n the midst of a media frenzy over a foray by anti-Putin Russians into Russian Federation territory, Kyrylo Budanov calls on Russian soldiers to surrender.
May 22, 2023
As news outlets rushed to catch up with social media in covering the spate of reports about an incursion into the Russia Federation’s (RF) Belgorod Oblast, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR) released an address to Russian soldiers in Russian.
“You have a choice: die or save your life,” Budanov told the Russian soldiers, referring them to the state project called “I want to live,” a call-in service that explains to RF soldiers how to surrender.
If Budanov’s past experience with psyops is any indication the two events may not necessarily be unrelated. The HUR chief has been a thorn in the side of Moscow, which has tried him in absentia for terrorism, beginning in 2016, when he allegedly led a commando raid in occupied Crimea. Since then he has escaped assassination attempts on more than one occasion.
For weeks now Russian analysts have been predicting a Ukrainian strike into the Belgorod Oblast. Among these analysts are Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary group Wagner, and arch-nationalist Igor Strelkov, who was a former Russian military intelligence officer responsible in large part for Russia’s 2014 incursions into Crimea and the Donbas.
Even the leaked “Discord” Pentagon documents alleged that President Volodymyr Zelensky had discussed the possibility of occupying villages in the Russian Federation to use as leverage in any future negotiations.
The Monday, May 22 incursion by what Russia’s Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov described as “a sabotage and reconnaissance group of the Ukrainian armed forces,” has generated so much media attention so quickly, that many analysts are beginning to suspect either a diversionary attack or merely an elaborate psyops ploy.
Simultaneously, the Svoboda Rossiya (Liberty of Russia) Legion, a group of anti-Putin Russians fighting alongside the Ukrainians published a call to their fellow citizens to rebel against “the Kremlin dictatorship.”
In an interview with ABC News earlier this year, Budanov coyly said that he’s “very glad to see” attacks on Russian territory, even though he cannot claim responsibility.
When asked if he expected more attacks deep inside Russia, the HUR chief responded, “deeper and deeper.”
“You have a choice: die or save your life,”
This war has shown an evil horde of drunk, drugged-up filth on the enemy side, so inebriated that they don’t care if they live or die. Thus, we know which option will be left over between dying and saving their lives. But, I think the Ukrainians know this better than anyone else.
“When asked if he expected more attacks deep inside Russia, the HUR chief responded, “deeper and deeper.”
I want to see a full-blown incursion into mafia land by the AFU. Taking Belarus first and then this would be a viable strategic plan. This will cause a quicker collapse of mafia land than a grueling offensive in the Donbas.