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/ Huge numbers of Russian soldiers are dying unnecessarily in Ukraine because commanders at every level are falsifying claims of success, according to Russian warbloggers. "To back up their words, they're sending people to their deaths," says one front-line soldier. ⬇️
2/ The image above is an extract from an official Russian Ministry of Defence map showing a completely fictional front line around Kupyansk in Ukraine's Kharkiv region. Commanders falsely reported having taken settlements around the city before it was regained by Ukraine.
3/ Russian commentators call this practice "taking on credit" (as in amassing credit card debt). Commanders have both financial and career motivations for making false reports of success, which are relayed all the way up to Vladimir Putin himself.
1/ A poetry reading by Russian ultra-nationalists in Krasnodar has been violently suppressed by Russian security forces, much to the dismay of their online supporters. The incident highlights how much Putin's regime fears being outflanked from the nationalist right. ⬇️
2/ Members and supporters of the National Bolshevik movement, founded by the late poet and Soviet-era dissident Eduard Limonov, were holding a regularly scheduled reading of Limonov's works in Krasnodar on 17 January when they were interrupted by a law enforcement raid.
3/ According to the 'Carefree Carpenter Z' Telegram channel, "Everything was proceeding as usual when operatives from the regional "Centre E" and the FSB, armed with automatic rifles, burst into the loft space specially rented for the event."
1/ Russia's logistical capability to threaten Greenland, 1500 miles away, is fundamentally dependent on its ability to project naval power over long distances, potentially in contested waters. However, Russian warbloggers admit that this is severely limited even in peacetime. ⬇️
2/ 'Military Informant' writes that the Russian logistics vessel MYS ZHELANIYA has "delivered important cargo to the Afrika Korps, calling at the Libyan port of Tobruk. The SPARTA IV, escorted by the large anti-submarine ship Severomorsk, continued on to the coast of Syria."
3/ However, the channel acknowledges, this operation highlights the limits of "the real capabilities of the Russian Navy to escort its merchant ships at great distances from the country's coast."
1/ Donald Trump's aggressive tactics over Greenland are causing consternation among his far-right allies in Europe. With European publics overwhelmingly against surrendering Greenland, leading European far-rightists have come out in opposition to Trump's plans. ⬇️
2/ Bloomberg reports that Trump's designs have forced his ostensible allies to reconsider their support for him. Some may fear voters turning on them for their past support of Trump, much as Pierre Poilievre suffered in Canada in 2024.
3/ 🇩🇪 Alternative for Germany co-leader Alice Weidel says that Trump has acted no differently to Vladimir Putin in his actions in Venezuela and threats against Greenland. "Trump has violated a fundamental campaign promise — namely not to interfere in other countries," she says.
1/ 30 years ago, Russian law enforcement agents started wearing masks to carry out their duties. It soon became a standard tactic to intimidate and extort those seen as opponents of the regime, and became known in Russian as a 'mask show'. ⬇️
2/ During the Soviet era, there was no need for law enforcement officers to hide their faces. They were the agents of an all-powerful state, which although corrupt had huge resources to repress crime and political dissidence.
3/ This changed in the 1990s, when the chaotic collapse of the Communist economy led to the rise of widespread and deadly gangsterism. The police came under direct threat from well-armed criminals. To deal with this, some officers began wearing masks to conceal their identities.
1/ Cuts to public funding due to money being redirected to Russia's war effort are having increasingly severe effects on its already struggling health service. In one region, a collapsing maternity care system has produced horrifying stories of mistreatment and abuse. ⬇️
2/ An increasing number of Russian regions are facing financial crises due to the federal government making severe cuts to regional budgets. This is having a host of negative effects, ranging from collapsing healthcare to cities being flooded with sewage.
3/ The West Siberian region of Kemerovo is one of many to be affected, and faces a healthcare crisis that locals say is already costing lives. A recent scandal has centred on the Maternity Hospital No. 1 in the city of Novokuznetsk, where a number of newborns have died.