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Aug 29 7 tweets 2 min read Read on X
1/ Russian soldiers and their relatives are buying their own body bags, due to a lack of assistance from the Russian Ministry of Defence. A crowd-funded effort in Chelyabinsk has sought to purchase "bags for the 200s" at a cost of 200 rubles ($2.18) each. Image
2/ Anna Deryabina, a war widow and volunteer from Chelyabinsk, has organised an appeal on the Russian social network VK for funds for body bags. She writes:
3/ "As scary as it is to write about it, we need bags for the 200s.😭😭
For transporting the dead guys.😔
We need a lot.🆘
The cost of one is 200 rubles.
The reality, unfortunately, is that their guys are buying them at their own expense.😔"
4/ This is not the first body bag fundraiser reported from Russia. A similar effort was reported recently from Irkutsk, where the local authorities had run out of money to transport bodies back to their relatives.
5/ While Russia's MOD does recover bodies from the battlefield, many relatives have complained that far too few are being returned. Large numbers of unburied dead have been a consistent feature of the Ukrainian battlefields.
6/ It's notable that according to Deryabina, soldiers are having to pay for their own body bags. It's unclear whether they are buying them so that they can collect their dead comrades, or are seeking to ensure that their own bodies can be retrieved if they die. /end

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More from @ChrisO_wiki

Aug 30
1/ A chronic shortage of military vehicles has left the Russian army in Ukraine dependent upon civilian vehicles. This is leading to conflict – sometimes with weapons drawn – between Russian troops and military police, who are trying to confiscate the vehicles. ⬇️ Image
2/ Two years of constant artillery and drone attacks have destroyed much of Russia's fleet of military transport vehicles. In their place, volunteers and soldiers themselves have purchased or donated numerous civilian vehicles which are used to transport ammo, supplies and men.
3/ As a result of constant attrition, according to Russian soldiers, a unit which would originally have had five trucks to transport its men now has to rely on around 50 passenger cars. At best, though, it likely only has five or ten, which constantly break down or are destroyed. Image
Read 37 tweets
Aug 30
1/ The recent success of Ukrainian FPV drones in shooting down numerous Russian UAVs has prompted concern from Russian observers. They comment that Russian adherence to military "dogmas" mean that effective countermeasures have not been found. ⬇️
2/ Alexander Kharchenko of the 'Witnesses of Bayraktar' Telegram channel highlights how Ukraine is compensating for its shortage of air defence missiles with its much larger supply of drones:
3/ "The enemy is increasing its efforts to destroy our reconnaissance UAVs. I will not give figures, but even within the framework of one unit they can be significant. Previously, a drone could operate for several months, but now...
Read 16 tweets
Aug 29
1/ At least 50,000 Russian convicts have joined the Russian army, with tens of thousands dying in battles in Ukraine. Convicts are still joining, but what makes them want to risk death? Prisoners say that sadistic treatment in penal colonies makes war preferable to prison. ⬇️ Image
2/ Many of the Russian convicts who went to war in Ukraine were imprisoned in the Omsk region, where jails have a reputation for extreme brutality, even by Russian standards. The independent Russian media project 'Window' has been speaking with former inmates. Image
3/ One prisoner, Andrei, was held for a time in a pre-trial detention centre in Omsk while serving a 14-year sentence for drug offences. The facility, known as SIZO-3, was closed in 2014 after a campaign by human rights activists exposed a litany of brutal treatment. He recalls: Image
Read 35 tweets
Aug 29
1/ Moscow police are to be paid a 50,000 ruble ($558) bounty for each person they 'persuade' to sign up for military service, including immigrants and homeless people. The initiative will create more incentives for corruption for Russia's already notoriously corrupt police. ⬇️ Image
2/ Interior Ministry sources have told the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel that police services in Russia will be incentivised to persuade people to join the armed forces, with bounties of 50,000 rubles in Moscow and 10,000 rubles ($109) in the regions.
3/ According to VChK-OGPU, "the Interior Ministry employees we interviewed were very skeptical about the innovation so far - there are no known cases of anyone receiving such a bonus."
Read 11 tweets
Aug 28
1/ Russian conscripts are reportedly being forced to sign contracts to become professional soldiers and fight in the Kursk region. The Russian army appears to be evading a law prohibiting conscripts without training and less than 4 months' service from participating in combat. ⬇️ Image
2/ ASTRA reports that conscripts from the 290th Missile Regiment, based in Russia's Mari El Republic, are being made to sign contracts. Parents are upset, but appear to be powerless. Image
3/ The mother of one conscript says: "My son called and said that the command had already compiled lists for sending conscripts to the Kursk region. They answered all their questions - this is Russian territory and you must defend it. He has been serving since May of this year.
Read 11 tweets
Aug 28
1/ One of the suspects in the murder by torture of the so-called "Donbas Cowboy", self-proclaimed communist and Texan Russell Bentley, has been released. His widow Ludmilla warns that people might think that "the Russian army is a bunch of criminals who do whatever they want". ⬇️
2/ According to Ludmilla, one of the defendants in the case who is accused of concealing a particularly serious crime has been released from custody, while the other three remain in detention. The man is accused of ensuring that "as little as possible was left of Russell".
3/ Bentley travelled to Donetsk in 2014 to fight on the Russian side. He had previously been a marijuana activist and smuggler in the US, as well as a communist activist. After spending several years with a volunteer battalion, he married Ludmilla and became a video blogger. Image
Read 11 tweets

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