Running Newsticker for the War in Ukraine

It just opened for me. Here is a copy/paste pull quotes:

"RU


800,000 Modern-Day Slaves Are Living in Russia, Report Says

July 23, 2018


Moskva News Agency

Nearly 800,000 people live as modern-day slaves in Russia, working under conditions of forced labor, debt bondage and human trafficking, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index, a worldwide analysis of slavery.

There are 40.3 million people enslaved across the world, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index compiled by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation. The index documented several incidents of labor exploitation around stadium construction preceding Russia’s World Cup this summer."

"Discrimination, undocumented migration, displacement due to the conflict in eastern Ukraine and government corruption are all risk factors contributing to modern slavery in Russia, the report said. "

"To tackle slave labor, Walk Free recommended for Russia to begin publishing statistics on victim numbers, grant asylum to North Korean laborers and minimize imports of goods made using forced labor.

North Korea remained at the top of the exploitation rankings, with 10 percent of its population living in slavelike conditions, followed by Eritrea, Burundi, the Central African Republic and Afghanistan."

"Walk Free highlighted the “higher than previously understood” number of modern slaves living in rich countries.

“[E]ven in countries with seemingly strong laws and systems, there are critical gaps in protections for groups such as irregular migrants, the homeless, workers in the shadow or gig economy and certain minorities,” it said.

An annual U.S. State Department trafficking report ranked Russia alongside 22 countries with the worst records of fighting forced labor and sex trafficking this year.The Global Slavery Index, meanwhile, gave Russia a ‘CC’ rating for its government response, which is among the lowest ratings."

 

Now think about it: You see car washes like this, but I don't. But in this ranking, Russia is MUCH lower than the United States. Why is that?

I really don't see slaves at car washes-trust me! Why don't I deny that I see homeless people on the streets? After all, the terrible Putin can put me in jail for this! (ha ha ha)

 

..it was just an example...

 

Ukraine Conflict Updates
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 8, 2023

Click here for the full report.
Key Takeaways

• Ukrainian and Russian sources discussed the decreased rate of Russian offensive operations along the entire frontline on April 8, supporting ISW’s assessment that the overall Russian offensive is approaching culmination.
• The dynamics of battlefield artillery usage in Ukraine reflect the fact that Russian forces are using artillery to offset their degraded offensive capabilities.
• Former Russian officer and ardent nationalist Igor Girkin launched a new effort likely aimed at protecting the influence the Russian pro-war faction within the Kremlin.
• The “Club of Angry Patriot’s” reveals several key implications about the Kremlin dynamics and the perceived danger to Putin’s regime.
• Girkin may be advancing the political goals of unnamed figures within Russian power structures possibly within the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
• Russian nationalists seized on assassinated Russian milblogger Maxim Fomin’s funeral to promote pro-war narratives.
• Russia’s missile campaign to degrade Ukraine’s unified energy infrastructure has failed definitively, and Russia appears to have abandoned the effort.
• The Kremlin is likely intensifying legal punishments for terrorism-related crimes as part of a larger effort to promote self-censorship and establish legal conditions for intensified domestic repressions.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) may be setting conditions for a false flag attack in Sumy Oblast.
• Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks along the Svatove-Kreminna line.
• Russian forces have continued to make gains around Bakhmut, and tensions between the Wagner Group and conventional Russian forces over responsibility for tactical gains in Bakhmut appear to be intensifying.
• Russian sources continued to speculate about the planned Ukrainian counteroffensive in southern Ukraine, including hypothesizing about the possibility of a Ukrainian amphibious landing across the Kakhovka Reservoir.
• The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) on April 6 proposed a defense industrial base (DIB) deregulation reform that could expedite defense production but will more likely facilitate corruption and embezzlement.
• Ukrainian officials reported that 31 children returned to Ukraine after having been deported to Russia as Russian officials continue to discuss the adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families. . . . .

