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Tag: Russian army

  • Children to serve as witnesses against own mum in court for ‘discrediting’ Russian army

    Children to serve as witnesses against own mum in court for ‘discrediting’ Russian army

    Younger siblings compelled to testify in a court case against their mother after she was charged with frequently “discrediting” the Russian army.

    When Lidia Prudovskaya shared anti-war content on the Russian social networking site VKontakte in September 2022, she was previously charged administratively for the same offence.

    Russian investigators have now called her back before the court.

    Her two kids, a son, 10, and a daughter, 9, were called to testify in the case as well.

    According to the Russian news outlet Sota, the family from the northern region of Arkhangelsk all received their orders on Friday.

    After Vladimir Putin began his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a legislation was passed making it illegal to disparage the Russian military.

    Kremlin critics are frequently subjected to legal action.

    Following an anti-war caricature created by his daughter at school, a single father in Russia was found guilty of defaming the military and filed a petition to limit his parenting rights in April.

    The 54-year-old Alexei Moskalyov received a two-year prison term for his social media posts that condemned Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine.

    Maria, his 13-year-old daughter, was initially placed in an orphanage before moving back in with her mother.

    Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, stated this week that his troops had achieved a “significant” progress in the south of the nation.

    He said they had retaken Staromaiorske in the Donetsk area, close to the Zaporizhzhia province, in a video he tweeted on Thursday showing a group of soldiers holding a Ukrainian flag.

    “Our South!” cried Zelensky. My dudes! Honour to Ukraine

    On Wednesday, he said in his nightly speech, “By the way, today our boys had very good results at the front.” Excellent for them.

    It happens while severe battle, which is part of Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces, rages on in the southeast of the country.

  • Russian soldiers placed into pits of medieval cages by their own army

    Russian soldiers placed into pits of medieval cages by their own army

    The Russian army has imprisoned its own deserters in pits with metal grills on top and a medieval aesthetic.

    Several males are seen abandoned in confined holes buried beneath the ground in video uploaded on the Telegram channel Layouts.

    They allege that Vladimir Putin‘s men threw them in there before depriving them of food and water because they chose not to fight in Ukraine or because they were heavily intoxicated.

    Additionally, these holes resemble the rooms where torture victims were held in a Russian prison camp in Chechnya in 2000.

    Russia throws soldiers who don't want to fight into caged pits Metro video grab
    Flarit Baitemirov said he has been held captive since March 23

    Flarit Baitemirov was one of the soldiers locked in a three-metre deep put called a ‘zindan’, according to the post on the messaging app.

    ‘I am being held captive by my own. I am Russian, I came as a volunteer,’ the 35-year-old said.

    ‘I am asking for help from the Ministry of Defence. Some kind of criminal case has been initiated against me. They have kept me here for the third week already.’

    According to the soldier, he has been in a three-metre-deep pit since March 23.

    In one of the videos, he says that he was placed in the pit for drinking alcohol with colleagues, and before that he was beaten and his collarbone was injured.

    Baitemirov also speaks about rampant corruption in the regiment and the theft of humanitarian aid.

    Another one shows rainwater dripping inside a stone hole where a Russian soldier sleeps.

    His left eye socket looks badly bruised, and his lip swollen. He shows the dungeon like conditions, and his bed made out of a wooden pallet and nylon.

    All his belongings look drenched with water, and he himself only has a rain jacket to protect himself with.

    Since the first months of the invasion, Russian soldiers have been complaining about horror conditions and ‘torture’ pits.

    But it is yet unclear where these pits are located, and how many men are being held there.

  • Son of a prominent Putin ally fought in Ukraine despite boasting no to

    Son of a prominent Putin ally fought in Ukraine despite boasting no to

    The son of one of Putin’s top aides was compelled to join the Russian army after boasting in the past that his father’s contacts would prevent him from travelling to Ukraine.

    Last year, journalists used a sting operation to catch 32-year-old Nikolay Peskov saying he would make connections to evade conscription.

    But it was later discovered that his father, 55-year-old Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s longtime spokesman, had instead made arrangements for Nikolay to be transported to the conflict to work as an artilleryman.

    It is a rare example of the son of a top official fighting in the conflict, even though it appears he was not on the frontlines where tens of thousands of ‘cannon fodder’ Russians have perished.

    Nikolay Peskov (marked) with father Dmitry Peskov, press-secretary to Russian president Vladimir Putin
    Nikolay Peskov (L) bragged about how his connections would allow him to avoid being drafted to fight in Ukraine (Picture: A Raffirty)

    ‘Of all my acquaintances [in high circles] just one person [Dmitry] Peskov, at one time known as a complete liberal, asked me about his son who had spend some of his life….in England,’ said Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the notorious Wagner Group.

