Category: Russia

Is Alexander Kulakov an ex-commander?

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Everyone says so, nobody denies it.

Not a general though. Air defense commander, and we all know what air defense doing.

Lieutenant Colonel Kulakov Alexander Alexandrovich (Кулаков Александр Александрович), commander of the 3rd Radio-Technical Regiment, killed in a missile strike on an air defense base on the top of Mount Ai-Petri, Crimea.  A secret air defense base.  But probably not that secret now.

 

What Russian 58th army bigwigs doing?

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Someone is trying to google photos of a Russian general of the 58th army — “фото командира 58 армии рф а4”.  This would probably be Denis Lyamin. Wikipedia doesn’t seem to have a picture of that one, so let’s help them out a little.

Ivan Popov

The commander of the 58th army was reshuffled back in July 2023. Major General Ivan Popov was replaced after criticizing Shoigu or Gerasimov or the war or something.

Denis Lyamin

The replacement was Lieutenant General Dennis Lyamin (Denis Igorevich Lyamin) (Денис Игоревич Лямин) who is regarded as a Gerasimov loyalist. He may have been injured in a missile attack in September 2023.

Lyamin was probably replaced or just removed a few months later with/by Major-General Sergei Medvedev, the Army Chief of Staff, and reassigned to the post of Chief of Staff of the Central Military District

Sergei Medvedev

This guy is an almost complete mystery. By googling “Генерал-майор Сергей Медведев, начальник штаба армии” (Major-General Sergei Medvedev, the Army Chief of Staff), we find that Russian Wikipedia does consider him the commander of the Russian 58th army since October 2023, and provides his full name as Медведев Сергей Викторович (Sergei Viktorovich Medvedev).

More.

The lip gloss protester

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The lip gloss protester is from Georgia, as in Tbilisi.

She is protesting Russian influence in Georgia. 

Code Pink has put her in Palestinian context, for instance watermelon earrings, a symbol of the Palestinian flag.

I have noticed this more and more, that the “Free Palestine” protesters are not really able to articulate what they are protesting about.  Sooner or later, someone will “follow the money” and we will know more, for instance who is buying all those tents and abandoning them.  Surely they did not think they would be allowed to stay there through commencement ceremonies.

The NYT did a piece a while back about Code Pink’s financial ties with China, there is a non-paywalled thread here

More Tbilisi protest video

Two Russian ships, two fires

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Time to catch up on the Russian ships.  I started this one on April 9.

Two Russian ships have caught fire, the Serpukhov and the Katerina Velikaya.

Serpukhov

Russian ship Serpukhov (Серпухов), a small missile ship capable of firing Kalibr missiles, lost surveillance equipment due to fire while docked at Kaliningrad naval base. Ukrainian intelligence showed a blueprint of the ship on their website, along with a video of the start of the fire. https://mil.in.ua/en/news/russian-missile-ship-damaged-by-fire-in-baltic-sea/

No one seems to have any further information about the ship or the extent of the damage. The main point of the attack, besides the destruction of intelligence gathering in the “NATO lake”, seems to be a demonstration of the ability of Ukraine to reach outside their normal sphere of operation on the Black Sea and conduct an operation at Kaliningrad.

Katerina Velikaya

The Siberian icebreaker Katerina Velikaya «Катерина Великая» caught fire at Vladivostok shipyard where it was under construction. It is owned by the Russian oil producer Rosneft, and is used to access the Russian oil platforms in the Arctic Ocean. https://maritime-executive.com/article/one-dead-in-fire-aboard-russian-icebreaker

The ship is an IBSV 10022 AH ice breaker supply vessel, and is one of a kind. https://web.archive.org/web/20230129223251/https://sskzvezda.ru/index.php/en/project/snabjenets

Fun fact, the ship has its own postage stamp. https://www.rosneft.ru/press/news/item/207681/

More Russian ships: a frigate and a cruiser

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The Russian frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov just entered the Mediterranean via the Suez canal. It has the Kalibr-CM guided missile

Two weeks ago, the Russian cruiser Varyag and frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov entered the Red Sea.

