Россия сокращает парад в честь Дня Победы из-за угроз безопасности

"...embarrassing things are happening on the way to the grand parade..."

"...it gets even more embarrassing..."

"...spook-czar’s chief foreign policy adviser..."

"...asking him to lean on Volodymyr Zelensky to make sure Ukrainian drones don’t rain on the Moscow parade..."

"...the drone strike that breached Moscow’s air defenses on Monday is not likely to allay Putin’s fears..."

"...Ukraine is resorting to aerial 'terrorism' because it is steadily losing on the ground..."

"...that line is getting harder to sell..."

"...even erstwhile Ukraine skeptics such as blogger Andrew Sullivan now hail 'the Ukrainian miracle'..."

"...even the war-hawk bloggers are increasingly speaking of defeats and 'dead-end' warfare..."

"...the Kremlin and its sockpuppets have little to brag about..."

"...have become a joke..."

"...unironically asserted..."

"...allowed themselves more candid assessments of Russian military incompetence..."

"...the criticism, or the handwringing, has grown far more outspoken lately..."

"...even members of the Russian media establishment..."

"...offered 'an unpleasant quote' from a Ukrainian POW..."

"...the drone strikes on oil refineries in the Black Sea port of Tuapse have had a devastating effect..."

"...the fires, the oil spills, and the release of noxious gases are adding up to an environmental catastrophe..."

"...comparisons to the Chernobyl disaster are hyperbolic..."

"...Putin finally mentioned the Tuapse situation—and promptly minimized it..."

"...video clips of apocalyptic billows of smoke and fire rising over the city and oil pooling on beaches have been going viral..."

"...We get a typically Soviet situation when everyone knows we’re being lied to..."

"...people are becoming irritated that the dictator can’t keep them safe..."

"...direct criticism of Putin, beaten into submission and silence since the invasion of Ukraine—and the imprisonment and subsequent murder of Alexei Navalny—seems to be rearing its head again..."

"...sometimes, people are getting away with it..."

"...only about thirty people showed up for the rally, but that’s a lot considering protesters have been jailed in Russia in recent years for one-person demonstrations featuring blank placards..."

"...went after Putin far more directly..."

"...juxtaposing footage of the Tuapse fires with a 2024 clip of a smug-looking Putin joking dismissively about Russians who worry too much..."

"...Why the fuck would you say such dumb shit?..."

"...pushing his heresy even further..."

"...warned that Putin was getting people to the point where they would not only rejoice at his death but fervently wish it had happened sooner..."

"...as it happens, is a member of Putin’s United Russia party..."

"...the recent drama around formerly pro-Kremlin, pro-war lawyer and blogger Ilya Remeslo, who suddenly started posting strident critiques of Putin and ended up in a mental hospital..."

"...he even intensified his criticism on a popular webcast..."

"...is the repressive apparatus in Russia starved of resources because of the war and spread too thin to crack down on Putin critics?..."

"...could it be that, as blogger Maksim Katz suggests, there’s a tacit signal that 'now, this is allowed'?..."

"...is Putin losing his aura?..."

"...is the relative leniency due, as some think, to infighting between different Kremlin factions?..."

"...Putin is focusing on his top priority..."

"...a leaked intelligence report from a European country says that Putin is tightening his personal security not only because he fears Ukrainian drones, but because he fears an internal coup..."

"...Will the 'bunker grandpa,' as Putin has long been dubbed by critics, spend Victory Day in his bunker?..."