Thread: Russia launches Ukraine invasion

Long read but well worth the time...

Considering Russia spent the last decade waging an online information war against the West, it came as a surprise to many that, days into the invasion of Ukraine, Russia was the one losing the information war.

But they were just getting started, and weeks after the war began, Kremlin allies deployed a new kind of troll farm.

“Attention fighters,” the administrator of the Cyber Front Z Telegram channel told their 65,000 followers on Thursday morning. The Ukrainian singer Jamala was, they said, worthy of an attack. She’d “arranged a photo shoot with the flag of Ukraine in Britain,” the message continued. Jamala was targeted because she had posted a series of photographs on her Instagram account of celebrities like pop star Ed Sheeran and singer Gregory Porter holding a Ukrainian flag.

The administrator, who goes by the name Aleksander Kapitanov, told group members to turn on their VPNs—to circumvent the Kremlin’s ban on Instagram—and post comments ridiculing the singer. Group members were also instructed to reference a conspiracy theory the Kremlin has pushed in recent weeks alleging that the Ukrainian government perpetrated a genocide against Russian-speakers in the Donbas region.

Headquartered in St. Petersburg, Cyber Front Z calls itself a “people’s movement” working to defend Russia. In its rapidly growing Telegram channel, launched on March 11, the group claims it is simply working to combat the flood of fake news and disinformation coming from Ukraine, the U.S., and Western Europe about the invasion—or “special operation,” as Kapitanov unfailingly refers to it.

A review of the channel by VICE News found that the Cyber Front Z army is used to boost pro-Kremlin videos, commentary, and articles on sites like YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. The group has pushed many of the baseless conspiracy theories and narratives that the Kremlin has supported throughout this war, including claims that Ukraine was developing bioweapons in conjunction with the U.S., that the Russian army was ridding Ukraine of Nazis, and that the Ukrainian military was firing on its own citizens.

The Telegram channel urges Russians to post comments, share pro-Kremlin content, and disparage anyone who criticizes Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kapitanov tells followers that posting such comments is a citizen’s patriotic duty to support their military’s war on Ukraine.

“We remind you that Ukrainian Nazis commit atrocities and will soon be punished for this,” Kapitanov wrote on Thursday in another post. “We paint everything in the colors of the Russian tricolor and distribute our symbols Z and V.”

This public army of trolls pushing disinformation across the internet is but one arm of Cyber Front Z’s operation. A report published last week by independent St. Petersburg–based media outlet Fontanka revealed that behind all its patriotic rhetoric and claims of a popular movement of concerned citizens, it’s just another Kremlin-linked troll farm, where people are paid to post disinformation in a targeted and coordinated manner.

“The Cyber Front Z channel openly calls on its ‘supporters’ to write comments under specific posts—mostly by Russian citizens and organizations that oppose the war—probably to create an impression that those comments are written by people who genuinely support Cyber Front and not by trolls who are paid by the state or one of the pro-Kremlin oligarchs,” Julia Smirnova, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told VICE News. “However, the Fontanka investigation makes it clear that this is a classic troll factory, with people being paid for the comments.”

Fontanka reporter Ksenia Klochkova went undercover as a paid troll at Cyber Front Z and was offered a monthly salary of around $431.96. She was given access to fake accounts and instructed what to write and where to post her comments.

Klochkova took photos of the Cyber Front Z offices that show bean bags strewn across the floors and walls decorated with flags featuring the letter “Z.” (The 26th letter of the English alphabet has been co-opted by nationalistic young Russians in recent weeks as a symbol of their support of the war and Putin, after Russian tanks emblazoned with the letter rolled into Ukraine last month.)

Klochkova reported that she was one of 100 people on her shift all doing the exact same thing: posting a minimum of 200 comments on content as directed by the Cyber Front Z supervisors, creating a flood of 20,000 pieces of supposedly organic pro-Kremlin content over a few hours.

Cyber Front Z, therefore, has two divisions: the public-facing Telegram channel where volunteers are directed to post disinformation under their own names across the internet, and a private professional troll army who are paid to post similar disinformation using fake identities. The end result is the same, with comments mimicking Kremlin narratives flooding Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube posts. All new recruits are asked to contact Kapitanov in order to join Cyber Front Z’s troll army.

The Fontanka investigation was sparked by an advertisement placed on the Telegram channel seeking people to “fight back in the information field.” The post is still pinned at the top of the channel, and says the group “welcomes everyone who is not indifferent and loves his Motherland.”

It also says the group is looking for “social commentators, spammers, content analysts, programmers, IT specialists, and designers.”

