1/ The Russian government has hidden a vast amount of data from the public in an apparent attempt to conceal the impact of the war in Ukraine. An analysis shows that almost 500 datasets have been removed since February 2022, covering everything from weather to state pensions. ⬇️
2/ The Russian publication 'To Be Precise' reports that at least 44 government bodies have stopped publishing data, with some statistical platforms being taken down entirely. The law was changed in February 2023 to allow the government to stop publishing state statistics.
3/ Much of the data that has been removed or suspended from publication relates to direct or indirect indicators of the war's impact. Such datasets were often used by independent Russian commentators and analysts. They include:
4/ 🔺 Data showing the impact of sanctions, including imports, exports, oil production and refining.
🔺 Information on companies subject to sanctions, companies involved in military production and companies workin on import substitution.
5/🔺 Government procurement and contracts, and budget expenditures.
🔺 Data relating to deaths and disabilities caused by the war.
🔺 Almost all data on prisoners, many of whom have died after being recruited to fight in Ukraine.
6/🔺 Monthly data on crimes committed with the use of firearms, ammunition and explosives, which had increased greatly in Russian regions bordering Ukraine.
🔺 Data on atmospheric altitude conditions was deleted following drone attacks on Moscow.
7/ 🔺 Data on potential strategic targets such as power plants, power lines, and radioactive waste storage sites, as well as regional offices of government departments.
🔺 Information on energy consumption, which could be used to infer the state of the economy.
8/🔺 Data on migration and the issuing of passports to residents of occupied regions of Ukraine.
🔺 At least 40 Russian government websites are now inaccessible to non-Russian IP addresses, likely in an attempt to prevent them being targeted by DDoS attacks from abroad.
1/ Russian soldiers are being handcuffed to each other, pepper-sprayed, and beaten to force them to go to the front lines. A soldier says that ex-POWs and badly wounded men on crutches are being forced to fight. "They're just throwing us in for meat," he says. ⬇️
2/ Speaking in a video recorded in the back of a Russian army truck, a soldier from the 114th Motorised Rifle Regiment (military unit 24776) has recorded an appeal for help. He speaks of the violence being used against the men, and shows how he is handcuffed to a comrade:
3/ "People are being held against their will. They're being handcuffed and pepper-sprayed. Is that normal?", he asks.
1/ Indians fighting in the Russian army have been killed en masse near Pokrovsk. A survivor says in a video that his friends, who included students studying in Russia, died only 10 days after signing a military contract and being sent to the front without any training. ⬇️
2/ An Indian man tells how his friend, a student, signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence because he wanted to make money. He had previously been doing "a month of work digging dugouts", likely in the Russian rear or in a border region.
3/ "When he came [back] to Moscow ... he sees that if he signs a contract, he gets 2,000,000 rubles [$24,584 – note that the average annual salary in India is $4,038]."
His friend was sent to Pokrovsk only 10 days later, without any training. As the man says:
69 years ago today, Soviet troops had deposed the pro-democracy government of Hungary and were wiping out every remaining pocket of armed resistance. But Hungarian revolutionaries were still fighting back desperately against overwhelming odds.
2/ As the Hungarian Revolution enters its second week, the Soviet Army has effectively neutralised the Hungarian Army and crushed much of the resistance to its invasion of Hungary. Hungarian revolutionary fighters and some soldiers continue to fight on in Budapest and elsewhere.
3/ The revolutionaries are holding onto a handful of positions in central Budapest, including Corvin Square, Moszkva Square (the present-day Széll Kálmán Square), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building. They fight on in the desperate hope of Western intervention.
1/ Russian warbloggers are bitter and outraged that Serbia is selling ammunition to the EU to provide to Ukraine. One advocates that in response, "as a brotherly gesture, [we could] cut off their fucking gas valve". ⬇️
"Serbia is ready to sell ammunition to the EU, even if it ends up in Ukraine. Because the warehouses are overflowing—Vučić
Vučić emphasized that Serbia is militarily neutral, but is ready to cooperate with European armies."
3/ "Brothers, they are! So, the warehouses are overflowing with shells! Cash is "frozen"! So let it fly at the Russians. They are brothers! There are plenty of them, they will tolerate it. And Serbia has the money!
Vučić is as disgusting as a caterpillar gorged on cabbage."
69 years ago today, Hungary's dream of freedom and democracy was brutally crushed by 200,000 Soviet troops with over 1,000 tanks. Although Operation Whirlwind was meant to be over in three days, Hungary's revolutionaries fought on for a week.
2/ The Soviet forces already inside Hungary are organized into two armies. The Eighth Army is deployed around Debrecen in the east with six divisions. The 38th Guards Army, stationed around Székesfehérvár in the west, comprises another seven divisions.
3/ A separate 'Special Corps' comprising five elite Guards divisions is stationed just across the border in Romania, with another six divisions assigned to it for the operation. This force has been directed to seize Budapest in the morning of 4 November 1956.
1/ Russia is failing to keep up with Ukraine's drone development, according to a Russian warblogger. In a lengthy commentary, 'Voenkor Kotenok' asks: "Who is stealing Russia's victory on the battlefield in the Special Military Operation?" ⬇️
2/ 'Voenkor Kotenok' blames a range of factors, including bureaucratic inertia, commanders' mismanagement of UAV specialists, a technological deficit, different approaches, and the staffing of some Russian UAV with "cronies" who want what they think are safer roles. He writes:
3/ "The war in Ukraine is being marked by the creation of a new branch of the armed forces.