#Кремль

[thelittleukrainianwell-armedgirl]

(c) Oleksiy Kustovsky

Holodomor Remembrance Day: Each year on the fourth Saturday of November Ukraine commemorates the victims of the mass artificial famines (Holodomor) of 1921-1923, 1932-1933 and 1946-1947, organised by the Soviet Union authorities, as a result of which the Ukrainian people lost millions of lives.

[alexxx-malev]

Russia. Kazan Kremlin Казанский кремль

[vintage-russia]

"View of the Kremlin in inclement weather " (1851)

Aleksey Savrasov (1830-1897)

[welcomemoscowwalks]

The atmosphere of GUM (The State Department store - the oldest shopping center in Russia, 1893) in autumn.

Moscow, Red Square near Kremlin.

[mislitell]

Сегодня я даже не сидела весь день дома

Шок

[epishkin]

Россия, Москва, Кремль, Весна

[misskremlintsarina5294]

Vladimir Putin held a meeting on monetary policy issues. January 29, 2016

[bruev]

Успенский Собор

[shelf-days]

Снова в Пскове

12.08.2023

Спустя пол года я снова в своём любимом и дорогом Пскове!

Пью кофе, смотрю кремли, лестницы, пью кофе.

[tomorrowusa]

Discrepancies are showing up in Russia’s claim of a Ukrainian attack on the Kremlin. Just for starters, Putin and his toadies have not released the slightest bit of evidence to back up their allegation of an attack by the Ukrainians. 

Details in the drone incident the Kremlin says aimed to assassinate Putin 'don't quite add up.' Experts have 3 theories on what happened.

There are a number of things in this mystery that still don't make sense or simply don't add up. 

Video from the incident shows one of the drones explode and rain down flaming debris over the Kremlin, potentially after being intercepted by Russian defenses. It also shows what appears to be two people on the roof of the building for an unexplained purpose.

[ ... ]

"There is a lot we still don't know about this strike," said Samuel Bendett, a Center for Naval Analyses expert on Russian defense and drones.

James Patton Rogers, a military historian and adviser to NATO on drones and warfare, said that "there's a few things that don't quite add up in this situation."

Bendett, for instance, noted that "it seems strange" that the unmanned aircraft managed to fly so close to the Kremlin complex, seemingly evading most of Moscow's layered air defenses. These defenses, especially for critical targets like the Kremlin, have been bolstered since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but, that being said, questions have come up about Russian force protection capabilities.

Emphasizing that their thoughts at this stage are highly speculative at best, the experts outlined three possible scenarios that could explain Wednesday's dramatic events in the Russian capital.

Scenario 1: Ukraine sends a warning

For starters, there's the possibility Ukraine was behind the attack, as the Russians claim. They certainly have ample motive and assets.

Ukraine has previously denied activities in Russia or on Russian-occupied territory only to later acknowledge involvement, such as when its forces struck Russian military targets in Crimea last summer. And though they didn't claim responsibility, there have also been strikes on military bases deep in Russian territory attributed to Ukraine.

[ ... ]

Both Patton Rogers and Bendett told Insider that it is feasible the drone used could be the UJ-22, a fixed-wing drone often used by Ukrainian forces. Bendett said the "UJ-22 has a long range and can potentially reach Moscow."

The UJ-22 is capable of autonomously flying around 500 miles towards a pre-set target. Its ability to fly comparatively low, and slowly, would potentially help it evade some radar, Patton Rogers said.

[ ... ]

But even if Ukraine were behind it, the likelihood of it being a serious attempt on Putin's life seems small, he said.

[ ... ]

Miron agreed that this would likely be more of a signal — to say that "even the Kremlin is vulnerable" after Russia has repeatedly bombarded Ukraine.

Scenario 2: Russia was behind it

The signs are also there: Putin was never at risk. The iconic building suffered minimal damage. And politicians immediately seized on this to argue that Russia itself is under attack.

Patton Rogers told Insider that it's possible the strike and the accompanying rhetoric was orchestrated by Russia to justify a possible assassination attack on Ukraine's Zelenskyy.

Russia has engaged in so-called false flag actions to justify military action, and Russian rhetoric and actions during and just before the start of the Ukraine war repeatedly set off alarm bells abroad.

Casting doubt on Russia's accusations, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that Russian allegations often have to be taken with "a very large shaker of salt."

[ ... ]

US intelligence said last year that a group of Russian operatives were conducting a false-flag operation in eastern Ukraine, which would offer Moscow potential justification to mobilize more troops. On Twitter Wednesday, presidential adviser Podolyak said "Russia is clearly preparing a large-scale terrorist attack."

Another potential motivation would be to bolster popular support for the war, Miron said.

"Russia needs some sort of justification for why they are continuing to stay in Ukraine," she said. "And so this has a message for the domestic populace to say, 'Look how dangerous Ukraine is. They're even trying to kill Putin.'"

Scenario 3: The work of anti-Putin Russians

"A third option could be that this has nothing to do with the Ukrainian military at all," said Patton Rogers, raising the possibility that dissident groups in Russia were responsible.

