The death of our soldiers in Syria. “Russia is not waging a ground war in Syria.” Why are the official media silent about the death of the Wagner PMC fighters? Fatal military mistake
This story, as another episode of the long-term Syrian massacre, passed through the information space last Thursday. The US command reported that it repelled an “unprovoked attack” from Syrian government forces: “Coalition troops were present as advisers, assistants and escorts with partners from the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) during the attack, which took place in the village of Husham, 8 km east of the agreed line of contact in the Euphrates River basin.” .
It was specified that the Kurds and Americans were attacked by up to 500 infantry, artillery and tanks. After the shells began landing 500 meters from the SDF headquarters, the Americans decided to act and used all calibers, including attack drones, helicopters and howitzers. As a result, according to Pentagon representatives, about 100 Syrian military personnel and their allies were killed.
The Russian Ministry of Defense acknowledged the fact of the clash. According to our defense department, on this day one of the militia detachments of pro-government forces was searching for “sleeping cells” of the Islamic State (a terrorist organization banned in Russia). And was attacked by the US coalition: “As a result of the shelling, 25 Syrian militiamen were injured. The cause of the incident was the actions of Syrian militias that were not coordinated with the command of the Russian operational group.”
And this episode would have remained just another “incident” - everyone had long ago become accustomed to the fact that the Syrians were being attacked either by the Turks, or by the Israelis, or by the Kurds... But a day later, reports began to surface that the “militias” were in fact not only Syrian. And the fighters of the Russian private military company - PMC - came under attack from US aircraft. Military formations that are not part of the official security forces are used by major powers around the world - to solve military problems, protect facilities, train foreign units...
Russian professional volunteers have been fighting in Syria since 2015, participating in the liberation of Palmyra, Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor... They do not obey the Ministry of Defense, formally being “free artists”. Therefore, the defense department is not responsible for them.
These messages were given “credibility” by audio clips in which unknown people reported eerie details of the battle. These recordings were distributed via instant messengers at the speed of horror stories about pedophiles that periodically pop up in school parent chats. And judging by the enthusiasm with which they were replicated by Ukrainian bloggers (together with fake photos of the destroyed column and videos of its execution, which turned out to be computer game), one might assume that this whole story is a big information sabotage. However, there is no smoke without fire.
As KP's sources in the mentioned PMC reported, there really was a battle on the night of February 8th. And you can’t count it among the military victories of the “private traders”. Considering that Kurdish forces had occupied a large oil plant on the left bank of the Euphrates without serious grounds, the command of the PMC decided to try to recapture it. The calculation was that, having seen impressive forces, the Kurds would not resist and would retreat.
However, the American officers in the SDF positions had a different opinion. US representatives (as stated by the headquarters of Operation Inherent Resolve) contacted the Russian side several times. And they confirmed that they are not conducting military operations in this area. After this, the Americans were not shy.
They just rolled us out,” a source told KP. - First artillery, then helicopters... The dead, of course, are not 600 or 200. But American statistics are very close to reality. Surely they saw that we were preparing for an assault on our bridgehead on the left bank (the main forces of government forces and their allies are on the right). It is no coincidence that the crossing of the Euphrates was flooded the other day through the release of water in the locks. Help would not have come to us even hypothetically. As a result, the 5th assault detachment was almost completely destroyed and burned along with its equipment.
Meanwhile, condolences from friends and relatives on the VKontakte pages of the victims have already begun to appear on social networks. Among them are certain Alexey Ladygin, Stas Matveev, Vladimir Loginov... Among the dead there are also citizens of Ukraine. According to KP, a native of Slavyansk, who took part in the battles for Donbass since 2014, has already been buried in Rostov. And in 2016 he signed a contract with PMC.
Obviously, the command of the private military company did not inform Khmeimim about their plans. And when US representatives reached the Russian headquarters via a special channel, our officers did not have the necessary information to prevent the massacre. However, no one will officially comment on this. Just as they would not do this in any other country that has private armies.
Image caption Nina Atyusheva with the personal badge of her son killed in Syria
The death of dozens of Russians in Syria on February 7 is not the first tragedy of this kind. In September 2017 alone, at least 54 soldiers from private military companies from Russia died there. The BBC Russian service found this out by studying the story of one of the victims - Evgeny Alikov from the village of Severonezhsk in the Arkhangelsk region - and a package of documents that was brought to his mother after the death of her son. Now the village residents are fighting to legalize the memory of those killed in Syria Alikova.
In mid-September 2017, a person from Rostov-on-Don contacted pensioner Nina Atyusheva, living in the village of Severonezhsk, Arkhangelsk Region. He introduced himself as Andrey and said that she needed to come and pick up the body of her son Yevgeny Alikov, who died in Syria.
“I told them that I couldn’t go to Rostov alone,” the woman recalls. “Then they replied that we don’t leave our own.” On September 20 - they warned about the date in advance and ordered to organize a funeral for that day - a middle-aged man arrived in a car and “brought a coffin with my son, all his documents and money.” He carried the coffin with the body by car all two thousand kilometers from Rostov to Severonezhsk, as well as money - five million as an insurance payment for the death of his son.
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“The child died in vain”: the mother of a PMC fighter killed in Syria about how she buried her sonThe man simply laid out five million in cash on kitchen table- packs of five thousand dollar bills, tied with rubber bands. As Nina Atyusheva recalls, her ex-husband, whom she asked out of desperation to help with organizing the funeral, saw this and gloomily joked: “What a fool I am, I left you early.”
Having handed over the body, money and certificates from the hospital, the man took a receipt from Nina Atyusheva, drank tea and left. In February 2018, BBC correspondents, together with Nina Atyusheva, tried to call Andrei, but the man who answered the call said that his name was different and he knew nothing about Russian volunteers in Syria.
Image caption Yevgeny Alikov went to Syria after several trips to eastern Ukraine, where he fought on the side of the LPR
"Mom, I'm going to the front"
On Syrian war Evgeny Alikov set off from the small urban village of Severonezhsk in the Arkhangelsk region. The village looks like a handful of five-story buildings on the banks of the Onega: even on tourist magnets, the main attraction here is the five-story building. They began to be built in 1973, when a bauxite mine began to be developed next door. The first generation of residents still remembers the times when, instead of a village, there were swamps all around, where people ran to collect cloudberries.
Residents have to travel almost 350 kilometers to Arkhangelsk, the nearest railway station is 36 kilometers from the city in the regional center of Plesetsk, famous for the nearby cosmodrome. The mine is still functioning, besides it there is work in the administration of the Federal Penitentiary Service - so other single-industry settlements of the Arkhangelsk region even set Severonezhsk as an example.
