Russia and Ukraine flashpoint

[Bofferbrauer2]

shavenferret said:

Zkuq said:

So many Russian ships have been having trouble staying afloat recently that I can't help wondering if there's something, uh, interesting going on. Supposedly many of them are very old ships, so something is bound to happen sooner or later, but this feels like quite a few now even for such old ships.

Russia is pissing everybody off, which makes it much easier for people to turn against you if prompted.  I'm guessing that ukrainian intel is having a field day in recruiting people to cause problems.  Imagine how many fathers are grief striken over their sons not coming home.  Easy pickings.  

Doesn't even have to be sabotage.

Modern ships need quite some maintenance, the more the older they become and the further they travel in one go. With European ports refusing to dock those ships, they have to travel longer and longer per travel, reducing their structural integrity without proper maintenance. It's a very bone-crushing job that few ever really want to do, and right now Russia both needs their people elsewhere and has full employment, so nobody even goes to do this as they have better options so far. the few that still do probably don't do in depth enough to see the corrosion and with Russia losing so many ships, they won't have the time either to do the maintenance unless it's clear it were about to sink.

In short: Even without sabotage, more and more Russian civilian ships will sink as they're not properly carded for.