1/ Hundreds of Russians who have refused to fight for various reasons – age, sickness, mental health – are reported to have been taken from a military base where they were being held and flown to Kursk, where they will likely be used in efforts to repel Ukraine's incursion. ⬇️
2/ ASTRA reports that hundreds of 'refuseniks' have been held at Kamenka near St Petersburg, where the 138th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade is based. Relatives say that some are unfit to fight, one man is 70 years old and can barely walk, and another has only one eye.
3/ The existence of the Kamenka military detention facility does not seem to have been reported previously. It suggests that different regimes are in place in Russia and occupied Ukraine, where refuseniks have been tortured, beaten and starved.
4/ According to relatives, on 12 August "at about 6 pm they received a message from the men who were there that they had been suddenly called to line up, and then, without any explanation, they were put in KAMAZ trucks and taken to a military airfield under guard."
5/ Two groups, of around 300 people and 150 people respectively, were reportedly driven away from Kamenka. The latter group ended up at a military training ground 7 km from Kursk. "They took them, grabbed them like a parcel, put them in and took them away," the relatives say.
6/ The men's wives are afraid that the army "will throw them onto the front line like meat, because they are not registering anything, they are not saying anything, everything is quiet."
7/ One man who was undergoing psychiatric treatment after fighting in the war told his mother that the army was "now dressing them, giving them an assault rifle and most likely [sending] them into battle."
8/ She worries that "if God forbid he has an explosion in his head and shoots someone, who will be to blame for this?"
9/ The men were not told where they were going. "As Comrade Colonel said, the center [in Kamenka] is being disbanded, but he does not know where they are being taken," a source told Astra.
10/ Around 20 of the refuseniks are said to have escaped on the way. It's not clear what will happen to them. Another 10 men "flatly refused" to board the buses and are reportedly being threatened with being sent to a pre-trial detention centre.
11/ The husband of one woman called her and told her that he and his companions "were just given assault rifles, changed into uniforms and sent to an unknown location. He says that about 20 servicemen managed to escape. No one was really looking for them."
12/ Like many of the convict soldiers who were sent to Ukraine in 2023, it appears that the refuseniks have become 'ghost soldiers' (see the thread below for more on this phenomenon).
13/ A wife says: "We found out that they are still registered in the village of Kamenka, in this detention center for missing servicemen. It seems that no one is going to re-register them, and they are not going to assign them to any unit either.
14/ My husband says: "I'm just walking like meat now." And, he says, even if I fall ill here, you won't get anything, no payments, nothing. According to the documents, he is simply not there [on the front lines]."
15/ It's likely that Russia's abrupt use of these men indicates a severe shortage of reserves in the Kursk region. This appears to be forcing the Russian army to use whatever manpower it can find, no matter how unsuitable it may be. /end
1/ Investigations into suspected crimes in the Russian 5th Brigade, including the recent disappearance and possible murder of two officers, are reportedly hampered by an unexpected problem: investigators themselves are disappearing and possibly being murdered. ⬇️
2/ Many accusations have been made against the brigade's senior officers, including "drug trafficking, robberies, looting, extortion, salary theft, trade in fuel and humanitarian aid", following the disappearance of battalion commander Yuri Burakov.
3/ An official investigation is said to have now been opened into Burakov's disappearance after he was summoned to meet his superiors, though previous attempts to investigate the 5th Brigade's affairs have apparently not produced any results. Anastasia Kashevarova writes:
1/ Donald Trump's reasons for his firing of the head of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics are an ominous echo of a notorious concept from Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany: that of scapegoating individuals or groups as economic "wreckers" or "saboteurs". ⬇️
2/ A common theme in authoritarian societies is that systemic failures, politically inconvenient developments, or simply the desire to suppress dissent and eliminate rivals, are tackled by declaring individual workers and officials to be guilty of economic crimes.
3/ Trump's announcement yesterday that he was sacking BLS head Dr. Erika McEntarfer used language strongly reminiscent of Soviet-era denunciations of "wreckers" and "saboteurs". He claimed without evidence that she "manipulated" and "faked" statistics.
1/ Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine have to supply almost all of their own equipment, including drones, either at their own expense or through volunteer donations. A commentary on the state of logistics in an elite Airborne Forces unit depicts a dire situation. ⬇️
2/ Russian warblogger Svyatoslav Golikov has published an account from an Airborne Forces soldier of the logistical situation in his unit. While he doesn't explain why things are so bad, it's likely a combination of the exhaustion of Soviet-era stocks, bureaucracy and corruption.
3/ "1. Light vehicles - the company has two UAZ "loafs" [UAZ-452] and one UAZ-Patriot. Neither the Ministry of Defence nor the state provided any of the above. They were purchased by the company's personnel at their own expense or received from humanitarian workers.
1/ Black Sea Fleet commanders have reportedly imposed severe restrictions on their subordinates in retaliation for leaks portraying senior officers as involved in corrupt schemes. They are said to be keeping unseaworthy vessels in service to corruptly divert repair funds. ⬇️
2/ It was reported in June that several Black Sea Fleet vessels regarded as 'wrecks' are undergoing what amount to indefinite repair programmes, which senior officers are exploiting to steal from the repair budget.
3/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel named the commander of the 4th separate submarine brigade, Captain 1st Rank Dmitriy Skarga, as a key figure in the scheme. Now, the channel reports, Skarga is cracking down on his subordinates to deter any further leaks.
1/ Two battalion commanders have gone missing from a notorious Donetsk-based Russsian army regiment within five days. Russian warbloggers are concerned that the two have been murdered on the orders of their superiors and denounce the regiment's "lawlessness". ⬇️
2/ The 95th Regiment of the 5th Brigade of the Russian 51st Army has come under renewed scrutiny after two of its battalion commanders – likely captains or majors – disappeared following meetings with their superior officers. 'Petr Lundstrem' writes:
3/ "[The] commander of the 2nd battalion, ... Yuri Burakov, call sign Sedy ... was summoned by the commander of the 95th regiment, call sign Starina – we know the full name of this man.
Since then, Sedy has been missing and has not responded to communication.
1/ The current catastrophic water shortage in the Donbas, caused by war and Russian corruption and mismanagement, has worsened even further. Russian warbloggers are complaining that the Russian-installed authorities are inflicting a "water genocide" on the population. ⬇️
2/ Desperate people are having to queue overnight to fill buckets and bottles from water tankers, as seen here in Makiivka, or rely on volunteer aid deliveries, to obtain water for drinking or washing. 'SHAKESPEARE' writes:
3/ "This is a line for water in Makiivka. A normal one. Everyday. There are hundreds of them in Donbass. Or thousands – who's counting. Water is supplied once every three days for several hours. But even so, it doesn't reach everyone.