« first day (4608 days earlier)      last day (610 days later) » 
00:00 - 16:0016:00 - 00:00

00:05
@Cerberus Could it be a deepfake, produced by Ukraine using some AI engine?
@CowperKettle You'd think the real Prigozhin would have put out a statement denying it by now, though.
Maybe he never existed in the first place. It was all a deep fake. He was bald only because the Russian super-neuro-computer lacked specialized equipment to quickly render realistically-looking hair.
That said, if Ukraine did fake this, it'd be pretty impressive.
It will soon be discovered that the whole war was a deepfake. On the fake "frontline", Ukrainians and Russians are drinking vodka and horilka (Ukrainian moonshine), celebrating all the money they duped the West into giving Ukraine.
A combined team of hackers faked a whole war.
Genius!
00:19
@alphabet He could convey it as some ploy to 'use' Ukraine in order to get rid of the corrupt ministry of defence, or something...
@CowperKettle If only!
00:34
> At about 2 a.m. on Saturday morning, Moscow time (2300 GMT), Prigozhin issued a new message saying his forces had crossed the border from Ukraine, and were in the southern Russian city of Rostov.

He said they were ready to "go all the way" against the top brass, and to destroy anyone who stood in their way.
Kommersant 20 minutes ago reported that there are no signs of fighting or any movement in Rostov kommersant.ru/doc/6067591?tg
> Marat Gabidullin, a former Wagner commander who moved to France when Russia invaded Ukraine, told Reuters that Wagner's fighters were likely to stand with Prigozhin.

"We have looked down on the army for a long time ... Of course they support him, he is their leader," he said.

"They won't hesitate (to fight the army), if anyone gets in their way."
@CowperKettle Hmm.
Fukuyama, The Origins of Political Order
01:10
Is there evidence that Prigozhin is even doing...anything? Other than making angry Telegram posts?
01:47
From the ISW: "The severe consequences that would result from a failed armed rebellion suggest that Prigozhin viewed his alternatives to be just as threatening."
02:22
Google Translate failed to correctly disambiguate the term вертушка
In a military context, it's simply a slang for вертолёт (helicopter)
The root vert means "to rotate"
The root lyot (лёт) means "to fly"
Hence, самолёт = само + лёт (airplane = self + fly)
A self-flying machine is samolyot, a machine that uses a rotatory mechanism to hover in air is vertolyot, or, in military slang, vertushka
shka is a common diminutive/vernacularizing suffix + ending (a is a feminine ending)
Maria -> Mashka
Alexander -> Sashka
We all know that the Russian military relies extensively on turntables. Useful for playing propaganda.
Prigozhin will need those turntables to play his angry rants if they shut down the Internet.
Tanks, APCs and IFVs are seen surrounding the Ministry of Defense and Police buildings in Rostov, but the people (passers-by) who have recorded these videos are not sure who's in command
Because there has been no need in specialized markings, it's hard to understand who is siding with whom.
If they entrench in Rostov, what would Putin do? It's a big city.
You can't just hurl missiles onto a city..
Rostov-on-Don (Russian: Росто́в-на-Дону́, tr. Rostov-na-Donu, IPA: [rɐˈstof nə dɐˈnu]) is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, 32 kilometers (20 mi) from the Sea of Azov, directly north of the North Caucasus. The southwestern suburbs of the city lie above the Don river delta. Rostov-on-Don has a population of over one million people, and is an important cultural centre of Southern Russia. == History == === Early history === From ancient times, ...
It's a city of million people.
If Russia's strongest-willed mercenary detachment, up to 30 thousand mercenaries, entrenches there, good luck winkling them out.
Well, at least now Prigozhin won't need to keep begging the MoD for more ammunition
02:36
Yes, that's a comforting thought
He probably thought some people in the army would side with him. No sign of that.
Sounds of (sub?)machine gun fire along a highway in Rostov Oblast twitter.com/clashreport/status/1672432431805366273
Of course, with modern tech, these video snippets could be faked easily.
I'm sure Ukraine is busy doing that now.
At the very least, now would be a good time to launch a counteroffensive.
(Or rather to escalate the existing one.)
Military guys are lying at crossroads, guns at the ready, on the lookout. Near them, some passer-by girl is just standing casually and recording on her phone t.me/tvrain/67434
@CowperKettle Imagine, a place where only the military has machine guns. (In the US it's technically legal to own one if it's old enough.)
@CowperKettle Wow, those reenactments they do to impress tourists are really getting out of hand.
02:48
General Surovikin, whom Prigozhin called "one of the few real generals in the Russian Army", appeared several hours ago on TV to call on Wagner mercenaries to follow the orders of the Army. He was pronouncing his speech while holding a gun in his hand.
I imagine Igor Girkin's Telegram posts are getting even more angry than usual.
The PP-2000 (Russian: ПП-2000) is a submachine gun/machine pistol made by the KBP Instrument Design Bureau. It was first publicly displayed at the Interpolytech-2004 exhibition in Moscow even though its patent was filed in 2001 and issued in 2003. == Overview == The PP-2000 is a conventional blowback-operated weapon and weighs 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) empty. The PP-2000 is designed as a close-quarter combat weapon, intended for riot police and special operations forces. In 2008, it was adopted as one of the two standard SMGs of the Russian police (along with the Vityaz-SN). == Design == It is chambered...
@alphabet You can read/translate them easily: t.me/s/strelkovii
@CowperKettle They probably didn't show the guy behind the camera, pointing a gun at him.
He writes he expected a coup to happen in the fall, and is surprised.
> "I appeal to the leadership, commanders and fighters of PMC Wagner: Together with you, we walked a difficult path. Together with you, we fought, we took risks, we took losses, but overcome together. We are of the same blood. We are warriors.

