Ukraine Crisis and Putin: The Kremlin vultures have now landed.

The war between Israel and Hamas continues to dominate the attention of the international world, to the obvious delight of Putin.

Furthermore, as reported by Mared Gwyn Jones,

"The EU’s diplomatic front in support of Ukraine has recently shown signs of unravelling, with Hungarian President Viktor Orbán seen cosying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a recent visit to China. (left: Robert Fico and Victor Orban)
...
The newest of the bloc’s 27 heads of state Robert Fico - sworn in as Slovakia's Prime Minister just in time for the EU summit on Wednesday - announced hours ahead of the summit he would halt his country’s military aid to Ukraine, following up on promises made during his electoral campaign. Fico leads a coalition government that includes a pro-Russian far-right party." (Euro News : 26 October 2023) (my emphasis)

However, Mared Gwyn Jones also reports that,

"EU leaders aimed to ensure Ukraine doesn’t slip from the top of the political agenda as they gathered in Brussels on Thursday for a summit set to be dominated by the crisis engulfing the Gaza strip.
...
[EU] leaders stressed the need to maintain attention on the other war on Europe’s doorstep, warning that distraction from Ukraine would play into the hands of the Kremlin.

“This should not take our attention away from Ukraine, this is exactly what Putin wants,” European President Roberta Metsola warned as she arrived for the meeting." (ibid Mared Gwyn Jones)

Ominously however, as reported by Juliana Cruz Lima (left) and Will Stewart,

"This is the chilling moment Russia launched a nuclear missile capable of a blast 100 times more powerful than Hiroshima in an apocalyptic attack drill on the West.

The Sun : 26 October 2023

"Today's simulated exercises involved the launch of a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia.
...
The drills assumed a response to an enemy nuclear strike.

Russian propaganda has been stressing a supposed nuclear threat - for which there is no evidence - from the West." (The Sun : 26 October 2023) (my emphasis)

This shaking of his 'nuclear' fist against the West is, no doubt, due to the problems that Putin is having to replace the hundreds of Russian soldier being killed on a daily basis by Ukraine's armed forces.

As reported by Tim McNulty (left),

"Vladimir Putin is reportedly squeezing Russia's sizeable Asian minority communities to feed his armed forces with fresh recruits.

The US-based think tank Institute for the Study of War reports that minor crimes involving Asian migrants can now see the perpetrator conscripted and forced into military service....

"[Russian Internal Affairs (MVD) Minister] Kolokoltsev defended recent Russian law enforcement mobilisation raids on migrant communities and claimed that Russian law enforcement is enforcing standard legal norms." (Express : 25 October 2023) (my emphasis)

As also reported by Vitaly Shevchenko (right),

"The Russian defence ministry has been recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine, apparently taking over from the Wagner mercenary group which was the first to adopt the practice last year.
...
Similarly to Wagner's prisoner units, Storm-Z detachments are reportedly often treated as an expendable force thrown into battle - with little consideration for the lives of their servicemen.

There are also indications that members of other army units can be sent to Storm-Z detachments as punishment for violations such as insubordination or drunkenness." (BBC News : 26 October 2023) (my emphasis)

More insidious, however, as reported by Alexander Butler and Maira Butt (right),

"Russian troops have been executed for retreating from Putin’s offensive in the eastern city of Avdiivka, Donetsk, according to the White House.

“We have information that the Russian military has been actually executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders,” White House spokesperson John Kirby told a media briefing on Thursday.

Ukrainian forces have been repelling the Russian onslaught on the frontline in Donetsk for several weeks since mid-October.

It comes as the Russian Army has been forced to regroup while suffering over 400 casualties a day in a drive to capture the eastern town, Kyiv said." (The Independent : 27 October 2023) (my emphasis)

The Economic Times : 27 October 2023 : YouTube

Unexpectedly, as reported by Will Stewart,

"The Kremlin has issued an extraordinary denial to the 'lies' that Vladimir Putin, 71, had 'died at his luxury Valdia forest palace' - amid claims a 'coup' was underway in Moscow.

This comes after a Telegram channel, which has claimed for months the Russian leader had cancer and was terminally ill, announced that Putin had died.

It further claimed that a 'coup' was underway in Russia as Putin's inner circle would be trying to pass off his 'body double' as the real president.

But Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov (left) told state media RIA Novosti that the report was an 'absurd information canard'. (Mail Online : 27 October 2023) (my emphasis)

That Putin's Kremlin mouthpiece, Dmitry Peskov, has had to deny Putin's demise poses important questions.

The possibility that a Kremlin 'coup' is underway is somewhat reminiscent of the politburo turmoil that took place on the death of Stalin.

Sky News Australia : 24 October 2023 : YouTube

So whilst the Kremlin is being given some breathing space in its war with Ukraine as the eyes of the world is now being focused on the war between Israel and Hamas, Putin's demise will throw the body politic of Russia into an horrendous turmoil from which it cannot escape.

No longer are the Kremlin vultures circling around the ailing body of Putin.

The Kremlin vultures have now landed.

UPDATE 1 : 30 October 2023 : 08.47 :

Lidia Kelly (left) reports that,

"[Shoigu] said, Russia's move to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty did not mean the end of the agreement, and Russia was not lowering its threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.
...
"We are only seeking to restore parity with the United States, who have not ratified this treaty," Russia's RIA news agency quoted Shoigu as saying. "We are not talking about its destruction."

Shoigu said that Moscow was ready for talks on the post-conflict settlement of the Ukraine crisis on further 'co-existence' with the West, but that Western countries needed to stop seeking Russia's strategic defeat.

Making clear the conditions for such talks were not in place yet, Shoigu said: "It is also important to ensure equal relations between all the nuclear powers and permanent United Nations Security Council members who carry special responsibility for upholding peace and global stability." (Reuters : 30 October 2023) (my emphasis)

It is interesting to note that Shoigu's statement about Putin "not lowering [his] threshold for the use of nuclear weapons" seems to rather fly in the face of Putin's recent shaking of his 'nuclear' fist against the West.

Furthermore, why is Shoigu suddenly pushing for talks on a "post-conflict" settlement?

Echoes of the internal politburo 'coup' immediately after the death of Stalin is beginning to ring loud.

No doubt Nikolai Patrushev (cf: image below), Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, and Alexander Bortnikov (cf: image below), Head of the FSB, are now particularly closely watching their backs.

The Kremlin vultures have, indeed, landed!