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☆ Brawling with elite, Russian mercenary boss wishes politician shot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"During the 1941-45 war, which is now being repeated, Stalin simply shot people like you. I think we're going to return to those times soon," he told Sverdlovsk governor Yevgeny Kuivashev, according to his press service. Earlier this week, he accused various regional governors of refusing to bury Wagner fighters with military honours, labelling them as lawless, corrupt bureaucrats. From eastern Ukraine, Prigozhin replied that he had stopped being a businessman a year ago and was now devoting his life to leading his fighters. "There is a ceiling (of growth) and mechanisms in place," said the source, who declined to provide more details.

☆ Chechen leader says he wants to 'compete' with Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and create his own private military
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said the Wagner Group was showing "impressive results" in Ukraine. In a Telegram post, Kadyrov said he wants to compete with the group's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Kadyrov added he plans on starting his own private military company, similar to Wagner. "It seems that the private military company managed to achieve very impressive results." "When my service to the state is completed, I seriously plan to compete with our dear brother Yevgeny Prigozhin and create a private military company.

☆ Chechnya's Kadyrov: one day I plan my own mercenary group
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia's Chechnya region, said on Sunday that he one day planned to set up his own private military company in the style of Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Group of mercenaries. The rise of Wagner and other mercenary groups outside the traditional Russian and Soviet-era military command structures has raised concerns among diplomats that such groups could one day pose a threat to stability in Russia. In a post on Telegram, Kadyrov said that Wagner, which has been fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, had achieved "impressive results" and said private military companies were a necessity. "When my service to the state is completed, I seriously plan to compete with our dear brother Yevgeny Prigozhin and create a private military company. I think it will all work out," said Kadyrov, who has served as head of the Chechen Republic since 2007.

☆ Russia can take Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa, Chechnya's Kadyrov says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 13 (Reuters) - Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of the Russian region of Chechnya, said in an interview aired on Monday that Russia would achieve its goals in Ukraine by the end of the year and it would be wrong to negotiate with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. "I believe that, by the end of the year, we will 100% complete the task set for us today," Kadyrov said. Nevertheless, Kadyrov told interviewer Olga Skabeyeva, who hosts a stridently pro-war chat show: "If we sit down at the negotiating table with Zelenskiy, yes, I think that's wrong." Kadyrov is a former Chechen separatist fighter who switched sides in the late 1990s, joining the pro-Russian administration in the restive Caucasus region along with his wider family. His father was assassinated by pro-independence militants in 2004, and Russian President Vladimir Putin personally installed him as leader of Chechnya in 2007.

☆ A Russian general was poisoned by a letter laced with an unknown toxin, close Putin ally says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said his top general in Ukraine has been poisoned. Apti Alaudinov was poisoned after handling a letter sent to him earlier this month, Kadyrov said. Kadyrov, who is also a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said his top general in Ukraine has been poisoned after handling a letter that was sent to him on February 8. Apti Alaudinov, who commands the Akhmat special forces, picked up a letter that was "saturated with a poisonous substance," Kadyrov said. In March last year, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich briefly went blind after an apparent poisoning during peace meetings with Ukrainian negotiators.

☆ A key ally of Putin said he wants to invade Poland next, ignoring Russia's inability to capture Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Putin ally said he wants to turn to Poland after Ukraine, to "denazify and demilitarize" it. Russia has been struggling in Ukraine, but Kadyrov said the war would end this year. After all, after Ukraine, Poland is on the map! Poland is also a NATO and EU member, which means it would get more support from the West than Ukraine has. Kadyrov, a close ally with Putin, has also been critical of the Russian army's performance in Ukraine, calling for even more brutal tactics.

☆ Russian Wagner boss acknowledges comparison with Rasputin
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Prigozhin acknowledged only last September that he had founded the Wagner group, which has played a major role in the Russian military's attempts to capture territory in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. In recent months, Prigozhin has been seen in online videos trying to lure inmates from Russian prisons to join its ranks in Ukraine. The Financial Times was not the first to compare his role to that of the monk in the Russian imperial court - a Russian journalist made the comparison last year. Prigozhin said the comparisons were "absolutely clear" and he saw his role as bringing wayward Westerners back into line. Rasputin was assassinated in 1916 by a group of Russian noblemen who feared his growing influence on the tsarist family.

☆ A spat over whether Russian troops can grow beards is a telling clue about the state of Putin's forces at a critical moment
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Reports suggest Russia's defense ministry is trying to enforce rules on facial hair and smartphones. The spat is a telling clue about the dysfunction in Russian ranks as a new general tries to regain the momentum. It's unclear if that played a role, but Ukraine has geolocated the cellphones of Russian troops and used that information in attacks. Prigozhin at times has promoted Wagner's efforts against Ukraine while ripping into Moscow's inability to secure any notable achievements. It also exposes a consistent dysfunction and communication issue that has plagued Russia's war efforts since launching the large-scale invasion nearly a year ago.

