ARTICLE
1- Russian Charged With ‘Badmouthing’ Military After Private Call Wire-Tapped
By Brendan Cole
3/25/23 12:38 PM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/russian-wiretapped-military-vedel-1790303
Police Arrest Russians Protesting Putin’s Partial Mobilization: ‘No To War’
A Moscow police officer could face a lengthy prison term after the wiretapping of his phone revealed that he had criticized the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Sergei Vedel, who was originally from Bucha, Ukraine, the scene of alleged Russian atrocities last year, had made disparaging comments about the war in conversations with his relatives, according to an indictment that was reported on the Telegram channel of opposition politician Ilya Yashin.
He had worked as a driver for one of the chiefs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A month before the start of the war, his phone was wiretapped, which Yashin said could have been as part of an investigation into his boss or because of his Ukrainian origins.
Destroyed Russian armored vehicles line the street in the city of Bucha, west of Kyiv, on March 4, 2022. Sergei Vedel, who was originally from the city west of Kyiv, but worked in Moscow as a police officer, was charged with spreading “fakes” about Russia’s military. ARIS MESSINIS/Getty Images
It was discovered that during his phone conversations with friends last March, Vedel denied that Ukraine was run by Nazis, a stance that was one of the Kremlin’s justifications for its war.
He also said that one of the reasons for the war was a bid by Moscow to change power in Kyiv and he outlined the heavy Russian troop losses in the early days of the invasion.
In March 2022, a criminal case was opened against Vedel in connection with the public dissemination of false information about the actions of the Russian army.
Vedel’s lawyer said that a private conversation could not be considered public dissemination of information, according to Yashin and reported by independent Russian language outlets.
However, the indictment said that these views caused “a feeling of anxiety, fear and insecurity on the part of the state” in the employee who had tapped Wedel’s phone.
The prosecutor approved the charges and Vedel will appear in Moscow’s Perovsky Court on Wednesday. Yashin said that Vedel has been in jail for a year and was the first person arrested in Russia under the country’s criminal code article about “military fakes.”
As part of the measures introduced at the start of what Moscow calls the “special military operation” to crack down on dissent, tough laws were introduced.
Spreading “fakes” can result in a prison sentence of up to 15 years, while “discrediting” the army can result in a five-year term.
Yashin himself was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for opposing the invasion of Ukraine.
Yashin had been tried with spreading false information meant to discredit the Russian army after he wrote a series of posts about the murder and torture of Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops in Bucha, Vedel’s hometown.
The germans in WW1 never captured verdun, but they forced the french to defend it at all costs and bled them white.
VIDEOS
1. 30 Russians attacked position of 8 Ukrainians; surrounded Ukrainian fighters refused to surrender
Kanal13
1.5M subscribers
Mar 25, 2023 7 a.m. DST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51dLwIX4vI0
[Video Comment: The real difference between the two sides was that the defenders had heavy fire support and the attackers didn’t.
One of the first artillery/mortar rounds that came in actually almost landed in the defence trench. The fire mission thankfully did clear away the Russian attack force.
The attackers did try to suppress the trench with small arms fire, while another went through the wood. However, I couldn’t see a heavy weapon, belt fed machine gun even, to give enough suppressive fire to really pin down the defenders.
The Ukrainians have the communications and organisation for their fire support. The Russians don’t seem to. However, as a defender I would have wanted another defence trench covering this one. To defend such an isolated position is going to be dangerous, very.
This is brutal. How many have to die for Putin’s folly? The more kit and everything we can give the Ukrainians the faster this war will be over, and the killing can stop.]
2. Almost completely destroyed and mined: liberated village of Maksymivka suffered Russian occupation
UATV English
384K subscribers
Mar 25, 2023 11:00 a.m. DST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGxfvKg2iVA
The village of Maksymivka was captured at the very beginning of a full-scale war against Ukraine. Russian troops set up their advanced positions there, from where they fired on Mykolaiv and other peaceful cities. Now there are traces of invaders everywhere in the village - abandoned positions, burnt equipment and countless ammunition. What residents remember, more in the story.