Tensions in the Red Sea are totally beneficial for us, said Russian lawmaker Aleksey Zhuravlyov on TV.
Russia and Iran are de facto allies. Russia buys drones from Iran which are then used to kill Ukrainian civilians. The Houthi rebels in Yemen are backed by Iran.
So it's puzzling that the Houthis attacked a Russian oil tanker. And it's the second time they've done this. Russia and the Houthis are indirect allies.
Some Russian commentators are delighted with unrest in the Middle East because it draws attention away from Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. But they can't be happy that the Houthis are disrupting Russia's oil trade.
My impression is that the Houthis just aren't very bright. They claim that they are attacking shipping connected to Israel, but few ships they've attacked have anything to do with Israel. This disruption of international sea lanes has already prompted a military response.
A Kremlin propagandist has boasted how Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have helped Russia by diverting Western attention away from the war in Ukraine. However, one of his country's oil tankers got caught up in hostilities when it was mistakenly fired upon, 90 nautical miles southeast of Yemen's port city of Aden, by the Yemeni militants. [ ... ] Hawkish Russian politician Aleksey Zhuravlyov told 60 Minutes on the Russia 1 channel how the situation in the Red Sea is "totally beneficial for us" because "everybody is forgetting about Ukraine." "Go ahead, the West," said Zhuravlyov, chairman of the Rodina (Motherland) political party, citing Western help in Ukraine's fight in the war started by Moscow at a time of tensions in the Red Sea. "Are you ready to wage a bunch of wars?" Zhuravlyov added in a clip shared by Russia watcher Julia Davis on X, formerly Twitter. [ ... ] However, Zhuravlyov's comments come amid a report that Houthi militants fired a missile that landed within 1,500 feet of a vessel carrying Russian oil. It was sailing 90 nautical miles southeast of Yemen's port city of Aden, Reuters said.
Russia does have a habit of starting things without worrying much about the consequences.
The war in the Middle East that Zhuravlyov is so pleased with is into its 100th day. Russia's three-day "special operation" in Ukraine is now 690 days old.
I don't think Ukraine had anything to do with the following, however it may be war related. A 70,000 square meter warehouse for the online retailer Wildberries was destroyed by fire. The warehouse is in a suburb of St. Petersburg and it has been rumored that police had raided the building looking for migrants who could be conscripted into Putin's failing army. The migrants may have retaliated by torching the structure.
This is not exactly the first peculiar large fire in Russia since the start of Putin's invasion. Russia has a terrible fire safety record and it's probable that some firefighters are reservists who are now dodging Ukrainian fire rather than fighting fires at home.
