Russians should listen to Engels: a digest of propaganda for December 5
The Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security has collected the main fakes and narratives of Russian propaganda for December 5.
- Explosions in Engels: the boomerang always comes back
- US and EU respond to “humanitarian terrorists”
- Kadyrovites are already fighting to the “last European”
- About petrol in Odesa and Putin’s fear
Explosions in Engels: the boomerang always comes back
Putin’s “Plan of Special Operation for the Liberation of Ukraine from the Nazis” probably wrote: “December 5. Day 285: there will be a drone attack on the Engels airbase in the Saratov region. Two Tu-95 aircraft will be damaged. At the airfield near Ryazan, a gas tanker will explode. People are going to die. One of the planes will also be damaged.”
During the day, Peskov sent comments on the morning incidents to the Russian Ministry of Defence, but the reaction from the military department appeared only in the evening.
Konashenkov stated that the Armed Forces attacked Russian airfields with Soviet UAVS. At the same time, he used the phrase “attempt to strike.” How it happened that during the “attempt” alone, three people died, he could not explain, neither what kind of miraculous Soviet UAVS were used that could fly hundreds of kilometres through Russian territory, unnoticed by her praised air defence.
For genuine experience, Konashenkov’s assurances only lacked the mention of another “step of goodwill on the part of Russia.”
Meanwhile, the “military correspondents” were indignant regarding the topic: “Who ordered to gather all strategic aviation at one open-air airfield?”
IN FACT, “military correspondents” should “discredit” the Russian army more quietly because since December 1, the FSB has issued an order to classify many data on the war in Ukraine.
Based on the official rhetoric of the Kremlin, let us remind you that the airfield where strategic aviation is located is a “legitimate military target.”
In any case, it is time for the average Russians, who, according to all social studies, support the “SMO,” to understand — the boomerang of war always comes back. And the Stalinist doctrine of “waging war with little blood on foreign territory,” which was prophesied by Kremlin astrologers like Surkov, is frankly not working.
The word “Stalinist” is used not accidentally. After all, in the war in Ukraine, in fact, two technologically different eras collided: the Zhukovsky-Surovikin-Prigozhyn cannon fodder in the Bakhmut direction against the strikes by truly high-precision weapon on real, rather than imaginary, objects of military infrastructure.
If we proceed from the same official Moscow rhetoric that Russia is now fighting not with “failed Ukraine,” but with all NATO, then there is no reason to be surprised. In the North Atlantic Alliance, there is no cannon fodder of “recently conscripted servicemen.” But there are means of technical intelligence and high-precision weapons.
And here is another tip for Russian citizens, who still believed that Crimea was safe: do not rely on the nuclear triad (which includes Tu-95). Take care of your own safety. And not at the level of the primitive triad “TV-Fridge-Bomb Shelter,” but at the institutional level.
After all, even Communist Friedrich Engels warned that “there is no such thing as a free people oppressing other peoples. The power it needs to suppress other peoples is, after all, always comes back.”
US and EU respond to ‘humanitarian terrorists’
In the 10th month of the war, Ukrainians already have enough experience to anticipate the so-called “retaliatory strikes”by Russia, which happened this time as well.
A large-scale missile attack took place. But its evaluation among the “military correspondents” and just Z-bloggers strangely differed. Some, as usual, yelled about “retaliation.” Others — that it is not necessary to tie these strikes to the events in Engels (because it looks like revenge, which is the manner of the weak). Therefore, these were allegedly pre-arranged attacks.
A person named Markov, who calls himself a “political expert,” called it “a large-scale humanitarian shelling of Ukraine with missiles of the good.”
IN FACT, for Markov and other Russian “humanitarian terrorists,” we would like to remind the joint declaration of the presidents of the United States and France during Macron’s recent visit to Washington. There were the following points:
Deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure of Ukraine is a war crime, the perpetrators of which must be brought to justice.
Both countries confirm their unwavering determination to bring Russia to justice through international liability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court and other means, for the widely documented atrocities and war crimes committed by its regular armed forces and proxies, including mercenaries, such as Wagner and others.
Russia’s attempt to annex the sovereign territory of Ukraine is a violation of international law. The US and France reaffirm the unwavering support of their countries for the protection of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including providing it with as much assistance as necessary.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on December 5 that “Putin is ordering the worst crimes against Ukraine and simultaneously pushing his own country onto a catastrophically slippery road. By launching missiles at children, women, he not only seriously violates international law, but at the same time paves the way for an incredible moral gap.”
