Putin and defence minister Sergei Shoigu are ‘not capable of waging a war’ says former GRU spy agency colonel as he is fined for ‘discrediting’ the Russian army on social media
- Vladimir Kvachkov was fined for social media posts featuring criticism of the war
A former GRU spy agency colonel has complained that Vladimir Putin is to blame for war failures as he was fined for ‘discrediting’ the Russian army on social media.
Vladimir Kvachkov said in Court in Moscow on Tuesday that Putin, defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff, are not ‘capable of waging a war’ in Ukraine.
The scathing comments came as the court convicted Kvachkov of ‘discrediting the armed forces’ and fined him 40,000 roubles (£320) for three social media posts featuring criticism of the ‘special military operation in Ukraine and the Russian leadership’.
Kvachkov, 75, spoke in court of the senseless charges him, arguing it was ‘Putin, Shoigu and Gerasimov who are discrediting the Russian armed forces’.
He also denied any involvement with content on Odnoklassniki, the Russian social network that had shared the three posts.
Vladimir Kvachkov said in Court in Moscow on Tuesday that Putin, defence minister Sergei Shoigu (pictured right), the country’s defence minister, and Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff, are not ‘capable of waging a war’ in Ukraine (FilePhoto)
In this photo provided by the Odesa Regional Administration Press Office, a granary destroyed in a Russian drone attack at night is seen in a Danube port near Odesa, Ukraine, early hours Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023
Kvachkov told a reporter before the hearing that it was ‘Putin and his team who are guilty’.
If convicted again on the same charge, he will face a prison sentence.
Kvachkov has appeared frequently at public events and on social media streams with Igor Girkin, a pro-war blogger and staunch supporter of the invasion, who wrote in July that that Putin should stand down before the presidential elections in March.
Girkin and three others were found guilty of shooting down Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 on board.
The 52-year-old was arrested last month pending an investigation into alleged extremism.
Defence minister Shoigu yesterday told officials that Ukraine’s ability to fight had been ‘almost exhausted’ and said the war had exposed vulnerabilities in Western weapons systems that Moscow would soon share.
The scathing comments came as the court convicted Kvachkov (pictured) of ‘discrediting the armed forces’ and fined him 40,000 roubles (£320) for three social media posts featuring criticism of the ‘special military operation in Ukraine and the Russian leadership’
The war has sown devastation across swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, killed or injured hundreds of thousands and triggered the biggest rupture in Russia’s ties with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of war crimes and cast Moscow’s invasion as an imperial-style land grab.
The Kremlin casts the conflict as an existential battle with a hostile West which it says wants to tear Russia apart.
Speaking to a security conference in Moscow attended by China’s defence minister, Li Shangfu, Shoigu, 68, said the conflict had been a serious test for Russia.
‘In the special military operation, the Russian army has debunked many myths about the superiority of Western military standards,’ Shoigu said in a rare public speech, according to a text supplied by his ministry.
‘The preliminary results of combat operations show that Ukraine’s military resources are almost exhausted,’ said Shoigu, one of President Vladimir Putin’s most powerful allies.
He did not give detailed evidence to back up either statement.
The West casts the war as Moscow’s biggest strategic blunder since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Western leaders say they want to defeat Russia on the battlefields of Ukraine.
A Ukrainian counter-offensive has so far failed to yield major territorial success.
Russia says it will achieve all its aims in Ukraine, which it casts as a puppet of the West.
It has repeatedly indicated it is prepared to fight a long war and has put swathes of its $2 trillion economy on a war footing.
Shoigu said he would share details about the weaknesses of Western weapons and that none were invulnerable.
‘We have data on the destruction of German tanks, American armoured vehicles, British missiles and other weapons systems,’ he said.
‘We are ready to share our assessments … with our partners.’
Shoigu accused Ukraine of repeatedly using civilian infrastructure to hide soldiers and heavy military equipment and that Kyiv had shelled civilian settlements in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine.
A handout picture made available by Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa Regional Administration, shows a grain depot at the damaged grain terminal of a port on the Danube River in the Odesa region, southern Ukraine, 16 August 2023 after Russian troops attacked the southern regions of Ukraine with shock drones overnight
Ukraine, he said, had used the Black Sea grain deal as a cover for building up stores of weapons and munitions in Odesa and other ports.
Ukraine has repeatedly denied using civilian infrastructure for military purposes and denies any targeting of civilians.
In remarks aimed at China, Shoigu said the West was intentionally stoking the situation around Taiwan, comparing the situation to the Ukraine war.
‘Under these conditions, bilateral relations between Russia and China have surpassed the level of strategic ties in all respects, becoming more than just allied,’ Shoigu said.
Kyiv said today that a civilian cargo vessel had exited its southern port of Odesa despite warnings from Russia that its navy could target any ships using Ukraine’s Black Sea export hubs.
The announcement, which raises the spectre of a standoff with Russian warships, came hours after Ukraine said it had liberated a village as part of a grinding push to wrest Moscow’s forces along the southern front.
Russia issued its maritime threat after scuppering a key deal last month – brokered by the UN and Turkey – that guaranteed safe passage for grain shipments from three Ukrainian ports.
Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte left this morning from the port of Odesa – one of three that participated in the now-scrapped grain export deal.
‘The first vessel is moving along the temporary corridors established for civilian vessels to and from Black Sea ports,’ he said in a statement.
The Joseph Schulte was hugging the Ukrainian coast and moving in the direction of Vylkove in southern Ukraine, a Maritime tracking website showed as of 2.20pm local time (1120 GMT).
Since Russia’s exit from the accord in July, it has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea port infrastructure and facilities Kyiv uses to export grain through the Danube river.
The governor of the Odesa region said today that Russian attack drones had damaged grain facilities at a river port near the Romanian border.
The airforce meanwhile said it had downed 13 Russian drones over Odesa and the neighbouring Mykolaiv region.
The incident sparked an outcry in EU-member Romania – now a key hub for Ukrainian grain exports abroad since the collapse of the exports deal.
‘I strongly condemn the continued (Russian) attacks on innocent people, civilian infrastructure, including grain silos in the ports of Reni and Izmail,’ Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu said.
The possibility of a Russian attack on cargo ships in the Black Sea increased after Moscow said it fired warning shots from a warship at a cargo vessel heading towards Izmail last week.
The Joseph Schulte left Odesa hours after Kyiv announced the capture of Urozhaine, a small hamlet in the industrial east.
‘Our defenders are entrenched at the outskirts. The offensive continues,’ Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said on social media.
Kyiv launched its long anticipated counteroffensive in June, but has acknowledged tough battles as it struggles to break through heavily fortified Russian positions.
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