Most of these news articles mention “polls”, “votes”, and “election” without the necessary scare quotes to indicate that these are not actually those things.
Is there a significance to using green dye?
It was used in attacks on opponents of the Russian government, including Alexei Navalny.
Brilliant green solution, aka zelyonka (~ “green stuff”), is a topical antiseptic very commonly found in first aid kits and such since Soviet times. It also instantly dyes your skin and won’t wash out for days. As a kid with chickenpox, all my blisters got dabbed with zelyonka, and the green spots on my skin lasted longer than the blisters. (There are stories of Soviet doctors using it as a kind of placebo for ailments where it couldn’t possibly help, simply because it was one of the few medicines that never experienced shortages.) A plentiful, cheap and annoying (but not seriously harmful) substance, it is perfect for all kinds of mischief. Though recently in Russia it has also acquired a political aspect, as noted by GagHalfrunt:
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Russia has the “best democracy” and lashed out at those who criticize Moscow for its handling of domestic political affairs.
“We will no longer tolerate criticism of our democracy and claims that it is not the kind that it should be,” Peskov said during a talk at the World Youth Festival in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region.
“Our democracy is the best and we will continue to build it,” he added.
emphasis added
Secret classes to counter Russian brainwashing in occupied Ukraine
Already posted by @timd
The Ukrainian governor of the north-eastern city of Kharkiv said 15 settlements had been shelled by Russia over the past 24 hours.
Two years into the war, and journalists still haven’t grasped that the city of Kharkiv and Kharkiv Oblast are not the same thing, just as New York city and New York state are not the same. If the mayor of Kharkiv, says something, it’s the city. If the governor of Kharkiv says something, it’s the oblast.
This goes for all oblasts in Ukraine, which are named after their capital cities. Special shout-out to journalists who don’t know that the Danube river ports of Izmail and Reni are in Odesa Oblast and hence write up drone attacks on them as attacks on the port of Odesa.