The group went public weeks into the war, at a time when Russia was facing losses on the battlefield and in the information war. But despite being launched relatively recently, it quickly amassed a huge and highly active following.

“Turn on your VPNs and fly into the ring,” Kapitanov directed the members on Wednesday afternoon.

The target in “the ring” was an Instagram post by Temirlan Raimkulov, a little-known Kazakh boxer, who had posted a picture of himself with the Ukrainian flag draped over his shoulders after a bout in the U.S. last weekend. He had also called Putin a “murderer,” the admin alleged, though there’s no evidence to support that claim.

“We are writing to Temirlan that his unsportsmanlike behavior stems from the fact that he is falling for Ukrainian propaganda,” the admin wrote in the Telegram channel. The message included a reference to the Azov Battalion, a Ukrainian extremist movement notorious for its far-right ideology.

“You need to ask him where he was all these 8 years when Ukraine bombed the Donbas and why he was silent. Also, ask why Ukraine became the stronghold of the Nazi battalions. The ones that still terrorize the local population.”

A post on Tuesday urged members to support the work of Patrick Lancaster, a U.S. videographer who has defended Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine and boosted disinformation about the scale of the supposed Nazi issue in Ukraine.

The channel even runs competitions to see who can write the most patriotic comment on social media and rewards the person who achieves the most likes, shares, or reactions with merch from the Russian military’s online store. First prize in a competition this week was a T-shirt emblazoned with the letter “Z”, the runner-up prize was a T-shirt saying “Army of Russia,” and third place won a Cyber Front-branded baseball cap.

Kapitanov frames their work as almost militant, encouraging members to see themselves as an extension of the Russian military. One meme posted in the channel this week reimagines a keyboard as a grenade, to be used against Russia’s enemies online.

Soon after the Fontanka report was published, a link to the piece was posted to the Cyber Front Z Telegram channel along with a picture of Klochkova and a claim that she was working with the U.S. to infiltrate the group.

After Klochkova’s article was published, the group also said, without evidence, that someone tried to hack the Cyber Front Z account.

“We are convinced that the attempt to gain access to the channel and the investigation are events from the same source, one of the manifestations of the information war against Russia,” Kapitanov said.

It is unclear who’s bankrolling the Cyber Front Z operation, and Kapitanov did not respond to multiple requests for comment by VICE News. The Kremlin also didn’t respond to a request for comment about whether it was aware or had endorsed the actions of the group.

However, there is evidence that the Kremlin has some involvement in the operation.

When Klochkova didn’t show up for her second day of work earlier this month, she received a phone call asking if she would continue working on the project. Klochkova found that the number belonged to Aleksey Nekrilov, whom Fontanka reported was an employee for Glavset LLC, Mixinfo, and Novinfo, all three of which the U.S. government has listed as pseudonyms of the infamous St. Petersburg troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency.

In recent weeks, a man referred to simply as “Alexey” has given several interviews to Russian state-controlled media where he framed his group as a “people’s movement” that’s powered by volunteers rather than paid trolls.

“The organization, which works on a voluntary basis, includes several thousand people throughout Russia,” a recent report in state-backed news agency RIA Novosti said, citing Alexey as the “curator” of the group.

In an interview with RT, Alexey appeared on camera and said Cyber Front Z was born out of a need to combat disinformation supposedly being spread by Ukrainians.

“Despite the fact that the activity of the patriotic audience in our social networks has greatly increased, its work was less organized than the activity on the part of the Ukrainians,” he said. “That is why the idea was born to consolidate this patriotic audience and call on it to help the country on the internet in order to dispel Ukrainian propaganda, explain to people the goals and objectives of the operation, talk about the history of Donbas, broadcast opinion information about various actions in support of the special operation, in order to show that most of Russian society is on the side of the president’s army.”

Alexey failed to mention in either interview that Cyber Front Z is reportedly employing paid trolls to post up to 200 comments per day in support of Russian disinformation. Instead, he says that those interested can “become an employee of our analytical headquarters, which is located in St. Petersburg.”

However, Klochkova confirmed to VICE News that Alexey was not the man she met in St. Petersburg, who called himself Aleksander Kapitanov, and that he was not one of the people she met during her time working at the group’s headquarters, suggesting that Kapitanov is not the only person running this operation.

This level of openness about its disinformation campaigns is a relatively new phenomenon, said Smirnova, the analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, who pointed out that Russian trolls had started to talk more openly about their work even before the war began.

