1/ Citizens of the puppet 'Donetsk People's Republic' (DNR) are complaining en masse that they are not being paid their promised compensation for deaths and injuries caused to local residents by the war. The DNR itself admits that it owes more than 38 billion rubles ($467m). ⬇️
2/ Relatives and soldiers of the DNR's armed forces – which have been decimated due to being used as so-called 'meat waves' against Ukrainian positions – have been posting numerous videos complaining about the lack of compensation payments and appealing to Putin for help.
3/ In one video, a wife says: "Starting from September 2022, funding for lump-sum compensation for wounded and killed DNR servicemen for 2022 was terminated. We submitted documents to the commission of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of the DNR.
4/ "There are a lot of us. We applied to all authorities. From the presidential administration to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation.
5/ "All our appeals are forwarded to the government of the DNR, which redirects them to the Ministry of Labour, and the answers come from there that there is no funding. We write to the deputies and there are no results."
6/ According to the wife of one wounded soldier, his unit "collected all the necessary documents promptly, the medical examiner issued a conclusion of a severe injury.
7/ "In November we submitted all the documents for payment, and for seven months there have been no payments, the allowance during treatment is 30,000 rubles ($371). The answer is the same, there is no funding."
8/ People seeking compensation have complained to the DNR state prosecutor's office, which admitted that an audit had "established the fact of lack of funding for this type of payment, which requires an amount of more than 38 billion rubles."
9/ It's very unlikely that the DNR will be able to pay the sums it owes, as its finances are precarious, its economy is a mess and it's kept afloat only by Russian government funding.
10/ The Russian government has shown little concern previously for the welfare of DNR soldiers and their families, so there seems to be little likelihood that the relatives' video appeals will achieve much. /end
/1 A village in the Russian Far East which has sent 62% of its able-bodied men to fight in Ukraine has been recognised by the regional administration as Russia's first-ever "village of military glory". Nearly half of the men have already been killed or gone missing in action. ⬇️
2/ Sedanka is a tiny village in Kamchatka with a nominal population of 457 registered inhabitants, but only 258 actually live there, of whom only 67 are men of fighting age (18 to 55 years). Its inhabitants are principally members of the indigenous Koryak and Itelmen peoples.
3/ The village is extremely poor and remote, requiring an 18-hour drive from the regional capital on a road that is only passable between May and October. The local economy is moribund; traditional reindeer herding is long gone and people survive by fishing.
1/ Russians are responding in the traditional way to the plight of their fellow-countrymen trapped in Dubai – by scamming them. Scammers are offering desperate Russians fake $260 car rides and $20,000 private jet flights to neighbouring countries, with a 70% deposit up front. ⬇️
2/ Baza reports:
"Scammers are targeting Russians trying to escape Dubai.
The scammers offer stranded tourists "transfers" to neighbouring countries—most often Oman—from where they can return home. Prices start at $260 (~20,000 roubles) per seat in the car."
3/ "Victims told Baza that the scammers don't disclose the exact price upfront, citing "dependence on the situation," including the driver's availability, the car's make, and any additional services.
1/ Russian tourists trapped in Dubai are complaining that they are being screwed over by their (Russian) tour operator, and are being kicked out of their hotels. They say that the Russian Foreign Ministry has been of little help. ⬇️
2/ The Russian Telegram channel Baza reports:
"Hundreds of Russians are being thrown out of hotels in the UAE—tour operators are not extending their stays, forcing them to pay for inflated room rates amid the escalating military conflict."
3/ "Konstantin and his wife told Baza that at the reception desk at Dubai's C Central Resort The Palm, they were told that their tour operator, Biblio-Globus, had not paid for their stay extension and had refused to do so.
1/ Videos of Iranian Shahed drone strikes in the Gulf have been eye-catching, but lack an important nuance: they are less technologically advanced and used differently than Russia's similar Geran-2 drones, as Russian warbloggers point out. ⬇️
2/ The Gulf states, the US and Israel have generally been very effective at shooting down incoming Shaheds, but the few that have got through have caused highly visible localised destruction in US military bases, energy production facilities, and residential buildings.
3/ The prominent Russian Telegram channel Rybar notes that after Russia adopted the Shahed-136, it subsequently made many changes to the design after Ukrainian air defences became more effective at jamming or shooting the drones down:
1/ Russian commentators say that the success of Iranian drones – which are less sophisticated than their own – in hitting US and other targets in the Gulf shows that America and Europe have failed to prepare for the threat of Russian drone attacks. ⬇️
2/ 'Archangel Spetsnaz' writes:
"After observing the Iran-US war for the third day, we came to the following conclusions:
The Americans, who were planting military bases around the enemy, were reckless in failing to provide closer cover for their own troops and allies."
3/ "For many years, it was entirely predictable that the Iranians would actively employ jet-powered UAVs, yet the Americans have already let through quite a few strikes.
1/ Russians shouldn't help to defend Iran, suggests Russian journalist and politician Andrei Medvedev. He argues that Iran was a long-time enemy of Russia and more recently merely a fair-weather friend that only ever did what it thought would most benefit it at the time. ⬇️
2/ Medvedev, the Deputy Chairman of the Moscow City Duma and deputy general director of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), writes:
"Dear friends, do you know what the "Shia Eight" is? Well, let me remind you."
3/ "These are eight Shia parties in Afghanistan that united in the 1980s to fight the Soviet army, to wage jihad against the USSR. The Nasr Party, the Hezb-e Allah Party, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Afghanistan, the United Front for the Islamic Revolution,…