Why the failures of Russia’s top brass are now fair game- QHN

CNN
 — 

Truth, the saying goes, is the first casualty in war. Nowhere is that more true than in Russia, where the Kremlin has engaged in a campaign of false advertising to sell its invasion of Ukraine to the public.

Russian President Vladimir Putin cast the campaign as a “special military operation” – not a war – and told citizens that they could, essentially, forget about the conflict in Ukraine. Draftees, he promised falsely, would not fight, and military operations would be left to the professionals. And Putin’s Ministry of Defense delivered platitudes about progress on the battlefield, talking points quickly parroted by Russian state television.

But a curious shift is underway in Russia’s tightly controlled information space. Ukraine’s military has been making dramatic advances in a counteroffensive, making it increasingly difficult to conceal the Russian military’s losses. And Putin last month declared a partial military mobilization, sending a message to the general population that their leader was going all in Ukraine, and that sacrifices are now in order.

Against that background, Russia has seen some unusual public criticism of the top brass running Putin’s war. Within limits, of course: Criticizing the war itself or Russia’s commander-in-chief is off limits, but those responsible for carrying out the President’s orders are fair game.

In a recent interview with Russian arch-propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, the head of the defense committee in Russia’s State Duma demanded that officials cease lying and level with the Russian public.

“First of all, we need to stop lying,” said Andrei Kartopolov, a former colonel-general in the Russian military and a member of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. “We brought this up many times before … But somehow it’s apparently not getting through to individual senior figures.”

Kartapolov complained that the Ministry of Defense was evading the truth about incidents such as Ukrainian cross-border strikes in Russian regions neighboring Ukraine.

“Our Russian city of Valuyki… is under constant fire,” he said. “We learn about this from all sorts of folks, from governors, Telegram channels, our war correspondents. But no one else. The reports from the Ministry of Defense do not change in substance. They say they destroyed 300 rockets, killed Nazis and so on. But people know. Our people are not stupid. But they don’t want to even tell part of the truth. This can lead to a loss of credibility.”

Valuyki is in Russia’s Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine. Kyiv has generally adopted a neither-confirm-nor-deny stance when it comes to striking Russian targets across the border.

Some criticism has also come from Russian-appointed quislings who have been installed by Moscow to run occupied regions of Ukraine. In a recent four-minute rant on the messaging app Telegram, the Russian-appointed deputy leader of Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region, Kirill Stremousov, lambasted Russian military commanders for allowing “gaps” on the battlefield that had allowed the Ukrainian military to make advances in the region, which is illegally claimed by Russia.

“There is no need to somehow cast a shadow over the entire Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation because of some, I do not say traitors, but incompetent commanders, who did not bother, and were not accountable, for the processes and gaps that exist today,” Stremousov said. “Indeed, many say that the Minister of Defense [Sergei Shoigu], who allowed this situation to happen, could, as an officer, shoot himself. But, you know, the word officer is an unfamiliar word for many.”

A provocative statement, perhaps – Stremousov might perhaps be mindful of the fact that troublesome leaders of Russian-backed separatist entities have a habit of dying violently – but some of this criticism is not new. Just weeks after Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, one of his key domestic enforcers, Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, urged the Russian military to expand its campaign, implying that Moscow’s approach had not been brutal enough.

But after Russia’s retreat from the strategic Ukrainian city of Lyman, Kadyrov has been a lot less shy about naming names when it comes to blaming Russian commanders.

Writing on Telegram, Kadyrov personally blamed Colonel-General Aleksandr Lapin, the commander of Russia’s Central Military District, for the debacle, accusing him of moving his headquarters away from his subordinates and failing to adequately provide for his troops.

“It’s not a shame that Lapin is mediocre, but the fact that he is covered at the top by the leaders in the General Staff,” said Kadyrov.

Ukrainian military continues to advance into several of the areas Russia now claims as its own.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

strike on a convoy of civilian cars that killed at least 30 people near Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on September 30.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

results of a referendum on the joining of the DPR to Russia, in Donetsk, Ukraine, on September 27.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

referendum poster reading “Yes” in Berdyansk, Ukraine, on September 26. Russia is attempting to annex up to 18% of Ukrainian territory, with President Vladimir Putin expected to host a ceremony in the Kremlin to declare four occupied Ukrainian territories part of Russia.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

mass grave in a forest on the outskirts of Izyum, eastern Ukraine on September 18. Ukrainian authorities discovered hundreds of graves outside the formerly Russian-occupied city.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

inspect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on September 1.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

six month anniversary of the Russian invasion, on August 24. ” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

leaving port of Odesa, Ukraine, on August 5. ” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

evacuation train departs from Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine, on August 2.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Russian missile strike in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on August 1.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

At least 29 people have been confirmed dead.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

missile attack in the Serhiivka district of Odesa, Ukraine, on July 1.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

rocket attack in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, on June 28.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

session of G7 leaders via video link from his office in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday June 27.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Severodonetsk, Ukraine, on June 20.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian PM Mario Draghi past destroyed buildings in Irpin, Ukraine, on June 16.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Young people swing in front of destroyed residential buildings in Borodyanka, Ukraine, on June 15.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

mass grave near the village of Vorzel in the Bucha district near Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 13.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

front line in Severodonetsk, Ukraine, on Wednesday, June 8.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

