Monthly Archives: September 2022

ROME, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin was "pushed" into invading Ukraine and wanted to put "decent people" in charge of Kyiv, former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi has said, drawing fierce criticism just ahead of Italy's election.

The Italian leader, whose Forza Italia party belongs to a right-wing coalition expected to win Sunday's parliamentary election on Sunday, is a long-time friend of Putin and his comments are likely to alarm Western allies. read more

"Putin was pushed by the Russian people, by his party, by his ministers to come up with this special operation," Berlusconi told Italian public television RAI late on Thursday, using the official Russian wording for the war.

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Russia's plan was originally to conquer Kyiv "in a week", and replace the democratically elected Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskiy with "a government of decent people" and get out "in another week," he said.

"I haven't even understood why Russian troops spread around Ukraine while in my mind they should have only stuck around Kyiv", said the 85-year-old Berlusconi, who once described Putin as being like a younger brother.

Putin's stated war aims have varied during the seven-month war. Ukraine initially chased his troops from the Kyiv area, and more recently from parts of the northeast near the Russia border. Putin now says the main aim is to secure territory in the Donbas region partly controlled by pro-Russia separatists. read more

Facing widespread condemnation from opponents, Berlusconi released a statement on Friday saying his views had been "oversimplified".

"The aggression against Ukraine is unjustifiable and unacceptable, (Forza Italia's) position is clear. We will always be with the EU and NATO," he said.

The leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, described Berlusconi's comments on the war as "scandalous".

"If on Sunday night the result is favourable to the right, the happiest person would be Putin," Letta told RAI radio.

Centrist leader Carlo Calenda, another election contender, said on Radio24 said Berlusconi had spoken"like a Putin general".

Asked about Berlusconi's comments, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said he believed the former Italian premier liked "to take the side of the winners, and this is definitely not Russia and not Putin".

"I believe the Italian people, and specifically Mr. Berlusconi, are quite pragmatic and understand that, based on the current internal political situation in Russia and based on the situation at the front, it would be a mistake to support Russia in the medium term," Podolayak told Reuters.

Two pollsters Reuters spoke to downplayed suggestions that Berlusconi's statements were driven by electoral calculations.

"These kind of remarks shift very few votes, people are not very interested in foreign policy," said Renato Mannheimer, head of the Eumetra polling agency.

"I think he let slip something that he believes in but which he didn't want to say out loud," said Antonio Noto, head of Noto Sondaggi.

Under outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italy has been a staunch supporter of Western sanctions on Russia following the invasion.

Giorgia Meloni of the far-right Brothers of Italy, tipped as the next premier, has pledged to stick to that position, but her allies Berlusconi and Matteo Salvini of the League have been more ambivalent.

Berlusconi said on Thursday that Moscow's decision to invade followed an appeal by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, who allegedly told Putin, "please defend us, because if you do not defend us, we don't know where we could end up."

Voting began on Friday in four Ukrainian regions mostly held by Russian forces including the separatists, the start of a plan by Putin to annex a big chunk of Ukraine. read more

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Additional reporting by Angelo Amante in Rome and Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Gareth Jones

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Putin invaded to put 'decent people' in Kyiv, says Italy's Berlusconi - Reuters

Signs that some countries willing to tolerate Russias invasion of Ukraine are losing patience have emerged as Turkey, India and China responded cooly to the announcement that four Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia were planning referendums on joining the Russian Federation.

Turkey, which has been at the centre of mediation between the west and Russia, issued a sharp rebuke, saying in a statement that it was concerned by attempts to stage unilateral referendums.

Such illegitimate fait accomplis will not be recognised by the international community. On the contrary, they will complicate efforts to revitalise the diplomatic process and deepen instability, the statement said.

We renew our support to Ukraines territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty, which we have been emphasising since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and reiterate our readiness to extend all necessary support to resolve the ongoing war through peaceful negotiations.

At a briefing in New York, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, said he had always supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Erdoan appeared to have been blindsided by Vladimir Putins mobilisation of troops on Wednesday, given that he said in an interview with the US Public Broadcasting Service on Monday that he was under the impression that his Russian counterpart was in the mood to make concessions.

Reflecting on a recent discussion he had with Putin , he told PBS: He is actually showing he is willing to end this as soon as possible. That was my impression because the way things are going is quite problematic.

Erdoan is not the first world leader to end a meeting with Putin with a misleading impression, but Turkey is also facing other pressures.

The countrys banks are under growing sanctions pressure from the US to decouple from Russia. Two private institutions, DenizBank and Isbank, suspended use of the Russian payment system Mir this week after Washington expanded its sanctions on Russia, including targeting the head of the entity that runs Mir. Turkey is never going to be cut off from Russia economically, but business as usual is over.

