Sanctions against Russia

[facthunter]

I'm surprised there's not more of it happening.  Nev

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

I'm surprised there's not more of it happening.  Nev

This graphic has the list of rewards offered which was signed into law in April of this year. One million for a fighter jet or warship. The helicopter is listed at $500,000 but it translates to fighter helicopter, so I don't know if you'd get that for a Mi-8, or whether that bounty is for a Mil gunship like a 28, or a Kamov attack helicopter. Surely, a Mi-8 would have to be worth $500,000 reward. They can be used for a lot of roles like troop carrier, freighter, medivac or fitted with hardpoints and rocket pods and take on a gunship role.

 

There's also Russians who have Ukrainian ancestry and Ukrainian relatives and with the way Russia is going, not much incentive to remain living in Russia. You'd think they would be tempted by the cash and the chance at a better life.

 

[willedoo]

Maybe they should increase the bounty. They could probably double it and still get their money's worth.

[facthunter]

After the collapse of the USSR the powerful divided the spoils  amongst them selves and made the place what it is. Not really the best place for the Ordinary Citizen. and likely to become increasingly more corrupt. Any country has lost it when it needs threats to keep it's people in it's borders. Nev

[willedoo]

18 minutes ago, facthunter said:

After the collapse of the USSR the powerful divided the spoils  amongst them selves and made the place what it is. Not really the best place for the Ordinary Citizen. and likely to become increasingly more corrupt. Any country has lost it when it needs threats to keep it's people in it's borders. Nev

I'm sure you're right Nev. Once this war finishes, Russia will be a lot more corrupt, authoritarian, impoverished and dangerous than before. Since the collapse of the USSR, the lifestyle of a lot of people in the regions has become worse, and that of the city people much improved. I think the standard of living and lifestyle of the city dwellers is in for a big shock.

[red750]

Ziv News Live

 

The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led an open revolt against Moscow two months ago and broke it off at the last moment. Now Prigozhin is reported to have died in a plane crash. This reports the German news website tagesschau.de with reference to the Russian civil defense.

 

The accident occurred on August 23, 2023 in the Russian region of Tver, according to the country’s air authority. In addition to the mercenary chief, nine other occupants were also reportedly on the crashed plane. Among the occupants was the co-founder of the Wagner Group, Dmitry Utkin. All ten occupants died in the plane crash. Since there was an explosion on board and the bodies are badly burned, it will be some time before a clear identification is available.

 

The former Deputy Interior Minister of Ukraine, Anton Herashchenko, reports via Twitter, that some Wagner mercenaries have already spoken out about what will happen now. In a video they say: “”A lot of discussions about what Wagner will do in this situation. We’ll just say one thing: We’re starting off. Expect us!” What exactly is meant by this is still open.

[willedoo]

Ukrainian special forces carried out a successful raid on the coast of north west Crimea. Using small navy boats, they reportedly destroyed equipment and liquidated some orcs. There's no word yet as to what equipment was destroyed. The Mayak area is home to the base of the 3rd Radio Regiment of the Russian Aerospace Forces' radio engineering troops. Also on the Tarkhankut peninsula is a radar node - the Nebo-M radar and the Kasta-2E2 radar. Air defense positions have been constructed along the perimeter.

 

 It will be interesting to find out whether this is where the S-400 air defence system was destroyed. It sounds like the Ukrainians are up to something. Military intelligence chief Budanov made a statement yesterday promising some surprises on the Crimea front over the next few days. Let's hope he's right.

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by willedoo

[onetrack]

So ... let me guess? The investigation of an aircraft crash involving an Embraer aircraft with 10 POB on Russian soil will be wound up within a couple of days, and the investigation records sealed, and they won't be made public.

No need for any Embraer reps, any Brazilian aviation reps, or any other foreign country air crash investigators to turn up for the crash investigation - Russian air crash investigators have found the reason for the crash - pilot incompetence, they blew up the engines in cruise by accidentally selecting incorrect engine control settings. Case closed.

Those questions you asked about the bullet-size holes in the fuselage are easily explained by "engine shrapnel and debris after the engines exploded". Thank you, no more questions please!