Smirnova says the concept of “implausible deniability”—deniability so paper-thin that it’s often nothing more than a purely formal denial of state involvement—is helpful in trying to understand why Cyber Front Z is so open about what it’s doing, while also portraying itself as nothing more than an organic patriotic movement.

“So now, it’s usual that Russian trolls deny only direct state involvement in their work but not the work itself,” Smirnova said.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kbj...ont-z-telegram

Alexei Navalny has called for an “information front” against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the jailed opposition leader asserted that poll results showing 75% of Russians support the conflict were a “Kremlin lie”.

In an extended series of tweets, Navalny called on western leaders to support a massive social media ad campaign in order to break through Kremlin propaganda regarding the invasion.

“We need ads. Lots of ads,” wrote Navalny. “A huge national anti-war campaign will start with an advertising campaign. Two hundred million impressions a day to reach every Russian internet user twice. Stories, posts and prerolls. Across Russia, in cities and villages. On every tablet and every phone.”

In the statement, he called on Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, Ursula von der Leyen, Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai, the head of Google owner Alphabet, to “urgently find a solution to crush [Vladimir] Putin’s propaganda using the advertising power of social media”.

The advertising campaign would be a way around the Kremlin’s efforts to shut down independent media in Russia. Along with most independent websites and newspapers, the Russian censor has also blocked access to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

It also marks the opposition leader’s biggest foray yet into the complicated question of how widely the Russian public supports the war in Ukraine. Polling results, including from the independent Levada Centre, have shown majority support among Russians for the war.

But critics have cited poor polling techniques, low response rates and other mitigating factors to argue that many Russians are simply too afraid to voice their opposition to the war.

Then there are the efforts of pro-Kremlin programming, which has come to dominate television schedules in recent months as entertainment programmes have been pushed off all the main government channels.

“The fact is that most Russian citizens have a completely distorted view of what is happening in Ukraine,” Navalny wrote in messages passed to his supporters. “For them, Putin is waging a small, very successful war with very little bloodshed. Our soldiers are heroes and there are hardly any casualties.”

For the same price as a javelin anti-tank missile, he argued, western leaders could attract 200m ad views or “at least 8m views on a video with the truth about what is happening in Ukraine.”

Russia has pulled its troops back from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv but is preparing for a new offensive in Ukraine’s east. Putin has said that Russia’s war will “continue until its full completion and the goals that have been set are fulfilled”.

Alexei Navalny calls for social media ‘information front’ against Russia (msn.com)

Russia has began its large-scale military action to seize the east of Ukraine, the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said.

“Now we can already state that the Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, for which they have been preparing for a long time,” he said in a video address. Zelenskiy said a “significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated on this offensive”.

He added: “No matter how many soldiers are driven there, we will defend ourselves. We will fight. We will not give up anything Ukrainian.”

The president’s comments follow a dramatic escalation of attacks by Russia ahead of the long-anticipated operation. Vladimir Putin has declared his intention to seize Donbas, the industrial heartland in the east of the country already partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

Zelenskiy made clear that the Ukrainian army would battle any attempted advance by Moscow. “No matter how many Russian troops are driven there, we will fight,” he said. “We will defend ourselves. We will do it every day.”

Earlier on Monday Russia unleashed a barrage of long-range missiles against targets across Ukraine, in what analysts described as a “softening up” exercise before its military push.

Ukrainian government officials warned Russian war-planes were preparing to drop five-tonne bombs on the Azovstal plant in the besieged city of Mariupol. Ukrainian soldiers have been holding out in tunnels under the factory for seven weeks.

The underground complex is also being used as a shelter by hundreds of civilians including children. They were about to be wiped out, the officials said.

Full- Russia begins large-scale military action to seize eastern Ukraine (msn.com)

UNHCR raises alarm as investigation reveals how single men proposed sharing beds with vulnerable women fleeing war.

London, United Kingdom – The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has called on the United Kingdom to review its Homes for Ukraine scheme, following reports that some refugee women felt at risk from their sponsors.

The initiative allows anyone in the country with a spare room to open their homes to Ukrainians as long as they can offer accommodation for at least six months.


list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3UK will pay households $456 a month to host Ukrainian refugees

list 2 of 3‘Shameful’: UK’s response to Ukraine refugee crisis criticised

list 3 of 3UK PM Johnson under fire for comparing Ukraine with Brexit


But there are growing concerns that women are being put at risk via the programme, which more than 150,000 people signed up to as hosts in the days leading up to its launch on March 18.

Last week, an undercover investigation by The Times newspaper revealed how some single British men were proposing sharing beds and sending inappropriate and sexually suggestive messages to women fleeing war.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/...ukraine-scheme

Better off going to Rwanda maybe.


