Some officers are unhappy with Russian president Vladimir Putin and military top brass because of the poor execution of the war, an influential nationalist Russian blogger and former FSB officer said.
Igor Girkin, a former Federal Security Service officer who helped Russia annex Crimea in 2014 and then organise pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine, said there was some discontent with the top brass.
In a scathing 90-minute video analysing Russia's execution of the war, Igor Girkin said the "fish's head is completely rotten" and that the Russian military needed reform and an intake of competent people who could lead a successful military campaign.
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Some at the mid-levels of the military, Igor Girkin said, were open about their dissatisfaction with Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and even Vladimir Putin.
"It is not just me... people are not blind and deaf at all: people at the mid-level there do not even hide their views which, how do I put it, are not fully complimentary about the president or the defence minister," Igor Girkin said.
{{/usCountry}}"It is not just me... people are not blind and deaf at all: people at the mid-level there do not even hide their views which, how do I put it, are not fully complimentary about the president or the defence minister," Igor Girkin said.
{{/usCountry}}Igor Girkin has repeatedly criticised Sergei Shoigu for the battlefield defeats Russia has suffered in the war while direct public criticism of Vladimir Putin is rare in Russia, although nationalist bloggers have been outspoken about the conduct of the war, especially the costly defeats in Ukraine's Kharkiv region in September.