KREMLIN MASSACRING ITS LEADING SUPPORTERS IN DISASTROUS UKRAINE WAR

Ukrainian soldiers taking out the Putinist trash

It looks like one of the main outcomes of the present Russo-Ukrainian War will be the mass culling of Russian nationalists and imperialists. Yes, a few months from now, the only Putinf@gs left alive will be Western shills on the internet.

Unlike the Ukrainians, who mass mobilised their population as soon as their nation was invaded, the Kremlin has been mainly relying on two "special groups" to do most of the hard fighting -- namely, prison convicts offered amnesty for their crimes and Russian "super-patriots," who have been been glugging the Kremlin Kool Aid for the last couple of decades.

Needless to say a lot of these people have now been butchered in the war.

The Kremlin's overreliance on its most active supporters was motivated by the need to avoid a mass call-up, which would have turbocharged opposition to Putin.

As reported by the Institute for the Study of War Twitter account:

Putin likely rejected the Russian military’s advice to order an involuntary reserve call-up because of the unpopularity of the move, the fact that he had not set informational conditions for it, and possibly also because of his growing distrust of the Russian MoD.

Putin decided instead to double down on existing volunteer recruitment efforts already being conducted by ultranationalist groups and ordered the formation of new volunteer formations.

Due to poor results with convict recruits and the uselessness of overseas fighters, Putin has increasingly come to rely on his own base to fight his disastrous war, with the effect that his most loyal supporters, many of whom lack military training and experience, have been effectively slaughtered like pigs in a sausage factory:

The Kremlin likely turned to these existing networks hoping to attract volunteers who ideologically support his war. ISW repeatedly observed and reported on numerous instances of Russian pro-war, nationalist milbloggers promoting recruitment and crowdfunding campaigns. 

These quasi-official ultranationalist groups began to increasingly recruit from the general public, reaching beyond reservists who had completed their mandatory conscript service, veterans, and contract servicemen. 

This also explains why Putin has been tolerating increasing levels of criticism from these ultranationalist hotheads who live in a fantasy World where Russia is "stronk":

ISW also observed that Putin had been increasingly tolerating ultranationalist milbloggers who have become mainstream sources of frontline information since May 2022 despite their harsh criticism of the Russian military command and the progress of the war.

Putin likely valued the milbloggers’ ability to recruit volunteers above maintaining the Russian MoD’s propaganda efforts or saving the reputations of Shoigu, Gerasimov, and other failed military commanders.

The Kremlin, for example, tolerated and continues to tolerate former Russian officer Igor Girkin who directly criticizes Putin and his administration, likely due to Girkin’s connections to DNR and LNR volunteer formations that have generated additional volunteers for the war.

In other words, Putin's war has been a total shamble. Following serious defeats in the Kharkiv area in September, Putin was even forced to backtrack on this policy, increasing mass mobilization efforts regardless. 

Ukraine’s sweeping counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast between September 6 and September 11 likely shocked Putin into realizing that he needed to order an involuntary reserve call-up. [...]

Once the bulk of the 300,000 mobilized reservists had arrived with units in Ukraine Putin began allowing the Russian MoD to reassert its primacy over all Russian forces. 

This situation has led to bitter rivalries between the Russian MoD and the ultranationalist volunteers and Wagner convict battalions:

Putin named Gerasimov overall theater commander on January 11, subordinating Surovikin to him. Russian MoD began actively integrating the 1st and 2nd (DNR and LNR) army corps into the conventional Russian military and is reportedly removing proxy commanders.

The Russian MoD is also attempting to restrict Wagner from receiving state ammunition and stopped Wagner’s prisoner recruitment in favor of its own prisoner recruitment efforts.

In other words, the number of people with a significant reason to bump Putin off has skyrocketed in recent months. Watch this space.

Igor Girkin, sometimes known by his nom “de guerre” Igor Strelkov, now a strident critic of the MSO, seems ever more in a state of despondency, with a uniquely dark view on the future, for Vladimir Putin most of all. pic.twitter.com/yLUG4twkv5

— Yasmina (@yasminalombaert) February 28, 2023