☆ Kadyrov, Prigozhin slam prohibition on Russian soldiers' beards
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Thursday criticised a prohibition on Russian soldiers wearing beards, joining Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in the two men's latest outburst against the Russian military leadership. Kadyrov called Sobolev's comments "a clear provocation", saying that his mostly Muslim soldiers wore beards as part of their religious duty. Wagner boss Prigozhin, whose rift with the defence establishment has become more public in the past week, called Sobolev's comments "absurd" and "archaisms from the 1960s". Kadyrov and Prigozhin, whose forces in Ukraine operate largely autonomously of the high command, have become more outspoken in their criticism of the Russian military leadership since Moscow's armies suffered a string of cascading defeats in the autumn. Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Vin ShahrestaniOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: Who is Russia's new war commander Gerasimov and why was he appointed?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Gerasimov's deputies will be Army General Sergei Surovikin, the previous theatre commander, appointed three months ago and nicknamed "General Armageddon"; Army General Oleg Salyukov; and Deputy Chief of the General Staff Colonel-General Alexei Kim. "Now the General Staff is directly and uncompromisingly responsible for absolutely everything," said Semyon Pegov, a Russian military blogger who uses the name Wargonzo. Gerasimov was appointed chief of the general staff and deputy defence minister by Putin on Nov. 9, 2012, three days after Putin's long-time ally Sergei Shoigu was made defence minister. Gerasimov played key roles in Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and in Russia's game-changing military support for President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian Civil War. Gerasimov was born on Sept. 8, 1955, in Kazan, rising through the ranks from Russia's tank forces to graduate in 1997 from the Military Academy of the General Staff.

☆ Russia appoints new ground forces chief despite hawks' disapproval
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Russia has appointed Colonel-General Alexander Lapin as chief of staff of the country's ground forces, state-owned news agency TASS reported on Tuesday, despite fierce criticism from leading hawks over his performance in Ukraine. Lapin, previously commander of Russia's central military district, was blasted last October by hawkish allies of President Vladimir Putin after Russian forces were driven out of the city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, a key logistics hub. On Oct. 8, Russia named Air Force General Sergei Surovikin as the overall commander of its forces in Ukraine, shortly after the reported sacking of the commanders of the Eastern and Western military districts. Kadyrov said Lapin should be stripped of his medals and sent to the front with a gun to wash away his shame with blood. Prigozhin backed Kadyrov's comments, saying: "All these bastards should be sent barefoot to the front with automatic guns."

☆ Fact Check-Chechen general referred to 2.5 million Russians, not Chechens
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

There is currently no evidence to support the claim that over 2.5 million Chechens are preparing to fight against Russia, contrary to rumors circulating online. The region’s leader did call in September for marshalling some 2.5 million law enforcement personnel from all parts of Russia to fight for Russia in Ukraine. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as discussed in Reuters articles (here), (here) and (here). The population of Chechnya is estimated at just over 1.5 million (here) , (here) and (here). There is no evidence that an army of 2.5 million Chechens is preparing to fight against Russia.

☆ Pro-Putin operatives in Germany work to turn Berlin against Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +17 min

Now the main Russian Cossack organisations are loyal to Putin, and they are fighting alongside Russia’s forces in Ukraine. He is regularly pictured on his and other social media pages at Cossack gatherings, often wearing Cossack military uniform. Felk has worked as a security guard and has run a logistics firm, according to posts on Felk’s OK social media account. Photos shared by Kharkovsky on social media show him and other participants standing in front of a Great Don Army flag. Eremenko confirmed to Reuters that he worked for Russian military intelligence, the GRU.

☆ Russia's Wagner militia is openly and angrily feuding with its main military over the faltering invasion of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin backed up criticisms of Russia's top general, the Daily Beast reported. It's more evidence of a rift at the top of Russia's military elite as the Ukraine war drags on. In the video, a Wagner fighter addresses comments to the Chief of the General Staff of Russia's army, Valery Gerasimov: "You are a fucking motherfucker," he said, per the Beast's translation. Asked to comment on the video, Prigozhin confirmed that it was his soldiers speaking, and defended them, the Beast reported. It's only the latest evidence of simmering tensions among Russia's military elite as they struggle to make headway in Ukraine — where once a total conquest was considered achievable within two days.

☆ A Russian tank unit deliberately attacked another Russian position in Ukraine, report says, illustrating vicious rivalries within Putin's army
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Russian tank unit attacked another Russian position in Ukraine following an argument, the NYT said. The incident demonstrates the vicious in-fighting that has plagued Vladimir Putin's military. A Russian drone operator who said he witnessed the episode told the paper that a Russian tank commander drove his T-90 tank toward a group of Russian national guard troops, fired at their checkpoint and blew it up. The Russian military appears to have limited coordination with any of them, officials said, according to the paper. Prigozhin echoed the sentiment, the paper said, commenting about Russian military generals: "Send all these pieces of garbage barefoot with machine guns straight to the front."

