As Russia celebrates the New Year I gauge the mood in Moscow. “Russian people are patient,” one man tells me, “they stay silent.” Thanks to @lizashuvalova.bsky.social

The Kremlin says Putin has apologised to Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev for the "tragic incident" which led to the Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 crashing in Kazakhstan on 25 December kremlin.ru/events/presi...

Russian large channels have stayed almost silent for the past two days about the downing of the airliner over Chechnya. This time it seems a directive was issued to stay quiet. The only exception was one channel today, which called it "just another statistic of war."

Even pro-government media in Azerbaijan are now saying that yesterday's plane crash was caused by a Russian air defence missile (Full quote in thread) caliber.az/post/pervich...

"Azerbaijani government sources have exclusively confirmed to Euronews on Thursday that a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Aktau on Wednesday." www.euronews.com/2024/12/26/e...

Deputy Moscow mayor Vladimir Yefimov has said that the Russian capital's construction sector is short of up to 70,000 workers www.rbc.ru/business/26/...

All the videos of the Azerbaijan Airlines flight showing the damage show holes in the wreckage have entry holes on the port side and exit holes on the starboard side, likely with a slight angle from below.

Russia has placed opposition politician Ilya Yashin on its wanted list despite him being handed over to Germany in a prisoner exchange in August It seems that he's facing new criminal charges although they haven't been announced officially meduza.io/news/2024/12...

Jackson Hinkle popped up on Russian state TV last night Described as a "member of the US Communist Party", he’s been busy helping the Russian Communists send a shipment of "humanitarian aid" to Donbas The correspondent suggested that most of it is going to soldiers on the frontline

YouTube traffic in Russia has fallen to just 20 percent of the levels seen before the authorities began throttling the service, according to IT expert Mikhail Klimarev, who described the platform as "de facto blocked in Russia."

The latest episode of the #TheGlobalJigsaw is a brilliant one Listen to my colleague Vitaly Shevchenko explore the ways in which the Kremlin and its media machine exploit language in an effort to justify and rally support for the war against Ukraine www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

Clearly irked by suggestions that the Oreshnik missile isn't all it's talked up to be, Putin flippantly proposes a "technological duel" in which the West puts its most advanced air defence systems in Kyiv and tries to repel an Oreshnik strike

In front of a banner from the 155th naval infantry brigade which he says he was given as a gift, Putin says Russian forces are advancing "along the whole frontline every day" in Ukraine

Despite the Kremlin's efforts to push "traditional values", Russia's divorce rate has now reached a record high For every ten marriages in 2024, there have been eight divorces, giving Russia the third-highest divorce rate worldwide, according to state pollster VTsIOM tass.ru/obschestvo/2...

Chechen special forces commander Apti Alaudinov has become an honorary professor of South-West State University in Kursk Alaudinov earlier became an unofficial spokesman for the Russian operation to repel Ukraine's incursion into Kursk, constantly claiming non-existent Russian successes there

Russian state energy giant Gazprom's shares are now trading at their lowest since January 2009 www.rbc.ru/quote/news/a...

Lt Gen Kirillov, the commander of Russia’s chemical, biological and radiation defense forces, was assassinated this morning in a scooter bombing outside his home in Moscow. t.me/rian_ru/273237

Some yarn from Reuters: Bashar al-Assad secretly fled to Moscow, leaving relatives and officials to fend for themselves www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Brief updated thoughts on RF in Syria. Russian navy seems to be parked 8-13km off Tartus concerned about ship vulnerability. Russian forces are assembling in Khmeimim airbase for what looks like a drawdown with several An-124 having made pick ups there in recent days. 1/

Putin has decorated Yevgeny Poddubny, the state TV "war correspondent" who survived a drone attack in Kursk Region in August

One Russian paper today: “We need to say it straight: Russia & Iran suffered a major defeat in Syria.” Plus, problems with the Superjet (“the wretched child of the Russian aviation industry”) & an attempt to declare Santa Claus a ‘foreign agent’.

The Rus Defence Ministry says Kyiv used Atacms in this morning's attack on a military airfield in Taganrog It claims 2 of the 6 missiles were shot down with the other 4 jammed However, it acknowledges personnel casualties (supposedly due to falling debris) and vows a response t.me/mod_russia/4...

