The Truth Putin Is Desperately Trying to Hide from Russia

The Military Show

Become a Member Today and Unlock EXCLUSIVE Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKfak8fBm_Lhy4eX9UKxEpA/join  As Ukrainian deep strikes bring the war directly into Russian cities, the Kremlin is intensifying a nationwide crackdown to suppress photos, videos, and media coverage of damaged infrastructure. Facing fines, arrests, and severe treason charges, Russian citizens are targeted by aggressive state censorship designed to preserve an illusion of control. However, mounting public fatigue and fear of an impending mobilization wave are driving growing domestic resistance—from local anti-recruitment groups to a fresh exodus of citizens fleeing abroad.  ⏱️ CHAPTERS: 00:00 - War Reaches Moscow and St. Petersburg 01:20 - Russian Authorities Clamp Down on Drone Attack Videos 02:40 - 20-Year Prison Threats for Filming Air Defense Operations 05:30 - FSB Scheme to Block Telegram Social Media Platform 07:15 - Putin Relies on Navy Day Speech Propaganda to Justify Invasion 11:00 - Kremlin Prepares New Conscription Decrees and Forced Drafts 12:00 - Forced Recruitment and Street Abductions in Penza Region 13:45 - Russian Public Backlash Against Forced Military Contracts 16:15 - Penza Village Forms 250-Person Militia to Fight Recruiters 18:15 - Mass Exodus: Russians Buy Properties and Flee to Armenia 19:40 - Zelenskyy Warns of Planned Russian October Mobilization 21:30 - Rising Internal Rebellion Threatens Kremlin Authority  Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join  #militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis #themilitaryshow  SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/DR3MDx5R

Transcript

00:01War has come home to Russia. The conflict is no longer reserved for the

00:05battlefields of Ukraine, as increasing numbers of drones and missiles are seen

00:10lighting up the skies above Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities and regions

00:14across the vast Russian territory. Places that once seemed safe feel more

00:18dangerous with every passing hour, as fires and explosions become everyday

00:22occurrences and the Kremlin finally pays the price for its ruthless aggression.

00:26The Russian president Vladimir Putin can no longer hide the truth, but that

00:31hasn't stopped him trying. Even now, when millions of Russians are finally seeing

00:35the full fire and fury of the war with their own two eyes, Kremlin officials are

00:40still relying on their classic tactics of lies, cover-ups and propaganda in a

00:44desperate attempt to control the situation. Officials in many regions have

00:48been ordered, for instance, to clamp down on people who dare to take photographs or

00:52videos of Ukrainian drone attacks and share them online. This has led to numerous

00:57instances of arrests and prosecutions of individuals. Russian police recently

01:01released a video of one of those individuals, an unnamed 19-year-old woman

01:05from the city of Krasnodar. She was one of many witnesses to a recent Ukrainian

01:09drone strike on a warehouse belonging to the online retailer Wildberries, often

01:14referred to as the Russian Amazon, accounting for over half of the country's

01:18online sales. Seeing the smoke from the warehouse filling the skies overhead, she

01:23turned on a camera and filmed the scene, but has since been forced to issue a

01:26public apology.

01:27I admit my guilt and promise this won't happen again, the woman stated, in a clip

01:32that's been widely circulated on Russian social media as the authorities attempt to

01:36intimidate the general population. The woman may also face a fine if she's found

01:41guilty of violating the rules regarding filming and publishing footage of drone

01:45attacks. And she's certainly not the only one. Many more Russians are being arrested

01:49and now face charges of treason for simply taking photographs of their

01:53hometowns being attacked. This isn't new. The Kremlin has been trying to restrict

01:58the flow of information about the war for several years already. Back in 2023, for

02:03example, when Kiev's forces began to carry out strikes against Russian targets in the

02:08occupied region of Crimea, the authorities warned local residents not to post

02:13anything online about the attacks. They argued that this was because the

02:17Ukrainian forces could use such information, including photos and videos,

02:21to validate the effectiveness of their attacks or plan additional strikes.

02:25With Oleg Krychkov, an advisor to the Russian head of the Crimean government,

02:29writing online, your amusement helps the enemy pinpointed strikes. There may be some

02:34truth to that, and Ukraine has also issued warnings and urged people not to share

02:39images and videos of towns and settlements targeted by Russia.

