TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/president-biden-perfectly-zings-a-defeated-donald-trump/55544/

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/donald-trump-is-collapsing-2/55552/

A criminal case was opened against a 77-year-old pensioner for “justifying terrorism” for a comment under a post about the bombing of “military correspondent” Tatarsky - Astra

On 77-year-old resident of the Stavropol Territory Larisa Kuznetsova was opened a criminal case. The pensioner was charged for one comment on the social network VKontakte. According to investigators, the woman left it under the news of the Kremlin public page “Mash”. The post reported on the detention of Daria Trepova on suspicion of blowing up the Z-blogger Tatarsky. Larisa allegedly commented on this news as follows: “Well done, Daria girl!” Who recruited her is a question, but what is the result..."

The 77-year-old pensioner was given a preventive measure in the form of a written order not to leave the place.

If anyone was justifying terrorism, it was Tatarsky.

@freerussia_report

Flood summary from Astra, the situation on the morning of April 15. The water level in the Tobol River near Kurgan exceeded 6 meters. Evacuation siren sounds in the city

As of 8 a.m. on April 15, the water level in Tobol has risen to 631 cm. Yesterday it reached 491 cm. Evacuation is being carried out in Kurgan. Earlier, the governor of the Kurgan region, Vadim Shumkov, said that when the water level reaches 6 meters, flooding of the right bank of the Tobol and the low part of the left bank will begin.

In Tomsk, the water level in the Tom River rose by almost a meter in one day. Yesterday, the embankment dam near the Communal Bridge began to erode.

In Orenburg, the water level dropped by 18 cm per day. In the city, 10,656 household plots and 5,503 houses, including 55 apartment buildings, remain flooded.

In Kazakhstan, over 108.000 persons were evacuated from the flood zone, the country’s Ministry of Emergency Situations reported.

@freerussia_report

How Z billionaires have edited their biographies on Wikipedia since the start of the war. - IStories

Since the start of the war, ruZZian billionaires and other prominent ruZZians have edited information about themselves on Wikipedia to improve their reputations, including the removal of references to sanctions and property, ruZZian citizenship, and ties to the Kremlin.

This is reported by Important Stories, which, together with the Wikiganda project, studied the edits of almost a hundred biographical articles in the russian and English Wikipedias dedicated to ruZZian billionaires, top managers and artists.

Journalists drew attention to the fact that from the russian-language and English-language biography of the former owner of the Pipe Metallurgical Company, Dmitry Pumpyansky, someone tried to remove all information about the imposed sanctions of the EU and the United States, as well as about the seized 72-meter superyacht of the oligarch.

From the biography of the founder of the ruZZian Copper Company, Igor Altushkin, they tried to remove information about the billionaire's mansion and apartments in the UK.

From the article about billionaire and State Duma deputy Andrei Skoch, references to the arrest warrant for his personal plane worth over $90 million, as well as to the possible ties of the parliamentarian to the Solntsevskaya organized crime group, were removed.

The anonymous editors also tried to remove information about the sanctions against Putin's daughters, Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova, and from Katerina's biography also information from the investigations of Important Stories and Der Spiegel about a joint child with ballet dancer Igor Zelensky and about the accompaniment of Tikhonova on her trips by officers of the Presidential Security Service.

An article about ruZZian oligarch Alexander Mamut, the former owner of Rambler Group, was edited to make it appear that he has not been associated with ruZZia for a long time and is an entrepreneur from London with Israeli citizenship.

Also, 'someone' is trying to remove references to ties with ruZZia from an article about the co-founder of the ruZZian IT company Yandex, Arkady Volozh.

From a russian-language article about Putin's press parrot Dmitry Peskov, there have been repeated attempts to remove information from the Anti-Corruption Foundation's investigation into the luxurious lifestyle of his son Nikolai Choles.

Read more (Russian) or (English translated)

Putin's bitches don't want others to know what they are.

@freerussia_report

No advertising for dog food on Z-rockets
The head of Roscosmos said that he has a positive attitude towards advertising on rockets

Yuri Borisov said that he has a positive attitude towards advertising on rockets, but not all of them - for example, “he will not agree to advertise dog food.”

In March, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a law allowing Roscosmos the right to enter into contracts for advertising placement without bidding.

@freerussia_report

Criminals bromance
New Cold Wars.

As president, Donald Trump “made it very clear” that he thought Ukraine “must be part of Russia”, his former adviser Fiona Hill says in a new book about US national security under threat from Russia and China.

“Trump made it very clear that he thought, you know, that Ukraine, and certainly Crimea, must be part of Russia,” Hill, senior director for European and Russian affairs on the US national security council between 2017 and 2019, tells David Sanger, a New York Times reporter and author of New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West.

