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1/ Leading Russian political figures have called for Russia to invade Montenegro and take Westerners hostage, following the arrest there of warblogger Mikhail Zvinchuk. Meanwhile, other Russian warbloggers are calling him an idiot and a potential foreign agent and defector. ⬇️

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1/ Russian warblogger Mikhail 'Rybar' Zvinchuk and his team have reportedly been released from detention and expelled from Montenegro following their arrest near Kotor this morning. They will not face extradition or criminal charges. ⬇️

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1/ The arrest in Montenegro of Russia's leading warblogger, Mikhail Zvinchuk, is causing shock in Russia. He and his wife potentially face 15 years' imprisonment if they are extradited to the US after an operation said to have involved the US National Security Agency. ⬇️

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1/ Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centres have started a "data centre war" for which Russia is ill-prepared, argues a Russian warblogger. He forecasts a disastrous collapse of Russia's digital economy if Ukraine's retaliatory attacks on Russian data centres continue. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

1/ What do Russians actually want from life? Despite endless state propaganda about Russia's glorious future, recent opinion research shows that hardly anyone is concerned about the country's prosperity, and only want to preserve their current security and stability. ⬇️

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1/ A video of a Russian soldier catching a flying drone and throwing it away is being denounced by Russian warbloggers as a particularly stupid fake that will get their own soldiers killed. One tells the video's author: "I hope you get fucked for it". ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/thew...

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

1/ Russian presidential aide Nikolai Patrushev's recent claim that Russia could defeat Poland in "two or three days" is being ridiculed as "nonsense and lies" by the jailed Russian nationalist Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin. He warns Russians not to underestimate the Polish military. ⬇️

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Mezentine @mezentine.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Okay so Male Fantasies is a 1977 book written by Klaus Theweleit, a sociologist who grew up in post-war Germany grappling with the male culture of his parents and grandparents, essentially, and how it led to the Freikorps and eventually the Nazis.

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

1/ While attention has been focused on the elimination of the Russian salient north of Liman, Russian warbloggers are reporting an increasing number of setbacks for their forces elsewhere in Ukraine. "Autumn will bring many unpleasant surprises," one predicts gloomily. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

1/ Russia has experienced a huge increase in corruption cases over the last five years, with over 50,000 cases being heard in that time, 3 trillion rubles ($35 billion) in stolen assets being recovered, and a 500% increase in the number of top officials being arrested. ⬇️

Former Kursk Region Governor Alexei Smirnov on trial, 2 April 2026

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

1/ A Russian developer is proposing the use of World War II-style barrage balloons to protect installations from Ukrainian drone strikes. Russian warbloggers warn, however, that it's an expensive and so far unfunded solution that currently lacks state support. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

1/ The recent announcement of a new US armed forces autonomous systems combatant command has gone largely unremarked in Russia. However, Russian warblogger Yury Baranchik warns that it's a very significant development that Russia shouldn't ignore. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/atru...

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1/ Compensation payments to families of fallen Russian soldiers have fallen precipitously, by as much as 95% in some regions. It appears to be part of an ongoing trend, caused by budget shortfalls, of less and less value being placed on Russia's war dead. ⬇️

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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 06/10/2026

1/ A reported plague case in Irkutsk has benefited one group in Russia: sellers of plague doctor masks, who are reporting a 500% increase in sales. With the Russian government still tight-lipped about the case, plague doctor videos are the latest craze on Russian social media. ⬇️

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Free newsletter: Outside of major hyperscaler backstops, I estimate that Anthropic and OpenAI would get a speculative B or CCC credit rating, which would be insufficient for the $50bn-$100bn a year they need, in an era of historically high interest rates. www.wheresyoured.at/credit-crunch/

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1/ Russia is concerned about outbreaks of plague and other infectious diseases in the United States and is ready to assist the US in combating them, according to its national health agency. The initiative is an obvious act of trolling following reports of plague in Irkutsk. ⬇️

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1/ How easy is it to destroy a major bridge solely with aerial bombardment? Both Russia and Ukraine have attempted it, but the example of the Zatoka Bridge shows that it is very difficult to do. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

1/ How do Russian stormtroopers cope with the psychological pressure of carrying out deadly assaults? An account from one soldier describes how they tell themselves it won't happen to them, even as they step over dozens of bodies of their predecessors. ⬇️

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1/ Moscow has reportedly been put on plague alert as part of a 'special sanitary operation', while hospitals in Irkutsk have been closed and medical staff put under lockdown. Indiscriminate Russian government censorship is leading to a wave of panicked rumours and criticism. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

1/ In the coverage of far-right activist Danny Tommo's detention after slashing a migrant dinghy in the Channel, an important point seems to have been widely overlooked: he allegedly committed another crime *after* being arrested, which could result in 12 years in jail. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

1/ Humiliating scenes of Russian surrendering en masse to Ukrainian forces in the Lyman salient are continuing to produce recriminations among Russian warbloggers. One lays the blame on a "rigged" military hierarchy dominated by incompetent "sycophants and lackeys". ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

1/ Ukraine's A1 Artificial Intelligence Centre has developed, with UK support, a new AI platform called SPECTR AI to greatly reduce the time taken to detect and engage Russian targets. A Russian analysis highlights its capabilities and the threat it poses to Russian forces. ⬇️

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1/ Russia's double attack on a major Kyiv bridge today marks a significant change in Russian tactics, reportedly aided by a new cumulative warhead for the Geran drone which has been designed to damage bridge supports. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/maks...

