Vladimir Putin is fearful the return of his convict army could destabilise Russian society, sources say
Russia's 180,000 convict soldiers are causing concern for Putin
Who could have forseen this?
Good. He can end all of this with one sentence. However, the consequences will be felt in Russia for a generation to come, that 1.5 million he sent to be killed will be missed.
Not only in Russia, unfortunately. Irreversible damage has been done to Ukraine, and of the reversible not much will ever be reversed I fear.
At least Ukraine can show that some positives have come out of the war for them, too. Their bonds with Europe have strengthened, their national identity has been forged in fire. I'm not saying it wouldn't have been awesome if the war had never happened, or that it was a net benefit, but at least they are coming out of this with some real tangible benefits in addition to the tragic losses.
Russia gets nothing and loses everything.
Good. I hope he dies slowly.
Wait, are there any convicts left? The have casualties in the tens of thounds per month, I would have guessed they were the prefered ones...
The have casualties in the tens of thounds per month
It's been a joke for years now that if Ukrainian kill counts were accurate, they'd have decimated the entire Russian army multiple times by now. Russian media has made similar claims of Ukrainian armed forces.
Both national media are doing the Vietnam Kill Count rhetoric to say they're winning a fully Pyrrich War.
Jep, except according to their own recruitment claims (which are naturally also off), they either have casualties in the 10s per month, or much more troops in Ukraine than anyone can cofirm.
Convicts are already hardened in the art of survival
I thought the point was to get them killed as fodder before they could return home.
They maybe get a few Ukrainian kills in, and no longer have to pay to incarcerate a person.
They can't even get that right?
Oh no, my army of criminals survived the war I sent them to fight and expects me to allow them to reintegrate into society
Ukraine can help him solving that problem.
Societal debt brought on by prolonged authoritarianism.
Smart man
Smart
Not the adjective I would choose. He has good reason to be fearful - both personally and for his country, which makes it personal again. That has nothing to do with intelligence, it's a lizard brain thing.
It also isn't like he had a wise premonition here; many convicts already returned and they are already "destabilising society".
Yeah, more like "brief moment of self awareness"
Whole lot of military aged men coming back with experiences of being abandoned, left to die, ordered to die and seeing through the veil.. Enjoy
I just watched this episode of DS9
Everyone here jumps on the band wagon, but seriously, 500 is nothing. It will do absolutely nothing. He could not care less.
The 500 number is the number of victims from returning soldiers as of October 2024, not the total number of incarcerated soldiers in service as your comment implies.
Yes, but that is nothing. They loose 1000 soldiers every single day. Why should they care about a few (Russian) victims per month extra? Putin does not fear that at all. It is so irrelevant he might not even know about it to begin with. Let alone destabilizing the whole society, that is pure nonsense.
Putler dead within 6 months. You heard it here first.
I've been hearing that for a lot longer than 6 months.
He was overheard on a mic with president Xi telling him about organ transplants to prolong life.
He probably just shoots himself in the head. Or Mossad 2.o gets him. Or the ulcer. Or the Botox from his fluffy little cheeks seeps into his brain. Or the windows.. darn Russian windows
I would like to know more
Broskys about to stroke out from the stress. His own body will kill him if not someone else. When you're responsible for a cumulative 1.5-2.5 million deaths, you're not a person people are sad to let go.
Economy tanking, losing the battle, 1.5 million dead Russians, he's not the mafia-fluencer he was in his youth. Lavrov is a fat slob, dude can't even stop his own drooling.
Modern warfare is entirely non beneficial to huge land masses. Try playing air defense swap-a-roo when the next missile or drone is 1k km away.
Also if Europe decides to ram his ass, they will, that will be his excuse to wind down the war, but to get to that tipping point, is so stress inducing, no amount of drugs will help. The drugs induce a spiral.
One Friedman Unit is equal to six months, specifically the "next six months", a period repeatedly declared by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman to be the most critical of the then-ongoing Iraq War
SOURCES SAY!
The only thing that he's actually good at is having powerful propaganda machinery that would have left Brezhnev deeply envious of.
Otherwise and outwardly, he looks unfazed at some military setbacks, but he still have legions of Black Hundred fanatics having bought the concept of Russia as the center of the world.
thought and prayer
The cost of war:
10X-15X the battlefield deaths occur after the war is over. When the well cared for soldiers come home in a proper mental state. 10 times! Sustainable?
But Russia didn't have a surplus of men
Hudson and Den Boer trace the rise in offspring sex selection in China and India that has resulted in a "surplus" of young men. They argue that such surpluses of men increase the potential for internal and external violence, while diminishing the prospects for democracy. This phenomenon could destabilize the two countries, the region, and beyond.
This was written in 2002. Seems like the pretictive power of the theory isn't too strong.
Who could have predicted the risks of having an army of murder-rapists with PTSD? /s
And military training!
Such as it is
Pre war or post war? Probably both.