From 0410 to 1617 very large Soviet-era military transport planes sent from Russia (each with capacity for 245 soldiers) were tracked landing at a Belarus airport.

За 13 часов в Беларусь прилетели 6 военно-транспортных бортов ВКС РФ

За последние 13 часов в Беларусь на аэродром в Мачулищах прилетели шесть военно-транспортных самолетов Ил-76МД ВКС РФ.

Это борты с рег. номерами: RF-76745, RA-86900, RF-76549, RF-86898, RA-76763 и RF-76772. Они начали прилетать в Беларусь начиная с 4-х утра, а последний (RF-76772) приземлился в Мачулищах в 18:17 по минскому времени.

По нашей информации, все самолёты что-то привозят в Беларусь, но что именно — пока неизвестно. Нельзя исключать, что может идти как доставка техники, так и ротация/подвоз мобилизированных.

Если мы говорим о привозе в страну солдат ВС РФ, то речь может идти о максимум 1 470 солдатах, так как максимальная вместимость каждого из Ил-76МД — 245 человек.

Детальное расписание прилёта бортов на иллюстрации. Если вам известны какие-либо подробности — пишите в…

I think my favorite description of this plane is a 1960s truck for troop/equipment movements to remote/rural areas that also can fly.

They look like cowbirds landing to graze fields.

You may recall back in February that Belarus gave Putin access to its territory to start his latest invasion of Ukraine.

And you may also have noticed in the last days (with weather warming up significantly) Russia launched huge numbers of missiles and drones at Ukrainian civilians and their critical infrastructure.

“This war that you are waging, Russia, it is not with NATO, as your propagandists lie. It is not for historical reasons,” Zelensky said. “Your leader wants to show that he has the military behind him and that he is in front. But he is just hiding. He hides behind the military, behind missiles, behind the walls of his residences and palaces. He hides behind you and burns your country and your future. No one will ever forgive you for this terror,” he continued. “Ukraine will never forgive.”

Some analysts suggest Russian missile attacks increasingly include “deliberate provocation” by taking a path where they could only be intercepted by Ukraine over Belarusian territory.

Indeed, a Ukrainian interception missile path ended up with debris in Belarus.

If six flying trucks are meant to be a distraction, even as provocation, it’s unclear whether anything Russia does at this point could overcome Putin’s weakness.

Russia might have sent empty planes to Belarus, lacking any ability to divert its own overstretched troops; hoping a bunch of its old cowbirds will scare Ukraine into diverting theirs away from Russia to the Belarus border.

Belarus doesn’t allegedly pose much of a military threat however, since less than ten percent there support a war with Ukraine. If the dictator did attempt a fight, he’d probably need to keep all his troops at home to prevent flushing himself down a drain that Putin plumbed.

Many counties (e.g. France, UK, Germany) recently signaled they would be backing away from aid to Mali after Russian mercenaries were exposed there having prominent influence.

The pressure to recognize and steer clear of Putin’s hand seems to have only worsened the Russian disinformation crisis (let alone ruthless massacres of civilians) in Mali.

Now the Mali government, under the grip of infamously deceitful Russian mercenaries, is reportedly trying to send UN peacekeepers to jail for being… mercenaries.

A court in the increasingly isolated West African nation of Mali sentenced 46 soldiers from neighboring Ivory Coast to 20 years in jail on Friday, after the military junta that runs Mali accused them of being mercenaries.

The government of Ivory Coast said the soldiers were in Mali to support the United Nations peacekeeping mission, a force of 15,000 members that has been there for almost a decade to protect civilians from violent Islamist groups. But the Court of Appeal in Mali’s capital, Bamako, convicted them of crimes including conspiracy against the government, after a closed trial that lasted a day and a half.

If that sounds like rediculously backwards double-talk, you’re hearing unmistakable sounds of Russian military intelligence.

It’s similar to how Russian mercenaries operate now in Ukraine under Putin’s Nazi-sounding doctrine, while accusing their anti-Nazi targets of being the Nazis.

To be fair, Mali presents a complex environment and reporters are saying “what if” about every possibility.

Ivory Coast is perhaps known best for both excessive corruption, and overcoming much of it during ebola thanks to direct UN military intervention. That background of militant anti-corruption success makes it an even more interesting case — Russia hates anti-corruption more than anything.

It’s possible the positive legacy of UN intervention there was still going, and someone hoped it could help Mali. That terrified the notorious Russian mercenaries who thrive on corruption.

Or it’s possible that a significantly reduced UN presence slipped back into the grip of local corruption, but that level of competition for power usually wouldn’t bother the Russians so….

Either way, Mali sounds like it’s aligning with the wrong side of history when totally corrupt Russian mercenaries are believed to be pushing politicians to put UN peacekeepers in jail.