02:42However, as the war has progressed, Russian authorities have become increasingly extreme

02:47and aggressive in their efforts to stop people spreading images of refineries on fire

02:52or logistics facilities being blown up by Ukrainian UAVs. Many people have been detained and fined.

02:58In August 2025, for example, three young Russians were arrested in the seaside city of Sochi

03:04after filming a TikTok of themselves standing in front of a burning oil depot.

03:09One of the trio was given a 30,000 ruble, over $300 fine. And as Ukraine's attacks become more

03:15frequent and impactful, Russia's regulations are only becoming stricter and more widespread.

03:20Restrictions on filming strikes have now been introduced in and around two-thirds of the

03:24country's regions, according to data from the Russian human rights group, Department 1.

03:29In May 2026, when Ukraine intensified its deep-strike campaign and carried out several

03:35successful attacks in the Moscow region, the Russian capital region also banned the publication

03:40of any photos or videos showing the aftermath of what authorities labelled terrorist attacks.

03:46Officials and law enforcement agencies are even going as far as threatening members of the public

03:51with up to 20-year prison sentences for sharing videos of air defense systems.

03:55And one particularly pro-Kremlin TV personality, Vladimir Solovyov, stated on his show that

04:01everyone who sends such footage needs to be thrown in prison.

04:05What's more, Russia is ready to crank things up even further. Reports suggest that the Federal

04:10Security Service has initiated the first steps of a scheme to completely block access to Telegram,

04:16one of the most popular social media and instant messaging services in all of Russia.

04:21The Russian intelligence service has charged the platform's founder, Pavel Durov, with facilitating

04:26terrorism, arguing that Telegram is simply not done enough to remove channels that Ukraine uses

04:31to coordinate its attacks. For many, it's clear to see the truth. This isn't being done purely for

04:37military reasons. It's not just about preventing Ukraine from accessing information that could be

04:42useful for planning additional attacks. It's about suppression of the truth. It's about covering up the harsh

04:48reality of the situation Russia finds itself in today. It's about Putin and his Kremlin cronies

04:54doing everything in their power to save face and prevent the Russian public from realizing just

04:59how bad things have gotten. Because things are worse than ever. Putin's problems have mounted up like

05:04never before, as Russia's casualty rate soars, its frontline forces struggle to capture even a single

05:10square foot of land, and its home regions continue to be blown apart by Ukrainian weapons. The Russian

05:16president's prestige, legacy, and carefully constructed image of strength are being eroded,

05:21and rather than accepting and owning his mistakes, he continues to rely on his long-running playbook of

05:26deceitful tricks, pulling the wool over the people's eyes and hoping they won't notice what's going on.

05:31As former Putin speechwriter Abbas Galyamov explains,

05:35To a mass audience, visuals matter much more than words. If there are no images of burning targets,

05:41they'll be much easier to maintain the illusion that everything is going according to plan. And that's

05:45Putin's main message. The president is also relying on another familiar strategy to keep the public on

05:51side, propaganda. At a recent meeting with navy personnel to celebrate Russia's navy day, for example,

05:57Putin yet again sought to justify his invasion of Ukraine and paint Russia as a victim of aggression from

06:03NATO, the western general, and what he repeatedly refers to as Nazi forces in Ukraine itself.

06:08As I've said many times, and I would like to make this point once again, we do not start any

06:13wars.

06:14All we did was respond to the military action, and the war unleashed by the Kyiv regime with western

06:19support against what was then Ukraine's southeast, a region which has always sought to forge closer

06:24ties with Russia. He went on to suggest that the Russian public needs to be imbued with an even deeper

06:30understanding of what the war means, and why they shouldn't only support it, but actively participate

06:35in it. I keep thinking that we also need to imbue the mindset of our society, our people, with the

06:41importance of the cause you're serving. You're serving your motherland. What can be more important

06:46than that? It's clear what Putin wants. He wants the public to direct their anger, fear and frustration

06:52against NATO and the west, rather than against him. He wants them to feel unified against a common enemy,

06:57to blame the decline in their own living standards and the losses of their loved ones on Kyiv,

07:02not on Moscow. He wants the Russian people to believe that he and they are on the right side

07:07of history, and that they must remain strong and solid, even as the situation deteriorates.

