IMHO India is in a similar situation to the US under Trump. The country as a whole isn’t authoritarian, but the leadership is. There’s also some old Cold War relationships and their dependence to some extent on Russian arms. I admit to a lack of knowledge regarding South Africa.
According to the Guardian live blog, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had an interview today with an Italian broadcaster and he was asked about the rumors that are going around about Putin’s health. He did not answer directly. This is what he said:
“Ask the foreign leaders who spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin recently, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. I think you will understand what is at stake.”
I know Macron has said that Putin seems different now than in the past.
What is wrong with you?
I am hoping that Russia will trigger NATO just enough to get a more-robust NATO response in Ukraine/Europe (and win the war more quickly), while not enough to trigger nuclear war. A lot of good NATO conventional firepower has been sitting idle on the sidelines thus far. The right amount of Russian provocation could get it onto the playing field.
very good twitter thread … about the structure, organization and equipment of russian BTGs
also - sabotage is already moving into moscow…
Do Ukrainians speak Russian with not enough accent to give them away? If so Russia has a ginormous infiltration problem.
Some positive news from this terrible war. It’s remarkable any people are coming out of that steelworks.
This is the first mention of UN vehicles. I guess their part of the negotiated corrider?
Considering previous evacuation agreements violated, deportations, atrocities, and Russia’s open goal of eliminating Ukrainians as a distinct nationality/ethnicity, I would be damned skeptical of any evacuation overseen by Russia.
It probably won’t be long before the Ukrainian military starts a counterattack in Mariupol.
At least shell the Russian positions with artillery.
Most of the civilians are gone and the buildings bombed out. There’s no reason not to use Ukrainian artillery. Harass the Russians as much as possible. Make life in Mariupol hell for them.
Moderating:
Try not to make things personal.
Not a warning.
That’s been going on sporadically for decades.
That would work both ways.
Another mysterious fire Russia, this time in Perm, 1000 miles (1500 km) from the Ukrainian border:
https://twitter.com/TpyxaNews/status/1521113120042885121
According to Russian state media:
If this is sabotage, I hope they’re trying to ensure as few people are around as possible before setting their explosives.
A small fire sounds more like sabotage than missile strikes.
Family ties between Russians and Ukrainians runs deep. There may be some loosely organized resistance along the border.
It could also be accidents from ramping up production. The bosses set unrealistic goals to support the war. Overworked employees make mistakes.
Just wondering - whole these fires SOUND bad - is there a way to compare them to NORMAL occurrences? Is it clear that these fires and such clearly statistically exceed normal?
Just want to make sure we aren’t attributing some Russian official’s heart attack in Kamchatka to Ukrainian assassination squads! 
Yes, there’s always the possibility of random fires. Except the reported ones are all in buildings that have some connection to the Russian military.
Which may be significant, or may be selection bias – they’re just ordinary fires that happen to be newsworthy because they look like sabotage or other anti-invasion resistance.
It’s impossible to be sure. If corruption has gutted industrial safety and quality like it did the armed forces, perhaps every factory is a disaster waiting to spontaneously happen.
Information from Wikipedia on the Raptor patrol boats:
Class overview
Name Patrol boats of the project 03160 “Raptor”
Builders JSC “LSZ” Pella
Operators Russian Navy
Built 2013 - present
In service Since 2015
In commission Since 2014
Planned 24
Completed 17
Active 14 (9 Baltic, 3-4 Black Sea, 1 Caspian)[1]
Lost 3[2][3]
Fourteen boats active, three or four in the Black Sea. Per the first footnote [2] where it says ‘Lost’, one of those was damaged on 21 March 2022 and was being towed to a Russian port. The second footnote there [3] reports the two that were just destroyed. So the Russians are down to one or two of those in the Black Sea.