Tensions between the Wagner Group and conventional Russian forces over responsibility for tactical gains in Bakhmut appear to be intensifying. Wagner financier Yevgeny Prigozhin responded to advisor to the head of Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) Yan Gain’s claims about that Russian forces captured the Bakhmut-1 railway station and stated that he is little aware of Russian forces’ actions in Bakhmut since he did not see conventional Russian forces there.[50] Prigozhin claimed on April 7 that Wagner fighters are still engaged in fierce fighting near the railway station, likely in an effort to portray himself as a reliable and pragmatic source for tactical information in Bakhmut in comparison to other overly optimistic Russian sources.[51] The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) previously faced intense backlash over claims that Russian forces captured Soledar (12km northeast of Bakhmut) after Wagner forces captured the settlement on January 11.[52] Tensions over responsibility for tactical success in Bakhmut will likely continue to feed into the conflict between Prigozhin and the Russian MoD. . . . .

 

Putin’s meatgrinder tactics are destroying a generation of Russian men

The Telegraph

 

[

But the information about Russia is false. So it means.

If everything was as bad for migrants in Russia as described, then they probably wouldn't be traveling in the number of millions.

 

U.S. officials believe 'leaked' U.S. classified documents about Ukraine war strength may be real
U.S. officials think classified U.S. documents about Ukraine's war effort that appeared on-line are likely real and the result of a leak, but that some of the documents may have been altered before they were posted, a senior U.S. official said on Saturday. . . .

 

Ukraine Conflict Updates
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 9, 2023

Click here for the full report
ISW is publishing a special edition campaign assessment today, April 9. This report discusses Russia’s religious repressions throughout occupied Ukraine since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Russia continues to weaponize religion in an effort to discredit Ukraine in the international arena and is using information operations about religion to advance military objectives despite itself committing gross violations of religious freedom in occupied Ukraine. Russia may use the upcoming Orthodox Easter holiday on April 16 in an effort to delay Ukrainian counteroffensives by calling for a ceasefire out of respect for the Orthodox religion despite the fact that Russia has shown no such respect for religion in areas its forces occupy. Russian religious persecutions are likely also part of an ongoing Russian cultural genocide and ethnic cleansing campaign aimed at extirpating the idea of an independent Ukrainian nationality or Ukrainian Orthodox Church. . . .

This study contains only a small subset of all reported Russian religious persecution events against religious groups in Ukraine. ISW did not include events where indirect fire may have unintentionally killed religious leaders or destroyed places of worship.[3] (This report specifically does not include all 494 religious buildings that the Russian military reportedly wholly destroyed, damaged, or looted, according to the independent Kyiv-based Institute for Religious Freedom as of February 2023 because ISW cannot assess intentionality in all those cases, for example.)[4] The events included in this study are drawn from reports of Russian forces – usually infantry, security personnel, or occupation officials – deliberately coercing religious groups. This report also excludes many instances of Russian religious repressions in areas Russian forces have occupied from spring 2014 to February 24, 2022, to focus on more recent persecutions in newly-occupied areas. . . . .

Russian occupation officials have been repressing Ukrainian religious communities in proxy republics in eastern Ukraine and in illegally occupied Crimea since 2014. Former Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) Head Oleksandr Zakharchenko declared in May 2015 that Ukrainian Orthodox Church (OCU) members, Greek Catholics, and Evangelical Christians were “sectarians” within the DNR.[17] Zakharchenko announced that occupation authorities would only recognize the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate, Catholicism, Islam, and Judaism. Occupation authorities forced many religious groups to reregister under the Russian Yarovaya law, bureaucratically eradicating religions such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahir.[18] A Russian court ordered the only remaining Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Russia to be demolished at the expense of the Ukrainian diocese in 2019.[19] . . . .

 

Ukraine Conflict Updates
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 10, 2023

