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Russian banks, oligarchs, and technology imports have been the targets of West Europe and the US sanctions. But ordinary Russians' economic lives haven't being affected much since the war in Ukraine, when they were placed under extensive restrictions meant to decrease Moscow's war chest. Joblessness rate hasn't increases, no plunging money and no lines at banks. The arrangement at the general store is minimal changed, with worldwide brands still accessible or local substitutes replacing them. At some Moscow malls, crowds may have decreased, but not significantly. Local brands have replacing McDonald and Starbucks
A local once said, "Economically, nothing has changed". He still goes to work and shopping like before the war. Well, maybe the prices of some items have gone up a little, but not so much that it's obvious.

I'm surprised about your article, did you research at all before you penned this down? I doubt that. Economically, there is no way such magnitude of sanctions would be meted on an economy that it will not affect it. Many countries of the world cut ties with Russia, so it's affecting their Employment, Trade balance, GDP and many more. The economy of Russia is contrasting at a slow pace and economists around the world fear more over time.

According to IMF, Russia's export dropped by 15.98% in 2022 and expect imports to increase by 5.6% and export by 3% in 2023. This equation is simply not in favour of Russia.

Also, Russia's GDP dropped an average of 3.05% in 2022 when the best and worse scenarios are averaged, and the economy expects worsen in 2023. The graph below is from europa.eu, it should tell you something.

https://i.imgur.com/wSFZ31g.png

It shows that the GDP has broken down from its ranged level since 2018, which might be a sign of more stress to the economy over time.

However, unemployment has not been noticeable much in the country, thanks to government efforts and measures to counter it. But for how long?

In fact, the Russian ruble is currently depreciating against the US dollar. 

At the same time, the depreciation of the national currency is very significant.  Some economists predict the exchange rate - 1 US dollar = 100 Russian rubles as early as this 2023. 

Yes, there is a gradual replacement of foreign brands with Russian (Turkish, Chinese brands) in stores.  At the same time, a paradox arises - European brands are actively leaving Russia, while American brands remain.  At the same time, all McDonald's restaurants in Russia were closed.  Instead, they are now restaurants of the Vkusno i Tochka brand.  At the same time, food and household goods are becoming more expensive in Russia, and tariffs for utilities and electricity are rising. 

But the most important thing is not in the state of the economy.  The most important thing for people is the general mood of the nation for a progressive positive future. 

If there is no such attitude, then this is a disaster.

I have Russian engineer friend currently living in Moscow. He is NOT pro-Putin or pro-war. I generally asked about how things are going there. He told me there are no visible issues with everyday life. People go to work and spend, just like before war. But he said that electronics are getting bit more uncommon, prices raised etc. He said that even if economy is damaged, a lot, I mean in long range, Putin's approval rate increased (he said he disliked it and voted different party etc). He said he feels like Putin will keep winning as economical effects are under control, for now at least.

Is it false that Russians are leaving a country? Is it false that a lot of money is going every day from Russia to other countries?
By the way, do you only talk about Moscow or about the whole Russia? If Moscow gets affected, I don't think Putin will end up well. Think about what's happening outside of Moscow because all the resources from other cities/towns is always spent on Moscow.
Definitely no one wants to see people feeling and living bad but the aim of economic sanctions is to push Russians to change Putin but that's not gonna happen, I believe. But long-term, the situation will go worse for Russia, that's for sure. One year and two years don't radically change the fate of such a big country.

Does anyone really think that Russian elections are purely dependent on proportion of votes? I remember Putin briefly said that his government won't let other powers to come in government because it may be dangerous for Russia. I remember he said it when one journalist asked him a question about Navalny.
I hope that no one believes that Russian statistics regarding the popularity of Putin is true. Well, if you go out and your friends who were Anti-Putin turned into Pro-Putin, then that's a very sad news.

When you end your story with a thing that can be checked by anyone with an internet connection and it's absolutely fake you might have to go back to the very first word and start the speech once more with the opposite view:

https://i.ibb.co/L6Kvyrs/62067274.png

Must be that dedollarization everyone is talking about, with a dollar being worth half of their GDP, nobody affording even one cent unless they sell their kidneys on top of their house and cars and thus making it impossible to use the dollar. Smart plan!  ;D Never thought of this! Must be that 5D chess strategy that took Kyiv in 3 days.


Bruh, don't bring data to a propaganda topic, you might confuse the poor fellow!  ;D
Oh and one thing, I don't doubt unemployment is down in Russia, with 300 000 dead and maimed for life and a further 400 000 kidnapped from the streets to serve in the military pretty obvious a ton of job openings are available right now!

You forgot about the prisons that were cleaned of tens of thousands of prisoners who chose 6 months of war to maybe get their freedom. Although most of them did not return, I read a few days ago that some of them survived and committed a new crime immediately after returning home, and were again sent to prison. Will the main orchestrator give them another chance?

You know what they say, statistics are important, and it doesn't matter how you reduced unemployment - 10 years ago my country had about 500 000 unemployed, last year we issued over 120 000 work permits to foreigners, and for the government that is a success. All these politicians are the same, only their methods differ.

At all times, Moscow and St. Petersburg were supplied with everything necessary to the maximum, and the rest of the territory according to the residual principle. Therefore, the state of affairs in these two cities does not reflect an objective picture throughout Russia. In addition, Russia, of course, has a large margin of safety, which is now rapidly decreasing. Therefore, for the time being, the appearance of relative prosperity remains. The National Wealth Fund of Russia is catastrophically decreasing, the budget deficit has been growing rapidly in recent months, and the gold reserves are starting to run out. If Putin's life lasts another year and, accordingly, the war in Ukraine continues, all this will be clearly seen by the Russians by the end of this year.

Congratulations to the Russians on new improvements and digitalization, a deeper penetration of high technologies into your life! Now life will be much more convenient :)

The State Duma adopted in the second and third readings a law on changing the rules for notifying citizens about their appearance at events related to conscription for military service.

If the person liable for military service does not come to the military commissariat within 20 days after receiving the notification from the military commissar for a digital signature, other sanctions will be imposed: a restriction on driving and registering a vehicle, a restriction on opening an individual entrepreneur or obtaining the status of a self-employed person. In addition, they may apply to transactions with real estate, land plots, as well as to obtaining loans and credits.

https://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/361804-7

Now the "homeland of the Russians" will send the Russians to be slaughtered electronically, and if someone has not read the agenda, this is his problem. Russian citizen - go die for Putin's crazy complexes!

This is what I wrote about - the third wave of mobilization, which plans to recruit another 300,000 to 500,000 residents of Russia to continue the "meat assaults" in Ukraine ....

In Russia, there is another trend - the introduction of a digital ruble (CBDC). 

The project was planned to be launched from April 1, 2023, but serious technical difficulties arose during its implementation.  However, I do not rule out that all these technical problems will eventually be resolved. 

Firstly, in the Russian Federation, the prime minister is the former head of the tax service, Mishustin.  Mishustin is a very systematic person who managed to organize electronic digital document management in the field of taxes and fees.  From a technical point of view, the tax system in Russia functions perfectly. 

Secondly, specialists from China can be involved in the creation of the digital ruble. 

If a digital ruble is created in Russia, it will make it possible to force people to do the “right” actions, under the threat of a complete ban on the use of their money.  Blacklisted people will not be able to buy the goods, works and services they need. 

At present, this looks like a utopia, but in the future it is possible (and not only in Russia).

Yes I watched a couple of Youtube channels that discussed before and after war. Most of the Russia YouTubers says it is just like normal life the price is normal although some brand is missing from the country and some if just Re-Brand their name.

and you true about electronics the price is getting expensive like heater or etc.

1 Year ago I watched another youtube video that talk about "Putin is smart, our leaders are dumb": Trump blasts US response to Ukraine crisis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLJvCuWuRXk

I live in Russia, in a province quite far from Moscow. I can't say that in economic terms nothing has changed over the year - some things got better, some things got worse. In general, people here live an ordinary normal life.

Probably the most significant change after the imposition of sanctions - we had to change the dry food for the cat. Previously, the cat ate Royal Canin food, at some point this food began to rise sharply in price and I had to switch to dry food from a local manufacturer, which is better in composition and cheaper in price. I myself also faced sanctions restrictions when I recently wanted to buy summer sneakers, it turned out that Adidas left Russia and I had to buy local brand sneakers. I can’t say that it upset me a lot, the cat doesn’t complain either.

I will not totally agree that the war did not affect Russians negatively. But I will believe that this invasion have both affected the economy of Russia positively and negatively. Russians are now buying locally made products which is a good thing to the Russian economy. Local industries now have less competition from foreign product which will make them make profit and increase employment opportunities. Russians have been forced to negotiate trade using the Russian Ruble which help to reduce their overreliance on the US dollars. The negative implication is that there are lesser foreign direct investment, limited product substitute, unemployment and reduced transfer of technology.

But I will also accept that the US and NATO underestimated the Russian economy. They thought their multiple sanctions will cripple the invader's economy, but they were surprise that their predictions failed. It is clear that Russia have prepared for this war and the resultant sanctions. The economy seems to be sanction proof.           

Their overall growth decreased based on the stats so you may not witnessing in your locality but Russia is one of the biggest land based nation so you can assist the national situation from your city.

Also Russia has some grip on their hands so managed to do some international trades even though after the sanction along with western countries depends on the oil of Russia so for now it's not a great hit in their economy but every country is looking for alternatives of oil and gas which will bring new dimension in the upcoming years.

Do you know if people outside are less open to doing business with you? I know I worked with several freelancers before who had to close their accounts on several platforms. Crypto-accepting people are probably less affected, they still have the means to transact, but I'm understanding from anecdotal evidence that clients are less willing to work with them (without actually saying it's because they're Russian).

If there is an effect, there is an impact on revenue coming from outside.

That's what they expect like Russia's economy will crumble and Russians to experience hardships after sanctions. They are happy to see people go hungry like in other countries that were sanctioned before.

But there must be an effect to the sanctions which is most likely the prices of necessities as well except maybe the gas. And you can consider it an effect also that Putin is more determined to take a chunk of Ukraine.

When many began to "clap their hands" about "the CBDC will come, the dollar will die" and "cryptocurrency wins", I warned - CBDC is an instrument of POWER and TOTAL control. The very concept of CBDC is to
1. Minimize, or reduce to 0, any uncontrolled movement of funds from the population
2. implement mechanisms for full CONTROL of funds.
What is this about?
1. Any transaction in the CBDC network will be controlled, and the entire history of your transactions can be easily traced. Moreover, in such a network it is extremely easy to identify LINKS between "financial partners".
2. Any of your cents will be blocked as soon as you become a "suspicious person". It's just an account and there is money on it, but you can't pay anything with it. People will no longer own their money.

But someone sees a fabulous dream "there will be no hegemony of the dollar", not realizing that when such a solution is launched in the country where the "rejoicing" person lives, he will not have any money at some point :)

And for Russia - yes, it is also the raising of the "financial iron curtain" from within the country, so that no one can withdraw a penny anywhere, bypassing state control. And fleeing a country without money is still a "pleasure"

How do you feel about recruiters walking around town handing out conscription notes? Not long ago there was an article that they're planning to send summons through email and mobile phones and if you ignore them you'll get your driving license suspended and won't be able to get a loan.
On one hand Russians are doing fine because they're alive, have a place to live, food in stores, Internet, but on the other a lot of products disappeared from stores, they don't have enough paper to print labels and car parts for EU and US made cars. Russians seem to be fine because they used to drive Ladas and will probably drive them 10 years from now, but all is not as good as they're painting it.

No war has ever left a country the same, or better than it meet it, except it's not a war.
And to consider the sanctions from various parts of the world, there is no way you tell me that Russia will remain the same, or better than it was before, I did some research before deciding to comment here, but I don't want to comment based on my research, as that would mean me giving statistics other users already gave here, I want my comment to be casual..

The war have affect Russia negatively on several parts, though it could be possible that some might not feel it, most especially those that are well to do, but that you do not feel something does not mean it's not there, in as much as employment seems not to be a problem, there are still those who have lost their jobs, lost loved ones, lost valuable assets and investment, lost business connections with foreign partners etc, for this kind of people, will you stand in front of them and tell them that Russia is still the same as it was before the war began? Of course not.

A familiar lady made beautiful handmade dolls, which were willingly bought by collectors from France, it seems that now she has stopped doing this. Now she is engaged in interior design, she is doing well.

Several familiar programmers working remotely for Western companies were forced to relocate with their families after the start of a special operation in Ukraine - to Georgia, Turkey, Italy and Canada. Hope they are doing well too.

Freelancers and small businesses, of course, were hit harder than others by the sanctions, just as a year earlier they also suffered from the lockdown and the pandemic. I think this is normal, even without sanctions and a pandemic, they usually suffer the most, this is the way.

1. I don't care, I haven't seen any of them. I heard something similar happened last fall in big cities, in my city there was nothing like that. Summons to the military commissariat were mainly sent through the personnel departments of large enterprises.
2. Nothing is missing, there is no shortage of goods in any direction. It’s just that some goods have become more expensive and you have to wait a bit, but in general, the system of parallel imports works well, through Turkey or the UAE.

A lot of Russians and Ukrainians live in Türkiye now. In some areas they outnumber Turkish people. Especially the rich Russians came here and live a comfortable life. When I talk to my friends in Russia, they say that life there isn't too bad either. The public wasn't affected much by the sanctions. Politically there isn't much difference either. Just as Russia has been governed for years, so is Türkiye, by the same one man. Only those who come here from a democratic country can understand the negative effects of this. For the Russians this isn't a problem.

Yea, NATO underestimated the Russian economy but the sanctions are not meant to cripple their economy immediately. It's a slow process. The problem I have with sanctions is that they are not on Putin, they affect the whole economy and the common man. Sanction does nothing to Putin directly, he's still protected, and he is still powerful even if his country suffers in the long run. The Russian Ruble has been losing value but that doesn't affect him. Inflation is increasing in the country, but that doesn't affect him, soldiers and civilians and dying but that doesn't affect him.

As for the ruble, I doubt foreign traders will accept it as a means of payment. I mean, what are they to do with it? It will be difficult for them to exchange it. That's a very unpopular currency right now. I don't think even Chinese traders will eagerly accept it. That is why Russia is trading with the yuan, and trading with the yuan adds no significant progress to their economy, it's just swapping one foreign currency for another. So instead of strengthening the dollar, they are strengthening the yuan.

When many began to "clap their hands" about "the CBDC will come, the dollar will die" and "cryptocurrency wins", I warned - CBDC is an instrument of POWER and TOTAL control. The very concept of CBDC is to
1. Minimize, or reduce to 0, any uncontrolled movement of funds from the population
2. implement mechanisms for full CONTROL of funds.
What is this about?
1. Any transaction in the CBDC network will be controlled, and the entire history of your transactions can be easily traced. Moreover, in such a network it is extremely easy to identify LINKS between "financial partners".
2. Any of your cents will be blocked as soon as you become a "suspicious person". It's just an account and there is money on it, but you can't pay anything with it. People will no longer own their money.

