PMC Wagner’s heavy casualties and reports of bad morale and war crimes are being used to distract the public from similar problems in the Russian military.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is looking for scapegoats to blame for Russia’s failures in the war against Ukraine. This is stated in the summary for Sunday, March 12, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Putin is said to be using Wagner’s high casualties, reports of bad morale and war crimes to distract the public from similar or possibly worse problems in Russia’s military.
“Much of Russia’s coverage of the battles for Bakhmut focused primarily on the heavy defeats of the Wagnerites, allowing the Russian Ministry of Defense to hide or downplay other losses of Russian forces,” the report said.
Analysts also point out that the Ministry of Defense, in turn, remains in Putin’s good graces despite the heavy defeat of Carbon in early February 2023.
The misfortune of Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin is likely to scare other Kremlin officials, such as Chemni leader Ramzan Kadyrov, into lowering their ambitions to avoid Prigozhin’s fate.
The Institute for the Study of War explained that Prigozhin had earned a bad reputation for treating his forces like cannon fodder, and his public pleas for ammunition were unlikely to make the service attractive. in the ranks of the “Wagnerites” among the recruits.
“While Prigozhin saw Bakhmut as an opportunity to gain leverage in the Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Defense to achieve his own commercial and political goals, Putin used the Wagner PMC to protect his regime from the disastrous consequences of mobilization, which significantly slows down military operations against Ukraine,” analysts added.
Earlier it was reported that Prigozhin announced a reboot of Wagner PMC. He said he intended to create not only the best private army in the world, but an army with an ideology.
Of note, according to ISW, the Wagner PMC lost its most effective unit in the battle for Bakhmut.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.