30 October 2022, 19:11
Analysts dispute about motives for Kadyrov's and Prigozhin's attacks on military leadership
Ramzan Kadyrov's and Evgeny Prigozhin's criticism against the Russian military command is caused by the desire of each of them to win political dividends, Alexei Malashenko, a political scientist, has suggested. Their parallel attacks on the military command look like a formation of an influential political group including Kadyrov and Prigozhin, Evgeny Minchenko, a political consultant, has objected.
On October 27, Kadyrov again criticized Colonel General Alexander Lapin from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) because of the situation during the military operation and his actions in commanding the units. Kadyrov has noted that he agrees with Prigozhin's proposals on the need for tactical and personnel changes in the army leadership. In his turn, Prigozhin has criticized the militaries, who have no real combat experience.
On October 1, Kadyrov criticized the MoD for the decision to withdraw troops from Krasny Liman because of the encirclement threat. He also criticized General Lapin, who commanded the Liman direction. Prigozhin supported Kadyrov's opinion.
The "Kadyrov-Prigozhin" political tandem exists "only at the level of rumours," the synchronism of their critical statements doesn't allow us to make an unambiguous conclusion that they represent an influence group, Alexei Malashenko, a Caucasian expert, believes.
"Some talk about Prigozhin in general as a future country's president. In fact, no one can say for sure what place he occupies in all this ... Probably, they are being egged on to some kind of statements and actions," Mr Malashenko has stated, explaining that Prigozhin and Kadyrov are just allowed to speak more than others.
Earlier, Kadyrov stated that 23 Chechen fighters had perished in the Kherson Region, and 58 others were wounded. They want to put responsibility for the deaths of the fighters, including those from Kadyrov's detachments, on the army leadership, Alexei Malashenko did not rule out.
Evgeny Minchenko, the head of the Minchenko Consulting Group, has treated the objective problems in conducting the special operation as one of the reasons for Prigozhin's and Kadyrov's public criticism of the army, as well as of the fact that the political group, which includes Kadyrov and Prigozhin, is trying to increase its influence in this way.
Since the start of the military operation, Kadyrov has repeatedly criticized the army commanders. Thus, on September 22, he expressed his strong dissatisfaction with the exchange of prisoners of war (POWs), which was organized by the Russian MoD and the FSB.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 29, 2022 at 03:53 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