So where is the Varyag? Well, well, they now include an actual link to Wikipedia in the drop-down information.

Russia has two other ships of the same class, the Marshal Ustinov and the Moskva, now a submarine.

Here is the Varyag, already in the Mediterranean, on April 3, two days after the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed a top Hezbollah figure. And where were they when Iran seized the Portugal-flagged MSC Aries (red link) (Should a ship have an article when it is hijacked? I’m kind of conflicted on that one.) https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:6138399/mmsi:255806335/imo:9857169/vessel:MSC_ARIES Or is it the flag of Madeira. https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/9857169

Is the Orsk Refinery a submarine?

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Pretty much.

From Latvian telegram channel Medusa https://t.me/meduzalive/103916 (also https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/04/7/7450110/ )

The head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations described the flood situation in Orsk as critical. Interfax reports this . The agency also reported that the emergency situation in the Orenburg region was given federal status. TASS, citing Roshydromet , writes that the peak of the flood in Orenburg will occur on April 10. Rescuers also began the preventive evacuation of residents of 10 settlements in the Kurgan region, where a high alert regime has been in effect since April 5. In Orsk, an oil refinery stopped working due to flooding, the press service of Orsknefteorgsintez reported . This is necessary to reduce environmental risks and comply with occupational safety requirements, the company emphasizes.
Flood in the Orenburg region. What is known at this time?

— The number of flooded residential buildings over the past 24 hours has increased to almost 6.3 thousand. In Orsk – to 4.5 thousand.

— In Orsk, the evacuation of the New City on the right bank of the Urals began. Residents of three streets – Shchorsa, Stasova and Kramatorskaya – received an SMS from the RSChS about the urgent need to leave their homes. These streets are located near Gagarin Square, which filled with water overnight. The old city continues to flood….
— The Orsk oil refinery PJSC “Orsknefteorgsintez” suspended work “to avoid environmental risks and to comply with safety regulations….”

Declassified CIA document

So, spring flooding as usual, plus maybe a little climate change.  According to this CIA document, collected in 1950 and declassified in 2002, the refinery was built “shortly before the war” (1935) by American engineers.

And for those bingo cards?

Orsk Refinery=Orsknefteorgsintez

In Russian:

«Орскнефтеоргсинтез»

Another bingo card, unfortunately in Russian only.

Taneco: an ex- oil refinery?

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Probably not, but we only have a report from Russia.

Taneco is Russian’s third largest oil refinery. It is in Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan. (Russian: Танеко)

“According to an analysis by Reuters of images showing the impact of the attack in Nizhnekamsk, a drone struck the primary oil refining unit (CDU-7) at Russia’s Taneco oil refinery, one of the country’s biggest.” https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukrainian-drone-attack-tartarstan-alabuga-economic-zone/32887624.html

Taneko oil refinery

There was also a hit on a drone factory in Yelabuga, at the Alabuga special economic zone. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/02/ukrainian-drone-attacks-russia-tatarstan-oil-refinery-factory This appears to show the attack with a fireball. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/several-people-injured-drone-attack-industrial-sites-russias-tatarstan-agencies-2024-04-02/

It has been rumored that the U.S. has asked Ukraine not to target oil refineries, but Ukraine now says it uses its own drones for that, and they can use their drones however they want. They are probably not amused at having to listen to air raid sirens all night long while they wait for GOP speaker Mike Johnson to stop blocking military aid to Ukraine.

Taneco oil refinery is a red link, in English, but there is an article for the parent company Tatneft, with HQ in that same city, plus an article in Russian for the refinery itself.  And there is a whole category in Russian for oil refineries.

Some of the Taneco profiles seem to be dead links today.

For those playing oil refinery bingo at home, here are a couple more images of the refinery.

Ivan Khurs — an ex-ship?

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Ivan Khurs, Russian intelligence ship

Earlier in the week two Russian landing ships, the Yamal and the Azov, were targeted by Ukrainian drones, along with a communication building and some other Black Sea fleet stuff. When the sun came up, and satellite images became available, it was discovered that of the two ships, only the Azov was damaged, along with a Russian navy administrative building.

