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ChrisO_wiki
@ChrisO_wiki
Independent military history author and researcher. Coffee tips are appreciated! https://t.co/t1EjNrIZ2c Now also at https://t.co/4qGQ2ffHJJ
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Mar 13 • 36 tweets • 7 min read
1/ Muscovites are being locked into an ever-growing 'digital gulag', complain Russian warbloggers, as a still-mysterious mobile Internet shutdown in central Moscow enters its second week. The shutdown is reported to be causing huge commercial losses and inconvenience. ⬇️ AI-generated image of a frustrated man yelling at his mobile phone on Moscow's Nikolskaya Street 2/ Starting March 5th, Internet access in central Moscow was shut down, apparently on the orders of the Russian government. It has even extended to shutting down Wi-Fi on the Moscow Metro and the parliamentary Wi-Fi network in the State Duma.
Mar 13 • 28 tweets • 5 min read
1/ In recent weeks, an entire genre has sprung up on Telegram of Russian bloggers suddenly realising that they live in a repressive dictatorship. They complain bitterly that they were "fools", they are being "enslaved", and forced to endure a "cultural counter-revolution". ⬇️ AI-generated image of weeping people looking at their mobile phones in front of St Basil's Cathedral, Moscow 2/ The forthcoming ban on Telegram – likely to be announced on 1 April – appears to have woken up many Russian bloggers to the way the Russian government is systematically attacking free speech. 'Under the ice' predicts catastrophe:
Mar 12 • 17 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Russia simply isn't capable of doing in Ukraine what the US and Israeli air forces are doing in Iran, a prominent Russian warblogger admits. He blames the Russian air force's "organisational backwardness, underdeveloped intelligence, and lack of specialised aviation." ⬇️ Image 2/ Ukraine's aviation situation is starkly different to that of Iran's, despite facing a theoretically more powerful opponent. The Ukrainian Air Force is not only still flying in substantial numbers but has expanded its capabilities with the addition of Western aircraft. Image
Mar 12 • 20 tweets • 4 min read
1/ News that the Iranian regime is proving more resilient than expected highlights its unusual governing structure as a 'polydictatorship'. In many ways, it was designed from the ground up to resist regime change. ⬇️
2/ The regime comprises a multi-layered set of elected and unelected institutions that shares power across religious bodies bodies, the armed forces (particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), and economic entities. Each provides a separate and distinct power centre. Image
Mar 11 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
1/ The shutdown of Starlink is reported to be causing a sharp rise in casualties among Russian signalmen and linemen, who are being systematically targeted by Ukrainian drones as they attempt to install alternative communications systems. ⬇️
2/ Pro-Kremlin journalist Andrey Medvedev reports that "in those units where Starlink was operational and then shut down, there was an increase in the number of killed and wounded signalmen and linemen. Why do you think this is?"
Mar 11 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Ukrainian drone attacks deep in the Russian rear have prompted alarm among Russian warbloggers. They warn that the 'kill zone' behind the front line has expanded far into the rear of the Russian-occupied Donbas region. ⬇️
2/ A drone attack on a highway near Pisky in the occupied Donetsk region prompts the 'Soldiers' Truth' Telegram channel to comment:

"On the question of why there's no search for the remains of missing persons in the Special Military Operation zone." Image
Mar 11 • 18 tweets • 4 min read
1/ Vladimir Putin is said to be concerned about a possible coup by the Russian military following the arrest of former First Deputy Defence Minister Ruslan Tsalikov. Mobile Internet in the centre of Moscow has been turned off for the past week, with no official explanation. ⬇️ Image 2/ Tsalikov's arrest last week was the culmination of a long-running corruption investigation (see thread below). Investigators have reportedly found that the former minister and his family had amassed property worth over 4 billion rubles.
Mar 10 • 15 tweets • 4 min read
1/ Iran is using a unique type of loitering, self-targeting surface to air missile to shoot down US MQ-9 Reaper drones. 11 Reapers costing over $330 million have so far been reported destroyed in the war with Iran. ⬇️
2/ The "358" missile, also known by NATO as the SA-67 and in Yemen as the Saqr-1, is a unique type of surface-to-air missile that is launched with a rocket booster and then loiters in a target area using a turbojet engine, scanning with an infrared sensor for airborne targets.
Mar 10 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Fundraising for the Russian army has been declining steeply for some time, leaving soldiers without essential equipment and supplies. A Russian warblogger explains that it's because soldiers are now seen as being recruited from the ranks of Russia's unwanted underclasses. ⬇️ Image 2/ Russia's professional army was decimated in the first months of the war in Ukraine. Losses were replaced by mobilising 300,000 men from September-October 2022 onwards. They were recruited from across society and were widely supported by the Russian public.
