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Power struggles and divisions within his forces: Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.
It again clashed systematically with the Russian armed forces. When a Russian military blogger announced last Friday that the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Airborne Forces, Col. Gen. Mikhail Deblinsky, 54, was to be dismissed and replaced by Lt. Gen. Oleg Makharevich, it caused an uproar in military circles.
According to a report by the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), many expressed displeasure with the decision and were confused as to why the Defense Department would replace a respected Russian colonel general with a non-airborne ground officer. Experience. In particular, Deblinsky was appointed only last June.
Dismissal due to dispute with Commander-in-Chief Gerasimov
However, several military bloggers now seem to have revealed the real reason for Deblinsky’s dismissal: a dispute with Valery Gerasimov, 67, the newly appointed supreme commander of Russian troops in Ukraine. Apparently it was about the use of Russian paratroopers in planned offensive operations.
Speculation that Deblinsky was fired in a dispute with the General Staff suggests that Deblinsky may have opposed Gerasimo’s desire to use airborne troops to support operations in the Pakmut region of eastern Ukraine, where Russian offensive operations are largely concentrated.
At the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine, airborne troops, along with ground forces, were supposed to capture the capital, Kiev, but were repulsed and suffered heavy losses.
Therefore, Deblinsky may have resisted using airborne forces to attempt a more serious assault on Bagmut, on the grounds that traditional motorized rifle or armored units would be better suited.
Airborne troops are usually troops who take operationally important terrain points and then hold them to clear a path for their own troops behind enemy lines. They are also considered an elite unit and represent a separate branch of the Russian military. They include large units that can be deployed by parachute jump and helicopter. 45,000 Airmen are highly respected by their comrades and well paid.
Wagner presented himself as an independent army
Aside from Teblinsky’s ouster, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, 70, is currently busy with something else: the Wagner group. Their mercenaries have now become a key element in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. According to the British Ministry of Defence, the private military company already has 50,000 people.
Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigoshin, 61, knows how to play this trump card. He has now launched a series of campaigns in which he tries to portray himself as Russia’s self-sacrificing hero in a crusade against petty and corrupt Russian officials. According to the report «Build» Stage as an independent army.
During the fighting for the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledor, Prigozhin repeatedly stated that only his mercenaries would fight against Ukrainian armed forces in the city. There is no mention of the Russian Armed Forces.
Putin seems to want to limit Wagner’s influence
The reports infuriated Putin. There are signs of an ever-increasing rift between Putin and Prigozhin. However, it was his own fault. Because the problem is at home. Putin and the Wagner group have worked hand in hand for years. Meanwhile, Putin no longer seems to be in control of the mercenaries.
According to ISW’s researchers, Putin is trying to limit the influence of Wagner boss Prigozhin. He makes this clear by increasingly siding with opponents of Wagner boss Prigosh. Last Wednesday, for example, he met the St. Petersburg governor, Prigozhin’s outspoken adversary Alexander Beklov, 66, for the first time in a year. In addition, Valery Gerasimov, the commander of the war front recently appointed by Putin, is no friend of the Wagner boss. (chit)
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