The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin has lost control of the information space in his country.
Source: ISW
Details: The report states that Russian forces made no confirmed advances within Bakhmut on 11 March.
Ukrainian and Russian sources continue to report heavy fighting in the city, but the Wagner fighters are likely to become increasingly entangled in the city’s industrial areas, such as the AZOM plant, and thus find it difficult to make significant headway.
At the same time, analysts say, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that there is a struggle going on in the Kremlin’s inner circle, that the Kremlin has lost centralized control over the Russian information space, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin obviously cannot fix it. .
In particular, Zakharova said that the Kremlin cannot repeat the Stalinist approach to creating a modern analogue of the Soviet Information Bureau for centralized control over the internal information space of Russia because of the struggle between the Kremlin’s “elites”.
Experts believe that Zakharova’s statement confirms several of the institute’s assessments:
- that there is a fight going on in the Kremlin between key members of Putin’s inner circle;
- that, over time, Putin has largely ceded the Russian information space;
- that Putin is apparently unable to take drastic measures to regain control over the Russian information space.
The report also says that the financier of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that after the battle for Bakhmut he would turn the Wagner group into a tough ideological elite military organization and begin a new wave of recruitment.
The ISW recalls that recently the “Wagner group” has been expanding recruiting centers throughout Russia, including those focused on recruiting young people.
Experts speculate: “Perhaps Prigozhin is trying to restructure the Wagner Group into a rigid ideological elite military organization to give it a special role among Russian troops in Ukraine, as its former role of providing purely tactical advantages disappears with the likely culmination of the Wagner Group around Bakhmut “.
The main conclusions about the hostilities in Ukraine from ISW for March 11:
- Russian troops made no confirmed advances within Bakhmut on 11 March.
- Zakharova confirmed that there was a struggle going on in the Kremlin’s inner circle, that the Kremlin had lost centralized control over the Russian information space, and that Putin could not fix it.
- Prigozhin said that after the battle for Bakhmut, he would turn the Wagner group into a hardline ideological elite military organization.
- Ukrainian sources report that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have advanced in the direction of Svatovo.
- Russian troops continue to establish fortifications in the Zaporozhye region.
- Mobilized Russians continue to publicize complaints that commanders treat them badly and use them as consumables to patch holes in existing formations.
- Russian occupation officials use children’s healthcare to create dependence on the Russian healthcare system.