But what was the “other Black Sea fleet stuff”?

Some are saying that it was the Ivan Khurs (Russian “Иван Хурс”), an intelligence and reconnaissance ship of project 18280.

Exactly zero satellite images of this ship have turned up. Images here: https://mil.in.ua/en/news/a-satellite-photo-showing-the-alleged-damage-to-the-ivan-khurs-warship-was-released/

There is another report that one of the ships damaged was the Kostyantyn Olshansky, a Ukrainian assault ship captured by Russia in the 2014 war. https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/ukrainian-navy-confirms-striking-russian-ship-ivan-khurs/ar-BB1ky5i0 The Wikipedia article has already been updated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_landing_ship_Konstantin_Olshansky

In fact, Ukrainian naval sources now claim to have disabled four ships: Yamal, Azov, Ivan Khurs, and the Kostiantyn Olshansky. https://www.kyivpost.com/post/30092

Ivan Khurs

Russian: Иван Хурс
Ukrainian: Іван Хурс

Yamal and Azov are (probably) (not) ex-ships

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Note: Ukrainian sources are now claiming four ships have been disabled: Yamal, Azov, Ivan Khurs, and Kostiantyn Olshansky. https://www.kyivpost.com/post/30092

Nope. Satellite images are in, and one ship might have some slight damage. Communication center has a hole in the roof though.  See the first part of the video here.

The Russian ships Yamal and Azov have been destroyed, along with a communications center and some other Black Sea fleet stuff.

Oh my, Russia is not happy with Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty.  Nice of them to post a warning to protect their readers.

“RFE/RL has been declared an ‘undesirable organization’ by the Russian government.

“If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.”

The two Ropucha-class landing ships are on the right, sixth row from the top.

They are listed here, in a chart.  Not even an article, they must be a dime a dozen.

This one has the Yamal on it, but also the Kerch bridge.  Some are saying the fleet doesn’t matter, but what about the sea babies and Kerch bridge?  I feel we are getting close to that one.

Russian oil refinery bingo

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This is a new Ukrainian strategy, blowing up Russian oil refineries.  As of six days ago, fourteen (?) refineries have been hit.  Here is an explanation of the strategy, beginning at start of the video: https://youtu.be/jN4U-21Jb0M?feature=shared

Here are a couple of screenshots from the video, showing distances from Ukraine and locations of the refineries.

For those who want to play at home, here is a clean bingo card.

(Ooops, yeah sorry it’s in Russian, and I just noticed the first one below that says “BINGO” has ships, and the rest are too blurry to read. It looks like some better lists are needed.)

Here are some already-filled-in bingo cards just to get you started.  One is in Russian, the one that looks like flowers.  Don’t ask me to explain it. There was another explosion tonight, so maybe there is already something to fill in, but you will have to google it.

Bonus explosions in Crimea tonight, and rumors of another ship hit, so as soon as it shows up on twitter and gets confirmed by some official source, you can get out your Russian Black Sea fleet bingo card. I still haven’t found a clean copy of that one, but here is another one that may be interesting for aficionados, along with another meme about sunken Russian ships.


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Oh lookie, Wikipedia has a list of refineries, including Russian refineries. Something tells me the list is a bit outdated though, because it only shows nine refineries. That’s fewer refineries than have already been blown up.

Looking further afield…
Ukrainian Wikipedia has a category, oil refineries in Russia

And a generic article about the Russian refinery industry, this is really quite good. Here is the list:

And there is a list by region. The Siberian groups are not likely to be targeted as they only provide products locally, due to the vicissitudes of transport..

There is a separate chart for drone attacks on refineries here:

The Russian article is even better, it shows damaged refineries right in the chart:

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Gonna start a list…

  • 5/16/2024 Tuapse Oil Refinery at the port of Novorossiysk in Krasnodar = Tuapse NPZ = Russian “Туапсинский НПЗ” = 4th row second from the bottom