Sanctions against Russia

[facthunter]

Over developed bully and "Get EVEN' Genes. Neither will do good for the world. America lets a CLOWN OWN the country without checking what HE and his Dynasty intend to do. Rules are not for HIM. HE's super special. Where doesTHAT end?  Nev

[willedoo]

The Russians fighting with Ukraine are on excursion in Russia again. It's been reported that the Siberian Battalion and the Freedom of Russia Legion have crossed the Russian border in three places and are engaged in some heavy fighting with Russian forces.

[willedoo]

A spokesman from the Freedom of Russia Legion said they are coming for the election, whatever that means. putler's election is on at the end of this week, so it sounds like they want to make it a bit awkward for him.

[onetrack]

The Russians are crowing about taking out 2 Ukrainian Patriot missile launchers a couple of days ago, with Iskander missiles. Ukraine cannot afford this kind of loss, the Patriots are $400M apiece and it's virtually impossible to replace them in a short time frame.

Add in the fact that the Republicans in the U.S. are blocking more support for Ukraine, and things just got a whole lot harder for the Ukrainians.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/03/09/a-russian-drone-spotted-a-ukrainian-patriot-air-defense-crew-convoying-near-the-front-line-soon-a-russian-hypersonic-missile-streaked-down/

[willedoo]

Here's one for putler - snow sculpture in Finland:

 

[spenaroo]

On 12/03/2024 at 11:12 PM, onetrack said:

The Russians are crowing about taking out 2 Ukrainian Patriot missile launchers a couple of days ago, with Iskander missiles. Ukraine cannot afford this kind of loss, the Patriots are $400M apiece and it's virtually impossible to replace them in a short time frame.

Add in the fact that the Republicans in the U.S. are blocking more support for Ukraine, and things just got a whole lot harder for the Ukrainians.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/03/09/a-russian-drone-spotted-a-ukrainian-patriot-air-defense-crew-convoying-near-the-front-line-soon-a-russian-hypersonic-missile-streaked-down/

eh im not so sure.
replace with a proper patriot launcher.... yes.

But they already have frankensams and missiles modified to be launched off jets they were never intended for.
I imagine they can figure out how to add another launcher to the system, a whole lot easier then if they had of taken out one of the command units.

[onetrack]

If there is any one factor that is a fundamental and fatal weakness in Russia's military, it is the over-arching, continuous and rampant corruption and theft, which is carried out at every level in the Russian military - from the Defence Minister on down through officers, right through to the everyday Russian infantry soldier.

They will sell anything of military origin that they can make a dollar out of, if they think they can get away with it. Bribery and corruption is just the everyday norm in the Russian military.

 

This corruption ranges from kickbacks from suppliers for senior officials and officers, through to stolen military fuel sales on the blackmarket, new tyres on military equipment being pulled off and sold, and the new tyres replaced by worn-out aged tyres - through to soldiers selling their arms and telling commanders they lost them.

Officers take kickbacks from troops to avoid punishment for military charges, or to avoid being sent to dangerous areas. The officers take kickbacks to issues qualification certificates, where soldiers haven't properly earned them. The officers demand kickbacks for privately bought cars from Russian soldiers. The soldiers steal copper wiring and components from military items, and sell them for scrap. The list of types of thefts would fill hundreds of pages.

 

Every now and then, news of a court-martial over military theft or corruption escapes from Russia, probably designed to frighten those indulging in it. It will never work, because corruption and theft is entrenched in Russia, and especially in the Russian military, where they see massive waste every day - while they, as ordinary citizens, are deprived of many basic items - so they think it's O.K. to help themselves to that endless supply of military wealth and materials.

 

The most prominent military crim caught so far is a Russian Colonel, who blatantly stole 7 new tank engines destined for the premium-level T-90 tanks, valued at $200K each. He's been linked to the theft of 14 more different tank engines. It just makes you wonder how much more he stole, before he was caught. I've no doubt he tried to buy his way out of this charge, but it doesn't look like it worked. After being arrested in April 2023, he's still in detention awaiting trial.

