1/ Anti-Ukrainian paranoia has effectively resulted in the colours yellow and blue being banned in Russia, with objects – and even people – wearing those colours being removed or covered up. Items affected have included hair, clothes, crests, buildings, and artworks. ⬇️
2/ The anti-yellow and blue hysteria isn't officially sanctioned. The State Duma's Deputy Speaker, Vladislav Davankov, has asked the Interior Ministry "to bring clarity and publish a clarification that the combination of yellow and blue is not grounds for cases and detentions".
3/ Devankov commented: "Patriotic vigilantism reaches the point of absurdity ... If it continues in this vein, soon we'll start shooting blue tits in Russia, hundreds of brands will have to be shut down for their yellow and blue logos, ...
4/ ... and at least one political party – the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia – will be banned. Obviously, this path is absurd."
This thread compiles cases of action being taken against yellow and blue in Russia. I'll add to it progressively as more cases come to light.
5/ 🔺 A Hindu man in Moscow was arrested for wearing yellow trousers with a blue top. His trousers were confiscated and he was sent for trial, as was a janitor arrested for wearing a blue and yellow jacket.
7/ 🔺 A headteacher in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug reported a schoolgirl to the police for wearing blue and lime-green (not yellow!) braids. They investigated her mother for "non-fulfillment of parental duties" but did not pursue the case. t.me/horizontal_rus…
8/ 🔺 Yellow and blue public benches in Bryansk were repainted overnight after residents complained on social media. t.me/horizontal_rus…
9/ 🔺 A yellow & blue painted apartment block in Susuman in the Magadan region was repainted in orange after a resident complained: "Tomorrow this picture will be on the front page of some ghoul news with a headline that the residents ... support Ukraine". t.me/horizontal_rus…
10/🔺 A nine-year-old boy in the Kirov region was beaten up for using a yellow and blue inflatable plastic sledge. t.me/pdmnews/56487
11/🔺 The College of National Economy and Environmental Engineering in the Kaluga region refused to repaint the walls of its gym after complaints that they should be in "more patriotic colours". t.me/pdmnews/52328
12/ 🔺 A man on a Moscow region train pulled a yellow and blue backpack off a young boy, telling him, "What is this, Ukraine? These cunts shouldn't give it to us." pdmnews.ru/26850/
13/ 🔺 The yellow and blue seats in the Tuymaada football stadium in Yakutsk were all ripped out and are to be replaced with ones in the colours of the Russian flag. t.me/pdmnews/48252
14/🔺 Khrabrovo airport in Kaliningrad has replaced its yellow-and-blue logo. The yellow in the logo, which was meant to represent the sun, has been changed to red. pdmnews.ru/25599/
15/🔺 Outraged residents in Krasnoyarsk forced a local maintenance company to repaint yellow and blue concrete curbs, although it had used the same colours for years. t.me/pdmnews/48696
16/ 🔺 Police in Moscow apparently confused the yellow-and-blue flag of the Russian republic of Tuva with that of Ukraine and refused to allow a Tuvan politician to display it in public. t.me/pdmnews/50505
17/ 🔺 New Year's festive installations in Rostov-on-Don, painted in yellow, blue and red – the region's traditional colours - were repainted after residents complained that they looked like "khokhol [Ukrainian] flags". t.me/horizontal_rus…
18/🔺 A yellow and blue sculpture of a rhino, installed by an Ulan-Ude art museum in 2020 in colours evoking "the sun and sky", was repainted in grey in May 2022. t.me/horizontal_rus…
19/ 🔺 The Soviet-era yellow and blue crest of Murmansk's coat of arms was painted over in April 2023, as was the side of an apartment block painted in the same traditional regional colours. t.me/horizontal_rus…
20/ 🔺 The yellow in the yellow-and-blue painted facade of a Kirov apartment block was painted over in red in order to "denazify" it. t.me/horizontal_rus…
21/ 🔺Man arrested in Leningrad region for displaying the yellow and blue flag of the Russian Air Force:
22/ 🔺 A 50 cm high fence in Cherbarkul, painted in blue and yellow, was repainted in red when a neighbour complained after the paint was renewed. "For two years she looked at the fence with hatred from her window." t.me/sotaproject/56…
23/🔺A politician in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug complained about the "yellow and blue" lighting of a public artwork, blaming the colours on the British technicians who installed it, but was informed that it was actually blue and green. t.me/astrapress/283…
24/ 🔺 Singing toy sheep in Ukrainian folk costume mistaken for a bomb in Buryatia.
