Belgorod and Refineries, with a Side of Elections

“The Kyiv regime is trying to carry out a number of criminal actions by striking at civilian settlements in Russia. These enemy strikes shall not remain unpunished”, a visibly angry Putin tells Russia’s security council — Sky News

First, let me focus on the operation inside Russia by Russian formations based in Ukraine. This post from Yigal Levin made me wonder if the forces are larger than we can estimate from open sources.

There is a severe uptick in operations in Belgorod. But what caught my virtual ear was Vladimir Putin admitting to them:

The effectiveness of the RDK/LSR/SB operation (and more, but more on that below) on the territory of the Russian Federation is indicated, at a minimum, by the fact that Putin personally mentioned them. He usually pretends that nothing is happening and publicly comments only on those events that are truly alarming. And given that the cockroach lives in the GB-ist realities of reports in folders, these events are not considered by Moscow as something local and they are reported to grandfather about them.

Yes, in such operations, 80% of what is published online is either IPSO or canned goods. But…