But someone sees a fabulous dream "there will be no hegemony of the dollar", not realizing that when such a solution is launched in the country where the "rejoicing" person lives, he will not have any money at some point :)

And for Russia - yes, it is also the raising of the "financial iron curtain" from within the country, so that no one can withdraw a penny anywhere, bypassing state control. And fleeing a country without money is still a "pleasure"

International sanctions are imposed not only against the initiators of the aggressive war in Ukraine, but also against the country as a whole, its military-industrial complex, economy, legal entities and all citizens in general, in order to make them realize the criminal nature of the seizure of foreign territories in the 21st century in the center of Europe and encourage concrete action to end it. Sanctions are designed to reduce the financing of the war, and therefore Putin alone cannot do here. It is absolutely logical that every Russian will eventually feel the negative consequences of the attack on Ukraine, and not only those living today, but also their descendants, who will have to pay reparations to Ukraine for the material and moral damage caused for a long time to come. The sanctions are only gaining momentum, so the worst time for the Russians is ahead and they need to get used to it.

It will be necessary to pay for the pleasure of killing, torturing, robbing and raping in Ukraine, to pay to all Russians, without exception, who could not prevent and then stop this war. Therefore, there are no innocent Russians in Russia, all murderers or accomplices of murderers. Everyone contributes to this ongoing war. The killer is not only the one who recently cut off the head of a captive Ukrainian who was defending his country from the invasion of killer orcs, but also those who, through their inaction, contributed to this.

In my opinion, the electronic conscription system works a little differently.  

Previously, men could evade receiving a summons for military service (for example, receiving a summons for partial mobilization).  As long as they did not sign for the receipt of the summons and did not appear at the military registration and enlistment office, they did not face criminal liability.  Now the situation has changed dramatically.  The mobilization summons will be considered handed over to the man from the moment the corresponding entry appears in the electronic register of summons (regardless of whether the person liable for military service knows about this fact or not).  

In principle, if mobilization is announced, such subpoena entries in the digital subpoena register could be made automatically in respect of 25 million Russian men.  As a result, they will be automatically banned from traveling abroad and their driver's license will be revoked.  Even if men do not voluntarily come to the military registration and enlistment offices, mass raids on the streets of villages and cities can be organized with the help of the police.  All men caught in this way will be required to go to the front under threat of criminal prosecution.  

It is clear that this can be regarded as a fantasy (for example, criminal liability for refusing to mobilize has not yet been introduced by law), but I have such an opinion as a result of analyzing the text of the bill and reading the comments of lawyers on military law.

At present, the possibility of declaring mobilization (especially full mobilization) in Russia is denied.  The new system of electronic agendas is declared as an improvement in the military registration system.

Absolutely right lakh of people moving Turkey leaving their own motherland Russia after announcement from their President Putin. He said that in the requirement ordinary people must have to to go for war after then thousand of people was leaving their country everyday. There is an information in one year 30 Lakh Russian people is settled down in Turkey. But Turkey government is not giving clear details how much Russian people is settled. Turkey is a member of NATO but for gas Turkey is totally depend upon Russia that's the reason Turkey is trying to stay away from this war. Russian people give much preferences to Turkey because  Turkey is a member of NATO that's why they can stay away from Putin's aggression.

The western sanctions will have a slow and graduate impact over the Russian economy. The negative impact will probably be higher in the upcoming years. Russia still has currency reserves, so the budget deficit can be covered. I wonder what will happen, after Russia consumes all the currency reserves and the budget deficit increases? Where will the Russian government find money to cover the budget deficit? Increasing taxes? Seeking a foreign loan from China, India or Saudi Arabia? Cutting government costs(which is close to impossible right now)?
Anyway, the life of the "average Ivan" in Russia won't change that much in 2023.

Unconditional surrender is on the way out for Ukraine. Hitler's Germany also refused to admit defeat until Hitler killed himself, then Keitel singed unconditional surrender. Biden administration is urging Zelenskyy regime to start its last and most likely suicidal offensive because current situation is unsustainable. It would be difficult to convince republican congress to wasting hundreds of billons on this lost of war. Mr Zelenskyy in January introduced even harsher punishment for desertion and disobedience. A disabled person was drafted in western Ukraine and pronounced fit for service despite having no hands. Another died on the front lines within a month of mobilization after 10 days of training, according to his relatives. Zelenskyy is officially catching and forced conscripting even disabled. When such people are in the trenches, it means that the front collapse at any moment.

A year ago, Biden told everyone that the Russian economy had already been torn to shreds twice. Then the rhetoric changed that sanctions are working very slowly and the most terrible consequences will be sometime in the future. And then gradually comes the epiphany that right now the annual inflation in Russia is 3.5%, which is less than in the US and much less than in Europe. But you wait and believe, sometime in the future, the sanctions will definitely work as they should. ;D

Western sanctions remind me of the prohibitions of our RosKomNadzor, according to which this forum is not accessible from Russia. I am from Russia and I am here.

If anything you said would be true, then i assume that local Russians are ok with sanctions. When sanctions started ton of people were worried that it would hurt regular people in russia that haven't done anything. But i can't say if you are trolling or not. I guess west was now smart and thought about it in advance. Or how are trolls thinking now?

Ruble being CBDC or in any other form wouldn't solve any of their issues unless lack of surveillance is one of them. And funny that you used word utopia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia) instead of dystopia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia). Can you elaborate on this?

Personally, I am not so much against sanctions, but most resolutely for them. For Russia, Western sanctions are a huge benefit. With the voluntary withdrawal of Western companies, so many free niches have appeared on the market that Russia is now experiencing a real entrepreneurial boom with the active support of the state with grants and subsidies. This is reminiscent of the situation in China, when, after the departure of Facebook, the WeChat super app appeared there. Think about it at your leisure.

Lol, It figures. I guess surveillance tools are somehow better when they are from totalitarian dictatorship thought polices that are jailing/executing the opposition and not by private companies for advertising purposes. I heard that Putin has a cancer. Let's hope for the best. Thoughs and prayers.

The currency reserves won't be enough to cover it all if they don't have any source of income for more than a punishing year. In addition to providing money to solve life problems for people in wartime, they also have to spend a lot on defense and the army because war costs them a lot of weapons. Failure to replenish the arsenal in time would endanger national security. Russia has excellent relations with China and India, so I don't think they will run out of money and run a budget deficit. Up to now, EU sanctions have had little effect on Russia. Meanwhile, I will be more worried for the people of the EU if the war does not end before this winter because so far for the energy issue, they have not found a better solution than Russia.

The Russian economy has been buried many times already, but Russia is a God-saved country. Prices for electronics are now traditional and do not drastically differ from world prices, if you do not look at expensive brands. The entire budget segment is inexpensive. Cars are much more expensive, but all misfortunes come to an end someday. Rich people can live in any country, but they will lose their profitable business in Russia, and it is difficult to make money in a new country. Poor people have long returned, because it has become expensive to live in the same Turkey.

In fact, for me, utopia, dystopia and real life are synonymous. 

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, I have had the feeling that I was in some kind of terrible dream - a nightmare.  And you can't wake up....

I agree with you that there is a difference between the terms utopia and dystopia.  The term utopia is positive, and dystopia is negative.  Therefore, the introduction of CBDC is, of course, a dystopia (building a digital concentration camp). 

The very idea of ​​programmable centralized digital money is not an absolute evil.  I admit the idea that CBDCs can become an effective financial tool, but only in a situation where managers have clear and understandable strategic goals (as well as a positive picture of the future).  And if this is not the case, then the introduction of CBDC is another step towards building a digital concentration camp. 

Why is it necessary to introduce CBDC?  To establish total control and maintain the power of the ruling elite. 

Unfortunately, issues of maintaining power, as a rule, always take precedence over issues of economic development and improving the well-being of the people.

I think Russia has done her assignment before embarking on this war, the funny thing about this sanction is that there are a lot of loopholes in it like allowing some countries to still buy Russian oil which makes Russia find a way around it. I am not saying what Russia did is right but I just feel the loser here is Ukraine, they allowed America to use them as a pawn, anyone with basic commonsense will know this is the hand of Esau and Voice of Jacob. I don't see how they come out of this useless war a winner, it is going to take years for them to recover, if at all. I also feel what hinders the success of these sanctions is the awakening of China and India, both are now big markets and don't fear or need to toe the line of America again but to protect their interest

That's what I was asking about because it seems they're tightening the system and if you're a young male still working in Russia you're asking for them to at least try to get you. It's possible to hide if you have enough money, but why would you stay and hide from the military and the police if you can leave?
Are you sure that "criminal liability for refusing to mobilize has not yet been introduced by law"?

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/04/06/russian-recruits-jailed-for-3-years-for-refusing-to-fight-in-ukraine-a80730

"Russia’s military courts have issued convictions in more than half of the 708 criminal cases opened against conscripts, according to the independent Mediazona news website.
Russian lawmakers passed sweeping legislation introducing jail terms of up to 15 years for acts including desertion and conscientious objection days ahead of Putin’s announcement of a “partial” mobilization in September."

There are some legal nuances here. 

How did the call-up system for partial mobilization function?  Until the man visited the draft board and was not called up for military service, he was not subject to criminal liability.  That is, a summons could be handed to a man and he could sign it with his own hand, but this did not threaten him with criminal liability if he did not appear at the military registration and enlistment office on this summons. 

However, if he did come, he was called up for military service, and from that moment on, any attempt to return home or refusal to obey the order was punished by long prison terms.  There used to be such a system. 

When films are made about our time and books are written, people will understand how small the distance between life and death is.

I watched a vlogger before, she was anti-war and anti-Putin but she explained in her videos that there are no major changes to the local citizens. She also proved it while going to the market, shopping mall, and streets. Prices are the same although some Western brands are limited there are some of them that are still available in their malls. Their basic needs are mostly unaffected according to her.

Russia is a giant country with only over a hundred million population. Its resources are overflowing especially the basic needs and this is probably the reason why its local population is not really that affected. They still have access to China and Indian markets when it comes to cheap and basic stuff. Those Western brands in the malls like Adidas, Puma, etc. as what I've seen in the videos are maybe local-made? Or maybe they came from China legally or smuggled as these 2 nations remained strong partners.

About the "power of the Russian economy" - this is a continuation of a series of nonsense like "the second army of the world" :)))
Let's take McDonald's as an example. A simple chain of eateries that has been operating all over the world for many decades. Delicious or not tasty - a matter of taste. But you definitely won't get sick. And now we are looking at what of a very profitable business, did Russia put its hand to it? For starters, the network was simply stolen. Yes, the "justification" is very "reasoned" - we took their buildings and equipment because they left here, and we will confiscate it. Anyway. Let's see what happens next. More precisely, we take statistics.
In 2021, McDonald's showed a net profit of 2 billion rubles.
In 2022, Vkusno i Tochka: Net loss reached 11.3 billion rubles.
In my opinion, a good indicator - we got a READY, WORKING, PROFIT-generating business, and in a year it was brought to a classic Russian state :)

Or, for example, "auto giant" - "Moskvich"! Proudly declared. that due to the termination of the supply of components, Russia has reduced the production of passenger cars by 90%. But, we are Russia, a powerful economy, and we will revive the Moskvich Trademark. Say it sounds powerful? Revive the Soviet production, degraded at birth :) Less than a year later, they heroically revived the production of a real Russian car ... China sends its Chinese cars, and powerful Russia, having received permission from China, got the right to glue its nameplates on the hoods of Chinese cars, and call them .. MOSKVICH :)

The official stores of Puma, Adidas, Nike in Russia have closed - this decision was made by the owners of these brands. 

However, there are many marketplaces that sell goods from these manufacturers online.  Russians order these goods on the site (without trying them on) and receive the purchased goods at numerous pickup points.  It is also likely that Puma and Adidas sneakers are still sold in some offline supermarkets (probably at a higher price). 

According to the legislation of the United States and the European Union, the import of luxury goods (goods worth more than 300 euros) into Russia is prohibited. 

But most sneakers cost less than that amount.  Therefore, sneakers of foreign brands can be imported into the territory of the Russian Federation.

Do you think that the Ukrainians should have surrendered to the advancing Russian army, rather than turn to the United States and NATO countries for help with weapons? Then Ukraine would cease to exist as a state. The Ukrainian government and all citizens who opposed the Russian invasion would be killed and tortured. Ukrainians would be placed in filtration camps, some would be sent to remote depressive territories of Russia, where, in fact, there is almost no civilization. The rest would be turned into silent slaves without family or tribe, because Putin, on the eve of the invasion of Ukraine, said that Ukraine is an artificially created state, therefore Ukrainians as such do not exist. And he would have made every effort to ensure that Ukrainians did not exist.

Now the Ukrainians, with financial assistance and arms assistance from the United States, have almost completely defeated the Russian "second army of the world", while capturing hundreds of their best armored vehicles and other weapons, with which they invaded Ukraine, as well as in several military operations liberated a significant part of their occupied territory. In September, Russia began mobilizing 300,000 conscripts. But their subsequent winter offensive did not lead to any tangible results. Now in Russia they are trying to mobilize at least 400,000 more people. All of them will become fertilizer in Ukraine, if they themselves do not overthrow their distraught bunker grandfather.

You again give selective examples.
The new Moskvich is a Chinese JAC and you are right that in Russia the plant is doing modular assembly. Yes, this is the best at the initial stage, because people need to be trained. And in Togliatti they make good cars. I'm not saying that they are ideal, but Russia has the production of its own cars.
McDonald's or Vkusno i Tochka are pests because they feed people with low-quality products, which then make people obese. If they go bankrupt, it will only get better, and restaurants will take their place, which will feed healthier food.

Overly aggressive sanctions backfire, the west was too incompetent to realize that.

If the Biden administration had any remaining brain power left, they would've flooded the market with every hydrocarbon energy source imaginable in order to undercut Russian energy exports. They didn't do this, but instead increased reliance on green energy which doesn't even meet the energy demands of the west. Europe took this approach as well. And all of this made Russian oil more valuable.

Ironically enough, USD was weakened over the past two years. Somehow, Americans are shocked to learn that sanctions are mutual destruction.

I believe that Russia still having access to most of the Asian market is what it could be saving her economy, only in China they can find pretty much anything they need when comes to products and their energy will always have some demand in India and China, due to the massive population in those countries and the industries there. If Russia did not have China as an ally then Putin would be indeed in serious trouble.

About the western products in the malls and stores of Russia, they are most likely counterfeits of Asian origin, if the price is low.
Since we talk about smuggling, some original products would take some extra work and the new "black" market for them would demand people to pay a premium to get the real thing.

Just my thoughts, I am not from Russia. So I can be wrong. 

What nonsense are you talking about, Ukraine is about to lose more bakhmut to the Russians, and you are saying they are defeating the Russian army? The real advantage is in Russia, not Ukraine. I'm not saying Ukraine should surrender because that's not the solution, but as long as they stop listening to the US they'll be fine.

Indeed, the economic sanctions imposed by Western Europe and the U.S. on Russia have primarily targeted banks, oligarchs, and technology imports. These measures were intended to curb Moscow's involvement in Ukraine's conflict and pressure the Russian government to change its policies. However, it is also true that the sanctions have not significantly impacted ordinary Russians' daily lives. However, economic sanctions can have long-term consequences on a country's economy, and it is difficult to predict their full impact over time. In the case of Russia, some analysts believe that the sanctions may have contributed to a decline in foreign investment and slowed economic growth.

