Ramzan Kadyrov, the sanity-challenged Kremlin-appointed strongman leader of Chechnya, was unusually critical on Sunday of both the Russian military and leader Vladimir Putin for reportedly easing an offensive in the face of a Ukrainian counter-attack.
Kadyrov, who flamboyantly vowed to unleash some 70,000 Islamist fighters on Ukraine to support his beloved “commander-in-chief” Putin, said on Sunday the Russians “have made mistakes” during the invasion.
“If today or tomorrow no changes in strategy are made, I will be forced to speak with the leadership of the defense ministry and the leadership of the country to explain the real situation on the ground to them,” Kadyrov said in an audio message posted to his Telegram account.
“It’s a very interesting situation. It’s astounding, I would say,” he added.
Kadyrov vowed that all of the territory recaptured by Ukraine would be returned to Russian control with the help of his Chechen troops.
Ramzan Kadyrov takes an oath during the ceremony of his inauguration as the head of Russia’s Caucasus region of Chechnya for a third term, in Grozny on October 5, 2016. (ELENA FITKULINA /AFP)
“We have our men out there, fighters prepared specifically for such situations. 10,000 more fighters are ready to join them. We’ll reach Odessa in the nearest future,” he said, referring to Ukraine’s strategically vital Black Sea port city.
Kadyrov is one of Putin’s most eccentric and voluble allies, prone to making such weird contributions to the Russian war effort as a string of propaganda videos in which he personally captured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, reduced him to tears, and forced him to surrender. Kadyrov films his social media videos in an office where almost all of the furnishings are plated in gold.
Kadyrov presents himself as a Putin superfan who feels the Russian strongman is sometimes let down by his generals and advisers. Scarcely a month into the Russian invasion, Kadyrov was writing social media rants in which he complained the Kremlin was going too soft on the Ukrainians and begged Putin to unleash his Chechen cadre of brutal shock troops and torturers. He also delivered some sinister innuendo about what his forces might do to the “beautiful girls” of Ukraine upon subduing them.
Reuters reported a chorus of “Russian nationalists” also expressed their dismay and disbelief on social media, infuriated by the lack of official response from the Kremlin and Putin, who spent Saturday dedicating a ferris wheel in a Moscow park.
Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov (R) speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, on August 31, 2019. (ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
“They’re taking the piss!” wrote one pro-war military blogger. “Now is not the time to shut up and say nothing … this seriously hurts the cause.”
Some nationalists focused their rage upon Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who they derided as a “cardboard general” and blamed for severe operational failures that made Ukraine’s breakthrough advance possible. Shoigu was reportedly pushed to the sidelines of the Ukraine operation by Putin at the end of August, but he remains defense minister.
Even some normally submissive Russian lawmakers voiced their unease over the weekend, calling for the cancellation of Moscow Day festivities and a push for national military mobilization to push back against the Ukrainians.
State Duma deputy Mikhail Sheremet of Putin’s former United Russia Party, and Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, were among the most prominent voices calling for Russia to shift to a total war footing on Tuesday.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday “there is no discussion” of nationwide mobilization underway at present.
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