07:12In short, he wants the general public to remain compliant and supportive, so that he can carry on

07:17doing all the same things that have made their lives so much worse, isolated their country from the

07:22wider world and led hundreds of thousands of soldiers to early graves already. He wants all of

07:27this because he knows that he can't just keep throwing trillions of rubles into the war chest

07:32and hoping that everything works out in the end. He also needs to keep the people on side and ensure

07:37that tens of thousands of Russians remain willing and able to don their fatigues and head to the

07:42front lines to continue the fight, when those who signed up before them are wounded or killed.

07:46In fact, rumors are starting to spread that Putin may even be planning a fresh wave of mobilization

07:52efforts across Moscow and St. Petersburg, with thousands of locals being made to go and fight.

07:57But before we dig deeper into that, if this is the kind of insight you want more of,

08:02make sure you're subscribed to The Military Show. We break it down like this every week.

08:07Now, on June 12, 2026, Putin signed a decree to increase the size of Russia's armed forces by over 7

08:14,000

08:14people. The following month, he went further, signing another decree to add an additional 25,000

08:20individuals to the country's military, increasing the overall total to 2,426,130 personnel, including

08:281,535,000 servicemen. Many military analysts believe that these are the first steps towards

08:35a possible mobilization, and there are already reports of Russian recruiters brutally snatching

08:39men off the streets and forcing them to sign military contracts, as the Kremlin becomes ever

08:44more desperate to replenish its ranks. In late July, for example, the independent Russian news outlet

08:507x7 shared reports from the small village of Bashmakovor, situated in the Penza region.

08:56According to the 7x7 report, which cited video evidence from a Penza blogger named Stanislav Morozov,

09:03recruiters have been spotted over the summer months scouring the streets for able-bodied men

09:07and forcing them into service. One woman told Morozov that her brother was dragged to the

09:11local recruitment office, violently beaten and then made to enlist in the military.

09:16Other residents shared similar stories, adding that there have been even cases of minors being

09:20abducted, beaten and left in the woods when recruiters realized they were too young to sign

09:25contracts. The same tactics have been seen elsewhere. In the little settlement of Podgonoye, for example,

09:31a man named Sergei Milken was forcefully removed from his home and taken to an administration

09:35building. Despite suffering heart problems, he was ordered to sign up for service and swiftly

09:40dispatched to the front lines. Just a few weeks later, his wife, Elena, shared a message on a local

09:45public page to reveal that her husband had been killed. These too are the kinds of stories Putin

09:51wants to cover up. Clearly, he has no qualms about treating the Russian people like pieces of meat,

09:56violating their rights and ripping families to pieces to feed his insatiable war machine. But he still

10:01wants to maintain his image as a stern but fair leader, trusted and respected by the public at

10:06large. He believes that lies and propaganda will be enough to make this happen, so that if and when

10:11the time comes for a mass mobilization, people will willingly accept their papers and leave their

10:16lives behind to serve their motherland. But the sad fact for Putin is that these sorts of tricks,

10:21which may have worked for large parts of his presidency, are rapidly running out of steam.

10:26Increasing numbers of Russians are refusing to believe the tall tale their president has to tell,

10:31about the war going well, and it's not hard to see why. Even with authorities clamping down on

10:36people's freedom of speech in various ways, the people aren't blind. They can see the impact of

10:41the war quite clearly, with millions of Russians having already lost friends, family members,

10:45neighbors or other members of their communities to the conflict. Increasing numbers are also being

10:50exposed to the impacts of Ukrainian UAVs, hearing air raid sirens, receiving alerts on their phones,

10:56or literally looking out of their windows and seeing smoke and flames fill the air from nearby

11:00refineries on fire. Large parts of the population have also suffered in other ways. Some have lost

11:06businesses due to the economic impacts of the war, for example, or have witnessed their living standards

11:11sharply decline as imports dry up, big brands exit the Russian market, and the prices of everyday

11:16products continue to rise. The Russian public hasn't suffered anywhere near the same extent as those in

11:22Ukraine, of course, but the war has touched their lives and continues to do so in increasingly dramatic

11:28ways. And the natural response to all of this is a rising tide of resentment, fear, anger and frustration.