Click here to read the full report.
Key Takeaways

• Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin is reportedly advancing his political aspirations by seeking to gain control of a Russian political party.
• Putin may be unable to satisfy the role of a patron to loyalist figures to the same extent as he had been able to before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• The Russian Foreign Ministry (MFA) directly responded to Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin’s criticisms of its agenda at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), marking the first time that a Russian government institution has formally responded to Prigozhin’s criticism.
• The Russian Foreign Ministry (MFA) attack on Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin is a continuation of the Kremlin’s efforts to discredit and undermine Prigozhin.
• Russian milbloggers adamantly decried the charging of Russian military doctor and “Union of Donbas Volunteers” member Yuri Yevich for “discrediting the Russian armed forces,” suggesting that the broad applications of this new law will likely be a growing source of discontent in the pro-war information space.
• The Russian State Duma will consider an amendment to the Russian Criminal Code increasing criminal penalties for high treason and terrorist activities on April 13.
• Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, Belarus, on April 10.
• Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks along the Svatove-Kreminna line.
• Russian forces continued to make territorial gains in and around Bakhmut, and continued ground attacks on the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line.
• Russian forces continued defensive preparations in Kherson and Zaporizhia oblasts.
• Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin criticized Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) prisoner recruitment efforts, likely in an effort to advertise ongoing Wagner volunteer recruitment campaigns.
• Wagner forces are reportedly continuing to commit war crimes by beheading Ukrainian servicemen in Bakhmut.
• Russian officials and occupation authorities continue to deport children to Russia under the guise of medical, rehabilitation, and voluntary evacuation schemes. . . . .

A Ukrainian official indicated that the tempo of Russian offensive operations in the Donetsk direction is slowing, and that Russian forces are engaging in defensive preparations. Ukrainian Joint Press Center of the Tavriisk Direction Head Colonel Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi stated on April 9 that the tempo of Russian ground attacks has decreased in this sector of the front and that Russian forces are now shelling at a rate one third less than that of February 2023.[40] Dmytrashkivskyi also reported that Russian forces have concentrated 205 battalion tactical groups (BTGs) in the Donetsk direction out of fear of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.[41] These BTGs are unlikely to be at full strength, however. . . . .

Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin criticized the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) for its efforts to recruit prisoners, likely in an effort to advertise ongoing Wagner volunteer recruitment campaigns. Prigozhin responded to a media inquiry about Russian MoD recruitment of prisoners on 18-month contracts, stating that Wagner was first to recruit prisoners because it was felt that convict forces would damage the image of the Russian conventional forces.[52] Prigozhin emphasized that Wagner convicts served only for six months. Prigozhin insinuated that the Russian MoD would treat convicts worse than Wagner treated them to further advertise recruitment into Wagner and discredit the MoD’s recruitment efforts. The insinuation seems odd given that Wagner reportedly used convicts in human wave attacks that cost thousands of them their lives. A local Yekaterinburg outlet reported that Wagner established mobile recruitment points in at least eight towns in Sverdlovsk Oblast offering salaries of 240,000 rubles (about $2,940) with bonuses.[53] Prigozhin’s press service also published a recruitment ad for prospective volunteers between 21 and 60 years of age.[54]

Wagner forces are reportedly continuing to commit war crimes by beheading Ukrainian servicemen in Bakhmut. Russian social media users published footage purportedly showing the remains of a head belonging to a Ukrainian serviceman on a spike at an unspecified area in Bakhmut.[55] Social media users recalled similar instances of skulls mounted on spikes in Popasna, Luhansk Oblast, where Wagner troops operated over spring–summer of 2022.[56] The Geneva Convention prohibits the mutilation and despoilment of dead bodies in war.[57] . . .

 

Couldn't you say the same thing with us?

I'm no fan of Russia but we also have human trafficking that comes across the border every day we have people forced into s*** labor jobs that pay peanuts and can't cover the cost of living.

In Detroit you have filthy living conditions and dirty water... I'm not really going to throw stones in Glass houses over this topic

 

this guy seems to have a death wish....??

 

They play a rough game in Muscovy.

 

We have our problems, but America never pretended to be a "Workers' Paradise". Russia seems to be channeling 1850 Mississippi.

“The Russian military was facing growing public anger yesterday when, amid a flurry of high-profile cases of abuse, a senior officer was convicted of hiring his troops out as slave labour and pocketing the fees. A Russian military court fined Vladimir Kontonistov 60,000 roubles (£1,200) and barred him from command for three years. Prosecutors said the sentence was too lenient and said they would appeal.