Europe and the US have used almost all possible sanctions to put pressure on Russia. If it is not true to say that Russia is not affected, this will more or less affect the Russian economy is inevitable. But to say sanctions will kill or destroy the Russian economy so far, the plan of the US and its allies has completely failed. In the long term, I have a more optimistic view of the Russian economy because it will have time to find new partners and allies and fix things faster than it can. Europe is not the only customer in the world, so Europe's absence will be resolved, but things take time.

Russian invaders have been storming the small town of Bakhmut since May last year. Moreover, it does not represent any strategic value in military terms. Under it, the forces of the PMC "Wagner" (about 40-45 thousand people), as well as the remnants of the elite of the Russian combat-ready army, were almost completely defeated. Moreover, the entire power of the Russian army is concentrated on this segment of the front and near Avdiivka. The entire winter Russian offensive came up against these small settlements and the large offensive of the Russian troops gradually bogged down. In the remaining sectors of the front, the Russians went on the defensive mainly because of the impossibility of a further offensive.

Now everyone is waiting for the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which may end in the complete defeat of Russia in this war. So far, the weather and the incomplete readiness of the Ukrainian army for the offensive do not allow it. But it will definitely happen within the next month. Then we'll see what will happen to the Russian army in Ukraine.

US economic sanctions are aimed at destroying the economies of the most powerful countries in Europe - Germany and France. And it works great. These countries lost the opportunity to buy cheap resources in Russia and lost a large share of sales in the Russian market. Now they are buying Russian oil in Africa and China.
link
https://www.wsj.com/articles/north-african-countries-snap-up-russian-oil-products-shunned-by-west-f63aa287

Sanctioning Russia was the right thing to do, however we must recognize that sanctions hardly if ever work on forcing a government to change course, and what better example of this than Cuba, Cuba has been subjected to sanctions by the US for more than 60 years and yet communism is still there after such a long time and it is not like the Cuban government is close to change its ways anytime soon, then I expect something similar could happen at Russia, the living standards of the population will drop but Putin will remain in power.

Does this sentiment shared by all the political parties globally, Democrats claim only they can be the saviors and anything further than that can ruin the country and likewise with Republicans.

How is he winning the elections for decades if he is not popular among his countrymen.

The same is heard about Kyiv forcing people to fight in the front line without any training and people from 18 to 60 are prohibited from leaving the country after the martial law is implemented.

Good to hear from people who actually live there and that is the information that is shared by news media in my country as well as most of the Western media only share propaganda which has nothing to do with reality.

op relied in his evaluation on what he saw in the malls, that people are still able to shop, although he noted that overcrowding has decreased and that the number of products has also decreased with the increase in the prices of the rest of the commodities in the mall.  These are all indications that the economy has been severely affected by the sanctions, at least. 
And by searching into some of the economic indicators, we notice a significant decline in the Russian economy in all sectors, especially those that have no alternatives for their needs in Russia or in the allied countries.

Russia is a great power, has rich natural resources, and is the world's second largest supplier of oil and gas, a comparison with Cuba is a lame comparison. The US can only bully small countries but cannot crush powerful countries like Russia and China.

More than a year has passed, and we can see that Russia is still standing up to the sanctions and that their energy industry is bringing in huge revenue. With that, they have turned to Asia, looking for new partners, I really doubt that their economy will collapse or will fall into a deadlock like Cuba. If the US and its allies want to destroy the Russian economy completely, they should have a new, more effective solution.

It's true that I don't think Russia's economy has been affected too much,
and it is not impossible that in the future the United States will continue to try to paralyze this sector,
what is clear is that it is not easy because after all Russia is a big and powerful country.

Well, I cannot say I am glad for you... because the rest of the world (non-aggressors) are suffering because of Russia. The cost of fertilizer has gone up considerably, because the Ukraine has been one of the largest suppliers of fertilizer and that is pushing up food cost and inflation.

The Fiat currencies has taken a blow and many prices on the financial markets have received a lot of crashes, since the war started. They say, "When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers the most" ...and the rest of the world are the grass. (the people that are not part of this war) 

With cooperation between Russia and India, China. Not only has the Russian economy not collapsed and is recovering very well, the Russian people are quite satisfied with what they are going through because it does not look like a war. I think the US and the West have run out of sanctions and what they are doing now is increasing aid to Ukraine with the slim hope of defeating Russia.

Russia as a state and Russians as a nation are now rapidly sliding into an abyss with a long period of economic decline, isolation from the outside world, a drop in living standards, which before that was at a minimum level compared to European countries, and most importantly, the degradation of the psyche and morality.

A recently captured Wagnerian told how, on the orders of his command, he, along with others, cleared the territory in Bakhmut, killing all the local residents, including the elderly, women and children. How the five-year-old girl squealed, whom he finished off with a shot in the head. How he destroyed the captured Ukrainians along with the Russian mobilized, who refused to storm the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, throwing grenades into the room where they were, and then poured petrol over the still alive and set them on fire. The world was already horrified by the atrocities that the Russians are perpetrating in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Moreover, these are territories with a Russian-speaking population, which they allegedly came to liberate from the mythical Nazis, whom no one had even seen in their eyes.
Recently, the network was agitated by a video of a Ukrainian prisoner of war being cut off the head with an ordinary knife, which was deliberately distributed on social networks. The intent is twofold: partly to intimidate the Ukrainians, and partly to provoke a response of anger in them so that the Russians avoid captivity.

Both Russians and Ukrainians will have to live with this, and therefore the gap between these peoples is growing and expanding.

Factually wrong. Ukraine is not one of the top suppliers of fertilizer. For both Potash and Ammonia fertilizer, Russia is among the top exporters, along with Belarus. And the current shortage for Potash fertilizer is because of sanctions imposed on Russia, which prevents the export of fertilizer from it's Baltic ports. And Ammonia fertilizer has also got more expensive, as it requires natural gas as a feedstock. The price of natural gas has gone up by manytimes when compared to the levels in 2020 and therefore many of the manufacturers have shut down their plants.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on a minute, are you telling me that the sanctions against Russian banks, oligarchs, and technology imports have had no impact on ordinary Russians' economic lives? Are you sure you didn't just make that up?

I mean, I'm no expert in international politics, but it seems hard to believe that the global restrictions meant to decrease Moscow's war chest wouldn't have any effect on the day-to-day lives of regular Russians. Sure, the joblessness rate might not have increased, and the general store may look the same, but I find it hard to believe that there haven't been any changes.

Perhaps the crowds at some Moscow malls have decreased, but it's not significant? And local brands have replaced McDonald's and Starbucks? That's crazy! I can't imagine how ordinary Russians are coping with all of these changes, or lack thereof.

From what I heard, Russia has so far mobilized only those with previous military experience and members of the Rosgvardiya. On the other hand, Ukraine has gone through more than a dozen rounds of mobilization and young men of military age are rounded up from their houses and public places and forcibly sent to die in Bakhmut and Avdeevka. Every year around 300,000 conscripts join the military in Russia. They can easily recruit millions of former coscripts, but so far they have restricted their draft to the former contract soldiers.

Your rumors are incorrect. Now on the Internet in the public domain there are many appeals from groups of mobilized Russians and even entire units who complain that they did not undergo any training and do not know how to shoot, but ended up on the front line and they are being driven to storm the Ukrainian fortifications. They were allegedly told that they would maintain order in the rear of the occupied territories, but they deceived them. There are also numerous statements about this by the wives and mothers of the mobilized.
But the result of the impending offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will put an end to this dispute. If everything is so good in Russian soldiers, they should not retreat in panic from the occupied territories of Ukraine next month, right?

Here is a video (https://youtu.be/KADQzkWF8pQ) in which two students from Africa who study in Russia, as part of some kind of challenge, are trying to buy the maximum amount of food for $ 10 in an ordinary supermarket. Video comments deserve special attention.

Thanks for sharing this video, it's really interesting.
Prices are ok from a foreigner perspective but I think if you have a small Russian wage this might be a bit expensive, isn't it?
I just googled and in 2023 the average salary in Russia in 2023 is 63260 RUB/Month (767.281 USD/Month)

In Japan for 10$ I could have bought the tomatoes and the little bit of beef, that's it, haha. Obviously people earn a bit more here though. ;)

Indeed, if one pays attention to the impact of sanctions on a country's economy, it can be subtle and long-term, not only affecting the current generation but also future generations. While it may be reassuring to hear that ordinary Russians are not being significantly affected by the current sanctions, it is important to consider the broader implications of these restrictions. I think it is important to remember here that the long-term consequences of sanctions can be very wide-ranging and complex, affecting not only a country's economic prosperity but also its political stability and social well-being.

In fact, there are no significant changes. 

Prices in shops have really gone up, this concerns the rise in prices for food, shoes, clothes, cosmetics, etc.  The prices for utilities have risen significantly.  At the same time, the stores have both consumer electronics and food products.  Laptop prices even show a downward trend.  This is due to the fact that traders have created a system of parallel imports, in which goods are imported into the country without the consent of the copyright holder. 

Under the conditions of the capitalist system, traders perceive any sanctions and restrictions as an opportunity to earn big profits.  The main problems will begin if war communism and a rationing system for the distribution of goods and foodstuffs are introduced in the country. 

At the same time, the number of drunk and aggressive people on the streets has grown significantly.  The number of young people has also greatly decreased - many young people have left for other countries (even Mexico).

I don't really believe that the sanctions and the burden of war being borne by the Russian government have had no impact on its economy. The sanctions imposed by America and its allies alone had an impact on the financial condition of the Russian government, not to mention that they had to spend a lot of money to finance the war. So when they say their life is "just fine" I don't believe it. Moreover, measuring a country's economy is not only from the prices of cheap food or electronics, but there are still many factors that need to be considered, therefore calling the Russian economy currently in good condition is impossible.

It's important to note that while the economic impact of the sanctions on ordinary Russians may not be immediately obvious, there can still be longer-term consequences that are more difficult to measure, but people in there must stay prepare for unexpected thing.

The people who are still living there (Russia) must have been very well prepared for it and I don't think there is anything important that should be noted by people who are outside Russia because they actually don't fully know how the economic conditions are there unless they who live there and feel how the living conditions there. And it is also natural that it is still difficult to measure the consequences that occurred there because we can only read about it through the news in the media.

After Russia got bogged down in the war it unleashed in Ukraine, and especially after its army began to suffer defeat in it, very interesting processes began to take place on its territory. The Russian Federation represents many forcibly annexed nations and nationalities with their vast territories, and this state entity was based on force and brutal suppression of dissidents. But now the situation has changed dramatically due to the weakening of the central government.

Thus, a liberation army has already been created in Ingushetia in order to prepare for possible clashes after the collapse of the Russian Federation. They seek to secede from the Russian Federation and are preparing to defend their interests. In early 2023, activists created the Ingush Independence Committee (CIN) and adopted a Declaration stating that "this decision is made in light of the grave consequences that the Ingush people are experiencing as a result of many years of occupation and violence by the Russian Empire in all its forms."

Source: https://www.dialog.ua/russia/272151_1682051160https://www.dialog.ua/russia/272151_1682051160

Previously, it was already false that six regions of Russia were preparing to secede from Russia and even held online referendums on this matter.

This sounds exactly like life in my country, except that prices didn't only go up a little, but by a lot. Reading that it seems that my country was more affected by the war than Russia. Which is a bit crazy, but could be true due to the heavy sanctions that always hit all countries involved. To be honest I don't know many Russians and don't believe the newspapers anymore as they are saying the same thing for a over a year and it doesn't seem to be true. The few Russians I know either left the country in their childhood and don't know anything anymore, or I met them in university and they are living all abroad now. It's really hard to make an honest assessment when we don't have access to independent news. Most articles I see these days is propaganda by one of the two sides.

Russia is getting more and more fun. It seems that new solutions from "the best, honest and fair country" are just around the corner
- Introduction of dues (already on the way to approval, a monthly new fee of 1000-3000 rubles from EACH resident of Russia)
- Serfdom
- Recruitment duty - as under Peter 1! Actually implemented through public services :)

By the way, I noticed that they stopped calling / driving guest workers. After last year's incident, when residents of another country were almost forcibly called up, and they shot almost 20 people in the "training school" because they were called up in violation of the law and their rights. now Muscovites will take the rap :)


"Police have begun to round up conscripts in Moscow and forcefully deliver them to military registration and enlistment offices, according to the Walk Through the Woods project, which helps Russians evade mobilization.

According to him, the police came to one young man's house, saying that he had been on the wanted list for two years. “Five or six police officers handcuffed him and took him to the military enlistment office. There he applied for the ACS: it seems that they accepted the application, but they took away his passport and threatened him with a criminal offense. Then they were taken to the collection point. They took the phone there, apparently, and did not let the ambulance go when he became ill, ”said a friend of the guy.

Also, the distribution of subpoenas began in the dormitory of the DAS MSU in the south-west of Moscow, according to Protest MSU. They were received by students of 2-4 courses. According to one of them, the dormitory commandants walked around the rooms and asked to come to the administrative room, where the commandant on duty handed out summonses "for events related to conscription for military service."

https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2023/04/21/v-moskve-nachalis-oblavi-na-prizivnikov-a40772

True, most of the adverse effects of the war are not shared with the media. Western sanctions have definitely hit hard on Russia's economy but not as significantly as they taught and wanted. Rather, these sanctions have motivated Russia explore new options and form new international alliances. See how many countries are willing to join BRICS? What do you think will become of Russian economy in 5 years' time? Shrink of blossom? Russia has always been sanctioned over the years, and nothing new now.

"Centrifugal forces" began to appear in Russia in 2022, when it became clear that Russia is a fake country, and the Russian army is just a collection of a large number of "walking meat". Moreover, it was the inhabitants of Ichkeria who were the first to begin preparations for the liberation of their republics from their "fraternal embrace of Russia", knowing full well that all Kadyrov's power rests only on handouts from Moscow, which will soon end. Yes, Moscow and the Russian European part are afraid of the Kadyrovites. But neither the Nokhchi, nor the Ingush, nor other peoples of the Caucasian republics are afraid of them, knowing full well that they are also nonentities and heroes only against women and the elderly. And this also happened in Ukraine, where almost everyone whom Kadyrov heroically sent to "take Kyiv" was demonstratively destroyed. some "heroes" were lucky - they managed to abandon equipment, weapons and fled with squeals and tears :)
Therefore, preparations have begun in the Caucasian republics, people know the concept of the words honor, dignity, freedom, and they will soon get it. The indigenous population will continue to go to the slaughter, on the orders of the "king" ... The mentality is different

PS I think that the Urals / Trans-Urals, being the richest in resources, and in fact giving all the wealth of Russia, will also want freedom ... As soon as one republic sets an example, a chain reaction will begin there that the Kremlin will no longer be able to stop - there is no army, the police / Russian Guard - can only beat old people and children, Kadyrov's terrorists will try to save themselves - they have "bloodlines" all of Ichkeria and neighboring republics where they committed wild crimes against the people. And there is no one else to protect the Kremlin Fuhrer and his "empire" :)

PS Some funny statistics :)
I think in business parlance this is called "liquidation of distressed assets."
- The number of prisoners in Russian prisons decreased by 33 thousand in 2022
- The number of unemployed in Russia decreased by 35 thousand in 2022

The biggest mistake from the West was that they forgot about the fact that sanctions are counter-productive. Russia lost tens of billions of USD in the form of lower crude oil prices, but the European nations lost much more because they are now purchasing crude oil and natural gas from more expensive sources, under unfavorable terms. Heavy engineering and metallurgical industries are all but dead within the European Union. Automobile industry is slowly moving from Europe to China, as the factories within EU are shutting down as a result of extremely high gas prices.

