ALERT – Russia seems to be fracturing into a type of warlord state, with the national army losing its standing amidst all the infighting. Or is this just part of a bigger Kremlin strategy to manage potential rivals?
The increasingly outspoken founder of the private military Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has apparently made himself a new enemy as he continues to loudly vent his anger with the country's flagging Ukraine war effort.
The Chechens, who are scheduled to replace Wagner in the embattled city of Bakhmut in the Donbas region, aren't happy with Prigozhin's constant whining or his disparaging of Chechen troops.
Chechen militias known as Kadyrovtsy were widely accused of severe human rights violations during the fierce early battles on the outskirts of Kyiv in 2022.
They have since had a nearly year-long hiatus from high-intensity combat operations.
But Magomed Daudov, the chairman of the Chechen Parliament and henchman of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is now demanding a face-to-face meeting with Prigozhin in a scathing video he shared on Telegram on Thursday.
Daudov added, according to The Daily Beast:
Our fighters also have problems, but that doesn't mean that a warrior should shout about it. In your statements, you always hint that someone needs to be shot. I need to tell you, for such words, almost every day, you would have immediately been put up against the wall during World War II. Sometimes I just don't understand what you're trying to achieve with your daily comment.
He also accused Prigozhin of creating a “panicked mood among the population.”
In the video and post, Daudov hinted that Prigozhin is flying dangerously close to the sun by making the war all about him. Daudov emphasized that Vladimir Putin and Kadyrov are the ones calling the shots on the Ukraine war.
Kadyrov, while publicly a Putin loyalist, is one of the few elite Russians with an independent military power base.
But Daudov isn't the only Chechen bashing the Wagner Group chief. The Daily Beast reports that:
Chechen lawmaker Adam Delimkhanov, a cousin and close ally of Kadyrov, also called out Prigozhin in a video posted on Telegram, mocking him as a “blogger” after the mercenary boss said he didn't understand what Chechen fighters are doing in the war.
“If something is not clear to you, you can contact us at any time, give us a time and place. We will explain to you what you don't understand. That's one thing. Secondly, you have become a blogger and are shouting to the whole world that we only have problems. We all know how many people you laid down in Bakhmut over 7-8 months… Enough talking, shouting, and yelling. Name the place: where, what, when—we'll see you. We will solve any issue face to face with you,” he said.
And this infighting between Wagner and the Chechens may be exactly what Putin wants.
The Daily Beast notes: “The simmering feud appears to mark a major falling out between two of the Kremlin's most notorious warmongers, as Kadyrov and Prigozhin had previously been strangely in sync in their outspoken criticisms of the Defense Ministry.”
By pushing the Chechens back into the Donbas meat grinder, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Putin and his allies in the Russian military leadership may also be using the bloody fighting to militarily degrade potential rivals.
The ISW added: “The Kremlin may also be attempting to sever Kadyrov's relationship with Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin and re-emphasize federal authority over Chechen forces.”
Meanwhile, the Chechen units, Alex Kokcharov, a Russia and Ukraine expert, told Newsweek, may not be up to the task of replacing Wagner. They are effectively a “paramilitary police” force with additional military training.
They have been mostly in rear areas since last year and generally operate separately from the Russian Defense Ministry.
“…they are probably not the most combat-ready troops, despite all their social media bravado about how wonderful they are,” Kokcharov assesses.
While the latest Chechen outburst may be the result of Kremlin scheming, it still can't be a good sign that Putin needs to be managing independent military rivals to central rule from Moscow.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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….propaganda….
Bravo, civil war among the Russians Hooray
Fracturing is a mild descriptor. It’s the predictable result of communism. It’s also very near to the outcome desired by democrats and their CIC (Coprolite in Chief). His bumbling combined with loss of congress nearly ceded control of jobs, income, education, transportation, medical care and every other facet of proletariat life — to the government.
Further, if conservatives had not won control of the House, the current administration would have destroyed any hope for American prosperity, strong military defense, border control, family decency and a host of human freedoms guaranteed by our constitutional republic form of government.