11:34Putin wants the public to direct those negative emotions beyond Russia's borders, but more and more

11:39people are refusing to toe the line. In fact, they're starting to rise up and take action against the

11:45regime. Back in Bashmakov, for example, reports reveal that residents have formed their own militia group,

11:51aimed at protecting local men from aggressive recruiters. An estimated of 250 persons have volunteered to join the group,

11:58some have contributed to it financially, others have shared information about it online. Some, however,

12:04have actually stepped out into the streets, patrolling the settlement and maintaining vigils

12:08in neighboring villages to ensure that men make it back to their homes without being captured en route.

12:13The situation has even reached the point where the local police have threatened to lock everyone

12:17up unless the group disbands. This is just one group in one tiny Russian village, but it's representative of

12:24something bigger. It's a sign of something that the Kremlin would be paying attention to, a rising sense of rebellion

12:29among the Russian public. People are tired, they're utterly and entirely exasperated with this war.

12:35They're sick of seeing their friends, husbands, brothers, sons and neighbors being sent to fight in a

12:39conflict that no longer seems to have any clear purpose and certainly seems to have no end in sight.

12:44They want it to end as soon as possible and at least some are starting to realize that the only

12:50way they can

12:50play a part in making that happen is by refusing to comply with those in power. For some, like those

12:56in

12:56Bashmakovor, this means getting out in the streets to safeguard their fellow citizens. For others, it means getting

13:02out of Russia entirely where they still can. Reports have revealed, for example, that vast numbers of Russians are

13:08buying up properties in other countries that still allow those with Russian passports to travel in and out as they

13:14wish.

13:14Like Armenia. Several realtors based in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, for example, have revealed that

13:21most of their new clients at the moment are Russians looking to leave their homeland behind. Some have

13:26compared the surge in business to what was seen in 2022 when hundreds of thousands of Russians fled their

13:31country either to avoid mobilization or as an act of protest against the Putin regime. As a result of the

13:37surge, rental prices in Yerevan have risen by around 30% in just three months and are expected to increase

13:43even further before the end of the year. Data from the Russian search engine Yandex reveals that phrases

13:49like apartments in Yerevan started to appear much more frequently in user searches from spring 2026

13:56onward. During one week in July, for example, queries for this term rose to 5,200. That's more than 5

14:03,000

14:03searches that were recorded between February 28th and March 6th of 2022, the first week of the Russian

14:09invasion of Ukraine. Telegram channels dedicated to Russians looking for housing in Yerevan have also

14:15seen a rapid rise in activity, with new posts appearing daily from those who have either just

14:19crossed the border or are planning to emigrate in the months to come and want advice from those in

14:24similar situations. Many of these people likely decided to take action in July, when Ukrainian

14:29President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Putin was planning to send up to half a million more Russians to war.

14:35Putin is not ready to stop this war. Our intelligence reports that he's preparing for mobilization. He

14:41wants to strengthen mobilization not openly because he's afraid of his society, but he will do it at the

14:46beginning of October. Russia is set to host state Duma elections in September, with many believing that

14:53mobilization may come soon after, and with the Kremlin's casualty rate continuing to climb, it's easy to see

14:59why Moscow is so eager to get more bodies at the front lines. But the response of the public tells

15:04its own story.

15:05The fact that so many Russians are now either fleeing the country en masse, or actively fighting

15:10with recruiters, shows that large parts of the nation are no longer willing to bow down and play

15:15along with the Kremlin's games. So, if and when Putin does decide to move ahead with the mobilization,

15:21he's likely to discover it's far harder than he thinks to make people sign their own death warrants.

15:26Instead, he may face even more intense acts of rebellion and rising calls to step down,

15:31as fewer and fewer people are willing to lay their own lives, or the lives of their loved ones,

15:36on the line to support his reckless campaign of conquest. And that's just one of the many problems

15:41mounting up on the Russian president's desk. You can learn more about the impossible challenges that

15:46lie ahead for Putin in this video, which explores some of the reasons why he's unlikely to ever agree to

15:51a proper peace deal. Alternatively, for insights into the other side, check out this video,

15:57which looks at how Ukraine has defied convention to create a one-of-a-kind air force that breaks all

16:02the rules, yet is still getting stronger all the time. And finally, don't forget to subscribe to

16:07The Military Show for more breaking news and insights you won't want to miss.

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