But-

UNHCR: UK Rwanda refugee plan violates international law
https://www.jurist.org/news/2022/04/...rnational-law/


No pleasing some people.

^^ and yet according to reports, Russia is using long range weapons to attack targets in Western Ukraine. Boots on the ground couldn’t do it I Kiev, so they now resort to longer range weapons likely to hit indiscrinate targets.

Originally Posted by sabang

UNHCR raises alarm as investigation reveals how single men proposed sharing beds with vulnerable women fleeing war.

London, United Kingdom – The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has called on the United Kingdom to review its Homes for Ukraine scheme, following reports that some refugee women felt at risk from their sponsors.

The initiative allows anyone in the country with a spare room to open their homes to Ukrainians as long as they can offer accommodation for at least six months.


list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3UK will pay households $456 a month to host Ukrainian refugees

list 2 of 3‘Shameful’: UK’s response to Ukraine refugee crisis criticised

list 3 of 3UK PM Johnson under fire for comparing Ukraine with Brexit


But there are growing concerns that women are being put at risk via the programme, which more than 150,000 people signed up to as hosts in the days leading up to its launch on March 18.

Last week, an undercover investigation by The Times newspaper revealed how some single British men were proposing sharing beds and sending inappropriate and sexually suggestive messages to women fleeing war.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/...ukraine-scheme

Better off going to Rwanda maybe.


But-

UNHCR: UK Rwanda refugee plan violates international law
https://www.jurist.org/news/2022/04/...rnational-law/


No pleasing some people.

My spam folder was full of ads for Russian and Ukrainian women, desperate for a new western ATM card.

Now they get a paid trip to UK and a target rich environment. Government sponsored pimping must be a worthwhile game.

Maybe they should come out with a wealth warning for UK geeks (plenty of them). Some of those women know how to play the game...

The Ukrainian city of Kreminna has been captured by Russian troops, who are intensifying their attacks on the Donbas region.

The attacks have prompted Western governments to pledge more arms for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.

Ukraine-Russia war live: Russian forces intensify attack on Donbas, as US boosts military aid to Ukraine - ABC News

• Almost 150 attacks reported against health care facilities in Ukraine: WHO

The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that his organization has verified nearly 150 attacks against health care facilities in Ukraine and demanded that they end.

“.@WHO unequivocally condemns the continued increase in attacks on health care in #Ukraine. They must stop. To date, WHO has verified 147 attacks, including 73 people killed, and 53 injured. War will not be a solution. Once again, I call on Russia to end the war,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted.

Images of a devastated maternity hospital in Mariupol circulated widely after Ukrainian officials accused Russia of bombing the facility in March.

The bombing killed three people and left more than a dozen wounded.

Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy in London claimed that the photos of the attack were fake and asserted dubious claims about the hospital, who was using it and information regarding one of the victims — leading Twitter to remove several posts.

Ukrainian officials have also accused Russia of attacking a cancer hospital in the southern city of Mykolaiv, among several other buildings.

The United States determined last month that Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken pointing to attacks on hospitals, among other acts by Russian forces, in his announcement of the formal assessment.

President Biden and former President Trump have also claimed that Russia has committed a genocide in Ukraine. Biden noted, however, that the final determination regarding whether Russia’s actions amount to genocide would be up to his lawyers.

• UN asks for $66M to protect Ukrainian women, children amid rape accusations

The UNFPA, the United Nation’s sexual and reproductive health agency, released a statement Tuesday asking for $66 million to help protect Ukrainian women and children as millions flee from Ukraine and Russian soldiers are accused of rape.

The agency stated more than 12 million people, mostly women and children, have fled Ukraine, while those in the country have been raped and deprived of items needed for women’s hygiene.

“Women and girls affected by the war in Ukraine face ongoing threats to their health and safety, and their needs must be prioritized,” Natalia Kanem, executive director of the UNFPA, said.

“Women do not stop getting pregnant or giving birth during conflict, and their access to lifesaving health services is literally under attack in Ukraine. With health and social service facilities being bombed and shelled, and reports of rape and other forms of gender-based violence rising, UNFPA is focused on meeting the distinct needs of women and girls,” she added.

The agency has given seven hospitals more than 13 metric tons of reproductive health supplies since the war began, with another 27 metric tons of supplies to be given to maternity hospitals around the country.

In April and May, 41 metric tons more of reproductive supplies will arrive that contain items such as sanitary pads.

