This year, Ukraine’s Independence Day will be celebrated not only in Kyiv but also in Sudzha. This is the result that Putin’s state has achieved in two and a half years of full-scale war. Well, that’s already impressive. The Kremlin is shaking a rusty bomb over the planet, while simultaneously trying to pander to the global South. Equipment with the flag of free Belarus is appearing in Russia. Kadyrov’s men are giving other Russians the full right to fight in their place. Chechnya has been occupied for a long time, but for how much longer now?
Bridges, jailers and Lenin
The Kursk operation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces continues. On 13 August the offensive on Korenevo began. Several columns of the Russian Armed Forces have already been eliminated. Three bridges over the River Seim were destroyed – on 16, 18 and 19 August. Up to a thousand of Putin’s soldiers found themselves in a cauldron, cut off from the main part of the Glushkovsky district. New cauldrons are appearing. The holes are being plugged with conscripts, but not only. For example, on 19 August the personnel of the nuclear strike warning station (“space infantry”) were withdrawn to defend the Kursk region. A day later, the Russian Ministry of Defence created the “Belgorod”, “Bryansk” and “Kursk” groups. This is a symbolic line based on the names of Russian cities. Will “Moscow” and “Saint-Leningrad” soon get their turn?
Several thousand prisoners were taken. Among them are about a hundred Federal Penitentiary Service employees from the IK-3 colony. If by 12 August the Ukrainian Armed Forces confidently controlled 1,000 square kilometres and 74 settlements, then three days later they already controlled 1,150 square kilometres and 82 settlements, and by 20 August – 1,263 sq. km. and 93 settlements. To manage all this, on 15 August it was necessary to create a military commandant’s office headed by Major General Eduard Moskalyov. The attitude of the population towards Ukrainians is generally restrained and benevolent. True, grief befell the communists: a monument to Lenin was toppled in Sudzha.
Putin’s men, beaten in battle, cut off the head of a prisoner. A typical reaction. “Not having the strength and courage to confront us on the battlefield,” as President Zelensky noted long ago. Mean-spirited sadism constitutes the state essence of Putinism and embodies its spiritual bonds and traditional values.
Where there is war, there is looting. In some areas of the Kursk region, residents have switched to self-service. Ukrainians emphasize: this is not ours, this is yours. Still, no one will outdo Putin’s friends on the scale of nationwide theft. Another three billion rubles have been stolen from national projects alone this year.
The interior facade of the empire
Of course, the Kremlin is snapping back. On 17 August, for example, Putin’s pilots dropped a KAB on a residential building in Mirnograd, Donetsk Oblast. Although the main actions to protect the regime are being taken internally. The forced de-anonymization of bloggers with ten thousand followers marks a new stage in the imposition of censorship. It doesn’t matter that the Kremlin primarily hits its own. The main thing is to make them afraid.
The serfs are afraid. According to FOM, the level of trust in Putin has grown to 80% in a week. A little more, and he will catch up with Ceausescu and Gaddafi. They have gone, as is known, into the astral plane of unearthly popular love.
The Kremlin reciprocates. Through the mouths of its propagandists like Narotchnitskaya, who proposed carpet bombing of the Kursk region. “Otherwise we will lose!” Shakhnazarov bleats in fear. The imperial nomenclature is ready to burn up the entire population of the Russian Federation in the furnace of its war. It was for the right to dispose of the lives of its subjects that the Putinites began this war ten years ago. First a “hybrid” one, then a frontline one.
The Global South Against Putinism
Many laugh at the Russian authorities, who are madly concerned with global problems further south and east. First, the Kremlin representative to the UN Security Council raised the issue of Gaza, and a few days later Putin flew to Baku. He even visited Beslan! (This is in the Russian Federation.) The empire is sprawled on the carpets of the “global South”.
But southerners should not be deceived. On 19 August a bill was introduced to the State Duma to ban the resettlement of labour migrants’ families to the Russian Federation. The Kremlin needs them only as slave labour. Just like Russians, by the way. While Kadyrov’s men are singing the praises of their Internet exploits, the Milchakites from Rusich are openly announcing a ritual of sacrifice that is being prepared. They are looking for a person of non-Slavic appearance to play the role of the victim.
At the same time, Putin recently signed a decree according to which a residence permit will be granted to anyone, even those who do not speak Russian if they accept the traditional values of the rack and the whip. A good symbol of this week: the Yaroslavl pro-government businessman-egg-eater Elman Azizov, dressed as an Egyptian pharaoh harnessing his slaves to a cart.
The empire can only be confronted with international solidarity. Incidentally, a tank under the white-red-white flag recently appeared in the Kursk region. On the other side, according to some reports, Lukashenko’s punitive forces are taking part in the battles. This is not only a war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine; it is a war between oppressors and free people.
Heroes of the rear battles
At the forefront, the environment of “Putin’s loyal foot soldier” is spinning in an intricate sub-dance. On 9 August Kadyrov promised “good results” within two or three days. Now Alaudinov promises the same within two or three months. At this rate, it will soon reach the measurement in centuries. Fighting against free people is not the same as beating up unarmed people.
The special fast-running unit “Akhmat” has a new slogan: “They won’t catch us.” It’s high time to turn on the song of the same name by “Tatu.” By the way, the “infantrymen” run extremely poorly. Moreover, the brave Kadyrovites, led by the elite fighter Yusuf Abdulvadudov, can’t even properly rob a mobile phone store.
What are these warriors good for anyway? Heartbreaking stories about the sexual perversions of the padishah’s guards are appearing. It is no wonder that soldiers from other units try to interact with them less and surrender to the Ukrainians more often. However, Kadyrov’s men themselves also willingly surrender when there is nowhere to run.
Alaudinov remains the hero of the day. Sometimes he boldly criticizes the Russian Defence Ministry, sometimes he declares that the Ukrainian Armed Forces offensive has been stopped. On 19 August he declared that Russians should have more children to give their lives in the fight for the Russian Reich (or to please his fellow soldiers). “Why does this country need you and your children?” The answer is obvious. To die for Putler or for Kadyr Khan.
The behaviour of the Akhmatovites in the Kursk region shows what their loyalty to the Kremlin is worth. They are ready to serve the empire as long as everything is stable. But today there is stability, and tomorrow it is gone.
Will Chechnya Wake Up?
Kadyrov himself seems to be doing well. He recently boasted about a car that Musk himself allegedly gave him. When the American businessman was asked to comment on the situation, he simply turned off the Tesla software remotely. How can he flee the battlefield now?
Behind the comedy of the recent Nobel laureate’s adventures is hidden the tragedy of the Chechen people. The resistance has been driven deep underground by brutal repressions, but the empire, having received a blow from outside, is splitting open in cracks all over the field. The events in Kursk demonstrate: that Kadyrov’s policemen are running from the onslaught. Many useful conclusions can be drawn from this lesson.
Chechnya will wake up sooner or later. Other nations will wake up too. The empire will eventually be destroyed.
Fedor Shaporenko
