Ukraine’s destruction of the Russian military in the northeastern region of Kharkiv is giving President Vladimir Putin both a political and a military headache. The Kremlin’s efforts to create a glossy propaganda narrative for its war in Ukraine are wearing thin, as popular loyalist bloggers, think tanks and even politicians begin to ask uncomfortable questions about defeat on the front lines. For now, their anger is aimed solely at Russia’s military high command, but Putin still has to tread carefully in the face of this unusual rattle of dissent. If he fails to act on the allegations against his commanders, political pressure could mount on his authoritarian regime.
On Sunday, Ramzan Kadyrov, the fractious and authoritarian leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic, accused Moscow’s military command of “mistakes” in the Kharkiv region, where Russian troops were hastily withdrawn from the strategic city of Izyum and Kupiansk, an important railway crossing near the border with Russia. “Unless there are changes in the strategy to conduct the special military operation today or tomorrow, I will have to go to the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, the leadership of the country to explain the real situation on the ground,” he said in a recorded voice statement, which posted on his Telegram channel. Kadyrov’s own soldiers have a terrible reputation, accused by Ukrainians of war crimes in the town of Bucha early in the war and of making staged TikTok videos to promote their fabricated heroics, but the Chechen leader is important because he is personally loyal to Putin and has demonstrated his willingness to commit forces to war. He is the highest figure to have openly beaten the country’s top brass, but he is far from alone.
Sergei Markov, a Kremlin-linked political analyst and former lawmaker in the presidential ruling United Russia party, criticized Moscow’s anniversary celebrations on Saturday, in which Putin inaugurated a giant new Ferris wheel before an evening fireworks display, right as news of the Ukraine the victories spread quickly. “The celebrations now look like a political mistake. An equivalent feast in plague time. It is clear that they [the Moscow authorities] he didn’t want to cancel them, so as not to cause panic,” said the politician, who in previous years strongly supported the separatist movement in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region. “But the president’s involvement speaks even more to the confusion of the authorities.” He also said fireworks in Moscow “on the tragic day of a heavy military defeat for Russia” should have been canceled by the authorities, indicating potential damage to Putin’s reputation in the eyes of his electorate. “The government should not celebrate when the people are mourning.” Sergei Mironov, leader of the pro-Kremlin party A Just Russia, cautiously joined criticism of the celebration. He urged Moscow authorities to “postpone” fireworks “until victory” over Ukraine. “This will be respect for those who on this day, with weapons in their hands, risking their lives, defend all of Russia, all its inhabitants thousands of kilometers from their homes.” Damaged armored vehicles litter the street in Balakliya, Kharkiv region | Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images Meanwhile, the ire of many Russian military bloggers was directed against the clumsy information tactics of the Russian Defense Ministry, which refrained from commenting on the situation in the Kharkiv region in the first days of Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Bloggers also strongly criticized the Russian authorities for their failure to ensure the proper withdrawal from the Kharkiv region of those residents who supported the Russian occupation and wanted to leave the region for Russia before the rapid advance of Ukrainian troops. Alexei Chadayev, a political thinker loyal to the Kremlin, believes that the Russian military “as a whole, as a structure, in its current form – to put it mildly – has limited suitability for modern warfare.” “The main flaws are not in the ability to gather manpower, supplies, weapons, not even in management as such, but in the level of strategic thinking, the quality of understanding the rhythm and logic of confrontation,” he said. Saturday, commenting on the destruction of Russia. He added that the latest defeat of Russian troops is “increasingly reminiscent” of the devastation faced by the Soviet Union’s Red Army in almost the same area in World War II. It was here that the Germans launched Operation Fredericus, dealing a major blow to the encircled Red Army, which lost around a quarter of a million dead and wounded. “Either we fight or surrender, there is no third option. So let’s decide. But if you ask me, I’m in favor of fighting,” Chadayev added.