1/ Thousands of illegal workhouses operate in Russia, advertising openly on poles, streetlights and in underground passages. They accommodate – and exploit – many of the estimated 1.9 million people in Russia who are living as slaves. ⬇️


2/ According to the Global Slavery Index, Russia has the eighth-highest slavery rate in the world, at 13 slaves per 1,000 people. Only North Korea has a larger number of people in slavery.

1/ The Russia-Georgia war in 2008 revealed many problems with the Russian army, which had not been addressed by the time that Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. A series of commentaries on the 'Vault No. 8' Telegram channel highlights some of the lessons not learned. ⬇️ 2/ "The same problem [arose] in control both in 2008 and in 2022: infantry and armoured vehicles cannot communicate with each other because they have different radio stations, and armoured vehicles do not have built-in telephones for communicating with the crew from outside.

1/ Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and his family have been given nearly 150 medals and awards since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine – one for him every 40 days – including an Order of Merit for Dentistry and a medal for excellence as an ambulance worker. ⬇️ 2/ An investigation by the independent Russian news website Verstka has revealed the scale of the Kadyrovs' medal acquisition, which represents a combination of self-bestowed awards and those from the Russian state and other institutions.

1/ More details have emerged of a recently publicised database of Ukrainian children for adoption by Russian families. While it has been condemned in the context of Russian kidnapping of Ukrainian children, the background story is more complex. ⬇️

https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1953526739205767391

2/ The database is hosted by the Ministry of Education and Science of the 'Luhansk People's Republic', but it is not a new product. The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy previously dealt with guardianship issues but transferred this responsibility in the summer of 2024.

1/ Badly injured Russian soldiers who have lost arms and legs and have severe shrapnel injuries are being beaten by officers and forced into carrying out assaults, according to a soldier's account. The constant suffering and cruelty is driving men to desertion and suicide. ⬇️ 2/ A soldier from the Battalion of the 55th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade (military unit 55115) says in a video that he was denied medical leave after being wounded by fragments and was sent on a combat mission instead with severe inflammation and a rotting leg.

1/ The Trump Administration is reportedly finalising a peace proposal that would allow Russia to take over the entirety of the Donetsk region and force Ukraine to surrender the unoccupied portion. All territory currently occupied by Russia would remain under Russian control. ⬇️ 2/ According to Bloomberg, the deal would involve Russia taking over the entire Donbas and freezing the lines of contact elsewhere. The reported aim is to freeze the war and pave the way for a ceasefire and technical talks on a definitive peace settlement.

1/ Russian field medics have been given only six days of training before immediately being sent to their deaths as stormtroopers, due to commanders ignoring the value of their specialty, according to a scathing commentary from a Russian army medical team. ⬇️ 2/ The author of the '5 mg. KGV' Telegram channel describes his experience in providing medical training alongside another military medical specialist, a man with the callsign 'Shlyakhtich':

"He organized the training processes for self-help as best he could.

1/ Occupied towns and villages are suffering far worse than Donetsk city in the current water crisis. The village of Novoluhanske faces a particularly surreal situation – it has had no water for three years despite being on the shore of one of Ukraine's largest reservoirs. ⬇️ 2/ Novoluhanske was on the front line for eight years, just outside the Russian-occupied 'Donetsk People's Republic'. It fell to Russian forces on 27 July 2022. Despite heavy damage, around 550 out of the original 3,800 inhabitants still live there.

To be clear, what Vance is describing here is a Putin-style system of state capitalism. Oligarchs have to align themselves with Kremlin priorities to maintain their wealth and influence. If they challenge the state, they face bogus investigations and pressure to force them out.

https://twitter.com/jasonahart/status/1953491575989772760

Loyal oligarchs are rewarded with access to state contracts or monopolistic opportunities, creating a symbiotic relationship between private wealth and state power. They can only operate within strict boundaries set by the state, such as the ban on "promoting LGBT".

1/ The Russian army is experiencing an epidemic of hepatitis and other infectious diseases, including HIV and tuberculosis, threatening a public health disaster. It has resulted from the Russian military ignoring its own recruitment rules and poor medical hygiene in the field. ⬇️ 2/ The Russian warblogger Anastasia Kasheverova writes that the army faces "the threat of a hepatitis epidemic - from the front to the rear."