The German leader once again emphasized that “Ukraine must not lose in this war,” and assured of Berlin’s readiness to continue aiding Kyiv until Russia withdraws its troops.
Therefore, the Russian “humanitarian terrorists with rockets of goodness” have something to think about. The USA and the European Union (represented by the two main “locomotives” of its economy, France and Germany) have no intention of stopping aid to Ukraine.
Who knows, maybe in the near future, the United States and the European Union will once again provide humanitarian food aid to regular ungrateful Russians. Like back in the 90s.
Kadyrovites are now fighting “until the last European”
This may well be necessary, given the future trials, reparations and contributions, the price of which will be felt by all Russians without exception. Even now, they look completely destitute in comparison with those same Europeans and Americans.
On December 5, Putin approved a new living wage in Russia for the next year in the amount of 14,375 rubles. In conversion, it is 216 euros. The minimum salary in Russia is at the level of 244 euros.
IN FACT, for reference, let’s just list the minimum wages in the West, which Russia regularly intends to destroy from its TV screens:
Luxembourg — €2141
The UK — €2146
Belgium — €1593
Ireland — €1656
The Netherlands — €1756
Germany — €2031
France — €1646
The USA — €1160
Spain — €1167
Slovenia — €1074
Kadyrov’s “nuker” Alaudinov, who calls himself the commander of the special forces unit “Akhmat”, declared on December 5 that “the war until the last Ukrainian is over; now, we are fighting until the last European.”
Alaudinov can hardly explain why destroy Europeans instead of bringing Russians closer to at least their minimum standard of living. Because, of course, that’s not what they are intending.
Considering the natural resources, however, they are well in the position to do that. For example, this year, each resident of Alaska received their share of local oil revenues — $3,200. Such payments have been made regularly in the US for 40 years in a row. Residents of the Russian “Alaska Federal District” would never see this money, of course.
The Kremlin is well-known to consider such western practices “corrupting” and “anti-human,” so regular Russians have never seen and will never see revenues from the state natural rent. And it’s not because Moscow was kicked out of the key European oil market today.
It’s because regular Russians have one simple task these days — keeping quiet. Even when on December 5 Putin, once again, freezes their accumulated pensions. This time until 2025. We remind you that the first time it happened was in 2014. Russia is freezing its own citizens while trying to do it to foreign ones.
Gasoline in Odesa and Putin’s fears
After massive missile attacks, Russian media usually relish how Ukrainians stand in queues to pump stations, stores, pharmacies, etc. This time, it was gas stations. They are claiming that there is panic in Odesa, with local residents hysterical about fuel. It is a well-known story and, of course, with manipulations. And not only about Odesa.
IN FACT, even when late American senator McCain said that Russia is “a gas station run by a mafia that is masquerading as a country,” it did not look like a metaphor.
According to GlobalPetrolPrices, Russia has the most expensive petrol compared to post-Soviet oil-producing countries: $0.85 per litre. The price in Kazakhstan is $0.45, in Turkmenistan $0.428. Petrol is cheaper even in Kyrgyzstan, which receives petroleum products from Russia: $0.78.
The highest average cost of gasoline in the region is in Uzbekistan: $1.03. However, its entire vehicle fleet has been converted to gas, which is extracted here in large quantities. The situation is similar in Tajikistan.
In Russia’s friend Iran, you can get a litre of petrol for $0.05, in Azerbaijan — for $0.59 per litre. In Iraq for $0.51. The cheapest litre of fuel in the world is folund in Venezuela: $0.02. But this is a rather special country where clothes are actually made from devalued money. There is a very interesting American story about cutting off Russia there, which is also worth watching.
So why is petrol in oil-rich Russia more expensive than in fuel-poor Kyrgyzstan? The thing is that in the price of fuel, the lion’s share is made up of deductions to the budget. And the rate of embezzlement in Russia (at the state mafia level) is very high. In addition, money is needed for various bloody whims of the Kremlin leadership, which went completely mad on the topic of “Russia’s greatness.”
Therefore, while the Ukrainian Odesa did have and will have fuel, Russia will hardly have any common sense in the near future.
On December 5, Putin banned holding rallies in and near government buildings, on the territory of universities and near churches.
Now Russians can only envy, say, Mongols, who staged large-scale anti-corruption protests in Ulaanbaatar on December 5. Or the Iranians, or the Chinese.
So, the only thing Putin can offer to Russians, Ukrainians, and Europeans is terror.
Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security
