Plot to assassinate Vladimir Solovyov

[captancourgette]

I realize Nypost is not a reliable website, I also see it on other non reputable websites The daily beast, The washington examiner
https://nypost.com/2022/04/25/russi...rds-in-possible-staged-assassination-attempt/
So thats big red flags.
Did this actually get shown on Russian TV as proof of a Neo-Nazi plan helped out with 'Mr Signature Illegible' to kill the TV Host?

It just seems too incompetent to be true, but then again I know there are people that really believe in a Flat Earth or qanon etc coupled with Russia general incompetence shown so far in their invasion, perhaps it is real.

EDIT: OK I checked there are Spar supermarket's in Russia.

 

[Mendel]

Did this actually get shown on Russian TV as proof of a Neo-Nazi plan helped out with 'Mr Signature Illegible' to kill the TV Host?

Well, it is published on Ria Novosti (the NYP links to it), so it's definitely official.

New York Post excerpts:

Article:

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation released the bizarre photos Monday and announced that police had arrested six neo-Nazis plotting to kill Russian TV Host Vladimir Solovyov in Moscow.

The Russian federal police (FSB) claimed to recover "an improvised explosive device, eight improvised incendiary devices of the Molotov cocktail type, six PM pistols, a sawn-off hunting rifle, an RGD-5 grenade, more than a thousand cartridges of various calibers, drugs, [and] fake Ukrainian passports" from the would-be assassins, as well as "nationalist literature and paraphernalia."

Another video distributed by Russian state news agency RIA showed an inscription in an unidentified book supposedly recovered in the arrest — signed in Russian with the words "signature illegible."

Solovyov, who hosts a show on Russian state TV's channel 1, is widely regarded in the West as a Kremlin propagandist.

Source: https://nypost.com/2022/04/25/russia-appears-to-confuse-the-sims-for-sim-cards-in-possible-staged-assassination-attempt/

Ria Novosti via Google Translate:

Article:

MOSCOW, April 25 - RIA Novosti. The neo-Nazis detained in Moscow discussed the possibility of killing not only the journalist Vladimir Solovyov, but also the general director of the Rossiya Segodnya MIA Dmitry Kiselev, the editor-in-chief of the agency and RT Margarita Simonyan and other journalists, follows from the operational video footage released by the FSB.

Source: https://ria.ru/20220425/pokushenie-1785355333.html

Screenshot from the video embedded with the ria.ru article:

Seems like somebody is about to lose their job.

 

[captancourgette]

Well, it is published on Ria Novosti (the NYP links to it), so it's definitely official.

OK thanks, my Internet provider has blocked access to that site,
I just can't believe that they typed '3 sims' into the browser (googles first hit is a link to https://www.thesims3.com/)
and they went, OK the FSB must want us to buy this game
I can understand them overlooking the signature but the videogames, thats hilarious.
Whats the odd one out in this picture

I guess thats what you get when you dare not question the higher ups.
Though of course this could be a diliberate case of self sabotage

 

[Mendel]

Though of course this could be a deliberate case of self sabotage

I feel certain this is a case of intentional sabotage in the form of malicious compliance, i.e. doing what the bosses tell you, but not what they want.

These bosses may well be the same people who lied to Putin about Ukraine and caused the war in the first place.

Whats the odd one out in this picture

The wig is a strong contender, though.

 

[Mauro]

OK thanks, my Internet provider has blocked access to that site,
I just can't believe that they typed '3 sims' into the browser (googles first hit is a link to https://www.thesims3.com/)
and they went, OK the FSB must want us to buy this game
I can understand them overlooking the signature but the videogames, thats hilarious.
Whats the odd one out in this picture

I guess thats what you get when you dare not question the higher ups.
Though of course this could be a diliberate case of self sabotage

During the Cold War an Italian satyrical newspaper, Candido, used to poke fun at the literal interpretations of orders coming from 'above' by the Communist Party (at those times Soviet-friendly, if not Soviet-aligned). The jokes are hard to render into English, but they are all on the line of 'SIM' vs. 'The Sims'. It looks like things did not change that much in Russia in the last 60 years

"Quick, blind and total obedience - Countermand, comrades! (*) The sentence written on L'Unità [the party journal] "We must compel the farmers to respect agrarian cats" was mispelled, and must then be read "We must compel the farmers to respect agrarian pacts" -

(*) Contrordine, compagni (countermand, comrades) became a common catchphrase at the times

 

[FatPhil]

I just can't believe that they typed '3 sims' into the browser (googles first hit is a link to https://www.thesims3.com/)
and they went, OK the FSB must want us to buy this game
I can understand them overlooking the signature but the videogames, thats hilarious.

I wonder if something along the lines of "the 9/11 guys used Microsoft Flight Simulator to help practice their attacks on buildings, maybe this simulator will be useful for attacking middle-class media types" went through their minds?

The "Signature Unreadable" signature is for me the most face-palm inducing part. That's "who's on first" levels of miscommunication.

 

[captancourgette]

The wig is a strong contender, though.

Now you mention it, It looks like it has a green tinge.
If you want to go unnoticed in a crowd in Regressive Russia and carry out your dastardly plot, you need to have green hair?

I do like the photo of the guy on his Wiki page interviewing Putin back in 2015

I thought this maintain distance from Putin thing was only recent but apparently not

 

[JMartJr]

Is "Green Wig" a euphemism or something in Russian? Might be another "Sims 3" or "Signature Illegible" moment...

Also, seems like this needs to be cross posted on the humor thread. Truly bizarre.

 

[deirdre]

the shirts look like they just came out of packaging. you dont normally have package creases in t-shirts.

 

[Mendel]

Source: https://mobile.twitter.com/kromark/status/1518673559148802050

Looks like "подпись неразборчива" is a pseudonym.