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-colonel-accused-stealing-engines-prized-t-90-tanks-2023-4

 

 

[willedoo]

It's been an interesting couple of days for Russia. Yesterday saw about 60 drone attacks on multiple locations. Several refineries were hit causing an estimated 10% of Russia's refining capacity knocked out until repaired. An Ilyushin Il-76 went down in flames north east of Moscow. Totally unconfirmed speculation is that it was carrying an A-50 crew to pick up another AWACS plane. putler sacked and replaced the naval commander. Russian freedom fighters crossed the Russian border in three locations and drove the Russian army out of one small town with some heavy fighting. putler has appointed a new general as acting armed forces chief of staff. It adds to the "where's Gerasimov" speculation. He hasn't been see in public since he was rumoured to have been in the command post strike near Sevastopol on 4th. January. He appeared in a video awarding medals to some soldiers, but I don't know if it was verified as post January 4th. footage.

 

All in all, nothing unusual for Mordor these days. A couple of more fleas on the dog's back.

[willedoo]

10 minutes ago, onetrack said:

They will sell anything of military origin that they can make a dollar out of, if they think they can get away with it.

After the 2022 full scale invasion, eBay banned Russian sellers. Before that, there was heaps of Russian military gear on eBay for sale. Up until that point. I'd assumed it was surplus seconds, but from what we all know now, a lot of it probably originated from military theft.

[willedoo]

I've often wondered just how much old Soviet equipment is still warehoused in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. I don't know how accurate the figure is, but I once read there were up to 800,000 Soviet troops in Ukraine before the Union dissolved in 1991, so there would have been warehoused gear to support those numbers. One example is the 30,000 Maxim machine guns Ukraine has restored from storage in the last two years. About ten years ago I bought a few leather flight helmets from a lady in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. They were all in mint, boxed condition, and obviously had been in storage untouched since the early 1950's. I never asked where she got them from.

[red750]

Russia’s Vladimir Putin has revealed an apparently previously unreported conversation with Donald Trump in which he claims the then-American president let his jealousy of Joe Biden get the best of him in 2020.

 

In an interview with state-controlled media released Wednesday, Putin appeared to suppress a smirk as he recalled the “curious” conversation when asked if expressing a preference for Biden to win in the 2024 vote could be seen as “meddling” in U.S. elections.

 

Reiterating Moscow’s oft-repeated claim that the Kremlin is not interfering in American elections “in any way,” Putin said that Trump, “in the last year of his work as president… admonished me for the fact that I like Biden.”

 

“This was more than four years ago. He told me that in one conversation: ‘You want him to win.’ Excuse me, I’ll say it like he did, it’s just direct speech, ‘for Sleepy Joe to win.’ He told me this when he was still president,” he said.

 

Putin Warns That Russia Is Ready to Use Nukes Under Specific Conditions

 

Putin went on to say he was then surprised to see Trump being criticized for having the support of the Kremlin, claiming it was “complete nonsense.”

 

It was not immediately clear where and when Trump allegedly brought up “Sleepy Joe” with the Russian leader, or why Trump would have been discussing the Kremlin’s desires for the 2020 U.S. election. Last month, Putin raised eyebrows by explicitly speaking out in favor of Biden for the 2024 election, telling a reporter, “He is a more experienced, predictable person, an old-school politician.”

[nomadpete]

6 minutes ago, red750 said:

Putin raised eyebrows by explicitly speaking out in favor of Biden for the 2024 election,

To me this confirms my suspicion that the Kremlins social media influencers intend to 'help' trumpy.

[facthunter]

Just "testing" the waters. Putin is cunning.  Especially compared to TRUMP.   Nev

[red750]

IL-76 crash video.

[facthunter]

That appeared to have 3 engines emit flames one after the other.. Bit hard to explain.  Nev

[onetrack]

I wonder what that huge black part was, that fell off the aircraft while it was still airborne? Seemed to be very large and solid, didn't look like a complete engine, but maybe it was?

[facthunter]

 Could be .They are held in by 3 bolts and something could have gotten a long way out of balance.  Nev

[willedoo]

48 minutes ago, onetrack said:

I wonder what that huge black part was, that fell off the aircraft while it was still airborne? Seemed to be very large and solid, didn't look like a complete engine, but maybe it was?

