Russian Digest
Top stories I am monitoring
Ukrainians welcome spring, say they survived Putin’s ‘winter terror’
Ukrainians are marking their first day of spring on social media, sharing photos of fresh buds and blooms and acknowledging that they have survived a brutal winter of war.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said Wednesday that March 1 — which is considered the first day of spring in Ukraine — symbolized “another major defeat” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who failed to use the winter season to weaponize energy and win the war in Ukraine.
Read More
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/01/ukraine-first-day-spring/
Russia attacks Zaporizhzhia overnight, residential building heavily damaged
Russia attacks Zaporizhzhia overnight, residential building heavily damaged. Russia conducted an air strike on Zaporizhzhia overnight on March 2, destroying three floors of an apartment building, Acting Mayor of Zaporizhzhia Anatoly Kurtev reported.
The attack was likely carried out with an S-300 missile, the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration reported on Telegram. Information on casualties is not yet available. First responders are on site.
Read More
https://kyivindependent.com/news-feed/russia-attacks-zaporizhzhia-overnight-residential-building-damaged
Russia invented "radioactive provocation" of Ukraine in Transnistria, Moldova called it a lie
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Ukraine was allegedly preparing provocations near unrecognized Transnistria "using radioactive materials."
This was stated by the press secretary of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
"The Russian Ministry of Defense drew attention to the provocation that the Kyiv regime is preparing to accuse the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation of allegedly inflicting indiscriminate strikes on radiation-hazardous objects that could lead to the leakage of radioactive substances and contamination of the area. ... that such events are taking place in the immediate vicinity of Transnistria, around which the Kyiv regime deliberately escalates tension," Zakharova said.
Read More
https://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2023/03/1/7391519/
Romania Warns Of 'Fake News' About It Massing Troops On Moldovan Border
Romania's Defense Ministry has warned that dozens of social-media posts claiming Bucharest has been massing troops and military equipment at its border with Moldova are part of "a fake news" campaign launched by the Kremlin since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
"We remind everyone that the accuracy of such sensationalist and panicky information can best be verified by consulting official sources," the ministry said on February 28.
Read More
https://www.rferl.org/a/romania-fake-news-troops-moldova-border/32291934.html
Russian provocations to monitor in Moldova
In Russian-occupied Transnistria, military training was announced and will begin on March 1, lasting for 3 months.
Also, the uptick in disinformation, propaganda inside Russia, and troll/bot activity is something to keep an eye on. Russia usually does this before invasions and false flag operations
Thread on protests
Background
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's announcement last week that Ukrainian intelligence had intercepted a Russian plan to topple the pro-Western government in neighboring Moldova reminded the world that whatever Russia's failings as a military power might be, it continues to lead the field in hybrid warfare and influence operations.
Read More
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/02/17/russias-planned-coup-in-moldova-reminds-us-why-ukraine-must-win-this-war-a80257
"Chaos and Explosions" Russia lost 130 tanks and armored personnel carriers in the three weeks of the assault on Vuhledar
The unsuccessful assault on Vuhledar in February was the largest tank battle since the start of the war in Ukraine and cost Russia 130 tanks and other heavy equipment, the New York Times writes , citing representatives of the Ukrainian army and drone footage.
When it was over, not only had Russia failed to capture Vuhledar, but it also had made the same mistake that cost Moscow hundreds of tanks earlier in the war: advancing columns into ambushes.
Blown up on mines, hit with artillery or obliterated by anti-tank missiles, the charred hulks of Russian armored vehicles now litter farm fields all about Vuhledar, according to Ukrainian military drone footage. Ukraine’s military said Russia had lost at least 130 tanks and armored personnel carriers in the battle. That figure could not be independently verified. Ukraine does not disclose how many weapons it loses.
Read More
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/01/world/europe/ukraine-russia-tanks.html
Finland’s MPs approve legislation paving way for country to join Nato
Finland’s parliament has overwhelmingly approved legislation allowing the country to join Nato, increasing the chances of it becoming a member of the transatlantic defensive alliance before its Nordic neighbor Sweden.
Finnish MPs voted 184 in favor of accepting the Nato treaties, with seven against and one abstaining, after earlier pushing for the legislation to be passed before general elections planned for early next month in order to avoid a political vacuum.