 

[Mauro]

Looks like "подпись неразборчива" is a pseudonym.

It really means 'unintelligible signature' according to Google translate:

 

[flarkey]

the shirts look like they just came out of packaging. you dont normally have package creases in t-shirts.

I thought this too.

 

[flarkey]

It really means 'unintelligible signature' according to Google translate:

Is there a translation of what the rest of the book's note says?

 

[FatPhil]

Is there a translation of what the rest of the book's note says?

Aided by Deepl (perhaps someone could double-check with google-translate) it seems to be:

Timokha,
Thanks for invaluable
support
in the hardest years.
Kill to live.
Live to kill.
Signature illegible.
NS/WP
crew.
Moscow

Side note - the book is Restrukt! ("reconstruction") by Tesak, a notorious Russian neo-nazi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_Martsinkevich), and is the name of the movement he founded.

 

[FatPhil]

"... eight improvised incendiary devices of the Molotov cocktail type... "

From elsewhere, unverified: Those molotov cocktails apparently were made with *plastic* bottles. <fx:facepalm id="picard">

 

[Mendel]

I thought this too.

It could mean the accused ordered them and hadn't had an opportunity to wear them yet. Worn shirts would certainly be better proof, though.

From elsewhere, unverified: Those molotov cocktails apparently were made with *plastic* bottles. <fx:facepalm id="picard">

I saw that as well, but noticed metal caps, which are used on glass bottles. Plastic bottles have plastic caps. They didn't buy the contents at the gas station, though, because the liquid is colorless.

Source: https://t.me/slvn_pomet/1270

 

[JMartJr]

Plastic bottles have plastic caps.

In my experience, yes. But I have never been to Russia. Is this really universal, or are there exceptions? My Google skillshave not found an answer so far.

They didn't buy the contents at the gas station, though, because the liquid is colorless.

Well spotted. I suppose there are clear petroleum distillates (how "white" is white gas?) but why not just do the simple thing and use gasoline? I suppose using water from the tap would be even easier, though it would not be a good choice if one was trying to make functional Molotov Cocktails instead of props...

 

[Leonardo Cuellar]

There is a further hypothesis circulating. Lately Russia has banned The Sims 4 expansion pack because it is against the anti-gay law. It would therefore be an attempt to get people into illegal activities in Russia.

 

[Hevach]

In a weird way Sims 3 is the part that almost makes the most sense next to Nazi shirts, a pristine copy of Mein Kamph, and Signature Unintelligible.

Nobody's a terrorist 24/7, even Osama Bin Laden had a variety of mundane reading materials from policy thinkpieces to books on caligraphy and silkscreening.

 

[Mendel]

There is a further hypothesis circulating. Lately Russia has banned The Sims 4 expansion pack because it is against the anti-gay law. It would therefore be an attempt to get people into illegal activities in Russia.

AFAIK it's not being offered, so that it can't get banned?

In a weird way Sims 3 is the part that almost makes the most sense next to Nazi

It's not incriminating evidence, so it shouldn't be laid out there.

 

[Mendel]

Russia has banned The Sims 4 expansion pack

Article:

published February 16, 2022

EA said last week that the expansion would not be available in Russia because of the country's LGBTQ laws, but has now changed its mind.

The turnaround presumably means My Wedding Stories will have to be rated Adults Only in Russia, which will keep it out of the hands of minors, but that seems like an academic point: The Sims 4 itself is rated AO there anyway because it already allows players to engage in same-sex relationships in the game.

Unfortunately, to ensure the entire Sims community is "able to celebrate together," the launch of My Wedding Stories has been delayed slightly, and is now set to arrive on February 23.

Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/the-sims-4-my-wedding-stories-will-be-released-in-russia-after-all-unaltered-and-unchanged/

On February 24th, Russia crossed the border into Ukraine.

 

[Leonardo Cuellar]

It isn't a speech of release date or changes in the extension pack, but it is a speech of how russian public opinion interprets the contents of that video game. If the Russian Orthodox Church has initiated propaganda against The Sims, this automatically becomes a symbol of ideological drift like the swastika. We should know in more detail what russian public opinion was saying in this regard. Practically the message they want to get across is: Nazis and perverts

 

[Mendel]

Was this plot a false flag operation? It seems to me that the Russian neo-nazis decided to assassinate (or attempt to) Solovyov, that the FSB prevented their plot, and linked the group to Ukraine with fake evidence.

The Russian news agency TASS presented the case as perpetrated by Russian citizens:

Article:

MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/

Previously, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) press office announced that several members of the "National Socialism/White Power" neo-Nazi terror group (outlawed in Russia) were detained. All of them are Russian citizens, who planned to assassinate journalist Vladimir Solovyov and hide abroad. They are currently making confession statements.

Source: https://tass.com/society/1442735/amp

And the perpetrators really were Russian neo-nazis.

Article:

A video of the arrests on April 25 shows two men talking about their plan to assassinate Solovyov and connecting it to the Ukrainian Security Service.

Druzhinin, meanwhile, complained to the Investigative Committee that he had been beaten and forced to confess to "things he didn't do" during the course of his arrest. He also claimed that law enforcement had planted evidence on him.

According to the alleged "participant in the armed group" who spoke to Baza, there really was an assassination attempt being planned, but not at the orders of the Ukrainian Security Service; the group simply wanted to commit a crime that would attract more attention than setting cars or military enlistment offices on fire.

Source: https://meduza.io/amp/en/feature/2022/06/23/the-alleged-attempt-to-assassinate-vladimir-solovyov

For this to be an official false flag operation, it would need to have been planned as such by the FSB, which appears to not have been the case. Rather, it appears that the FSB manufactured the Ukraine link after the fact.