The decrease in the number of prisoners in Russia in 2022 should not surprise anyone, they were recruited by volunteers into the assault squads of the Wagner PMC and are currently storming Bakhmut. On YouTube there is a documentary film "Zone of Redemption (https://youtu.be/trdI5bBDslQ)" about this, I recommend watching it to broaden your horizons.

Yes, the defenders of Bakhmut also note that among the participants in the assault squads from Russia, there were also former female prisoners. Given Russia's serious demographic problem, which even Putin recently described as one of the country's biggest problems due to its drastic population decline, sending women to certain death for Putin's imperial ambitions is, at the very least, very strange. Or is the situation already so hopeless in Russia? I think the situation is only hopeless for Putin, who actually doesn’t give a damn about his citizens, but is there really not a single sane person in Russia who can prevent this? Although Russia is now entirely a country of the absurd.

I am glad that you are a progressive supporter of gender equality, but here you are mistaken - recruitment for Wagner volunteers was carried out only among male prisoners. In general, this is a unique and apparently successful experiment in the socialization of criminals, after the expiration of the contract, the former prisoner receives 1,200,000 rubles, the status of a war veteran with social benefits, the Wagner medal "For Courage", an extinguished criminal record and the opportunity to start life from scratch.

Basically, there is no government party in any country that will let their country continue to be hit by problems in a barrage. So you shouldn't have to worry about this because they will definitely handle it on their own. Especially if you are not a citizen of Russia, so you don't need to worry so much about the emergence of new problems such as unemployment where unemployment there is also very different from unemployment in other countries.

There is a saying that "Russians take a long time to harness, but they go fast." It seems to me that this very accurately reflects the deep essence of the Russian mentality, which is characterized by a very high level of fatalism and tolerance for external discomfort. If things start to get worse, Russians usually just shrug their shoulders and move on. Troubles cannot last forever, if something goes wrong today, then tomorrow everything will probably be much better. Or not, but that doesn't matter either. This fatalism and high level of tolerance for discomfort is both a curse and a boon for Russians. Something really extraordinary needs to happen, for the Russian people to feel the enthusiasm to fix things and to find a thirst for action. For example, to take up arms against you half of the world, as in the case of Western sanctions. Therefore, I am sure that all the sanctions against Russia are evidence, if not of the stupidity of the West, then of its misunderstanding of the Russian mentality.

Why is it "selective"? After the imposition of sanctions, the Russian auto industry actually stopped (this applies to cars and private cars). Brand owners left the Russian market, stopped deliveries of units and components. And the RUSSIAN nuclear industry NON-SELECTIVELY fell to almost 0 level.

And now, under the beautiful slogans "Let's revive Moskvich, and start producing OUR CAR", they began to bring cars from China and glue nameplates on them. Or have you built a full-fledged production of their full-cycle cars? Yes, and another question - why is the cost of this model in Russia 2 times more expensive than in China in retail? :)


"Poppy" and "Tasty". I’ll say this about Mac - I don’t eat there, but I know that they are all over the world, and at least you won’t get poisoned in Mac :)
And in Russia there was a HUGE demand, which was confirmed by tax deductions and official financial indicators. I just showed that it is worth Russia to take up something from the field of "we will do better than the capitalists, and which has no analogues", and even on the basis of ALREADY WORKING, PROFITABLE business, how it turns out .. Well, you know what happens! :)

Ok, let's even assume that I'm selective about information. Can you give examples where Russia has made a qualitative substitution of Western sanctioned products? (drugs, technologies, electronics, software, ...) ?

The fact that in Russia not only men, but also women are recruited in prisons for the war in Ukraine, there is information from both Russia and Ukraine, and this information is freely available both in the form of text and video on YouTube.
Sources:
https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2023/02/05/the-telegraph-rossiya-verbuet-zhenschin-zaklyuchennih-dlya-lobovih-atak-v-ukraine-a32949

https://www.currenttime.tv/a/olga-romanova/32316840.html

https://24tv.ua/ru/zhenshhiny-armii-rossii-putin-otpravljaet-osuzhdennyh-shtrum_n2301204

So far, there is not much information about such cases, but the situation in the Russian army continues to deteriorate, and the fact that women are already being taken to the front from correctional colonies, even in the occupied territories (from the correctional colony of the city of Snezhnoye in the occupied territory of the Donetsk region, who are sent to the territory of Russia for preparation) speaks volumes.

Out of curiosity, I opened your first source and saw a link to the British The Telegraph with reference to information from the Ukrainian military about the recruitment of 50 women from prison who "usually do not fight on the front line." Both the source itself and its content raise doubts - what kind of recruitment of 50 women is this, and where are they involved, if not at the front? In any case, this is nothing compared to the tens of thousands of male prisoners recruited last year into the Wagner storm troopers. However, I do not rule out that there may be individual cases of the existence of female snipers or even small groups such as female death squads, but this is not a mass phenomenon, the war does not have a female face.

Lol dude. The Russian nuclear industry is a world leader, from which all the closest competitors (China, USA, South Korea, France, Great Britain-Germany-Netherlands) lag behind not even for years, but for decades.

For reference, the only US uranium enrichment plant for commercial use in New Mexico belongs to the European concern Urenco. The Americans have fucked up all their key developments and engineering competencies in the field of the nuclear industry. ;D

The melody from "Directed by Robert B. Weide" should be playing here :)

Five of the world's leading countries have formed an alliance to force Russia out of the nuclear fuel market. The agreement will become the basis for the COMPLETE displacement of the Russian Federation from the nuclear fuel market.
The UK, US, Canada, Japan and France have formed an alliance that will be aimed at ousting Russia from the international nuclear energy market.

Understand that the world will never be the same again. now they will fight the world terrorists for real, and not these comic sanctions that were introduced from 2014 to 2022. "Russia - forward to the past" :)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-17/nuclear-powers-pledge-to-push-putin-out-of-uranium-markets

They returned Russian industry to the Stone Age, collapsed oil and gas revenues ... and they will put nuclear energy there too  ;D

All the countries you listed, taken together, have weaker positions in the commercial nuclear industry market than Russia alone. They will force themselves out of the world market with such agreements. ;D

Right now, 20% of all electricity in the US is generated from Russian uranium. Russia can afford to stop exporting uranium to the US, but can the US afford it? They hardly forgot about the recent rolling blackouts. Japan after Fukushima is generally out of the game. The nuclear industry of France is in a deplorable state, and its influence in Africa, where they mined uranium, has been greatly undermined by the efforts of the PMC Wagner. In short, it is an alliance between the blind and the deaf, hoping to see and hear through political partnership. But in nuclear power, this is not how it works.

The Russian auto industry is LADA, UAZ, KAMAZ and other brands. Has their production stopped?
European brands closed factories, and Korean and Chinese manufacturers took their place.
Look at how many large pharmaceutical companies there are in Russia, you know how to use the search.
There are basic technologies in Russia, and what is missing will be brought or bought in other countries.

2 days ago I had an interesting call with an old Russian flatmate of mine which now lives in Russia for quite a while now.

Obviously asked him what life is like at the moment and he said it's pretty much normal, at least for him.
He is working in the tech sector with a good salary and said they miss nothing.

Even though many brands said they are not selling in Russia anymore he meant you can get whatever you want if you ask the right people and of course pay a little extra.

Still, because the political issues he often thought about leaving the country since he doesn't believe what the propaganda tells them to believe but it's not so easy. Travel restrictions have a bigger impact in life than one would imagine.

When it comes to the future of Russia, the militarization of the country is of most concern.  People are taught to think that war is a natural state of affairs. 

For example, Evgeny Prigozhin (head of Wagner PMC) recently said that the country should become like a hedgehog bristling with missiles.  He also stated that the war would last for a very long time.  At the same time, numerous private military companies (in addition to the regular army) appear in the country.  Every major company seeks to create its own private military company.  For example, I read that the Gazprom joint-stock company has its own private military company Potok. 

The militarization of the country and many different armed formations cast doubt on the good future of the country. 

Therefore, many people are in a state of depression (they do not have a positive picture of the Future for themselves and their children). 

At the same time, most countries of the world have come to terms with the idea of ​​Russia's total isolation.  Russia needs to be deprived of technology and completely isolated from the whole world - that's their motto.

Concern for whom? NATO has been launching proxy wars against Russia ever since the USSR broke up in 1992. Despite all the assurances that were given, NATO continues to expand to the western borders of Russia. Given this, do you really expect them to sit back relaxed and sing nursery rhymes? They are doing all that is needed to preserve their country. Else what happened in Libya and Iraq will repeat in Russia as well. Every country has a right to defend itself (including Russia) and I don't know why you are complaining about it.

if they have seen that the republican bank will go down, then other banks might make preparations such as joining with the others so they don't go bankrupt, it is impossible for them to just sit idly by and do nothing even though they know that if they don't move they will suffer the same fate as the republican bank.

Thanks for your reply !
Now we will "take it apart" ..
1. Automotive industry: "The main problems in the development of the Russian automotive industry are associated with qualitative characteristics - namely, a low level of capital renewal - high material consumption - low labor productivity and - as a result - the relatively low quality of Russian cars." - these are not my words, but the assessment of Russian specialists, you can easily find it :)
But back to your answer. What do the brands you mentioned produce.

LADA - you can discuss LADA for a long time - but there will not be a word about cars :) The problem is that among the components (I don’t even take Western-made industrial lines) - there are slightly more than half Russian in them - and they are the most NON-TECHNOLOGICAL products. In addition - let's not pretend that after the imposition of sanctions - AvtoVAZ itself announced "a small modification of production cars." What is this ? This is the absence of a huge number of service systems and security systems in cars, i.e. just removed from the complexation ...
Yes, for 1980-1990, what AvtoVAZ produces does not look bad. By the way, let me ask you a question. And tell me - which model of AvtoVAZ is considered the most reliable? And in addition, another question, what platform is this model built on? Do you understand what I mean, right? :)


UAZ - are you serious? Tell me which model is regularly produced at the factory. What kind of model is this, and since what year has it been produced, in fact, without the slightest modernization? :) Yes, yes, this is she "Loaf". I learned to ride it as a child :) I'll just leave it here: Years of production 1965 - present :) Appearance-internal view- "design" elements - are easily found on the Internet. I’ll warn you right away - you’ll watch - don’t eat anything - so as not to choke on food during bouts of wild uncontrollable laughter :)

KAMAZ - Well, yes, more or less produces something. But - according to the stories of service centers, the auto-line is, to put it mildly, "not very reliable." And the last year - the quality falls even further. The reason is one. Stopped access to western units and assemblies.
You can type in Google "Russia auto industry problems" - and you will find a couple of million pages :).
Pharmaceutics. Let us suppose. A couple of questions:
- How many of the socially significant drugs are produced in Russia?
- In an amount sufficient to cover the need?
- Are all production facilities certified?
- How many of the drugs produced are of their own development and are not generics of Western drugs?
- How many Russian medicines are sold in countries with a high level of quality control of medicines?

Sanctions just went and it began: A drug production crisis is brewing in Russia: 40% of factories could not find a replacement for imports.
https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2022/07/26/v-rossii-zreet-krizis-proizvodstva-lekarstv-40-zavodov-ne-smogli-naiti-zamenu-importu-a22640
By the way, it also says about metallurgy :)
Or this: A number of critical sectors of the Russian industry, from the automotive industry to pharmaceuticals, are heavily dependent on imports - the share of foreign value added in these industries exceeds 50%. Moreover, these are mainly imports from those countries that have now joined the sanctions against Russia. It will be difficult to quickly find alternative suppliers - and it will take years to independently replace "falling out" components and materials, economists say
https://www.forbes.ru/finansy/462829-ot-avtoproma-do-farmacevtiki-naskol-ko-rossijskaa-ekonomika-zavisit-ot-importa

About technology ... Hmm .. well, you are a joker :) Russia has no basic technologies. There are primitive and obsolete. And no one will bring and Russia will not buy anywhere. Russia is an outcast country! Sanctions, and "friends" are even more backward :)
Sorry, but you live there, so you can continue to engage in self-hypnosis ....

In the production of LADA cars, imported European components were used, and now they are being replaced by Chinese ones.
UAZ. Look at what cars they produce on their own. https://www.uaz.ru/
There are a lot of them in the countryside.
No need to laugh at these cars
https://www.uaz.ru/cars/classic
I had one and it is better in terms of cross-country ability of my Korean SUV. This car does not need a new design, like any modification to the original AK 47.

I talked with KAMAZ employees, almost everything there is Russian. The German engine will again be replaced by a Russian one.
____
Do NOT talk nonsense about self-hypnosis. There is no shortage of medicines and electronics in Russia. Your words are reminiscent of the same nonsense as "Europe will freeze without Russian gas"

___
I can also give a few links so that you understand who the main clowns are.
https://northafricapost.com/65780-north-african-countries-shun-western-sanctions-on-russian-oil-products-wsj.html

Is Russia trying to defend itself by regularly attacking its neighbors and artificially creating pro-Russian territories there? Now Russia is waging a classic war of conquest in Ukraine. Until now, Russia has not been able to finally decide on the reasons for the attack on Ukraine and is constantly changing them, because all of them do not withstand any criticism. Before the Russian attack in 2014, it had a naval base on the territory of Ukraine, a normal attitude towards everything Russian, including the Russian language on its territory, and now everything Russian is purposefully removed from Ukraine so that there is not even a mention of Russia anywhere. Ukrainians, including even the eastern predominantly Russian-speaking population, are now trying to speak Ukrainian themselves in order to forget about the Russian nightmare that Russia brought to the territory of Ukraine.

NATO is expanding and moving closer to Russia's borders solely because of Russia's aggressive foreign policy. After all, this is the result of the independent choice of a specific country that decides to join this alliance, and not the leadership of NATO. Until 2014, the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO looked very distant and vague, and now there is talk of its admission even this year, despite the hostilities. Sweden and Finland did not plan to join NATO at all, and now Finland is already in NATO, and Sweden still needs to get the consent of only two countries of this bloc.

An excellent example is that there are weak brains everywhere for propaganda.