Indias prime minister, Narendra Modi, whom the the French president, Emmanuel Macron, praised lavishly this week for telling Putin to his face that this was not a time for war, is being urged to follow his comments up with concrete action.

There has been a lot of impatience with Indias refusal to take sides, or what Delhi likes to call juggling balls on a high wire. Jen Psaki, then the White House press secretary, urged the country in mid-March to reflect on where you want to stand when history books are written at this moment in time.

Indias external affairs minister, S Jaishankar only referred to Ukraine tangentially at a session at Columbia University this week, but suggested his country had reappraised its attitude toward the US.

For almost 50 years, for various reasons Im not saying we were at fault, or the US was at fault but the fact was we regarded the US with suspicion, with a lot of wariness, he said. It was a very substantive relationship, but the overall foreign policy assessment of the US was of deep caution, if not of deep suspicion.

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It has taken us a lot of effort to overcome the earlier assumptions in order to forge a different relationship with the US and one of the big differences which PM Modi has made he has not carried ideological baggage, hes not a person who is rooted in a certain worldview which makes you fundamentally distant from the US.

That has been reflected in Indias approach to Ukraine, where it has taken small steps away from neutrality. It continually refers to honouring the UN charter, has condemned war crimes committed in Bucha and voted for the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to be allowed to address the UN security council by video link.

China is a tougher nut to crack, and its often opaque statements are open to contradictory interpretations. It may still think its alliance with Russia is necessary to keep Washington in check, but the statements coming from the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson this week hardly endorsed Putins gamble.

One former British foreign minister said Russia had retained deep links to countries around the world, with allies who were still willing to push back against the west and find reasons to excuse Moscows actions.

Of the neutral camp, he said: I think they will extra hedge against a Russian defeat, so they should be open to western engagement. It is clear now Russia cant win, but that is obviously not the same as losing.

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Patience with Putin may be ebbing among friendlier countries - The Guardian

Wed, 09/28/2022 - 13:05pm | By: David Tisdale

Though many consider the late Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev and current Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin two very different types of leaders, they shared similar philosophies about Ukraine in their opposition to its existence as a separate state outside of the Russian sphere of influence.

On Thursday, Sept. 29, University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Associate Professor of History Brian LaPierre will give the lecture "The Death of Gorbachev and the Origins of Putin's War in Ukraine at 5:30 p.m. in room 101 of the Liberal Arts Building on the Hattiesburg campus. It may also be accessed online via Webex at https://usm.webex.com/usm/j.php?MTID=mdde524942b3f293a8894f3e72b295ab4.

When it was announced at the end of last month, the death of Mikhail Gorbachev seized global headlines. Gorbachevs death served not only as a chance to take stock of his legacy and accomplishments, but also became an opportunity to lament at the current situation in Russia and to push back against Putins illiberal autocracy.

Gorbachev (L) and Putin (R) in discussion.

In countless media tributes, journalists have presented Gorbachev and Putin as mirror opposites, Dr. LaPierre said. Gorbachev gave new freedoms to the peoples of the USSR and democratized a totalitarian system; Putin stripped those freedoms away and resurrected a dictatorial regime. Gorbachev ended the Cold War peacefully and sought better relations with the West; Putin started the largest land war in Europe since WWII and plunged relations with the West to a new nadir.

Despite the very real differences between these leaders, however, there is one area in which both men have some counterintuitive common ground: they both opposed Ukrainian independence and workedeach in their own wayto undermine it. In this lecture, Ill explore these similarities to uncover the origins of the current war in Ukraine.

Dr. LaPierre is the author of"Hooligans in Khrushchev's Russia: Defining, Policing, and Producing Deviance during the Thaw." He has conducted significant archival research in Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe.

The USM History program is housed in the College of Arts and Sciences School of Humanities. Learn more about the program at https://www.usm.edu/humanities/index.php.

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USM Professor to Give Lecture Sept. 29 on Gorbachev Legacy and Putins War in Ukraine - The University of Southern Mississippi

Twelve years ago, Vera Krichevskaya and Natalia Sindeeva founded TV Rain, a media organization built on independence and as the two women said at the time, optimism. They had in mind an engaging, high-wattage media platform that would steer clear of politics. Sindeeva, the CEO of the new enterprise, was a wealthy businesswoman and by her own admission not a political person; she was interested in building a lifestyle channel. Neither woman envisioned anything like the highly charged political entity that TV Rain would become.

Events took care of that. Before long, TV Rains reporters were covering stories that were increasingly unpalatable to the Kremlin: Russias invasion of Crimea, the assassination of the opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, Russian President Vladimir Putins manipulation of elections, anti-Putin protests and many others. In all these cases, TV Rains coverage was straightforward, often hard-hitting and unlike the fare on most other Russian channels.

