With dozens of newly deployed troops already dead and Russian troops laying the groundwork for a withdrawal from a key Ukrainian city, the Kremlin has now revealed it hopes to give its war a second wind by making ordinary Russians feel it as much as possible. .
Sergei Kirienko, the presidential government’s first deputy chief of staff, said Saturday in a speech to a national conference of teachers, declaring that the war that the Kremlin has so far stubbornly endured should become just a “special military operation.” “people’s war.”
“Russia has always won a war, if that war became a people’s war” [war]. We will surely win this war: the “hot” as well as the economic one, and the highly psychological information war being waged against us. But for that it is necessary that it is precisely a people’s war, so that every person feels his own involvement. So that everyone has the opportunity to contribute to our common victory,” Kirienko said.
His comments raised eyebrows on social media, where many noted that this appeared to be the first time the presidential government had dropped its absurd “special operation” euphemism, and others pointed out that millions of Russians had already fled the country in protest. against the war.
As Kirienko made his comments, authorities in Belgorod on the border with Ukraine revealed that they have erected concrete barriers to ostensibly protect the region from Ukrainians. And in Moscow, multiple media reports said local authorities had begun preparing air-raid shelters in schools and hospitals — perhaps a theatrical move to fuel fears of an attack in the capital.
Meanwhile, just a month after Vladimir Putin summoned tens of thousands of civilians to face death in front of him on the battlefield, at least 41 newly deployed troops have already been killed, according to a Mediazona and BBC count. Among them were some who were ineligible for conscription under the law, including a Raiffeisenbank employee named Timur Izmailov, who was apparently tricked into visiting his local military recruiting office and then died six days after being thrown on the front lines. .
Curiously, Kirienko insisted that the “main battle” for Russia right now is the “battle for youth” – an odd priority to mention, given the thousands of young people who have already been killed to perpetuate Putin’s delusional war against Ukraine. .
An unnamed Russian soldier’s phone call to his mother provided perhaps the most succinct answer to Kirienko’s vision of a “people’s war.”
“Damned bastards! This damn government pisses me off so much! They are so stupid, I am in shock,” he told her from the front lines in Ukraine, according to audio released by Ukrainian intelligence.
“This is how it will be: half the country will be imprisoned and half the country will go to war.”
After his mother tried to reassure him by predicting that Russia will soon take land from Poland, her son shot back that Russia should now be concerned about losing territory.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, with this fucking government it’s already been made clear.”
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