Few facts. At the time of the collapse of the USSR, and then the default of Russia, the United States and NATO had the opportunity to either simply wipe the USSR / Russia off the face of the earth, or simply BUY it all. Yes, yes, at the time of the default, all the more or less significant assets of Russia cost very little, and in reality it could all be bought. The question is - if they always dreamed of destroying it - why didn’t they take advantage and let it develop?
You can still go back to history, and you will be very surprised, but it is the United States that has saved Russia from death and collapse more than once.
- 1998 Humanitarian aid to Russia, millions of tons of "bush legs" and other food. Because the "great country" simply could not produce food. Russia was then also saved by Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia, .... Gratitude - you are watching.
- 1941-1945 - Lend-Lease for billions of dollars, of which the USSR barely spit out 10%, and then after decades. At first, he crawled on his knees to ask, and then tried to "throw"
-1921-1923 years. American Relief Administration, ARA - is known for its participation in helping Soviet Russia eliminate the famine of 1921-1923. Free of charge, millions of pounds of food.
-1891-1892 - Global famine in the European part of Muscovy. In the United States, the so-called "Hunger Fleet" was formed - 5 huge ships loaded with wheat and corn flour, grain, vegetables, fruits, medicines and clothing. The first ship "Indiana" arrived in Russia in March 1892 and brought 1900 tons of food. And the US government also provided financial assistance to some Russian provinces.

Do you really believe in the fairy tale that NATO is for ATTACK on Russia and not for PROTECTION from the country of an international terrorist?

In our opinion the current state of the Russian economy has indeed declined because no country is protesting that their economy is running well, so there are not only a few problems with the Russian economy at the moment, but they can survive because they have prepared everything that will have a negative impact on the economy. them, then developing countries like Russia the current economic decline has not had a bad impact on them, they only feel a slight difference before the war, but they continue to develop new technologies even though their country is on the battlefield, indeed the Russian president has a difficult mission to in enemy predictions.

Russia is a terrorist?
Are you not familiar with this information?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5441385
Soon your propaganda will tell you that Russia started the Great Patriotic War and Russia attacked Germany. How the Americans told the Japanese that it was Russia that bombed their cities with atomic bombs.

The only weapon the West and NATO majorly have against Russia is sanctions. Nothing more but Russia has a big chest and a corresponding spine for these gimmicks, and will surely live through these sanctions and more. Gradually, the truth is coming on who really is the problem.

The sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russian banks, oligarchs, and technology imports have not had a significant impact on the day-to-day lives of ordinary Russians. This is because the sanctions have been targeted at specific individuals and sectors, rather than the broader population.

However, the sanctions have had a broader impact on the Russian economy as a whole. They have limited the ability of Russian companies to access international financial markets and technology, which has slowed down economic growth and led to inflation.

What a headline... how many of us felt that way? Being "something" at the wrong time in the wrong place? The list is endless...

Well, I don't care where someone is from as long as they are honest and fair. I don't wish to complicate my point, who is older enough knows that every country in this world has its good and bad sides. Nothing happens just like that, we are all responsible in "some or many ways" for everything that happens around us.

It's easy to spread hate, and all the countries are buying more weapons for what? To spread more hate and to make us kill each other? For what? Some imaginary lines, religions, and in the end nationalities? I don't believe in that, there are good and bad people around the world, it's all that matters. We come from different cultures, and we have different languages, but in the end, we are all people...

Not a bad headline, finally European and American leaders showed their true colors. Sanctions failed, they don't work.
My friends live in Europe now they are afraid. They moved there more than 5 years ago, they have legal income and official salary. But they are afraid to buy real estate there and keep a lot of money in banks. Thanks to this, they learned what cryptocurrencies are :) Europeans are wary of hiring Russians to work in Europe, if the company has Russian founders, then in Europe they do not work with this company. Russians have a lot of problems in Europe now, although they have been living there for 5 and 10 years, but they have not changed their citizenship. This is the true face of European democracy. Even in America there are no such problems.
I communicate with Russian IT people. A lot of people left Europe for other countries because they don't want to put up with this shit.

Despite imposing thousands of restrictions, the Russian economy has had little impact. Rather, Europe and America have revealed their failure. Moreover, the negative impact on the dollar at the present time is very naturally indicating the deterioration of the economic condition of America. Some companies initially wrapped up their businesses under sanctions imposed by the US and Europe, but their long-standing restrictions are slowly becoming ineffective. As a result, the inflationary pressures that the Russians were afraid of are slowly coming to light.

I am pretty sure that Russia is big enough to build whatever they need within, could cost a lot of money for some of them but they can do that. However, it is never nice for these nations to have sanctions, because in order to grow you need to sell something to other people. Imagine a nation that has zero trades with other nations, no buying, no selling, how could that grow?

Obviously Russia has trades with bunch of nations right now, China, India, and many others so they won't face any troubles at the moment, but that doesn't change the issue that they need bigger markets to sell to. But if they want to keep their imperial needs in front of their economy, as we can see it will grow smaller and smaller and will cause financial trouble to citizens.

So in Russia, this is a feature?  ;D  ;D ;D
It used to be extra or why are so happy about the current models?
Oh, and it has door and trunk handles, do they come off?

https://i.ibb.co/MCVs6Yn/62171814.png


Of course you did, reminds me of how Russian the elite KAMAZ truck is
https://www.race-dezert.com/home/how-russian-is-a-kamaz-dakar-winning-truck-120782.html


Or here is a better one:
Kalashnikov statue changed because of German weapon
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41367394
Even your most sold weapon that you're so proud of is just a stolen copy, and it so looks like you even managed to make a statue with it instead of the AK.

Show me one Russian product, one, that is at least comparable to the cheapest shit produced in Europe that is entirely Russian.
And btw, it's the same with everyone, everyone screams that everything is made in China when in reality even Chinese phones look like this:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/03/huaweis-p40-phone-contains-us-parts-despite-blacklisting/

At least be proud that there is something Europe will never be able to compete with Russia, poverty, lies, and propaganda, and at least to me it looks like you're happy being lied to day after day, that's why your society will never get better, you never accept when the others tell your whole country is so dip in the shit you should close your eyes and mouth not to drown, but just because you perceive everyone as an enemy you continue on your path, going deeper and deeper.
Largest country in the world, full of resources, and with a life expectancy as sub-Saharan Africa and a median wage lower than Mexico.
But keep believing you're doing great!


The USSR was twice as large, had twice the population and far more resources, and it still ended in the trashcan of history.
Tell me the reason Russia won't!

Look at the production of the Kamaz enterprise.
No need to discuss single models that participate in the rally to advertise Kamaz. Most of the details in the plant's products are Russian.
https://kamaz.ru/

You say that the Kalashnikov is based on the German Stg-44 assault rifle. Did you hold these 2 rifles in your hands?
AK-47 and Stg-44 are somewhat similar and they have a similar trigger mechanism, but everything else is very different. By this logic, all machine guns are similar to each other.
But why are you silent that the developer of the Stg-44 used the idea of ​​a trigger mechanism for the Czechoslovakian ZH-29 rifle? The weapon is not only the appearance and design, but also the technology of metal processing.
Even today, gun lovers in other countries are willing to pay extra money to buy a Russian Kalashnikov and not a Chinese one.

___
Russia and Europe had only mutually beneficial partnerships, we have not had military conflicts for a long time. If you think that in Russia everything will drown in shit without Europe, then continue to think like that. Your propaganda knows everything:)

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

China generally says that they are the second pole of the bipolar world, having wiped their feet about the "greatness of Russia" - do not forget this either, since you are referring to some Chinese diplomat :)

And about terrorism - I have to disappoint you greatly. Yes, Russia is a terrorist country!
We can go a long way, we can take a shorter one so as not to take both your time and mine.
Look - what is "TERRORISM"?
There are several readings of this word. Terrorism is defined in Russian law as “the ideology of violence and the practice of influencing public consciousness, decision-making by state authorities, local governments or international organizations, associated with forceful influence, intimidation of the civilian population and / or other forms of illegal violent actions”

Now back to modern history. Ichkkeria, Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine... You can name a few more examples, it is absolutely not difficult. Everything that Russia did on the territory of these states will definitely fall under the Russian description of terrorism. Or is it not?

But we can even return to the origins of the USSR and the Kremlin authorities. Let me remind you - In 1939 - POLAND. And here I will clarify - the USSR began the Great Patriotic War, and the Second World War, together with Nazi Germany, against Europe. We started - from Romania, Finland, Poland ... Or did you not know this, is the propaganda somehow silent about this? :)

At the same time - I listed a SMALL part of the real crimes of Russia.

And then there were terrorist attacks against YOUR population - explosions of residential buildings, with YOUR citizens .. Forgotten? And how the FSB militants were caught who did not have time to blow up another house, and then it was all passed off as "exercises", and it was LEGALLY forbidden in Russia even to resume investigations of those terrorist attacks, right up to 2050.

Now the peaceful cities of Ukraine are being DESTROYED. Strikes are delivered ONLY on civilian objects, civilian infrastructure ... Uman - 2 hits in a RESIDENTIAL HOUSE and a civilian warehouse. Peaceful people died. They died at 4 am. When a Russian rocket flew into their house. Uman is a city far from the line of hostilities, the strike was carried out by medium-range missiles, i.e. INTENTIONALLY and PURPOSELY.

One of the key features of RASHIZM is a vile lie! Stupid, primitive lies and the same stupid denunciation of facts ...

You can talk about sanctions only when they work. And so it looks like a big circus. I go to an auto parts store, where there are a lot of goods that should not be in Russia. I go to a household appliances store and see that there are products of European companies, what they don’t have, they will bring you an order in 2-4 weeks. I go to a pharmacy and see Medicines from Europe and America.
Yes, exclusive European brands have disappeared in Russia, for example, a $500 T-shirt or a $11,000 bag.
I can buy it now, but I don't give a damn about it, I have bought other companies' products for much cheaper and not worse quality before.
Recently in Russia they began to block games on the phone from Russian IPs. My kids have installed VPN, but free versions are limited either in terms of traffic volume or speed. Children stopped playing games and reading books, thanks to the sanctions.

A residential building in Uman was hit by missiles shot down by a Ukrainian missile defense system. The tragedy of the inhabitants of this house is the success of the Ukrainian missile defense (https://t.me/Tsaplienko/30649). This is not the first incident of its kind.

Stop this dramatic hand wringing. A military special operation is underway, with inevitable accompanying losses among the civilian population on both sides. Recently, in Donetsk, seven people were burned alive in a minibus as a result of a direct hit by a MLRS rocket fired from Avdiivka, which is controlled by Kyiv. Donetsk has become accustomed to this after almost nine years of continuous shelling by the Ukrainian Nazis.

Nothing more needs to be said. Your propaganda is making progress. Even in German history, much has been written about Nazism and the war crimes of Hitler and his team, which were proven and published at the Nuremberg trials.
If you are Russian, then your ancestors died in this war. It is you who quickly forget your history, and the Chinese still remember the opium wars.

It feels like listening to ORT. Do you know why Nazi propagandists were hanged, although they did not kill anyone with their own hands or orders? For the fact that with their fake news and "explanations" they untied the hands of murderers, sadists, criminals and justified their crimes. The same is happening in modern Russia. Propaganda told you that at first we fired at ourselves, then that we ourselves killed the inhabitants of Bucha, Irpen, Izyum, .... now, launching rockets at peaceful cities, they invent such an excuse.
In this case, everything is much more transparent. Of the total number of missiles that flew up to the peaceful, sleeping cities of Ukraine at 4 in the morning, our air defense failed to shoot down 2 ... It was these missiles that "hit the targets" set by Russian terrorists.
You can search for a photo of a house in Kyiv, which in March 2022 suffered from the fall of a downed rocket, and look at the completely DESTROYED entrance, which was destroyed by the explosion of the BC of an entire rocket. I understand you want to somehow justify Russia, your homeland ... But she is a terrorist and a vile killer of civilians. Try to spend your energy on something more correct. For example, to speak out in your own country against the WAR... Although I know that in Russia today for a poster with the inscription "no to war" you will get a term and a huge fine... Cowardice is the second main feature of rashizma!

A really good headline on what it means to be Russian now, especially while living in European countries. Are Russians now afraid to be in Europe? Are Europeans now wary of them and do not build their business with companies where the founders are Russians? Are you not satisfied with such attitudes towards Russians? And what, should they be applauded for the atrocities that the Russians are now committing in Ukraine? Yes, they should still be grateful that they are not killed there like rabid dogs. Yes, civilization, humane laws, nothing can be done.

For the second year now, the Russians have been bombing and shelling absolutely the entire territory of Ukraine almost every day, and they hit precisely residential buildings, schools, hospitals, and last winter they tried to hit energy infrastructure facilities with cruise missiles in order to deprive the civilian population of heat, light and water. Moreover, all this time, the inhabitants of Russia support the war in Ukraine by 70-75 percent and are especially happy on social networks when there is a hit by a rocket in a multi-storey building and it demolishes entire porches along with sleeping women and children.

Russia is an international terrorist and therefore the attitude towards Russians in other countries should be appropriate. Now there are very few countries left in Europe that the Kremlin would not threaten to seize after Ukraine. So, do you need to kiss Russians for this when you meet?

the life of the Russian state today is not much different before they went to war with Ukraine because that country is indeed good at managing their economy even though they have received many sanctions from other countries but they are still able to stand up and even continue to be a threat to other countries that export and import with Russia because trade with Russia is not smooth, and currently they continue to create new technologies that will continue to compete with other countries.

Who are you going to kill? Russian people who have been living in Europe for many years or people who fled to Europe so as not to participate in a military conflict?
Maybe you forgot to take your pills before posting?
Who else has the Kremlin promised to capture? There will be no winners in World War III.
When the Americans are bombing cities and killing civilians, you sit in silence.
That's the whole principle of European democracy, and you only notice what is convenient for you. If you think that Russians need to confiscate real estate and block bank accounts or kill them, then write it in the laws of your country, No need to be cowards and hypocrites!

The benefits that they are getting is tiny compared to the risk they are taking. We are talking about people who were in prison, a bad situation, and the reward is getting out and living an easy life, a good situation. But what do you need to do in order to go from prison to there? You need to follow Putin's idiotic war and do what he asks you to do and potentially (possibly) die for them.

This is why there is absolutely nothing that worths your life, you will literally die and there is no reward if you die, because you are dead. Which is why I honestly think that you should not do it, even prison is better than dying, why would you risk your life just because Putin is a moron? I personally feel that's a wrong move in the end.

Dear zasad@ :)
I do not rule out that I may be wrong in some part of the questions. I agree, I'm not a perfect connoisseur of everything. But if you consider it propaganda, i.e. deliberate distortion of information, I am ready with you, here in front of everyone, to discuss the facts that I have cited, which you consider "propaganda"! And if the facts prove that I was wrong - I will apologize to you in front of everyone, and I confess that what I wrote is wild, unrealistic propaganda, and an attempt to lie. If not, then you will confirm that what I said is true, and you did not know the real story, and therefore allowed yourself such statements! Do you agree?

I guess not! :)
And there will be excuses too, without any arguments, but about the fact that "there is no one to talk to, you have one propaganda, everyone already knows that this is not so" ... Well, or something very similar :)

PS Truth against Russian propaganda, it's like incense against devils :)

It seems to me that you forgot the history of the Second World War and an important document of Nazi Germany is Directive No. 21. Plan "Barbarossa" "(German: Weisung Nr. 21. Fall Barbarossa)"
Find this document in English or original German and check who attacked whom first.

I gave you an example when the Japanese tell the Russians that we do not know history and that it was the USSR that dropped atomic bombs on Heroshima and Nagasaki. Do you also think so?