I call on you to stop. The enemy is waiting for our internal political situation to aggravate. We shouldn’t play into the enemy’s hand in this difficult time for the country."
The TASS state news agency has just published photos of, in its words "Wagner fighters in Rostov".
Huh, ChatGPT does a much better job than Google Translate.
> Надеюсь, о том, кто много месяцев настойчиво предупреждал о предстоящем НЕИЗБЕЖНОМ предательстве Чорного Клоуна - никто не забыл?
> I hope nobody has forgotten about the one who persistently warned for many months about the INEVITABLE betrayal of the Black Clown?
Is "Black Clown" ("Чорного Клоуна") a common Russian insult?
03:10
No, it's an idiosyncratic (?) phrase for Prigozhin, invented by Girkin, who is a word-coiner, like Shakespeare. Only a non-rhyming one.
One specialist observer says that the people on the photos are really MoD fighters, not Wagner fighters.
Basically, it's a mess, and nobody knows.
Ukrainian ЦИПСО must be having a field day, flooding the internet with rumors
@CowperKettle Indeed. Also his username is apparently now touting the "Club of Angry Patriots" he founded. I imagine their meetings go something like this:
@alphabet Well his statement about the rationale for starting the war may not be misdirection but I remember that when there was interference in the American elections, the Russian state played on both sides of the fence, sowing division. Also, having a loose cannon can prove helpful when you need to do something but can't be seen doing it yourself.
Hopefully nothing happens to Navalny or in Zaporizhzhia while the world focuses on the "feud".
Time will tell but I would think that if he was such a big threat, he would already be gone.
If he's a rogue element, what he could do would not be Russia's doing.
Meh.
03:31
@s.H.a.R.p.R.i.F.t Indeed. I imagine Zelensky is enjoying all the drama while sending in more troops.
I think it makes it more complicated. Is it a lure. Will the strategy change to the point of them needing to reassess their counteroffensive. This is not my field. But it seems to me that despite all the references to popcorn, including mine, this is less predictable a situation.
Or maybe they did try to eliminate him because he's a war criminal and they want to remove their liability of having him fighting their war and he's really retaliating.
How long could it be before we have images. It's weird.
@CowperKettle Most of Shakespeare doesn't rhyme.
@CowperKettle Wait.
Surely Prigozhin must know that he can ultimately accomplish nothing?
Apparently Wagner may be committing the ultimate crime: littering.
Oh, no.
Next thing they will be dancing naked in the streets.
Do they just...not have street cleaning machines in that city? Only people with brooms?
Wagner fighters appear to be wearing armbands made out of duct tape.
Also: this has to have been planned in advance, right?
@alphabet Here we have both.
Men on a machine clean my street twice a day.
But they also carry brooms, to get the stuff the machine cannot reach.
@s.H.a.R.p.R.i.F.t Nobody wants to see chaos in Russia.
I can hardly believe that Wagner would or could attack Moscow?
The capital must be extremely well defended.
05:10
Oh...wow. The coup (or civil war or what have you) is making gains. Probably won't last for very long but they seem to have taken over Rostov, a major base for Russian military operations in Ukraine (IIRC).
Why is Prigozhin in a baseball cap and an incredibly ill-fitted bulletproof vest?
Could he not be better dressed on his big day?
 
