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☆ Opinion: Why Putin wants a ‘forever war’
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Sheena Mckenzie | Opinion Mark Galeotti | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —When Westerners talk about the conflict in Ukraine becoming a “forever war,” they tend to mean it as a bad thing. As the forever war becomes the organising principle of “late Putinism,” it excuses — even demands — the tightening grip of repression Putin needs to maintain his control of the nation. From Putin’s point of view, talk of a ‘forever war’ has one final virtue for him — it is demoralising to his enemies. However, from his point of view, talk of a “forever war” has one final virtue for him — it is demoralising to his enemies. No war lasts forever, but peace is still well over the horizon.

Persons: Mark Galeotti, Vladimir Putin, Putin, ” Mark Galeotti, ”, ’, bankrolling, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin’s Organizations: Mayak Intelligence, University College London, CNN, New Regions, Russian Federation, ” Mark Galeotti Mayak Intelligence, General Locations: Chechnya, Ukraine, Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Russia, Ukrainian, Russian, Crimea, Moscow

Some Russian military bloggers with substantial followings expect a serious reshuffle of the military in the light of the Wagner uprising, and perhaps within the security services for not seeing the preparations for it. Putin has sought to reassert his authority after Prigozhin's mutiny. There is no way to verify Rybar’s allegations, but their airing may demonstrate a level of apprehension in the Russian military in the light of the mutiny. At one point, according to Russian military bloggers, Surovikin interceded to try to procure ammunition for Wagner. There is still considerable respect in Russian military circles for what Wagner has contributed to the Ukraine conflict.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Wagner, Sergey Shoigu, Rybar, ” Rybar, Putin, Valery Gerasimov, Mikhail Teplinsky, Boris Rozhin, Sergey Surovikin, “, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s, ”, Dmitry Peskov, Surovikin, Mark Galeotti, Galeotti, Tatiana Stayonova, Rob Lee, “ Wagner, ” Surovikin, Prigozhin, Vyacheslav Volodin, ” Volodin, Anastasia Kashevarova, Mikhail Tereshchenko, Stayonava, Shoigu, Yevgeny Prigozhin, George W Bush, Concord Company ”, we’ll, eking, Viktor Zolotov, ” Zolotov, ” Anastasia Kashevarova, Russia “, there’s Organizations: CNN, FSO, Federal Guard Service, Federal Protective Service, AP, General Staff, The New York Times, Mayak Intelligence, Foreign Policy Research Institute, Russian Aerospace Forces, Sputnik, Getty, Western Military, Concord Company, Kremlin, MoD, Defense Ministry, Russian National Guard, Ministry of Defense, Telegram Locations: Rostov, Moscow, Don, Russia, Ukraine, AFP, Bakhmut, Shoigu, Putin, St, Petersburg, Russian, Minsk, Belarus, Prigozhin

☆ Opinion: What Putin’s awkward meeting with Russia’s war bloggers reveals
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Opinion Mark Galeotti | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

However, in Russia there is a particular issue: Russians have long become used to being lied to by their state. Even before the war, almost half got their news from social media, with the proportion having risen since the invasion. They have thus become powerful not just in shaping the domestic narrative, but also in the Kremlin’s wider information war. Even Putin has come to realise that to spin his message, he can no longer stick to the official media. Hence his carefully-choreographed sit-down with a group hand-picked from both the official war correspondents and the online voenkory.

Persons: Mark Galeotti, Vladimir Putin, influencers, ”, –, Semyon Pegov, Yury Podolyaka, Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Igor ‘ Strelkov, Girkin, ’, voenkory, He’s, voenkor ” Organizations: Mayak Intelligence, University College London, CNN, Mark Galeotti Mayak Intelligence, Kremlin, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Chechnya, Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan, Russian, Kremlin Ukrainian, Crimea, Belgorod

☆ How Russians end up in a far-right militia fighting in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

[1/3] Danil Yugoslavsky gets ready at Civic Council’s Warsaw office, hours before crossing into Ukraine, in Warsaw, Poland, January 15, 2023. Max Smit, who crossed into Ukraine with Yugoslavsky, had never held a weapon before he joined the RVC. And there are some who think that fighting for the motherland is their cause," said Galeotti, naming the Rusich Group and ENOT Corp among far-right paramilitary units fighting on Russia's side. That's still a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and volunteers fighting in Ukraine, and the thousands of foreigners that have been fighting Russian forces there. According to Sokolov, RVC fighters received regular salaries from the Ukrainian defence ministry.

☆ Moscow's 'special' forces: An inside look at how Russia's famed Spetsnaz really operate
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Mark Galeotti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +24 min

Russia's Spetsnaz forces are often depicted as a kind of Russian super troops. Osprey PublishingMost countries' special forces emphasize physical fitness, determination and aggression. Special people, for special tasksMembers of the Russian military's 16th Separate Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in 2018. Even so, being better than most of the Soviet army's miserable and recalcitrant conscript forces did not make most of them truly special, special forces. The special operations commandMembers of Russian's 22nd Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in November 2017.

☆ A Russian officer who brandished the skull of a Ukrainian soldier at a heavy metal concert was shot in an 'execution-style' hit: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Russian captain was shot "execution-style" in the head on Saturday, according to reports. Igor Mangushev was filmed last year brandishing the supposed skull of a slain Ukrainian soldier. An expert said the "hit" on Mangushev may have been a proxy attack on the head of the Wagner Group. According to The New Voice of Ukraine, citing unverified doctors' reports, Mangushev was shot "execution-stye" at a checkpoint in the Russian-occupied region of Luhansk Oblast. Last summer, Mangushev was filmed brandishing the skull during a heavy metal concert.

☆ Putin's military chief Shoigu under fire as Russia retreats in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Yuliya-Talmazan-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Yuliya Talmazan | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

After weeks of battlefield setbacks, criticism of Moscow’s military leadership has burst into the open — heightening the sense of domestic discontent and posing a rare challenge to the Kremlin. The search for a scapegoat appears to have settled on Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, a close associate of the man who unilaterally launched the invasion: Russian President Vladimir Putin. Appointed defense minister in 2012, Shoigu, 67, had served as the minister of emergency situations, often dispatched to deal with natural disasters and security emergencies, earning him public approval. With Russian forces on the retreat, its military leadership is under fire. Still, such stinging public rebukes of the country’s leadership are extremely rare in Putin’s Russia, where any dissent, especially against those aligned with the Kremlin, is prohibited.

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