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Syria: "Back then Russia accomplished its mission, and then Assad's leadership worked in its country, was engaged in developing its country" "Now we need to proceed from the realities that exist on the ground" www.interfax.ru/russia/997094

Syrian embassy in Moscow The time interval between Russian "red lines" and reality is sometimes just a weekend. Source of pic: Al Jazeera

Russian state TV talk show host Anatoly Kuzichev: “I want to remind you that Russia has always believed, it has always believed – this is not just the position of the last couple of days - that it is Syrians who should determine the future and form of their country”

The illiberal anti-Western regime of Bidzina Ivanishvili in Georgia announced that it will not initiate negotiations to join the European Union until the end of 2028 and will refuse any EU budgetary grants.

When the Russian government paper features headlines like “Panic attack for Russia’s currency market” you know there’s a problem. Today’s Russian papers focus on the falling rouble. One paper notes that “news from the currency markets resembled reports from a war zone.” #ReadingRussia

Ultranationalist "philosopher" Alexander Dugin weighs in on the collapsing rouble "With roubles you can buy so much of what is good, that's to say Russian... But dollars are the currency of Satan" t.me/Agdchan/19180

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has told Russians not to think about interest rates continuing to rise, "otherwise it will come true" In October, the central bank raised its key rate to 21%, the highest since the early 2000s www.rbc.ru/finances/26/...

The German authorities are shutting down the German bureau of Russia's state-run news station Channel One, the station reports. Its employees must leave the country by mid-December.

Russia has banned another 30 UK nationals from entering the country, including members of the Cabinet, journalists and defence industry executives mid.ru/ru/foreign_p...

Russian police face a personnel shortage of almost 20%, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk has said According to Volk, there's now a shortage of 173,800 officers. In May, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev put the figure at 152,000 www.kommersant.ru/doc/7328120?...

Russian MP Sergei Mironov has turned up for work at the State Duma wearing a Putin Oreshnik missile t-shirt over his shirt The shirt says "krepky oreshnik", an attempted pun on the Russian name for the Die Hard films ("krepky oreshek" - tough cookie, literally tough nut)

Ukraine says Russia attacked it with a record 188 drones last night t.me/kpszsu/23621

Tomorrow's Substack will be on Russia's odd military allies. Hope you'll tune in.

Last week Putin made out that the decision to let Ukraine fire Atacms and Storm Shadow missiles at targets inside Russia was a major escalation This week it's just another Defence Ministry "statistic" shown on TV: "In the past 24 hours, air defence has shot down eight Ukrainian ballistic missiles"

This morning on Russian state TV, talk show host Olga Skabeyeva is telling her viewers with relish how long it would take the "Oreshnik" missile to reach various European capitals

Today’s Russian papers reflect 2 very different Russias. One Russia: the military superpower threatening Ukraine & the West with Oreshnik missiles. The other Russia – where butter, increasingly expensive, is now sold in some shops in “anti-theft protective boxes.” #ReadingRussia

Yesterday in Russia's Kaluga region, the sound of buzzing and explosions filled the air. According to official reports, "a fire broke out at an industrial facility" following an attack by drones. Unconfirmed sources suggest the targets included oil refinery/Kaluga Instrument-Making Plant "Typhoon."

Looks like the Kremlin is doing all it can to avoid another (very unpopular) wave of mobilisation at home

Russian channels report of ATACMS missile activity in the Kursk region. We are waiting for confirmation.

Earlier this week (i.e. before Putin’s address) Solovyov and his cronies on Russian state TV were fantasising about launching an ICBM at Trafalgar Square and "washing away" the UK with the Poseidon nuclear torpedo (also a favourite threat of fellow propagandist Kiselyov)

As Natasha says, it’s all about the Western reaction on Russian state TV today This was the start of this morning’s edition of 60 Minutes on Rossiya 1

About half of the Airbus A320 neo and A321 neo airliners in Russia are now grounded due to lack of servicing related to sanctions, Kommersant says The paper says that almost all A320/321 neo - around 10% of foreign airliners in Russia - will be out of action by 2026 www.kommersant.ru/doc/7312839

Russian media are running a press digest of Putin's missile address (citing frontpage stories in the US, Europe and Latin America) as a top story this morning: It may sound like the whole point of the nuclear threats was to generate headlines.

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