“He really could not get his head around the idea that Ukraine was an independent state.” This, Sanger writes, meant Trump’s view of Ukraine was “essentially identical” to that of self-proclaimed dictator Putin.

It's also in the same line of Trump’s words in support of Putin, including a stunning promise to “encourage Russia to do what the hell they want” to US Nato allies he deems financially delinquent.

The book appears with the Ukraine war grinding into its third year but US military aid to Kyiv blocked by far-right Republicans in the US House, acting in accordance with Trump’s wishes to put his personal gain over US interests.

According to Fiona Hills, Trump “idolises” Putin for his autocratic leadership and longevity in power. That view, Hill said, contributed to Trump’s furious rejection of intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump win.

Hill’s words to Sanger about Trump’s view of Ukraine, though brief, seem guaranteed only to add to such worries.

The result of growing qualms about Trump, his attitude to Russia and other idiosyncrasies, Hill said in February, “is that [European leaders] have started to lose faith in the United States. And it’s very distressing to hear.”

Read more

Not for Trump and his traitors of democracy, it seems.

@freerussia_report

Putinistan and China trade new copper disguised as scrap to skirt taxes, and sanctions. A Reuters report

Russian Copper Company (RCC) and Chinese firms have avoided taxes and skirted the impact of Western sanctions by trading in new copper wire rod disguised as scrap, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Copper wire rod was shredded in the remote Xinjiang Uyghur region by an intermediary to make it hard to distinguish from scrap, the sources said, allowing both exporters and importers to profit from differences in tariffs applied to scrap and new metal.

Russia's export duty on copper rod was 7% in December, lower than the 10% levy on scrap. Imports of copper rod into China are taxed at 4%, and there is no duty on russian scrap imports.
The sales of new metal disguised as scrap, which started in December, are reflected in a discrepancy between Chinese and russian data.

Chinese customs data showed China has bought significantly more copper scrap from Russia since December. In December it bought 6.607 tons, while russian figures showed the amount of scrap exported to China was negligible, for December 73 tons.

Shredding newly-made copper wire rod is an effective way to disguise new material that looks very different to scrap.
The new, high-purity copper long, thin rods, mainly used for making power cables, are typically coiled for ease of transport. Copper scrap, by contrast, is a mix of wires, tubes and pipes that have already been used. They are chopped into grain-sized pieces or coiled and pressed, like packs of noodles, for transport. The shredding had escaped notice as China has restricted access to the Xinjiang region in response to international condemnation of Uyghur repression.

Last December, Chinese companies made a total of five purchases of products labelled as "copper rod" from RCC's plant (under sanction) in the Urals region. Purchases went through a United Arab Emirates-based entity called Modern Commodity Trading DMCC, and generated revenues of roughly $65 million.

In 2021 and 2022, an average of 95.3 tons and 125 tons of russian copper scrap were sold to China each month. Volumes rose sharply over the last few months with monthly imports reaching 11,599 tons by February 2024.

Theoretically, there are no legal obstacles to prevent China from buying metal from russian firms under Western sanctions, but manufacturers may still be wary of losing export business to buyers seeking to avoid providing any funds to ruZZia.
Sanctions can also mean difficulties with processing payments and borrowing money.

Read more

Just underlining why the West shouldn't buy from China and apply secondary sanctions on all trade.

@freerussia_report

In Putinistan, the "liberal views" of Alexander I will be removed from the school curriculum.

Any mention of a liberal nature of the reforms of Emperor Alexander I will be removed from the school curriculum in Z-schools.

According to the order, the era of Alexander I will now be studied in the eighth grade, whereas previously it was studied in the ninth. The names of the topics have also changed. If earlier the topic of the lesson was "Alexander's Epoch: State Liberalism", now it is called "Alexander's Epoch (1801-1825)".

Newspeak: The word "liberal" was erased from the names, will be replaced by "conservative": "projects of liberal reforms" turned into "projects of constitutional reforms and the abolition of serfdom," and "liberal and protective tendencies in domestic policy" turned into "conservative tendencies in domestic policy."

The unspeakable he did:
- An amnesty for all those who had suffered under Paul I. As a result, 12.000 persons were released.
- Restoration of charters granted to the nobility and cities.
- Permission to travel abroad freely.
- Permission for the free import of any literature from abroad.
- Liquidation of the Secret Expedition (a special supervisory body that was engaged in political and civil detection). Its place was actually taken by the Senate.
- Reforming the public education system. Education and science should be accessible to all segments of the population, including peasants and the poor.
- A decree was issued on Free Farmers. According to it, the peasants could buy their freedom in agreement with the landlord.
- Work began on the preparation of the draft of the first Russian constitution.

Of course the next emperor, Nicholas I, cancelled all liberal reforms.