Some people are saying it's an engine but I think it's a section of the main gear. The gear was down just before the black object fell. If you put the video on full screen and freeze frame it step by step it looks more like a set of wheels. Those D-30 low bypass engines are fairly long and skinny.

[willedoo]

There could be a bit of truth in the rumours that an A-50 crew were being transported and went down with the Il-76 crew. The story is that they were being flown to Ivanovo to pick up a stored A-50 to fly it back to get recommissioned for a replacment for recent A-50 losses. The crash happened near Ivanovo; the Ivanovo-Severny airbase has a batch of mothballed A-50 AWACS aircraft. You would assume if it was a ferry operation for the A-50 that only the flight crew were on board and not all the radar and communication technicians that work in an operational A-50. Photo is some of the mothballed A-50's at Ivanovo airbase.

 

 

 

[willedoo]

The problem with a plane like the Ilyushin 76 is that it's not easy to bail out in an emergency. Paratroopers do it all the time from the Il-76, but that's a controlled, straight and level pre-planned event. In an emergency, it might be possible if you had long enough warning time and the aircraft was still under a reasonable level of control. With engine fires like that, the only possible egress would be via the rear cargo door/ramp. Even if the hydraulics were working, it would take some time to get that down so any people in the rear of the plane could leave.

 

Normally (and bear in mind there's not much normal in Russia these days) the crew and passengers would be wearing a PN-58 parachute harness. The PN-58 system is an emergency system for aircraft like helicopters and transports that don't have ejection seats. The PN-58 parachute packs are stored hanging on the wall of the aircraft, and if needed, have a quick hitch clip-on arrangement to quickly fasten to the front of the worn harness. The problem would be getting to the parachute and getting it on if the plane is starting to dive and toss about, and even if you can do that, you still have to get safely out of the aircraft. Photo below is the PN-58 harness and chute at a crew training session. All these glossy publicity photos are far removed from the reality that is the true state of the Russian military.

 

[willedoo]

This is one of the parachutes as they are stored on the wall of the aircraft.

 

Edited March 14 by willedoo

[willedoo]

4 hours ago, willedoo said:

The PN-58 system is an emergency system for aircraft like helicopters and transports that don't have ejection seats.

I should clarify that and add "and don't have seats that provide for placing a parachute in the crew member's seat". Meaning tub type seats where the parachute is connected to the parachute harness and the crew member sits on the parachute. The An-2 biplane seats can take a sit-on parachute, and I'd have to look at some photos, but I think the An-12 seats allow worn parachutes.

 

Just for interest, here's an old photo of one of Viktor Bout's banged up old Ilyushins. It's an Air Cess Il-76, Liberian registered. I wonder what putler is doing with Viktor since he was repatriated from the U.S. in the prisoner swap. There's been very little news on him, but putler would have him smuggling something or sure. He wouldn't let a talent like Viktor go to waste.

 

[willedoo]

This is a photo of the Freedom of Russia Legion during recent operations fighting over the border in Russia. For those who haven't seen the flag, it's the proposed Russian flag for a free Russia in a post putin era. I quite like the blue on the white background. The idea of it is to remove the blood from the Russian flag by replacing the bottom red bar with white. Blue and white always go well together on a flag, examples being the flags of Greece and Finland.

 

 

[onetrack]

The more things changes .... the more they stay the same. Here's an article from the Guardian, dated Aug 2022. It brings up eerie similarities with what is going on in the Ukraine today.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/aug/21/russia-ukraine-five-lessons-crimean-war-ted-widmer

 

The primary photo is one of the earliest war photos of combat devastation. What looks like rocks laying everywhere, is actually cannonballs.

 

https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/104GXR

[nomadpete]

I like this quote taken from the Guardian article. Perhaps pootin is cut from the same cloth as Nicholas the first :

 

"Only a miracle can extricate him from the difficulties heaped on him and Russia by his pride, shallowness and imbecility"

Karl Marx on Nicholas I

 

 

Edited March 14 by nomadpete