The vote came as work started on a fence along parts of Finland’s 1,340km (830-mile) border with Russia aimed at boosting security and tackling any attempt by Moscow to weaponize mass migration after its invasion of Ukraine.
Read More
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/01/finland-starts-building-fence-on-russian-border-as-mps-prepare-to-vote-on-nato-bid
The most closed formation in the secret business empire of Yevgeny Prigozhin is the Wagner PMC. The most secret part of Wagner is the so-called special department responsible for ensuring the security and secrecy of the enterprise
It seems that it is time to disperse him for incompetence. It is the security service, unable to ensure its own confidentiality, from year to year that becomes the main supplier of information about the underground (and often clearly criminal) activities of the Kremlin "cook" Prigozhin. Information about the Wagner group would never have been so accessible if it were not for regular leaks from the unit responsible for secrecy. It's time to pay tribute to these harsh professionals and tell you more about them. Meet: the special department of Wagner PMC.
In Moscow, a radar station was installed near the Salaryevo metro station
A mobile radar station (RLS) for reconnaissance and target designation P-18-2 Prima was installed near the Salaryevo metro station in Moscow. The video appeared on the Sirena Telegram channel. The report says that this is an "air defense complex", but the footage shows a radar.
Near such a radar, short-range and medium-range air defense systems should operate, but they are not visible in the published video.
n the village of Salaryevo, there was previously the largest landfill in Europe.
As noted on the Rostec website, the P-18-2 radar differs from most stations in its “high mobility”, achieved by placing equipment and an antenna-mast device on one vehicle unit. The combat crew of the station consists of two people, they can work both from an equipped cabin and from remote workstations. “The radar has a high degree of automation. The time for automatic shutdown and deployment of the station is about 5 minutes,” Rostec specialists specify.
On February 28, a drone filled with explosives fell for the first time in the Moscow region. The Governor of the Moscow Region Andrey Vorobyov confirmed the information about the fall of a drone near Kolomna, near the village of Gubastovo. It is located about 100 km from the Kremlin.
In January 2023, Russian authorities deployed air defense systems on the rooftops of Moscow buildings following several drone attacks on military airfields near Ryazan and Saratov. The network published photos and videos with military equipment placed on the roofs of houses.
Read More
https://theins.ru/news/259815
Exclusive: US seeks allies' backing for possible China sanctions over Ukraine war
The United States is sounding out close allies about the possibility of imposing new sanctions on China if Beijing provides military support to Russia for its war in Ukraine, according to four U.S. officials and other sources.
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https://www.reuters.com/world/us-seeks-allies-backing-possible-china-sanctions-over-ukraine-war-sources-2023-03-01/
Russia’s Wagner Group Begs Schoolkids to Join: ‘We Have the Best Prospects’
Russia’s notorious Wagner Group has reportedly begun trawling schools in a disturbing new recruiting drive.
After the mercenary group was sidelined from prison-recruiting efforts last month, it now appears to be setting its sights on the next generation.
The twisted new recruiting method was captured in a video shared Wednesday by Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer, and ally of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Sobol said a student who’d been present for Wagner’s presentation at a Moscow high school this week reached out and provided the surreptitiously recorded video.
In it, a masked man wearing military garb with a Wagner logo talks up the students’ career prospects if they sign a contract with the private military accused of war crimes on multiple continents.
“We have the best prospects,” he said, describing members of the group as “cool, good,” and “nice.”
Read More
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-wagner-group-begs-schoolkids-163538639.html
Justice for Ukraine: Prosecuting Russian War Crimes
Russian forces have committed over 65,000 registered war crimes throughout Putin’s full-scale war in Ukraine. These atrocities are all part of the Kremlin’s playbook to decimate Ukraine’s cities and infrastructure and inflict terror on the Ukrainian people. Unfortunately, this brutal approach is not new. Russia has and continues to violate international laws in the conflict in Syria. What are the available pathways to bring perpetrators to justice? How can international institutions hold Russia accountable for its brutal war crimes?
Explosions on two military based in Bakhchisaray today. Hmmmmmm...
Thank you for your dedicated coverage. There's still a surreal quality to the scope of the war and the acceptance of unlimited brutality and murder by so many Russians.
Is Russia trying to sow even more chaos with an invasion into Moldova, or is this just misdirection?
Are sanctions having any substantive effect? Russia seems to have relatively easily created a new supply chain.