Mar 10 • 25 tweets • 5 min read
1/ Vladimir Putin's popularity ratings, as measured by a state-aligned pollster, are at their lowest point for years. Russian commentators blame the 'bad boyars' around Putin and say that "there's complete degradation all around" in Russia. ⬇️⬇️
2/ The pollster VTsIOM has recorded Putin's popularity at 32.1%, the lowest seen during the war so far (though still some way off his pre-war nadir of 24%, recorded in 2021). Russian bloggers are not surprised, though few blame Putin himself and instead blame his advisors:
Mar 9 • 35 tweets • 7 min read
1/ Messages hacked from a Russian general's phone illustrate the sweeping scale of corruption at all levels of the Russian army. They highlight a top-to-bottom pyramid of extortion and bribery to obtain promotions and influence, plus scams and theft of military resources. ⬇️ Image 2/ Last month, it emerged that gigabytes of messages spanning 2022-2024 had been obtained by Ukrainian sources from the phone of Major General Roman Demurchiev, most likely as the result of a successful hack.
Mar 8 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Russia military policemen are engaged in another crackdown on privately owned vehicles operated by soldiers. Unfortunately for the soldiers, this is reported to be effectively lining them up for Ukrainian drone strikes. ⬇️ Image 2/ The Military Automobile Inspectorate (VAI) and Military Police (VP) have made themselves hugely unpopular among Russian soldiers for their attempts to stop Russian soldiers using privately owned vehicles.
Mar 8 • 19 tweets • 5 min read
1/ Iran's Kharg Island is reportedly under consideration as a target for capture by the Trump Administration. However, declassified US government documents show that the same thing was considered in 1979 but was rejected because it was too difficult and risky. ⬇️ Image 2/ President Jimmy Carter and his National Security Council met in the afternoon of November 6, 1979 to discuss the ongoing Iranian hostage crisis. The discussion involved options for putting pressure on the Khomenei regime, including targeting Kharg Island. Image
Mar 7 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
1/ The Russian government has dealt another body blow to Telegram by suddenly declaring all advertising on the app to have been illegal since 1 September 2025. Thousands of Russian bloggers and advertisers now face retroactive fines of up to 500,000 rubles ($6,308) per advert. ⬇️ Image 2/ The Russian legal news outlet Pravo. ru reports that Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service and the communications regulator Roskomnadzor have declared Telegram advertising to be illegal in a case involving beauty blogger Maria Loskutova.
Mar 7 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Civilian donations to the Russian army are said to have have collapsed ahead of the imminent ban on Telegram. It's a consequence, predicted by warbloggers, of the Russian government's apparent decision to ban the app. The impact on the front line is likely to be severe. ⬇️ Image 2/ As the thread below highlights, the Russian army is dependent on volunteer donations for a huge amount of equipment, ranging from medicines, to generators, to vehicles. However, donations have been steadily dwindling as the economy has worsened.
Mar 6 • 30 tweets • 7 min read
1/ A Russian army officer who briefed Vladimir Putin yesterday on the evils of Telegram has been exposed as being a premium Telegram user who doesn't even have an account on the state-approved messenger MAX. Russian warbloggers have erupted in outrage. ⬇️
2/ During the briefing, Lt Col Irina Godunova, a Russian army communications specialist, told Putin that Telegram was "considered a hostile means of communication" and that work was ongoing to "refine MAX" so that "everything will work well on the front line".
Mar 6 • 26 tweets • 4 min read
1/ Russian bloggers are waking up to the fact that they live in an oppressive dictatorship with declining living standards. 14 years after Vladimir Putin was reelected as "a strong leader for a great country," commentators are asking: what has Putin ever done for us? ⬇️ Image 2/ Lara Rzhondovskaya, the editor of Novoe Media who writes on Telegram as 'Dear Persimmon', has a plaintive series of complaints six months ahead of Russia's forthcoming presidential elections:
Mar 5 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Did Ukraine recreate a January 2024 attack which sank a Russian corvette in the Black Sea with the sinking of the Russian LNG tanker Arctic Metagaz on 3 March 2026? A Russian source says that the tanker was sunk off Libya by four UAVs and two USVs attacking as a swarm. ⬇️ 2/ 'Fighterbomber', which proclaimes itself to be the "chronicles of a retired fighter-bomber [pilot]", often posts information from apparent insider sources within the Russian Air Force, such as news of Russian military aircraft shootdowns and crashes.
Mar 5 • 24 tweets • 4 min read
1/ Iran and Russia have a partnership treaty, but that doesn't mean Russia should help China in any way, says a Russian commentator. He argues that Iran is merely a "Chinese gas station" and a "situational partner", and Russian support should be limited to "likes and reposts". ⬇️ Image 2/ Opinion on the US/Israel/Iran war among Russian commentators and warbloggers has been mixed in recent days, with some arguing for Russia to support Iran, some saying it should condemn Iran for 'going crazy', and others saying Russia should stay out of it.
Mar 5 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Russian forces are being driven back in parts of Ukraine, following the Starlink shutdown and degradation of Telegram. This has prompted one Russian warblogger who is fighting in Ukraine to post a blistering denunciation of the leadership in Moscow. ⬇️ Image 2/ One of the administrators of the 'Management Speaks' Telegram channel, a serving Russian soldier fighting on the front line in Ukraine, wants everyone to know that he has had enough:
Mar 3 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Images showing that America's new LUCAS kamikaze drone is equipped with an integrated Starshield terminal have prompted a call from a prominent Russian warblogger for Russia to find "a means to destroy thousands of Starlink satellites now." ⬇️ Image 2/ Photos released by US Central Command show Starshield-equipped Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones being launched against Iran. The disclosure has caused widespread alarm among Russian military commentators.