Independent military history author and researcher. Also at https://t.co/T008p5JDEr
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2/ The memorial is dedicated to the sailors of the 30th Surface Ship Division. It was erected opposite the place in Sevastopol harbour where Moskva used to dock, and was unveiled on Saturday 13 April 2024. Most of those named on it were Moskva crew members.
2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that preparations are being made to withdraw Afrika Corps detachments and dispatch them to Belgorod, the scene of recent incursions by the Ukraine-supported Russian Volunteer Corps. 
2/ Reuters and the Russian newspaper Kommersant report that the Russian government is considering temporarily suspending fuel environmental standards to enable gasoline to be produced at a lower quality, or to include environmentally damaging octane-boosting additives.
2/ 'We can explain' reports that financial statements for the companies that belonged to Prigozhin – and are mostly now managed by his son Pavel – show that almost all of them fell into the red in 2023. They comprise a mixture of catering and construction firms.
2/ The head of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Gregory of Voskresensky, has issued a circular which is the first publicly disclosed official church document regulating internal church support for the war, according to the journalist and religious scholar Ksenia Luchenko. 
2/ The 'We can explain' (MO) Telegram channel highlights a video published on 18 February in which ISIS representatives condemn Russia. A voice-over in the video declares:
2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports on the case of three soldiers who paid 100,000 rubles ($1,080) each to a colleague, which he was to transfer to an official of the Russian General Staff to ensure that they were put on the list for a 'business trip' to Syria.
2/ Officially, the capture has been attributed to the Russian "special services and law enforcement agencies". The Russian Ministry of Defence has published a video showing the award of five sets of "For Courage" and "For Military Distinction" medals.
2/ There's good reason to believe that it wouldn't, and could not only make the war much worse – particularly for the Ukrainians – but would also damage Trump and could also force European powers to intervene directly, turning the war into an overt EU-Russia fight. Here's why.
2/ 25-year-old Oleg (pictured above) was a police officer before joining Akhmat at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He was trained at the Russian Special Forces University in Gudermes before going to fight in the Luhansk region.
2/ Uranus was launched by the Russian space agency Roscosmos in 2023 to recruit rocket scientists and engineers to serve as "Imperial Stormtroopers" [sic] in Ukraine. Its members have reportedly been fighting in Krynky in the Kherson region.
2/ Verstka reports on a series of interviews with frontline Russian troops over the past few months. Many have been fighting at the Ukrainian bridgehead at Krynky on the left bank of the Dnipro, which they describe as a scene of slaughter with 60-100 people dying every day. 
2/ Sokolov's sacking took place without an official explanation, and there was also no explanation of what the Caesar Kunikov was doing off Alupka in Crimea at the time it was sunk. The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel has published an (unconfirmed) explanation of both occurrences. 
2/ Recent pictures published by the 'Crimean Wind' Telegram channel show the remains of the ship being lifted from the water by a large floating crane. It seems clear that the Novocherkassk was completely demolished by the explosion that sank her. 
