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Putin Bluster Is All Bluff — He’s Losing at Home and in Ukraine

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Make no mistake: Vladimir Putin is losing the war in Ukraine. The menacing speech, broadcasted mysteriously on Wednesday morning instead of the originally scheduled Tuesday night, might be the closest the Russian dictator will ever get to admitting defeat before his hold begins to crumble.

The address had several audiences. For one, it aimed to deter the West from supporting Ukraine by raising the specter of nuclear escalation in defense of annexed territories that will soon become part of the “Motherland.” At home, Putin tried to keep hardline nationalist critics of the conduct of Russia’s military operation at bay by showing that the Kremlin is doubling down on its efforts in the Donbas — while also scrupulously seeking to avoid alienating wider swathes of Russia’s population by pursuing only a “partial” mobilization. . .

If the special military operation was going according to plan, as the Russian officialdom was assuring Russians until today, why has it suddenly become “necessary to support the proposal of the Defense Ministry and the General Staff” to mobilize?

Mobilizing the wider population carries political risks, which is why the Kremlin hesitated until now and why only around 300,000 men will be called to serve, according to the government. Already on Wednesday night, Russian cities saw sizeable protests — at least as measured by standards of a country where public expressions of discontent with the war may land one in jail for 10 or more years. Meanwhile, prices of one-way tickets out of Russia skyrocketed (until 18- to 34-year-old men were banned from leaving the country) and “how to break an arm at home” became a top search term on Russian search engines.

Militarily, calling on the reservists is a desperate move, though congruent with reports of extraordinarily high attrition that Russia is suffering in Ukraine. Normally, months of specialized training would be needed for reservists to fight effectively. Even then, an army needs weapons, equipment, and supplies — all of which are in short supply in Russia. Inevitably, thousands of the undertrained, undermotivated, and undersupplied reservists are bound to die tragic deaths at their first contact with Ukraine’s experienced and well-equipped fighting force — a fact that is a matter of indifference to Putin and his circle, as long as the elite’s children remain exempt from service. (Read more from “Putin Bluster Is All Bluff — He’s Losing at Home and in Ukraine” HERE)

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Russia’s Former President Quotes Revelation, Warns the West Will Burn With Fire

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Western “half-wits” from “stupid think tanks” are leading their countries down the road of nuclear armageddon with their hybrid war against Moscow, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel on Tuesday. Endlessly funneling weapons and support to Ukraine while pretending not to be directly involved in the conflict will not work, added the deputy chair of the Russian Security Council.

The “security guarantees” proposal unveiled by Kiev on Tuesday was “really a prologue to the Third World War,” said Medvedev, calling it a “hysterical appeal” to Western countries engaged in a proxy war against Russia.

If the West continues its “unrestrained pumping of the Kiev regime with the most dangerous types of weapons,” Russia’s military campaign will move to the next level, where “visible boundaries and potential predictability of actions by the parties to the conflict” will be erased and the conflict will take on a life of its own, as wars always do, Medvedev argued.

“And then the Western nations will not be able to sit in their clean homes, laughing at how they carefully weaken Russia by proxy. Everything will be on fire around them. Their people will harvest their grief in full. The land will be on fire and the concrete will melt,” Medvedev wrote, before citing a Bible verse from Revelations 9:18.

“Yet still the narrow-minded politicians and their stupid think tanks, thoughtfully twirling a glass of wine in their hands, talk about how they can deal with us without entering into a direct war. Dull idiots with a classical education,” Medvedev wrote. (Read more from “Russia’s Former President Quotes Revelation, Warns the West Will Burn With Fire” HERE)

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Double Trouble: Xi-Putin Summit Produces Pledge of a United Front on World Stage

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to forge closer ties during a summit in Central Asia on Thursday that included a discussion of Chinese support for Russia’s troubled invasion of Ukraine and Russian support for Beijing’s claims to Taiwan.

The get-together in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the first meeting between the two leaders since Mr. Putin ordered the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, took place on the sidelines of a regional summit.

“China is ready to work with Russia in extending strong support to each other on issues concerning their respective core interests,” Mr. Xi said during the meeting, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Mr. Xi used the meeting, part of his first trip outside China’s borders since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in Wuhan in late 2019, to highlight the joint efforts of the authoritarian governments of China and Russia to become leading world powers and challenge what they say is the “unipolar” dominance of the United States.

“In the face of historical changes in the world and times, as major countries, China is willing to work together with Russia to play a leading role and to inject stability into the turbulent world,” Mr. Xi said. (Read more from “Double Trouble: Xi-Putin Summit Produces Pledge of a United Front on World Stage” HERE)

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More Than 30 Russian Officials Calling For Putin’s Resignation

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More than 30 Russian city officials have risked prison sentences to call for the resignation of Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Monday.

The petition, signed by dozens of officials after it was posted by Xenia Torstrem, a municipal deputy in St. Petersburg’s Semyonovsky District, condemned Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which has lasted for nearly seven months.

“We, the municipal deputies of Russia, believe that the actions of President Vladimir Putin harm the future of Russia and its citizens,” a translation of the petition reads. “We demand the resignation of Vladimir Putin from the post of President of the Russian Federation!”

The petition was mostly signed by municipal deputies in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but city officials from Samara and Yakutsk, among others, have also signed the petition. Approximately 84 additional signatures have been added to the petition, though they are still being verified, according to Torstrem. (Read more from “More Than 30 Russian Officials Calling For Putin’s Resignation” HERE)

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Russian Energy Exec Falls From Boat in Latest Mystery Death

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A high-level executive in Russia’s energy sector has died after apparently falling off a boat over the weekend, becoming the latest Russian powerbroker to perish under mysterious circumstances.