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by onetrack

[onetrack]

Tass has released the Embraer passenger manifest. The names are;

 

Seven passengers:

 

Evgeny Prigozhin

Dmitry Utkin

Sergey Propustin

Evgeny Makaryan

Alexander Totmin

Valery Chekalov

Nikolai Matyuseev

 

Three crew members:

 

Alexey Levshin

Rustam Karimov

Christina Raspopova

 

Ten bodies have reportedly been officially recovered.

 

There's an article on a Swiss media site where they report that Christina Raspopova (or Raspopowa) reported that the Embraer "underwent some strange repairs", and was actually "taken away to be repaired". She did not reveal anything more than this about the "repairs", and the "taking away" of the jet - but the fact that she reported it, means the whole exercise must have seemed strange to her.

 

https://amp.20min.ch/story/prigoschin-jet-vor-dem-todesflug-berichtete-sie-von-seltsamen-reparaturen-972152221071

[nomadpete]

8 hours ago, onetrack said:

Ten bodies have reportedly been officially recovered.

After an impact like that, it is very unlikely that there were any identifiable  bodies to recover. Usually the identification team (if there was one) just go looking for bits of jewellery  that might survive the impact.

[onetrack]

Nomadpete, from what I saw of the crash footage up close, I would think there were probably a number of identifiable bodies, the top section of the cockpit was substantially intact and not burnt.

 

It looked to me, like the aircraft hit the ground in a relatively horizontal position.

 

Meantimes, President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with the acting head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, has stated that the investigation into the air crash involving Prigozhin, will be "carried out in full and brought to an end". 

 

Of course we all know it will! It's just that the final crash report conclusion has already been written by Vladimir, and the investigation team simply has to make their crash report information, match Vladimirs crash report conclusion!  

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by onetrack

[nomadpete]

2 minutes ago, onetrack said:

Nomadpete, from what I saw of the crash footage up close, I would think there were probably a number of identifiable bodies, the top section of the cockpit was substantially intact and not burnt.

 

It looked to me, like the aircraft hit the ground in a relatively horizontal position.

Fair comment.  I was only going by the pictures of a scorched flat area of small aircraft bits. Didn't see any recognisable structure.

 

Still I am on the sceptical side. Not likely that the two top guys in the organisation  would be on the same aircraft when there were two of their planes flying the same route at the same time. And he goes to a lot of trouble to conceal his location. And Putin implied that he wasn't sure where Prigozhin actually was at the time? I put 60/40 odds he has taken the money and retired.

[facthunter]

The plane descended fairly flat and in a few pieces. Maybe a bomb amongst the fine wine cache. Nev

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, nomadpete said:

Fair comment.  I was only going by the pictures of a scorched flat area of small aircraft bits. Didn't see any recognisable structure.

 

Still I am on the sceptical side. Not likely that the two top guys in the organisation  would be on the same aircraft when there were two of their planes flying the same route at the same time. And he goes to a lot of trouble to conceal his location. And Putin implied that he wasn't sure where Prigozhin actually was at the time? I put 60/40 odds he has taken the money and retired.

I don't know how much truth is in it, but I read that the second plane zig-zagged around Moscow, flew to St.Petersburg, then flew back to Moscow and on to Azerbaijan.

[onetrack]

Air crash investigators are reportedly saying that a bomb hidden in a wheel well brought the aircraft down. The boss of Prigozhins airline Mnt-Aero, Artem Stepanov is under suspicion and being grilled by crash detectives.

Prigozhin was almost certainly cunning enough to have 2 of his aircraft take off to the same destination, to make it look like he was on the other aircraft - but Stepanov would've been in a prime position to plant the bomb, and to know exactly what aircraft Prigozhin was on.

Naturally, the FSB will be behind the planning, maybe even pressured Stepanov, or always planned to scapegoat him. Of course, Stepanov claims to have been on holiday in Kamchatka for the last week. Nothing like ensuring you're far from the crime scene, so you can blame someone else.