Kontonistov was deputy commander of a division of the Strategic Rocket Forces in Siberia's Novosibirsk region, a unit that services Russia's nuclear missiles. He hired out his troops to local businesses, according to Interfax news agency, a practice believed to be commonplace in an army in which poorly paid officers say they have to find ways to supplement meagre incomes.”
THE GUARDIAN, Russian officer hired out troops for slave labour, By Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow, Thu 2 Feb 2006 19.12 EST.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/03/russia.nickpatonwalsh

 

Ukraine Conflict Updates
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 11, 2023

Click here to read the full report.
Key Takeaways

• The Kremlin passed legislation to use tools of digital authoritarianism to digitize and improve the effectiveness of issuing summonses and to crack down on Russian draft dodgers.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin acknowledged each other's roles in the Bakhmut effort.
• A small, fringe group of pro-war Russian milbloggers called for the Russian government to repeal the censorship laws against discrediting the Russian military.
• Russian forces appear to hold positions northeast of Kupyansk and have made gains in the forest area south of Kreminna.
• Russian forces conducted ground attacks in and around Bakhmut and along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line.
• Russian forces conducted defensive operations in southern Ukraine.
• Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu visited defense industrial enterprises in Tula Oblast as part of the ongoing effort to portray the resilience of Russia's defense industrial base (DIB).
• Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova continues to confirm that Russian authorities are taking a number of actions vis-a-vis Ukrainian children in an attempt to exculpate herself from the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s warrant for her arrest. . . . .

Russian forces denied appeals from relatives of mobilized personnel who spoke out against the poor treatment of mobilized personnel. A video published on April 10 purportedly shows relatives of mobilized personnel from Tula Oblast appealing to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova, and Tula Governor Alexei Dyumin asking to return mobilized personnel from Tula serving in the 14th and 15th Companies of the 5th Battalion of the 137th Guards Airborne Regiment (VDV) of the 106th Guards Airborne Division.[35] ISW has previously observed elements of the 106th VDV Division operating in the Bakhmut area.[36] The relatives of mobilized personnel claimed that soldiers are sent into combat without adequate training, weapons, ammunition, and provisions. A video published on April 11 purportedly shows members of the 137th Airborne Regiment addressing their relatives on the orders of their commanders, denying mistreatment, and claiming that the formation is well equipped.[37] . . . .

 

....as soon as the electronic message is sent you're fukced....you can't drive...you can't get a loan....you can't leave the country

 

Ukraine Conflict Updates
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 12, 2023

Click here to read the full report.
Key Takeaways

• The Kremlin’s campaign of “Russification” in Ukraine is burning back into Russia itself as it continues to empower and amplify overtly nationalist voices and ideologies.
• The domestic ramifications of the acceptance of the ideology of “Russification” are manifested in the responses by Russian authorities and prominent Russian milbloggers to ethnic minorities in Russia.
• These domestic-facing ramifications of “Russification” ironically continue to place the onus of the war effort on the exact communities that it marginalizes.
• Russian milbloggers offered a muted response to a Kaluga Oblast court’s refusal to hear a case against Russian military doctor and “Union of Donbas Volunteers” member Yuri Yevich for “discrediting the Russian armed forces.”
• The Russian nationalist community continues to glorify atrocities and advocate for the expansion of brutality.
• Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks near Kreminna.
• Russian forces continued ground attacks in and around Bakhmut and along the Avdiivka-Donetsk line.
• Russian forces continue to construct defenses in occupied Zaporizhia Oblast and Crimea.
• Russian officials continue to advance a law aimed at improving the effectiveness of issuing summonses and cracking down on Russian draft dodgers.
• The Ukrainian Resistance Center released a report detailing the extent of illegal deportations of Ukrainian children from Donbas to the Russian Federation. . . . .

Wagner financier Yevgeny Prigozhin identified Russian officials who are reportedly barring the Wagner Group from advertising in specific regions in Russia. Prigozhin accused St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov and unnamed Russian officials in Yaroslavl Oblast of refusing to allow Wagner to place public recruitment advertisements.[41] Russian sources reported on April 10 and 11 that Wagner is continuing mass advertisement campaigns throughout Russia.[42]

One hundred Russian mobilized personnel have reportedly disappeared after refusing to sign contracts with the Wagner Group. Russian sources reported that Russian forces transferred the 100 personnel to an unspecified training ground in Luhansk Oblast after the Wagner Group threatened them with violence for refusing to sign contracts on April 7.[43] Geolocated footage published on April 11 shows former South Ossetia president Lieutenant General Anatoly Bibilov threatening the mobilized personnel in Kadiivka, Luhansk Oblast over claims about desertion and Wagner personnel reportedly locking them in a repair plant before escorting them to the unspecified training ground.[44] A Russian source reported that the mobilized servicemembers have been unaccounted for since April 7.[45] . . . .

