Exactly 26 years ago, NATO war planes commenced 78 days of terror against Yugoslavia, deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure and population centers. By the end, the “arsenal of democracy” had killed an estimated 3.5 to 4 thousand people.
The largest geopolitical impact of the bombing campaign would not be felt in western circles until more than two decades later; the alleged sanctity of national borders was broken. After NATO itself had used force to redraw a sovereign country’s borders, no honest argument remained for why others could not do this.
Military Developments
Yesterday Marines from the Northern Fleet launched Grad MLRS rockets against Ukrainian concentrations of personnel and equipment in the Kherson region.
The Ministry of Defense also released footage of soldiers from Army groups East and Center performing drills in a training complex in the rear of the SVO zone.
In the Kursk region, paratroopers from the Tula Guards Division evacuated captured enemy vehicles, including an American M2 Bradley.
Drone Warfare
Last night Russian anti-air defenses shot down a Ukrainian UAV seven kilometers from the Kropotkinskaya CPC oil pumping station in the Krasnodar Krai region. Such attacks are contrary to Zelensky’s agreement to not target Russian energy infrastructure. Despite this, Russia refrains from retaliating against Ukrainian energy targets.
The Ministry of Defense reported downing 28 incoming UAVs during arial attacks against the Belgorod, Rostov and Voronezh regions.
American-supplied HIMARS are also allegedly used in attacks against Russian energy infrastructure.
Crime and Punishment
State Duma deputy and member of the commission for investigating foreign interference Oleg Matveichev has asked the General Prosecutor to investigate Russian citizens who illegally entered Ukrainian-occupied territory during their attack into the Kursk region.
The FSB has arrested an employee of one of the government’s central supervisory authorities on charges of providing Ukraine information concerning Russia’s defenses of industrial and energy infrastructure as well as the location of military assets.
Today social media channels shared footage of the assassination of Ukrainian neo-nazi Demyan Hanul in Odessa on March 13. Hanul was infamous for his participation in the Trade Union Hall massacre (see my article about that here) and deeply hated by the local population for his vigilante violence against citizens who avoided or otherwise obstructed the regime’s conscription gangs.
Diplomacy
As I reported yesterday, the American and Russian delegations met in Riyadh today for talks, which the Russian side referred to as” “creative.” Trump’s State Department has declared that the lack of communication under Biden makes no sense and contact is necessary.
President Putin is preparing for an upcoming telephone phone conversation with the president of the UAE. Putin plans to convey some of the discussion points from the Riyadh meeting.
Economics
The Russian government has allocated more than 9.5 billion rubles for the repair and construction of water cleaning plants near Lake Baikal over the next three years.
Russian internet users complain of slow speeds in messenger apps, the Steam and Wildberries stores, and some bank and mobile phone operators. Roskomnadzor told RT that this is due to company’s continuing reliance on foreign infrastructure.
SU-25 Crashes
An SU-25 has crashed in the Primorsky Krai region in the far East while on a training flight due to what is described as a technical malfunction. The plane reportedly carrying no ammunition, and there were no casualties or damage to property on the ground. The pilot ejected prior to the crash and is unharmed.
Snow Isn’t Over, It’s Only Mid-March
The city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky has had more than 70mm of precipitation so far in March, which is 64% above the norm.
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Thanks for your report. I'm glad you're branching out on as many platforms as possible. I'm a big fan of Substack.