Grain Corridor and Russian mobilization

Member of the Russian ruling party Evgeny Fedorov has prepared a bill for the State Duma, proposing to restore the Russian Empire within the borders of the former USSR. He reasoned his proposal by saying that, allegedly, various conflicts are always taking place on the territory of independent countries, formerly occupied republics.

Therefore, it would be “logical” to bring them back under Moscow’s control, even if Russia has to go to war with each of these countries.

Fedorov stated that the republics left the USSR illegally, and therefore, Russia allegedly has the right to take them back. The current invasion of Ukraine is the beginning of such a return, he believes.

I want to open this piece with Russian intent. Fedorov has said a lot of nonsense. But his statement, I am linking to Twitter, is precisely how the current government thinks. We have had Vladimir Putin say the same thing.

This is not a secret. They want the USSR and the empire back. Putin is gathering historic Russian lands back, not unlike his two heroes, Ivan the Terrible and Joseph Stalin.

Then, this came through this morning, which was very telling. For starters, the Federation continues to lose control of the Western part of the Black Sea. They have also withdrawn some ships to the east, while other vessels are damaged or sunk.

Repair facilities at Sebastopol are also effectively at half. However, Russia continues to destroy the civilian port infrastructure that could load these ships in the Danube and Odesa:

Has Kyiv’s “grain corridor” started working? The first ship to enter the “grain corridor” of Kyiv left the port of Chernomorsk.

The bulk carrier Resilient Africa, which called at the port of Chernomorsk as part of the Kyiv “grain corridor”, left the harbor with 3…