The lack of reaction of the Russian milibloggers to Ukraine’s July 29 attack on the Chonhar bridge may indicate that the Kremlin has ordered them to keep quiet on certain topics, experts from the U.S. think-tank the Institute for the Study of War or ISW have said in their latest report on Ukraine.
ISW analysts said they had not seen any discussion of the strike among Russian milibloggers, which they said was a “noticeable inflection” compared to the Russian coverage of similar topics.
The milibloggers also failed to pick up on a claim by the Russian-appointed “head” of the occupied part of Kherson Oblast, Volodymyr Saldo, that Russian forces had shot down 12 Ukrainian Storm Shadowcruise missiles that had targeted the railway bridge at Chonhar.
ISW cites a local Telegram news channel as the only source that commented on the strikes, which shared statements by Russian tourists about the closure of the bridge.
At the same time, the institute noted that after the first strike on the bridges at Chonhar on June 22, Russia’s milibloggers were “outraged” and “concerned,” and they generally regularly comment on both successful and unsuccessful strikes by Ukraine on Russian logistics. The ISW experts therefore consider it unlikely that they will fully ignored the new attack.
“General fear of Kremlin punishment would not likely result in such near-universal lack of coverage of a dramatic event, however, and it is more likely that a specific Kremlin directive not to cover disruptions to critical GLOCs (Ground Lines of Communications) caused this lack of reporting,” ISW experts concluded.
The institute also analyzed the latest statements by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin at the Russia-Africa summit about Ukraine’s counter-offensive, in particular, the Russian dictator’s complaints that the Ukrainian military campaign is preventing negotiations to end the war, and that Moscow cannot cease-fire as its forces are being attacked in Ukraine.
ISW experts pointed out that the Russian army were continuously attacking in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts even before the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, which the Kremlin leader, of course, did not mention.
“Russian officials have previously weaponized the mention of negotiations in order to accuse Ukraine of being the party unwilling to enter into negotiations discussions, and Putin is likely using discussions of the Ukrainian counter-offensive to undermine reports of Ukrainian battlefield successes and accuse Ukraine of continued lack of interest in a potential negotiations process,” the ISW report said.
The first signs of mounting failure for the enemy is underlined by his mounting silence with certain topics.