1/ The Russian Ministry of Defence is reportedly coercing convicts to join the Russian army by threatening them with being incarcerated alongside men who are available to be raped, regarded as untouchables in Russian prison culture. ⬇️
2/ Russia's prisons operate a brutal caste system based on a sexual hierarchy, where some prisoners are treated as available to be raped by anyone. These men are known as the "cocks", "offended", "lowered", "forced" or "crests", and are made to sleep next to the toilets.
3/ Importantly, "cock" status is treated as being contagious. They are literally untouchable: interacting with "cocks", sharing their food, touching them or their possessions (unless you are raping them) is regarded as being enough to make you a "cock" as well.
4/ The Wagner Group's head Yevgeny Prigozhin (a former convict himself) has explained this distinction and established a separate "cock division" within Wagner for convicts who can't interact with other convicts.
5/ However, according to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, the Russian MOD is exploiting this untouchability to force non-cock prisoners to sign up for mlitary service. The channel explains:
6/ "First, the inmates are persuaded by ex-convicts who allegedly survived the war, and then they are threatened, even to the point of joining detachments with the "offended".
7/ "According to our source, a certain brigade is “touring” in various Russian prison colonies, the members of which are represented as prisoners who were allegedly recruited into the Wagner PMC, went through the war and were released.
8/ "The 'Zeks' describe how long they had to serve in prison, but thanks to the war they are already free and have money. After this, the convicts are offered not to sign up in the Wagner PMC, but as contract employees of the Ministry of Defence.
9/ "However, according to the source, there are very few people willing to volunteer, since everyone knows that it is virtually impossible to return from the war. The administrative resource is used to its maximum capacity.
10/ "For example, in Tula Region's penal colony No. 1, the prisoners are strongly advised to go to war, fearing that they will soon begin to “turn up the regime” there and it will finally be “red” [i.e. become a 'strict regime', with far tougher conditions].
11/ "At the same time, ordinary prisoners are allegedly being forcibly mixed in with the "offended", who are now being held separately. They threaten in the colony that those who want to avoid this need to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defence."
12/ This follows earlier reports that Wagner has been barred from recruiting prisoners, which was in any case resulting in far fewer volunteers due to news of their catastrophic losses reaching Russia's prisons.
13/ The Russian MOD has reportedly sought to create penal battalions for prisoners, but with voluntary enlistment. It's likely that the results have been disappointing, leading to a change to a more coercive approach.
1/ An 'army mafia' has developed within Russia's invasion force in Ukraine, operating with near-impunity to smuggle commodities back into Russia and strip seized industries to sell for personal profit. A Russian commentary highlights the difficulties of tackling it. ⬇️
2/ Russian warblogger Svyatoslav Golikov writes (in carefully elliptical terms) writes of how military crime has developed in occupied Ukraine, following the Russian Army's December 2022 reintroduction of corps and divisions in response to the challenges of the war.
3/ He writes that "a stable symbiosis of local driven entrepreneurs and those same anonymous northerners was formed on the [occupied] territory, providing a very reliable protection [literally 'roof'] for entrepreneurial initiatives, …
1/ With drug use widespread on the Russian front lines, it's not surprising that soldiers are overdosing. In this video, a military medic is providing first aid to a man who has had a drug overdose, prior to sending him to a hospital. ⬇️
2/ There have been many accounts of the scale of drug use in the Russian army – "corruption, drugs, alcohol all around" as one ex-Wagner soldier has put it. At least one in ten Russian soldiers is reported to be using drugs.
3/ Drug use on the front line has been attributed to a variety of factors – boredom, stress from the continuous threat of drone attacks, disillusionment, lack of oversight by absent commanders, ready availability of drugs in the gangster-ridden occupied territories.
1/ Investigations into suspected crimes in the Russian 5th Brigade, including the recent disappearance and possible murder of two officers, are reportedly hampered by an unexpected problem: investigators themselves are disappearing and possibly being murdered. ⬇️
2/ Many accusations have been made against the brigade's senior officers, including "drug trafficking, robberies, looting, extortion, salary theft, trade in fuel and humanitarian aid", following the disappearance of battalion commander Yuri Burakov.
3/ An official investigation is said to have now been opened into Burakov's disappearance after he was summoned to meet his superiors, though previous attempts to investigate the 5th Brigade's affairs have apparently not produced any results. Anastasia Kashevarova writes:
1/ Donald Trump's reasons for his firing of the head of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics are an ominous echo of a notorious concept from Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany: that of scapegoating individuals or groups as economic "wreckers" or "saboteurs". ⬇️
2/ A common theme in authoritarian societies is that systemic failures, politically inconvenient developments, or simply the desire to suppress dissent and eliminate rivals, are tackled by declaring individual workers and officials to be guilty of economic crimes.
3/ Trump's announcement yesterday that he was sacking BLS head Dr. Erika McEntarfer used language strongly reminiscent of Soviet-era denunciations of "wreckers" and "saboteurs". He claimed without evidence that she "manipulated" and "faked" statistics.
1/ Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine have to supply almost all of their own equipment, including drones, either at their own expense or through volunteer donations. A commentary on the state of logistics in an elite Airborne Forces unit depicts a dire situation. ⬇️
2/ Russian warblogger Svyatoslav Golikov has published an account from an Airborne Forces soldier of the logistical situation in his unit. While he doesn't explain why things are so bad, it's likely a combination of the exhaustion of Soviet-era stocks, bureaucracy and corruption.
3/ "1. Light vehicles - the company has two UAZ "loafs" [UAZ-452] and one UAZ-Patriot. Neither the Ministry of Defence nor the state provided any of the above. They were purchased by the company's personnel at their own expense or received from humanitarian workers.
1/ Black Sea Fleet commanders have reportedly imposed severe restrictions on their subordinates in retaliation for leaks portraying senior officers as involved in corrupt schemes. They are said to be keeping unseaworthy vessels in service to corruptly divert repair funds. ⬇️
2/ It was reported in June that several Black Sea Fleet vessels regarded as 'wrecks' are undergoing what amount to indefinite repair programmes, which senior officers are exploiting to steal from the repair budget.
3/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel named the commander of the 4th separate submarine brigade, Captain 1st Rank Dmitriy Skarga, as a key figure in the scheme. Now, the channel reports, Skarga is cracking down on his subordinates to deter any further leaks.