I have never been in military service. Closest I got was as a cadet. Could I just ask, is this normal behaviour? Beating your own soldiers, who, I assume you are going to arm with lethal weapons. I mean, if someone was to do that to me, my response would be swift and accurate, as soon as I was given the tools to do so. What the hell!

Beards?

Any chance both enforcers are Chechen?

Accents should be an easy ID if they are LDNR

No, it’s not normal and if I was him I would be worried lol that next time they saw him they would put a bullet into him, or that he might have a nasty accident.

It is also not normal to tolerate insubordination, but it is a long established pattern of interaction, where leadership, acting justly earns respect, not a sudden confrontation.

no it is not, not in the civilized world.

However in Russia it is so common they even have a name for it: Dedovshchina. Abusing via violence (eg rape and torture) to force junior servicemen to do you favors is so common in Russian militry that on a yearly basis many suicides are committed by the victims.
It's been so since the soviet era, ut's continued through the Russian era and obviously the tradition lives on.

While they are doing these things to their mates, no wonder they have no issues murdering, raping and looting in a war zone. And they are not punished for it. It is what happened in Berlin 1945, it is what happened in Bucha 2022.

Russia reporting another attack a5 the Engels strategic bomber base with a drone shot down approaching the base and 3 soldiers killed by falling debris.

Sreetcam footage from outside the base would seem to indicate something more drastic….

QUICK THREAD on the Russian military trying to learn from past attacks to defend Crimea from Ukrainian drone strikes. Main points below on the December 23-24 drone strike with Mugin-5 commercial drones in Ukraine service.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...379011072.html

This must be the weirdest military PR event ever.
I've no idea whether they are promoting the special forces, the local dance school or Cirque du Soleil...

A fire broke out on Russian MiG-31K supersonic interceptor aircraft capable of carrying aero-ballistic missiles - Belaruski Hayun

https://euromaidanpress.com/2022/12/...arus/?swcfpc=1

Series of unexplained deaths amongst high-ranking Russian military/industrial figures continues.

General Alexei Maslov, 69 , ex-C-in-C Russian land-forces, currently working for Uralwagonsawod ( world's largest tank-builder ) died "suddenly" in a military hospital. Dec 25
Alexander Busakow 66, director -general of Admirality Shipyards, one of Russia's largest yards, specialising in subs, in St Peterburg, died "suddenly and unexpectedly" Dec 26

Reminds me of the naval toast: "A bloody war or a sickly season"
N

Not sure I'd want to be the one bending over given what we've been reading :ooh: . I did wonder for a second what was about to happen at that point

You think the commander is taking up smoking? Or window shopping?

Quoting here they may have lost 5 TU-95 with others damaged.

I just hope that this doesn't seriously backfire on NATO, as I strongly suspect that some NATO states are providing significant assistance behind the scenes to both Ukrainian forces and anti-Putin partisans within Russia. Much as the outcome from attacks like this may be beneficial for Ukraine, and to be welcomed, there is only so far one can go with poking the Russian bear within its own territory before it turns around and does something completely and absolutely irrational.

There is a pretty sound argument for not attacking Russia within it's own territory, notwithstanding the powerful emotional incentive to hit Russia hard for what they are doing to Ukraine. It's far too easy for Russia to use attacks against Russia, deep inside Russia itself, to motivate more Russians to fight in this war, via their propaganda machine.

Nice news if true, but ....

Oops, there goes another one….
​​​​​​​United Russia MP Pavel Antov has died in the Indian city of Rayagada after falling from a hotel #window. Previously, he was included in the #Forbes ranking of the richest Russians.

Russian dependence, and excessive use, of non-precision artillery staring to hit home.

As to their manufacturers beindpg able to mass produce PGM shells, good luck with that…

Reminded me of this gem from “The Incomplete Book of Failures” (The Official Handbook of the Not-Terribly-Good Club ) a very amusing book by Stephen Pile ISBN 0-7737-1035-3

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4384bdaa8.jpegt

War with one arm tied behind your back doesn’t work. This mindset reminds me of the argument ref the cold war with China of appeasement.