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Putin’s Allies
Some of Russia’s most helpful resources are us
One month into Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, many people are at least vaguely familiar with some aspects of Russian armor, even if no one can discern between variants of T-72 nor remember how many dismounts can be carried inside a Russian BMP. A few people may even remember hearing something about Russian Army battle groups and their organization. Most people will know about the small group of kleptomaniac billionaires who’ve profited greatly from Putin’s regime and the vast expanse of luxury yachts, private jets, and mansions they enjoy. Likewise, most people will vaguely recall something about 190,000 Russian soldiers being committed to the invasion.
But that’s as far as it goes. Russia is the enemy, we’re the good guys, and we’ve promised to send more anti-tank weapons to Ukraine than anyone can remember. Hell, some of those weapons may even arrive one day! So here in the West we can all feel very virtuous.
Except… Putin has a lot more in the battlespace than our attention-deficit-disorder journalists care to tell us, because as always reality would spoil the nice story and upset people in power. But here on Medium I’m just an obscure writer with no influence; therefore I can, for what little it’s worth, try to convey a small fraction of the complex reality in which we all live.
