On Monday, Timoshenko claimed that Naftogaz was still planning the “scam of the century” by embezzling up to 264 billion hryvnas ($7.18 billion) and “sending them to offshores.” She also called on the administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky to organize a meeting between his administration officials, MPs, and independent experts, as well as diplomats from the G7 nations to discuss the situation.
“Could the president not be aware? Are you not aware of the ‘scam of the century’ that Naftogaz is currently implementing?” she wondered in her post.
Not sure about this story ... but plausible I suppose ...
Russia has been accusing Ukraine of stealing gas going th rough its pipelines to the West for many years. This was probably true for a long time. How much corruption is still in Ukraine is hard to assess, I saw a report in the Guardian that the war was impacting the influence of the Ukrainian oligarchs quite a lot.
If Russia is asking the government to investigate corruption instead of simply accusing the government of being fascist this is a step in the right direction, and an indication that Russia knows that they are not going to retake Ukraine, militarily or politically.
Why should anyone be surprised by this scam after all the Ukrainian system was set up as an image of the Russian system which itself is one huge scam. Russia complaining is a bit rich.
Regarding Catweazle's earlier point, if Russia doesn't like people taking advantage of their friend's largesse and help in their time of trouble, Russia shouldn't have started the trouble! Russia can easily stop this slaughter by withdrawing their troops. No one is going to chase them across the border so all they will have to deal with is the unrest such an action might cause in Russia itself. And they have ways of dealing with such unrest which is why most of Europe and some of the rest of the world don't like then in the first place.
Another thing which is annoying me to an extent is India's support of Russia. India is always moaning about British colonialism yet here they are supporting the colonialist invasion by Russia of a neighbour, Ukraine. Also if China takes a pop at India over the border India expects support from the west. They really should get their arguments sorted out.
I have always found Indians to be the most difficult and arrogant people to work with on work sites and probably due to their anti-British sentiments. They probably blame the UK for all their economic woes and for taking over India just at the time the Maratha Empire was about to defeat the Mughal Empire and liberate India from Muslim rule.
However I think the Indians will always try and get a good deal from Russia and probably wont give them any favours for their oil. It is probably not good policy on the part of NATO to drive India or indeed any other country into Russia's orbit politically. Perhaps a joint NATO-India statement on not adjusting borders by military force whether in the Himalayas or in Eastern Europe might be a useful compromise so when China next tries to move the border with India in its favour then maybe the Indian's lack of action on the Ukraine situation should be brought up.
I see the Russian oil price cap being brought up again recently. If this results in India paying for its Russian oil at a price well below Brent crude price then it may be having some benefit and also be good for reducing oil use in Europe and promoting alternatives.
The US estimates Russia has suffered 75,000 dead or injured in this invasion, and UK says that Wagner mercenaries are manning entire sections of the Eastern front line.
While Russia says that the west is fighting this war to the last Ukrainian Russia seems to have switched to fighting it to the last Wagnerian mercenary. Russia's cost are going to increase significantly if Ukraine can keep up the attrition rate it has been able to as the Wagner Group are going to have to increase pay rates to keep up supply.
The Guardian is reporting that Russian soldiers are suing the Russian state for false imprisonment after refusing to fight in the Ukraine "special operation". As Russia is not officially at war, they cannot force soldiers to fight, only dismiss them. The soldiers claimed they were locked up by Wagner mercenaries es and threatened with violence. Some of the 80 odd soldiers were taken by the guards and not seen again.
In the mean time US And UK fighters are facing the death penalty when captured in the fighting.
The soldiers were in Ukraine but were not on the front line, having been rotated out. Russia claims not to have used Conscripts in Ukraine, but there is widespread evidence that they were used in the initial failed invasion in the north. Russia also claims not to use mercenaries, but nobody believes that.
Even regular Russian troops can refuse to fight in a war which is not a war because they only sign a contract to fight in war. Apparently!! Putin has tied himself in knots over this war which is not a war.
I wouldn’t worry too much. It is estimated that in Vietnam the US fired 50,000 bullets for each enemy soldier killed. (Probably not counting the civilians that got in the way), so losing 7 out of 10 won’t make much difference. Anyway, Russia claims they were all blow up in precision missile strikes on warehouses before they even got to the front line.
This war has stalled. I doubt either side will advance 10 miles in the next 6 months.
Ukraine appears to have hit a large Russian airbase on Crimea 200km behind the front lines, causing large explosions of ammunition stores. This suggests that they now have access to long range rockets for their Himars from the US, and that Russian Air defences have been weakened significantly. Russia will be a lot less able to provide air support to their front line troops if they have to defend against long range missile attacks like this. However, both sides probably limited ability to make major advances in the near future
There are growing concerns at the Russian occupation of a large nuclear power station, firstly they are using it as a military base, knowing that retaliation is unlikely.
Secondly, doubts exist as to the competency of russian invaders to keep the plant in safe working order.
