“This didn’t happen even during the Chechen war” – a retired colonel is shocked by the squabbles in the Russian army
Public clarification of relations between the head of the Wagner PMC Evgeny Prigozhin and the leadership of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is unprecedented for the Russian army.
The head of the information service of the group of federal troops during the Second Chechen War, retired Colonel Gennady Alekhin, stated this in an interview with Ukraina Ru, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“I somehow felt a pang - now there is an incomprehensible showdown, a showdown with the transition to personalities, between Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin and the leadership of the Ministry of Defense. It doesn't look good on anyone.
This is the first time I've encountered this. This did not happen at all in the North Caucasus. Journalists once tried to pit two famous generals against each other - Troshev and Kazantsev. They tried so hard, they tried so hard, but the generals, we must give them their due, we must give them their due, spoke clearly and concisely. That gossip and rumors are not commented on. I don’t know what to do now, but it hurt me,” Alekhine said indignantly.
In addition, the retired colonel was offended by Prigozhin’s attitude towards the Second Chechen Company and the Russian army in general.
“It also hurt when Evgeniy Viktorovich said that during the Second Chechen War our troops fought with 15-year-old boys who came down from the mountains. No, Evgeny Viktorovich, it wasn’t like that. I don’t know where Evgeniy Viktorovich was at that time, maybe in places not so remote, but I was there.
And any officer or soldier will tell you that these were well-trained, motivated militants who trained in camps for three years, they were trained by instructors from the Middle East. There were a lot of mercenaries in the Second Chechen War,” he added.
Let us recall that at the end of April, Yevgeny Prigozhin, criticizing the combat effectiveness of the Russian army, said that during the Second Chechen campaign the Russian Armed Forces allegedly could barely cope with a group of teenagers.
“On the Chechen events. Any Chechen who fought in the Chechen War will tell you that they, 15-year-old boys, butted heads with the Russian army, and quite successfully. Any of our military men will tell you that the mess was like this: Mama, don’t worry. And the fact that we managed to pull this out at all is due to the agreements between President Putin and Father Ramzan Akhmatovich,” he said then.
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