At the start of the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin ordered Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to occupy Kyiv’s government quarters and assassinate the Ukrainian president, Ukrainian intelligence and security officials allege. When Mr. Putin needed more soldiers on fast-crumbling front lines, the warlord rounded up thousands of men, sometimes forcibly, and sent them in, according to Chechen residents.

Since the early days of the invasion, Mr. Putin has conceded, privately, that the war has not gone as planned. “I think he is sincerely willing” to compromise with Russia, Mr. Putin said of Mr. Zelensky in 2019. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. “I think this war is Putin’s grave.” Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, a Russian prisoner of war held by Ukraine, in October.

☆ Putin's war in Ukraine looks more and more like a failure. Past Russian leaders haven't survived similar mistakes.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Joy Neumeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Instead, Russia's failing war effort has raised doubts about Putin's hold on power. For now, Putin looks secure, but past Russian leaders have suffered at home for blunders abroad. By the following summer, the Germans had taken huge swathes of Russian-controlled territory and a million Russian soldiers were dead. Captured Russian soldiers after the defeat at Tannenberg, in present-day Poland, on August 30, 1914. After an ineffectual troop surge, Gorbachev gave up on trying to improve the situation, and the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in February 1989.

[1/3] Members of the pro-Ukrainian Chechen battalion check an area, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Bakhmut, Ukraine November 11, 2022. Maga, his nom-de-guerre, is part of a unit of Chechen fighters helping Ukraine battle Russian troops in eastern Ukraine. "We're not fighting just for the sake of fighting," said Maga, who declined to give his real name for security reasons. That has not extinguished hope among Kadyrov's opponents, including Chechens fighting Russian forces in Ukraine, that the authoritarian "power vertical" which Putin has built could crumble if Moscow lost in Ukraine. "The armed forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria are being renewed here today," he told the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Oct. 24.

The pullout proposed by General Sergei Surovikin, appointed last month to take overall charge of Russia's war effort, means Moscow is giving up a strategic city just north of annexed Crimea, the only Ukrainian provincial capital it had captured since its Feb. 24 invasion. The decision - described by one Russian military blogger as "a black page in the history of the Russian army" - was nonetheless quickly defended by some of the most high-profile proponents of the war as a wise and necessary action. But he said that ceding Kherson to Ukraine would put Russian-annexed Crimea within range of Ukrainian guided missile systems and U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets. As Shoigu and Surovikin announced the retreat on Wednesday, Putin was congratulating employees of a leading scientific institute on its 75th anniversary. And after that, to understand who is right, who to blame and what is the essence of the problem".

☆ Heavily criticised Russian commander takes three-week holiday, agency says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The commander of one of Russia's five military districts, heavily criticised for the performance of his troops in Ukraine, is taking a three-week holiday, according to the regional news agency Ura.ru. The Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Russia has made sweeping changes to its military leadership in the last two months as Ukrainian forces have reclaimed thousands of square kilometres in the northeast, east and south from Russian occupation. On Oct. 8 it named Air Force General Sergei Surovikin as the overall commander of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, shortly after the reported sacking of the commanders of the Eastern and Western military districts. Lapin's stand-in as commander of the Central District is Major-General Alexander Linkov, head of its organisational and mobilisation department, Kommersant said.

Is Russian President Vladimir Putin stepping back from the nuclear ledge? Concerns over Russia’s possible use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine had lessened recently, the sources said. Putin himself has given mixed signals over the question of Russia’s threshold for nuclear use. Russian President Vladimir Putin. “While Putin is unlikely to use nuclear weapons, that is because he is deterred by the fear of escalation, including nuclear escalation.

☆ Russia: West must stop 'encouraging provocations' to avoid nuclear disaster
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 2 (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday that avoiding a nuclear clash between the world's nuclear powers was its first priority, but accused the West of "encouraging provocations with weapons of mass destruction". The Russian Foreign Ministry said it feared the five declared nuclear powers were teetering "on the brink of a direct armed conflict" and that the West must stop "encouraging provocations with weapons of mass destruction, which can lead to catastrophic consequences". Moscow said it stood by a joint declaration issued together with the United States, China, Britain and France in January affirming their joint responsibility for avoiding a nuclear war. In September, Putin said he was "not bluffing" when he stated that Russia was prepared to use "all available means" to defend its territory. Shortly afterwards, Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of the Chechnya region and a key ally of Putin's, called for Russia to use a "low-yield nuclear weapon" in Ukraine.

☆ Factbox: Has Putin threatened to use nuclear weapons?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The West says Russia has made repeated threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, but what has President Vladimir Putin actually said on the possible use of nuclear weapons? The Kremlin chief said the West was plotting to destroy his country, engaging in "nuclear blackmail" by allegedly discussing the potential use of nuclear weapons against Moscow. And those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them," Putin said. Putin, the ultimate decision maker on any nuclear launch, has not publicly mentioned tactical nuclear weapons in relation to Ukraine. Russia's nuclear doctrine allows for a nuclear strike after "aggression against the Russian Federation with conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is threatened".

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