Nina Atyusheva also worked at the mine as a welder, while simultaneously raising two sons from different marriages. Now both are dead. The first to die, in 2016, was the younger Artem, who studied in the village of Savinsky, seventy kilometers away - in February he stopped communicating, and in March, when the door to the dorm room was broken down, his body was already in such a state that, according to doctors, , it was impossible to establish the cause of death.
Evgeny Alikov was the eldest. He also left Severonezhsk: first to study in St. Petersburg, then, after getting married, to Moscow, where he lived with his wife and three children. Nina Atyusheva says that before his trip to Syria, her son, starting in 2014, visited Lugansk several times. There he fought on the side of the self-proclaimed LPR. The website “Peacemaker,” which is run by Ukrainian activists collecting a base of those who fought on the side of the self-proclaimed republics, says that in the LPR, Evgeny Alikov was a member of the “Ghost” brigade of Alexey, who was killed in 2015.
In 2016, after another trip to the east of Ukraine, Evgeniy’s nerve was pinched, he was partially paralyzed, and his wife called Nina Atyusheva from Moscow in Severonezhsk. “She said that she already has three children in her arms, where does she need a fourth, take your son,” the pensioner recalls. At home, Alikov was treated in the Plesetsk hospital for a couple of months. “He was treated, and he felt better,” says Atyusheva. “Then he went to Rostov-on-Don to a training center, where he stayed for about a month, and after retraining he was sent to Syria.” What kind of center this is, she doesn’t know. The media have repeatedly written that PMC fighters are trained at a base in Molkino in the Krasnodar Territory, and they are sent to Syria by military aircraft from Rostov.
Image caption Receipt for receipt of the "Wagner PMC" badge
His mother does not remember the exact date when Evgeniy Alikov ended up in Syria, but it happened in the middle of summer 2017. From the documents that were given to her after the death of her son, it follows that on May 19, 2017, he signed an “undertaking” to receive a badge with the personal number M-3601. The standard badge number, which is officially issued to the military by the Ministry of Defense, consists of a capital letter of the Russian alphabet and a six-digit number; The numbers of PMC fighters located in Syria have been reduced to four digits. Evgeniy received his international passport, without which he theoretically would not have been able to enter Syria.
From Syria, Evgeniy sent text messages to his mother. Calling, he explained, is very expensive, so he wrote messages: “Mom, I’m going to the front.” He also said that the sand is so bad that it is impossible to walk without glasses - it blinds your eyes.
The Syrian campaign lasted for Evgeny Alikov for just over two months. On September 2, he died near the city of Tias in Homs province from a “through gunshot wound to the abdominal cavity.”
Nina Atyusheva immediately took the received insurance amount of five million to Sberbank and deposited it into the accounts of her grandchildren - “Zhenechka wanted it that way.” According to her, her son was a good family man: “He loved both the children and me very much. He didn’t drink, he was very affectionate, he always took care of everyone. Handsome, tall, athletic. They brought him<тело>- everyone cried."
In the few months that Evgeniy Alikov spent with his mother in Severonezhsk between trips to Lugansk and Syria, he kept something like a diary in a school notebook, writing down his thoughts in a flourishing hand: “As they say, the one who has a lot of money is not the rich one.” , and who has truth, faith and love for loved ones, and for me, loved ones are the people.” The entry with the subtitle “May 9” reads: “There are no geniuses, but there are those through whom God conveys his information.”
Image caption Certificate from Al Skelbiya Hospital, where the body of Evgeniy Alikov was brought
Body path
The package of documents that Nina Atyusheva received and handed over to the BBC Russian Service allows us to reconstruct in detail what happens to Russian volunteers in Syria after their death.
Already on September 2, according to the documents, the body of Yevgeny Alikov was brought to the Al Skelbiya state hospital in the city of Hama, 160 kilometers from Tias, where he was killed. At the hospital, the body was examined by doctors in the presence of two witnesses, after which three certificates were drawn up.
First: “On the body of Mr. Alikov Evgeniy Evgenievich, Russian by origin, there are traces of any infectious diseases are missing."
Second: “The container with the body of Mr. Evgeniy Evgenievich Alikov, Russian by origin, is sealed.”
Third: “In the container with the body of Mr. Evgeniy Evgenievich Alikov, Russian by origin, there are no foreign attachments.”
All three certificates were signed by the chief physician of Al Skelbiya Hospital, Isam Muhammad Khosha.
Image caption Certificates translated from Arabic from a Syrian hospital, handed over to Nina Atyusheva along with her son’s body
By September 6, the certificates from Arabic were translated into Russian, for which the Russian embassy paid 37,500 Syrian pounds (about 5 thousand rubles). The accuracy of the translation was certified by the 2nd Secretary of the Russian Embassy in Syria, Zaur Huseynov, with his signature.
September 7, head of the consular department Russian embassy Turpal Autaev signed the death certificate of Evgeniy Alikov and the death certificate.
After all these formal procedures, the body of the deceased was transported from Syria to the Arkhangelsk region for almost two more weeks. “On September 20, 2017, my son was brought to Severonezhsk, Plesetsk district, in a closed (zinc) coffin,” said her statement addressed to Sergei Krivenko, a member of the Human Rights Council, director of the human rights group “Citizen, Army, Law.” I buried him, I borne the costs of funeral services. There was no one from the military registration and enlistment office."
Together with the body and a package of documents, Nina Atyusheva was brought two medals from the Wagner PMC: “For courage and courage” and “For blood and courage.” Both medals are dated September 1, 2017. This could be either an engraver’s mistake or an indication that Alikov died at the end of August, and by September 2 his body was finally taken from the battlefield and taken to the Hama hospital.
Image caption The Wagner PMC crosses “For courage and courage” and “For blood and courage” are issued not to the name, but to the badge number
Deceased No. 77
On October 27, 2017, Reuters released an investigation that at least 131 Russian citizens died in Syria in the first nine months of 2017 - and this does not include official losses reported by the Ministry of Defense.
The agency’s material was based on a certificate of death of Russian PMC fighter Sergei Poddubny. Poddubny died on September 28 in the same city of Tias where Evgeny Alikov died. The death certificate, signed by the same embassy secretary, Zaur Huseynov, states “charring of the body” as the cause of his death.
Poddubny’s certificate bears the number 131. According to the procedure adopted in Russian institutions, which is described in the order of the Ministry of Justice, as Reuters clarifies in its investigation, the numbering of such documents in each of the departments registering deaths begins from the beginning of the calendar year and is carried out sequentially. Thus, the number of each certificate corresponds to the number of deaths at the time of the registered death during the current year.
Image caption Thus, in September 2017 alone, at least 54 PMC soldiers from Russia were killed in Syria. This is more than the official figures for the entire three and a half years of the campaign: according to the Ministry of Defense, the loss of personnel of the Russian armed forces during the operation in Syria amounted to 44 people. The last officially recognized dead was the pilot, Guard Major Roman Filipov.