1/ The Russian army is still largely a paper-based institution, relying on vast quantities of paperwork for its administration. One particularly time-consuming task is producing hand-written combat logs, which then has to be typed out, before being written out by hand again. ⬇️ 2/ A single officer in each battalion is responsible for all the paperwork (see the earlier thread below). The 'Vault No. 8' Telegram channel highlights how combat logs are managed.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1843714193800999386

1/ At least 14 seriously injured soldiers who were preparing to be invalided out of the Russian army have abruptly been declared fit, despite being on crutches and in plaster casts, and have been sent to an assault squad, according to their relatives. ⬇️ 2/ The men are from Russia's Chelyabinsk region and have sustained a variety of injuries which should make them unfit for service. Relatives of several of them have spoken to the ASTRA news service about their situation.

1/ Russian murderers, rapists and pedophiles are effectively being offered the chance to commit a crime and escape punishment if they sign a military contract before they go to court. The Russian police are also receiving bonuses for sending detainees to join the army. ⬇️ 2/ 'Mobilisation News' reports that leaflets are being distributed at bus stops in Russia's Novosibirsk region. They emphasise that one can avoid responsibility for crimes and earn a bonus payment of 2 million rubles ($25,000) by joining the army.

1/ Russian warbloggers are angrily denouncing as a "black widow" a woman who appears to be boasting in a video of how profitable it is to marry a soldier in anticipation of his death. ⬇️ 2/ A 27-year-old woman from Tyumen called Anastasia A. says in the video:

"He goes to the Special Military Operation, I register the children in his name, we are such a "happy couple", I receive a one-time payment of 5 million, I receive a monthly payment of 200-300,000."

1/ Donetsk and Luhansk's catastrophic water shortage is being caused by the Russian invasion's destruction of a 70-year-old canal. Russian sources say it can't be restored until the end of the decade at the earliest, even if Russia captures the source in Ukrainian territory. ⬇️ 2/ The occupied east of Ukraine is a naturally arid region, with no large rivers. This proved a challenge to the industrialists who built the region's coal and iron mines in the 19th century. Industrial activity severely depleted the region's groundwater.

1/ A senior Russian officer was reportedly killed by his own men after boasting that he would be promoted for sending them to die in assaults, and declaring that he would bring funeral notices to their families and "fuck their wives". He allegedly profited from their deaths. ⬇️ 2/ In November 2024, the Russian army announced that Colonel Yevgeny Borisovich Ladnov had "died near Luhansk near Kreminna as a result of artillery shelling on 10 November 2024." He was the commander of the 19th Tank Regiment (military unit 12322).

1/ Ryazan has become the latest Russian region to introduce bounties for citizens who find recruits to join the Russian army. The initiative has raised concerns that slaves and vulnerable people will be 'sold' to the army for profit, as has already happened in some cases. ⬇️ 2/ The 7x7 news outlet reports that the Ryazan regional authorities have approved the introduction of payments to those who attract people to sign a military contract. Recruitment of a local resident will be rewarded with a bounty of 57,500 rubles ($718).

1/ A key factor in the current water crisis in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions is the collapse of the existing water infrastructure, in which at least 50% of the already limited supply of water is lost through leaks. People are now reduced to collecting water from the streets. ⬇️ 2/ As previously reported, the occupied eastern regions of Ukraine are undergoing a catastrophic shortage of water that Russian commentators have called a "water genocide", caused by war, mismanagement and corruption by the Russian-installed authorities.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1951027952386228258

1/ An 'army mafia' has developed within Russia's invasion force in Ukraine, operating with near-impunity to smuggle commodities back into Russia and strip seized industries to sell for personal profit. A Russian commentary highlights the difficulties of tackling it. ⬇️ 2/ Russian warblogger Svyatoslav Golikov writes (in carefully elliptical terms) writes of how military crime has developed in occupied Ukraine, following the Russian Army's December 2022 reintroduction of corps and divisions in response to the challenges of the war.

1/ With drug use widespread on the Russian front lines, it's not surprising that soldiers are overdosing. In this video, a military medic is providing first aid to a man who has had a drug overdose, prior to sending him to a hospital. ⬇️ 2/ There have been many accounts of the scale of drug use in the Russian army – "corruption, drugs, alcohol all around" as one ex-Wagner soldier has put it. At least one in ten Russian soldiers is reported to be using drugs.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1709182299399467478

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.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1951196757808865613