General Valerii Zaluzhnyi says forces have seized ‘strategic initiative’; Russian president poses for selfies in Dagestan
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A bit more from the ISW report, which suggests that the Kremlin will attempt to balance its desire to mitigate the “widespread disdain” for the MoD establishment that fuelled Wagner’s rebellion, while also trying to disempower those who sympathised with the mutiny.
Wagner’s goal of removing General Valery Gerasimov and defence minister Sergei Shoigu suggest that the Kremlin may view their unpopularity as “a direct threat to Putin’s ability to retain support among key constituencies and the military”, the US thinktank wrote.
ISW previously assessed that the Kremlin is likely attempting to signal that Shoigu will maintain his position, but the Kremlin has yet to promote Gerasimov in a similar way in the days following the rebellion.
The Kremlin may attempt to placate disdain for the MoD establishment by reducing Gerasimov’s role in operations in Ukraine, although he is highly likely to maintain, at least nominally, the position of overall theater commander and his long-term role as Chief of the General Staff.
If you don’t complete the reform process before you enter, then there could be a risk of slowing down afterwards. And we do not export stability, we risk importing instability. And that’s why it is so important to stress the need of fulfilling the [EU membership] criteria.”
We want to invest and we want to assist and we want to be as positive and help some as possible, but we can’t lower the bar.
