Vatniks want to block any social media which is not Telegram and spreading Russian propaganda. Also call anyone watching YouTube traitors. The tankies can't handle actual facts and want to solely reside in their fantasy world. Wagner chief Prigozhin attacks Putin administration over failure to block YouTube https://news.yahoo.com/wagner-chief-prigozhin-attacks-putin-114254773.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall (Reuters) - The increasingly prominent head of the Russian private military group Wagner on Wednesday took aim at the Kremlin administration for failing to block the U.S.-owned video sharing platform YouTube. "YouTube is the information plague of our time," Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a statement posted on his Telegram channel, alleging, without evidence, that 40% of the videos on the platform were "politicised and directed against Russia". He said there were two reasons why it had not been banned in Russia, which has clamped down on foreign media since invading Ukraine in February: that it was supposedly indispensable for ordinary citizens and, primarily, the opposition of President Vladimir Putin's administration. "We have a huge number of people on Staraya Square in the Presidential Administration who think only about one thing: if only Russia lost the war as soon as possible, if only the Americans would come and regulate us as soon as possible," Prigozhin said. "Those who are against the closure of YouTube are, in my opinion, people who are traitors to their people and their country, traitors to previous and future generations of Russians. They live abroad, take holidays abroad, raise children abroad, proclaim high values but, nevertheless, support the West in every possible way and feed on it." Tension between Prigozhin and the government burst into the open last Friday when the Defence Ministry claimed the capture of the Ukrainian town of Soledar but made no mention of the role of Wagner, a contract militia that operates outside the army chain of command and had already posted a picture of Prigozhin and his fighters in Soledar's salt mine. Prigozhin publicly complained of attempts to minimise Wagner's role and belittle its achievements, and the ministry later issued an update praising the "courageous and selfless actions" of Wagner fighters. The Kremlin denied a rift. Prigozhin, sometimes called "Putin's chef" for the Kremlin contracts of his catering firm, had until last autumn denied any connection with Wagner, which Russian officials say has military and mining contracts in Africa and is active in Syria. But the invasion of Ukraine, and the repeated failures of Russia's military in a campaign now almost 11 months old, encouraged him to enter a public arena where most dissenting voices are quickly silenced by the authorities, presenting himself as a ruthless and effective patriot. With around 90 million monthly users in Russia, YouTube, like Google a unit of Alphabet, is extremely popular and plays an important role in the digital economy. Though Russia has domestic versions of other social media, a viable YouTube alternative on that scale is yet to emerge. Russia has blocked other foreign social media including Instagram and Facebook, but despite months of fines and threats against YouTube for failing to delete content Moscow deems illegal and for restricting access to some Russian media, it has stopped short of delivering a killer blow to the video-hosting service.
Let's see the bullshiat coming out of the mouths of Russian government clowns today. Russia’s Lavrov says West seeking Hitler-style ‘final solution,’ sparking protests In latest controversial remarks on Holocaust, Moscow’s top diplomat claims US and Europe trying to wipe out Russia by waging war via Ukraine; Israel calls comments ‘unacceptable’ https://www.timesofisrael.com/russi...itler-style-final-solution-sparking-protests/
Russian state propaganda organization gets it funds frozen. Shortly will see the money sent to Ukraine. Russia To Retaliate After State Broadcaster Accounts Frozen In France: Reports On Friday, the unions of RT France -- already banned from broadcasting -- said their accounts were frozen in the country. https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/rus...ter-accounts-frozen-in-france-reports-3712428 Moscow will retaliate against French media in Russia after the bank accounts of RT France, the French arm of its state broadcaster, were frozen, Russian news agencies reported Saturday. "The blocking of RT France accounts will lead to retaliatory measures against the French media in Russia," the TASS and RIA Novosti news agencies quoted an anonymous foreign ministry source as saying. The measures "will be remembered", the source said, accusing Paris of "terrorising Russian journalists." On Friday, the unions of RT France -- already banned from broadcasting -- said their accounts were frozen in the country. The French finance ministry told AFP that the assets of the chain had been frozen in compliance with the most recent EU sanctions, and not on Paris's initiative. Unlike the initial sanctions decided after Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive, fresh EU measures adopted in December provided for an "asset freeze" of targeted entities, the same ministry source said. Among those entities is "ANO TV Novosti, a parent company holding 100 percent of RT France", the source said, explaining the decision. RT was blocked in most Western countries after the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine in February last year.
I am pretty hard core when it comes to freedom of the press. I am not in favor of banning RT just because it is pro-kremlin or because they disagree with me. Those are not valid reasons to ban them. Having said that, they need to be banned. Their presenter and others, on air, called for the drowning of Ukrainian children- thus actively promoting the genocide "solution." Ban them. Pack up your shit and get the fuck out. That's a no-go zone.
