The third military September begins with frontline activity in the Pokrovsk area, Putin’s flight to Mongolia and the arrests of more of Shoigu’s friends. The leaders of the American Democratic Party disavow Cain’s support of the Kremlin, but, as before, are slow to help Ukraine. However, they will not decide the fate of Putinism.
They don’t like the enemies of the Nazis.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces are digging in in the Kursk region. The Russian Armed Forces are increasing pressure in the Pokrovsk area. Several settlements have been lost. At one time, there were reports that the front had almost collapsed, but in vain. At the moment, the advance of Putin’s troops has been stopped, although Pokrovsk is still under threat.
The Kremlin’s failures are compensated for by cruelty. Just now, a video of the murder of a captured Ukrainian, who is accused of the most terrible thing – defending his country from marauders and rapists, has been circulating the Internet. The killer openly blurted out: “We came to liberate this land from the enemies of Nazism.”
Z-bloggers managed to rejoice after the news about Strelkov’s upcoming deployment to the front, but the commander’s wife said it was fake. So, he won’t help his native army. But Lukashenko provided moral support by moving several armoured units to the border with Ukraine.
Speaking at the EEF, Putin stated that the priority goal of the SVO is “the liberation of Donbass and the Kursk region.” Alaudinov argues with him in absentia, stating that the Russian Federation has already won the war. Indeed, why grieve? Moscow still belongs to them.
Thieves and Sobchak
The tradition of internal purges in the Russian Federation continues unabated. At the end of August, the handcuffs slammed behind the back of former Deputy Defence Minister Pavel Popov. It turned out that he, like all the Kremlin military leaders, was stealing like crazy, having acquired real estate worth 500 million rubles. It is clear that this was not why he was arrested: he was too close to Shoigu. By the way, the son of this general openly traded military equipment and ammunition on the Internet. An enterprising guy!
On 2 August Valery Mumindzhanov, deputy commander of the Leningrad Military District, was taken by the gills. As head of the Department of Resource Provision of the Russian Ministry of Defence, he supplied the army with uniforms worth one and a half billion rubles and pocketed 20 million. Of course, it’s petty compared to Popov. But the appropriation of a three-room apartment by former deputy minister for emergencies, Pavel Baryshev looks even more petty. A criminal case was opened against him on 6 September.
Ksenia Sobchak has sensed the new trends, now openly praising Margarita Simonyan and calling for support for Putin’s troops, because it is a shame for Kursk. Indeed, according to complaints from Z-war correspondents, the grassroots simply ignore the interests of Putin’s army. They are “for” in words, but in reality, they rent out houses to soldiers at exorbitant prices.
The internal jitters are being fuelled by Ukrainian drone strikes on Moscow. In particular, a few days ago, the Russian government building caught fire for some unknown reason. Of course, Putin doesn’t feel sorry for the ministers, but he’s a bit scared. He dreams of Poltava and Lviv, for which retribution is coming.
Everyday life in the prison of nations
Fear is fear, but the desire to retain power is stronger. Especially since the loss of power means death. Hence the “daring” (according to the Kremlin resident’s plan) trip to a country that signed the Rome Statute. Mongolia turned out to be easier to push through than Armenia and South Africa. On the way, the despot stopped in Tuva.
Schoolchildren from the most disadvantaged region of the Russian Federation listened with their mouths open to the geostrategist’s stories about the successes of the Russian Armed Forces in Donbas and how the little members of his family spoke Chinese fluently. It seems that no one dared to tell him that the Tuvans have no relation to the Chinese. Neither in the linguistic nor in the religious sense.
They also didn’t tell Putin that there are places in Tuva where “veterans of the SVO” are better off not going. And this applies not only to the wolf’s corners, just as there was no Soviet power, so there is no Putin’s either. Even in Kyzyl, they can beat up a “military guest”. However, the authorities take it out on those who are weaker. For example, recently reports were drawn up against the parents of a Kyzyl ninth-grader: on 1 September, he threw leaflets of the local United Russia party into the trash.
At the end of August, a government document appeared, which showed that the youth in the Russian Federation today is not the same. They are drawn to the Western way of life and style of behaviour, which results in cosmopolitanism, apoliticality and deviation. It smells like late Stalinism. As is well known, Putinists consider love for the Motherland and the desire to protect it from obscurantists (which is what the Ukrainian Armed Forces are doing now) to be a deviation. They are worried about apoliticality in vain. Yes, Putin’s orcs are sometimes beaten without words, without making any political demands – but they are unlikely to gain much from this.
The overall number of crimes involving minors has seemingly decreased, but this does not apply to all acts. The number of particularly serious crimes in this category has jumped by almost a quarter, breaking a five-year record. It is not hard to guess that many of these “crimes” are such only from the point of view of Putin’s crooked justice. The time will come when streets named after partisans, underground fighters, and fighters against tyranny will appear on the streets of the cities of the former empire.
Older citizens also understand where they live and who rules them. For example, in May of this year in Chita, one of such citizens beheaded “SVO veteran” Alexander Tolstonogov. On 17 August in the same Chita, another orc was stabbed to death. This was done by two residents of Buryatia. And in Buryatia itself, as in Tuva, Putin’s medal-bearers are not allowed to open their mouths anywhere.
They will decide the fate of Putinism
The Kremlin ruler’s Azerbaijani and Mongolian voyages seem successful for him. Another thing is that no one agrees to be friends with the Russian Federation for free. Ulaanbaatar gets cheap electricity in exchange. Baku gets a renunciation of its great-power ambitions in the region. The Russian Federation also gets something. The Buryats and Tuvans clearly see that it is useless to pin hopes on Khurelsukh; there is no point in the Bashkirs and Tatars turning to Aliyev for intercession and Erdogan, who is now pushing his way into BRICS.
Putin hastened to smear Kamala Harris with his “support”. The Democrats now have another reason to think: is their assistance to Ukraine really that effective? At least, the hero of the occasion is not only not afraid, but also intends to prolong his life indefinitely. On 5 September, he instructed the court alchemists from the Russian Academy of Sciences to create an elixir of eternal life. This is what “science” looks like in the Russian Federation of 2024.
The fate of Putinism will not be decided by Aliyev and Khurelsukh, or even Kamala Harris. The elixir is useless when there are heroes capable of shooting a regime military commissar or beheading a “veteran of the SVO”. Putin and his henchmen will be met with a scythe from the people, from the streets and back alleys, from safe houses and partisan hideouts.
Fedor Shaporenko
