While almost the entire world is discussing the delivery of the first F-16s to Ukraine and news from Venezuela, the behind-the-scenes struggle continues in Russia. Not only is Shoigu's team being cleaned out, but something is also happening to the witnesses in this case.
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Sergei Shoigu is still at large, but the ring around him is tightening. Almost his entire team has either been removed from their positions or is already under arrest. It became known about the arrest of the former head of the branch "Construction Directorate for the
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Central Military District" of the Military Construction Company Sergei Sukhov. At the end of July, military investigators opened a case against him for fraud on an especially large scale. The company's work was supervised by former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, who
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was arrested in April. Also on July 26, 2024, former Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov was arrested in a corruption case. According to Russian media, Bulgakov, using his official position, lobbied for the Russian Defense Ministry to conclude contracts with certain
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commercial entities, and also created a system for supplying low-quality products to Russian troops at inflated prices. The list of Shoigu's team was published on Telegram. 1. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu - removed from office; 2. First Deputy Defense Minister Ruslan
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Tsalikov - removed from office; 3. Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov - removed from office and arrested; 4. Deputy Defense Minister, Colonel General Yuri Sadovenko - removed from office; 5. Deputy Defense Minister Tatyana Shevtsova - removed from office;
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6. Deputy Defense Minister, retired Army General Nikolai Pankov - removed from office; 7. Deputy Defense Minister, Army General Pavel Popov - removed from office; 8. And the Deputy Defense Minister himself, Army General Dmitry Bulgakov - removed from office and arrested.
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The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, Deputy Minister of Defense Colonel General Alexander Fomin and the head of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov remained untouched in the picture. In July, businessman Igor Kotelnikov, accused of bribing
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officials of the Ministry of Defense, died in a pretrial detention center. He was involved in the case of the arrested former Deputy Minister of Defense General Dmitry Bulgakov. A blood clot came off. He was required to testify against Ivanov, Bulgakov and other officials.
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The next day, it became known about the death of the head of the State Expertise Department of the Ministry of Defense of Russia Magomed Khandayev, who was directly subordinate to Timur Ivanov. He died after a visit from security officials. These people could have testified
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against Shoigu's team. There are suggestions that this is an attempt by Shoigu's team to eliminate witnesses. However, this is only guesswork. In any case, Shoigu's team has been cleared out. Shoigu has not yet been arrested, but it is a matter of time and if he is lucky.
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This is only a small part of what is actually happening within the Russian government. There is currently a fierce struggle for vacant positions and and finances that are running out.
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1/7 The US is finally providing substantial air-to-ground capabilities for Ukraine's F16 jets. However, there are still no cruise missiles. Update by @joni_askola
2/7 The Biden administration is expected to unveil a $375 million military aid package for Ukraine today. This package will include a cluster variant of the JSOW, which can be launched from Ukraine's new F-16s to engage targets located up to 70 miles away.
3/7 This is excellent news, as Ukraine requires additional air-to-ground weapons to address russia's significant advantage in glide bombs and missiles. The JSOW being provided is a cluster variant, which will be highly beneficial for Ukraine.
On the eve of the elections, the topic of Ukraine is fading into the background in the United States, so Volodymyr Zelenskyy's trip is very important now and he wants to influence the White House policy regarding the war with Russia. There should be no more restrictions.
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Russia's "nuclear threat" exploded in a launch silo last week. But the elections in the United States are also being watched in Russia. It seems that Putin has one last bet - Donald Trump and he is counting on the fact that if Trump wins, US aid to Ukraine will be stopped.
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Russia has the escalating crisis with manpower but now is attacking almost along the entire front line in Donbas. Vuhledar is under threat of encirclement and the city may soon be surrendered and Ukraine will be forced to retreat. Attacks on Chasiv Yar have become more
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1/11 The war economy in russia is unsustainable. Time is not on russia's side, and sustaining the war will become increasingly difficult for its economy. Analysis by @joni_askola
2/11 russia's economy is nowhere near as robust as it attempts to present. Much of the economic data has been classified, making it challenging to evaluate the true situation. Nevertheless, some aspects cannot be concealed.
3/11 russia's economy is overheating and grappling with major inflation challenges. Although russia may manipulate inflation figures, the central bank's key interest rate is a detail that cannot be hidden.
Defense forces automatically detect 12,000 units of enemy equipment every week thanks to the Avengers artificial intelligence platform, which was developed by the Innovation Center of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. This result is achieved by automatic analysis of videos 1/5
from drones and stationary cameras. Thanks to the AI platform, operators can make decisions faster and more efficiently, and the risk of errors due to fatigue is reduced. Such integration already works successfully in the VEZHA streaming module of the DELTA combat system. 2/5
"The Avengers platform, developed by the Innovation Center of the Ministry of Defense, is unique in the world in terms of the volume of video data with enemy equipment. We continue to develop Avengers and other AI solutions to give our military an edge. In the future, 3/5
1/8 When Putin is too afraid to mobilize: The Sverdlovsk region of russia has increased its military sign-up bonus for the third time in two months in a desperate effort to recruit volunteers. Update by @joni_askola
2/8 Authorities in russia's Sverdlovsk region have increased one-time payments for new military recruits for the third time in two months, as the push to enhance recruitment efforts intensifies nationwide.
3/8 New recruits from the Ural Mountains region will now receive a sign-up bonus of $16,100, as announced by the regional government on Monday. When combined with Putin’s national sign-on bonus and municipal payments, new recruits could potentially earn up to $21,500 upfront.
Apparently, the Ukrainian victory plan announced by Zelensky is working and in October-November we should expect new surprises from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The offensive in the Kursk region is only the first steps and seeing the consistency of Ukraine in its actions,
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we can assume that everything is going according to plan. The destruction of three important arsenals in Russia is an important step and a very noticeable blow to the combat capability of the Russian army. The amount of destroyed Russian ammunition would be enough for 3-4
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months of warfare and this will soon affect the situation at the front. Ukrainian drones do not have enough power to break through the concrete walls of the arsenals, but some of the ammunition was stored outside and this led to a chain detonation. In Kamennoye near
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