war in Ukraine
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Files on the Ukraine-Russia WarThe spectacular incursion by anti-Putin militants into the Belgorod region this week has reignited debate about the weaknesses of Russia’s defenses. An atmospheric excitement largely fueled by the boss of Wagner’s mercenaries.
What a panic for some villages occupied for 24 hours and a light armored vehicle was stolen … The incursion of a hundred Russian anti-Putin fighters this week in the Belgorod border region provoked in the media and around the world Russian social networks, a storm disproportionate to the actual scale of the operation. From the first messages mentioning the attackers crossing the border, the networks were full of alarming and contradictory messages. Some wrote that the enemy had already entered Belgorod. He would wear Russian police uniforms, claimed a message widely circulated in regional Telegram groups, calling for the immediate shooting of anyone wearing police uniforms.
The official communiqués, which first claim that the “Ukrainian saboteurs” fell into a trap, then that they were all eliminated while the fighting continued, only provoke a barrage of more or less painful sarcasm. “We spent 10 billion rubles to fortify the border of the Belgorod region,” the Telegram channel, which belongs to the Gray Zone, said ironically on Monday.