War in Ukraine

Curious. Don't know what to make of this. Possibly the effects of sanctions on Russian elites and their business.

Two Ex-Russian Gas Company Execs Found Dead Along With Their Families in Two Days
The 55-year-old millionaire was found dead along with his wife and daughter at a villa in the town of Lloret de Mar near Barcelona earlier this week, law enforcement sources told the news site. Police have not officially named the family, however.

Protosenya, a former member of Novatek’s board of directors, was found hanged at the scene, while his wife and daughter had been stabbed, the report said. Investigators are said to be examining two different scenarios: that Protosenya killed his wife and daughter before taking his own life, or that all three were murdered by someone who then staged the crime scene.

Vladislav Avayev, 51, was found with a fatal gunshot wound in his multi-million dollar apartment on Universitetsky Prospekt on April 18, local authorities said. The body of his wife was found nearby, while the couple’s 13-year-old daughter was found in her bed in a different room, according to Kommersant.

Bizarrely, the deaths of Avayev and Protosenya are only the latest of those tied to Russia’s gas industry. On Feb. 25, just one day after Russia launched its all-out war against Ukraine, 61-year-old Gazprom exec Alexander Tyulyakov was found hanged outside St. Petersburg.

He had served as the deputy general director of Gazprom's unified settlement center, or the treasury, for corporate security. Though his death was deemed a suicide, Novaya Gazeta reported at the time that Gazprom’s security service arrived at the scene and pushed out local investigators.

 

That's insane. Need more info - pro-Putin or anti? Could be assassinations...or suddenly finding themselves "poor".

 

Cnn live

"Ministers walk out of International Monetary and Financial Committee meeting as Russian minister speaks

From CNN’s Livvy Doherty in London and Pamela Boykoff in Washington

Several ministers walked out during the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) meeting in Washington, DC, Thursday as Russia’s financial minster spoke, the Danish financial minster told CNN.

“It was the Nordic, Baltic countries that started the walkout but many countries followed,” Nicolai Wammen told CNN’s Richard Quest.

“I saw colleagues from all over the world sending a very clear message to President Putin and to Russia that we will under no circumstances accept the war on Ukraine and we stand firmly behind the Ukrainian people,” Wammen said.

Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister and head of the IMFC Nadia Calvino told Quest that the meeting was “not business as usual” and that “different countries different members expressed their views in a different manner, but overall this has been a very productive meeting.”"

 

Cnn live

"Ukrainian officials and satellite images point to evidence of mass graves outside of Mariupol

From CNN's Nathan Hodge, Julia Presniakova and Katie Polglase

Ukrainian officials on Tuesday identified the location of apparent mass graves outside the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol — claims bolstered by the publication of satellite images collected and analyzed by Maxar Technologies.

In a post Thursday on Telegram, Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, wrote: "As a result of a long search and identification of places of mass burial of dead Mariupol residents, we established the fact of arrangement and mass burial of the dead Mariupol residents in the village of Manhush."

Andriushchenko — who is not in Mariupol but has served as a clearinghouse for information from inside the besieged city — posted the coordinates on Telegram, saying Russian forces had dug several mass graves, each measuring about 30 meters (around 100 feet), in Manhush, a town around 12 miles (about 19 kilometers) to the west of Mariupol. "Trucks carry in the bodies of the dead, in fact, simply dumping them on the embankment," he said. "This is direct evidence of war crimes and attempts to cover them up."

Maxar published analysis of satellite imagery Tuesday appearing to show evidence of new graves at a site on the northwestern edge of Manhush"

 

Cnn live

"Zelensky: Any new Russian annexation will lead to sanctions that will make Russia as poor as it was in 1917

In his nightly address on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia that any attempts at annexation will lead to sanctions that will leave it as poor as it was after its civil war in 1917.

“I want to say straight away: any ‘Kherson People's Republics’ are not going to fly. If someone wants a new annexation, it can only lead to new powerful sanctions strikes on Russia. You will make your country as poor as Russia hasn’t been since the 1917 civil war. So it is better to seek peace now,” Zelensky said.

He urged the residents of the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to be very careful about the information they provide to Russian troops.

“If they ask you to fill out some questionnaires, leave your passport data somewhere, you should know - this is not to help you … This is aimed to falsify the so-called referendum on your land, if an order comes from Moscow to stage such a show,” he said."

 

Heard of it for the first time this morning, but UASs aren’t really my field.

 

So … this is video game footage. We really are in a simulation.

 

Yeah, I took some time and came to the same realization. The guy in Odessa forwarded it, perhaps without realizing it was game material. I'm sure that images of Russian tanks etc getting blown up are very appealing for Ukrainians right about now, so I could see how he'd think it was footage from somewhere.

 

In my opinion, this is too little of a change, though not necessarily too late yet. Keeping Jake Sullivan as National Security Advisor when everyone, professional and layman, can see he is failing spectacularly reminds me of Mullen holding on to Todd Grantham. Our team’s defense after the Cotton Bowl needed more than an additional analyst and strong showing of confidence by the Head Coach, and everyone it seemed, except the Head Coach, could see it. Winning is more important than loyalty. The President can turn this around by bringing in Mattis or Petraeus as National Security Advisor and setting the tone with the Russians that we mean business.

 

This feels like a test run & I'm not particularly pleased with the advice Biden's been getting. I like your assistant analogy & I don't feel confident about Sullivan. I hope that this "specialist" coming in will be able to report to Biden & not Sullivan or someone else, though.

 

It looks like a model plane some kid built

 

Russian/Trump bots/supporters working OT on Twitter btw

 

I’m guessing it’s more ARMA 3 footage? It’s especially convincing because of the cinematic camera (rather than gameplay). I suppose it was too good to be true.

 

Yes, that’s the game.

 

They're claiming they got hacked...but these numbers are without around 3000 Wagner Group mercenaries that have been killed.

 

But...but...it's because of NATO....no wait...it's the Nazis...

Option 3 - which folks wanting to blame NATO want to continue to gloss over...