Dear Readers:
Today I have this story, which I categorize under “True Crime”. The reporter is Olga Nikitina. Readers may remember an old friend, Vladimir Saldo, whom we have mentioned many times in these posts, especially towards the start of the SMO. Saldo was (and is) the Russian Governor of the Kherson Oblast. His duties were somewhat curtailed after the Ukrainians took back Kherson city, but he still controls a chunk of the Oblast on the Left Bank of the River.
I used to think that being the Virtual Administrator of a territory actually administered by your enemy, would be a sweet gig. No real duties, nice salary, a 4-hour day, maybe. But I changed my mind when I read about Saldo’s ordeals. Not when your enemy is as vicious and determined to kill you, as are the Ukrainians.
Looking at his photograph in this piece, I was shocked by how much Saldo has aged in the past year. Looks like he aged 20 years in one year. But it wasn’t all just due to the stress of the war. At a certain point he was poisoned and almost died. I remember reading about the incident at the time, in the Russian press. This was back in August 2022. Saldo was giving a speech when apparently one of his colleagues walked up to him and said, “Vladimir, you need to go to the hospital right away.” And he was, like, “No, I feel fine.” And they’re, like, “No, you need to go right now!“
Even though Saldo survived, the poison certainly did not do his health any good. Only now are we starting to learn more about what happened. We (readers) still don’t know who the alleged poisoner was (they know, but they are not saying!) and I am burning with curiosity. I have many unanswered questions about the whole Kherson fiasco. But let’s just work through this, because it’s all we have right now:
A Hunt For “Traitors”
Saldo told his story on TV, to Russian Channel 1.
After the Russians took over Kherson and a part of Zaporozhie Oblasts, the Ukrainians declared a “hunt” after these new Russian leaders. A string of assassinations and assassination attempts ensued. Saldo managed to elude several attempts on his life, including the use of explosives. There were also a couple of attempts to set traps for him, and to kidnap him. When none of these methods worked, his enemies resorted to the very ancient and time-honored method of assassination by poisoning.
Saldo insisted that, up until his poisoning, he was in the peak of good health. His mental acuity is still sharp, and he remembers everything that ever happened to him, up to that point. He believes that the poison was added to his food. It acted instantaneously upon him. Investigators believe that the poison was actually a chemical weapon. The last thing Saldo remembers is mumbling that he didn’t feel well. Then just blackness. Fifteen days later he came to and found himself in a hospital bed in Moscow. He learned that his unconscious body had been taken, first to a hospital in Crimea, and then air-lifted to the top-notch Sklifosovsky Hospital in Moscow.
Saldo says he knows who did this to him, and that the man was paid “quite a lot of money” by the Ukrainian secret services. This was a man whom he trusted. Agonizingly, he won’t tell us the name, or if this person is in custody.
Awful Avalanche 
Someone who handed him a drink? A lover, maybe?
By the way, did you notice a narrative shift is taking place even in the worthless neocon sites?
Like this:
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/05/sad-reality-the-ukraine-war-is-now-going-russias-way/
What this article gets right:
1. Russia did not anticipate a long conflict at the beginning, but is adapting.
2. Ukranazistan made an idiotic move to hold on to Soledar, Artëmovsk etc and suffered brutal casualties in urban fighting while Russia suffered far less.
3. Even if Russia had suffered as many casualties as Ukranazistan fantasises it would not matter because Russia has far greater reserves and industrial capacity.
4. Amerikastan can’t fund and arm Ukranazistan for much longer without serious harm to itself.
5. Kharkov was only held very weakly by national guards and it was hardly a smashing victory over Russia as Ukraganda pretends, while in Kherson Russia withdrew to avoid precisely the kind of ruinous urban battle in which Ukranazistan bled itself to death.
6. The longer Ukranazistan fights the more badly it will lose, and Ye Olde Greate Springe Counteroffensive will probably be a disaster of historical proportions for it.
What this article carefully ignores:
1. Russia’s “badly planned” invasion actually fully succeeded in forcing the Ukranazi coup regime to negotiate an end to the conflict in March last year, and would have except for Boorish Johnson rushing to Ukranazistan to order Elensky to keep fighting.
2. Until the loss of Izyum, Kupyansk, and Krasni Liman Russia had been fighting with one arm tied behind its back and had not only not touched Ukranazi infrastructure but had totally stopped bombing Ukranazi military sites in the west of the country for months. It was Surovikin who began fighting properly and the results became obvious to see.
Meanwhile, Medvedev now says that there can be no negotiations as long as Elensky remains in power. If, as the armchair generals aver, Medvedev speaks with the direct permission of the Kremlin, then there can be no negotiations as long as Elensky is not compelled by his owners to resign or is alive. Since his owners will never force him to resign (they want the war to go on and on and on), the question arises, at what point will either Russia, the Ukrainian regular military, the nazis, or the west itself, denazify him?
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In the end, the Western attempt did not turn out to be just a matter of colonizing Russia, since the crisis of the system was involved, things have become complicated because all of the West wants more blood in defense of its privileges.