Numerous losses among Russian volunteers going to Syria as PMC fighters are not officially recognized or commented on by the Russian authorities.
The last case of mass death of Russians in Syria occurred on February 7, when several PMC detachments came under fire from US aircraft. The exact number of deaths is still unknown, but it is already clear that there could be several dozen people. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially acknowledged the possible deaths of only five Russians.
Status after death
Nina Atyusheva began to fight for recognition of the memory of her son immediately after his funeral. She contacted the Plesetsk military registration and enlistment office with an inquiry about the status of his stay in Syria.
“I asked for clarification: am I entitled, as someone who lost my son-breadwinner, to any benefit, or some kind of tombstone, monument? I don’t know, there should be some kind of honor for my son,” she writes in her appeal addressed to HRC member Sergei Krivenko: And I will be calmer, since my son defended the interests of his Motherland outside its borders, as we know, with the consent of the SAR, our specialists and military personnel were shown on TV, who were given everything they needed in the populated areas of Russia. honors in such tragic situations."
Nina Atyusheva submitted her application to the Plesetsk military registration and enlistment office on October 5. A month and a half later, she received an answer: “To determine the status of your son to further resolve the issue of implementing legal and social protection is not possible at this time."
Then village officials got involved. District Council Deputy Galina Staritsyna received an answer from the military registration and enlistment office in mid-December: “Who issued the badge with a personal number, how citizen Alikov Evgeniy Evgenievich ended up in the Syrian Arab Republic and received a through wound, as a result of which he died, it was not possible to establish. In connection with what his status not defined."
Image caption The military registration and enlistment office of the Plesetsk region was unable to establish who gave Evgeniy Alikov his personal number and how he ended up in Syria
Public assistant to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Arkhangelsk Region, Vasily Pulin, helped Nina Atyusheva draw up an appeal to the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia with a complaint that the state did not provide her with any benefits due to the loss of a breadwinner and did not even help with the installation of a monument on the grave.
In turn, HRC member Sergei Krivenko at the end of January 2018 sent a request to Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor General's Office with a request to investigate the circumstances of the death of Evgeniy Alikov. As the human rights activist explains, this is the only thing that can be done here from the point of view of the law: “If a citizen of the Russian Federation died outside of Russia, the Russian authorities can initiate a criminal case. Therefore, the question is: was any investigation carried out, and if not, then Did Russian law enforcement agencies then initiate a criminal investigation into the death?
“We accept and support, this is not even discussed”
Three people are sitting in the kitchen in a five-story house on the banks of the Onega: mother Nina Atyusheva, district council deputy Galina Staritsyna and public assistant to the Commissioner for Human Rights Vasily Pulin. There is a scattering of documents on the table: appeals to various authorities and laconic official responses with blue stamps. Since last fall, they have been trying to get the state to recognize Atyusheva’s eldest son as having died for his homeland.
The owner of the apartment’s chin is trembling from strong excitement: “I want to ask this question: what is the difference between the children who are sent from the military registration and enlistment office, and mine, who volunteered?” Her interlocutors gently console her: “Don’t worry, we’re quietly solving everything, everything will be fine.”
So far, Nina Atyusheva is getting help with perpetuating the memory of her son only at the local level. “We are not waiting here - this is still our resident, the village of Severonezhskoye. We accept and support, this is not even discussed,” district deputy Galina Staritsyna explained to the BBC Russian Service.
Image caption At the stand with those killed in combat zones, a photograph of Yevgeny Alikov hangs along with images of victims of the conflict in Chechnya and Afghanistan
Deputy head of the Severonezh administration for social issues Lyubov Podorskaya suggested bringing a photograph of Evgeniy for the Immortal Regiment. In addition, the administration helped place a short obituary about the death of Nina Atyusheva’s son on the last page of the Kurier Prionezhye newspaper - next to private advertisements for the purchase of a dacha on the banks of the Iksa River and the distribution of puppies. Since the Kurier Prionezhye newspaper is posted on the website pleseck.ru only in PDF format, neither journalists nor volunteers monitoring the progress of the military campaign immediately found the message about the death of another Russian in Syria. On February 15, Nina Atyusheva was invited to the day of remembrance of those killed in military conflicts outside of Russia.
Residents of Severonezhsk generally take a responsible approach to perpetuating the memory of their fellow countrymen: in the center of the village, next to the post office building, back in 2003, a memorial stone “To the fellow countrymen who died for the Motherland” was erected. Along the path leading to the stone there are signs listing wars: the Great Patriotic War, Afghan, Chechen and, finally, “Disasters, terrorist attacks, other wars.”
In 2016, activists of the regional branch of the “Combat Brotherhood” installed a tablet on a stone with a list of the names of those killed in hostilities and terrorist attacks. Six residents of the city were killed in Chechnya, one in Afghanistan, Elena Ipatova died during the terrorist takeover of the theater center on Dubrovka, and Daria Yatskova died in the explosion of a Russian Airbus A321 over the Sinai. There is another name on this list - “senior sergeant Leonid Yurievich Kichatkin, 08/20/2014 Ukraine.”
Image caption The death of Leonid Kichatkin in eastern Ukraine has so far been recognized only in his native Severonezhsk
The death of several soldiers of the 76th Pskov Division in eastern Ukraine in August 2014 was first reported by the Pskov Province publication of local deputy Lev Shlosberg; a report from Kichatkin’s funeral was published a few days later by Novaya Gazeta. Official Representative The Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov and Vladimir Putin himself have repeatedly stated over the past three-plus years that there were never Russian military personnel on the territory of Ukraine, so they could not have died there.
The death of Leonid Kichatkin in Ukraine has so far been recognized only in this strange way on the monument in his hometown. Perhaps in the near future the name of Evgeniy Alikov will appear on the same monument.
For now, his photo, along with others who died in various wars, hangs on a stand in the museum room in the Severonezhsk administration building. Nearby is a portrait of Kichatkin. “We didn’t hang it up for a very long time while we were sorting it out,” they say about the latter in the city administration. “Because he was buried in secret.”
“Do you know what problems there were?” district council member Galina Staritsyna confirms the story. “But we still dared and put up the photo. I think everything there was legal, it was just impossible to do such a thing at that moment. But then we put it up little by little.” .
Image caption The next person to be included in the list of those killed at the monument will be Evgeniy Alikov
True, recognition of Evgeny Alikov’s services to the country ends already forty kilometers from Severonezhsk - in a two-story wooden building on Sovetskaya Street, where the Military Commissariat of the Plesetsk District is located.
