Putin’s plane has left Moscow for St. Petersburg. Looks like he is fleeing from the advancing Wagner Group military column

News@kbin.social – 145 points – 1 years ago

Brave Sir Putin ran away.
("No!")
Bravely ran away away.
("I didn't!")
When danger reared its ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
("I never!")
Yes, brave Sir Putin turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
("You're lying!")
Swiftly taking to his feet,
He beat a very brave retreat.
Bravest of the brave, Sir Putin!

Leaving the capital when Wagner still hasn’t reached it. Not a good look.

Prigozhin not even reaching the capital isn't a great look either. Both men come off looking like feckless assholes. Oh well, not like I was rooting for either one.

So Putin thinking Zelensky would flee Ukraine at the first sign of trouble when he invaded is just self-projection?

Big question is, where does he go from there ? Asking for ~~the Interpol~~ a friend.

Historically smart money is, far away from large population centers. There's a reason the French monarchy was forced to stay in Paris during the revolution.

Other smart moves would probably be - lose the controversial defense minister, blame it all on him, put Prigozhin in a prestigious but far-away position, wind the war down slowly while trying to find a "Mission Accomplished" moment to try and cool things down with the west, etc.

Almost nobody in a position of power actually does the smart thing in these situations, though. So, my popcorn is ready today. 🍿

Safest action would be to hand himself over to the Hague. At least he won't be Gaddafied.

Absolutely no way in hell that a plane carrying Putin would be broadcasting ADSB

Absolutely no way in hell that a plane carrying Putin would be broadcasting ADSB

What about a way in Russia? 😃

Same thing really

I'm not saying that Putin is aboard the plane, but I don't think that Wagner has any substantial air-to-air capability. I know that they operated some ground attack planes in Ukraine earlier, but AFAIK, that's it. So there probably is limited risk to Putin in that information going out.

EDIT: Apparently it turned off its transponder later while in flight.

the pilot better turns on ADSB if he does not want to collide with other planes. usually they send an ID with no other information, but if that ID is known… lemmy knows

ADSB isn't necessary, really. Lots of military aircraft fly every day without ADSB active. Also, radar exists.

The plane is a destraction. He is in train going the other way

Any confirmation that he is actually on the plane? I saw on an OSINT discord server earlier that his plane attempted to enter Kazakhstan and was turned away.

I'd be willing to believe it's an attempt to divert Wagner from going to Moscow.

He needs a ride, not ammunition

Who expected Putin, who staged photo-ops with actors posing as regular people and who put a superlong table between himself and his own minions, to actually be brave?

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