Russian Invasion of Ukraine

[Gurgeh]

4 hours ago, FootballZombie said:

Maybe the plan was never to fix their carrier.

 

They probably didn't want to spend the money to build a new one, and its the only one in their fleet, so if you remove it suddenly you can't claim you vaunted navel fleet has a carrier.

 

Or

 

You put it in dry dock for 4 years. Your Navy does not lose face, and you don't have to repair a massively out of date nightmare of a ship that is falling apart.

 

 

That carrier was always more of a status symbol than a useful asset. If a country is serious about operating aircraft carriers, it needs at least two, because every 4 years or so your carrier will need an overhaul that lasts 9 months, which would be an inconvenient time to need one.

 

The Russian surface navy was designed around loading as many missiles as they could fit onto a ship to try and sink US carriers and defend against their aircraft. They knew they couldn't match the US spending on planes and carriers, so they focused on the missiles to take them out. Putin, of course, has different ambitions and would very much like the force projection that carriers provide, but unless the Chinese build him some (which is highly unlikely) it's not going to happen.

 

 

[CousinsCowgirl84]

6 hours ago, PokerPacker said:

Does an aircraft carrier matter much for waging war against such a close neighbor?

It’s basically an air base, so they could launch attacks from south/west and east.

[Larry]

7 minutes ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

It’s basically an air base, so they could launch attacks from south/west and east.

 

If they could have gotten it into the Black Sea.  (And back out, after the war.)  Not exactly guaranteed, at least from what I think.  

 

[tshile]

42 minutes ago, Gurgeh said:

That carrier was always more of a status symbol than a useful asset. If a country is serious about operating aircraft carriers, it needs at least two, because every 4 years or so your carrier will need an overhaul that lasts 9 months, which would be an inconvenient time to need one.

In mother Russia aircraft carrier maintains itself 

[Switchgear]

52 minutes ago, Gurgeh said:

 

 

That carrier was always more of a status symbol than a useful asset. If a country is serious about operating aircraft carriers, it needs at least two, because every 4 years or so your carrier will need an overhaul that lasts 9 months years, which would be an inconvenient time to need one.

 

Fixed that for the Kuznetsov.

 

I bet it never sails again, now that I think about it. Russia doesn't have the resources to fix it. They'll keep pushing back the date that it will complete overhaul. My guess is that around 2030 they'll scrap it without any announcement or acknowledgement.

[EmirOfShmo]

 

[China]

Putin Insists 99.9 Percent of Russians Ready to 'Sacrifice Everything'

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that 99.9 percent of Russians would be willing to sacrifice their lives for the good of the country amid Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

 

Putin spoke on the matter during an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin during a Christmas Day Rossiya-1 broadcast from Moscow. The Russian leader said that he has been reassured of his people's commitment over the last several months and "throughout the entire history of Russia's existence," according to a report from the state-run TASS News agency on Sunday.

 

"As for the most—99.9%—of our citizens, our people that are ready to sacrifice everything for the Motherland, it doesn't strike me as unusual," Putin said. "But it just reassures me yet again that Russia is a special country and it has special people."

 

When pressed about those who act counter to his goals, the Russian leader was dismissive of them, saying that they were not "true patriots," but affirmed their right to have the "freedom of choice."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Larry]

"Putin insists he's willing to sacrifice 99.9 percent of Russians". 

[dfitzo53]

5 minutes ago, Larry said:

"Putin insists he's willing to sacrifice 99.9 percent of Russians". 

I had the exact same thought. 

[TradeTheBeal!]

“Deep in the rear”

 

 

[DCSaints_fan]

3 hours ago, Larry said:

"Putin insists he's willing to sacrifice 99.9 percent of Russians". 

[TradeTheBeal!]

KGB steady grinding on the 4Q numbers.

 

 

[Larry]

I see why Trump is so envious. 

[DCSaints_fan]

54 minutes ago, TradeTheBeal! said:

KGB steady grinding on the 4Q numbers.

 

 

-

 

King Of Moscow I guess … 

Edited December 26, 2022 by DCSaints_fan

[China]

They missed an opportunity to use the word 'defenestrated.'

Edited December 27, 2022 by China

[Califan007 The Constipated]

 

 

[Switchgear]

https://carnegieendowment.org/politika/88664

 

The Cost of War: Russian Economy Faces a Decade of Regress

The economy’s development will be in reverse for at least the next three to five years.

 

Quote

Nine months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Russian economy is doing better than expected. The predicted collapse has been avoided, and the forecasted 8–10 percent fall in GDP for the year has been reduced to a 3–4 percent drop. 

Still, before the war, 3 percent growth was predicted. Recovery is only expected to begin in 2024 at best, and only in the unlikely event that external factors do not significantly worsen. Russia looks set to see yet another lost decade, with a decade of stagnation followed by a decade of regression. 

The Russian government and the central bank have softened the economic blow from the war against Ukraine and the sanctions that followed it, not least through the conservative fiscal policies of recent years, such as consistently balancing the budget with an oil price of $45 per barrel and keeping expenditure on a tight leash, even at the cost of economic growth. 