“I understand what kind of citizen you are talking about, and I don’t understand how he could get into Syria,” explains military commissar Igor Gorbunov, standing on the porch. “Firstly, at the age of 18, when he received a military ID while passing a medical examination he was recognized as partially fit for military service, so according to the law they could not send him to Syria. Secondly, his military badge was not of the established type. We made inquiries to the military registration and enlistment office at his place of registration and they answered that he was not eligible for service. was drafted, but I won’t even quote what they told us from Moscow. It was recommended that my mother apply through military-patriotic organizations, because it is impossible to establish his official status.”
Human rights activist Sergei Krivenko also speaks about the impossibility of retroactively assigning the status of a military man: “Unfortunately, this is unrealistic: according to the law, he is simply a citizen of Russia. Now, in connection with the deaths of Russian citizens in February, this issue has flared up again, because there is no legislative regulation of private military companies in Russia. They are illegal. And this is a big problem."
According to the human rights activist, volunteers are not protected by law when participating in hostilities: “If a serviceman is officially under contract with Russian army, then the state bears responsibility for it. In particular, the state is obliged to investigate the fact of death - say, who gave the unlawful order. But if this is just a citizen of Russia, then he is not obliged to." They are not protected even after returning home: Russian legislation has an article for mercenarism. If a citizen participated in military operations, returned to Russia and the fact that he received money is proven, he can be convicted .
As four veterans of combat operations in eastern Ukraine and Syria told the BBC Russian Service, the FSB takes a five-year non-disclosure agreement from volunteers returning home, otherwise threatening criminal prosecution under the article “mercenarism.”
Image caption The cemetery where Evgeny Alikov and his brother are buried is located on the outskirts of Severonezhsk. The mother of the deceased hopes that her son will at least be erected a worthy monument
Nina Atyusheva hopes that in the end the state will recognize the death in Syria not only of her son, but also of all the other PMC fighters who also left behind mothers, wives and children. “It’s still unfair. He didn’t die in a street fight, but in a war,” she says. “And I want some kind of gratitude from the state, some kind of support. I’m not asking for something that’s not supposed to be. Or Did the guy just die in vain? I don’t know anymore.”
If your loved ones have been killed or injured in Syria, you can contact Ilya Barabanov or Nina Nazarova using the mail form below.
Last week, the United States attacked troops fighting on the side of the Damascus regime and attacking Deir ez-Zor. It became known that among those killed in this attack was a team of Russian mercenaries consisting of 40 people.
The dirty alliance of the Democratic Union Party (PYD)/Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) with the United States is gradually coming to light. Newly emerging events day by day reveal more and more profound details.
Last week, 100-strong Assad regime-affiliated forces were reported to have attacked PYD/PKK-controlled oil fields in Deir ez-Zor. However, today it became known that Russian soldiers were also part of this group.
Russian mercenaries in Syria
It is reported that a group of 40 Russians were among those killed in the US airstrike that came to the aid of the People's Protection Units (YPG).
Although the Russian Ministry of Defense did not comment on this information, which initially appeared as speculation, the Russian leadership made a statement that this information should be verified. The clearest answer on this matter came from the Wagner company, in which the Russian mercenaries who came under fire reportedly served. The company confirmed the death of about 40 Russian mercenaries, while it was noted that the military died as a result of the US attack.
Context
Dozens of Russians died in Syria
The New York Times 02/14/2018Russia is trapped in Syria
Neue Zürcher Zeitung 02/14/2018Russian compass broke in Syria
Al-Arab 02/13/2018The third world war began in Syria
Sabah 02/13/2018Russia will be able to squeeze the US out of Syria
The Washington Post 02/13/2018 Attack on Russians who fought with the YPGWhile Russia's move against the PYD/PKK—terrorist structures located in territories that should be under Assad's rule—signaled a Russian operation to clear the oil fields of terrorist groups, the US, not approving of this situation, struck at the Russian military, and this brought the two countries to the threshold of a new crisis in a new region.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied
Source in Russian ministry Foreign Affairs in a conversation with journalists noted: “The reports disseminated by Bloomberg and other media about the death of tens and hundreds of Russian citizens in Syria are classic disinformation.”
USA declared: “Self-defense”
The commander of the US Central Command Air Force, Jeffrey Harrigian, without commenting on the Russian military, noted that the return fire on the group that carried out the attack was dictated by the tasks of “self-defense.”
In order to support the YPG, the United States turned a blind eye to the deaths of civilians and turned Turkey, its strongest ally in the region, against itself.
Reader comments:
empathy: Bite each other to pieces, and we'll look at it.
Kahraman: Russia, strike too, quench your thirst for revenge, let your people see courage.
61 : Russia will not swallow this...
Wanli-fb: We need to cooperate with Russia to kick out the US and its offspring - PYD, PKK, ISIS ( prohibited in the Russian Federation - approx. edit.) - from Syria. And, if necessary, conduct a joint operation. Give Deir ez-Zor to the Russians, let northern Syria be under the supervision of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Turkey...
Multimedia
CNN 02/14/2018Strikes the terrorists have never seen before
Daily Mail 12/11/2017Russia creates a “tactical parallel”
ABC News 11/02/2017 Mertcan: Türkiye, Russia, Iran must unite and drive the US out of Syria...s10er: What are they afraid of? Everyone is afraid of this America, except Turkey. Yes, grind it into powder.
Yunus Demir: I don’t even know whether to rejoice or cry.
gerçek: Russia, come over to Turkey's side.
cemal ünsal: Now it will be a shame if Russia does not hit the American military.
Cengiz Turan Han: Oh God, oil again...
hkk: Why are there no coffins with the bodies of American military personnel?
Bizde Vuracağız: The US hit Russian mercenaries because the Russians attacked the YPG. And we are going to carry out an operation to drive the terrorists out of Manbij. The USA is a terrorist state that protects terrorists.
??? : Don’t believe it, it’s all a lie. The US is smartly intimidating us. This is a fictitious fight.
Mehmet: Now it has become clear that Russia is weak. Earlier, the United States, using drones, also openly caused serious material damage to the airport that Putin visited and which was called the Russian fortress.
bzttt: America and Russia are not at war, don’t wait in vain.
hava cıva yapma: Is that all your brain can do? All the wars in the world take place between the USA and Russia, but not on the territory of these two countries. Remember, ignoramus.
yalan dunya: Don't be upset, Russia, we will hit the American military and take revenge.
ali: Third world war on the threshold.
atilla: Russia has not responded at all because its technology lags behind.
oRDuLu: You seem to have seen enough of American films where the president presses a button and saves the world.
yazar: If there are several countries in the world that can make America repent of what it has done, then Russia is the most powerful of them.
DoğrucuMRT: Are Russian technologies lagging behind? Don't think.
cevik: By the end of this year there will definitely be a big war in Syria. And the USA came here and will leave.
Back to top: The US will come to an end in Syria.
tesbit: There are hired Chechens there - Putin’s watchdogs, but there are no Russian military on the battlefield.
SSK EMEKLİSİ: One day it will be the turn of the opposite side.
