4295

Translated off the TASS telegram feed:

The mobilization campaign in the DPR is suspended, Pushilin said.

That’s the entire story so far but this appears to mean the DPR isn’t going to continue to conscript troops among it’s own population (what’s left of it).

4296

Was that for Ukrainian troops, or Russian backed troops?

4297

Pushlin is the puppet of one of Putin’s “people’s republics”.

4298

Also on TASS, Russian banks to raise key rate to 20%. Ouch.

Plus:

Today, a decision will be made on the introduction in the Russian Federation from February 28 of the mandatory sale of foreign currency in the amount of 80% of revenue for residents, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation said.

Raising the key rate will help maintain financial and price stability and protect citizens’ savings from depreciation, the Central Bank said.

Feed from:

Processed through the google translate extension (and occasionally double checked by my in house Russian translator).

4299

@Aceris
Further to my earlier post. Rob Lee (who correctly predicted the invasion) makes the argument for view 1. Poor military.

4300

I don’t think anyone posted about China joining sanctions against Russia. A friend in need!

I have Russian source but it quotes Psaki interview.

4301

To follow up with the full story, yes, the DRP is suspending the recruitment of militia. Stated reason because they met targets.

I love the picture they chose of a guy whose surname starts with “push”.

4302

That article says it’s based on statements with Jen Psaki during a sunday show today, linked here:

Haven’t listened to it to see the exact statements. Big if true. We’ll have to see if China announces anything.

4303

She might mean sanctions that China supports automatically, like in banking or aviation. As in some Russian air, companies didn’t get their license prolonged now, and theoretically, China can work with them but it’s probably too much bother.

4304

Heard the same thing on BBC an hour ago. Ouch indeed.

4305

Given the toothlessness of the existing “person with significant control” regime for companies in the UK, I’m not holding my breath for this to achieve much. Chances are it’s easy to circumvent with an overseas shell company and/or nominee shareholder. Hope to be proven wrong, though, as it would make my job a lot easier.

Edit: that said, it does seem like they’re going to somewhat strengthen the filing process for Companies House, so maybe it will have more teeth. But the devil will be in the details as always.

4306

UK Ministry of Defence update:

4307

This article was interesting.

4308
4309

Tweeter is a verified NBC News reporter. I tried to find a matching article on their website, but unfortunately couldn’t. But it looks like these quotes are either from a news conference or a published statement from Ukrainian Minister of Defense.

4310

So it’s a who can survive for longest thing then. Ukrainian population vs Russian economy. I’m neither an economist nor a geographer so I don’t know. But I am an optimist…

4311

Re: China.

Some of the Chinese banks have already followed the sanction regime, because the banks have business in US, non-compliance will bring a big stick from US DoJ. They already had a taste of that big stick with Huawei and the Iran sanction (that whole Meng Wanzhou extradition saga).

At this point there is no official party line for or against the invasion. Some people say that is because the invasion was unexpected, the Chinese were thinking more of occupation of the disputed area and that’s it (which is pretty much everybody). Others (like myself) think they are just waiting-and-seeing, and taking notes, to prepare for their own potential armed invasion of Taiwan if it comes to that. Like not screw up the ground invasion if there IS an invasion.

I’ve also seen reports from the Chinese ambassador in Kyiv saying PRC respect independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Which is kind of interesting that 1) he said it at all and 2) the official media reported it.

Some people in PRC completely bought Putin’s narrative that it is Ukraine’s fault for flirting with NATO (I won’t repeat the argument and the fallacy). But there are also factual reporting of the war in official media. There are also report that any explicit support of Ukraine in Chinese social media is censored, while the “they had it coming” narrative isn’t censored. The most official position is Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, the lovely Hua Chunying (think of the most passive aggressive person you have ever known, that’s her), blaming US meddling for the invasion, like Republicians (see the NYT article).

All-in-all, a pretty mixed bag. That said enough already because from my POV it is clearly all Putin’s fault.

4312

Ramzan Kadyrov (leader of Chechnya who recently abducted a relative of federal Russian judged and organized a huge demonstration in support of beheading of said judge) gives Western leaders time till February 31 to remove sanctions, or else. He will declare English tea non-existent.

This is not a joke.

4313

This is very hopeful. One of the things that scares everybody is that China would bail out Putin. There’s really little reason to believe that because I think Russians are the ones who shout the most about the inevitable struggle between China (and Russia) and the West. Russia is 10% of the Chinese population and 10% of the Chinese GDP and I’m glad this disaster is not the hill China wants to die for.

4314

RE: Earlier stories of fighter planes - still unconfirmed.