Wow… how do they have time for intramural fights between shelling their own nuclear power plants, their own multibillion dollar pipelines and their own bridges? Enquiring minds want to know. /sarc
Prigozhin strikes me as a Russian Dirlewanger and will probably meet the same fate.
глупый путин
путин это животное
You goobers treat war like a soap opera. It is pretty goofy and disgusting. I can see it is enjoyable for you and gives you a reason to get up in the morning.
Rumors of infighting among the elites are likely accurate. The thing is - there’s always infighting - they’re jockeying for the next step up the ladder, in much the same way you’d see in any other political hierarchy. The whole back and forth in the Russian media between different factions probably relates to an attempt to avoid being the scapegoat - getting fired and sidelined. The out-of-breath speculation about coups and so on are probably more wishful thinking than anything else.
Compare and contrast the Rooskies latest adventures in Ukraine with the USA’s later years in Afghanistan.
Extra points for detailed commentary on the benefits of having Gen. Milley around.
Ukraine ping
The following is the key part of this article. Putin trusts only Shoigu. He may or may not be ineffectual. But he gets along with *everyone*. If Putin ever croaks of old age, Shoigu might end up replacing the man, simply because he’s the one guy everyone trusts not to screw them.
The native of Tuva had always been an unenthusiastic supporter of the 2014 war in the Donbas but was overruled by a cadre of hawkish Kremlin advisers including Nikolai Patrushev, the person said. He also was not in favour of the more recent “annexations” of occupied Ukrainian territory, he added.
But Putin knows he can trust Shoigu and sacking him would be deeply embarrassing, said that official.
“Even if Shiogu isn’t happy with what is happening, he’ll always be loyal to Putin and do his job,” the person said. “Putin knows he can fully trust him.”
That reflected a sense among a number of Russian elites that despite the challenges posed by the upstarts that the weight of Russia’s main ministries: the army, FSB, police and others would far exceed the threat posed by them.
Kadyrov didn’t have the authority to tell Putin to replace his defence minister, said a former top official. And Kadyrov was considerably more measured in his private interactions with Putin than in his public statements, the person said. Prigozhin, meanwhile, was just an “operator”.
“I cannot imagine that the FSB would allow either Prigozhin or Kadyrov to acquire any political power,” said Yevgenia Albats, a Russian investigative journalist and editor of the New Times. “It’s impossible.”]
The British press has really gone down hill with their anti Russian “reporting”.
Take everything the British press says with a lot of salt. The Wagner Group and Kaydrov are manufactured hired help, not the decision makers. They have Putin’s ear some of the time. At the end of the day they shut up and do as they are told.
