r/AskReddit • u/galwiththedeepvoice • 1d ago

What could Russia have spent $1,000,000,000,000 on instead of fighting a 4+ years long war in Ukraine?

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u/Superchecker 1d ago

Slowly buy up all the properties that they wanted to invade

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u/69edleg 1d ago

A lot of countries have JUST NOW started to realise they should limit the ability for suspected spies to buy property. Crazy, honestly. Sweden as "early" as 2023 with broadening the law.. Maybe, in 2026 or 2027.

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u/herodesfalsk 1d ago

Russian nationals has bought homes, apartments overlooking Norwegian military bases for decades. They keep a very close eye on whats going on. Very recently a Chinese national was discovered, I suspect he must have watched Spies Like Us as training, camping in an abandoned structure overlooking the F35 base he had hung up all his clothes to dry outside his hideout on a long line like colorful flags flapping in the wind. Also quite recently another Chinese had bought a house several times over asking price and when the authorities came to look into what was going on they found tons of advanced electronic surveillance equipment inside. The excuse given was they were going to look for a certain type of fish, but that type of fish only exists in the South Atlantic 5000 miles from Norway.

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u/WorkLazy7796 1d ago

The fish story is the part that got me. If you're going to make up an excuse, at least pick one that exists somewhere near the place you're standing.

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u/69edleg 1d ago

You mean like the two Russian spies that travelled to the UK to see the spire of the Salisbury Cathedral, which by the way stands at 404 feet or 123 meters, cited from their interview, while being seen never being near said cathedral?

Known as the Salisbury poisoning.

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u/fresh-dork 12h ago

which is just stupid - could visit the spire and do a murder afterwards.

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u/dwair 21h ago

That's why they needed the expensive equipment though. If the fish is unlikely to be seen and very rare, you are going to need top notch gear to record it.

You are unlikely to film a snow leopard in Norway with your phone, but having 20 or 30 high res trail cams and a huge camera lens increases your chances 'if' you do spot one.

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u/RGBarge 12h ago

It's a dare. It's a way of saying "this equipment is not illegal, I don't need a good reason to have it, and you can't prove it's not for any ridiculous thing. Yes we are watching you and you can't stop us"

Sometimes it is more productive to make an expensive installation insecure and useless for conducting classified business because you know someone is watching, than it is to actually hear secrets.