Source

Understandable that self-proclaimed dictator doesn't want children to hear about such things as they are steered into accepting NK conditions as the new (and old) normal.

@freerussia_report

Residents of a Orenburg village built a dam that saved their homes. Now the authorities are threatening them with fines.

When the flood situation began to get out of control, the residents of Perovsky chose not to leave everything to the authorities, but to take matters into their own hands to protect their homes from flooding. They designed a dam one and a half kilometers long, collected 3 million rubles for its creation, and built the embankment within five days.

Men helped in construction, women prepared food, and those who could provided trucks. At night, residents of the village were on watch duty at the dam, looking for leaks. As a result, the structure survived and saved Perovsky from flooding.

The residents did not receive any payments from the authorities, but officials began to threaten them now with fines for unauthorised construction work.

Apparently it is better to let your village drown by inaction.

@freerussia_report

• The son of the mayor of Orsk is suffering in Dubai.
• Peskov's daughter is barely surviving in Paris.
• Former head of Russian Railways Yakunin struggles to eek out a living in Germany.
• Yakunin's son tries the same in London.
• Former head of the Ministry of Agriculture Skrynnik is suffering in Switzerland.
• Putin's ex-wife is stranded on the Cote d'Azur.
• Ex-Deputy Prime Minister Klebanov is fighting for his life in Israel.
• Shuvalov's Corgis have difficulty surviving in Europe.
• The children of deputy Zheleznyak suffered such terrible hardships in Britain that Zheleznyak himself could not bear it - and also went there.

Draw your own conclusions!

@freerussia_report

China predicted ruZZia's defeat in the war, and calls ruZZia an enormous threat for Europe and ex-Soviet republics. - Feng Yujun, professor at Peking University, director of the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies at Fudan University.

According to the expert, a former member of the Kremlin's Valdai International Discussion Club, four factors will determine the fiasco of the Ukrainian invasion for Putin.

1.) the high level of resistance and national unity shown by Ukrainians.
2.) international support for Ukraine, which, despite the recent decline, remains substantial.
3.) the nature of modern warfare, which depends on a combination of industrial power and command, control, communications, and intelligence systems. RuZZia is experiencing difficulties in the war, and this may be due to the fact that the country has not yet recovered from the deindustrialization experienced after the collapse of the USSR.
4.) Putin has fallen into an information cocoon because of his long dictatorship. The Kremlin lacks reliable intelligence, and the system in which the leadership operates lacks an effective mechanism for correcting mistakes.

Feng Yujun stresses that ruZZia's defeat due to these four factors is inevitable and overtime Moscow will have to withdraw its troops from all occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea. Even its nuclear potential does not guarantee their victory.

The Ukrainian war has become a turning point for ruZZia: it has put Putin's regime in broad international isolation and created fertile ground for "all kinds of black swans," that is, for various unpredictable catastrophes that the authorities have already faced and will continue to face. As examples, he cites the Wagner uprising, ethnic tensions, and the recent terrorist attack in Moscow.

Growing awareness of ruZZia imperial ambitions convinces former Soviet that it is a threat to their independence and territorial integrity. "These states are moving away from Moscow in various ways: from forming an economic policy that is less dependent on ruZZia to pursuing a more balanced foreign policy. As a result, the prospects for Eurasian integration, which ruZZia is talking about, have faded."

And it has made Europe aware of the enormous threat that ruZZia poses to the security of the continent and the international order. Many European countries have "abandoned their illusions" about ruZZia and Putin. The war forced NATO to increase military spending and deploy more military equipment in eastern Europe. The accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO showed Putin's inability to use the war to prevent the expansion of NATO.

The Chinese professor claims also that "no one should doubt China's desire to end this brutal war through negotiations" and "this desire shows that China and Russia are completely different countries. Russia seeks to undermine the existing international and regional order through war, while China seeks to resolve disputes peacefully."

Feng Yujun warns also that if the conflict in Ukraine is frozen without "fundamental changes in the political system and ideology of ruZZia," then the Kremlin will have an opportunity to regain strength and unleash new wars.

Source

New tunes from China? 🤔

@freerussia_report

We work every day without a single break to increase our potential in the world – in our relations with partners. We work to get more real help. To achieve true equality in the defense against terror, when the same, truly equal rules apply to us here in Ukraine, in Europe, and in other parts of the world, when we face the same manifestations of terror, the same missile and drone attacks.

In the last two days we have heard all kinds of things. About different conflicts – here in Europe and in the Middle East – different levels of threats, different airspace. Although the "Shahed" drones and ballistics are the same… Different threats of escalation. But are human lives different, are people's values different? No, they are not. We value every life equally. We must do so. We must protect them from terror on the same level. Ukraine will request a meeting of the Ukraine – NATO Council to discuss the protection of the skies, the supply of anti-aircraft warfare, relevant systems and missiles.

