Kadyrov at the front, the armed European premier – Corriere.it

The photos “pierce”, they serve for propaganda, they can become instruments of political struggle within the alignments. And the Ukrainian crisis becomes the stage for a real tragedy.

A few days ago the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has criticized the military hierarchy of Moscow for the defeat of Lyman and accused one of the commanders, General Alexandr Lapin, of staying at his desk while his soldiers died. The Russian defense wasted no time, e he responded by spreading the images of the senior officer visiting the front, committed to following the developments of the battle live. A map also appeared in the information package and, although it had been partially obscured, allowed a researcher to locate the indicated location: the area east of Siversk, in the Donetsk region. From the photo it also emerged that the military have two-way radios of a common model, not encrypted: a not insignificant detail that could confirm a lack of attention to communications security.

A couple of days after Ramzan Kadyrov criticized Colonel General Lapin for being far from the front lines during the fighting in Lyman, Russian channels are sharing photos of him leading troops. Clearly a PR battle going on between Russian commanders.https: //t.co/jR2qfeEMdL pic.twitter.com/xSG94ZWvVE

– Rob Lee (@ RALee85) October 4, 2022

Small and large skirmishes involving the protagonists of the crisis. The Chechen dictator himself has entered the show several times: in the first days of the offensive, when things were still going well, he had announced his stake in the Hostomel base, the airport conquered and then lost by the invaders at the end of February. And he had relaunched some photos. Now, with Russia in full mobilization, Kadyrov announced that the time has come to “offer” the three children to the homeland. And here, on time, the photos of the boys with guns in hand. We don’t know if they will really leave. At this stage, the Chechen exponent is playing an ambitious game, proposing himself as an alternative to the generals of the General Staff. He is convinced that he can do better and offers the Kremlin absolute loyalty. A field invasion that did not please everyone.

The European policy of supporting the Ukrainian resistance is also based on the images: they are a way to confirm closeness to President Volodymyr Zelensky and, at the same time, show initiative to one’s electorate. At the end of August, for example, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was photographed aboard a Gepard while he met the soldiers from Kiev who were in Germany for training. One month after the Estonian premier Kaja Kallas, one of the most active in supporting the Ukrainians, allowed herself to be portrayed with an anti-tank Javelin on his shoulder during a local armed forces exercise. In recent days, then, the German Defense Minister Christine Lamprecht had some pictures of her visit to the trenches published in the Odessa region.