# Kyiv Air Drop **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** ukraine-invasion\ **Created:** [March 1, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310 "2022-03-01T22:15:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/41 "2022-03-03T23:13:57Z")
Yeah, that is an unfortunate point. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2022, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/42 "2022-03-05T23:53:40Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > go after the dirty fortunes of his generals and military ministers. In other words, squeeze every individual who might have the power to instigate a palace coup, to put a bullet in Putin’s head Do even his generals and his military ministers, these days, get into the same room as Putin while armed? – where was that picture of the conference room, with Putin all alone at one side of a very large room, all the people he was consulting “with” on the other, and a caption that they were allowed up one at a time to stand near enough to give a report? I don’t remember which thread that was posted in. ---
**Author:** ![TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thegunismightierthanthepen/32/2981_2.png) [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheGunIsMightierThanThePen)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/43 "2022-03-06T00:20:28Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > where was that picture of the conference room, with Putin all alone at one side of a very large room, all the people he was consulting “with” on the other, and a caption that they were allowed up one at a time to stand near enough to give a report? I don’t remember which thread that was posted in. Was it [this one](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/68)? Matches your description of the scene, but no caption as far as I could tell. ---
**Author:** ![filmstar-en](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@filmstar-en](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmstar-en)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/44 "2022-03-06T00:21:04Z")
Here are some profiles of the characters most often seen with Putin. There are few in uniform, but their military experience is questionable in the context of a large scale invasion of such a large country. They are largely old KGB buddies of Putin from his days in St Petersburg and East Germany. They are all spooks. It maybe explains why the Russian army is proving to be so bad the kind of combined operations at the scale required for this invasion. Afghanistan was a long, long time ago. However they know how to pulverise a city with artillery and air power like Grozny and Aleppo. Whether they will do this to Kiev is another matter. If it is the heart of the Russian identity, as Putin suggests, it makes no sense to destroy it. > **[Ukraine conflict: Who's in Putin's inner circle and running the war?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60573261)** > > Russia's president cuts an isolated figure but he relies on an inner circle when he makes key decisions. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/45 "2022-03-06T00:25:12Z")
> [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](#): > > Was it [this one](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/68)? Matches your description of the scene, but no caption as far as I could tell. There are so many. There are of course the ones demonstrating Putins love for looooong tables: [![](https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1240w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2022-02/220216-putin-scholz-mn-1630-72c559.jpg) ](https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1240w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2022-02/220216-putin-scholz-mn-1630-72c559.jpg) [![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/L0WI8.kjuFrSXLM78cVtQQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtjZj13ZWJw/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2022-02/417de5d0-98c2-11ec-bf3f-aa47d35384f3) ](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/L0WI8.kjuFrSXLM78cVtQQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtjZj13ZWJw/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2022-02/417de5d0-98c2-11ec-bf3f-aa47d35384f3) But even without long tables, Putin does not like to get too close to others: [![](https://idsb.tmgrup.com.tr/ly/uploads/images/2022/02/23/184930.jpg) ](https://idsb.tmgrup.com.tr/ly/uploads/images/2022/02/23/184930.jpg) [![](https://s.france24.com/media/display/256626a0-9345-11ec-844c-005056a90284/w:1024/p:16x9/417d63f3285a5dc88689f1925b054edf94a71d7d.jpg) ](https://s.france24.com/media/display/256626a0-9345-11ec-844c-005056a90284/w:1024/p:16x9/417d63f3285a5dc88689f1925b054edf94a71d7d.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/46 "2022-03-06T00:30:09Z")
> [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](#): > > Was it [this one](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-putin-mentally-deteriorated/960179/68)? Matches your description of the scene, but no caption as far as I could tell. No, a different picture – not Putin at one end of the table and everybody else at the other, but Putin on one side of the room, I think behind a table, and everybody else in chairs at the other side, not near his table. But that is the general idea – he seems not to be letting them near him. I guess he didn’t think the women in training to be air stewards were capable of doing him damage; one of them was sitting right next to him. – It might have been the last one in @Dr.Strangelove’s collection; it was either that or a picture very like it. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/47 "2022-03-06T01:32:58Z")
he def. doesn’t look like the guy you’d invite for a beer after work, does he? ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/48 "2022-03-06T04:27:54Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I guess he didn’t think the women in training to be air stewards were capable of doing him damage; one of them was sitting right next to him. – apparently there’s some question as to whether that video’s real; see post 1295 in the Russia Invades Ukraine thread. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/49 "2022-03-08T03:17:38Z")
I don’t think Putin’s affection for personal space is him being afraid of assassination. It’s been reported that he’s become an absolute lunatic with anti-COVID stuff and forces everyone who comes close to him to walk through a gauntlet of UV light and disinfectant sprays and hasn’t taken a in-person meeting for like 2 years prior to the invasion. Of course, take that for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/50 "2022-03-08T03:24:35Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > I don’t think Putin’s affection for personal space is him being afraid of assassination. It’s been reported that he’s become an absolute lunatic with anti-COVID stuff and forces everyone who comes close to him to walk through a gauntlet of UV light and disinfectant sprays and hasn’t taken a in-person meeting for like 2 years prior to the invasion. If it’s that, then the video with the flight attendants is even weirder. If, of course, that video is real. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/51 "2022-03-08T03:32:47Z")
Who knows. It’s probably either staged to make it look like it’s business as usual in Russia or it’s from a long time ago and they are faking the date. Certainly he could put these “employees” through any screening and disinfecting he wanted prior to his visit. He can’t ask that of heads of state and his cabinet. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/52 "2022-03-08T03:36:51Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > Certainly he could put these “employees” through any screening and disinfecting he wanted prior to his visit. Including having them quarantined for a couple weeks prior. What would he care if they just got volun-told to get locked up in a barracks somewhere beforehand? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/53 "2022-03-08T17:52:03Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > I don’t think Putin’s affection for personal space is him being afraid of assassination. Conor McGregor meets Putin in 2018: [https://old.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/p87bwq/you\_dont\_just\_putin\_your\_arms\_around\_putin/](https://old.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/p87bwq/you_dont_just_putin_your_arms_around_putin/) ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/54 "2022-03-08T18:04:08Z")
Not sure if you’re joking or serious, but the first comment on that post is spot on. > I think this is reading too much into it. They did a casual fun pose, _both_ putting their arms around each other, then switched to a more standard formal pose. These are two guys used to posing for photographs and giving different looks, that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/55 "2022-03-08T18:24:17Z")
This, more or less. I’m not sure about the last line, _some_ outside Europe and North America may risk it, but not many. But the rest is spot on. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kyiv-air-drop/960310/56 "2022-03-09T03:02:53Z")
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