(1/5) Some local Russian security officials are likely interpreting Russiaβs draconian wartime legislation to mean that public display of blue and yellow items is outlawed because it might evidence discreet support for Ukraine.
(2/5) On 09 May 2023, a care home worker was reportedly arrested after wearing a blue and yellow jacket to work.
(3/5) In recent days, Russian National Guard troops arrested a 22 year old man in Volkhov near St Petersburg for displaying which was eventually determined to be the blue and yellow flag of Russiaβs own Aerospace Forces.
(4/5) The clampdown highlights uncertainty within a paranoid Russian officialdom of what is and is deemed permissible within an increasingly totalitarian system.
(5/5) Criticism of the arrests has come from an unexpected quarter: the ultra-nationalist, pro-war Liberal Democratic party. The partyβs own branding features yellow on a blue background.
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(1/4) Over the last 48 hours there has been a substantial increase in fighting along numerous sectors of the front, including those which have been relatively quiet for several months.
(2/4) Concurrently, the feud between Wagner Group and the Russian MoD has reached an unprecedented level.
(1/4) Over the course of May 2023, Russia launched over 300 Iranian Shahed series one way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA-UAVs) against Ukraine: its most intense use of this weapon system to date.
(2/4) Russia is probably launching so many OWA-UAVs in an attempt to force Ukraine to fire stocks of valuable, advanced air defence missiles.
(1/4) On 27 May 2023, Russian opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin appeared on Russiaβs NTV channel and called for a new president to be elected in 2024, in order to rebuild normal relations with Europe.
(2/4) Nadezhdin has been a vocal critic of the war since the invasion, but this is highly likely the first call for Putin to be replaced on Russian state-approved TV since it began.
(1/5) Since the start of May 2023, Russia has increasingly ceded the initiative in the conflict and is reacting to Ukrainian action rather than actively progressing towards its own war aims.
(2/5) During May 2023, Russia has launched 20 nights of one-way-attack uncrewed aerial vehicle and cruise missile attacks deep inside Ukraine.
(1/3) On 25 May 2023, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported that Russian military spending grew by 9.2 per cent in 2022 to USD $86.4 billion. SIPRI assesses this equates to 4.1 per cent of Russiaβs Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
(2/3) Russiaβs true military spending is highly uncertain due to the increased use of classified budget lines, especially since February 2022, and the lack of transparency.
(1/7) Wagner Group forces have likely started to withdraw from some of their positions around the Donetsk city of Bakhmut.
(2/7) On 25 May 2023, Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin said the withdrawal of his forces from Bakhmut had begun and that transfer of positions to the Russian Ministry of Defence (MOD) would continue to 01 June 2023.