Along with the reproductive supplies, the UNFPA is supporting women as accusations of rape against Russian forces mount, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying the soldiers have raped women and children of all ages, including babies.

The agency is helping 30 shelters in Ukraine and providing psychosocial teams to support the women and children going through this crisis.

“Here in Ukraine, the needs are rising exponentially. We are working closely with the government and other partners to provide lifesaving services for women and girls, but much more needs to be done. We need to reach many more people, including survivors of gender-based violence. We are appealing for increased support to respond to this growing humanitarian crisis,” Jaime Nadal Roig, the UNFPA’s representative in Ukraine, said.

No surprise here.

Germany refuses request to send weapons to Ukraine

German chancellor Olaf Scholz has defended his decision not to export heavy weapons to Ukraine, saying Berlin’s closest allies had also concluded that supplying such arms at the present time made little sense.

Scholz has come under mounting domestic pressure to supply tanks and armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine, which is bracing for a big Russian offensive in the eastern border region of Donbas.

But the chancellor said Germany was not alone in opposing the export of such weapons to Ukraine. “Look at what our close allies are doing,” he told reporters. They “and their armies had reached similar conclusions [to us]”.

Politicians from within Scholz’s Social Democratic party, as well as his Greens and liberal coalition partners, are among those who have called for him to rethink his opposition to supplying tanks to Ukraine.

Green MP Anton Hofreiter, who visited Kyiv last week, said Germany must “finally deliver what Ukraine needs, and that is heavy weapons”. He lashed out at Scholz directly, saying “the problem is in the chancellery”.

The sense of urgency has increased as Russia launched its expected offensive in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that countries withholding the weapons and ammunition that Kyiv needs “must know that the fate of this battle also depends on them”.

Scholz said the west needed to supply Ukraine with weapons systems that were “available immediately” and were, ideally, already being deployed in the country.

He added Germany would support its Nato partners in eastern Europe “who have Russian-made weapons systems at their disposal of a type that is already used in Ukraine and can be deployed immediately”.

“It’s no coincidence that [all Germany’s partners] reached the same conclusion — that it makes the most sense if we deploy systems that our Nato partners in eastern Europe have available,” he said.

“It’s helpful to look at the wider world — and doing so reveals that those who are in a comparable starting point to Germany act as we do,” he added.

Scholz’s position on arming Ukraine has evolved significantly since the start of Russia’s invasion. Initially he refused point blank to provide any arms, reiterating Berlin’s longstanding ban on the export of lethal weapons to conflict zones.

Days after the outbreak of war he performed a dramatic volte-face, agreeing to provide Kyiv with hundreds of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. Germany has also shipped machine guns, night-vision goggles, protective equipment and some vehicles to Ukraine.

Scholz has also significantly ramped up the financial aid Germany is providing to Kyiv. A special fund to help crisis-hit countries invest in their military is being increased from €225mn to €2bn, with the bulk going to Ukraine, the government said on Friday.

Scholz said the government had asked the German arms industry to specify what weapons it can provide in the coming weeks. “Ukraine has selected what it needs from this list and we are providing the money they need to buy it,” he said.

Some EU countries are going further, however. Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, said on Tuesday after a call with Zelensky that the Netherlands would send armoured vehicles to Kyiv in response to demands for heavier weaponry.

“I expressed our support as Russia begins a renewed offensive. [The Netherlands] will be sending heavier materiel to [Ukraine], including armoured vehicles,” he said in a statement on Twitter.

The heads of Nato and the European Commission have also urged their member states to speed up and broaden weapons supplies.

Scholz is not the only senior German politician who is uneasy about acceding to such demands. Robert Habeck, the Green economy minister, said Germany had a responsibility “to not itself become a target” of Russian aggression. That might happen if it sent Ukraine big tanks or fighter jets, he said.

Senior Social Democrats have also come to Scholz’s defence. Rolf Mützenich, head of the SPD parliamentary group, said the demands being made by Hofreiter and other coalition politicians after their trip to Kyiv could have “far-reaching consequences for the security of our country and that of Nato”.

Scholz also received backing over the weekend from Sigmar Gabriel, an SPD grandee and former foreign minister. “Leadership in Europe means being aware of the consequences of expanding this war,” he wrote in Der Spiegel. “And that’s why it’s right that the German government can only supply heavy weapons . . . to Ukraine in co-ordination with the US.”

He said the US was also carefully weighing up “what kind of military support is possible and meaningful, and where the border to active participation in the war with Russia is crossed”.

https://www.ft.com/content/2e2ab640-54e3-4e02-8ceb-a2f747ae3f93

Wimbledon going it alone, jerkovich and Russian aren't happy nor are the ATP.

