1/ Want to protect yourself from rampaging Ukrainian nationalists? No problem! Avito, Russia's answer to eBay, has you covered – you can now buy anti-tank 'dragon's teeth' to protect your private property, just in time for Christmas.
2/ Multiple companies in Russia have been making anti-tank pyramids and structures for bunkers. Manufacturers include the Moscow reinforced concrete factories of the developers PIK and KROST, according to the independent SOTA news outlet.
3/ Large numbers of these pyramids have appeared across occupied areas of Ukraine, while the Wagner Group is trying to build its own 'Wagner Line' in Russia's Belgorod and Kursk regions. But private citizens don't need to worry about being left out.
4/ Manufacturers in Russian front-line regions, as well as occupied regions of Ukraine, are selling anti-tank pyramids online. For instance, one company from the Republic of Adygea in southern Russia is advertising "Anti-tank pyramids, tetrahedron" for 8,500 rubles ($131) each.
5/ A similar advertisement from a St Petersburg company offers them for far less – 499 rubles ($7.71) each – with delivery to "Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk, Smolensk, Kherson, LPR, DPR, Zaporozhye region." They offer delivery to Melitopol in Ukraine for 22,000 rubles ($339).
6/ There are currently over 40 companies offering "anti-tank pyramids" for sale on Avito with delivery provided within Russia and occupied Ukrainian territories. The Russian economy may be suffering, but it's obviously a great time to be a concrete manufacturer in Russia. /end
1/ Mobilised Russians on the front line in Ukraine report that they are being sent no food and undrinkable water, have no medical supplies, their commanders are absent, and they are having to make 30 km journeys, likely on foot, to resupply themselves using their own money. ⬇️
2/ I've previously highlighted the problems that the Russians are having in providing food and water to their men on the front line. Two reports from the Novosibersk-based regional newspaper NRG Novosti show what this means in practice.
3/ Men who were mobilised from Novosibersk in late September were sent to a training base for a month before being taken by rail to Rostov a month later. They appear to have received only minimal training, being "allowed to shoot a couple of times" according to the wife of one.
@ian_matveev has posted an excellent thread analysing the current military situation in Ukraine. In the first of a series, he looks at the likelihood of a joint Russian-Belarusian attack on northern Ukraine. Translation follows. ⬇️
The Russian army's winter stalemate. Part 1. Is an offensive from Belarus possible or not?
Today we will begin to examine what the Russian army may undertake in the coming months and go over all fronts. Let's start from the top - with the alleged new attack from Belarus. 🧵 /1
I should say right away that Putin's army may act unpredictably, because it depends on the Kremlin's decisions. Therefore I'll proceed from the Russian army's somewhat perverse and certainly criminal logic. Don't consider all this as a prediction, more as a reasoning. /2
1/ Mobilised Russians are falling sick en masse with bronchitis and pneumonia at their training camp in Siberia, where they are living in tents in temperatures of -30°C (-22°F) according to their wives. They are being given no medicines and are having to buy their own. ⬇️
2/ Baikal Journal reports that the wives of mobiks from Irkutsk are speaking out about the way their husbands are being treated. One has written on the VK (social media) page of Irkutsk regional governor Igor Kobzev that the men are all sick but aren't being treated:
3/ “There is no proper medical care, they buy medicines themselves, they are already on a third round of antibiotics – and all this in tents. Do you want them not to reach the Special Military Operation zone at all?” She asks the governor to "take action".
1/ Vladimir Putin is equated to the Archangel Michael in a new prayer book issued by the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to Russian troops in Ukraine. The book also frames the Orthodox Cross with Kalashnikov rifles, highlighting the ROC's overt support for Putin's war. ⬇️
2/ The "We Can Explain" Telegram channel reports that the Russian TV channel Spas has broadcast an interview with a military clergyman who explains that "where the commander has a divine spirit, the company is invincible".
3/ The prayer book was likely presented to Russian soldiers in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. It shows an icon of the Mother of God with "Russia" stripes and medals and refers to "Supreme Commander Vladimir" as Russia's "archistrategos."
1/ After people stopped to watch a fight in the street between a Chechen traffic cop and a special forces officer, Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov has ordered that all the onlookers are to be rounded up and sent to fight in Ukraine. ⬇️
2/ According to the Baza Telegram channel:
"[On 10 December] Turpal Eskiev, a traffic cop, was serving in the center of Urus-Martan when an SOBR [National Guard special forces] officer approached him very close.
3/ The National Guard officer specifically began to drift in front of the traffic police officer and provoke him because of old grievances. Words were exchanged, and the fellow slapped the traffic cop, who [metaphorically] opened fire in response (fortunately, not at people).