A new Russian economy would have some changes depending on how it is going and if it will be even a small one.

I feel like there are two sides of this that are evil and that makes the rest of the world watching laugh. The west that talks badly about Russia is right, Russia is a beautiful nation that is ruled by a moron dictator and that causes plenty of people to die needlessly and the economy sucks and even if you manage to build everything on your own, you need export to make money and this will cause a big trouble.

Russia talking about west is right as well, war in Ukraine might be terrible but not like West hasn't attacked middle east for the past 20 years, we have seen that, west has done much worse war crimes before as well. So, Russia is right about west and west is right about Russia if you ask any nation that is staying out of this, like mine, we just laugh at your attacks against each other.

Dear zasad@ :)
I do not rule out that I may be wrong in some part of the questions. I agree, I'm not a perfect connoisseur of everything. But if you consider it propaganda, i.e. deliberate distortion of information, I am ready with you, here in front of everyone, to discuss the facts that I have cited, which you consider "propaganda"! And if the facts prove that I was wrong - I will apologize to you in front of everyone, and I confess that what I wrote is wild, unrealistic propaganda, and an attempt to lie. If not, then you will confirm that what I said is true, and you did not know the real story, and therefore allowed yourself such statements! Do you agree?


The USSR did NOT start the Great Patriotic War, but World War II, and together with Nazi Germany against European countries, since 1939 - true / false? Arguments?

September 17, 1939, Soviet troops entered the territory of Poland - true / false? Arguments?

November 30, 1939, Soviet troops entered the territory of Finland - true / false? Arguments?

On June 26, 1940, the USSR demanded Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from the Romanian government under the threat of military force ... - true / false? Arguments?


I guess not! :)
And there will be excuses too, without any arguments, but about the fact that "there is no one to talk to, you have one propaganda, everyone already knows that this is not so" ... Well, or something very similar :)

PS Truth against Russian propaganda, it's like incense against devils :)

In my opinion, children's songs are exactly what Russia needs now. 

The unfavorable demographic situation (insufficient birth rate of the indigenous population) is the main problem of the Russian Federation.  India does not have such a problem, but Russia has such a problem. 

Until 2022, this was perhaps the only serious acute problem of the Russian Federation (because all other problems were solved in one way or another).  NATO's eastward expansion presents a challenge.  At one time, as far as I know, Russia was denied its request to join NATO.  Nevertheless, no one prevented Russia from re-equipping the army and navy, trading with other countries and mastering new modern technologies. 

These measures, combined with a reasonable and adequate foreign policy, in my opinion, completely stop potential external threats from NATO countries.

With a population of about 146,110,000, I think Russia is sufficiently populated to meet its needs. A willing population may be an issue. Multiple threats and sanctions have been meted against Russia by NATO whose sole aim is annihilation of Russia. Truly, you want prepare adequately for war and disaster, but I think Russia is holding strong against a seemingly superior opponents. I only pray things are resolved soonest.

146 million people are enough to function in the global world, actively trading with neighbors and avoiding local and global conflicts. 

However, this is not enough to create an isolated economic zone, surrounded by unfriendly countries.  International economic sanctions were also imposed against the USSR.  At the same time, the USSR had a very developed heavy and light industry, agriculture, nuclear and hydropower, production of consumer goods, etc. 

At the same time, the USSR, in addition to Russia, included 14 more Soviet republics.  The USSR also cooperated with the countries of the Union for Mutual Economic Assistance (and these are countries such as eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, etc.). The total population of the USSR and CMEA exceeded 300 million people.  It was a full-fledged economic zone, a large region that had a closed economy. 

This allowed the USSR to compete with the United States and other countries of the NATO bloc.  To create such a full-fledged economic zone, a large population is needed (much more than 146 million people).

It is rather hypocritical for Ukrainians to recall this episode of world history, because this is how Ukraine increased its territory by six regions, including the historically Polish Lvov (which the Red Army soldiers then recaptured from the Nazi Wehrmacht). Already two weeks after the start of World War II, Poland lost its self-identity as a state, and its government, along with its gold reserves, fled to Romania. Already on October 1, 1939, Churchill approved this operation, which helped to form the border of the eastern front against Nazi Germany approximately along the Curzon line, along which the eastern border of Poland was supposed to pass according to the recommendations of the Entente in 1920. In general, "divide Poland" is an old European tradition.

Much can be said about the president of Russia, but he is not a moron, as you say.
If the economy in Russia is better, then in Europe it will be worse :) It used to suit everyone, but now the situation will change.

I don't want to teach you the lessons of history
September 1, 1939 Germany attacked Poland, is it true or false?
The Polish army had no chance against Germany, they did not last even a month.
The Soviet Union could not but react.
Poland is still demanding compensation.

The war with Finland over territory was a mistake, and one of the many reasons for the German attack on the USSR, because they showed the Soviet army was weak.

It is true that the Soviet Union wanted to expand its influence and territory because they understood that war was inevitable.

The figure of 146.1 million provided here was for mainland Russia, prior to the war on February 2022. Russia has now annexed 4 regions of Ukraine (Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia). These four regions had a combined population of 9 million as of 2022. Even if we assume that one-third of the population reside outside the Russian controlled areas, that gives a total population of more than 152 million. And at this point, Ukraine's population is just around 25-30 million. They lost millions after Russia annexed the four regions. And 8 million Ukrainians are now refugees outside that country (with 2,852,395 of them residing in Russia as of May 2023).

""

I will dedicate a separate post to fans of fakes, on the topic indicated by them :)

I'll start from afar.
The distance from Avdiivka to the CENTER of DONETSK (and Universitetskaya Street, where this allegedly happened is the center of the city, parallel to Artem Street), is approximately 22-23 km. Considering the front line.
If we are talking about MLRS, these are most likely Grad-type systems.
With a projectile range of more than 20 km, there are only a few modifications of warheads. By the way - you have a fact proving that it was a MLRS and what model, charge. There is no fact - it means you, as always, habitually lie, trying to divert attention from the crimes of Russia! :)
So, a projectile with a range of more than 20 km, high-explosive fragmentation type, produced by Ukraine or the USSR, is 9M521 / 9M522. Warhead weight up to 25 kg. I can give a photo of what it looks like when such a shell hits a residential building, and even just on the road. But - you can do it yourself. Why is this? In order to understand what force destruction brings such a charge.

And now we are looking for a photo from the place of the fake "tragedy" you cite. I will not publish here, but everyone can find photos easily and without compulsion.
In the photo there is a WHOLE bus, but burned out, there are no craters around it. Those. the hit should have happened to him? Right ? :) But then, comparing with the photo of the explosion of a real warhead, you will understand that nothing should have been left of the bus. At least the body - for sure. Conclusion - you are very gullible, and you are extremely easy to manipulate. Well, or you are a pathological liar who is simply trying to justify the crimes of Russia with a primitive lie, which is more accurate, and which, in general, has already been revealed many times :)

In a word - Russian propaganda and its henchmen once again, though EXPECTED, "got dirty" :)

If you're interested, I'll send you a photo of Universitetskaya Street and "a photo of the tragedy on Universitetskaya Street."

PS Most likely, Russia exponentially burned people, for a "beautiful staging", it is normal for them to calmly blow up houses in their country, killing hundreds of citizens, just to blame others - history remembers a lot of such examples ....

UPD. Information came that the real reasons for this event - the "hero of Russia" who returned from the front, being in his usual state - a state of deep alcohol intoxication, tried to prove to people traveling in a shuttle bus that he was a hero and shed blood for all of Russia and them specifically. It was sent as expected. As a result, he was offended, took out an ordinary grenade and began to threaten with an explosion. As a result, the grenade exploded, killing both the rashizt himself and innocent civilians .. Such is the reality, in the territories where the "Russian world" came ....

We do not know exactly how many people live in the Russian Federation.... 

The population census in Russia was conducted during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and was, in fact, a purely formal event.  After the announcement of partial military mobilization, a very large number of young people of childbearing age left Russia. 

This is the gene pool of the nation - the most intelligent, educated and energetic people of the country. 

This is a huge loss for the future of Russia.  And a great acquisition for those countries where these people emigrated.

Next, The loss of confidence in the government and the stability of the country as a whole. This could result in a reduction in foreign investment, which in turn could exacerbate the economic situation and exacerbate the unemployment problem. I think it is very important for the Russian government and business leaders to address the root causes of economic instability and work to create sustainable economic growth to overcome the challenges it is currently facing and secure a brighter future for its citizens.

You never found the courage to answer honestly and truthfully, I expected this ...
I answer your questions: Yes, Germany FIRST, on September 1, invaded the territory of Poland. Whether Poland had chances or not is the second question. But the USSR, in order to help its partner - Germany, delivered a vile blow from behind, the defending army of Poland. On September 17, 1939, the troops of the Red Army crossed the border of Poland, without warning, and the declaration of war, starting the destruction and capture of Poland from the east.
The result of this massacre was a joint parade of Nazi Germany and the USSR in Brest.
"The parade of the Wehrmacht in front of the units of the Red Army in Brest - the passage of a solemn march along the main street of the city of Brest (Brest-Litovsk) of the divisions of the XIX motorized corps of the Wehrmacht (corps commander - General of Tank Forces Heinz Guderian), which was observed as spectators by the crews of the 29th separate tank brigade of the Red Army (commander - brigade commander Semyon Krivoshein), which took place on September 22, 1939, during the official procedure for the transfer to the Soviet side of the city of Brest and the Brest Fortress, captured by German troops during the invasion of Poland. Guderian and Krivoshein under the naval flag of Germany. The procedure was completed the solemn lowering of the German flag and the raising of the Soviet flag.
The transfer of the city took place in accordance with the Soviet-German protocol on the establishment of a demarcation line on the territory of the former Polish state, signed on September 21, 1939 by representatives of the Soviet and German commands. The event was filmed for the film magazine Die Deutsche Wochenschau."


2. There was no German attack on the USSR, it was a special military operation to decommunize the USSR and protect the interests of the German-speaking population of the USSR! And in general it was an internal conflict in the USSR!
How do you like this presentation, in the format of modern Russian propaganda and state lies? You obviously don't like it!? :)


PS. Well, and most importantly - so, it turns out that all that I cited is true facts, and you accused me of propaganda and distorting history deliberately and purposefully? :)

Don't be silly, Russia's invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939 can be called a special military operation, but the German attack on Russia on June 22, 1941 was a full-fledged act of declaring war. A war can be easily distinguished from a military special operation by the nature of the interaction of the conflicting states through diplomatic channels.

Your attempts to distort history should be subjected to immediate general condemnation, and all your historical and political activity with a clear bias in favor of Ukraine in the Economics section is absolutely inappropriate. Go to the Politics section and practice idle talk there.

According to some sources, close to 1 million people emigrated from Russia since the start of the war in February 2022. But most of these people will eventually return to Russia, as they are on temporary permits and mostly residing in various CIS nations such as Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. These CIS nations are not very happy with the influx, but they will tolerate for sometime because the emigrants are spending a lot of money and it is boosting the local economy. On the other hand, Ukraine's loss of manpower is permanent.

Various US sanctions on Russia have not changed Russia's economic situation. Russia's economic situation is the same as it was before the war with Ukraine, even after the US sanctions. Some Russians are working in a project in our country and when asked about the condition of their country, they say that their families are not facing any problem, their families are moving as before, there is no unrest in the country, prices of daily necessities and other things are normal. That is, according to the Russian person, they are not yet worried about such a war situation in their country.

Well, you are lying again, as always :)
The purpose of the AGREEMENT between the friendly Nazi regimes - Hitler's and the Kremlin's, was not a special operation - but the seizure and division of the territory of an independent country. What Russia, in the best traditions of Nazism, tried to repeat in 2014. But on June 22, 1941 - indeed, everything is not as you are lying - Germany decided to help the German-speaking population of the USSR, which was oppressed by the Kremlin junta. In addition, the Nazis of the USSR began to destroy their population, i.e. civil internal conflict. Germany tried to save them! And in general - you know very well that the fraternal peoples of Germany and the USSR played off, insidious Honduras! And Germany simply defended itself so that the USSR would not attack it! :) Tell me - is it cool that Russian crazy propaganda and Russian political technologies and technologies fall on history? :)

The so called sanctions will negatively impact the western nations more than the Russians themselves. Russia is one of the top producers of various mineral resources and during the past decade they have boosted the agricultural output by several times. Western nations, as a result of their stupid sanctions are cutting themselves off a large share of the global supplies. Russia mostly imports electronics, pharmaceuticals and other finished goods. And supplies from western nations are currently being replaced with those from China. Ordinary Russians are not facing any sort of shortages, while back in Germany heavy engineering and metallurgical plants are being closed down due to the high prices of gas and electricity.

I think a lot more people left Russia. 

For example, about 1/3 of the total number of my acquaintances left Russia forever.  At the same time, the girls return to Russia, but the guys do not.  This is due to the fear of a new wave of military mobilization. 

No one wants to get into a situation where their repeated trip abroad will be forcibly restricted. 

The worst thing is the complete hopelessness and the absence of at least some hope for a favorable outcome.  People leave not only for Kazakhstan and Georgia, but also for Australia, the USA, Mexico, Goa, Bali, Dubai, Turkey, etc.

Goa, Dubai.etc are temporary destinations. It is almost impossible to get the citizenship in these countries. And in case of India, PR is also difficult to obtain. Situation is slightly different in CIS countries such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as it is easier to obtain passports for Russian speakers. After the dissolution of the USSR, these countries lost almost 80% of the ethnic Russian population, which had a negative impact on their economy. They would welcome highly educated and skilled immigrants from Russia, provided that these people are ready to integrate into the local culture.

Yes, in the future, Russians run the risk of becoming a nomadic people without a homeland, like medieval gypsies and Jews ...

I agree with you in the United Arab Emirates it is almost impossible to obtain full-fledged citizenship.  It also has a very uncomfortable climate. 

At the same time, moving to the countries of the former USSR, unfortunately, does not solve the problem either.  All 15 former Soviet republics of the USSR are fragments of a once united country, statehood in these territories is only being formed.  Several generations must pass before these countries reach maturity and stability. 

For example, in January 2022, there were mass riots in Kazakhstan, which fortunately did not lead to a protracted civil war.

You forgot to take into account one nuance - a Russian (thanks to be.open for the hint, clarification - I mean a resident of Russia) lies as soon as he opens his mouth :) Therefore, they prosper, the whole world envies them, they have a powerful economy, the best army, the whole world cannot live without their technologies and resources, ... This is such a habit, genetic - it was laid down by the USSR. You live disgustingly and there are no prospects - lie to everyone around you that you are the richest and most successful! :)
This behavior reminds me of children from poor, dysfunctional families. Those who communicate in the yard with their peers, who have normal families, good income, good relationships, seeing how they live, begin to invent fairy tales and tell that everything is fine with them too. That dad is not an alcoholic, and mom does not work 3 jobs to at least somehow feed her family. That at home instead of a shabby apartment - but a beautiful beautiful design ....


