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This is a win for everyone - except RuZZia.

“Biden Administration to Ask Congress to Approve F-16 Sale to Turkey”

“The deal depends on Ankara’s signoff to NATO expansion, administration officials say, and comes alongside an F-35 sale to Greece”

“The Biden administration is preparing to seek congressional approval for a $20 billion sale of new F-16 jet fighters to Turkey along with a separate sale of next-generation F-35 warplanes to Greece, in what would be among the largest foreign weapons sales in recent years, according to U.S. officials.

Administration officials intend the prospect of the sale to prod Turkey to sign off on Finland and Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Ankara has blocked over objections to their ties to Kurdish separatist groups. Congress’s approval of the sale is contingent on Turkey’s acquiescence, administration officials said. The two countries ended decades of neutrality when they decided to join NATO last year in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The sale to Turkey, which the administration has been considering for more than a year, is larger than expected. It includes 40 new aircraft and kits to overhaul 79 of Turkey’s existing F-16 fleet, according to officials familiar with the proposals.

Congressional notification of the deal will roughly coincide with a visit to Washington next week by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The sale to Turkey also includes more than 900 air-to-air missiles and 800 bombs, one of the officials said.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-administration-to-ask-congress-to-approve-f-16-sale-to-turkey-11673630059?mod=hp_lead_pos6

Reports that Russia was using blocking troops (Russian, not Chechen) at the rear of the Wagner meat to force the Soledar advance by Prigozhin’s convict army.

Great to see that this long running tradition is still enforced.

In the Red Army of the RSFSR and the Soviet Union the concept of barrier troops first arose in August 1918 with the formation of the заградительные отряды (zagraditelnye otriady), translated as "blocking troops" or "anti-retreat detachments".

The initial barrier troops comprised personnel drawn from Cheka punitive detachments or from regular Red Army infantry regiments.

I would guess that the barrier troops must score high on rifle marksmanship and be awarded their marksmanship badge.

“Reports that Wagner lost more than 30% of their army in the past week in the area (Soledar).”

I thought that Wagner had about 50K personnel (about 40K convicts), so 30% in a week would be about 2,000 per day. 500 killed and 1,500 wounded per day for a week would be within the realm of the possible.

Russia’s total prison population is about a half million, but that includes, juveniles, women, pre-trial confinement, etc.. I’d guess the core long term convict population they might recruit from, would be around 100-300K. With 40K already taken, and massive death rates among them, it will be interesting to see how many more they can recruit, or if they have already tapped out that resource.