

    Lukashenko says $10 mln allocated for his assassination

    The BelTA news agency reported that armed people were to attack his residence in the countryside

    https://tass.com/world/1282653

    Western handlers roped Prague into spat with Moscow, says Russian diplomat

    According to the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, there were gaps in the positions and views about the accusations against Russia inside the Czech Republic

    https://tass.com/politics/1282389

  24. J says:

    Military hardware arriving in Moscow for next month’s annual Victory Parade. The video shows their S400, their Typhoon APC’s, and T-34 tank.

    «С-400», «Тайфун» и Т-34: военная техника прибыла в Москву для Парада Победы

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-rVxZ4h5BU

  25. J says:

    122 foreigners banned by Russian officials from entering country for FORTY years after attending unauthorized protests in capital

    https://www.rt.com/russia/521924-unauthorized-protests-participation-entering-ban/

  26. J says:

    Putin-Biden meeting is likely in June, but this depends on many factors – Kremlin aide
    According to Kremlin Aide Yuri Ushakov, signals are coming from Washington on the plans to hold the meeting of the leaders
    https://tass.com/politics/1282797

    Russian associate professor sentenced to 20 years for treason
    https://tass.com/emergencies/1282187

    US role in Belarusian coup attempt is under investigation, FSB chief says

    This case is being considered by the Belarusian State Security Committee and investigative bodies, Alexander Bortnikov said
    https://tass.com/russia/1282811

  27. J says:

    Suspects in Lukashenko assassination case plead guilty, provide plot details
    https://tass.com/world/1284449

  28. J says:

    Russian Navy to decommission Delta IV-class strategic nuclear-powered submarine in 2022
    https://tass.com/defense/1284099

  29. J says:

    Russia’s KAZAN is now out of the box and put to sea by the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk on the White Sea. The KAZAN is the first of the Project 885M Yasen-M subclass subs.

    The KAZAN is a quiet sub which has a vast array of weapons including subsonic and hypersonic nuke capable missiles make it a “nation killer”.
    U.S. defense experts warning: “It holds targets to risk on the U.S. East Coast, as well as within an area that was previously considered a “safe haven” for U.S. Navy ships and submarines”—and whose most feared weapon is the Poseidon 2M39 “doomsday” nuke torpedo that has the power to trigger massive radioactive tsunamis off the US coast.

    Russian naval assets in development include their KANYON, a multipurpose status 6 system ‘doomsday’ torpedo.

    http://www.sevmash.ru/rus/news.html
    Yasen – M
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEzgQ26W4hE

    https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40503/russia-just-accepted-its-new-super-quiet-cruise-missile-packed-submarine-into-service

    https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-tests-nuclear-doomsday-torpedo-in-arctic-expands-military-2021-4

    Biden would do well to understand what Putin said back in 2014 –“If you press the spring too hard, it will snap back. You must always remember this.”

    • Deap says:

      What level of operating sentient mental capacity would it take for Biden to understand this?

Comments are closed.