Wimbledon 2022: Russian & Belarusian players banned from tournament

Russian and Belarusian players will not be allowed to compete at Wimbledon this year because of the invasion of Ukraine.

Men's world number two Daniil Medvedev of Russia and women's world number four Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus are the highest-ranked players to be affected.

The players are also banned from any of the UK grass-court tournaments.

The governing bodies of men's and women's professional tennis said the move was "unfair".

Serbia's Novak Djokovic, a six-time men's singles champion at Wimbledon, said he did not support the "crazy" decision by the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC).

The men's body, the ATP, said it could "set a damaging precedent for the game", while the women's body, the WTA, said it was "very disappointed".

In a statement, the ATP said: "Discrimination based on nationality also constitutes a violation of our agreement with Wimbledon that states that player entry is based solely on ATP rankings.

"Any course of action in response to this decision will now be assessed in consultation with our board and member councils."

The WTA said it "will be evaluating its next steps and what actions may be taken regarding these decisions".

Djokovic, the men's world number one, added: "The players, the tennis players, the athletes have nothing to do with war. When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good."

Martina Navratilova, who won a record nine Wimbledon singles titles, said excluding Russian and Belarusian players was "not the way to go".

"I think it's the wrong decision. Tennis is such a democratic sport. It is difficult when you see politics destroy it," said the Czech-born American.

Wimbledon runs from 27 June to 10 July.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/61161016

Putin calls off storming of Mariupol plant


Reuters - 3h ago


Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his troops to cancel plans to storm the sprawling Azovstal plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, instead calling for its blockade to continue.

The full capture of Mariupol, which has been besieged by Russian forces for weeks, is a central part of Moscow’s plans to cut Ukraine off from the Sea of Azov and forge a land bridge connecting Russian-annexed Crimea to Russia.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Chechnya region whose forces have been fighting in Mariupol, had suggested the vast Azovstal facility, which covers more than 11 square kilometres, would be stormed after Ukrainian forces holed up inside ignored Russian ultimatums to surrender.

But Putin, in a Kremlin meeting with Sergei Shoigu, his defence minister, gave the order to call off plans to storm the complex, saying it was better to save the lives of Russian soldiers and to sit back and wait while Ukrainian forces ran out of supplies.

“I consider the proposed storming of the industrial zone unnecessary,” Putin told Shoigu in a televised meeting at the Kremlin. “I order you to cancel it.

“There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities.

“Block off this industrial area so that a fly cannot pass through.”


Putin calls off storming of Mariupol plant (msn.com)

Scared of losing more troops to the brave Ukrainian heroes then.

Wanker.

^^
When is Russia going to allow the civilians to come out of the plant and be evacuated?

‘Failing Technology Museum’: Uncertainty for Russian Telecoms as Foreign Firms Flee

The departure of top telecommunications firms from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine looks set to cause serious problems for the country’s mobile networks almost totally dependent on foreign companies for maintenance and upgrades, according to experts.


Russia relies on European telecoms giants Nokia and Ericsson, as well as Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE, for most of its wireless network equipment.

But last week’s decision by Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson to pull out of the Russian market in protest of the invasion and amid the constraints of Western sanctions has left the supply and maintenance of Russia’s telecom systems in limbo. Huawei has also announced that they are suspending Russian operations, dealing a further blow to Russia’s ability to withstand the Western departures.


“If Russia is not able to maintain the systems themselves then all of these can fail. It could all come to quite a sudden and unexpected shock,” Roger Entner, the head of Recon Analytics in Massachusetts, told The Moscow Times.


Western sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the European Union threaten maintenance and upgrading in the long-run because the four major vendors are banned from providing new equipment to Russia. Nokia and Ericsson alone provide as much as half of Russia’s wireless network equipment, mostly in western Russia’s major cities and the capital, Moscow.

“Vendors are still required to service the old [equipment], but given the sanctions are unable to charge any [domestic] operators,” said Hosuk Lee-Makiyam, a telecoms expert at European Center for International Political Economy. “So right now they’re doing it for free, which is great in the short term, but in the long term is not a sustainable solution.”

A Nokia representative told The Moscow Times that they are working on licenses allowing them to continue servicing telecoms equipment across Russia on “humanitarian” grounds.


“Western governments have expressed concerns about the risk of critical telecommunication network infrastructure in Russia failing. They have also emphasized the importance of ensuring the continued flow of information and access to the internet which provides outside perspectives to the Russian people,” the spokesperson said.

