More Bad News for Russia

[AkMike]

The Moscow Time has a fluff piece telling that according to the Federal Guard Service, almost 60% percent of residents of Russia's one industry towns consider their socio-economic situation to be hardly bearable or unbearable.

 Times are getting hard in Huilostan. 

[AkMike]

The Moscow Times is reporting of villagers in the occupied area seeing the missile launch that shot down MH17 come from the rebel held area. 

[sleepycat]

Oh dear!
Looks like the midget is starting to lose the trust amongst the general population.
Maybe the polls will go back up after the midget gets his yearly botox top up?


http://us.yahoo.com/news/vladimir-putins-public-trust-rating-drops-10-percent-135259699--business.html

[sleepycat]

Will be interesting to see how the midget's mouthpiece spins this news...

http://www.newsweek.com/number-russians-living-poverty-jumps-decade-record-high-439113

[JayH]

No one in Ukraine is forgetting who is responsible for many of Ukraine's problems today!
in Odessa they commemorated him-again !!
The video, in which the fans are singing a song about Putin, was published on YouTube.

It is reported that during the match fans repeatedly struck up a song about the President of Russia, and the first time it was performed after a minute of silence in memory of those killed in the terrorist attacks in Brussels.

[JayH]

Whilst Russia continues to deny that its troops are fighting in the ongoing Ukrainian conflict, a respected news site in Russia seemingly inadvertently published secret figures that detail deaths and causalities of forces on the ground.
More solid confirmation -- and explanation of how information unfolds about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Of course--one can choose to think that they know better than all the other sources--perhaps some here on forum can continue denying the invasion as being a SHADOW of everyone else's imagination!!!
Here is some interesting information.To be noted-- these numbers are probably very conservative and do not take into account the hired mercenaries , thugs ,misguided individuals etc that have been killed.
The article also speculates on Putin's "popularity" if real facts are disclosed.

Russia 'accidentally reveals' number of its soldiers killed in eastern Ukraine

According to Forbes, Russian news site Business Life (Delovaya Zhizn) revealed what seem to be official figures detailing the number of Russian troops killed and injured in "Eastern Ukraine." The site, which generally focuses on coverage of markets, finance and leisure, posted a piece entitled “Increases in Pay for Military in 2015,” that at first glance would be uncontroversial.

But the article appears to detail the numbers of Russian deaths, as well as the figures for those injuried. The content was hastily removed, but it was webcached by the Ukrainian journal Novy Region (New Region).

Putin decreed in May this year that all military deaths are to remain state secrets. In the past, only deaths in wartime were classified. At the time, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the decision was connected to fighting in Ukraine, simply stating that the law change was part of "the improvement of the state secret law."

 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-number-of-russian-troops-killed-or-injured-fighting-in-ukraine-seems-to-have-been-accidentally-10472603.html

[Anotherkiwi]

Jay, that article was published in August last year.  Has it not already been linked on RWD?  I'm sure that I remember seeing it before.

[sleepycat]

It is reported that during the match fans repeatedly struck up a song about the President of Russia, and the first time it was performed after a minute of silence in memory of those killed in the terrorist attacks in Brussels.

How will the regime react when foreign football fans inevitably do the huilo chants during World Cup matches in 2018?
Mute out the sound during the live broadcast? 

[JayH]

We can only hope!

The WC should never be in Russia.If FIFA was not as corrupt as Russia it would not be happening-- and if FIFA had an ounce of decency-- Russia should be stripped  of WC now.

[mendeleyev]

Jay, that article was published in August last year.  Has it not already been linked on RWD?  I'm sure that I remember seeing it before.

You are correct. It is an old article.

[JayH]

Hey you guys-it is news to a lot of Russians !!
Also to a few on forum here who still cant concede how wrong they were for so long!!
 

But hey-- who remembers them !!!

[AkMike]

Can't afford to support it, don't invade it!!!   

Unian reports that Russia has postponed the funding for Crimea until 2017 and beyond, according to the Minister of Economic Development, Alexei Ulyukayev.

"We decided on the shift of the significant sums, back to moving them over to 2017 and the following years. This affected the amount of about RUB 23 billion. In view of this decision, there will be no other shifts," he said.

According to him, RUB 4.5 billion which is about 20% of the allocated funds  has been disbursed in the annexed Crimea last year,under the Russian federal program.

[AkMike]

Winners don't cheat and cheaters don't win.   

 Another Russian, boxer Igor Mikhalkin has been stripped of the European Boxing Union's  light heavyweight title and banned from the sport for two years after testing positive for meldonium,   

[AkMike]

Do you remember the Ukrainian library in Moscow that was shut down and the librarian faces criminal charges?

Now they're going after information about anyone that's checked out a book!    Including someone that borrowed a book 18 years ago!   

[mendeleyev]

There are fascists in Eastern Europe....but most of them are somewhere besides Ukraine.

[AkMike]

Can't afford to support it, don't invade it!!!   

The much vaunted bridge to Crimea from the former Ukrainian lands of Kuban has ground to a screeching halt as Russian engineers have discovered their plans weren't good enough. Work's been halted for at least a year.

 Of course this could easily be tied into the same reason as the above mention that Russia's broke and can't afford to fund Crimea.   