The Kremlin took note, and what followed was a kind of rolling crackdown that grew in intensity as the years passed. TV Rain was warned by the Kremlin, kicked off cable networks by Russian state-controlled providers, evicted from its office space, and its reporters and editors were harassed, followed and threatened. Ultimately, Sindeeva was branded a foreign agent a title reserved for the Kremlins top enemies.

Time and again, TV Rain rose from the ashes in different ways; the company used Sindeevas apartment as a studio, turned to YouTube as a distribution platform and put its content behind a paywall to earn revenue.

Six days after Russias invasion of Ukraine, TV Rain was shut down entirely in Russia and threatened along with all media organizations in the country with long jail terms for any opposition to the war or the Kremlin more generally. Most of the team fled the country for makeshift studios in Latvia or Georgia; TV Rain has recently relaunched its programming on YouTube from outside the country.

For the last three years, Krichevskaya has been chronicling TV Rains story for a documentary film that was released this week in the U.S. Its called Tango with Putin with the more provocative subtitle F@ck this Job. In an uncanny coincidence, the films European release was scheduled for Feb. 24, the day Russia invaded Ukraine; a rollout of the film across Russia had been planned for the following week. Krichevskaya got a call from the ministry of culture on March 1. They told me that the film wont be released, she told Grid. Everything was canceled. And a few hours later we all received push notifications that TV Rain itself was blocked in Russia.

Beyond the story of TV Rain, Tango with Putin is a film about what has happened in Russia (the filmmakers would say, what has happened to Russia) during the last decade. Its a powerful account of the many forces that have led to the current moment both in terms of the war and public opinion inside Russia.

Krichevskaya and Sindeeva have both left Russia and arent sure when they may return.

My hope, my vision, I suppose, Sindeeva said, is that once we have survived this catastrophe, whatever it will be, then we will get another chance for the future.

Grids Global Editor Tom Nagorski spoke to the two women on Monday, the day of the films launch in Washington, D.C. a conversation about TV Rain, about the film, and about the limbo they and millions of Russians now find themselves in.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Grid: You had already created a media enterprise. What made you decide to make the film?

Vera Krichevskaya: I had the idea for a film in 2019, when we were struggling at TV Rain to find a solution, some way to survive. It was a depressing time, when you fight for independence, you struggle, but you dont feel any demand from the society. We had a subscription model that helped us survive. But we were making so much effort for maybe 60,000 people, in a country of 140 million. It was very depressing. TV Rain had built up the biggest subscription base of all Russian media, but at the same time it was just 60,000 people.

It was a real crisis point for the company, in my life and Natashas life. You wonder what is your purpose, why you have been doing this so many years, with such little result? My feeling was that this is the end of the company. That Natasha was probably going to close it, or sell, or something.

Natalia Sindeeva: That moment May 2019 it was the only time when I felt lost. I have never felt that way before. I was asking: What is my lifes purpose? And I did not know the answer.

VK: And so I got the arc of the film, the story, in my mind. All our great optimism at the beginning, and then such darkness, hopelessness at the end. This is why the film is also a story about Russia.

G: The film does seem to be about so much more now, given the invasion of Ukraine and all that has happened. What role can the film play now?

VK: Well, first of all, it was a total coincidence that the date for the films release in London and Paris and other places was Feb. 24. Natasha landed at Heathrow Airport on the 24th. I dropped everything to go and meet her when I heard the news, because it was shocking. The invasion of Ukraine.

The release in Russia was scheduled for March 2. We were going to go on a big tour around Russia. Our first region was going to be Siberia, the start of a two-week tour. Screenings were sold out, around the country, all over. But the week before, on Feb. 24, it was the first international release.

Immediately, the film became something different.

Our release in Russia was canceled at the last minute. I came back to Russia on March 1. And on that day, it was around 7 p.m. or so, I got a call from the ministry of culture. They told me that the film wont be released.

I had fought for the permissions for maybe three months. We had our premiere scheduled for one of the biggest cinemas in Russia, very close to the Kremlin, 2,000 tickets had been sold. And then everything was canceled. The cinema got a bomb threat the area around the cinema was cordoned off.

So it wasnt released in Russia. And of course we canceled everything. Our trip to Siberia, to the south of Russia and so on. In Russia, only one cinema in Moscow showed the film, for two weeks. It was very brave of them.

And a few hours later, we all received push notifications that TV Rain itself was blocked in Russia. All this on March 1. TV Rain was operating on YouTube only then. It became clear that we will face punishment, with 15 years in prison, for the work TV Rain was doing.