 

Quote

Russia is also under pressure to make compromises and offer discounts on its goods to those who are still prepared to buy them: right now, Russia needs those markets more than they need Russia. A U-turn back to the domestic market can only provide partial support to manufacturing: it’s simply too small.

The state has not been able to aid business with systemic solutions, only undertaking targeted measures, such as allowing payments in cash for foreign trade operations in order to avoid the use of dollars and euros. 

Russian firms are mostly finding their own ways to adapt to the new conditions. If the government continues to resist the temptation of stooping to a state plan with rigid restrictions on who supplies what to whom, the Russian economy will probably survive and the adaptation period will end by about September 2023. 

The Russian economy’s prewar potential was not overly large, with growth at 2–3 percent per year. The war against Ukraine and external restrictions have lowered it to about 1 percent. For now, the economy’s development will be put into reverse and it will take three to five years for that decline to come to a halt.

The government and President Vladimir Putin like to repeat that Russia already has everything it needs for development. But a transition to growth based on internal resources would require an end to the war in Ukraine. It would also need less unpredictability overall, increased competition, the decriminalization of economic infringements, and effective safeguards for property rights. The Russian authorities and president have consistently failed to provide those conditions.

 

 

[Gurgeh]

Ukraine says forces closer to recapturing key eastern city of Kreminna | Ukraine | The Guardian

 

The regional governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, said fighters in part of the city controlled by Russian command were forced to retreat to Rubizhne, a town a few miles to the south-east, as a result of Ukrainian military pressure.

“The Russians understand that if they lose Kreminna, their entire line of defence will fall,” Haidai wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Tuesday. “The Russian occupation troops managed to build a very powerful defence in a month, even a little more. They are bringing there a huge amount of reserves and equipment. They are constantly renewing their forces.”

 

 

Kreminna is about 30 miles north of Bakhmut, which the Russians have been trying to take for months.

 

[China]

Russian troops able to freeze sperm for free - lawyer

 

Russian soldiers called up to fight in Ukraine will have the chance to store frozen sperm in a cryobank for free, according to a leading Russian lawyer.

 

Russian Union of Lawyers head Igor Trunov told state news agency Tass the health ministry had responded to his appeal for a free cryobank, and changes to compulsory medical insurance.

 

Russia mobilised 300,000 reservists after a string of setbacks in Ukraine.

 

Men then began approaching clinics to have their sperm frozen, reports said.

 

Mr Trunov announced on Twitter that his union was applying on behalf of several couples where the husband had been called up to take part in the special military operation (SVO) - the term used by Russia for its war in Ukraine.

 

The health ministry is yet to comment on Mr Trunov's remarks and the lawyer told the BBC his union would have to follow up with the department on what procedure there would be.

 

He told Tass the ministry had "determined the possibility of financial support from the federal budget for free conservation and storage of germ cells (spermatozoa) for citizens mobilised to take part in the SVO for 2022-2024".

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

[Dan T.]

 

[China]

Conflict Between Putin’s Top War Allies Explodes in ‘Mother****er!’ Fight

 

Vladimir Putin’s most deranged hail mary in his war against Ukraine seems to have now officially blown up in his face, as the leader of the private army he’s used to send thousands of inmates into the battlefield is now openly threatening leaders of the official Russian military.

 

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin offered a scathing response Tuesday to a video that surfaced days earlier in which Wagner mercenaries are seen cursing out Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

 

“To the Chief of the General Staff: you are a ****ing mother****er. We have nothing to fight with, we have no rounds. The guys are dying for us there, and we’re ****ing sitting here, not helping. We need rounds, we want to **** everyone up. We are fighting against the entire Ukrainian army near Bakhmut. Where are you? It’s about time you help us. There’s nothing else to ****ing call you except mother****er!” one of the fighters said in the video.

 

While Russian media had suggested the men in the video might have actually been “Ukrainian nationalists” dressed up as Wagner fighters in a bid to undermine the war, Prigozhin quickly shot down that conspiracy theory.

 

“There are no [Ukrainian] nationalists in that notorious video,” Prigozhin said in an audio message shared on the official Telegram channel of his Concord Management’s press service.

He went on to confirm the men were fighters under his command—and backed up their message.

 

“The guys asked me to pass along, that when you’re sitting in a warm office, it’s hard to hear the problems on the frontline, but when you’re dragging the dead bodies of your friends every day, and seeing them for the last time, then supplies are very much needed. And you want everyone to stir and at least in some way to think about how it is for those on the frontline,” Prigozhin said.

 

“As for the problems that are unfortunately surfacing at every step… we will solve them, and force them to be solved,” he said.

 

Prigozhin’s comments are just his latest shots fired at top Russian defense officials over their handling of the war—and perhaps the starkest sign yet that the Kremlin has more to fear from infighting than it would ever have done from Ukraine if Putin had not launched his invasion.

[PokerPacker]

It would be a shame if the Wagner group were to sack Rome Russia

[EmirOfShmo]

 

[TheGreatBuzz]

Putin needs to be careful killing off the top brass.  They may decide they are safer taking him out.

[CousinsCowgirl84]

I actually think the fact that he can kill all these guys on a whim speaks to how the people who are in power feel about him.