1/11 Baseless doom and gloom: war is not just a matter of quantity, but also of quality. Analysis by @joni_askola
2/11 There is a great deal of doom and gloom surrounding russia's purported army regeneration and increased resources. These assessments focus solely on quantity rather than quality. Furthermore, they place trust in russian figures, which are almost always deceitful.
3/11 The individuals discussing russia's military resurgence overlook the fact that Ukraine has substantially bolstered its armed forces during the same timeframe. As a result, Ukraine's army is now considerably more capable than it was at the beginning of the full-scale war.
4/11 russia is presently depleting its resources at a rate far exceeding its production capacity. To compensate, it is utilizing older Soviet-era resources from its stockpiles. However, this equipment is outdated and of inferior quality compared to the machinery it is replacing.
5/11 Within 18 to 24 months, russia will deplete its supply of Soviet-era resources, leading to a highly challenging predicament. It is unfeasible for russian production to ramp up sufficiently within this timeframe.
6/11 Prior to this depletion, the quality of russia's equipment will continue to decline, while Ukraine's equipment quality will improve through Western assistance. Most Western weapon systems are significantly superior to those of russia.
7/11 If wars were solely determined by quantity, Russia would have already invaded Ukraine, and the USSR would have conquered Finland in a matter of days. However, quality also plays a significant role. In the case of Ukraine, its Western weapons are of superior quality.
8/11 russia's invasion of Ukraine has been a dismal failure, as it has not succeeded in capturing any of the 23 regional capitals and special status cities that Ukraine controlled at the onset of the war.
9/11 The upcoming months will pose significant challenges as Ukraine mobilizes and trains troops, simultaneously defending the front lines, constructing defensive barriers, and awaiting the arrival of military aid.
10/11 Should Ukraine endure the next few months without substantial territorial or human losses, its situation is poised to improve by the year's end. russia's window of opportunity is gradually narrowing, and the disparity in quantity between russia and Ukraine will diminish.
A wave of property confiscations that swept across the regions and affected officials, security officers, and judges has brought the state an amount comparable to the annual budget of a small region. In total, over the past 5-7 years, property worth 100 billion rubles has been
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seized in corruption cases, Accounts Chamber auditor Andrei Baturkin reported in the State Duma. The confiscations have reached such a scale that, according to Baturkin, a “road map” is now required to coordinate the relevant agencies that will have to deal with seized companies,
houses, land plots, and collections of luxury cars and watches. It is necessary to “establish communication between the power bloc and Rosimushchestvo so that there is more feedback regarding what property is to be transferred into the ownership of the Russian Federation,”
Bloomberg reported, citing sources, that Greece and Malta have become the main obstacles to an EU proposal to replace the price cap on Russian oil with a ban on services necessary for transporting fuel. According to the agency’s interlocutors, the two southern European
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countries raised concerns about this step at a meeting of EU ambassadors on Monday, where the latest sanctions package against Russia was presented. They warned that such a shift could affect Europe’s shipping industry and energy prices. Both countries also requested
clarifications regarding proposals to impose sanctions on foreign ports handling Russian oil and to strengthen oversight of ship sellers in order to reduce the number of vessels entering Moscow’s fleet. A representative of the Greek government declined to comment.
The most unpleasant forecasts regarding the Russian economy are beginning to materialize. What analysts cautiously spoke about a year ago is now being discussed openly even by the most pro-government Russian economists: the safety margin is rapidly shrinking. While Putin talks
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about “stability” and “growth,” the reality looks far more prosaic: a country that unleashed a war of aggression against Ukraine is methodically burning through its own financial system. According to estimates by Germany’s BND intelligence service, Russia’s real military spending
reaches around 10% of GDP and nearly half of the federal budget. In fact, actual expenditures are 66% higher than officially declared, due to hidden budget lines, Defense Ministry construction projects, military IT infrastructure, and social payments to servicemen. In simple
According to BND estimates, last year Russia’s military spending may have amounted to almost half of the state budget and around 10% of the country’s GDP. According to the German intelligence service, Russia is spending significantly more on the war and its armed forces
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than it has declared in recent years. Since the start of the war against Ukraine in February 2022, Russia’s defense budget has increased sharply every year. In addition, Russia’s interpretation of “defense spending” differs significantly from the NATO definition, German
intelligence officials note. A comprehensive analysis of budget data conducted by BND shows that Russia’s defense budget in recent years was 66% higher than officially reported. Unaccounted expenditures include, for example, construction projects of the Ministry of Defense,
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky explained why he sharply criticized Europe at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He made these remarks during a meeting with journalists in Kyiv, according to a correspondent from European Pravda. Zelensky said he had grounds for critical
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statements toward Europe after a lack of funding led to a shortage of air defense missiles, allowing Russia to strike Kyiv’s energy infrastructure. Zelensky did not deny that his speech may have sounded overly harsh from European capitals and explained this by saying that
Ukraine and the rest of Europe live in different information spaces. He also acknowledged that the differences are not only informational but also emotional in how events are perceived. The president explained that his Davos speech was preceded by heavy strikes on energy
Putin is losing the game he himself started. His bet was placed on a return to the world of the 19th and early 20th centuries - a world of empires and spheres of influence, where Europe, America, Africa, and Asia are divided among several “superpowers.” In Putin’s vision of
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the world, there were supposed to be three such powers: the United States, Russia, and China. However, the real transformation of the global order is unfolding in a completely different way. The key failure is Ukraine. At the end of the fourth year of war, Russia has still
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been unable to subjugate it. The army is visibly degrading, human and technological resources are being exhausted, the economy is held together by military spending and gray schemes, and the state increasingly resembles an overextended empire losing its ability to govern
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