MLRS towards Russian positions at the front line in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas on June 7.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

sentenced to life in prison by a Ukrainian court in Kyiv on May 23. He was convicted of killing an unarmed civilian. It was the first war crimes trial arising from Russia’s invasion.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant wait near a prison in Olyonivka on May 17. The steel plant was the last holdout in Mariupol, a city that had become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance under relentless Russian bombardment.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

internally displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on May 8.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Antonov Airport in Hostomel, Ukraine, on May 5.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

fire at an oil depot in Makiivka, Ukraine, after missiles struck a facility in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces on May 4.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

the most senior US official to meet with Zelensky since Russia invaded Ukraine.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

struck the Ukrainian capital shortly after a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and UN Secretary-General António Guterres.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

attend a meeting in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 24.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Easter church service at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv on April 24.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Russian attack on Mariupol.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Shocking images showing the bodies of civilians scattered across the suburb of Kyiv sparked international outrage and raised the urgency of ongoing investigations into alleged Russian war crimes. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Russian leaders to be held accountable for the actions of the nation’s military. The Russian Ministry of Defense, without evidence, claimed the extensive footage of Bucha was “fake.”” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

What was left of the town, after intense shelling and devastating airstrikes, was then occupied by Russian forces.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Zelensky emphasized as he stood in the town, surrounded by security.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

confirmed a strike on an oil refinery and fuel storage facilities in the port city.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

meet in Istanbul for talks on March 29. Russia said it would “drastically reduce” its military assault on the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv. The announcement came after Ukrainian and Western intelligence assessments recently suggested that Russia’s advance on Kyiv was stalling. The talks also covered other important issues, including the future of the eastern Donbas region, the fate of Crimea, a broad alliance of security guarantors and a potential meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

following a Russian attack on March 29. At least nine people were killed, according to the Mykolaiv regional media office’s Telegram channel.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

the 110-minute call to dissuade Xi from assisting Russia in its war on Ukraine.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

the celebration, which commemorated the eighth year of Russia’s annexation of Crimea.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

The historic speech occurred as the United States is under pressure to provide more military assistance to the embattled country.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

an airstrike on the Yavoriv military base near the Polish border. Local authorities say 35 people were killed.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

besieged by Russian forces.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

their newborn daughter, Veronika, at a hospital in Mariupol on March 11. Vishegirskaya survived the maternity hospital bombing in the city earlier in the week.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

a funeral service for three Ukrainian soldiers in Lviv on March 11. Senior Soldier Andrii Stefanyshyn, 39; Senior Lt. Taras Didukh, 25; and Sgt. Dmytro Kabakov, 58, were laid to rest at the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church. Even in this sacred space, the sounds of war intruded: an air raid siren audible under the sound of prayer and weeping. Yet no one stirred. Residents are now inured to the near-daily warnings of an air attack.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Lavrov falsely claimed that his country “did not attack” its neighbor.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Due to heavy fighting, Irpin has been without heat, water or electricity for several days.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

bombed maternity hospital in Mariupol on March 9. The woman and her baby later died, a surgeon who was treating her confirmed. The attack came despite Russia agreeing to a 12-hour pause in hostilities to allow refugees to evacuate.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

unable to hold proper burials.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

stretched for miles as people tried to escape fighting in districts to the north and northwest of Kyiv.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

addresses British lawmakers via video on March 8. “We will not give up and we will not lose. We will fight until the end at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost,” he said in his comments translated by an interpreter. The House of Commons gave Zelensky a standing ovation at the end of his address.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

a Russian military strike.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Russian missile attack on Kyiv on Thursday, April 28, which occurred as the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres was finishing a visit to the Ukrainian capital.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

their meeting, in Kyiv, on April 28. ” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Residents wrapped statues in protective sheets to try to safeguard historic monuments across the city.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

18-month-old son, Kirill, who was wounded by shelling in Mariupol on March 4. Medical workers frantically tried to save the boy’s life, but he didn’t survive.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

According to the Washington Post, he was a member of Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces, which is comprised mostly of volunteers.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Russian forces have “occupied” the power plant.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

a senior US defense official told reporters.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Video of the incident was widely shared on social media.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

take shelter in a subway station in Kyiv on March 2.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

an exclusive interview with CNN and Reuters on March 1. Zelensky said that as long as Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian cities continued, little progress could be made in talks between the two nations. “It’s important to stop bombing people, and then we can move on and sit at the negotiation table,” he said.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Russian forces fired rockets near the tower and struck a Holocaust memorial site in Kyiv hours after warning of “high-precision” strikes on other facilities linked to Ukrainian security agencies.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

hold talks in Belarus on February 28. Both sides discussed a potential “ceasefire and the end of combat actions on the territory of Ukraine,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhaylo Podolyak told reporters. Without going into detail, Podolyak said that both sides would return to their capitals for consultations over whether to implement a number of “decisions.”” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

according to the Associated Press was killed by Russian shelling in a residential area, lies on a medical cart at a hospital in Mariupol on February 27. The girl, whose name was not immediately known, was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

extended a citywide curfew.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

that was damaged by shelling.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