With foreign firms unable to carry out upgrades, Russia faces the risk of being stuck with outdated equipment.


It appears unlikely that Ericsson, Huawei and Russian domestic operator MTS will be able to implement their plan to start rolling out 5G — the ultra-fast mobile internet that will underpin a raft of future technologies — across Russia by the end of this year, according to Lee-Makiyama.


Nokia’s joint venture with Yadro, a Russian data storage developer, to build 4G and 5G telecoms base stations in Russia has reportedly been scrapped.


“Russia will be frozen in 2022, while the rest of the world will move forward. It could turn into a failing technology museum,” Entner said.

Plans to extend existing internet coverage also look to be on ice, with expansion almost impossible without Huawei, Nokia and Ericsson, according to Lee-Makiyama.


Russia’s diplomatic isolation as a result of the attack on Ukraine means that there is little chance of a recovery for the telecoms market.


Helsinki and Stockholm are now weighing whether to apply for NATO membership due to Russia’s invasion, risking a new rift between the two Nordic countries and Moscow. Without a rapprochement, a return to the Russian market for Nokia and Ericsson seems a distant prospect.


Observers have said that Russia’s war in Ukraine and hostility with the West would give Chinese companies looking to do business in Russia a major boost — but the situation is not as straightforward in telecommunications.


Despite Huawei recording a 300% increase in handset sales in the first two weeks of March, existing U.S. sanctions on the Chinese company and fears of a Western backlash has led to the Chinese company suspending its operations in Russia and furloughing staff.

U.S. sanctions imposed on Huawei in 2019 ban the telecommunications company from exporting products that use U.S. technology to Russia.


Although Russia successfully replaced Western telecoms equipment with Huawei systems on the annexed Crimean peninsula after 2014, a nationwide replacement of all Ericsson and Nokia equipment is likely to take years and be very expensive.


“Nokia and Ericsson have been building for 30 years in Russia,” Entner said. “There’s so many towers, so much equipment, replacing this would cost tens of billions of dollars.”


And even if Huawei is able to navigate U.S. sanctions and willing to replace all of Russia’s Western-suppled equipment, it would need a partner, said Lee-Makiyama.


Partially state-owned Chinese company ZTE is one option. While ZTE is not subject to any U.S. sanctions, it reportedly performs much worse than any of the other major players.


But there are few other companies to which Russia can turn.


“The Japanese are out of the question, the Koreans are out of the question, the Europeans cannot supply. There are not many places Russia can go,” Lee-Makiyama said.

‘Failing Technology Museum’: Uncertainty for Russian Telecoms as Foreign Firms Flee - The Moscow Times

Russia Says ‘Ready’ for Truce at Mariupol Plant


Russia's Defense Ministry said Friday it was ready for a humanitarian ceasefire at Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant — the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in the strategic port — if Kyiv's soldiers surrender.


Russia on Thursday said it had gained full control of the strategic eastern Ukraine city, except for its huge Azovstal industrial area.


President Vladimir Putin ordered a blockade of the steelworks, where hundreds of civilians are reportedly sheltering with Ukrainian troops.


"We once again declare that Russia is ready at any moment to introduce a regime of silence and announce a humanitarian pause for the evacuation of civilians," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

It added that the ceasefire would start with the "raising of white flags" by Ukraine's forces "along the entire perimeter or in certain areas of Azovstal."


"If such signs are found in any part of the Azovstal metallurgical plant, Russia's Armed Forces... will immediately stop any hostilities and provide a safe exit," the ministry added.


According to the ministry, civilians will be escorted to either territories controlled by Ukraine or to Russia, depending on their choice.


The surrendered Ukrainian soldiers will be "guaranteed" their life, it said.


"This statement will be continuously communicated to the Ukrainian formations at Azovstal on all radio channels every 30 minutes," the ministry said.


Russia Says ‘Ready’ for Truce at Mariupol Plant - The Moscow Times

Originally Posted by misskit

if Kyiv's soldiers surrender

Dream on Vlad.

Russian General Lets Slip a Secret Plan to Invade Another Country and Seize Ukraine’s Entire Coastline

As Russian troops tighten their grip on the strategic port town of Mariupol, their strategy is finally becoming clear. Russian military commander Rustam Minnekaev now says the second phase of President Vladimir Putin’s “special operation” is focused on establishing a “land corridor” from the Donbas all the way to Moldova, which would cut off the rest of Ukraine from the sea.


