In many tapped phone calls between Russian soldiers and their relatives (Russians steal UKR mobile phones, use them, SBU taps) they tell same story: how rich Ukraine is, how much they have looted, and how cool ppl lived here. Some saw asphalt and street lights for the fist time.
Many Western experts and politicians loved to repeat the story of "rich Russia and poor Ukraine". The fact is, that except of extra rich Moscow and Petersburg, Russia is an underdeveloped country, and average Ukrainian province lives much better than average Russian province.
I don't even talk about political freedoms in Ukraine like election of mayors, free press, local self-governance etc. - soldiers do not see this. Ukrainians have better roads, better lights, more money, better food, better connection with neighbour countries. This shocks Russians
They were told all the times that Ukraine is a failed state with people who work like slaves in Europe and have nothing. Now they see the reality where every gasoline station has a computer-operated coffee machine with 30 types of teas, coffee and hot chocolate, and a whisky bar.
For those who continue to ask me about asphalt. Guys, this is the main road in diamant- and gas-rich Yakutsk region. Photos of cars stuck there after rains appear regularly. I understand that Moscow can be chic and cool, and you havn't seen anything else, but Russia is not Moscow
And if you say "oh, it is far in Siberia, but this is not what happens around the capitals": this is a photo from a "Federal Highway" in Petersburg region. Please note the perfect "asphalt".
Here are photos from Russian hospitals. Note that three are from: St.Petersburg, Elektrostal (Moscow suburbia) and Kislovodsk (a regional center and a resort in rich Russian south). Source (a RUSSIAN web page): kaifolog.ru/russia/7724-no…
As a former Russian, and a son of a medic, I can smell these pictures, so much they are authentic. It is a mixture of urine, chlorine, cold air, and cheap drugs. A terrible smell I need to say. A one cannot be erased from memory.
For those who say "but Russian GDP is so high!" or "but average wealth is bigger than in Ukraine!" Guys, this is Norilsk, the home of world biggest nickel producer. 177,000 ppl live in Norilsk. The owner of NorNickel Prokhorov has $11bn wealth. This makes $62,000 per person, aha.
Sorry to remind my own old joke, but literally, some Russian cities look like if Russia had "liberated" them:
A recent photo: Russian army in Ukraine has looted some potato (the IFV has tactical marks of Russian army). Thank you for this photo @visegrad24
Once again. You are an 18 y.o. from the most poor villages in poor regions. You had no chance to see anything but THIS poverty (and Putin on TV). You have never traveled. Than the army takes you and sends to Ukraine. And you see those rich Ukrainians with asphalt - and hate them.
According to official data of Russian State Statistics Service "Rosstat", 22,6% of Russians lived in 2019 in houses without running water. In rural areas, it were 66,5%. Think about it: 2/3 of rural conscripts had to shit into holes all their life long: novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/04/0…
Out of all Russians - living in both rural AND urban areas, including chic Moscow, St. Petersburg etc., 40,9% of families who have 3 or more kids, had no running water in their house in Russia in 2019. This is the official statistics of Russian government. novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/04/0…
One third of the sum - and even more, over €10,000! - raised within 2,5 hours. And who says that the Germans are not on Ukraine's side, or that our chancellor represents the public opinion! So proud of the Germans. You want to donate more?
. paypal.com/donate?campaig…
Ok, I observe Varwick at a panel discussion in Hamburg (will debate with him later today). Within the first 30 minutes, he manages to say that:
1) Russia has legitimate security interests, and the West hat massive violated these interests; 2) There is nothing bad in German economic cooperation with Russian high-tech companies which develop surveillance device in Russia, because economy. International trade with dictatorships is necessary. Otherwise Russia buys it from China anyway; 3) NATO with all its 10-times higher military resources comes closer to Russia's borders, "invaded Kosovo against Russia's will", bombarded Lybia etc.
And this looks to be just an appetiser.
4) praised Nord Stream 2 as a tool of mutual dependencies and improved climate policy; 5) smears opponents as "activists" and names himself an expert and a scientist;
Allegedly, some Germans are afraid, someone (who?) tries to forbid them reading Pushkin. I tell you: if there is nothing scary around, a German would invent a scare crow to be scared. A sort of masturbation on fear.
PS The guy says he supported Anna Netrebko’s performance in GER
A destruction of a multi-storeys building in Russia-controlled #Bilhorod (#Belgorod) could not be a Ukrainian hit. It is either a Russian attack (deliberately or not), or a Russian false flag operation (most probably). Let me elaborate on this. THREAD:
1) This could not be a Ukrainian attack. Until now, Ukrainians have not attacked civilian buildings in Russia. If it was a missile or a dropped bomb, it came from the north-east, i.e. from deeper Russia's territory. For the same reason, it was not "a 🇺🇦 intercepted missile". /2
1.1) Russia has a long history of accidentally bombing own territory. As Russia uses hundreds of bombs DAILY bombing Ukraine, and these are improvised glided bombs of bad quality, some of them occasionally fall on Russian cities and villages close to the border, incl. Belgorod /3
A Russian male murdered two Ukrainians in Germany yesterday. Before, reportedly a Russian couple killed a Ukrainian mother to kidnap her baby - in Germany. Before, two Ukrainian teenager were stabbed in Germany allegedly out of anti-Ukrainian hate. German politicians keep silent.
Early this full-scale invasion, one obviously Russia-staged “arsonist attack” in the night at a Russian school - with one door damaged - was enough for our federal politicians to make a public statements on how they support the Russians in Germany. But not this time. Priorities.
This happened just a month ago: a Russian couple murdered a 27 y.o. Ukrainian woman, AND her mother, to kidnap woman’s baby. The baby was found, the suspected murderers arrested. The whole family erased by Russians - in Germany. No statement by German chancellor or a minister.
In Russia, May 9th is coming, a holiday of the most disgusting death cult. Russia does not celebrate the WWII end, as many believe, but suffering and death, as their slogan says "we can (gladly) repeat it" (можем повторить). On this day, they dream of death for their children. /1
Since years, Russians paraded their children, even toddlers, in WWII military uniforms and let them play suffering and death. Russian mothers enjoyed seeing their children playing suffering. It is a sadistic dream of sacrificing even their own children, not speaking of others. /2
Children-martyrs were an integral part of the Soviet death cult. Every school had propaganda books laying around, describing "hero young pioneers", who fought on the front, and either committed suicide to not be captured, or were captured a tortured to death. Just pure sadism. /3
THREAD The West still does not understand, why Ukrainians are insulted by the Western flirt with Navalnists. The problem is not only Navalnists' imperialistic mode, but the fact, that they repeatedly spoke against arming Ukraine. Navalny himself and his team did it. /1
After calling not to send weapons to Ukraine in 2015, in 2021, from his prison cell, Navalny criticised sending Javelines to Ukraine instead of financing his YouTube channel. Addressing the Russians via YouTube (which can easily be blocked) is more important, he said. /2
In 2022, Navalny's top aide Volkov smeared donations for Ukraine's army as a "whole range stupidity" in his programmatic interview to Novaya Gazeta newspaper, but bragged that he spent €2m of donated money for a YouTube channel in Russia. /3