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1/ Russia's surviving mobilised soldiers – many of whom have been serving without a break for four years – are completely exhausted, says one. With no respite in sight, severe injury or death are the only ways out. ⬇️

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1/ What does it take to become 'meat' in the Russian army? The bottom line, observes one Russian warblogger, is that anyone can become a disposable assault trooper for use in a suicidal attack – it just depends on your commander's attitude and who you might have annoyed. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

1/ Hundreds of Russian soldiers near Lyman surrendered because they were starving and drinking their own urine, according to first-hand accounts from frontline soldiers. The officers are said to have taken the radios and ran away, while ordering the men not to retreat. ⬇️

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1/ Four years after Russia's September 2022 mobilisation, the Russian warblogger 'Vault No. 8' – one of those mobilised – is looking back at how the 'mobiks' were used. Many were slaughtered as "meat", he says, comparing them to Warhammer 40K's much-abused Imperial Guard. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

1/ A few weeks after sacred relics of St. Dmitry Donskoy were 'rediscovered' and paraded in occupied regions of Ukraine to boost Russian troops' morale, the Russian Army has reportedly lost them. This comes just over 4 years after the Russian Navy lost the True Cross of Jesus. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

1/ Ukraine's drone strike campaign has been partly responsible for cutting Russia's oil and gas revenues by 18%, leading to a shortfall of 1.6 trillion rubles ($19 billion) in the Russian treasury. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/noel...

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Vladimir Putin has signed a decree increasing the size of the Russian armed forces by 15,500 personnel. Although it's not a huge increase, it's the fourth one in only a year, and represents a form of "creeping mobilisation" according to Russian commentators. ⬇️

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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 29/09/2026

1/ Another AI-generated video falsely depicting Russian 'control' north of Lyman has been publicised by disgusted Russian warbloggers. It's part of a "plague" of AI "neurocontrol" that prominent warblogger Rybar condemns as "inept, half-baked information warfare". ⬇️

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Free newsletter: When will the AI bubble burst? When the money runs out. Raising debt for AI data centers is becoming untenable, infrastructure break-even points keep getting further away, and many of VC's AI investments look like dead money. www.wheresyoured.at/dead-money/

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1/ Russia won't invade Europe because it's too weak to do so, says the imprisoned Igor 'Strelkov' Girkin. He dismisses talk of a Russian attack on the Baltic states or elsewhere, pointing out that Russia can't even defeat Ukraine after four and a half years of war. ⬇️

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1/ China is displacing Russia as a supplier of military equipment to Central Asia. With Russia's own military-industrial complex under sanctions and with heavy domestic demand due to the Ukraine war, China is now ideally situated to replace Russian defence exports. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

1/ Russian commanders have been sending their superiors fake AI-generated video reports of successes in the Lyman area, Russian warbloggers complain. This reportedly made the Russian high command oblivious to Ukrainian activity until it was too late. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/noel...

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1/ Russian warbloggers are angry at pictures of large numbers of Russian POWs captured near Lyman, which they see as a humiliation. They demand – almost certainly futilely – that the Russian government should be more honest about what is happening at the front. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/ukra...

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 24/07/2026

As *tech*, AI isn't exceptional. It's not exceptionally wicked. It's not exceptionally good. Take away the accompanying, galactic-scale stock-swindle, and we'd call AI's apps "plug-ins" and we'd use them and abuse them in the same way that we've used every other technology: www.normaltech.ai 1/

A carny barker waving his top-hat and selling tickets from a roll; his head has been replaced with the hostile red eye of HAL9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' The background is a magnified, halftoned detail from a US$100 bill.

Image:
Cryteria (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

1/ Ukraine has taken a reported 250 Russian prisoners and claims to have killed 2,000 more Russians in its ongoing Operation Vivaldi near Lyman. A Russian warblogger says that Ukraine has overturned Russian assumptions about its capabilities. ⬇️

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ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

1/ Russia faces a long, difficult fight even if it succeeds in taking the Donbas 'fortress belt' cities, warns a Russian warblogger, citing frontline soldiers' views. The fight for the fortress belt only marks a phase in the battle, not the culmination of the war. ⬇️

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1/ The strange appearance and disappearance of a RIA Novosti article threatening a Russian invasion of Lithuania has prompted comments from Russian bloggers. They suggest that the affair indicates the limits of the Russian government's desire to threaten its NATO neighbours. ⬇️

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1/ What is the fate of Russian soldiers who infiltrate Ukrainian-held territory, either alone or in groups of two or three? A frank commentary from a frontline Russian warblogger says they are usually killed, captured, or desert to save their lives. ⬇️

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1/ Russian forces in the Lyman area have fallen back to a line along the Zherebets river according to Russian warbloggers, with fighting ongoing in areas of the formerly Russian-held salient. They warn that Ukraine's counteroffensive is now working towards crossing the river. ⬇️

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1/ Russia cannot explain what the war in Ukraine is for, complains a prominent Russian warblogger. Anastasia Kashevarova says that the idea of a 'Russian world' is an empty shell without a governing ideology that would appeal to others as a model. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/kaja...

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1/ Russia has the United States over a (diesel) barrel, says Russian analyst Igor Dimitriev. He says that the Kremlin is telling the West that "if you don't hand Ukraine over to us, a global [fuel] crisis will erupt that you won't be able to dig yourselves out of". ⬇️

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1/ The Russian government's efforts to strangle social media are having a significant financial effect on Russian warbloggers. As well as crushing fundraisers to support soldiers in the field, it's also threatening the financial survival of some Telegram channels. ⬇️

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1/ Russian courts currently acquit 0.24% of defendants. The Russian government evidently believes this is too high, and is planning to effectively eliminate jury trials, which provide most of the acquittals. Lawyers are calling it "the death of the jury system." ⬇️

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