1 hour later…
06:24
There was a great weather at today's ParkRun, and a lot of participants
I stopped to snap photos, so my pace was about 6 second slower than (the?) last time
07:05
Pretty sure a decree will be signed soon to arrest him.
Prigozhin met with Deputy Minister of Defense, who arrived to Rostov, along with some top-brass RU Army general
@Vikas Putin is adressing the nation on TV right now
Putin should have either announced a full, complete mobilization and shutdown of borders in the summer 2022, or held talks with Ukraine to stop the fighting. There was no third option.
I don't know what will happen now.
Maybe if Putin announces full-on mobilization and high-alert and military command over whole Russia right now, he can stay in power.
Surely he has had measures in place to cut off Prigozhin when needed?
Putin is paranoid. He always knew Prigozhin was a danger.
He is not Stalin :)
Girkin says that Wagner Group has shot down three army helicopters
07:23
He really thinks he can oust Putin? Or turn him into a puppet while occupying Moscow?
I find that hard to imagine.
There are people today who find the holocaust hard to imagine.
@CowperKettle Either Wagner boss would be ordered to be arrested or there will be negotiations with him meeting his demands or whatever he wants.
That should calm down things for a while.
@Vikas A criminal investigation was launched against him in the morning, so there must be already an order for his arrest
Ah. My guess was right.
Unrest is what these people feed on.
> "Researchers have identified neurons in the mouse brain that are involved in creating negative emotional states and chronic stress. These neurons also have receptors for oestrogen, which could explain why women as a group are more sensitive to stress than men" news.ki.se/chronic-stress-related-neurons-identified
Sounds Suspiciously Simplified (SSS)
08:03
> I took my date to an Indian restaurant and she ordered their bread right away. That was a naan starter.
08:33
> Rybar says that Russian aviation is now targeting Wagner forces along the M4 highway
08:46
A local villager in Rostov Oblast recorded on video a gunfight, this time with some heavy machine guns t.me/milinfolive/102590
And some rockets.
He is scared, and repeating that "Blyad. A war has started. I should ****ing run away. **ck."
Probably some mortar fire, or portable rockets
It could have been just a nice summer day for him.
Russian Army soldiers have arrived to reinforce a bridge over the Oka river to stope Prigozhin's approach to Moscow t.me/milinfolive/102593
And now Voronezh Oblast has been invaded too. A villager said they are being evacuated. A village on the outskirts of Novaya Usman. Sounds of gunfight are heard t.me/horizontal_russia/24455
Novaya Usman (Russian: Новая Усмань) is a rural locality (a selo) and the administrative center of Novousmansky District of Voronezh Oblast, Russia. Population: 36,540 (2021 Census); 29,270 (2010 Census); 22,476 (2002 Census); 18,223 (1989 Census). == References == === Notes === === Sources === Воронежская областная Дума. Закон №87-ОЗ от 27 октября 2006 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Воронежской области и порядке его изменения», в ред. Закона №41-ОЗ от 13 апреля 2015 г. «О внесении изменений в Закон Воронежской области "Об административно-территориальном устройстве ...
Google Maps for Novaya Usman: goo.gl/maps/Xqf4bXCwiYbSH4geA
It's right to the east of Voronezh, a major local city
Population just above 1 million, like in Rostov en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voronezh
09:05
Some locals in Rostov have gathered in the center and are arguing among themselves oh whom to support, Prigozhin or Putin.
09:18
@CowperKettle Is he serious in reaching Moscow?
@Vikas I can't imagine anyone taking Moscow
It's a huge city. 15 million people.
It's all surreal for me.
He has 30 thousand toughened fighters, but you'd need half a million to take Moscow.
09:38
@CowperKettle Something like even an attempt to reach near city boundaries?
10:15
What in the world . . . ?
@CowperKettle !
10:33
@M.A.R. Word of the day: SNAFU (Situation Normal, All F***ed Up)
10:43
Video of Prigozhin air defence vehicle firing a rocket against the Russian Army's K-52 battle helicopter t.me/rybar/48923
The helicopter launched flares, and one of them allegedly hit an oil storage silo, starting a fire: t.me/rybar/48921
A K-52 heli fires an anti-rocket, successfully defending itself. Maybe the same as in the previous video t.me/milinfolive/102617
Video of a bomb hitting a Wagner vehicle column moving on the M4 highway t.me/milinfolive/102616
11:01
People in Rostov pronouncing their letters g as h, in the Ukrainian way, on their videos.
So cute. Russian poet/singer Vladimir Vyssotsky also pronounced "g" as "h"
And they drawl their vowels so.
Curious southern accent.
Wagnerites are distributing Russian flags among locals, some are taking them.
161.ru is Rostov's news portal 161.ru
Live newsfeed on the Rostov news portal 161.ru/text/incidents/2023/06/24/72430112
There was a video of a Rostov woman bringing snacks to Wagner fighters
A video of a young woman asking about the ammunition, and the Wagner fighter explaining t.me/news161ru/33722
SHe says: "Can I hold it this way?" (a ribbon with high-caliber bullets) He says: "Sure, you won't blow up"
Probably for a selfie.
Such things are called a technical. A civilian vehicle with some gun on it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_(vehicle)
11:30
Allegedly a video of Kadyrov's Chechen legion entering Rostov on cars t.me/milinfolive/102626
The Voenny Osvedomitel channel says that a column of Wagner has entered Lipetsk Oblast.
The author writes that there are heavy trucks with tanks loaded on them, to speed up movement.
O_O
The melody is catchy
 