Diger Ajanslari da dinleyin: These are mercenary military personnel, that is, legionnaires who went to Syria on their own, and not under the control of the Russian state. Russia does not claim rights to them. America allegedly confessed and apologized.
Selim Baba: Russia, you are strong, you will do what needs to be done.
InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively from foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.
Illustration copyright Getty Images
On February 7, the US-led anti-terrorist coalition launched strikes against pro-government forces in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor. Soon, reports began to emerge that Russians were among the many victims of the strike.
Estimates of the number of dead and injured vary widely. According to one version of the media, they worked for the so-called “private military corporation” (PMC) from Russia on the side of the forces of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Russia does not officially confirm the death of its citizens and the existence of PMCs.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on February 15 said that five Russians could have actually died as a result of an American airstrike, and there were no regular military personnel among them.
The press service of the Russian President refuses to comment on the incident. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that there were no Russian military personnel in the area of the strike.
Reuters: There could be up to 300 dead and injured
A Russian military doctor told the agency that the death toll was about 100 and the number of wounded was about 200. Another source, who personally knows several fighters, said the number of casualties exceeded 80.
As the agency clarifies, the time of their death coincided with the battle on February 7 in the vicinity of Deir ez-Zor. Coalition forces after they allegedly attacked a rebel headquarters containing coalition military advisers.
In addition, the agency learned that wounded soldiers evacuated from Syria over the past few days were taken to four Russian military hospitals.
A military doctor working in one of the Moscow hospitals and treating the wounded brought from Syria told the agency that as of Saturday, February 10, there was more than 50 such patients, 30% of whom were seriously injured.
According to a medical worker who spoke on condition of anonymity, from Friday to Monday at least three planes with wounded. According to his information, these were military transport aircraft with specially equipped two or three modules for the seriously wounded and seats for the lightly wounded.
Illustration copyright Getty ImagesAtaman of the Khovrino Cossack society, Evgeny Shabaev, told the agency that on Wednesday he visited acquaintances wounded in Syria at the central military hospital of the Ministry of Defense in Khimki.
The wounded allegedly told him that two units of Russian private military specialists who took part in the battle near Deir ez-Zor numbered 550 people, of which only 200 were not injured.
The Reuters report is not based on sources that can be trusted, says military expert Viktor Murakhovsky.
"Who is a military doctor? A Russian military man who belongs to the military medical department of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, or who is he?" - he said in a comment to the BBC Russian Service.
Former State Duma deputy and retired colonel Viktor Alksnis wrote on his Facebook on the morning of February 16 that, according to unofficial data he received, people died in Syria as a result of the clash on February 7 334 people.
“217 people - the 5th assault detachment [PMC], 10 people - the 2nd assault detachment, 94 people - the Vesna assault detachment, 13 people - the artillery division,” wrote the former deputy. “In addition, a large number of wounded died and dies from severe wounds in hospitals."
Names of the dead
The Ekho Moskvy radio station on Thursday evening announced the name of another Russian killed in an American strike - he turned out to be a 35-year-old Oleg Tereshchenko, resident of the village of Krylovskaya, Krasnodar Territory.
Tereshchenko’s death in Syria was confirmed to the radio station by four of his acquaintances. According to Ekho Moskvy, Tereshchenko’s body was identified by one of the fighters who survived that attack.
The date of the deceased's funeral is unknown. According to his friend, his relatives must first identify him, which has not yet been done.
Another interlocutor of Echo of Moscow said that Tereshchenko’s body was supposed to be “brought home for burial” on February 15.
Illustration copyright AFPEarlier, the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) investigation group released the names of seven Russians who could have died in an airstrike in Syria. The fact that several of them died there was confirmed to journalists by their relatives.
This Alexey Ladygin from Ryazan, Stanislav Matveev And Igor Kosoturov from Asbest Sverdlovsk region, Ruslan Gavrilov from the village of Kedrovoye, Sverdlovsk region, Vladimir Loginov from Kaliningrad, Alexey Shikhov from Nizhny Novgorod.
In addition, there is information about the death Vladimir Vinogradenko with the call sign "Apostle". In Rostov-on-Don, he was a member of the public organization "Triune Rus'". Its leader, Sergei Moiseev, published a photo of the deceased and condolences on his Facebook page.
About death in Syria Alexey Nizhegorodov(place of residence in Russia is unknown) in their accounts in social networks other alleged fighters of Wagner PMC report.
The death of another Russian - Kirill Ananyev from Moscow - the co-chairman of the unregistered party "Other Russia" Alexander Averin confirmed to the BBC Russian Service. Ananyev was a member of the Other Russia, and before that he was a member of the National Bolshevik Party, whose activities were banned in Russia by the court.
How events developed: versions
On February 7, American media, citing an unnamed official, reported that about 100 people were killed as a result of coalition strikes.
The next day, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that 25 Syrian militiamen (as the department calls the forces fighting on Assad’s side) were wounded as a result of the incident. The ministry did not report any deaths.
The Russian department also presented its own version of events, which differed from the American one. According to it, the attack was not carried out by fighters of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, but by Syrian militias who were conducting an operation against an Islamic State sleeper cell* in the area of the former Al-Isba oil refinery.
The fact that Russian mercenaries were killed as a result of the American strike was reported by the American television channel CBS on February 9, citing sources in the US Department of Defense. According to the channel's sources, these were fighters from Russian private military companies who are participating in the Syrian conflict on the side of government forces.
Then, a group of independent investigators, the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), suggested in their telegram channel that Russian military personnel from the Wagner PMC, which operates in mineral deposits in the Euphrates Valley, could have been hit by a US airstrike in Syria.
The attack on military personnel from the Wagner PMC was also reported on his page on the social network VKontakte by the former field commander of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Igor Girkin (Strelkov).
According to the Kommersant newspaper, the cause of the incident was an attempt by large entrepreneurs supporting the Assad regime to seize the oil and gas fields of the Kurds, allies of the United States.
To this end, pro-government tribal formations went on the offensive. The so-called pro-government units of “IS Hunters” (ISIS Hunters), reinforced by fighters from the Wagner PMC, were in the second echelon. Both of them came under attack, an unnamed source told the publication.
A Moskovsky Komsomolets source in Syria also reported that the Syrians, together with Russian mercenaries, decided to seize the plant from the Kurds in the zone where the Americans were present: “There were three companies of private traders and a Syrian militia. The first line of Kurds and Americans was demolished quite quickly, even too easily. Then aviation, drones and helicopters arrived, and they were thrashed for four hours.”
The publication also cited another version. The allegedly shot convoy counterattacked Islamic State militants, who retreated towards an oil refinery where a secret US base could be located.
What does PMC do?