Although I agree that a small part of the population of Russia, stealing resources or working for those who plunder the country, do not live badly. But my relatives who live in Russia (Novosibirsk and Krasnodar) have been complaining for many years that prices are rising, the quality of products is falling, utilities are growing, medicines are in short supply and their prices are high, there are no prospects, earnings are falling.

You are a very self-critical Russian. ;D
But you should not impose projections of your internal complexes on those around you and engage in the practice of false generalizations on a national basis. All people are different and it does not depend on nationality, of course, if you are not a Nazi.

they are quite strong on the economic side, even in a state of war some time ago Russia was still able to survive even though they had to offend NATO. at least they have a natural resource in the form of gas which is the source of their exports to Europe, and that is Russia's valuable asset in Europe, they can sell it at a higher price for Europe because of offending it, I think Russia is now really a strong country militarily and economically.

I always appreciate your help :)
I already explained in my post what I mean! You are absolutely right - it is very wrong to evaluate on a national basis. Everything depends on the society. For example, the population of Russia has been brought up on lies, hypocrisy and propaganda. Once again - very grateful to you for the revealed inaccuracy! :)
About the complexes - you tell your psychiatrist - it will amuse him, well, plus profile help will obviously not hurt you :)

I have now gone on a tourist trip to the Republic of Belarus.  

I went to the local supermarket (to buy a kettle for tea leaves) and saw an interesting picture from life.  

Two employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situation (very beautiful girls - blondes in military uniform) told the children what dangers await them in their own apartment and how they can be avoided.  It was an interesting conversation, similar to a lecture, an exam and a quest at the same time.  

I thought that focusing on security is good, but it can easily turn into paranoia and bring trouble to both your people and nearby neighboring nations.

You can not build your picture of the world on the concept of security.  We must believe that the universe is friendly to people.  It is we who, with our anxious thoughts, make the world around us dangerous and unfriendly.

The problem with conventional warfare is that it requires a lot of men willing and able to fight. With a prolonged conflict the number of dead and terminally wounded piles up. So even assuming they have the technology and resources to buy/produce equipment, they could simply run out of fighting-age men at some point. Drafting too many civilians could cause further disruptions to normal, daily operations (i.e. shortage of workers).

Russia seems to be managing the sanctions way better than anyone (in the West) expected, but to say they're economically strong is just too far-fetched.

Can I clarify - what topic was the lecture on? Just household safety or... ? it’s just that my friend lives in the Republic of Belarus closer to the borders of Ukraine, so he says they started telling them how to hide from fragments, how to prepare an apartment in case of an air raid, and where it’s better to hide ... But a year ago they were going to “reach Berlin again, if only someone will think something against us" :)

In fact, the lecture on safety was very sweet and positive.  Paintings depicting living quarters (rooms in an apartment) were exhibited.  Employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (two beautiful girls) asked the parents of the child and the child himself about the dangers present in this room.  This question was answered by the parents and the child. 

Then the girl from the Ministry of Emergency Situations said - "There are actually a lot of dangerous places in this room!" 

She uttered this phrase with such enthusiasm that I became thoughtful ....

As far as I know, the Ministry of Emergency Situations exists only in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus.  But where is the line that separates healthy concern about security from morbid paranoia?  Where is this border? 

In psychology, there is such a thing as a self-fulfilling prophecy.  If you constantly think about the most negative scenarios for the development of a life situation, then these scenarios come true.  By actively seeking to prevent evil, we can open the way for it to enter our world.

A friendly universe or not, this is a philosophical question ....

It can only be said for sure that every person has freedom of choice (even if he chooses submission to fate and fatalism for himself).  The worst thing is when the cult of death is cultivated at the level of state ideology.  As a result, a disastrous mental funnel arises and begins to suck in the souls of other people ....

Yesterday I was in the Republic of Belarus, including a concert dedicated to the Victory Day in World War II (May 9). 

The general feeling is that the songs that I heard at the concert were about the war, but they sounded the idea that the war is a terrible disaster and should not be allowed.  And this is what gives hope.  The power of evil (that is, the cult of death) is not unlimited.

Belarus is a model country for both Russia and Ukraine. Love him, or hate him. But you need to admit that Lukashenko did a lot of good things for the people of Belarus. In the two decades that followed the dissolution of the USSR, Russia lost almost 20% of its population, and Ukraine lost close to 30%. But Belarussian population remained stable (despite some emigration). Even now, mortality rate among working age population in Belarus remains much lower than that in Russia or Ukraine. Lukashenko achieved something that neither Yeltsin, nor Putin could achieve.

This is a very delicate topic. And for Russia, it can be no less terrible than the approaching military defeat.
Social defeat! The population of Russia is already far from the fictitious 140 million. Now millions of citizens, of the most productive age and the most intelligent, have already left Russia. About a million more were killed and maimed in the fields of Ukraine. 40% to 60% of the population lives in poverty. Degradation, alcoholism, first place in tuberculosis, AIDS, life expectancy is decreasing every year, and mortality is growing. This is social degradation, which may no longer be reversible. And soon 90% + of the population of Russia will consist of a lumpenized population of younger / middle age + pensioners. Neither one nor the second will give the state anything other than social spending and problems!
Who wants to live, conditionally, among pensioners, alcoholics and tuberculosis patients? No one, and therefore more will leave, and many ...

How much will you fantasize?
Well, at least one link show?
Even if 500-700 thousand left Russia, the majority returned back, because even in Turkey it is difficult to live without money, and the salary is only enough for food and a hostel.
"million more were killed and maimed" there is no such data even in open publications of foreign intelligence services.

Dr.Beer has a four-point manual:
1. USA strong.
2. China is deceiving everyone.
3. Russia is falling apart.
4. Repeat in a circle until you get bored.

So finish your hedgehog stew, drink your moonshine on cigarette butts, and go walk your bear. Don't forget the balalaika. ;D

The great Russian scientist Dmitry Mendeleev (he discovered the periodic table of chemical elements and improved the recipe for Russian vodka), among other things, was fond of predicting population growth. 

Mendeleev knew mathematics very well and was able to make complex statistical calculations.  He predicted that by the beginning of the 21st century, about 600 million people would live in Russia. 

His calculations were absolutely correct, but he did not take into account that in the 20th century Russia would actively participate in the war with Japan, World War I, Civil War, World War II, the Afghan war, etc. 

This is a simple truth - war ruins the future of the country. 

But for some reason this simple truth is difficult to comprehend.

No one will take you seriously with statements like this one. That would mean their entire army would be long gone (for every killed soldier there are around 3-4 wounded).

But as they say, during the war the truth dies first. It's really hard to get any reliable estimates of casualties on both sides, and even the leaked Pentagon docs (or at least media reports on them) are very inconsistent, but are citing somewhere around 30-40k of Russians killed in action.

In general, strange activity, especially in the trading network. In general, basic safety rules are given in schools, I lay the child to understand the risks that, unfortunately, can be in life.
In our country, after another attack by Russia, the civilian population is often trained, materials are sent out, and the population is informed. What is very useful - in March-April 2022, mass training was conducted in cities - on the provision of primary / pre-medical care, they were taught to stop bleeding, carry out the wounded, etc. forced "actual knowledge".

Regarding the Ministry of Emergency Situations - in Ukraine there is the same structure, called the "State Service of Ukraine for Emergency Situations." I am sure that in most other countries there are similar services, or their role has been delegated to other structures.

Looks like the summer offensive from the Ukrainian side has started. Russian forces are reporting that their first line of defense was breached towards North and West of Soledar, and they are on backfoot in Kherson and Kupiansk sectors. Flanks under attack in Bakhmut, but no large scale changes there. As of now, the Russian side has 300,000 soldiers under their command. Ukraine had somewhere between 500,000 to 1,000,000 and now an additional 200,000 soldiers have joined them.

In the map below, areas highlighted in blue was captured by Ukraine in the last 24 hours:

And it's easy to check and make sure! Don't believe it! The fact is that between Russian propaganda and reality, there is a significant difference - FACTS, and direct and indirect indicators!
And I'm ready to show them to you, and you can easily check them!

So. Let's start with... Let it be February 2022. OFFICIALLY, the "SVO" grouping consisted of about 180 thousand people of the regular army. These are the consumables that, according to the "unique plan of the Russian command", were supposed to take Kyiv, and capture most of Ukraine in 2-3 weeks :) Is it still funny for you? Well, ok, let's move on.

The "second army of the world", armed with something that, according to the Russian pitiful breed of the Fuhrer of Nazi Germany, "having no analogues of weapons", entered Ukraine from three sides on February 24, 2022 ... At the beginning, they even managed to reach suburb of Kiev, and even GO TO KIEV! I myself confirm this, because. directly involved in these events. But ... after 1-6 months, the APU released MOST of:
- Kyiv region, and suburbs of Kyiv
- Kharkiv region - for the most part, and literally in 2 weeks.
- Southern regions of Ukraine

Here I will stop.
And back to the calendar. The strike terrorist group of the Russian Federation was approximately 180,000 consumables. Logistics (I hope you know what military affairs are, and you understand perfectly well what "logistics support" is) was approximately, at least, the same number of terrorists.

And suddenly, literally 5 months pass, there is, at first, a regrouping of a significant part of the Russian troops, with an attempt to save the case on the "2-3 day NVO" front ... And then - "Mobilization in Russia", which was OFFICIALLY announced on September 21 2022 :) Another 300.000 consumables! Well, let's turn on the BRAIN? If the “second army of the world”, having carried out a terrorist attack on Ukraine, suddenly begins to URGENTLY understaff combat units and gather citizens of the country in order to URGENTLY replenish the ranks of the RF Armed Forces, they must have had irreversible and global losses.
And suddenly - PMC Wagner appears on the arena, which is given the right to take criminals to the war as well! Total for today:
- the first wave of worthless Russian "meat" - 170,000. Killed, wounded.
- criminals - from 30,000 to 70,000 dead, wounded. But no one counts them at all - for the Kremlin they are not people, but simply biomaterial
- the first wave of mobilization - 300.000, also disappeared somewhere :)
- the second hidden wave - approximately 300,000 - also disappeared somewhere.
There is a constant set of consumables, throughout Russia and now. We have already reached the big cities. On the periphery, suitable individuals are running out :)

Now back to the classics of military affairs. There is a classic "arithmetic" of the ratio of losses, for a war of the level of the Second World War - the ratio of losses of the defenders to the attackers, and the ratio of "200" (dead) to "300" wounded.

In total, today, even the totally false propaganda of Russia, speaks of approximately 60,000 dead (M) Russian terrorists. Even according to this indicator, the wounded and disabled, for the advancing army of the 20th century (this is about the Russian backward army), suffers losses of 1: 3-1: 4 in relation to those killed: wounded. Further - consider :)
According to our data, and the number of corpses of soldiers of the RF Armed Forces, approximately 200,000 soldiers of the REGULAR ARMY of the Russian Federation have already died.
Those. the minimum losses are: 200,000 CORPSES + 200,000 * 3 (I take the minimum ratio) = 600,000 + approximately 50,000 Wagnerians + up to 30,000 Kadyrovites + NG + corpses that are still lying around in the fields of Ukraine ... Total - about a million! To this we must also add - Russia's losses in logistics (HYMARS - thank you!), Losses on the territory of the border regions, that is, on its territory
Do you have ARGUMENTS and proof of another?

PS: I was not in the fighting in the east of Ukraine. But I was in Irpin, 24 hours after it was liberated from Russian terrorist troops. The first process that we had was to collect the corpses of the KILLED citizens of Ukraine, and the corpses of terrorists from Russia.
The second stage was the examination of the destroyed equipment of the occupiers, and the identification of the corpses of the occupiers in Irpin and its outskirts. You know what's "fun"? Many corpses of Russian terrorists are still lying around in our refrigerator cars! We informed the Russians about this in order to organize the transfer of the bodies of their soldiers ... Russia REFUSED to accept them! And in general they said - "this is not our problem." And that's just one small town! And there are dozens and hundreds of those liberated from Russian terrorists!

Well, the easiest way to make sure: a resource that takes into account only identified and confirmed destroyed objects of the occupiers: https://minusrus.com/

According to the classical theory of warfare, the attacking side has a ratio of killed to wounded of about 1:4. And there are no "mass assaults", and stupid throwing of enemy positions by their soldiers. So according to these data - everything converges. And this is a minimalist estimate.




Carefully observe the development of the situation for the next 2-3 weeks - you will be very surprised :)


UPDATE
Mobilization in Russia, May 2023. Another 400,000 people. The Russians were told about the plans of the Ministry of Defense for a new call-up, given on May 9, 2023. Information appeared in the Russian media about the plans of the Ministry of Defense to recruit new fighters into the ranks of the RF Armed Forces to participate in the SVO.  ;D ;D ;D ;D

How was he "absolutely correct" though? Sounds more like he was horribly wrong, for whatever reason that was. And it's not the war that's primarily responsible for shrinking populations. It's the cultural shift coupled with birth control.
I think most of the past statistical predictions turned out to be totally missed, e.g. the alarmist "The Population Bomb" (1968).



That's a massive oversimplification. Has the involvement of US in the WW2 ruined their future, or quite the contrary, put them in the position of the world leader?
Any country that is not willing/prepared to fight when necessary is doomed to fail.

Rusia seem not affected significantly from this war, at least from common people perceptions. But young Russians are affected to their mindset of this war if we see from their perceptions. Young russians who grow up on digital and social networks era try to influence more people on social media. They told about anti-war to the whole world. they have their own way to response this war.

I will repeat once again - most of the population of Russia REALLY did not feel the deterioration of their lives. I openly speak about it and confirm it. But there is one caveat - more than 50% of the population in Russia lives in very poor conditions, with very low incomes, and deprived of ordinary, habitual inhabitants of normal countries, things and services! Therefore, nothing has worsened in their life, because it cannot be worse!

PS A simple example to make sure: I will give just a couple of examples:
2008 - Russia attacks Georgia. Small country. Attacks with a huge army. Google "Georgia 2008 Russian Marauders"
2022 - Russia, having attacked Georgia with impunity, globally attacks Ukraine (2 times, the war itself was started in 2014). Google "Ukraine 2022 Russian Marauders"

And look what ORDINARY citizens of Russia steal in the occupied territories?
From personal hygiene items, and used underwear, and cutlery, to TVs, washing machines, microwaves and TOILETS :)
Those. something that is of great value to them, which means it is not available to them, for their standard of living ...

This is all you need to know about the real standard of living of the population in Russia. Do not assume that all of Russia lives like Moscow :)

Why the economic war against Russia has failed (https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-the-economic-war-against-russia-has-failed/)

Highlighted by me. ;D

I think there are changes, people are just adjusting to what is happening. Ordinary people put up with a possible price increase, as long as they don't touch it. Inflation around the world and ora will grow.

Well, congratulations, you found one article, out of a million others, where someone expressed an opinion that amuses you :)
but the reality is different, don’t overread this article!

Here are just the titles of the articles:
- “Friendly” countries refuse to open accounts for Russian banks
Russian banks face problems when trying to open accounts in “friendly” countries in order to establish trade bypassing the dollar, euro and other world currencies. To agree on the opening of correspondent accounts in order to conduct transactions in national currencies, “it does not always work out,” said Alexei Guznov, deputy chairman of the Bank of Russia, speaking at a legal forum in Moscow.

