The conflict between the leader of the Wagner Group and the Russian Ministry of Defense has bubbled into public view with extremely serious accusations flowing in every direction. And, as this article points out, other Russian oligarchs are preparing themselves with their own private armies should they have to go to the mattresses – a deliberate Mafia reference because these are gangsters we are talking about. What a country!
From the article . . . “Andrei Piontkovsky, a Russia-born commentator now living in exile in the United States, argues that the Russian elite believes that defeat in Ukraine is looming and that the Putin era is doomed. The feuding clans are gearing up for what comes next: protecting what they already have and contending for the vast assets that will be available after the regime’s collapse.”
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
Your source is two months old. It might have been true in January — soon after Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive that drove Russian forces in Ukraine back from Kharkiv and Kearson — that Russian elites believed that “defeat in Ukraine is looming and that the Putin era is doomed.” But much has changed since then.
Today, even the Washington Post and the New York Times have begun to acknowledge that Ukraine’s military is in desparate shape.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/03/ukraine-media-start-to-acknowledge-reality.html
I don’t know much about Russian politics, but I’d guess it is unlikely any political factions will attempt to remove Putin from power as long as it appears that Ukraine is losing.
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“Desperate shape” is a relative term.
Russia is losing. Bigly.
Putin cannot stay in power through defenestration and poison much longer.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/russian-officials-suicide-latest-mysterious-death-raises-questions-kremlin
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RE: “Russia is losing. Bigly.”
Laughable.
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“Laughable.”
Well, you are entitled to your opinions and no amount of evidence is going to shape them.
Suffice it to say, that Russia sought to defeat Ukraine and install a puppet government at little cost to them (“genius” according to Dear Leader) within a few weeks of their criminal invasion. That has not happened. Ukraine is still standing with more and better help on the way.
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RE: “Ukraine is still standing with more and better help on the way.”
That’s the laughable part.
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I am not sure what is laughable about these two facts?
1. Ukraine IS still standing.
2. Better help is on the way.
Those are TRUE statements.
You are again demonstrating the typical MAGA problem with simple TRUTH.
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Ukraine is suffering losses, no question.
But if a country of 180 million with one of the biggest, most powerful militaries in the world could not subdue another 1/5 its size in a few weeks rather than still losing thousands trying to take an almost non-existent town after a year, well, that is both not winning, but losing and pathetic.
The reason are varied, but I believe the Mafia state just stole itself into incompetency and now the blame game starts as to who stole what.
I feel for the Russian people. They have been shafted regularly for centuries. This time is no different.
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RE: “But if a country of 180 million with one of the biggest, most powerful militaries in the world could not subdue another 1/5 its size in a few weeks rather than still losing thousands trying to take an almost non-existent town after a year, well, that is both not winning, but losing and pathetic.”
That sounds like a counterfactual fantasy to me. Ukraine had the largest, best trained army in Europe when the war began. Now they are sending children to the front. No one who is paying attention to the daily reports believes that Russia is “losing and pathetic”
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“That sounds like a counterfactual fantasy to me. ”
You would know.
…”they are sending children to the front. ”
Cite?
And to add to the misery, Russia is now sending FEMALE criminals to the front.
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“Ukraine had the largest, best trained army in Europe when the war began.”
That is complete nonsense. Unless you are saying that Russia is not part of Europe?
When the war began, Ukraine had a standing army of 200,000. Russia had 900,000. Russia had 31,000 tanks and military vehicles. Ukraine had 5,000. Russia had 605 naval vessels. Ukraine had 70. Aircraft – same lop-sided story.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-russia-military-comparison-1.6365115
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RE: “That is complete nonsense. Unless you are saying that Russia is not part of Europe?”
Yes. I’m saying Russia is not part of Europe.
Also, your force size comparisons are misleading, but I’m glad you are aware of Russia’s military advantage. The comparisons are misleading because:
They don’t represent the deployment of forces on the actual battlefield. Russia started the war with a significantly inferior combat deployment and a minimal logistics force in theater.
Ukraine’s standing army of 200,000 troops consists of combatants and doesn’t include the non-combatant forces needed to support field operations. I’ve seen estimates as high as 700,000 for Ukraine’s total force structure at the start of the war.
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For your perusal as to what nation has the biggest armies, broken down by active, reserves, paramilitary and totals today.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/military-size-by-country
Yes, Ukraine has more than many, but not even close to Russia. The link breaks down by active, paramilitary and reserves. But Russia has overwhelmingly larger forces. I think that is why they have no problem send in waves to be mowed down until Ukrainians run out of ammo.
Russia 3.6 million to 1.2 million totals. I am not sure if the paramilitary included mercenaries, but we know the Wagner Group has been a major factor.
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Your source confirms my statement that Ukraine had the largest army in Europe when the war began.
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Then Putin was beyond incompetent or ignorant not to expect resistance. He had a decade to prepare after he invaded and seized Crimea.
