How do you explain why Russian military bloggers are posting unflattering information for Russians?
Russian military bloggers, ultra-nationalist and pro-war, do not hesitate to publish information criticizing the Russian Defense Ministry, believing that the latter has an overly soft and insufficiently structured approach to the war in Ukraine. Their influence is growing in the Russian media space, where they regularly speak. Last October, these bloggers got Colonel-General Alexandre Lapin to resign from his post as commander of the “central” force group in Ukraine blamed for Ukraine’s recapture of part of Donbass in September.
According to the latest ISW report, unflattering information about Bakhmout could be a route for the siloviki (“those in charge of the security and military apparatus”) and the warmongering movement (which brings together military bloggers, but also the boss and financier who brings Wagner together) militia, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov) to “create the information conditions that justify the nationalization of the oligarchs’ resources to fund the Russian war effort.”
A little music, which according to ISW seems to be heard in the Kremlin, reminding that Russian President Vladimir Putin on 22 connection with the country “poses a danger” for Russia. Vladimir Putin had already nationalized large companies in the early 2000s to consolidate his authoritarian kleptocracy. He could try to use nationalization, this time to force the elites to support his war in Ukraine or confiscate their assets to fund his military spending.