1/ Soldiers returning home to Russia after fighting in Ukraine are reportedly responsible for an increasing number of violent incidents, including fights and shootings. However, the Russian courts are being very lenient towards offenders, dismaying and frustrating civilians. ⬇️
2/ The independent Russian news outlet 'We can explain' ('MO') reports on what it calls 'special military operation syndrome' – the rising incidence of violence committed by returning soldiers. It's likely that many are suffering from untreated PTSD.
3/ Many incidents have been reported but have only resulted in light punishments from the courts, including:
4/ 🔴 "60,000 rubles ($803) for assaulting a member of the National Guard. The other day a Voronezh court passed a very mild sentence – a military man who hit and insulted a guardsman several times got away with a fine. The incident took place in a Voronezh hotel in September.
5/ The Russian Federal Guard Service was called by the staff, as the guest was behaving inappropriately. It came down to a fight, and the law enforcers made a concerted effort to get the troublemaker off.
6/ 🔴 In July 2022, a man threatened passers-by with a shotgun in Elektrostal, near Moscow. He said he had recently arrived from Ukraine and "they shot him there".
7/ 🔴 September 2022: In Tula, a military man beat up a pizzeria owner with a chair. The reason for the attack, according to the hooligan, was that he was not shown "enough respect" at the pizzeria.
8/ 🔴 In January 2023, a man in camouflage came with a Kalashnikov assault rifle to a nightclub and pointed the weapon at people standing on the stairs.
9/ 🔴 The loudest and most tragic event involving a serviceman returned from Ukraine took place in Kostroma. On November 5, Stanislav Ionkin, 23, who had been wounded, fired a flare gun at the Polygon nightclub (the incident was not captured on video).
10/ A fire broke out in the premises, killing 13 people."
MO notes that there have also been many incidents of weapons smuggling – Russia has strict gun control laws which returning soldiers have repeatedly violated.
11/ Since February 2022, it reports, "at least 42 Russian servicemen have been put on trial for misappropriation, storage, transportation and carrying of weapons, ammunition and explosive devices".
12/ There has also been a murder case: "in Udmurtia, according to investigators, in the course of a drinking bout in a garage, a comrade who had returned from the war shot his friend in the eye and then strangled him with a wire. The trial began on 9 February." /end
1/ General Vladimir Alexseyev, who was shot yesterday in a Moscow apartment building, may have been secretly visiting his mistress before the attack. Despite a reputation as an uncorrupt officer, he is said to have enjoyed the same luxurious lifestyle as many of his peers. ⬇️
2/ The building where Alekseyev was shot is a fairly ordinary apartment building in Moscow's Shchukino District. Completed in 2022, it has 10 apartments on each floor. Alekseyev was using an apartment on the 24th floor.
3/ According to neighbours, the apartment is occupied by a younger woman with a young child. They say she was seen often with the child, but Alekseyev was only seen rarely. His 'official' wife is in her 60s (he is 64) and their children are in their 30s.
1/ Why has Russia failed so abysmally at providing secure battlefield communications to its troops in Ukraine? The answer, concludes Russian warblogger Oleg Tsarev, is that the military communications budget has been looted for years by corrupt generals and contractors. ⬇️
2/ Tsarev relates the dismal history of Russia's military communications programmes:
"I remember how, at the beginning of the Special Military Operation, all units were buying Motorola radios. There was no other communications."
3/ "Now, Elon Musk has shut down the Starlink terminals our military used in the Special Military Operation, and our communications at the front have been disrupted. I'm talking to military personnel: many say we still have virtually no communications of our own.
1/ The attempted assassination of Lt Gen Vladimir Alekseyev in Moscow this morning has outraged Russian warbloggers, who regard him as a hero of Russia. They have highlighted his key role and contributions to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. ⬇️
2/ Vladimir Romanov writes:
"An assassination attempt was made on Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev [who is known as 'Stepanich'], First Deputy Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Russian Ministry of Defence."
3/ "An unknown assailant fired several shots into his back in the elevator lobby of a building on Volokolamsk Highway at 7:00 a.m. The assassin fled the scene. Alekseyev was hospitalised.
1/ Russia's battlefield communications are reportedly "in chaos" following the Starlink shutdown. Communications specialists are said to be scrambling to find alternative solutions, while warbloggers advocate torturing Ukrainian PoWs to get their Starlink passwords. ⬇️
2/ Yuri Podolyak writes:
"So, what everyone had long feared, but secretly hoped wouldn't happen until the end of the Special Military Operation has happened. Elon Musk flipped the switch, and 80% of Starlink terminals on the front line went down."
3/ "Moreover, it's highly likely that on our side, this will soon reach 100%, and only Russian ingenuity can attempt to circumvent it. And they will probably circumvent it somehow. But not with a return to 100% functionality as of yesterday morning.
1/ A Russian warblogger explains what the Russian army in Ukraine saw when they were disconnected en masse from Starlink yesterday. ⬇️
2/ "Starlink went down across the theatre of military operations in a rather strange way.
At around 22:00 Moscow time, it was like this:
3/ "– All terminals in the Ukraine theatre of operations are blocked. Both ours and those of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Even from their "white list". All of them.
1/ Russian retailers are cashing in on Elon Musk's mass disabling of the Russian army's Starlink terminals by massively increasing the price of Russian alternatives. One such system has quadrupled in price overnight to over $2,600, but is said to be far inferior to Starlink. ⬇️
2/ 'Combat Reserve' complains that there has been a huge overnight increase in the price being asked for the Yamal 601 system, which uses Gazprom's Yamal satellite constellation. Units are now selling for 200,000 rubles ($2,612) apiece.
3/ Listings on Avito (Russia's answer to eBay) show that until yesterday, Yamal 601 units were being priced at between 45-60,000 rubles. They are however far less capable than Starlink, and Russian soldiers have avoided them in favour of the smaller and faster US-made system.