1/ Simply travelling to and from the front line in Ukraine is a deadly task, due to the wide-ranging presence of drones. Many soldiers are killed before they even get near a frontline position. An account from a Russian warblogger highlights the work of "killzone runners". ⬇️
2/ 'Voenkor Kotenok' writes:
"On the front lines, they're often called "runners." They're supposedly special forces/semi-combatants on errands. They're supposedly as nimble as sperm, evading even drones."
3/ "The attitude is somewhat dismissive, as if they're not second-class citizens, but rather just helpers. They say there are "tough guys," assault troops, a military elite (and there is one, right?), and then there are the runners, the lackeys. You get the idea.
1/ Telegram will not be restored in Russia, and tighter restrictions will be imposed on mobile phone ownership, says Sergey Boyarsky, head of the State Duma IT Committee. He cites scammers, pro-Ukrainian sabotage, and drone attacks as the reasons behind these moves. ⬇️
2/ In a wide-ranging interview with the St Petersburg online newspaper Fontanka, Boyarsky has explained the thinking behind the government's new restrictions on Telegram. He says that "Telegram doesn't comply with Russian Federation law, and hasn't done so for many years."
3/ "The requirements are simple, basic: localise user data within the Russian Federation, remove prohibited information (extremism, terrorism), and cooperate with law enforcement agencies to solve serious crimes (for example, the Crocus [terroist attack] case)."
1/ While Telegram is only part of a wider complex of communications systems used in the Russian army, it comprises a keystone without which the wider system falls apart. A commentary by a Russian warblogger explains the Russian army's communications ecosystem in detail. ⬇️
2/ Responding to comments earlier this week by presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, 'Vault No. 8' provides a "briefing note" on the role of Telegram in the Russian military communications ecosystem.
3/ "A typical motorised rifle regiment (today, the basic tactical unit—the military unit that holds the front line) utilises several tools to manage its troops:
1/ While the Russia army struggles with the impact of Telegram and Discord being throttled or blocked by the government, Ukraine has long used a highly sophisticated indigenously developed digital command and control system. Russian warbloggers have highlighted the contrast. ⬇️
2/ Detailed accounts such as the one in the thread below illustrate how Telegram – a commercial app run from Dubai – has been a central tool in the Russian kill chain, allowing for rapid responses to Ukrainian actions. Discord was also heavily used.
3/ Although this approach has been effective, it has now deliberately been rendered unusable by the Russian government. 'Two Majors' compares how Ukraine has approached digital command and control, and never made itself reliant on Telegram:
1/ The Russian army is reportedly forcing its soldiers to abandon Telegram and move over to the government-authorised MAX app. A Russian warblogger explains why the transition will prove to be very difficult. ⬇️
"Some challenges of switching from Telegram to MAX for our military personnel.
Telegram doesn't require a Russian number to be linked, making it difficult for adversaries to [de]anonymise users."
3/ "Max requires not only a Russian number but also real data (according to the messenger's rules), which enemy electronic warfare systems will immediately receive (although a Russian number alone is sufficient for the enemy to identify a user).
1/ Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently said (very wrongly) that "It's difficult, if not impossible, to imagine ... frontline communications being provided via Telegram or any other messenger." Warblogger Nikita Tretyakov has a list of other 'unimaginables'. ⬇️
2/ "What else is unimaginable?
It's unimaginable that just a week ago, our troops' communications relied on an enemy country's satellite constellation.
3/ "It's unimaginable that soldiers still obtain many essential items for war and military life (anti-thermal blankets, radios, gasoline-powered and electric tools, inverter generators, etc.) almost exclusively from their salaries or from volunteers.