    ‘[Peskov] came to me and said: ‘Take him as a simple artilleryman’

    ‘He served like everyone else, knee-deep in mud and sh** manning a Uragan [multiple rocket launcher]…

    ‘Very few people know about this.’

    As well as being the dictator’s mouthpiece, Dmitry Peskov is one of Putin’s most senior officials, acting as the deputy head of his sprawling administration.

    It appears Peskov sent his son to war after being stung by a prank call on livestream Popular Politics, a channel linked to the team of jailed Putin foe Alexei Navalny.

    The caller posed as an army mobilisation officer.

    But Peskov’s son told him: ‘You must understand I am Mr Peskov.

    ‘It’s not quite right for me to be there [at the conscription office].

    ‘To cut it short, I’ll be sorting this out at another level.’

    He told the ‘mobilisation officer’ that there were ‘political nuances’ about his call-up, without explaining his father was Putin’s trusted spin-doctor.

    But Peskov’s son also told him: ‘If I have to defend my motherland, don’t worry, I’ll be with you.’

    Now Prigozhin has revealed that Nikolay did serve at least for several months.

    Earlier – long before the current war – Nikolay was a conscript in Russia’s nuclear rocket forces.

    He later worked as a sports journalist with the RT ‘propaganda’ media network .

    On his mother’s side, he is the great-grandson of notorious Soviet Marshal and Stalin crony, Semyon Budyonny.

    Former defence minister of so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, Igor ‘Strelkov’ Girkin, said that Nikolay was likely 14 miles from the frontline in a role with ‘minimal risk’.

    But he admitted the Kremlin scion was rare in being sent to the front among the offspring of the elite.

  • Ukraine war: New images show Russian army base built in occupied Mariupol

    Russia is consolidating its military presence in the captured port city of Mariupol by constructing a large army base, satellite photos released from the Earth observation company Maxar appear to show.

    The new, U-shaped compound sits near the centre of the city. On its roof, the red, white and blue star of the Russian army can be seen, with letters reading “Russian army, for the people of Mariupol”.

    The newly constructed Russian military base in MariupolMaxar
    The newly constructed Russian military base in Mariupol suggests Russia is seeking to dig in in the city

    Moscow’s forces laid siege to the city for almost three months earlier this year, and constant artillery barrages left much of it in ruins.

    Ukrainian officials estimated last month that some 25,000 civilians were killed in the strikes, while the UN said it had confirmed the deaths of 1,348 civilians, but said the true death toll was “likely thousands higher”.

    Images of the city’s graveyard appear to show it being extended. Russian troops have reportedly been removing dead bodies from destroyed buildings in recent months and taking them away for burial. Last month, an analysis of images obtained by BBC Panorama suggested 1,500 new graves have been dug at the cemetery.

    Mariupol cemetery in MarchMaxar
    Photos of the Mariupol cemetery taken in March 2022
    Mariupol cemetery in NovemberMaxar
    Images of the cemetery taken in November show new graves being dug in the right foreground and the left foreground

    A large protective screen has also been erected around the remains of the city’s theatre, where hundreds of people are believed to have died after Russian forces targeted it in a missile strike on 18 March. The attack – which Amnesty International called “clear war crime” by Russia – left the site in ruins.

    The remains of the Mariupol theatre after a missile strike in MarchMaxar
    The remains of the Mariupol theatre after a missile strike in March
    The screen around the theatre in the new imagesMaxar
    In new images, a large screen can be seen around the theatre

    Ukrainian officials estimate that up to 90% of the city’s infrastructure was left in ruins by the Russian bombardment, and the new images suggest that Moscow has started to demolish many of the residential buildings that were left beyond repair.

    Residential buildings after being targeted by Russian strikes in MarchMaxar
    Residential buildings after being targeted by Russian strikes in March
    New images show the damaged buildings have been destroyed in anticipation of reconstructionMaxar
    The new images show the damaged buildings have been demolished in anticipation of reconstruction

    Other images show huge amounts of building supplies at the city metro station. During the Russian bombardment of Mariupol, many civilians could be seen waiting outside the station for food and other necessities.

    Building supplies at the city metro stationMaxar
    An image showing building supplies at Mariupol’s metro station
    People lining outside the metro station in MarchMaxar
    The metro station in March

    The images come amid reports that Russia is slowly building up its defensive positions in Mariupol, as Ukrainian counteroffensives in the south and east increasingly put the city under threat.

    Last month, UK defence officials said the Russian military was using two plants in occupied Mariupol to produce large numbers of “dragon’s teeth” – concrete blocks designed to slow advancing enemy armour and other vehicles.

    The city is strategically important for Russia, forming part of its “land bridge” linking Russia to annexed Crimea.