"Wagner PMC" is an informal military organization that allegedly took part in hostilities in the Donbass on the side of the separatists and in Syria on the side of President Assad. The structure was first reported by the Fontanka publication in the fall of 2015.
The founder of the company is Dmitry Utkin (call sign Wagner), a reserve lieutenant colonel who previously served as commander of the 700th separate special forces detachment in the 2nd brigade. special purpose in the Pskov region.
According to Fontanka, entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin may be behind the PMC. A company allegedly associated with him, Euro Polis, allegedly entered into an agreement with the Assad regime under which it receives a quarter of the proceeds from the sale of oil in the territory recaptured from IS.
Moscow denies the participation of Russian private military companies in hostilities in Syria. There is no law in Russia regulating the activities of PMCs, and mercenary activity is a crime under the Russian Criminal Code.
At the end of 2014, the draft law "On private military security companies", introduced through the Duma Committee on Defense by deputies Gorovtsov, Shein, Nosovko, was rejected by the State Duma.
However, on February 14, the head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Vladimir Shamanov, announced a new bill on PMCs, which, according to him, was sent to receive feedback from the government.
* - Dactivities of the organization"Islamic State" (ISIS)banned in Russia.
Russia is preparing Donbass for its return to Ukraine. The Kremlin is curtailing another project in Donbass. This can be seen in the information field, and in the economic, and social, and even political. That is, everyone in ORDLO already knows that the “republics” are at the beginning next year will cease to exist and become part of Ukraine, receiving a different name and status. Not everyone likes this, not everyone supports it, but the point now is not about them, but about the fact that the Kremlin is curtailing the LDNR project. And everything would be fine, and one could be happy if the winding down of one project did not mean the beginning of the next, writes Olena Stepova for Opposed. By studying the Kremlin's narratives, we can predict what awaits all of us. To make it clear to the reader what I'm talking about, I'll start from the very beginning. Since 2014. Anyone who follows the war, does not let it out of his head and heart, certainly does not need such long excursions. But, since my posts are scattered across the information field - which shows that information is still needed, and I still take my place on this part of the front - I have to return the reader to the roots so that he sees the entire system of manipulation and keeps the information on a short leash. The years 2014-2015 passed in ORDLO under the sign of “Novorossiya”. With it, with this narrative, the war began. Donbass “rose up” not only to defend itself from the “Kyiv junta attacking it,” but also to become an independent political unit - the country of “Novorossiya.” On the avatars of many Donbassians there was this “Novorossiya”. They went into battle for her. Its “history” was studied in schools and “universities” of the “L-DPR”. Russians died for “Novorossiya”, and many monuments of ichtamnets scattered throughout the Russian Federation contain exactly this interpretation of the war - “died for the glory of Novorossiya”. This narrative was firmly introduced into everyday life and, most importantly in information wars, it began to be used by the media. The “Novorossiya” project was shown to the residents of Donbass as a project for a historically established ancient territory, the registration of which into a new political territorial unit would be logical. Just as easily, flowing from this simulacrum, others appeared - “the peoples of Donbass”, “the culture of Donbass”. Although, to be logical, the Novorossiya project also did not appear on empty space, but became a logical continuation of the “Donbass” simulacrum. Well, there is no such country, territory, region, you know, no. There are Lugansk and Donetsk regions. There is the Donetsk coal basin. Regions are administrative units. A coal basin is a geological unit. There is a toponym "Donbass" - an abbreviation short for "Donetsk Coal Basin". No more. However, the long-term use of the toponym “Donbass” to designate the territory gave its residents the right to think that “Donbass” is some kind of administrative unit. Often in the peaceful part of Ukraine, in Central Ukraine, I hear “why did Poroshenko attack the entire Donbass.” That is, in the minds of many generations, the picture “Donbass is an administrative unit, country, territory” has formed, erasing the Lugansk and Donetsk regions from memory. And when you tell that “Donbass” is the Lugansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine, people begin to see the light: “This is Ukraine, but Ukraine could have suffered misfortunes on itself, if I talk nonsense on TV.” It was all there. Donbass was elevated to the rank of a “country”, an administrative unit, a kind of “Crimea”, which had the right to self-determination, a “referendum”. I think that this is one of the mistakes of Russian political strategists, who bought into the toponym “Donbass” and got confused Russian Federation, a country consisting of a bunch of independent federal units, with a unitary Ukraine. For a long time, Russia did not understand why their “referendum” in Crimea and ORDLO was not recognized in the world, because “everything is according to the law.” There is no law on referendums in Ukraine, and holding any “referendums” without the participation of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine is illegal. For Russians, who plan everything according to their country, this was a revelation. They realized that they had dispersed and let Donbass and Crimea run on unfinished rails. Therefore, now it is important for them to close that erroneous simulacrum and create a new one, to launch new narratives that will not run counter to Ukrainian legislation. This is what we are seeing now. In order to understand these transitions and see these simulacra narratives, I write such informative articles, realizing that my readers belong to the thinking minority of Ukraine. Therefore, let's return to Novorossiya. Her start was deafening. All the media were filled with it. Teachers and scientists, university professors, journalists and actors, writers and officials who remained in the “republics” and betrayed Ukraine, immediately, without regard to rank or knowledge, rushed into battle “for Novorossiya.” They gave "historical" lectures and presented "historical" arguments not only in favor of or for the necessity of creating such a "state", but also rejected all doubts that it existed. “Novorossiya” turned out to be older than Atlantis, Rome and dinosaurs. If you read all the information puzzles of the Novorossiya project, you will see a competent, psychologically controlled creation of a simulacrum. In the minds and space of people, a country grew, a state that was more beautiful, more developed, wiser, richer than all the countries in the world. They believed in him like God and the Bible. All doubts about the existence of “Novorossiya” led to an inevitable scandal between relatives, even denunciations to the “MGB L-DPR”. This, my dear readers, is how information simulacra are created. The basics of psychology, NLP, imprinting, multiplied by sociology and strung on the information space, give amazing results. More than 4 million residents of Donbass clearly knew that they were “Novorossians” and the country “Novorossiya” existed before Ukraine. This is not a phenomenon, no. It's just smart use of knowledge. By the way, the “Novorossiya” project is very similar to the “white brotherhood” project, which once poisoned both Russia and Ukraine, which, by the way, also originates from the offices of the FSB. Only modern projects they are already more refined, and it is almost impossible for a person to escape from such simulacra. The stringed bead programs of the project forever settle on a person’s consciousness, psyche and memory and can flare up with renewed vigor at any time. One of the programs similar in structure and power for constructing simulacra that were used in lately , there was a project "Teacher". Millions of Ukrainians believed that a teacher, having become president, can remain a teacher and change their lives, making it like a fairy tale. The stimulator film has created a simulacrum of the “holobordko”, which they believe in and will see this image outside of what will actually happen. The simulacrum, occupying consciousness, does not allow information that could harm or distort it. For example, here, carefully, is a very clear example of consciousness control. For example, during the Revolution of Dignity (Maidan), the Komi-Regs launched Anti-Maidan so that this simulacrum would knock the Maidan out of people’s consciousness. And many, indeed, were confused between the “Maidans” and “their own”. “I stood on the Maidan,” the Apache Navaras will tell you, who really was there, but on the other side, on the Anti-Maidan. Copying the actions, words, movements of an opponent is a seizure of initiative, attention and behavioral control. Psychology, nothing more! But how beautifully it was used in politics. And by whom? Regionals! That is, the Kremlin! Try to repeat all his movements after your interlocutor, without intrusiveness, without attracting attention, as if naturally, leg over leg in sync, rub your eyebrow or nose in sync, and now he has relaxed and trusts you, you have captured his attention and entered into his personal space. He sees you as himself. He listens to you as he listens to himself. Tell him what you need and he will do it with 100% accuracy. Any psychologist and NLPist knows this trick. This is a very good psychological trick. As well as the fact that in the Donbass, and in the media, they began to disperse “on the Maidan they stand only for money, they pay there, the State Department, dollars, the unemployed stand.” This gave an anti-message from Donbass - “we work - they gallop.” But this simulacrum has become so entrenched in people’s heads that now even the most active participant in the Revolution of Dignity, from personal communication, will say to any opponent: “They are there for the money.” This is how the Kremlin managed to cultivate “who are for Zelensky - patriots of Ukraine”, “who are for Poroshenko - everyone is paying money.” Further, it is even easier to control the masses: any protest is declared paid for and for “cookies”, only those “paying” are changed. And it works. People's democratic perception of the world “everyone has the right to their opinion and political views” has been completely erased. Its place has been firmly replaced by the simulacrum “whoever is against the new government is a paid national traitor.” And Ukrainians will actually kill Ukrainians, since there are no longer the dispositions “it’s your choice,” there is the disposition “if you are against us, you are an enemy.” Against us, it is against the majority. Here Ukraine is leaving the battlefield beautifully. If before our enemy was Putin and the Kremlin, then by leading people through the Overton window, the enemy was replaced with an internal one. And now those who are “for” will easily kill their opponents, even if both of them are wearing embroidered shirts and are patriots of Ukraine. It’s just mono - “for” excludes the word “Ukraine”. Mono - “for” will kill only because he was told “the opponent was paid, anyone who thinks differently from you is an enemy.” The fashion for mono-party system, mono-government, mono-leader has brought to Ukraine. We have 70% of all the prerequisites for a turnaround in the USSR and the creation of a cult of personality. Did you see the beads from which all this was built? Let's move on. Someday they will make thrillers and science fiction films about this. Today it is just the brink of war. And hybrid wars are the use of any type of weapon, bacteriological, chemical, firearms, psychological. When a simulacrum-program is not needed, its action is stopped with a very hard jerk. They simply transfer attention to another program. The worst thing is when the next program is the same simulacrum, then the person has no chance to come out alive and survive. In the absence of programs, it will simply burn out like a match, of course, not in the literal sense. Your heart will just stop. Sudden death syndrome, which since 2016 has occupied the top ranking of causes of death in ORDLO, has not been studied or taken into account by anyone. This is when a person, even if he doesn’t drink, even seems to be an intellectual, a hard worker, a family man and not a homeless person, dies just going to work, going out to buy bread, talking, watching TV. On the streets of ORDLO, from 3 to 5 people a day are found, for whom, after an autopsy, pathologists assign the reason for their departure to another world as “sudden death syndrome.” The end of programs or their restructuring is always associated with the death of a large number of people, degradation of society, and suicides. Although, I would say that in ORDLO there was no sharp push and departure from the simulacrum narrative of “Novorossiya” to the simulacrum narrative of “independent republics”. They gently overlapped each other, and many residents of ORDLO say “the republic is the same as Novorossiya, they just didn’t let us finish it,” and, you know, there is some truth in this. Starting with the loud and intrusive “Novorossiya”, Russia achieved positive results on one of the fronts (in ORDLO), people readily picked up the narrative and joyfully began to build an illusionary country. They got into arguments, cursed, killed for any doubt or non-recognition of Novorossiya. And when I asked “why did you vote in the referendum not for the creation of Novorossiya, but some republics,” anti-Ukrainian residents of ORDLO immediately retorted: “The republics are part of Novorossiya, we will build it later when we free all of Ukraine from dill.” . This is the ultimate goal of the chain of Kremlin narratives and simulacra. Re-read the story of Maidan and Anti-Maidan again. The story of “Donbass” and “Novorossiya”, “we work and jump”, “to the rally only for money”, “whoever is against our party and leader is against us”, “our enemy is not in the Kremlin, but in Kyiv”. Narratives are beads of simulacra. If you go through them like a rosary, studying bead by bead, you can see... the end of your country. That is, the final goal. Bottom line. Future! Now the Kremlin is removing narratives from the information space that were actively used in the media 2 years ago: civil war, republics, Novorossiya. They were replaced by: incident, conflict, Donbass-Ukraine, special status, autonomy. Why? Well, the “civil war” began to attract more and more attention from the Russians themselves. Finally, in the 5th year of the war with Ukraine, it became interesting and incomprehensible how this is “a civil war in Ukraine, and thousands of graves of those killed in this war are located throughout Russia.” The “Novorossiya” narrative began to harm Russia itself. After all, the pathetic “died for the glory of Novorossiya” on Russian memorial plaques and monuments began to push these same Russians to the question - “where is this and why is this.” The “Novorossiya” narrative, with which the Kremlin pathetically began the procession across Ukraine, because it was this narrative that united the Ukrainians. As we remember, the “Novorossiya” project is the creation of a “country” subordinate to the Kremlin from the Lugansk, Donetsk, Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Nikolaev, Odessa and Kherson regions. “Novorossiya” also included the Dnepropetrovsk region on the maps of 2014, but then there were rumors that they agreed to divide Ukraine “along the Dnieper” - many thought that along the river, in fact to the borders of the Dnieper, the Dnepropetrovsk region - since it Kolomoisky bought it. Then it was beautifully wrapped in a package of patriotism, which brought the borders of Novorossiya and the project itself beyond the scope of attention. Ukrainians reacted to the word “Novorossiya” like a bull to a red rag. And this resistance united even in some cases the incompatible: the Soviet man, the patriot man, the man in the white coat, the anarchist man, the nationalist man. That is, in ORDLO the Novorossiya project acted as both a unifying factor for pro-Russian citizens of Ukraine and a unifying factor for pro-Ukrainian residents of Ukraine. If one side saw liberation in this name, then the second