“One of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine. This will provide a land corridor to the Crimea, as well as influence the vital objects of the Ukrainian economy,” Minnekaev said Friday at a meeting with the Union of Defense Industries, as reported by the Russian state-owned Interfax. “Control over the south of Ukraine is another way out to Transnistria, where there are also facts of oppression of the Russian-speaking population.” Transnistria is a separatist region of Moldova that has so far not been officially involved in the war despite hosting a Russian military base since the 1990s.


The general’s words suggest that Moldova’s sovereign borders would also come under threat from further Russian expansion. Phony efforts to protect Russian-speaking peoples have often foreshadowed Putin’s imperial invasions.


In reality, Russian speakers have been struck down in the hundreds in eastern Ukraine during the brutal invasion.


If successful, the strategy would include taking the port of the former seaside resort town of Odesa near the Moldovan border, which has suffered sporadic bombardments but no full-fledged invasion so far. Russia’s warship Moskva was hit about 75 miles off the coast of Odesa two weeks ago, before it sank en route to Crimea.


The refocusing of troops from northern Ukraine to the southern regions of the country has further choked Mariupol, where Ukrainian troops and civilians are holed up in a steel factory surrounded by Russian troops. Satellite imagery identified a growing number of graves outside the port city, where Ukrainian officials say up to 200 new graves have been dug since April 3.


While the Russian military has largely now left northern Ukraine alone save for sporadic missile strikes, fresh evidence of Russia’s ruthless tactics there in recent weeks continue to build a case for widespread war crimes. Andrii Nebytov, the head of police for Kyiv region, told CNN that they are examining 1,084 bodies found in the region outside Kyiv, including Bucha, for signs of torture. “These are civilians who had nothing to do with territorial defense or other military formations,” he said. “The vast majority—between 50 percent and 75 percent—are people killed by small arms, either a machine gun or a sniper rifle, depending on the location.”


Among the atrocities are evidence of widespread rape and sexual mutilation. The youngest victim who survived to tell her story is just 15, according to CNN. Several female bodies in mass graves show evidence of horrific crimes as well.


On Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Office described Russian atrocities against Ukrainians as a “horror story of violations against civilians” that shows no sign of abating.


Russian General Lets Slip a Secret Plan to Invade Another Country and Seize Ukraine’s Entire Coastline

Huawei has also announced that they are suspending Russian operations

What's all that about hoohoo? Too blood-drenched even for the chinkies?

EU says gas payments may be possible under Russian roubles proposal without breaching sanctions



(Reuters) - European Union companies may be able to comply with Russia's proposed system to pay for gas in roubles without falling foul of the bloc's sanctions against Moscow, but it is not yet clear how such a procedure would work, the European Commission said on Friday.

Moscow in March issued a decree proposing that energy buyers open accounts at Gazprombank, where payments in euros or dollars would be converted to roubles. That decree does not necessarily prevent a payment process that would comply with the EU's sanctions regime, the Commission said in a guidance document sent to EU member states and published online.

"However, the procedure for derogations from the requirements of the decree is not clear yet," the document said.

EU says gas payments may be possible under Russian roubles proposal without breaching sanctions (msn.com)

The Carter Center China Focus is grateful to Michael Cerny (University of Oxford) for data analysis and visualization and Haifeng Huang (University of California, Merced) for comments and advice. For all inquiries, please contact Yawei Liu (Carter Center) at [email protected].



Between March 28 and April 5, 2022, the Carter Center China Focus conducted a survey of Chinese public opinion regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Results demonstrate that 75% of respondents agree that supporting Russia in Ukraine is China’s national interest, and that roughly 60% of respondents support China mediating an end to the conflict. By examining the individual correlates of these positions, we demonstrate that higher education, more consumption of state media, and more consumption of social media are correlated with higher support for Russia. We also examine public opinion with respect to the conspiracy theory that American biolabs were discovered by Russian forces in Ukraine. Among those who have encountered the conspiracy theory, roughly 70% of respondents believe this conspiracy theory is accurate. Furthermore, we find that higher education and greater exposure to national state media and social media are associated with higher levels of belief in the conspiracy theory, and that women (and to some extent people with higher income) believe it less, while older people believe it more. Ultimately, the findings demonstrate the influence of the generally pro-Russia information environment in China.

Full- https://uscnpm.org/2022/04/19/chinese-public-opinion-war-in-ukraine/?goal=0_678a4a5d7b-fa9aac9dac-449336644&mc_cid=fa9aac9dac&mc_eid=63b06d60c4

Ultimately, the findings demonstrate the influence of the generally pro-Russia information environment in China.

So sabang could have saved a lot of space by just realising the chinkies only get told this fake Russian propaganda side of the story.

He really is a fucking moron.