 

https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/morte-di-prigozhin-le-autorita-russe-interrogano-il-pilota-artem-stepanov-ha-avuto-accesso-al-jet-prima-del-decollo/#:~:text=Stepanov is a private jet,the list of sanctioned personalities.

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by onetrack

[onetrack]

The video below claims that Prigozhins and Utkins bodies have definitely been identified in the morgue - Prigozhin by a missing finger, and Utkin by tattoos and his height.

 

Eight of the bodies were burned beyond immediate recognition, so "genetic" tests will be carried out as well. 

 

The video reports that the Embraer was somewhat unreliable, and was out of service fairly regularly. It was 16 years old, so I guess that's to be expected. 

 

The video says that "no documents of the passengers have been found" (possibly due to the intense fire), but I saw a report where it was stated Prigozhins phone had been found in the wreckage.

 

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by onetrack

[onetrack]

There's an excellent article below, from the British Think Tank, RUSI - from April 2022 - about the Wagner operations all through Africa.

 

It's frightening to see a map of the level of activity in Africa by Wagner - and it's all driven by Putins desire to ensure that Russia plays a very big part in the future alignment of Africa, seeing the entire country as an excellent vehicle for forming a major anti-Western bloc.

 

Little wonder Putin is so intent on ensuring that BRICS continues to grow, and produce a constantly strident anti-Western stance. We in the West, have been asleep at the wheel, as regards this continent.

 

https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/playing-shadows-putins-doppelganger-army

 

The only thing that remains to be seen now, is who steps up to control Wagner. There's little doubt it will be a Putin appointee, and a very loyal one at that.

If this appointee fails to practice abiding loyalty to Putin, he'll know what awaits him - the same treatment as Prigozhin got.

[nomadpete]

Regarding the second aircraft - the one that failed to crash.... might be interesting to see the passenger list for it. What if there was a Prigozhin on thet one,too? It has been reported that there are  multiple  Prigozhins in Wagnerland.

[Marty_d]

If he's still alive, we'll know about it soon enough - he didn't seem to be able to keep out of the limelight. 

[onetrack]

Putin appears to be setting out to destroy Wagner as a cohesive group, just like a Mafia Don destroying his enemies with bombing and shooting destruction. I guess his intent is to force any remaining Wagner fighters into the Russian military - where they can again be sent to the Ukrainian front, as cannon fodder.

 

Putins latest effort is to rip up all the cemetery crosses of the Wagner fighters, at a major gravesite initiated by Prigozhin, to draw attention to Putins military failures in the Ukraine.

 

Putin is not going to leave any visible record of Prigozhin, or his fighters, or any visible record of his Ukrainian military adventure failures. That cemetery will no doubt be levelled and something built there.

 

As outlined in one of the articles above, Russian law forbids mercenary activities and groups, so the Wagner fighters do not exist in Russian records, and when they're killed, they leave no record, they never existed. 

 

https://www.news.com.au/world/europe/wagner-cemetery-destroyed-after-leader-yevgeny-prigozhins-death/news-story/6da45648809c1099785562a7c420fa0b

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by onetrack

[red750]

He is atill on about cleansing the Neo-Nazis from Ukraine.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I guess the Russians are yet to leave Crimea or the rest of Ukraine they occupy.

Edited August 26, 2023 by Jerry_Atrick

[willedoo]

Well known Ukrainian fighter pilot Andriy Pilschikov, callsign Juice, has been killed along with two other pilots when two L-39's collided. Pilschikov was the most public face of the Ukrainian Air Force, appearing in regular media interviews. Pilschikov and one of the other pilots were both long term, experienced pilots fluent in English. He was very involved in the campaign to get F-16's for Ukraine.

[willedoo]

The Ukrainians are saying that the missile that took out the Russian so called state of the art S-400 air defence system in Crimea was a new Ukrainian designed missile. As far as I can figure out, it's a re-design and modification of the Ukrainian Neptune surface to ship missile.

[willedoo]

Turkey's Erdogan has said Turkey doesn’t recognise the annexation of Crimea. He said Crimea is a part of Ukraine and Turkey maintains their support to Ukraine’s territorial integrity. He also called on Russia to release imprisoned Crimean Tatar leaders.