The Russian state media, and especially the powerful television, seem like a well-tuned choir that supports all the notes that the Kremlin plays about the Russian offensive against Ukraine, offering music that has nothing to do with what is heard outside the country. That is why it is surprising when someone forgets the score and, however slightly, sings a completely different truth. This week two discordant notes have been heard: that of the controversial head of Chechnya, Ramzán Kadírov, who on Wednesday admitted mistakes at the start of the campaign; and that of a military analyst, retired Colonel Mijaíl Jodariónok, who sees a dark future for Russia.
Kadírov participated yesterday in an educational marathon called New Horizons, organized by the Znanie (knowledge, in Russian) foundation. In it he had to answer several questions, including several about the campaign in Ukraine.
The Chechen leader assured that Russia made specific "mistakes" and "mistakes" shortly after the start of hostilities. But, according to him, they subsequently amended.
“In the beginning there were mistakes, some shortcomings, but now we are going 100 percent according to plan, and we are going to rid Ukraine of these demons,” Kadyrov said, using the aggressive tone he often uses in his remarks when referring to all kinds of adversaries, from opponents of the Kremlin, human rights activists or investigative journalists.
Now “the situation is calm. We are complying with the plan, the task that the president gave us, we fulfilled one hundred percent, ”he added.
The "special military campaign" in Ukraine, as it is officially called in Russia, began on February 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the army to enter the neighboring country. The mission, according to him, was to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine to defend the pro-Russian entities of Donbass, the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk (PRL), which days before he recognized as independent states.
Kadyrov was only slightly out of tune in the chorus of the official Russian version. But he immediately returned to the official discourse that wants to make it understood that everything is under control, that although the Russian troops withdrew from the Kyiv region and have recently been forced to retreat in the Kharkiv region, the objectives set by the Kremlin are being fulfilled without any fault.
In this sense, he assured that Russia "is not fighting against Ukraine, but against NATO." He argued to support her claim that the Alliance countries are supplying and arming the Ukrainian army.
More commotion than the words of the Chechen leader caused last Monday night, May 16, the intervention in the program 60 minutes, of the channel Rossiya-1, of a renowned Russian military analyst, retired Colonel Mijaíl Jodariónok.
To the surprise of other guests and the presenter Olga Skabéyeva, one of the Russian television communicators most favorable to the Kremlin's thesis, the expert assured that the offensive against Ukraine has left Russia isolated internationally.
“The main deficiency of our political-military position is that we are in complete geopolitical solitude and, although we do not want to admit it, practically the whole world is against us, and we have to get out of this situation,” he assured.
In addition, he sent viewers a very sincere message in these times: “You don't have to swallow informative tranquilizers (...). The situation, frankly speaking, will get worse for us.”
Khodarionok, who works as a military columnist for the Gazeta.ru electronic newspaper and the Vesti FM radio station, assured that Ukraine will not surrender and highlighted the morale of the Ukrainian soldiers. "The desire to defend the homeland really exists in Ukraine, and they intend to fight to the end," he predicted, adding that the neighboring country is also capable of mobilizing a million armed men.
Although he did not direct his words against anyone, between the lines a criticism of the entire environment could be interpreted when he asked to pay attention to reality. "The main thing in our business is to have a sense of political-military realism: if you go beyond that, the reality of the story will hit you so hard that you won't know what hit you," she warned.
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