The dramatic scene was captured on video, and CNN confirmed its authenticity. The moment drew comparisons to the iconic “Tank Man” of Tiananmen Square.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

told CNN that more than 120,000 people had left Ukraine while 850,000 were internally displaced.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Explosions were seen and heard in parts of the capital as Ukrainians battled to hold back advancing Russian troops.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Newly married couple Yaryna Arieva and Sviatoslav Fursin pose for photo in Kyiv on February 25 after they joined the Territorial Defense Forces.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

their wedding ceremony at the St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv on February 24. They had planned on getting married in May, but they rushed to tie the knot due to the attacks by Russian forces. “We maybe can die, and we just wanted to be together before all of that,” Arieva said.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

address the Russian invasion on February 24. “Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences,” Biden said, laying out a set of measures that will “impose severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time.”” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Airports were also hit in Boryspil, Kharkiv, Ozerne, Kulbakino, Kramatorsk and Chornobaivka.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

seized control of the the plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

In a video address, Zelensky announced that he was introducing martial law. He urged people to remain calm.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

a barrage of artillery.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

exiting Kyiv on February 24. Heavy traffic appeared to be heading west, away from where explosions were heard early in the morning.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

announces a military operation in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on February 24. “Whoever tries to interfere with us, and even more so to create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia’s response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences as you have never experienced in your history,” he said.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council is held in New York to discuss the crisis on February 23. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop “attacking Ukraine” and to give peace a chance.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

killed by a shrapnel wound on February 19 after several rounds of artillery fire were directed at Ukrainian positions near Myronivske.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Global markets tumbled the day after Putin ordered troops into parts of eastern Ukraine.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

an address by Putin from their hotel room in Taganrog, Russia, on February 21. Putin blasted Kyiv’s growing security ties with the West, and in lengthy remarks about the history of the USSR and the formation of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, he appeared to cast doubt on Ukraine’s right to self-determination.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

Putin signs decrees recognizing the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic in a ceremony in Moscow on February 21. Earlier in the day, the heads of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian republics requested the Kremlin leader recognize their independence and sovereignty. Members of Putin’s Security Council supported the initiative in a meeting earlier in the day.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

the position came under fire. No one was injured.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

a staged attack designed to stoke tensions in eastern Ukraine.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

those who died in 2014 while protesting against the government of President Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russian leader who later fled the country.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

damaged by shelling is seen in Stanytsia Luhanska, Ukraine, on February 17. No lives were lost, but it was a stark reminder of the stakes for people living near the front lines that separate Ukrainian government forces from Russian-backed separatists.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

urged Americans in Ukraine to leave the country, warning that “things could go crazy quickly” in the region.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

were hit by cyberattacks that day, as were the websites of Ukraine’s defense ministry and army, according to Ukrainian government agencies.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img”/>

The US-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War noted that Russian battlefield setbacks, coupled with the unease in Russian society over mobilization, “was fundamentally changing the Russian information space.” That has included robust criticism not just from hawkish men of power such as Kadyrov, but from pro-war milbloggers who have often provided a granular picture of battlefield realities for Russian forces.

“The Russian information space has significantly deviated from the narratives preferred by the Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) that things are generally under control,” ISW noted in its recent analysis.

“The current onslaught of criticism and reporting of operational military details by the Kremlin’s propagandists has come to resemble the milblogger discourse over the past week. The Kremlin narrative had focused on general statements of progress and avoided detailed discussions of current military operations. The Kremlin had never openly recognized a major failure in the war prior to its devastating loss in Kharkiv Oblast, which prompted the partial reserve mobilization.”

One of the central features of Putinism is a fetish for World War II, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. And those in Russia’s party of war often speak admiringly of the brutal tactics employed by the Red Army to fight Hitler’s Wehrmacht, including the use of punishment battalions – sending soldiers accused of desertion, cowardice or wavering against German positions as cannon fodder – and the use of summary execution to halt unauthorized retreats.

Kadyrov – who recently announced that he had been promoted by Putin to the rank of colonel general – has been one of the most prominent voices arguing for the draconian methods of the past. He recently said in another Telegram post that, if he had his way, he would give the government extraordinary wartime powers in Russia.

“Yes, if it were my will, I would declare martial law throughout the country and use any weapon, because today we are at war with the whole NATO bloc,” Kadyrov said in a post that also seemed to echo Putin’s not-so-subtle threats that Russia might contemplate the use of nuclear weapons.

And that’s the worrying thing. In Russia’s bellicose information space, the talk isn’t about ending a horrific and wasteful war: It’s about correcting the mistakes that forced a Russian retreat, reinforcing discipline, and doubling down in Ukraine.