I thank everyone who helps! I thank each and every one of you who defends our country, our people and the common justice that is equal for all nations! And may the memory of all Ukrainians who gave their lives for Ukraine be eternal and bright!

Glory to Ukraine!

💔 12-year-old Ukrainian Yana Stepanenko ran a 5-kilometer distance as part of the Boston Marathon using prosthetics

Two years ago, Yana lost both legs during a missile attack on the station in Kramatorsk.

By participating in the race, the Ukrainian decided to raise funds for a sports prosthesis for the soldier Alexander Ryasny , who lost his leg during the defense of Zaporozhye.

Yana trained intensively for the Boston Marathon for two months, training four times a week.

🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱 Liz

China predicted ruZZia's defeat in the war, and calls ruZZia an enormous threat for Europe and ex-Soviet republics. - Feng Yujun, professor at Peking University, director of the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies at Fudan University.

According to the expert, a former member of the Kremlin's Valdai International Discussion Club, four factors will determine the fiasco of the Ukrainian invasion for Putin.

1.) the high level of resistance and national unity shown by Ukrainians.
2.) international support for Ukraine, which, despite the recent decline, remains substantial.
3.) the nature of modern warfare, which depends on a combination of industrial power and command, control, communications, and intelligence systems. RuZZia is experiencing difficulties in the war, and this may be due to the fact that the country has not yet recovered from the deindustrialization experienced after the collapse of the USSR.
4.) Putin has fallen into an information cocoon because of his long dictatorship. The Kremlin lacks reliable intelligence, and the system in which the leadership operates lacks an effective mechanism for correcting mistakes.

Feng Yujun stresses that ruZZia's defeat due to these four factors is inevitable and overtime Moscow will have to withdraw its troops from all occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea. Even its nuclear potential does not guarantee their victory.

The Ukrainian war has become a turning point for ruZZia: it has put Putin's regime in broad international isolation and created fertile ground for "all kinds of black swans," that is, for various unpredictable catastrophes that the authorities have already faced and will continue to face. As examples, he cites the Wagner uprising, ethnic tensions, and the recent terrorist attack in Moscow.

Growing awareness of ruZZia imperial ambitions convinces former Soviet that it is a threat to their independence and territorial integrity. "These states are moving away from Moscow in various ways: from forming an economic policy that is less dependent on ruZZia to pursuing a more balanced foreign policy. As a result, the prospects for Eurasian integration, which ruZZia is talking about, have faded."

And it has made Europe aware of the enormous threat that ruZZia poses to the security of the continent and the international order. Many European countries have "abandoned their illusions" about ruZZia and Putin. The war forced NATO to increase military spending and deploy more military equipment in eastern Europe. The accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO showed Putin's inability to use the war to prevent the expansion of NATO.

The Chinese professor claims also that "no one should doubt China's desire to end this brutal war through negotiations" and "this desire shows that China and Russia are completely different countries. Russia seeks to undermine the existing international and regional order through war, while China seeks to resolve disputes peacefully."

Feng Yujun warns also that if the conflict in Ukraine is frozen without "fundamental changes in the political system and ideology of ruZZia," then the Kremlin will have an opportunity to regain strength and unleash new wars.

Source

New tunes from China? 🤔

@freerussia_report

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/heres-what-weve-learned-so-far-from-donald-trumps-criminal-trial/55543/

No, he can't take time off for campaign activity.

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/this-judge-is-taking-no-crap-from-donald-trump/55555/

🔥 At night in Yevpatoria, Tropic Park, located in an old amusement park on the street, burned down.

“Tropic Park” is a five-story zoo in Yevpatoria, Crimea, where a huge number of different exotic animals lived.

Unfortunately, the animals could not be saved. The zoo burned to the ground, leaving only the metal frame.

As far as we know, this area has long been eyed for commercial development. The zoo was self-sufficient.

UPD
They saved a woman (apparently a watchman) and two bears.

According to a zoo representative, the preliminary cause of the fire was a short circuit in the refrigerator wiring.

The zoo housed more than 200 species of primates, reptiles, amphibians, birds and other animals. There was also a shelter for stray dogs there. More than a hundred animals were burned alive.

😡🤬🤬
@ukrainejournal

🦆 Every life is important

Around noon, the Rescue Service received a message that there were little ducklings in a sewer well on one of the streets of the city of Kalush in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.

As passers-by said, the mother duck was carrying the ducklings and some of them got into a trap.

🙏The rescuers pulled the little chicks out of the well and gave them to the mother, who meanwhile was waiting for her children nearby.

Photo: DSNS Ukraine

@ukrainejournal

https://t.me/WarriorsUkrainian/25731