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RE: ” I think that is why they have no problem send in waves to be mowed down until Ukrainians run out of ammo.”
That’s not happening.
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Oh yes it has.
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RE: “Oh yes it has.”
You are misinformed. What you describe is not characteristic of Russian battlefield tactics.
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“Your source confirms my statement that Ukraine had the largest army in Europe when the war began.”
No it doesn’t. You are playing more silly games because Russia is not entirely in Europe. Approximately 75% of Russians live in European Russia. That is where their military is as well. Russia has the largest army in Europe. Of course, we now know how shitty their training, equipment and morale is so maybe you were right about the “best trained” part.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Russia
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“But Russia has overwhelmingly larger forces”
Did that include the mercenaries of Wagner Group? Are they counted in the “military” population?
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Who knows. Putin is an absolute butcher who cares less about his people than his unicorn legacy.
Now he is threatening Moldova. No border with Russia, but right up against Europe. Anyone who believes Putin is gullible and, frankly, ignorant IMzo.
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“You are misinformed. What you describe is not characteristic of Russian battlefield tactics.”
You really should stop saying other people are lying or misinformed. In this case you show that you are not keeping up with reliable reporting and you know nothing of Russian battlefield tactics. Their doctrine since WW2 has included overwhelming the enemy with unrelenting human pressure – “human wave attacks.” There are countless reliable sources documenting that such have been their tactics around Bakhmut.
https://tinyurl.com/28ytz9tp
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/02/03/tactics-behind-russias-human-wave-attacks-bakhmut/
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“Yes. I’m saying Russia is not part of Europe”
What a tap dance!
Of course I am aware of Russia’s numerical advantages. That is why your claim that Ukraine had the largest army in Europe stood out as more of your nonsense.
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“I’m saying Russia is not part of Europe.”
Geographically speaking, you would be partially correct. Eastern Russia is, GEOLOGICALLY, part of the European Continent.
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And 75% of Russian live in Europe making it the most populous European country.
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RE: “‘they are sending children to the front.’ Cite?”
I can’t find the source I had in mind, but I believe it was a video in which Russian fighters in Bakhmut commented that the Ukrainian war dead were suprisingly young. You might find this Ukrainian article informative on the current quality of Ukrainian combat forces:
“Multiple soldiers say Bakhmut troops are barely given enough time to learn to shoot a rifle – sometimes their training is just 2 weeks, before they’re dropped into the hottest parts of the most intense current battle of the war. They would have preferred for troops to get a minimum of two or three months of training before being deployed to such a hot spot.
“‘Two weeks’ live training and they’re sent here. You can’t do that,’ says the older Serhiy. ‘Or it’s a person who once served in the army, how long ago was that? Obviously they forgot everything.’
“‘We were promised that we wouldn’t be sent to the zero line right away, that at first we’d be sent to the second or third line,’ he continues. ‘And then we came here in the middle of the night and they immediately sent us to Bakhmut.’
“‘Obviously a person starts freaking out. To tell you the truth, if they didn’t fire at me first, I wouldn’t have fired a shot. But I have bullets coming within 50 centimeters of me, that’s when I started shooting.’
“According to both soldiers named Serhiy, most brigades are insufficiently trained and lack the experience for an environment as brutal as Bakhmut. People are taken at night to a place they’d never seen before and the battle starts in the morning.
“‘This is why positions are abandoned, people are there for the first time,’ says the younger Serhiy. ‘I went to a position three times and was given six people who hadn’t fought at all before. We had a few dead and wounded that had to be evacuated… Our people are not being protected.’
“Oleksandr confirms that while some battalions fighting in Bakhmut are well-trained and ready, most of them aren’t and many were thrown in at night without much preparation. ‘Yes, that’s true, my battalion was not prepared,’ he says. After five months without a single break from the fighting, only half of Oleksandr’s battalion is left, he says.
“‘They shouldn’t have rushed to throw everyone in there,’ says the younger Serhiy. ‘Better to abandon those positions, who cares? It’s better to properly train people.’
https://kyivindependent.com/national/ukrainian-soldiers-in-bakhmut-our-troops-are-not-being-protected
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…”Russian fighters in Bakhmut commented that the Ukrainian war dead were suprisingly young. ”
Because the Russians are killing innocent children. War crime admittance?
And the rest of your tory, while “quoted” sounds a lot more like what Russians are doing to continue the onslaught. “Meat grinder” is the term used often about what the RUSSIANS are facing in Ukraine.
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“I can’t find the source I had in mind.”
I do not doubt you saw a report of very young Ukrainian soldiers. It is bound to be a theme in the Russian propaganda you peruse regularly. Anecdotes may be true but do not offer much support for a claim of sending children to war.
Maybe you have not seen a report I saw. Having emptied the prisons Wagner is now recruiting in high schools.
https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/14/russia-wagner-group-recruiting-high-schoolers-to-fight-in-ukraine-18442144/
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