1/ Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is complaining that the Russian Ministry of Defence is ghosting him – it's not picking up his phone calls and his representatives' passes have been deactivated, to stop him nagging them for ammunition. ⬇️
2/ In response to a question from a Russian news outlet about whether Wagner's ammunition shortages have been resolved, he has posted an audio reply on his official Telegram channel. Translation:
3/ "No, it didn't get any better with ammunition. Basically, nothing has changed at all. But there are indeed changes.
4/ In order for me to stop asking for ammunition, all special telephones were turned off for me in all offices, in all departments, etc. Another important thing they have done is blocked all passes to all the agencies that have to make decisions.
5/ I will not name them, so as not to discredit them in any way. So now I can only ask through the media. In fact, that's probably what I'll be doing. But it's not all bad. There are positive aspects, of course.
6/ Kudos to the industrialists, Denis Valentinovich Manturov and Igor Nosenko and all those who work with them and rivet these shells. Profuse thanks very much from everyone." /end
1/ Dozens of mobilised Russians from Volgograd are reported to have died after being sent to fight in Ukraine without being given any ammunition. Their deaths are said to have been covered up subsequently, but independent Russian journalists have reported on their story. ⬇️
2/ The 'No Future' project has published a long report on the fate of the men, who were part of the first wave of Russia's mobilisation in September-October 2022. They seem to have accepted their mobilisation orders as their patriotic duty.
3/ One man told his wife: "Do you understand that the next day they will come to bomb us? I have a sister here, a mother, goddaughters. I'm going to protect you first."
Relatives sold cars and other personal items to equip their men before they were sent to a training area.
1/ Many videos have been posted by mobilised Russians in the past month, complaining about the conditions they face in Russia's current offensive. Here's a deeper look at their complaints and a major new factor – the role of the Donetsk and Luhansk 'People's Republics'. ⬇️
2/ For a summary of the videos and the timeframe of their posting, see the thread below. The videos all follow the same general format of an appeal to Russian president Vladimir Putin to resolve problems at the front line in Ukraine.
3/ The 'appeal to the Tsar' is a deep tradition in Russian history, going back centuries. Petitions used to be called 'chelobitnye', literally 'forehead-beating documents', reflecting petitioners' ritual bowing of their foreheads to the ground before the Tsar.
1/ Anna Colin Lebedev (@colinlebedev) has written an important thread in French on the social and political implications of the latest wave of videos from unhappy mobilised Russians. Here's an English translation. (See below for the videos.) ⬇️
2/ "Videos of complaints from mobilised Russians, most often addressed to regional governors and Putin, are proliferating on social media. They are systematically recorded by investigative journalists and volunteers, for example from @CITeam_en.
3/ The media outlet Verstka notes a sudden rise in the number of such videos. The content is always the same: 5 to 10 (hooded) men identify their military unit and their region of origin, and make complaints, while affirming their patriotism. verstka.media/%D0%BC%D0%BE%D…
1/ Mobilised Russians who recorded an appeal to Vladimir Putin are reported to have been "blown to pieces" during failed assaults on Ukrainian positions in the Kreminna region. A new video and information from relatives has revealed their apparent fate.
2/ In the original video, recorded around 3 March, mobilised men from the Russian republics of Mordovia and Mari El said that they left Russia on 17 January 2023 and were attached to the 'Luhansk People's Republic' (LNR) military, likely the 2nd Army Corps.
3/ They complained that they had been reassigned to assault roles, despite having no training in assault tactics and being armed only with automatic rifles. They were sent to the front lines and recorded an appeal to Putin to resolve their situation.
1/ Mobilised Russians from at least 16 regions of Russia have posted videos in the last few weeks complaining about poor training, lack of equipment, brutal commanders, mistreatment, and being used as "meat" for suicidal assaults on Ukrainian positions. ⬇️
2/ Anyone who has been following @wartranslated (if you don't, you should) will have seen many of these videos. The independent Russian news outlet Verstka has been analysing them and has identified where the people appearing in them came from.
3/ As the map at the top of this thread shows, they are from places across the European and west Asian regions of Russia. Notably, though, they are fairly peripheral regions; the wealthiest parts of western Russia do not seem to be represented. Verstka summarises:
1/ Russian convicts are being recruited directly by the Russian Ministry of Defence to fight in the war in Ukraine, but are being sent directly into assaults with little training or equipment. After 75 convicts went into one assault, only 11 reportedly survived. ⬇️
2/ In a series of posts and videos, the Russian Telegram channel 'Caution, News' (ON) reports on the experiences of prisoners recruited from penal colony no. 4 (IK-4) in the Stavropol Territory. Russian MOD representatives came to the colony on 9 February to recruit prisoners.
3/ The MOD had previously left prisoner recruitment to the Wagner mercenary group, which is reported to have recruited as many as 50,000 convicts. However, Wagner's huge losses and its quarrels with the MOD leadership have ended its recruitment activities inside jails.