12/7/22

A former Russian commander and prominent military blogger has given his first-hand account of the shortcomings of his country’s forces in Ukraine in which he decried their “apathy.”

Igor Girkin, whose nom de guerre is Igor Strelkov, is a Russian army veteran and former intelligence officer who played a key role in Russia’s annexation of Crimea and in the conflict in the eastern Donbas region that began in 2014. He served as commander of the separatist-backed forces at the time.

In November, he was sentenced in absentia by the Hague to life in prison for his role in shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014, which killed 298 passengers. The commercial plane had departed from Amsterdam and was bound for Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, amid fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces.

Girkin has been posting unvarnished accounts of Moscow’s military failures in Ukraine on his Telegram social media account. In October, he announced he was joining the Russian army’s effort in Ukraine but has since returned to Moscow and on Tuesday posted about his experience.

He wrote that he had made a number of unsuccessful efforts to join various units, before finally joining a Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) battalion illegally in which he was deployed to the Svatove area in the Luhansk region. Newsweek could not verify this.

He described how Russian troops displayed “inertia” as they faced the “deepest crisis of strategic planning.” He said that they do not have “the slightest idea about the ultimate strategic goals of the current military campaign.”

“In most parts of the Russian Armed Forces, soldiers and officers do not understand what they are fighting for,” he wrote. It was a “mystery” for them “what the conditions are for victory or for simply ending the war.”

He said that the Russian authorities “cannot explain this to them because setting a clear goal for the war would mean ‘limiting room for maneuver’—that is, losing the opportunity to declare the goals…as achieved at any moment that the Kremlin considers convenient.”

He wrote that Ukraine’s forces displayed an ability to implement its strategic tasks and when faced by Russia’s “complete passivity” he did not expect “anything good at the front in the coming weeks.”

Girkin said that in the winter months, Ukraine would “not freeze” nor would its soldiers be deterred, as they would be keen to avenge the hardships that their friends and relatives are facing.

“Its soldiers who have already believed in their strength as a result of the autumn victories…will only fight harder and harder against the ‘Muscovites.'”

The U.S.-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said on Tuesday that Girkin’s assessment “is likely to exacerbate tension between Russian military leadership and milbloggers and may reignite fragmentation within the ultra-nationalist community itself.”

Newsweek has contacted Russia’s Defense Ministry for comment.

https://www.newsweek.com/igor-girkin-stelkov-ukraine-russia-war-campaign-failing-isw-1765256