This Is A Serious... LOL.

Wait a minute, how could this be, wink, wink?

МОСКВА, 20 декабря. /ТАСС/. Компания "Транснефть" получила заявки от Польши и Германии на прокачку нефти на декабрь, 2023 год и первый квартал следующего года соответственно, несмотря на сообщения о нежелании продолжать поставки. Об этом заявил президент "Транснефти" Николай Токарев во вторник в эфире телеканала "Россия-24". "Вот объявили, что не будут брать с первого января у России нефть. А к нам пришли заявки сейчас от польских потребителей: на следующий год 3 млн тонн дайте нам, и на декабрь 360 тыс. тонн, и на первый квартал Германия уже подала заявку - тоже дайте", - сказал он.

Translation:  MOSCOW, 20 December. /TASS/. Transneft has received applications from Poland and Germany to pump oil for December, 2023 and the first quarter of next year, respectively, despite reports of unwillingness to continue deliveries. This was stated by Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev on Tuesday on the air of the Rossiya-24 TV channel. “They announced that they would not take oil from Russia from January 1. And now we have received applications from Polish consumers: give us 3 million tons next year, and 360 thousand tons for December, and Germany has already submitted an application for the first quarter “Give it to us too,” he said.

Of course, Transneft has a long-term (through 2024) contract with Polish operator Orlen, but... but... what about sanctions, price caps and shit like that? Nah, it is all for the show. The latest EU (9th) "horrible" sanctions cancelled for Russia... succory, acetone and... lasers (here I start to giggle uncontrollably) with... rhododendrons. WTF. This horrifying "package" moved Elena Karaeva to write an acerbic and hilarious piece for Ria (sadly, only in Russian) on this matter. You see, there are reportedly 130 PR agencies from the US alone which are in charge of "spinning" the SMO. But somebody forgot to tell those "experts" that reality is a bitch and no amount of spin can substitute food, heat and military victory. But what do I know? 

Meanwhile, the info from Bakhmut is dire for VSU and, without going into long elaborations, there seems to be a nice "little" cauldron forming which will collapse the front. VSU even throws formations from Kherson to Bakhmut. Make your own conclusions. The reports about losses of VSU are mind-boggling even from the actively pro-Kiev regime US "Mozart" group. 

Ukrainian units training with Mozart “have been taking extraordinarily high casualties,” Milburn told Newsweek. “The numbers you are reading in the media about 70 percent and above casualties being routine are not exaggerated.” 

Meanwhile: 

The Kremlin has commented on a statement by Andrey Gurulev, a retired general and MP, who earlier said that Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a special military operation zone as Russia continues its campaign against Ukrainian forces. Earlier on Tuesday, Gurulev said that “our commander-in-chief has been to the special military operation zone,” referring to Putin. “When it comes to the visit to the special military operation zone, it … was very important that [the president] did not just receive a report on the situation… but talked to every commander personally,” the retired general said, adding that “personal communication provides full understanding of what is happening now and what would happen in the future.” “If he [Gurulev] means the headquarters, where he [Putin] was on Friday, then yes,” Peskov told Russia’s Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper.

Somebody needs to tell Gurulev (a very dubious figure to put it mildly) to shut his yapper once in a while, but since the info is out, let's start the stop-watch before "anonymous official" from Pentagon, State Department, CIA, NASA, USDA etc. (take you pick) will tell NYT that they saved Vladimir Putin's life by telling Kiev not to kill him, right;))  So, here we are today.