Pro-war ultra nationalists are putting increasing pressure on the Kremlin’s leadership and have accused Vladimir Putin of “inadmissible stupidity” as Ukrainian forces continue to push the Russian army into a corner.
Last week Putin ordered the “partial mobilisation” of at least 300,000 reservist troops which lies in tatters as daily protests continue to rock Russia and tens of thousands are fleeing the country and thousands more continue to demonstrate against fighting in Ukraine.
Fights between conscripts and police have erupted over the weekend and military recruitment centres are being fire bombed with Molotov cocktails against the Russian army, and this morning a commander was shot by a lone gunman opposed to the draft.
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One of Putin’s most prominent far-right critics, Igor Girkin who is a prominent ultra-nationalist and a former Russian intelligence colonel has slammed Putin and the Kremlin over their failed achievements in the war.
Last Wednesday Putin ordered the “partial mobilisation,” Girkin said, “The leadership of the Russian Federation have come to an understanding of the total (full victory or full defeat) nature of the war in the so-called Ukraine.”
However, just a few hours after making these comments, he accused Russia’s leaders of “treason” and “s***ting on the heads” of its soldiers, The Telegraph has reported.
This is in response to the Kremlin’s decision to do a prisoner exchange of 215 Ukrainian and foreign prisoners of war, solely in exchange for one of Putin’s personal friends.
Girkin blasted at Putin, saying, this is “worse than a crime. Worse than a mistake.”
The Colonel added, he said the prisoner swap “inadmissible stupidity,” he concluded the decision was solely the responsibility of “unnamed people at the top of the leadership of the Russian Federation.”