[ ... ]

There have been multiple reports of attacks on critical infrastructure and assassination attempts throughout Russia's war in Ukraine, some of which have been claimed by various dissident groups. Russia's mobilization of hundreds of thousands of troops last fall catalyzed resistance to Putin's regime, but most of their attacks have come against mobilization centers run by the Russian defense ministry.

Patton Rogers said he hasn't "seen any indication" that such groups have the capacity to use drones in their attacks. "So that would be a leap of imagination based on the empirical data that we have at this moment in time," he said.

A lot depends on the type of drone used. If the drones are cheap short range models then Scenario 1 can be totally ruled out.

And Ukrainians are the opposite of stupid. They know that Putin doesn’t sleep under the dome of the Senate Palace; Putin is more likely to sleep in a bunker at his suburban dacha. Even the intelligence service of Liechtenstein knows this. This is not even remotely an assassination attempt. 

Russia has a long history of false flag operations and provocations. Most famously, on 26 November 1939 Stalin had the Red Army shell the Russian village of Mainila and then claimed that the USSR was being attacked by Finland. That’s how the 105-day Winter War began. So Scenario 2 has a sound historical basis.

Prior to the February 2022 invasion, the White House regularly released intelligence on Russian plans to instigate Mainila types of incidents; each of the revelations caused Russia to abandon its plans.

While Putin could have instigated the drone incident as a pretext for escalation of his failing war, it may also be an attempt to juice up the Russian populace.

The analysts in the article may be understating the possibility of Scenario 3. It only takes 2 or 3 people to lightly arm and then fly a drone. And cheap drones are not extremely difficult to get in Russia. You can find users on Russian social media with drone footage of everything from weddings to road accidents. And Russian anti-Putin partisans have been surprisingly active since the start of the invasion.

Scenario 3 is the one that gives Putin the most insomnia.

As for the condition of the Senate Palace dome at the Kremlin, @nexta_tv posted this image showing how little damage there actually was. It looks, at worst, like something in between a smoke bomb and a flashbang grenade hit it, leaving superficial scorch marks – not exactly a threat to the building.

And with typical Russian clumsiness, cameras spotted what appear to be firefighters waiting for the drone (seen to the left of the cloud-covered gibbous moon) to strike the dome. For all we know, they may have been the ones controlling the drone.

[thelittleukrainianwell-armedgirl]

(c) Oleg Shupliak

[alexxx-malev]

Russia. Rostov. Lake Nero. Rostov Kremlin Ростов. Озеро Неро. Ростовский кремль

[megamarinette]

18.09.2023. Первый день нашего отпуска. Целый день до самого вечера - прогулки по Москве. Воробьевы горы, Парк Победы, Александровский сад, Красная площадь. Почувствовали себя туристами.

[welcomemoscowwalks]

Changing of the guard of honor at the Eternal Flame at the Grave of the Unknown Soldier near the walls of the Moscow Kremlin

[newssocialite]

Новогодние мероприятия в Москве: куда сходить всей семьёй

Новый год — это время волшебства, улыбок и незабываемых моментов, особенно для детей. Москва в декабре и январе превращается в настоящую сказку: сверкающие огни, заснеженные улицы и множество мероприятий на любой вкус. Для тех, кто хочет окунуться в атмосферу праздника, мы собрали лучшие новогодние шоу, спектакли, мюзиклы и балеты. Порадуйте себя и близких, выбрав событие, которое запомнится…

[misskremlintsarina5294]

At the meeting held ahead of Gazprom’s 25th anniversary, Alexei Miller informed the President about the company’s achievements and current operations. This occurred February 16, 2018.

The meeting focused on the company’s socially oriented project, Gazprom for Children. Over 1,300 sports and cultural facilities were built or renovated between 2007 and 2015 under the programme. Via video linkup, the President reviewed the operation of new sports facilities in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Kursk, the village of Kantemirovka in the Voronezh Region, and the village of Suzemka in the Bryansk Region.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Miller, tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of Gazprom, which is probably Russia’s strongest company with state participation. Congratulations to you and everybody working for Gazprom, the huge team of this major company. I want to note that over these 25 years, giant strides have been made to consolidate, maintain, and advance the industry.

We all remember very well the time when the state almost lost control of this company. Gazprom is without exaggeration the backbone of Russian’s economy. For many years, when in the 1990s and the early 2000s, our national economy was experiencing difficulties, Gazprom helped the economy to stay afloat. The company produced the much-needed resources for power and heat generation at the prices and rates clearly below market rates. Thanks to that, other industries had the opportunity to concentrate on their operations, upgrade outdated capacities, and invest in development.

Gazprom itself has made immense progress in terms of technological modernisation and expanding its opportunities. Gazprom is currently operating 151 gas fields. I doubt that any other company in the world has cast out so many lines, in a positive sense.

Gazprom has a presence in 34 countries, where it is very active in the market and cooperates with many partners and friends. I know that Gazprom is growing not only domestically, by increasing the amount of gas supplied to our residential areas but also very visible abroad. A significant amount of budget revenue comes from its exports.

Congratulations to you and all Gazprom employees on the company’s anniversary and its achievements.