NPR

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy announced that Ukrainian forces have used a new weapon system called “Palyanytsya”, a missile-drone. It is possible that this new weapon struck the ammunition warehouse in Voronezh region last night, instead of the Neptun missile. The target is more than 110km from the Ukrainian border.

The specifics of the new weapon are not disclosed, but my guess is that it is a drone propelled by a jet engine.

Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov has been arrested by French police at an airport north of Paris.

Mr Durov was detained after his private jet had landed at Le Bourget Airport, French media reported. According to officials the 39-year-old billionaire was arrested under a warrant for offences related to the popular messaging app. The investigation is reportedly about a lack of moderators, with Mr Durov accused of failing to take steps to curb criminal uses of Telegram.

Mr Durov was born in Russia and lives in Dubai. He holds dual citizenship of the United Arab Emirates and France. Telegram is particularly popular in Russia, Ukraine and former Soviet Union states.

The app was banned in Russia in 2018, after a previous refusal by Mr Durov to hand over user data. But the ban was reversed in 2021. Telegram is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Wechat.

Mr Durov founded Telegram in 2013 and he left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VKontakte social media platform, which he sold.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova posted on Telegram asking whether Western human rights NGOs would be silent on Mr Durov's arrest, after they criticised Russia’s decision to “create obstacles” to the work of Telegram in Russia in 2018.

Several Russian officials have condemned the businessman's arrest.

X owner Elon Musk, who has faced extensive criticism over moderation and material hosted by his own social media site, posted repeatedly about the situation. He hashtagged one post #freepavel, and in another wrote: "POV: It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg2kz9kn93o

tabascoboy wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2024 1:35 pm And further to the above, it's created a little panic

Hellraiser wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2024 2:01 pm I've seen some speculation that he had tried to lobby Putin in Azerbaijan for his continued safety and failed, and Plan B was to fly to France, where there was an outstanding warrant for him, and be "arrested" as a plausible cover for defecting. It does make a certain amount of sense given he would have known entering France would result in his arrest.

tabascoboy wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2024 7:48 am Tangential to the thread, but Telegram is used very much as a communication and information platform and source in Russia and Ukraine. It's alleged to be a potential source of data that would be extremely useful in investigating criminal activities and evasions of sanctions, but at the same time was also used by opposition parties in Russia with Durov refusing to provide data to the RU government leading to him fleeing Russia.

Plenty of vague rumours that Durov had to cut a deal with RU government to ensure his personal safety, but he has always been publicly vocal about maintaining absolute user privacy.

Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov has been arrested by French police at an airport north of Paris.

Mr Durov was detained after his private jet had landed at Le Bourget Airport, French media reported. According to officials the 39-year-old billionaire was arrested under a warrant for offences related to the popular messaging app. The investigation is reportedly about a lack of moderators, with Mr Durov accused of failing to take steps to curb criminal uses of Telegram.

Mr Durov was born in Russia and lives in Dubai. He holds dual citizenship of the United Arab Emirates and France. Telegram is particularly popular in Russia, Ukraine and former Soviet Union states.

The app was banned in Russia in 2018, after a previous refusal by Mr Durov to hand over user data. But the ban was reversed in 2021. Telegram is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Wechat.

Mr Durov founded Telegram in 2013 and he left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VKontakte social media platform, which he sold.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova posted on Telegram asking whether Western human rights NGOs would be silent on Mr Durov's arrest, after they criticised Russia’s decision to “create obstacles” to the work of Telegram in Russia in 2018.

Several Russian officials have condemned the businessman's arrest.

X owner Elon Musk, who has faced extensive criticism over moderation and material hosted by his own social media site, posted repeatedly about the situation. He hashtagged one post #freepavel, and in another wrote: "POV: It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg2kz9kn93o

As I'd predicted, Pavel Durov is clearly being charged under Article 323-3-2 of France's Criminal Code, which provides for the 10 year jail sentence and €500,000 fine cited in this press release.
...
The Telegram founder has been placed under judicial supervision and is banned from leaving France. He must pay bail of five million euros, the Paris prosecutor's office reports.

Durov is charged under six articles, including administering an online platform for the purpose of making illegal transactions. He must appear at the police station twice a week.

Russians are noticing the rather "suspiciously" fast retreat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Donbas and think that something is up with that, given the availability of at least some reserves for the Ukrainians that are not being deployed.

“A Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet was destroyed in a crash on Monday, according to a U.S. official, just weeks after the first of the American-made aircraft arrived in Ukraine.”

1/ Moscow police are to be paid a 50,000 ruble ($558) bounty for each person they 'persuade' to sign up for military service, including immigrants and homeless people. The initiative will create more incentives for corruption for Russia's already notoriously corrupt police.

Dmitry Medvedev shared an elaborate post (which took him nearly a week to craft), where he lays out the reasons behind Russia's ruthless tactics in seizing Donbas, even if it means levelling cities and sacrificing hundreds of thousands lives.

