The fragility of Putin’s image Putin’s carefully constructed image of a macho and a “strong man” would not survive an unedited, real-life meeting with the troops.

Even his press team, official photographers and propagandists cannot hide his aging and a total disconnect, mental and psychological, from the common Russians and  soldiers. The direct contact with the  troops would shatter Putin’s image and disillusion his followers.

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The army Putin spent 2 decades building has been largely destroyed in Ukraine, and Russia's 'strategic defeat' could threaten his regime

• Russia's military will have to be rebuilt as a result of the war in Ukraine, experts say. 
• The war has "dramatically" altered perceptions of Russia's military strength, one expert told Insider.
• Putin's regime could also now be in jeopardy, as it faces rare examples of dissent. 
• Over the roughly two decades that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been in power, he's dedicated a lot of time and money to building up and modernizing Russia's military. In the process, Putin garnered a reputation as a force to be reckoned with and was widely viewed as one of the most powerful leaders in the world. 

  But the war in Ukraine has decimated the Russian military that Putin spent years building, while raising questions about his grip on power, Russia experts and military analysts told Insider. 

  "Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been a strategic defeat. So far the Kremlin has not been able to achieve its strategic level objectives and it has incurred significant costs. Russia's military is going to have to be rebuilt," George Barros, a military analyst with the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), told Insider.

  "The conventional ground army ground force that the Kremlin has spent the last two decades on creating — seeking to create a modern military — that force has been just largely degraded and in a large part destroyed in the past six months of war in Ukraine," Barros added. "It's very true to say that the conventional Russian ground force has taken a significant beating in Ukraine. It will have to be rebuilt."

  
  

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she wants Russian president Vladimir Putin to face the International Criminal Court over war crimes in Ukraine. “That Putin must lose this war and must face up to his actions, that is important to me,” she told the TV channel of German news outlet Bild on Thursday.

This should go well...

 British intelligence: The acceleration of officer cadets’ training, and Wagner’s demand for assault troops suggests that two of the most critical shortages within the military manning crisis are probably combat infantry and junior commanders.  Follow 

Is Belarus next? 

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of the democratic opposition in Belarus, writes for us that she lost a rigged election in Belarus – only the west can help us win freedom from Russia:

Peat bogs span almost 15% of my home country of Belarus. But, in recent times, citizens have grown wary of these dense, acidic wetlands.

Their decaying vegetative matter is a valuable source of fuel and, after decades of being gradually drained and stripped away, the drying marshes that remain pose a significant fire risk. Smouldering underground fires can burn for months unseen before bursting out into the open and wreaking devastation.

Much like these underground peat fires that grow shielded from view, democracy in Belarus is currently burning and President Alexander Lukashenko’s corrupt, despotic regime is the decaying marshland, tinder-dry and ripe for destruction.

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The news of a flurry of announcements that the proxy-Russian authorities in occupied areas of Ukraine will all be trying to hold referendums this weekend about joining the Russian Federation does not appear to have gone down well with the Russian stock market.

Reuters reports that stocks plunged to their lowest in a month as moves in Moscow reignited martial law fears with new legislation, and the plans to hold referendums in Ukraine sped forwards apace.

Russia’s parliament on Tuesday approved a bill to toughen punishments for a host of crimes such as desertion, damage to military property and insubordination if they were committed during military mobilisation or combat situations.

“Indices are clearly collapsing amid fears around the risks of mobilisation and martial law,” Tinkoff Investments analyst Kirill Komarov told Reuters, adding that Tuesday’s collapse would likely be the rouble-based MOEX index’s sharpest drop since June 30.

Turkish lenders have suspended the use of the Russian payment system Mir, says a senior US administration official, with other banks soon to follow.

A senior U.S. administration official on Tuesday said steps Turkish lenders Isbank and Denizbank took to suspend the use of Russian payment system Mir make a lot of sense, and added that the United States expects more banks will cut off Mir over sanctions risk.

“The steps these banks took make a lot of sense. Cutting off Mir is one of the best ways to protect a bank from the sanctions risk that comes from doing business with Russia. We expect more banks to cut off Mir because they don*t want to risk being on the wrong side of the coalition*s sanctions,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Reuters: Flights out of Russia sell out after Putin's address.  After Russian President Vladimir Putin's morning address on Sept. 21, in which he ordered the immediate call-up of 300,000 reservists, one-way flights out of Russia started to sell out quickly, Reuters reports.