The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 23rd September 2022
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 23rd September 2022
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
FIERCE FIGHTING continues on all fronts as the Russians rally to halt the Ukrainian advance on the Kharkov front. The Kremlin orders a partial mobilisation as the Donbas republics and the liberated areas of southern Ukraine prepare to vote on whether to join the Russian Federation.
And People’s China has called on all parties to the Ukrainian conflict to negotiate a ceasefire and find a solution that takes into account the security concerns of each side as soon as possible.
Meanwhile reports in the Moscow media say the Russian rally is partly due to the deployment of new “suicide drones” based on Iranian models. The “Geranium-2” which is said to be a modified Iranian Shahed-136 is essentially a remote-controlled flying bomb which can be used to target artillery or missile positions. Without a payload it can also be used as a reconnaissance spotter.
Russian President Vladimir Putin went on Russian TV on Wednesday to support the unity referendums and announce the call of 300,000 reservists to the colours to join the fight. Putin pointed out that the West’s goal is to weaken, divide and destroy Russia. These plans began with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The West then encouraged gangs of international terrorists in the Caucasus, promoted the installation of NATO’s offensive infrastructure close to Russia’s borders and made “total Russophobia their weapon”.
hold the front
At the same time Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu made it clear that the partial mobilisation is primarily needed to hold the 1,000 kilometre long front and the liberated territories. It will end the Ukrainians numerical superiority on the battlefield which has allowed them to launch offensive operations, regardless of heavy losses, like for example during the Ukrainian offensive in the Kherson region.
Shoigu said the Ukrainian armed forces had suffered over 100,000 casualties in the conflict – 61,207 dead and 49,368 wounded. Some 2,000 Western mercenaries have also been killed but a thousand more are still fighting on the Ukrainian side. The defence minister said 5,937 Russian servicemen had fallen “courageously fulfilling their duties” – a figure far lower than the ludicrous numbers we see in the imperialist press.
Calling up the reserves has the full support of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) the biggest opposition party in the State Duma, the Russian parliament. But “fundamental changes in domestic policy are needed,” says Gennady Zyuganov, the CPRF leader. “Victory is forged in the rear, and without a change of course it is impossible to fulfill the president’s instructions. Our oligarchs are still getting fat, while half of the population is making ends meet by 20,000 roubles a month. I was shocked by the forecast of the Central Bank: in 2022, according to the regulator, the outflow of capital from Russia will be a record $ 243 billion. That’s a lot of money! But the head of the Ministry of Finance Siluanov again proposes to put a significant part of the state’s revenues into a cube! This is an absolutely harmful policy for the country!
“The President called for cohesion, but there is no full-fledged dialogue between the authorities and society. Elections in a number of regions are held in the mode of a special operation aimed at achieving a pre-planned result. Krasnodar was turned into an electoral sultanate: some observers were literally dragged out of the polling stations by their legs!
“Russia now needs mobilisation. We are not talking about human resources - they are quite enough to conduct a special operation. It is necessary to stop the outflow of capital and concentrate resources within the country. And United Russia [Putin’s party] is instead violating the electoral system!” Zyuganov said.
“The country must fight for its existence, for its future! And United Russia is crawling along the old liberal rails! In the context of the hybrid war waged against us by the West, this is absolutely unacceptable! It just undermines the situation from within!”