According to him, Donbas holds mineral resources valued at $7.3 trillion, a sum that, in Putin's eyes, justifies the loss of a few hundred thousand Russian lives (multiplied by 5 million rubles of payments per corpse, that's still nothing).

For the past decade, the Russian people have been laboring under the Kremlin's control, eager to exploit this valuable resource. Meanwhile, Ukrainians continue to fight valiantly, refusing to surrender their land to the murderous thieves and plunderers.

laurent wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 12:53 pm Look out for crazy ranting against France soon as Serbia just bought a dozen Rafale (avoiding soukhoi and mig junkpiles)

fishfoodie wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 5:50 pm

laurent wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 12:53 pm Look out for crazy ranting against France soon as Serbia just bought a dozen Rafale (avoiding soukhoi and mig junkpiles)

Could they even buy them even if they wanted Orc fighters ?

I mean I've heard that India has had orders cancelled, or at least delayed to the point where its' the same thing, & I doubt they can get spares for love or money.

laurent wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 8:37 pm

fishfoodie wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 5:50 pm

laurent wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 12:53 pm Look out for crazy ranting against France soon as Serbia just bought a dozen Rafale (avoiding soukhoi and mig junkpiles)

Could they even buy them even if they wanted Orc fighters ?

I mean I've heard that India has had orders cancelled, or at least delayed to the point where its' the same thing, & I doubt they can get spares for love or money.

Rafale is a lot more expensive than a Sukhoi35
India deliveries are for air defence and tanks which Russia is burning up.
India is not buying aircrafts from Russia right now (they assemble the Su 30mkI )
Russians are not losing aircraft in great quantities and what they are losing is SU 25 / 34 for the most part

fishfoodie wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 9:10 pm w

laurent wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 8:37 pm

fishfoodie wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 5:50 pm

Could they even buy them even if they wanted Orc fighters ?

I mean I've heard that India has had orders cancelled, or at least delayed to the point where its' the same thing, & I doubt they can get spares for love or money.

Rafale is a lot more expensive than a Sukhoi35
India deliveries are for air defence and tanks which Russia is burning up.
India is not buying aircrafts from Russia right now (they assemble the Su 30mkI )
Russians are not losing aircraft in great quantities and what they are losing is SU 25 / 34 for the most part

Well I take your point, but they aren't losing fighters, because they aren't putting them over the forward battle area, & they aren't doing that because they know they'll do as well against NATO AA systems, as their tanks do, & that'll crater their exports !!

The ground attack guys are the tip of the spear for Russia, & as brave as they are, they're fucked by their equipment, so it doesn't matter. I imagine that any aircraft production they have they prioritise the CAS stuff, but that doesn't matter when the key component is the meat holding the joystick, & it takes years to train one of them.

I'd like to think the US & UK will learn the lesson, & cut out the insane idea that they don't need an A-10++ for CAS, & they can just pretend that the fast guys can do it, was well as every other role, so they should get the entire budget. It's the same idiotic mistake the UK made with their Carriers; piss away all the money on two, or one & a half floating island & air wings, & ignore the boring shit like escorts, working submarines, oilers, & crew for all of the above.

laurent wrote: Sat Aug 31, 2024 9:57 am

fishfoodie wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 9:10 pm w

laurent wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 8:37 pm

Rafale is a lot more expensive than a Sukhoi35
India deliveries are for air defence and tanks which Russia is burning up.
India is not buying aircrafts from Russia right now (they assemble the Su 30mkI )
Russians are not losing aircraft in great quantities and what they are losing is SU 25 / 34 for the most part

Well I take your point, but they aren't losing fighters, because they aren't putting them over the forward battle area, & they aren't doing that because they know they'll do as well against NATO AA systems, as their tanks do, & that'll crater their exports !!

The ground attack guys are the tip of the spear for Russia, & as brave as they are, they're fucked by their equipment, so it doesn't matter. I imagine that any aircraft production they have they prioritise the CAS stuff, but that doesn't matter when the key component is the meat holding the joystick, & it takes years to train one of them.

I'd like to think the US & UK will learn the lesson, & cut out the insane idea that they don't need an A-10++ for CAS, & they can just pretend that the fast guys can do it, was well as every other role, so they should get the entire budget. It's the same idiotic mistake the UK made with their Carriers; piss away all the money on two, or one & a half floating island & air wings, & ignore the boring shit like escorts, working submarines, oilers, & crew for all of the above.

I agree on the fighter their setup was hardly modernised. Their main client is India that have their own armament / radar (in collaboration with Israel and likely France).

The UK carrier was a silly decision as it tied you to the US for aircraft's to start with. (and the worse version of the F35 on top)
All stems from making the Eurofighter a heavy interceptor.

