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The Kremlin’s policy of sending hundreds of thousands of Russian men, including many prisoners, to war in Ukraine with little to no training or equipment has had predictable effects back on the home front: numerous soldiers have committed violent crimes upon returning home, and the country reportedly has a critical shortage of psychologists trained to treat PTSD.

The Russian authorities have been reluctant to criticize these veterans, with Putin calling for them to become the country’s “new elite.” But according to inside sources, the Putin’s team is well aware of the risks the returnees pose and fears Russian society isn’t prepared to accept them.

  • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    That’s some poetry or even a lit trope in how the scarecrow of the 90s before him kept him in power only for him to work on returning this dark age in it’s full morbid grace after his inevitable demise. Reality’s dumber than fiction.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Oh, yes. All those Afghan war and first Chechen war veterans forming gangs or (if disabled) asking for money on the streets.

      • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        Corrupt army was also the main importer of guns and drugs into society, not unlike how wagnerites get caught with live ammo and grenades these days. Not to the same degree yet, but it’s just a question of time with how much fucks are given about them at all. Probably, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to buy a gun from them early before the system collapses once again.

        • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Probably, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to buy a gun from them early before the system collapses once again.

          I think it would be. Skill, received psychological ability for violence, specific common points over which combat veterans understand each other, - you can’t buy these things. What good is a gun without them?

          • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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            4 months ago

            Truth bombs.

            I’m more afraid of D-tier civilian gopniks having them and me having none but entry level self-defense and hunting tools.