- Russian cosmonauts were left without spacesuits :)
Russia is no longer a SPACE power, but a COMIC
The whole world has already laughed about the second army of the world :)

- G7 countries agree on partial trade embargo against Russia
The G7 countries are close to agreeing to introduce a partial trade embargo against Russia, which will tighten the sanctions regime against some particularly sensitive categories of goods. This is reported by Reuters with reference to diplomats familiar with the preparations for the G7 summit in Hiroshima on May 19-21.

- "It's scary to fly at random." Airlines massively hide the technical problems of aircraft
The Proekt publication, citing employees of Aeroflot and Nordwind, reported a systemic deterioration in aircraft maintenance after the imposition of sanctions.
From the spring of 2022, airlines require personnel not to enter technical defects in the flight logs (TLB) and aircraft often fly out of order. Senior flight attendants of Aeroflot were forbidden to write down problems with equipment without the consent of the aircraft commander.

....and such news every day, every hour, every minute :)
And most importantly - you will not be able to refute any of them! And it remains for you to just rejoice and dance near some one, probably even a custom article :)

I sometimes wonder what this war is really saying about the turmoil going on right now, when both sides will receive physical and human defeats. But the information that I've learned so much about protesting or supporting, and how it's manipulated, makes me see more and more issues of selfishness in the name of community bringing peace. I'm not going to discuss who's right or wrong, but it's clear that what we're seeing in terms of political and economic developments across different regions shows the truth that maybe they're lying, I I don't want to point out who the liar is just to let people feel the truth for themselves.

Well, can you refute this article, because it is also based on facts? It seems not, and you are not even going to do it, it is easier for you to reject the article in its entirety and say that it is custom-made. This is a reliable sign that you are politically engaged and are in a bubble of pro-Western propaganda.

You can list "facts" as much as you like that there are some difficulties in Russia. Of course they are. Such a huge and complex economy cannot simply be turned from west to south and east at the snap of a finger without some difficulties and overlaps. But the main thing has already happened - instead of falling apart and begging the West for mercy, the Russian economy has withstood the sanctions strike and is even showing growth. Try to disprove this fact. ;D

I'm sitting in a cafe now (I decided to have a bite) - I listened to what kind of music was playing, and this is "Farewell of the Slavyanka" .... And before that there was some kind of military march.  

And people come to this cafe just to eat.  What worries me more is not the presence or absence of Russian spacesuits for spacewalks, but the gradual addiction of Russians to war.  War is an unnatural state for a social society.  

The cult of power and war can bring great troubles in the future.  I really do not know how much it is possible to reformat social society in this direction, but the desire to reformat on the part of certain forces is very great ....

Now a melody is playing in the cafe - "The division went forward along the valleys and hills in order to take Primorye, the stronghold of the White Army, in battle."

This is clearly not the kind of music I want to hear in a cafe.

Both the sides seems to have overestimated their own capabilities. Russia, at least initially thought that they will be able to conquer all of Ukraine with just 120,000 to 160,000 soldiers (when Ukraine have close to 2 million soldiers including reserves). Western nations also thought that the Russian economy will collapse in a few months and all the world nations would join them in embargoing Russia. Both cases didn't happened. Even within Europe, Turkey refused to join the sanctions against Russia and has emerged as one of the top importers of Russian hydrocarbons. 

Perhaps you are right. In my opinion, the US and UK economies are doing worse than expected, while the economies of Europe and Russia are doing better than expected. In the sense that a year ago the economic outlook for the US and the UK looked brighter, while the economic outlook for the EU and Russia looked bleaker.

US economy will be back on track if Trump wins POTUS election in 2024. That is not the case with the United Kingdom. They are digging their own grave by elongating this war. US is one of the countries benefitting from the war (as a result of increased demand for LNG and weapons), but the UK is a net importer of fuel. On top of that, they are spending huge amounts of money to prop up Ukraine. Americans can easily send $10 billion or $12 billion of military aid per month to Ukraine, but if the UK tries to do the same, then their economy will collapse.

In my opinion, it will be very difficult for Donald Trump to win the US presidential election (in 2024). 

Donald Trump is a very scandalous and eccentric person.  At the same time, apart from Donald Trump, the Republicans have no other worthy candidates for the post of President of the United States.  In my opinion, Joe Biden will easily defeat Donald Trump in the 2024 election. 

As for the UK, I agree with your assessment that its economic position is more vulnerable than that of the US. 

However, supplying weapons to another country and independently conducting military operations are completely different actions.  Great Britain is not involved in the war and hostilities are not being conducted on its territory. 

Great Britain is the financial center of the world, its economy, in my opinion, is not critically dependent on the supply of hydrocarbons.

Yes, the main thing has already happened. If at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin demanded that NATO collect its belongings and get out to the positions of 1997, now we are arguing that Russia is not giving up now and with great difficulty withstands the sanctions strike. Moreover, Russia is now fighting with only one Ukrainian army, but with financial, material and military assistance from other countries.

On the territory of Ukraine, according to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, today a Russian group of about 370 thousand people, 20 thousand national guards and about 7 thousand various paramilitary formations are involved. That is, although the number of invaders even increased compared to the approximately 200,000-strong invasion group, the quality of manpower and equipment has already seriously fallen. The potential for offensive operations of the Russian army is absolutely exhausted, now they have a serious potential only for defense. Yes, and that is temporary. There was information that the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Shoigu was ordered to retreat from Bakhmut by 30 kilometers in order not to advance, but to defend himself. For about a year, Russia has been trying to capture a small town in the Donbass, and the “second army of the world”, having put the most professional part of its army there, is now forced to retreat.

The Russian army, as well as any actions of Russia, are extremely idiotic. Now I will explain what I mean.

I constantly communicate with our guys from the Armed Forces of Ukraine on various issues. So the new wave of offensive that Russia "invented" and launched this year came down to two key concepts:
1. We do not care how many of our citizens (Russians) will die, but the tasks must be completed.
2. We don’t know how to fight, our second army of the world is a fake, so we just bombard everything around with shells, demolish everything to the ground level, we will call it “liberation”.

So they do. You can see, for example, a photo of the city of Marinka, after the "liberation" ...

For every square meter of land, they have several of their dead soldiers or criminals from the Wagner PMC. And for understanding - this town has been "liberated" by the "second army of the world" for 10 months already.

Actually, now the army of the terrorist country has 2 problems, as a result of two idiotic decisions:
1. Huge loss of manpower and equipment. HUGE! Officially, more than 200.00 killed servicemen of the Russian army have already been confirmed. Thousands more, if not tens of thousands, are lying around the fields and forests, Russia does not take them away. About 50,000 more killed mercenaries-criminals of PMC Wagner ... There is nothing to attack, mobilization in Russia failed miserably ... There are less and less idiots to go to die for Putin's painful fantasies. Well, the picture turns out: there is nothing to attack, it is necessary to go on the defensive. And here is the second problem.
2.  After the total destruction of settlements in Ukraine, the army of terrorists ... did not leave rear areas and areas for themselves to form a reliable defense. There is simply nowhere to gain a foothold and hide - EVERYTHING IS DESTROYED by their own hands!
And now Ukraine is beginning to smoothly, systematically, clearly simply destroy the manpower and equipment of the demoralized army of the terrorist country, pursuing and destroying them.

PS. If you have someone decided to go to serve for the "Russian world", and went to Ukraine - tell them to immediately surrender. For those crimes that terrorists from Russia committed in Ukraine, they will not be taken prisoner in battle ... I don’t explain the details, I think you yourself understand what awaits the occupiers in Ukraine ...

Citizens of the Russian Federation, accustomed to watching the war only in propaganda programs on federal channels, finally have a unique opportunity to feel themselves in the place of the Ukrainians, whose murders they so fiercely supported all these years.

Thanks to a large-scale raid by Russian volunteers fighting against the regime of dictator Vladimir Putin, residents of the Belgorod region can now witness with their own eyes such a breathtaking sight as tanks entering settlements, helicopters loitering in the sky and massive artillery shelling of strategic targets.

On May 22, 2023, it became known that the Legion "Freedom of Russia" and the "Russian Volunteer Corps" entered the territory of the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation. The Russians turned to their compatriots with calls to overthrow the Kremlin regime for the sake of the "future of Russia." They report the release of several settlements on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Now, the Freedom of Russia legion has reported that the fighters of the Russian Volunteer Corps allegedly completely liberated Kozinka in the Belgorod Region. Advance detachments allegedly entered the settlement of Grayvoron. Pictures of the movement of tanks and armored vehicles towards Belgorod, as well as the flags of the "Belgorod People's Republic" are published on the Web. Everything is about the same as Russia once arranged in the Donbass. Only now the situation is boomeranging back to Russia itself. We will see how events unfold further.

But Ukraine has nothing to do with it. Citizens of Russia themselves conduct a special operation on the territory of the Russian Federation. As previously stated in Russia about the Donbass, "We are not there."

^^^ It's too bad that Russian citizens ignorantly think that they are working for their own good by fighting for the US/Nato that way. Sure, it looks good on the outside. But all they need to do is look at crime and demoralization in US places like Chicago, Los Angeles, some of New York, and especially San Francisco, to see that the tail of the banking system is finally catching up with the body. If they succeed in their doings, they will be bringing catastrophe on themselves, or their descendants. The world banking system is a Ponzi and a lie.


"There's Poop Everywhere": San Francisco's Office District Not Only A Ghost Town, It's Also Covered In Sh*t (http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/344250-2023-05-25-theres-poop-everywhere-san-franciscos-office-district-not-only-a.htm)

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https://www.zerohedge.com/political/theres-poop-everywhere-san-franciscos-office-district-not-only-ghost-town-its-also
Everyone knows that San Francisco is the nation's largest public toilet - requiring the city to employ six-figure 'poop patrol' cleanup team, however a new report from the city Controller's Office really puts things in poo-spective.

For starters, feces were found far more often in commercial sectors, covering "approximately 50% of street segments in Key Commercial Areas and 30% in the Citywide survey," second only to broken glass as can be seen in the 'illegal dumping' section.

If you're wondering about the city's fecal methodology, look no further than a footnote on page 43;

Feces also includes bags filled with feces that are not inside trash receptacles. Feces that are spread or smeared on the street, sidewalk, or other objects along the evaluation route are counted. Stains that appear to be related to feces but have been cleaned are not counted. Bird droppings are excluded.

As far as where most of the poo is found, Nob Hill takes the top spot, followed by the Tenderloin and The Mission districts.

"It's terrible; this street is covered," Tenderloin resident Joe Souza told The San Francisco Standard earlier this month. "There's poop everywhere. You always see it along the wall and in front of the garage there."

Meanwhile, nearly 2/3 of key commercial routes reported moderate to severe street litter, vs. 41% of the citywide streets struggling with the same problem.
... (https://www.zerohedge.com/political/theres-poop-everywhere-san-franciscos-office-district-not-only-ghost-town-its-also)

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8)

Sanctions really mean cutting commercial relations, so the effect is maximised if you  can achieve a strong asymmetrical response. Sanctions against the RF cannot produce such an immediate effect as they would against another more developed country - I will explain: The RF's economy is strongly based on exports of commodities, it is a BRICS country with a bit of extra industrialisation - old and inefficient, but...

There in an interesting video on the matter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9w17Ne1S0M (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9w17Ne1S0M)

The average citizen of the RF does not exist. There is an abyss between the elites in Moscow and St Petersburg and the shitty periphery and dominated republics. Empires do fall, but not in a year. 

I will not totally agree that the war did not affect Russians negatively. But I will believe that this invasion have both affected the economy of Russia positively and negatively. Russians are now buying locally made products which is a good thing to the Russian economy. Local industries now have less competition from foreign product which will make them make profit and increase employment opportunities. Russians have been forced to negotiate trade using the Russian Ruble which help to reduce their overreliance on the US dollars. The negative implication is that there are lesser foreign direct investment, limited product substitute, unemployment and reduced transfer of technology.

But I will also accept that the US and NATO underestimated the Russian economy. They thought their multiple sanctions will cripple the invader's economy, but they were surprise that their predictions failed. It is clear that Russia have prepared for this war and the resultant sanctions. The economy seems to be sanction proof.The RF's economy is strongly based on exports of commodities, it is a BRICS country with a bit of extra industrialisation - old and inefficient, but...

There in an interesting video on the matter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9w17Ne1S0M

 The average citizen of the RF does not exist. There is an abyss between the elites in Moscow and St Petersburg and the shitty periphery and dominated republics. Empires do fall, but not in a year. you're wondering about the city's fecal methodology, look no further than a footnote on page 43;

Feces also includes bags filled with feces that are not inside trash receptacles. Feces that are spread or smeared on the street, sidewalk, or other objects along the evaluation route are counted. Stains that appear to be related to feces but have been cleaned are not counted. Bird droppings are

Who wants Russia? Everybody. But they know they are not strong enough to take her away from the Russians. China wants Russia. India wants Russia. Some nations in Africa want Russia. Some nations in the Middle East want Russia. The US and Nato want Russia. Since they are not strong enough to forcefully take her away from the Russians, how will they do it?

The US and Nato are trying to take Russia militarily and through sanctions. But if they did, that would leave nothing for China and the rest of the nations... and these other nations know it. So, what are the rest of the nations doing? They are going around the sanctions.

The world elite need help. Take an elite person, and stick him in the desert without food and water. What happens? He dies, just like anybody else. The elite need their citizens. And to remain elite, they need to constantly con their citizens into believing all kinds of lies, so that their citizens keep on supporting them.

When the citizens wake up to the lies of their elite leaders, there are revolutions, and the elite die at the hands of their citizens. Look at history around the world to see this.

The elite have a tricky game to play. They need to lie to their citizens to get wealth, but they need to be careful with their lies so it won't backfire on them.

The other nations of the world are going around the US/Nato sanctions. The sanctions are backfiring on the US/Nato. If the US/Nato isn't careful, they will make enemies out of the rest of the world. As the Mongols did under the leadership of Genghis Khan, they will rise up out of China and go all the way this time... wiping even the West off the face of the earth.

8)

The sanctions did their job, but it will take time for the poor population to feel it. If you live in the rural area with your cows, goats and chickens, bake your own bread, have fresh eggs and milk every day and drive a 20 year old Lada, you won't feel a thing.

Analysis of Russia’s 2023 public budget suggests that relative to 2022, there will be a 50% increase in spending on ‘security’ (including not just military activity but also prisons and the prosecutor’s office), a 9% reduction in spending on health, a 2% reduction in education spending, a 24% reduction in infrastructure spending and a 19% fall in industrial spending. All of this is in the context of a sharply increasing budget deficit. The higher public budget share of GDP and, within it, of spending on security, squeezes private consumption.
https://www.economicsobservatory.com/what-is-the-current-state-of-the-russian-economy-under-sanctions

They can feel it, but still have reserves they can rely on. Putin expected this which is why they were buying gold, but they are using these reserves, which means they're losing a lot of money with each month of this war and it's going to take at least a decade to rebuild lost army and a whole century to do the same with reputation.

There's no way for Russia to lose this (get invaded or destroyed) and there's no way for Russia to take over Ukraine and annex it, so this will have to end in a draw one day.