But then admitting the French were right is not British

This is how we can manage to spend significantly more on Defence than – for example – France, and yet France is more powerful than us in almost every area.

Hellraiser wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2024 10:27 pm The A-10 is an obsolete platform that is only effective in an air superiority situation, and was designed in an era when MANPADs weren't a thing and SAMs were primitive by modern standards. Notwithstanding that practically every NATO multi-role fighter can do CAS, and modern attack helicopters are specifically designed for it.

Margin__Walker wrote: Sat Aug 31, 2024 9:40 pm Surely more likely drones do CAS now to all intents and purposes in conflicts like this. Loitering low and slow over any contested airspace in manned rotary or fixed wing is likely to be prohibitively dicey on anything even slightly resembling a peer on peer.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Mongolia next week, the Kremlin announced Thursday, marking his first trip to a country that is legally obligated to arrest and hand him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

inactionman wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 10:01 am

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Mongolia next week, the Kremlin announced Thursday, marking his first trip to a country that is legally obligated to arrest and hand him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Yeah, can't quite see that happening, although I am wondering what the consequences might be if it did

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/08/ ... ant-a86197

inactionman wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 11:59 am This looks utterly terrifying - the Ukrainians have developed a drone that sprays thermite or something similar.



I had it in my head that these sorts of weapons were illegal?

laurent wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 12:35 pm

inactionman wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 11:59 am This looks utterly terrifying - the Ukrainians have developed a drone that sprays thermite or something similar.



I had it in my head that these sorts of weapons were illegal?

The Russian use the TOS1 and some personal rocket type that would do similar damage.

The use of these weapons is forbidden on civilian areas (Israel and Russia don't care) .

The edge here is not likely civilian area so they are clear...

Frankly horrendous weapons.

inactionman wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 11:59 amI had it in my head that these sorts of weapons were illegal?

Hellraiser wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 2:24 pm

inactionman wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 11:59 amI had it in my head that these sorts of weapons were illegal?

Nope, they fall within Protocol III of the Geneva Convention.

Top Russian physicist jailed for 15 years for ‘state treason’

Sentencing of Alexander Shiplyuk is latest prison term for scientists working on military programmes

inactionman wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2024 1:34 pm

Top Russian physicist jailed for 15 years for ‘state treason’

Sentencing of Alexander Shiplyuk is latest prison term for scientists working on military programmes

https://www.theguardian.com/world/artic ... te-treason

I'm lost with this - assuming that the charges are nonsense, what exactly is the Russian state benefiting from this?

He's not the first, and banging up eminent scientists doesn't seem to be a good way of addressing a brain drain, and not sure it'll exactly encourager les autres if he's banged up for just doing what scientists do - including, presumably, failing or missing targets on certain wonder weapon development projects.

Or has he simply criticised or gone against the wrong person?

Hellraiser wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2024 5:57 pm

inactionman wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2024 1:34 pm

Top Russian physicist jailed for 15 years for ‘state treason’

Sentencing of Alexander Shiplyuk is latest prison term for scientists working on military programmes

https://www.theguardian.com/world/artic ... te-treason

I'm lost with this - assuming that the charges are nonsense, what exactly is the Russian state benefiting from this?

He's not the first, and banging up eminent scientists doesn't seem to be a good way of addressing a brain drain, and not sure it'll exactly encourager les autres if he's banged up for just doing what scientists do - including, presumably, failing or missing targets on certain wonder weapon development projects.

Or has he simply criticised or gone against the wrong person?

They are punishing scientists for lying about the capabilities of the Kinzhal hypersonic missile. They can't publicly come out and admit that their weapons tech is shit, so they come up with baseless espionage charges to explain why a 1980s SAM system can shoot down a 2010s wunderwaffe with relative ease.

inactionman wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2024 7:02 pm

Hellraiser wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2024 5:57 pm

inactionman wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2024 1:34 pm

https://www.theguardian.com/world/artic ... te-treason

I'm lost with this - assuming that the charges are nonsense, what exactly is the Russian state benefiting from this?

He's not the first, and banging up eminent scientists doesn't seem to be a good way of addressing a brain drain, and not sure it'll exactly encourager les autres if he's banged up for just doing what scientists do - including, presumably, failing or missing targets on certain wonder weapon development projects.

Or has he simply criticised or gone against the wrong person?

They are punishing scientists for lying about the capabilities of the Kinzhal hypersonic missile. They can't publicly come out and admit that their weapons tech is shit, so they come up with baseless espionage charges to explain why a 1980s SAM system can shoot down a 2010s wunderwaffe with relative ease.

It all seems a bit shortsighted and self defeating to me, but this is Russia we're talking about and I don't think anyone minds seeing them self destruct.

In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the Kremlin’s funding of Tennessee-based media company TENET Media. TENET Media is best-known for their promotion of Russian narratives and for strong support for Donald Trump in the upcoming 2024 US elections.

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