Free Republic

Soldiers in Russia’s newly formed 3rd Army Corps fighting in Ukraine are often drunk, plagued by low morale and forced to use obsolete weapons on the battlefield, according to the Ukrainian military. The Kremlin cobbled together the formation in June to replace the tens of thousands of troops killed or injured since the start of the invasion in February. It is composed of several brigades totaling some 15,000 mostly volunteer soldiers equipped with hundreds of tanks, Newsweek reported. But according to an update from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Monday, Russia’s five-month-old unit is facing...

"I would not be interested in becoming Russia's president if my country was developing normally..."  It did come as a surprise last December, when Vladimir Putin suddenly signed an early release for Mikhail Khodorvkovsky, who was the richest man in Russia ($15B) when he was jailed for 'tax evasion' (read: challenged Putin) in 2003... Hard to tell for sure what the thought process was there -perhaps feeling strong and aiming to soften his image a bit- but Putin at the time explained 'Ten years in prison is a serious punishment' and signed the form that freed Khodorkovsky from a decade of harsh detention....