Border Security may have sucked so bad in Russia, because Putin can’t trust his own people with guns. Now they may be forced to assume greater domestic risks.
ISW reports (22 Aug):
“The Russian government has previously hesitated to fully allocate federal materiel to territorial defense forces. The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) allocated military weapons and equipment to the Belgorod and Kursk territorial defense forces in August 2023, although a Kremlin-affiliated Russian milblogger claimed that Russian authorities would store the weapons in a centralized, locked location and noted that it is unclear how the territorial defense forces will be able to access the weapons in an emergency.
Bogomaz’s claim that a VDV commander is leading Bryansk Oblast’s territorial defense forces may be indicative of the Kremlin’s wider intentions to allocate better-trained, “elite” commanders to lead units comprised of poorer-trained territorial defense forces or conscripts.
ISW previously assessed that the Kremlin may have attempted to balance the need for increased border security with a desire to avoid empowering decentralized military formations following the Wagner Group’s armed rebellion in June 2023. The Kremlin may be recalculating such assessments in the wake of the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast, however, and may be more willing to allocate greater materiel and manpower support to territorial defense forces.”
A year has passed since the death of the leadership and employees of the Wagner PMC in a jet crash in the Tver region. Back then, after half past seven in the evening, when the first reports of a business jet crash came in, I never guessed who could have been on board...
On that tragic day of August 23, the following died:
- Evgeny “First” Prigozhin
- Dmitry “Wagner” Utkin
- Valery “Rover” Chekalov
- Evgeny “Makar” Makaryan
- Sergey “Kedr” Propustin
- Alexander “Tot” Totmin
- Nikolay Matuseyev
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Among the crew, commander Alexey Levshin, second pilot Rustam Karimov and flight attendant Kristina Raspopova died.
What about the results of the investigation?
https://t.me/s/wagner_group2022
On August 24, a motor rally will be held in Kaliningrad dedicated to the memory of Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin and Dmitry Valerievich Utkin, who tragically passed away on August 23, 2023, and whose death we do not want to believe... These outstanding people were true patriots who dedicated their lives to protecting the interests of Russia and serving the Russian people.
The event is aimed at perpetuating the memory of those who made a significant contribution to the prosperity of our country. Gather at the parking lot near Rostec Arena, opposite the Autodrom, where the route will begin. We will visit the monument to the Internationalist Soldiers in Gvardeysk and the Church of St. John the Baptist. Then we will go to Polessk to the monument to the Veterans of Local Wars and finish the motor rally at the Mound of Glory in the village of Medvedevka. Laying flowers at all stages of the stops in these settlements is optional!