The risk was quickly understood by Putin when a few weeks later he ordered the mobilization of Russia’s nuclear weapons. But the adaptation to having to kill Ukrainians for the interest of the West needs time, but apparently so far the Special Operation is going well in the political, economic and military spheres.
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Handed a drink by a lover? I didn’t think of that, but I suppose it’s plausible. The article was gender-ambiguous, just using the Russian word “chelovek” (person) to describe the perp. I think I assumed it was a “he”, like a member of Saldo’s inner circle. But really, it could be anyone.
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This is an interesting story. The intersection between a military campaign and civil administration of a town or city surely is complicated. There are towns in the American south that essentially sat out the civil war by geographic accident. If you visit them today there is a lingering vibe of mysterious good fortune with just a tinge of survivor guilt.
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That was a fascinating time in American history. Once I read about some enclave (I don’t remember in which state) which “seceded from the secession” and maintained its pro-Federal loyalty through the duration of the war. There were also a few enclaves set up by runaway slaves which never came under Confederate administration.
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Sounds very much like the story of West Virginia, which was originally just the western region of the state of Virginia. They went pro-Union instead, and the rest, as they say, is history.
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These are little things that the Russians treat as minor so as not to chorus the Western media by filling the entertainment channels with news with minor issues and nonsense.
The other day they took out an ukronazis announcing that they wanted to kill Russians anywhere, I don’t think that deserves any praise, much less pay them for that job like the West does.
But it is possible that apart from the terrorist nonsense that the Ucronazis carry out to deserve Western bread, in the shadows Western mercenary military (the famous volunteers) operate in the most important things trying to kill Russians and heat up the Western media with some showy deaths that They are not from the civilian population. Because they can’t make it all up.
Let us remember that wills move for money, although now there are not many “volunteers” because it is not the same to face the Russian special troops as to murder civilians in the Middle East and Africa. It was gleefully reported in the media that specialists were earning a thousand dollars a day killing Iraqis and Syrians, presumably of all ages.
The Russians try not to turn that war into that kind of carnage, at least on their part.
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Talk about taking a cue from your masters, Ukrainia’s “secret” agencies sure know how to flatter their patrons. With all thisimitation, the vanity of DC/London’s “in-crowd” will surely become insufferable.
Poison, it’s a bit kitschy but, definitely a “go to” with “secret” agencies who are the self-appointed deities US/UK’s unwashed masses. Isotopes worked with Arafat and they worked with FDR but…MDs are catching on and…the stuff definitely leaves a trail back to the nuclear facility…still, at the time, it was better that bullets, better than throwing women out of aircraft. For agencies who purposely hire psychopaths to murder…it’s just a tool…in the perpetuation of evil.
Look at who the US “Security” Agencies [aka 3LAs] got in bed with during the Obama regime and you will find a rogue’s gallery of murderous, blood-thirsty terrorists. And yes, Bush-Sr/Rumsfeld/Cheney/Carter all did the same but..not with alacrity of Obama. The speed with which the murderous terrorists of Libya, Syria and Ukraine were empowered by Obama set Olympian records that will, in all likelihood, never be broken. Whether Obama’s mother was an Agency asset or agent is uncertain but, it’s clear her son served the 3LAs with the vigor of a true prodigy.
And so it goes…
In most of the US, this is Memorial Day week-end, a sad holiday to remember those who were sent off to war and never returned…and for DC’s residents, those who’s souls are bound to Satan, it’s a week-end to scheme for ever more war. As I said, a sad holiday.
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Yes. Obama was a very carefully crafted project. But only his handlers know at what age he was recruited. It is a very bitter thing that the first “African-American President” was such a monster. And not even a true African-American, as he didn’t come from slave ancestors.
In a different universe, Martin Luther King Jr. should have been the first African-American President, that’s what I have always believed.
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Interesting tale of skulduggery.
I’ve been fascinated with all these civics classes you’ve given us about Russian government at national, oblast and municipal levels. So different from what we’re used to in the West, it’s unfathomable for me. Then you add in territorial disputes, and end up with two titular governors / leaders of the same hunk of land just to further cloud the issue. One hopes it’s as clear as day to civilian residents of disputed territory, because it’s clear as mud to me. Where does your 911 call equivalent get routed to if you’re some regular Joe Blow? Does everyone have two cell phones? One with a Ukie SIM card, the other with a Russian one? Or does one have a dual SIM model, popular in East Africa?
Poor poisoned Saldo has administrative duties that include, presumably, Kherson City, currently under Ukie rule. Pushilin is what, governor of both Lugansk and Donetz? and no doubt figures he’s the boss of cities under Ukie control. And the opposite is true — some bloody Ukie figures he’s the boss of Russian-occupied parts of
“Ukraine” in addition to the obvious parts he actually is the boss of. Might as well order around a brick wall in many cases of disputed jurisdiction, because nobody’s listening. But they still do it. Why? Haven’t got the foggiest idea but the obvious childish bureaucrat belief in their right to do so, and actual conditions on the ground matter not one whit. Yes, I know the West regards all Ukraine including the Crimea, and four half- oblasts as Ukie, while the Russians say those five are Russia.