The Wagner Group is likely involved in the removal of Ukrainian civilians, including children, from Bakhmut. Wagner-affiliated source RIAFAN posted footage on April 11 detailing the story of an 11-year-old girl from Bakhmut whom Wagner found and “rescued.”[49] Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova reported on April 6 that her administration is working to provide humanitarian assistance to families with children whom Wagner removed from Bakhmut.[50] It is still unclear where these families and children are being re-homed, but it is likely that Wagner is facilitating their removal further into Russian occupied territory or deportation to the Russian Federation and using humanitarian justifications to do so. . . .

 

Zelenskyy slams 'beasts' in beheading video

https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updat...r&r=9726051148921308&lid=2514808&pm_ln=197311

sadistic /primitive barbarism......knows no boundaries.

 

...see below....Russia as Isis with snow....

good ol' Starsky

 

Ukraine Conflict Updates
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 13, 2023

Click here to read the full report.
Key Takeaways

• A senior Ukrainian official warned that Russia can reconstitute itself as a serious threat to Ukraine in the long run despite facing severe force generation problems at this time.
• The Kremlin has not yet undertaken the necessary reorganization of its war effort to effectively leverage economies of scale to support large Russian force generation.
• Ukrainian assessments confirm ISW’s longstanding assessment that Russia cannot conduct multiple offensive operations simultaneously at this time.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly personally approved the arrest of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich.
• The Russian Federal State Security Service (FSB) on April 13 identified the individuals allegedly responsible for assassinating milblogger Maxim Fomin (alias Vladlen Tatarsky).
• Russian forces continued limited ground attacks along the Svatove-Kreminna line.
• Russian forces continued to make gains in Bakhmut, and continued ground attacks along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line.
• Russian forces continue to reinforce and strengthen their positions in southern Ukraine in preparation for a potential Ukrainian counteroffensive.
• Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin and his supporters continue to feud with St. Petersburg authorities and advertising companies allegedly obstructing Wagner Group recruitment efforts.
• Wagner Group are reportedly training Ukrainian children to use weapons as part of the Russian Young Army Cadets National Movement (Yunarmiya) in occupied Ukraine. . . .

Russian forces continue to endanger the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) as of April 13. Ukrainian state energy company Enerhoatom reported on April 13 that Russian forces continue to mine areas near the ZNPP and that one of the mines recently detonated near the control room of the fourth power unit at the facility.[40] . . . .

Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin and Wagner supporters continue to feud with St. Petersburg authorities and advertising companies who they accuse of blocking Wagner’s recruitment efforts. A pair of pro-Wagner milbloggers amplified on April 13 a complaint from League of Defenders of the Interests of Local Wars and Military Conflicts representative Andrey Troshev to St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov asking him to prevent advertising companies from refusing to advertise Wagner.[43] Troshev claimed that all Russian regional heads except for Beglov assist Wagner recruitment efforts as much as possible.[44] Prigozhin consistently publicly criticizes Beglov, likely in an attempt to expand his influence in St. Petersburg.[45] Prigozhin complained to Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin on April 13 that Beglov’s alleged failure to solve problems in St. Petersburg, extremely low popularity ratings, and failure to prevent social unrest are unacceptable in a time of war. Prigozhin asked the Duma to review legal amendments that would permit the termination of officials if more than 10 percent of the population vote for the dismissal of the official.[46]

Russian forces appear unable to maintain Iranian drones without access to foreign components. Ukrainian Center for Trophy and Prospective Arms Research representative Andriy Rudik stated on April 13 that recent samples of Iranian Shahed-136 drones and Russian Zala 421-16E drones include foreign-made GSM-transceivers, 30-year-old foreign-made relays, and other key parts either devoid of Russian components or heavily dependent on foreign components. Rudik noted that these components indicate that Russian cannot independently maintain Iranian drones.[47] Russian domestic drone manufacturers likely also rely heavily on foreign components to maintain and repair Iranian-provided drones. . . .