ISW: Putin failing at balancing the competing demands of Russian nationalists

Russian President Vladimir Putin is visibly failing at balancing the competing demands of the Russian nationalists, who have become increasingly combative since mobilization began despite sharing Putin’s general war aims and goals in Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said. 

ISW has identified three main factions in the current Russian nationalist information space: Russian milbloggers and war correspondents, former Russian or proxy officers and veterans, and some of the Russian siloviki—people with meaningful power bases and forces of their own.

Putin needs all three factions to sustain his war effort, but the failures in Ukraine combined with the chaotic partial mobilization are seemingly disrupting the radical nationalist community in Russia: "Putin is currently trying to appease this community by featuring some milbloggers on state-owned television, allowing siloviki to generate their own forces and continue offensive operations around Bakhmut and Donetsk City, and placating veterans by ordering mobilization and engaging the general public in the war effort as they have long demanded.”

The veterans’ community is dissatisfied with the execution of Putin’s mobilization.





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