You have to wonder how much of this “on the run” situation with the Russian army is about tactical withdrawal (to save lives vs land), vs a realization they can’t adequately defend the territory, vs soldiers being told to remain but leave anyway.
I’m fairly sure their presence there is meant to be a “subtle” reminder to Russia, that if they start anything funny in Moldova with “little green men”, the 101th will roll up Transnistria like a cheap carpet, and present it to Moldova gift-wrapped.
Fascists bloody love mysticism and woo. It ties in directly to the core characteristic of glorifying a mythical golden age for the nation and volk. In the U.S. it’s also a good way for grifters to make a buck off the Know-Nothing marks.
When you see someone promoting junk like parapsychology and defaming skeptics who try to de-bunk it (hi Mitch!), remember that they will not be our allies in the struggle against right-wing populism.
That was certainly true of the Nazis. Even the swastika was chosen because of its supposed mystical powers.
Anton Krasovsky literally strokes his chin as he ponders whether Ukraine should be allowed to exist.
What were they testing - “does this plane still fly after a couple decades in cold storage” or “is one week of training enough to turn a mobilized drunkard into a fighter pilot”? Maybe “how many plane parts can we safely sell on the black market”?
“This, this and this have already been stolen, will it still fly?”
ETA:
As is a repair and repair training base.
Sadly, my tour guide wouldn’t even try to get us a look inside in (couple decades ago 
)… You could only see the tail fins of a bunch of different 
planes poking over the fence.
A competent invader issues occupation scrip currency, which everyone agrees is fundamentally worthless but lives with as a fact of life. Not Putin and his cronies, who are surprised that the occupied population refuses to take the actual currency of the invading nation-state, which has been rendered effectively worthless in real currency markets by the very act of the unprovoked invasion.
Photo of the plane in question, a few minutes before it took off on its mission.
The internal logic is that the occupied territories are part of Russia now, so the rouble must be introduced along with Russian law and institutions.
Also, IIRC occupation scrip is usually produced by stamping or overprinting local currency, but perhaps national pride and hatred of everything Ukrainian prevent the Russians issuing anything called hryvnia.
Russian military theft is a circular economy. Steal uniforms and sell them to soldiers who haven’t been issued any because of theft. Steal aircraft parts and sell them to commanders whose planes are grounded because of stolen parts.
Toothless perhaps.