Ivan Pechorin, 39, managing director of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (ERDC), was sailing off the coast of Russky Island in the Sea of Japan on Saturday when he fell overboard from the speeding vessel.

His body was recovered from the water on Monday following an extended search.

Only days earlier, Pechorin had attended the Eastern Economic Forum, which was hosted by President Vladimir Putin in Valdivostok.

“Ivan’s death is an irreparable loss for friends and colleagues, a great loss for the corporation,” ERDC said in a statement posted on its website. (Read more from “Russian Energy Exec Falls From Boat in Latest Mystery Death” HERE)

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Putin Faces Backlash From Russian Bloggers Amid Retreat: ‘Horrible Failure’

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing backlash from pro-Kremlin bloggers amid his military’s “horrible failure” in Ukraine.

Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, banking on his vast military to propel him to a quick victory. However, Ukraine met his troops with a stronger-than-expected defense effort, bolstered by aid from allies including the United States. In recent days, Ukraine has ramped up counteroffensives in Russian-occupied territory, allowing Kyiv to make massive gains more than six months into the conflict.

Ukraine launched a surprise counteroffensive in the areas around Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city. In recent days, Ukrainian forces seized control of key cities such as Izyum and Kupyansk, forcing Russian soldiers to retreat as experts see Ukraine building momentum.

Despite worldwide condemnation due to alleged human-rights abuses committed by the Russian military and a lack of justification for the war, many in Russia rallied around Putin. However, these Ukrainian victories have seen some hardline pro-Russia bloggers, who for months cheered on the Russian leader’s invasion, turn on him. (Read more from “Putin Faces Backlash From Russian Bloggers Amid Retreat: ‘Horrible Failure'” HERE)

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Ukrainian Forces ‘Outsmarted the Russians’ With U.S. Artillery

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An ongoing counteroffensive has reclaimed “more than a thousand square kilometers” from invading Russian forces over the last week, according to an update from Ukraine’s president released hours after a visit from Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Within the ongoing defense operations, our heroes have already liberated dozens of settlements,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his latest update. “And today this movement continued, there are new results. In total, more than a thousand square kilometers of our territory have been liberated since September 1.”

Blinken vouched for the “clear and real progress” that Ukrainian forces have made without corroborating the specific amount of land that Zelensky touted. But his arrival evinced the growing optimism in Western circles about Ukraine’s battlefield prospects amid a multipronged operation in both the prized southern region of Kherson and the city of Kharkiv farther north.

“It’s very early, but we’re seeing clear and real progress on the ground, particularly in the area around Kherson but also some interesting developments in the Donbas in the east,” Blinken told reporters in Kyiv. “But again, early days.” (Read more from “Ukrainian Forces ‘Outsmarted the Russians’ With U.S. Artillery” HERE)

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Ukraine Accuses Russia of ‘Preparing for a Decisive Energy Attack on All Europeans’ This Winter

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of using energy as a weapon by keeping a critical pipeline to Germany shut down in recent days, exacerbating electricity and natural gas shortfalls ahead of the winter months.

“Russia wants to destroy the normal life of every European — in all countries of our continent,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Saturday.

“Where Russia cannot do it by force of conventional weapons, it does so by force of energy weapons. It is trying to attack with poverty and political chaos where it cannot yet attack with missiles. This winter, Russia is preparing for a decisive energy attack on all Europeans.”

Russian energy company Gazprom has blamed technical problems for this week’s shutdown of Nord Stream 1, saying that oil leaks in turbines must be fixed before natural gas flows resume. (Read more from “Ukraine Accuses Russia of ‘Preparing for a Decisive Energy Attack on All Europeans’ This Winter” HERE)

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Russian Businessmen Keep Dying in Mysterious Ways

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At least eight prominent Russian businessmen have died under unusual circumstances this year, including by apparent suicide or unexplained accidents.

Six of the men were connected to Russia’s two largest energy companies, Gazprom and Lukoil. The most recent death occurred Thursday when Lukoil’s chairman, Ravil Maganov, fell out of a hospital window. Lukoil released a statement afterward claiming that Maganov’s death followed a serious illness.

“Lukoil’s many thousands of employees mourn deeply for this grievous loss and express their sincere condolences to Ravil Maganov’s family,” the company said, according to Reuters.

In May, another manager from Lukoil, Alexander Subbotin, was found dead near Moscow, according to the Russian news agency TASS. . .

Leonid Shulman, the former head of transport at Gazprom, was the first businessman to die this year. Police near Leningrad, where Shulman was found, are investigating the death as a suicide after a note was discovered on the scene, CNN reported. (Read more from “Russian Businessmen Keep Dying in Mysterious Ways” HERE)

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Russian Forces ‘Under-Manned’ as Ukraine Begins Counteroffensive: U.K.

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Russian forces are likely “under-manned” in Kherson, the U.K. Ministry of Defense has said, as Ukraine on Monday said it had started its counteroffensive in the southern region of the country that was taken by Moscow in the early days of the war.

Ukraine has been carrying out strikes on bridges in the region, key supply lines for the Russian army from the occupied Crimean Peninsula to southern Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said Monday that they have been using the U.S.-supplied HIMARS weapons to carry out successful strikes. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also vowed to take back Russian-held Crimea and Kherson. The Black Sea peninsula has been occupied by Russia since it illegally annexed the region in 2014.

Kyiv on Monday said its forces had “broken through” Russian defenses, while the latter’s military said it had successfully repelled an offensive by Ukrainian troops, who suffered “heavy losses.” Newsweek has not been able to independently verify these claims. (Read more from “Russian Forces ‘Under-Manned’ as Ukraine Begins Counteroffensive: U.K.” HERE)

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