 Let's do a recap of what's happened there. No water, no electricity, food prices have gone thru the roof, sanctions against businesses, lack of tourism, lack of money to pay for everything, persecution of the Tatars.. Just to name a few..

 Oh yeah.. Things are just peachy under Russia's thumb.

[AkMike]

Russia is still trying to force its citizenship on Gennady Afanasyev. He is one of the four Ukrainian opponents of Crimean annexation taken illegally to Russia and convicted of ‘terrorism’.

[jone]

In Vlad's speech this last week, he urged everyone to skip Egypt and Turkey and vacation in Crimea.......

[AkMike]

In Vlad's speech this last week, he urged everyone to skip Egypt and Turkey and vacation in Crimea.......

2012 Six million tourists

2013 Six million tourists

2014 Two point six million tourists

2015 Four million tourists

 Oh Yeah the glory days of prosperity are just around the next corner.. Or maybe the one after that? Or maybe the next one?   

[AkMike]

Mendy, Would you mind giving your opinion of the 14/4/16 Op-Ed by Melik Kaylan  at Forbes.com?  I found it very interesting speculation of the 'behind the door' power brokering by the Kremlin.

[mendeleyev]

A lot of truth to it, but I don't completely share every conclusion.

Example: since Putin's two week disappearance, Sergei Ivanov suddenly began to appear in every public photo opt with Putin as the article suggests. That has not changed, and never before did we see anyone other than Putin or Medvedev meeting with foreign leaders. These days, it is often Ivanov who conducts those meetings. Even today on the presidential press portal, there are six meetings of various kinds with Putin over the past weeks. How many for Ivanov? The same: six.

Despite what the author writes, Ivanov has not been sidelined. At least not yet. Just last week who chaired the Kremlin meeting on organizing Russia's "Year of the Environment" for 2017? It was Sergei Ivanov.




Who chaired the meeting this past week on corruption and terrorism? It wasn't the head of the government, Prime Minister Medvedev. It was Ivanov.





There are many things which the article gets right, and the major article that the author linked regarding Boris Nemtsov's murder. That piece was spot on in my estimation.

I wrote in February about "Who is Russia's Number 2" and that article got a lot of attention. So, was there a reason why when climbing into a underwater ride in a submersible in Crimea that Putin made a cryptic comment about hoping he would survive? Was there a reason why upon reemerging he hugged Medvedev, but not Ivanov who was standing nearby? In fact, the larger question would be why Ivanov was there in the first place--a year ago he would have remained back in Moscow.

The article correctly noted that Putin's new chief of the Interior forces is a long time friend from St Petersburg, but so is Sergei Ivanov. I simply do not think that Ivanov is a "hunted man." Perhaps the hunted man is Putin, and that explains recent moves by the Kremlin.

All told, something is afoot and perhaps the author is on to the larger picture. He is right that the nationalization of all those Interior troops under direct control of the Kremlin was a political maneuver.

(photos: Presidential Press Service and the Mendeleyev Journal)

[AkMike]

Thank You Sir,for your view of the 'bigger picture' as well as the different view of the same news. It's interesting to be able to see it from others perspective!

[msmobyone]

Can't afford to support it, don't invade it!!!   

The much vaunted bridge to Crimea from the former Ukrainian lands of Kuban has ground to a screeching halt as Russian engineers have discovered their plans weren't good enough. Work's been halted for at least a year.

In the spirit of accuracy - could you post your 'source' ? As I understand it the RAIL bridge is going to be late - but there's been no 'grinding to a halt'.


What IS true is that previously promised funding for other projects has been put back a year.. for economic reasons'

Of course this could easily be tied into the same reason as the above mention that Russia's broke and can't afford to fund Crimea.   

 Let's do a recap of what's happened there. No water, no electricity, food prices have gone thru the roof, sanctions against businesses, lack of tourism, lack of money to pay for everything, persecution of the Tatars.. Just to name a few..

 Oh yeah.. Things are just peachy under Russia's thumb.

AKmike

Much as I condemn the 'away games' in Ukraine and the polarisation leading up to getting most Crimeans to want to  'go back' ...and I agree that the indigenous Tatars - have historically been shafted - I think we have to accept that most Crimeans don't feel 'under the thumb'...They are even geared up to face hardship - until part of the RF road/ rail / electricity infrastructure.


Food prices have gone through the roof in Russia and Ukraine - as the respective currencies weakened - for differing reasons

Please don't think I'm apologising for the Kremlin's role in creating this horrible polarisation - but the bridge is coming - no delay to the ROAD bridge ...it has been advertised so much - it couldn't and wouldn't be be delayed for budgetary reasons.

http://www.euronews.com/2016/04/14/crimea-russia-bridge-delayed-by-one-year/

[AkMike]

msmobyone,
 I have previously stated that I will not post links here any more. I'm very sure that I'd get nailed for "copyright infringement"  rule violations if I used 2 or more of the same words from the article.  That's just the way it seems to work.
 So no link , no problem. I'm just discussing the facts from the news sources.

Use Google and find then the same way I do.

[AkMike]

msmobyone, 
Perhaps you should re-read your link and do it with the understanding that the road bridge and the railroad bridge is the same bridge not separate ones.  It has a serious design flaw.

Bottom line is that there will be no bridge for another year. (or more)

 I never said that it was delayed for lack of funds. Other funding for Crimea was delayed for a year as per the UNIAN article.