Loss of power in the Kremlin?
Putin stands between the chairs
Created: 2022-11-02 21:38
By: Lucas Maier
Putin seems to be having an increasingly difficult time in the Kremlin.
The Moscow ruler is having more and more problems controlling the internal power struggles.
Moscow – Vladimir Putin likes to present himself and his power as untouchable.
According to the US news magazine Newsweek
, details of an expert see the power figure in the Kremlin in a far more difficult position than it often appears
.
It is therefore becoming increasingly difficult for him to mediate between his own military and his allies.
The head of a mercenary group and the dictator of Chechnya are increasingly putting the ex-KGB man under pressure.
Again and again they openly and directly criticize Russia's actions in the Ukraine war.
Hardly anyone else in Russia dares to do that.
Russia: Putin's power structures are coming under increasing pressure
The conflict between representatives of the Russian military and Vladimir Putin's allies seems to be growing, reports the US broadcaster
CNBC
.
"The fact that Russia could quickly become a failed state" is shown by the increasing level of criticism that the Chechen leader and the head of the Wagner group are currently leveling at the Russian Defense Ministry, Vlad Mykhnenko, the aforementioned expert, told
Newsweek
.
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© Sergei Bobylyov / AFP
At Oxford University, Mykhnenko is an expert on post-communist transformations in Eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet states.
The main point of criticism from Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, and Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the Chechens, is the military strategy in the Ukraine war.
Ukraine war: More and more criticism of Russia's military action
Most recently, Kadyrov called for the use of nuclear weapons to give Russian troops a military advantage.
The fact that Prigozhin and Kadyrov are currently standing side by side in their anti-Putin criticism could indicate that the winds of power are shifting in the Kremlin, according to expert Mykhnenko,
Newsweek
reported .
Putin (left) and Kadyrov (right) in the Kremlin.
© Alexei Druzhinin/dpa
The influence of the two men in Moscow can be seen after their criticism of General Alexander Lapin, the former head of the "central" Russian forces in Ukraine.
Kadyrov supported Prigozhin's criticism by calling for "tactical and personnel changes" on Telegram last Wednesday (October 26).
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The background to the criticism of the commander was the defeat of Lyman, for which the two military leaders made Lapin responsible.
According to Newsweek
, the first newspaper reported on
Lapin's dismissal as early as Saturday (October 29), just three days after the public criticism.
This was later confirmed by the state media agency
Ria Novosti
.
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Meanwhile, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US think tank, noted that Prigozhin would step up efforts to establish a foothold in Russia as a political force.
"The Kremlin and its ruler are allowing individual warlords to stand above the formalities of Russian law after losing the legitimate state monopoly over the means of violence," analyst Mykhnenko told
Newsweek
of developments in the Kremlin .
(lm)