2 hours later…
13:20
#Worldle #519 1/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
⭐⭐🏙️🪙
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
@CowperKettle Seriously?
I'd prefer the John Foster Dulles Band.
🌎 Jun 24, 2023 🌍
🔥 9 | Avg. Guesses: 4.48
🟧🟩 = 2

globle-game.com
#globle
Wow, pulled that one out of my ass.
Wordle 735 3/6

🟨🟨⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Daily Quordle 516
8️⃣7️⃣
6️⃣5️⃣
m-w.com/games/quordle/
Daily Octordle #516
3️⃣8️⃣
🔟7️⃣
🕛6️⃣
5️⃣9️⃣
Score: 60
Oh yeah, on fire.
13:49
> Local media are reporting that ticket prices for places where Russians can travel visa-free -- including Istanbul; Astana, Kazakhstan; Tbilisi, Georgia; and Yerevan, Armenia -- are rapidly rising, suggesting Russians are becoming increasingly concerned about the situation in Russia.
Well, that's one way to get the Titanic submersible story off the front page.
Leviathan rising trumps titanic plunging.
Never thought the Ukrainian counteroffensive could do anything to surprise me. If this is part of that counteroffensive, then I was very wrong.
> Governors of Roman provinces were appointed promagistrates with imperium (roughly, "right to command") in one or more provinces. The governors then served as generals of the Roman army within the territory they ruled. Roman law specified that only the elected magistrates (consuls and praetors) could hold imperium within Italy. Any magistrate who entered Italy at the head of his troops forfeited his imperium and was therefore no longer legally allowed to command troops.

Exercising imperium when forbidden by the law was a capital offense. Furthermore, obeying the commands of a general who
> In January 49 BC C. Julius Caesar led a single legion, Legio XIII, south over the Rubicon from Cisalpine Gaul to Italy to make his way to Rome. In doing so, he deliberately broke the law on imperium and made armed conflict inevitable.

According to Suetonius, Caesar uttered the famous phrase ālea iacta est ("the die has been cast").[6] The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" has survived to refer to any individual or group committing itself to a risky or revolutionary course of action, similar to the modern phrase "passing the point of no return". Caesar's decision for swift action forced Pompe
14:14
The start of coV marked the point of no return.
Rubicon starts with V in Russian?
Video: Chechen soldiers are entering Rostov nitter.nl/clashreport/status/1672602725706616832#m
There will be clashes now.
Civilians are better hide.
Strange that once-rebel Chechens are now the defence.
Putin just bought the cheapest of the striking screenwriters.
This must explain this.
14:19
coV-XIX
More 1917 than 1991, or just Keystone Kops comedy? Time will tell, but it may be months not hours before we know the outcome.
A failed coup that leaves a fractured foundation has still undermined the towers of authority.
@CowperKettle I shall very much miss the wit of the late-night comedians reflecting on these events.
A tragedy of the highest order.
That column must have more fuel than the one that tried to take Kiev had.
^ This map made me realize that Wagner is making way more progress than I'd thought. This appears to be a thoroughly planned operation that caught the MoD completely off-guard. I suspect that the FSB was either too incompetent to catch this or not thoroughly aligned with Putin.
14:29
Yeah, I had thought it was only unrest in Rostov.
The Road Less Travelled.
The Road Not Taken
Prigozhin is still likely to fail, but if he has genuine supporters in Russian leadership, this could turn into an all-out civil war.
Which is, of course, exactly what Ukraine is cheering for.
Is it hard to capture Prigozhin?
Hitler tried to take Moscow.
14:32
I doubt that his mere capture is their primary mission any longer.
Napoleon also.
Good thing Moscow has never fallen before in all of history.
Lenin managed it, and he pulled Russia out of a war also.
Failure at war always topples Russian autarchs.
The world watches in awe.
14:34
You win or you die.
Once you've cast the die.
Do or die.
@tchrist He is the only leader for Wagner?
> "the die has been cast"
@Vikas However many its centurions, a legion has just one general.
The key here is Wagner's speed. Prigozhin has the element of surprise and it takes time for the MoD to deploy an entire army.
14:39
I think it will surely help Ukraine in counteroffensive now.
I've never seen so many red marks on Google maps lol
An all-out civil war will bring the rest of the world into the battlefields.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
@user726941 No.
The resources need to be secured.
Putin keeps bragging about Russia's "1000 years of history." Ignore the fact that, for the first 200ish years, its capital was in Kyiv.
14:43
Dragon and eagle will in their own eyries yet safely abide.
The economy must come first.
@tchrist They're on the metric system tho :p 1000 km
Gas prices are choking the world.
Trump is on the rise.
@Laurel The length of the legionnaire's pace is the same today as it was in Caesar's day.
For the measure of man is constant.
> There have been numerous reports that Vladimir Putin’s presidential plane took off from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport at 2.16pm local time (1216 BST) and then headed north-west.

