The new year does not start well for Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin (70). After his New Year’s speech surrounded by alleged soldiers had already caused a stir, the Russian president is now also receiving criticism from his own ranks.
As the American think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports, numerous Russian military bloggers complained that Putin posed with extras instead of real soldiers. In addition, it was also criticized that the head of the Kremlin had canceled a number of public appearances and meetings with ordinary citizens.
As the president continues to fall from grace, according to the ISW, it seems that someone else is doing all the better: We are talking about Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin (61).
Wagner gave a “sensational New Year’s speech”
The Russian military bloggers seem enthusiastic about him and his New Year’s performance: for example, the former Russian secret service officer and hardliner Igor Girkin (52).
Although his assessment of Putin and his speech is sober, he speaks highly of Prigozhin: the Wagner boss decided to fight bureaucracy and corruption and gave a “sensational New Year’s speech”. Girkin has criticized the Russian military and its leadership since the invasion of Ukraine. He recently railed against the Kremlin, saying what Putin was doing was “nonsense”.
As the ISW writes in its report, several Russian sources are said to have praised the performances of the Wagner boss with real Russian soldiers on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
For example, on New Year’s Eve, the Wagner boss showed up at a mortuary in Bakhmut with Wagner fighters who “fell like heroes at the front,” as Prigoshin explained.
The Russian army acted “negligently”.
He also took the opportunity to shoot at the Kremlin: when asked by a journalist why the relatives of the fallen soldiers did not receive their bodies, he replied: Beginning of the After the war, the Wagner troops worry even on New Year’s Day for the dead.”
The Russian military leadership was also criticized by the military bloggers. Among other things, the Ukrainian attack on the Russian base in Russian-occupied Makiivka in the Donbass was hotly debated.
Dozens of Russian soldiers were killed in the attack. As the ISW writes, referring to Russian military bloggers, it was made easy for Ukrainian forces to attack hundreds of soldiers in one place. Your final verdict is damning: as in recent months, you would have acted “negligently”. (dzc)