saw occupation. Everything, thank God, reaches the Russian pioneer leaders from the FSB with a delay of 2-3 years, as we say in Sverdlovsk, Lugansk region “like a duck, on the second day” and holding the “Novorossiya” brand for two years, they managed to create Ukraine has a high level of resistance to this. But in ORDLO the word “Novorossiya” did not create an emotional movement. People accustomed to the artificial world of Donbass accepted artificial creation “Novorossiya”, as a matter of course, assigned all the emoji requirements to the creator (oh, this is so wonderful from the position of the aggressive Orthodoxy cultivated here), that is, to Russia and Putin. You created Novorossiya, you pay! Therefore, the “Novorossiya” narrative has been removed from the information space, but, again, I draw your attention, this does not mean that the Kremlin’s ultimate goal has changed, the narrative has been removed, it will be replaced by another, and the “Novorossiya” project will remain in execution mode. Do the words “special status” and “autonomy of Donbass” irritate Ukrainians? No! The critical majority, which includes volunteers, and participants in the Revolution of Dignity, and ATO soldiers, and Armed Forces of Ukraine, and participants from volunteer battalions, and nationalists, and anarchists, do not see in these words a threat, an enemy, an occupation, and even consider this an improvement in Ukraine’s position, a step to the world. Therefore, everything that could irritate or unite Ukrainians is removed from the information space. Special status or autonomy for Donbass will unite only a thinking minority. The majority has already swallowed the bait of the “peace at any cost” narrative, and, believe me, those who, since 2014, have had an enemy not in the Kremlin, but in Kyiv, will not stand in one line to protect Ukraine from a new threat. The “patriotism and unity” program has already failed. And the simulacrum has the effect of repression and replacement. Let me explain, the “Novorossiya” narrative was annoying, it carried a threat of occupation, and fear. Long-term use of it in the media caused fatigue from fear and anticipation of threat. Replacing the “Novorossiya” narrative with “special status” displaces fear and gives a feeling of peace (well, thank God, we won’t be captured, we can relax). Let me give you another striking example. Remember, for a long time, through omnivores, indiscriminate in information, and not inclined to information hygiene, seemingly patriotic Ukrainians dependent on the information mess, volunteers, ATOshniks, waves of “zrada” rushed into the network. I especially paid attention to “Mariupol is being drained.” After the shelling of Mariupol by the Russians, the words “Mariupol is being drained” were the same as “Novorossiya”. They forced us to unite in the face of a threat; fear forced us to act, think, and react to tricolor stimuli. There was so much of this “Mariupol is being drained” that it was a matter of technique not to see the organization in the presentation of information. Over time, “Mariupol is being drained” began to irritate. Then they stopped paying attention to it. And now if you say “Mariupol is being drained,” this will cause irritation to the speaker, and not only irritation, but also distrust (as in the story with the boy and the wolves). Try to say “Mariupol, on the basis of the law on the special status of Donbass, will become part of the autonomy” - a critical majority of people will not be inflamed with righteous anger, which could unite them against such a decision. The thinking minority will shudder. They will sluggishly tell you “it can’t be”, “oh, the second version of Mariupol is being leaked” and go about their business. There is no more danger. Fool boy, the wolves didn't attack. This is understandable, but have the wolves left the village and stopped dragging sheep? History is silent about this, the main thing is that it was not the majority (the village) that was left in the cold, but the boy personally. Ask the residents of Mariupol, Zaporozhye, and Nikolaev residents their attitude to the phrase “our troops will retreat, demilitarizing the zone to the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, but this is not capitulation, this is demilitarization.” The majority will say, “this is right,” we need peace.” Mariupol-Novorossiya, this is still annoying, but no longer frightens. But Mariupol is a special status of Donbass, this even causes pride. Ask people if the capture scares them Ukraine according to the “Novorossiya” plan, well, the pro-Ukrainian ones will answer that, yes, it’s scary. But ask the same interlocutors whether the special status of Donbass scares them and the majority will say that it is. the best way out from the situation and the only thing that will stop the war. Smile! Stop your breath! Count to five! Ask what Donbass is. And you will be surprised how people will tell you, “well, this is where the war is, in Donbass, in ORDLO.” Do the residents of Pavlograd know that they are “Donbass”? No! What about the residents of Zaporozhye and Mariupol? And yet, don’t look at the map and look for the geological boundaries of the toponym. In this case, I will tell you another secret. It is we, the children of a civilized country, who are looking for the boundaries of countries, administrative units and even toponyms. Putin has “Donbass” wherever he points his finger. And this fact applies to residents of Kharkov, Kherson, Zaporozhye, Nikolaev and Odessa regions. I think there's a lot of text for today. And I can talk about the psychological side of war for hours. I really love this topic. It has been forgotten, not studied, and there is not even such a direction on our frontline, so at least I will tell you how to see all the worlds in our world. Let me just remind you of something important: in the formulas, agreements, laws and other smart and peace-loving documents that guarantee us peace somewhere in the middle of our country, there is an amazing phrase “the entire territory of Donbass.” The demilitarization of Donbass today means the withdrawal of our troops from the administrative borders of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions. Demilitarization for local elections throughout Ukraine is the withdrawal of our troops from the administrative borders of those regions that are already included in the framework of “special status”: Lugansk, Donetsk, Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Nikolaev, Kherson, Odessa. I won’t shout “we’re being drained” and “wolves”, I’m not a boy. I just know that a well-executed defense of a village’s safety requires reconnaissance, recording of the wolf population and burglar alarm. Because shout or scream, believe or not, the wolves, sensing prey, will not go far from the village. Although they can lull the vigilance of shepherds with false attacks and shifting attention from sheep to, for example, ducks. ORDLO is preparing for a “return” to Ukraine. Russia is closing financing projects, leveling out the pricing policy in the housing and communal services sector; in June of this year, ORDLO was reconnected from the Russian Pobeda station to Ukrainian power supply lines; Ukrainian medicines, vaccination material, and humanitarian missions began to be allowed into ORDLO. In cities, propaganda for local elections has intensified (synchronously with Ukraine) and propaganda for the return of old pre-war officials - mayors, judges, prosecutors who previously left ORDLO due to the occupation (they are ours, they can do it), as a rule, these are regional-Komi-socialist cadres . Simultaneously, officials from the peaceful parts of Ukraine, loyal to the Ukrainian government, began to talk about the need to return to the occupied cities and talk together about how to stop the conflict “started by the previous government of Ukraine.” As proof of the closure (or rather reformatting) of the “republic” project to the “status” project, I bring news from the zone: in the ORDLO, an increase in tariffs for housing and communal services, electricity and gas began, the motive is “increasing costs”. The pricing policy for housing and communal services in ORDLO should catch up with Ukrainian prices within six months, so that the old narrative “everything here is cheaper than dill” is not used. Olena Stepova Writer, blogger, lawyer