According to data from the FlightRadar tracking website, the plane reached the Tver area – about 110 miles from Moscow and where Putin has a residence – before disappearing from the system.
So much for "I need ammo, not a ride."
Is man the measure of all things?
14:52
Google tells me a T-90 tank's max speed is 37 mph (60 km/h).
Though various enhanced/modified versions can be faster.
Distance = rate X time
So probably not the time Google Maps shows you. But still quite fast.
The question is: can they get to Moscow before they run out of supplies and get cut off from the base in Rostov?
I admit I'm going to be glued to various news channels today instead of being productive.
(I'm kind of a news/politics/geopolitics junkie.)
The internet has that affect.
@Laurel Midsummer marks the high season for Russian road construction projects.
There are no royal roads to Moscow.
15:03
> According to Ukrainian news agencies, Kyiv has liberated the territories near the city of Krasnohorivka in Donetsk region, which have been occupied by pro-Russia separatists since 2014.
Just what Putin needs: an ambitheatrical war.
An ambitheatrical special operation.
ASO
He needs China's help now.
He could get it.
Time.
Waits for no man.
15:23
I believe this is what military analysts call an "own goal."
& the tidal wave of the Chinese red Army which hasn't seen any action since the Vietnam war has been put on full alert.
They were put on alert on the Indian border not too long ago also.
It's always the reds against the whites.
"Better red than dead" and "better dead than red" were dueling Cold War slogans which first gained currency in the United States during the late 1950s, amid debates about anti-communism and nuclear disarmament (red being the emblematic color of communism). The first phrase, "better red than dead", is often credited to British philosopher Bertrand Russell, but in his 1961 Has Man a Future? he attributes it to "West German friends of peace". In any event, Russell agreed with the sentiment, having written in 1958 that if "no alternatives remain except Communist domination or extinction of the human...
It's always the Reds against the Deads.
Girkin says Prigozhin has "a chance of success"
15:40
Vikas is closely monitoring the situation in Moscow.
If China does attack, the US must jump in.
@tchrist Typo?
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ἀμφιθέατρον (amphitheatron), from ἀμφί (amphi), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and θέατρον (théātron), meaning "place for viewing".Ancient Roman amphitheatres were oval or circular in plan, with seating tiers that surrounded the central performance area, like a modern open-air stadium. In contrast, both ancient Greek and ancient Roman theatres were built in a semicircle, with tiered seating rising on one side...
He used a different spelling.
Br vs Am
15:46
Oh
He was presumably making a joke "ambi + theatrical" = both theaters (of combat)
I wonder if Biden will ask Modi to join forces in the war.
Or rather "theaters on both sides," compare ambidextrous
If so, all out nuclear war is a real possibility.
I doubt it. Modi is getting $ from cheap Russian oil & doesn't seem like the "go to war for democracy" type.
15:55
But with China in it, who knows?
@user726941 I also doubt it.
China's unlikely to join either, I think. They don't have that much to gain. But you never know.
It's not like Prigozhin is going to be some Western sympathizer bringing in gay Nazi NATO furry liberals or something.
China wouldn't have that much to be concerned about if the coup succeeded.
00:00 - 16:0016:00 - 00:00

« first day (4608 days earlier)      last day (610 days later) »