2.8 How Starlink & Telegram Killed the Russian Front
The Eastern Border
Kristaps Andrejsons
4.7 • 877 Ratings
🗓️ 12 February 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Greetings, Comrades!
It finally happened. The "Second Army of the World" has achieved total independence from Western technology—by getting kicked off the server.
In this episode, we break down the "Double Tap" strike that has left the Russian military deaf, blind, and screaming into dead radios. First, SpaceX implemented the "White List" protocol, turning thousands of smuggled Starlink terminals into expensive paperweights and blinding Russian artillery. Then, in a moment of bureaucratic genius, Roskomnadzor decided to "slow down" Telegram to fight NATO narratives—accidentally crippling their own army's only functional command-and-control system.
We dive deep into the chaos of the "Analog Gold Rush," where ancient Soviet field phones are trading for the price of used cars, and Baofeng radios are the new Bitcoin. We also cover the assassination of GRU General Alekseyev (the "Spies killing Spies" moment), the "Pink Pony" reality of Dmitry Peskov, and the terrifying return of the "Time of Troubles."
The Red Lines have turned to Brown Lines. The subscription is cancelled. Happiness is Mandatory.
In this episode:
The Kill Switch: How the Starlink "White List" crashed the Grey Market.
Friendly Fire: Why blocking Telegram is an act of self-sabotage.
The Analog Gold Rush: Why a $20 radio now costs $300 in Donetsk.
High Politics: The assassination of General Alekseyev.
The "Sausage Butt" Theory: Confirmed.
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Trucks, not telegrams. Help Car4Ukraine turn pickup trucks into mobile machine-gun nests and medevac units for the guys who actually have Starlink:
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#russia #starlink #telegram #ukrainewar #theeasternborder #gonzojournalism #Roskomnadzor #techwar
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Love this podcast? Support this show through the ACAST supporter feature. It's up to you how much you give, and there's no regular commitment. Just click the link in the show description to support now. |
| 0:13.2 | Greetings, comrades, and welcome back to the Eastern Border. Sorry about the fact that previous episode was audio only, and I didn't post it on YouTube. |
| 0:22.1 | Yeah, very much sorry about that one. It's just that as I was recording, well, a lot of things got into the way and I had to publish it really quickly and I didn't have the time to it properly. |
| 0:32.3 | However, however, currently it is February 26 and we have some more news and interesting stuff to talk about. |
| 0:40.0 | See, the Russian army has finally achieved its long-awaited dream of total independence and sovereignty from Western technology. |
| 0:48.0 | Unfortunately for them, they achieved it by getting kicked off the server. |
| 0:52.2 | For four years. Four years in total. Yeah, four. |
| 0:55.9 | We have been watching the Second Army of the World fight a 21st century war using a subscription |
| 1:00.8 | service they did not pay for. They bought drones from China, Iran, built some themselves. |
| 1:07.1 | They bought chips from washing machines and most importantly, they bought their command and control infrastructure from second-hand sellers of Elon Musk's tech via smugglers in Dubai and Kazakhstan. |
| 1:19.8 | But earlier this month, the billing department finally caught up with them. |
| 1:25.3 | We're calling this the white-list catastrophe. |
| 1:28.5 | And I mentioned this in the previous episode, but today we'll be looking into the Starlink thing. |
| 1:33.0 | And one more issue that, you know, one more issue that they're complaining extra, extra |
| 1:38.7 | seriously about right now, because Starlink, well, is the least of their issues, to be honest. |
| 1:43.9 | Currently, you know, on war fronts and other more pop analytics shows, you can see that, |
| 1:48.9 | you know, people are saying that Russia is just going to adapt and, well, we'll just |
| 1:55.6 | get some other forms of communication. |
| 1:58.5 | Well, I'll show you that he just simply not that way. It doesn't |
| 2:03.1 | work this way in Russia. So, let's get back to this white list catastrophe. For years, |
| 2:09.9 | the Ukrainians, specifically their minister of digital transformation, well, the new one, |
| 2:15.4 | Mikhailo Fyodorov, have been pushing the SpaceX to stop playing |
... |
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