Russia Tries to Trick Ukrainian Soldiers With Radio Surrender Message https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-bakhmut-surrender-trick-message-1777557? Ukrainian troops were seen laughing at a radio announcement telling them to surrender because their leadership had deserted them, in a video clip that has been widely viewed online. War Translated, which tweets about the war in Ukraine, shared a video it said showed Ukrainian soldiers reacting to a radio broadcast telling them Ukraine's military leadership had surrendered Bakhmut and Marinka in the Donetsk oblast. "Your command is not intending to transfer fresh forces to help you," the message said. "You are being lied to." It said that the mobilized residents of Ukraine had been "deceived by the authorities and generals in Mariupol and Volnovakha," who had been "promised help but were thrown into the slaughter." "Most of them will never return home, you have a final chance to save your life," the announcement said, as it called for troops to abandon their positions, withdraw as a whole unit and record a video saying that their command had abandoned them. "This will become proof of your innocence," it added. The passengers in the car who were wearing military uniforms, can be heard laughing at the announcement, which was made in Russian, rather than in Ukrainian. As of Monday afternoon, the unverified clip, in which a location wasn't given, had been viewed more than 74,000 times. War Translated added the message that Russia had attempted "hybrid warfare." "Russian radio plays messages to Ukrainian soldiers telling them the Ukrainian leadership made a decision to surrender Bakhmut and Marinka. The soldiers are laughing this off," added the War Translated account, which has 281,000 followers and was contacted by Newsweek for further information. The clip sparked a lively thread from Twitter users, one of whom wrote: "when a psyop goes sideways." Another wrote, "How hilarious that they think that asking Ukrainians to surrender in Russian will work out well. They couldn't find even one Ukrainian to read the text." It comes following claims by the Moscow-aligned Wagner mercenary group that it had captured the village of Blahodatne, located around six miles north of Bakhmut, which has been the scene of a fierce battle for months. However, the next day, Ukraine denied the claims the Russian forces had made about the village, which lies just west of Soledar, a salt-mining town that fell to Russia earlier in January. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), said on Saturday that Wagner mercenaries were "exhausted" and that their assault on Bakhmut "likely culminated with its surge on Soledar." The New York Times and Reuters have reported that the Wagner Group suffered heavy casualties. The ISW said Russian forces are "likely preparing" to launch an offensive of their own in the Luhansk Oblast and they are adding weight to their offensives around Bakhmut. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the upcoming delivery of Western weapons, including the big ticket items of Leopard 2 tanks from Germany and Abrams armored vehicles from the U.S. will lead to a "significant escalation." "It's a dead-end situation," he told reporters on Monday, according to Reuters.
Russian Propagandists’ Tacky Stunt Backfires Spectacularly https://news.yahoo.com/russian-propagandists-tacky-stunt-backfires-144104808.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall In one of the cringiest episodes of Russian pro-war propaganda so far, a group of activists touted Moscow’s supposed devotion to its “new territories” in Ukraine earlier this week with a video that showed widows of troops who fought for the Kremlin being presented with fancy fur coats. But as with so many other parts of Russia’s war show, some of the women in the video now say the whole thing was a cheap trick. The 50-second video—just the latest installment of tacky gifts gleefully presented to families in exchange for their war dead—was shared on social media by Miroslava Reginskaya, the wife of the notorious former leader of pro-Russian troops in Donetsk, Igor Strelkov. (It was also hyped by propagandist Yevgeny Skripnik, who previously made headlines for videos of himself handing out cash to Russian war widows.) “At such moments, you can feel that we are one family,” one of the Russian activists can be heard saying in the clip. “Moscow gave out fur coats to the widows and mothers of troops in Donetsk!” one Russian-language channel titled the video on YouTube, calling the fur coats “humanitarian aid.” The 13 widows are shown obediently holding up their new fur coats for the camera as they all gush over the “unexpected” gifts. “We received such unexpected help today, we are very grateful to you,” one woman says. “Not everyone thinks that they will have such an opportunity,” she adds, before all 13 break out in a chorus of “Thank you so much!” The widows now say the “poor quality” furs were taken back right after filming, however. “One of the women in the video confirmed to us in writing that she and at least three other women had the fur coats taken away right after the video was filmed. At first they were told that the fur coats were of poor quality and promised that they would get new ones. But after numerous calls [to the organizer], the women were told there was a mistake and that the fur coats were meant for other people,” the activist group Feminist Anti-War Resistance said in a statement on Telegram on Thursday. At least one of the women also reportedly vented about the incident on social media. It wasn’t immediately clear how many—if any—of the women were actually widows of pro-Russian troops killed fighting on the Kremlin’s behalf. They reportedly said they were enlisted for the video at work, where they were told they’d get “expensive presents from Moscow” if they took part in filming. Russian authorities have repeatedly sought to boost support for the war by showing off similar “gifts” presented to the families of those killed in action. In July, Russian state media sparked widespread mockery online with a segment featuring the father of a dead Russian soldier who showed off the new Lada he said he was able to buy with the state payout he got for his son’s death.