Complete chaos to me. A bunch of people supposedly in charge of something or other talking over each other from the citizen’s point-of-view. Gobbledeegook. You’d have thought there would be some obvious simplification, but no, that would be too easy.
Poison. Forgotten how long ago someone got a radioactive poison pellet in the leg in London and croaked. Then the Skripals and Novichok or Siberian rat poison, take yer pick, Navalny and all his BS bout being poisoned. So, an Agatha Christie dose of strychnine or whatever was administered to Soldo. Fits the Eastern European / Russian mould, I guess. And it’s hardly surprising that with emotions at fever pitch, “super-patriots” of one side or the other want to assassinate leading figures on the other side, and can think of nothing but revenge as they see it. The Ukies are overt at this sh!t, from car bombs to poisoning and border incursions by nutters on, for want of a better term, real Russian territory, but we hear little of Russian undercover work in this grey area of assassinations and sabotage. They’re likely at it too, no reason not to, but they at least keep schtum about it.
And what do I read yesterday and today? Besides the hammer blow to Russia the unfettered might of a Ukie counteroffensive due any day now as usual will provide? 60,000 US troops are stationed in Poland, and a group of steel-jawed sunglass-wearing US Airborne arseholes on the ground in Romania, plus another similar unit in Poland. All doing what exactly? Parading up and down flexing their cornhusker muscles for show, and then continually scarfing down huge meals at taxpayer expense. Belch. Doctorow has gone off the beam and advocates Russia using tactical nukes to take out Europe as the mighty Russian army marches across Europe, L Johnson and others expect nuclear war. It all does not augur well for my particular personal butt. Or yours. Or anybody’s. The US is so batshit crazy, anything could happen, and when Russia finally responds in force to some real offence, the Americans will all run around in ever-diminishing circles while beating their glorious patriotic “democratic” chests and gulp-swallowing air. Before pushing the red button as human rights advocates always do. /s That’s the point where everything really goes off the rails, because while they’re at it, the US might well attack China as well, and then wonder why there’s no spare parts for their wonder-weapons due to bottom-of-the-barrel outsourcing from their supposed enemy. You can’t fix the criminally stupid. Why the Yankees can’t work out they’re snookered is beyond my ken. I guess if you like losing aircraft carrier groups in the Baltic, Mediterranean, South China Sea and off Japan, you strut around like the typical US Admiral, oblivious. Unfortunately, all this won’t end well, in my view.
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Nice rant as usual, Beluga. Sometimes you sound almost like Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”, and I mean that in a good way, because that’s a great poem.
Anyhow, my readers already know, I believe, that I am very worried about the world coming to an end, possibly on or about June 12. That’s when the Rammstein exercises start, and we might see F-16 decoys flying around. I mean, not that the planes will be decoys, but that they will just be there to screen the real stuff going on, like a NATO decapitating nuclear strike against Russia.
Like I said before, hug your kids, if you have ’em!
In the meantime, another thing to keep eyes on: If I am not mistaken, today is Turkish elections, second round. Something to watch with interest while we wait to die.
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I’m immediately thinking Skripals. “Novichok”. Biolabs. Porton Down.
Poisoning by intent can take many forms, and it is by no means a categorical and conclusive form of intentional elimination. Arafat’s murder was a slow process (like the “peace process” itself). And I wonder if Shinzo Abe’s recurring and debilitating colitis had mysterious causes? It certainly had the effect of ending his political career. There must be many similar plausibly deniable instances of illness and death of people who are officially considered problematic.
By the way, it is at this point that I am obliged to ask- rhetorically actually- “where are the Skripals”? (And add that John Helmer’s research is the most exhaustive by far, and we owe him a debt of gratitude for his work).
But back to Vladimir Saldo. He has the look of a man who has been through the mill. But he has survived and has returned to duty, and good luck and hats off to his strength of character. That shows in his face.
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It always amazes me why people take the time to concoct elaborate high-tech poisons, when much simpler ones will do. I am thinking of medieval Italy, where poison was almost an art form, but they didn’t know from isotopes or anything like that. For example, there was an Italian woman named Giulia Tofana who lived in Rome in the 1600’s. She (or her mother) invented a super-duper poison which they called Aqua Tofana, and sold to women who wanted to poison their husbands.
Italian poisons aside, there are mushrooms, botulism, tons of other things. If you have access to somebody’s food, you could kill them a thousand ways over without having to order materials from MI6.
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So true Yalensis. It’s almost like poisons can have male or female characteristics. The former high-tech and lab created, the latter more organic and “garden variety”. And of course the intended victim influences the method, albeit indirectly.
Italy, especially medieval Italy, holds renown for the latter.
I wonder what kind of poison was employed to dispatch (the Italian) Pope John Paul 1?
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I mean, mushrooms are always the obvious choice.
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