“Everything is fine”, the General Staff adheres to “wise tactics”

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, praised the Ministry of Defense and its head, Sergei Shoigu, as well as the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, saying that the Russian military is following “wise tactics” in combat operations in Ukraine.

“We are moving forward in every sense. Although I am a supporter of quick forced actions in Ukraine, the current tactics of the General Staff are also very deliberate and sparing,” Kadyrov wrote in a telegram, noting that “the situation both in the country and in the ranks of our combat divided many times better than it was an hour ago.”

“Everyone in their place works harmoniously and flawlessly like clockwork: businessmen, bank employees, deputies of the State Duma, civil servants of the Presidential Administration, the Government, officers of the General Staff. The Minister of Defense and his deputies are on combat duty 24 hours a day,” Kadyrov writes. “Everything is fine, citizens, don’t worry.”

At the same time, earlier the head of Chechnya, without directly criticizing Shoigu, repeatedly criticized both the tactics of conducting hostilities and individual commanders. At the same time, his evaluations often coincided with the evaluations of the founder of PMC Wagner, Evgeny Prigozhin.

Prigozhin continues to actively criticize the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, including – almost in plain text – Shoigu himself. Kadyrov’s new post, in which he speaks negatively about the military, criticizing the authorities, can be interpreted as a polemic with Prigozhin, although he is not mentioned – the text is stylized as an appeal to an ordinary soldier.

“The presence of communication does not mean that internal issues need to be voiced and scattered on social networks. They will always be there! When you suddenly see a video with the lamentations of a careless soldier, you want to ask, do you think that there is always enough and enough for war? A warrior does not shout – a warrior solves. It is necessary to look for a solution to the problem, and not to gather in a group and write public appeals. Have you run out of cartridges? And why didn’t you warn the superior officer in advance that they were on the way? A good fighter does not suddenly run out of cartridges for one reason or another,” writes Kadyrov . It was Prigozhin who in recent weeks complained about the lack of shells for PMC Wagner.

Kadyrov’s post was published on Monday evening. In the morning of the same day, a message appeared about his meeting with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. Analysts of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) note that the head of Chechnya used the meeting to emphasize the role of Chechen fighters at the front, and achieved a positive reaction from Putin. At the same time, as noted by ISW, fighters from Chechnya now play a “minimal role” on the front line and are more actively present in the rear. “Kadyrov could therefore be afraid of losing Putin’s favor, since he could not demonstrate great success,” ISW notes.

IN Monday, in the summary of the same organization, it was noted that the losses among prisoners and mercenaries from “PMK Wagner” near Bakhmut could scare off Yevgeny Prigozhin’s supporters. “Prygozhin’s downfall is likely to frighten other Kremlin officials, such as Kadyrov, and force them to moderate their ambitions in order to avoid Prigozhin’s fate,” the summary says.

• Kadyrov, who positions himself as “Putin’s foot soldier”, emphatically demonstrated his support for Prigozhin during Russia’s war against Ukraine. Moreover, their structures cooperated: it is known that “volunteers” sent to the war through Chechnya end up in Wagner PMC.
• Last October, Kadyrov published a new post, calling the head of PMC Wagner a “dear brother” and a “born warrior.” At the same time, he harshly criticized General Alexander Lapin, the commander of Army Group “Center” at the time, who had surrendered the Ukrainian Liman, calling him “talented.” Prigozhin then supported the criticism of the general.
• In February, the Institute for the Study of War assumed that Kadyrov would not support Prigozhin in his confrontation with the Ministry of Defense. These conclusions were based on Kadyrov’s statements about “excellent harmonious relations” with the department.