And thats why we decided to close the company.

NS: We released the film in a secret YouTube channel, a secure channel, and we reached almost 1.9 million views. Then we gave rights to the BBC Russian service and ARD in Germany. ARD and BBC broadcast the film immediately. I think they realized it was so important to show the film at this time. Because the film shows the trajectory of Russia. How we reached this point. It gave a very transparent explanation for foreigners, about what had happened to us. What had happened to TV Rain, yes. But also, what had happened to Russia.

G: And what exactly has happened to TV Rain itself? What is the nature of the operation now?

NS: Most of our team members are based in Latvia right now. In Riga. We are renting a small studio in Latvia they gave us a very kind price, but unfortunately we only have this studio for a few evening hours, so we cannot broadcast from early morning till midnight as we did before. In Georgia, its the same situation, we have very a small place there, it is not ours. We work when the studio is available. By late October, we hope to have our own studio in Amsterdam, our own place when we can start operating again.

G: And what is the output the content, given that you are not in Russia anymore?

NS: We still have a lot of sources. They are not our journalists in Russia now, but there are others. And we have other good resources. It is still important that we focus on Russia.

VK: Of course we cover the war in Ukraine, and fortunately one of our journalists, one of our reporters, was in Ukraine when the war started because right now it is impossible for us to get visas, or accreditation. We have good sources also in Ukraine including in President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyys office. We would love to send more correspondents there if we could. But again, while we focus on Ukraine, we must focus primarily on what is happening inside Russia.

G: Youve both spent a lot of time in the West. What do you think is the one thing or maybe more than one thing that people dont understand, in the U.S. and U.K. and other places about Russia right now?

NS: The most important thing people do not understand is the penetration of Russian propaganda. Just how deeply the propaganda has impacted things. How deeply it has gone into peoples minds. I do not think they understand this. And its not only the not-so-educated people. Even the well-educated people have been infected. Yes, infected. Its a disease.

This is what people around the world do not understand. It is the nonstop, total propaganda. Everything the Kremlin says, its based on a lie. Everything Putin is saying, it is based on lies. Official statements, they are based on lies. All the time, lies.

At TV Rain, our independent reporters were trying to convey just how much money they spend on propaganda, how much money they spend on the internet and Telegram channels and other social networks to manage their propaganda, and censorship and so on. It really is, in my opinion, the only area where the Russian state under Putin achieved total success.

And people in the West do not understand that this has been going on for years. For eight years at least. That there has been an experiment with Russian society. A psychological experiment. An experiment to teach the Russian people their view of Ukraine. That it is not a country. That people there are evil. And so on. Every day, for years now, on all of these platforms. And so if you are saying, Well, the Russians support the war, that is a very simple approach. And it does not show a real understanding of what is going on in Russia. This is not support in the way you think of it here.

VK: It really is a kind of sickness. People are blind. They have been blinded and brainwashed to have a completely opposite picture in their minds of what is actually happening. They see attacks on all these towns and cities and people in Ukraine and they are told it is Ukraine that is doing it. They are told to erase the Ukrainian people. They are told it is a fight not against Ukrainians now but against Americans.

G: Let me ask you about recent events. In just the last few days, it does seem that in some parts of Russia, some people are starting to understand, or at least they see now, OK, its going to be my son, or its going to be my father, who goes to fight. What are your impressions of whats happening now, since Putin gave his mobilization announcement last week?

VK: Let me say it like this: On Sept. 21, Russians found out what had really happened on Feb. 24. Of course its not all of them, or not yet, but this is what has happened. For all this time, people were thinking, Oh, no problem, its going to be OK. Now it is something different. Now it is not so OK. Its a big movement right now.

NS: It is very important to understand what happened to Russians last week, because of Putins speech. The idea of mobilization, the reality of mobilization, it meant that people who were paying no attention to the war, all of a sudden they are searching on the internet for any information they can find. They are going to Google or wherever to search. Because this announcement, it means war comes to their home and their life. And so now they started searching to know what is going on. It was like a trigger for them. It was a time to leave their comfort zone. And so, yes, immediately the situation started to change.

G: You have a quote in the film, I think its from the poet Vladimir Sorokin, saying that there is no future in Russia; that the present is the future. Things do not change. Its a very pessimistic view of course, and the message in your film is very pessimistic too. But you also have these moments where you see hope even miracles, as you say, along the way. Do you have any optimism now about the situation? And if so, where do you find it?

VK: Natasha and I, we see things differently. For me, I feel more pain than any optimism or pessimism. Because unfortunately, I dont feel that there is any future for Russia. I have no vision for it. Actually, I can feel and imagine very well a future for Ukraine. I have a vision for Ukraine, and I dont have any vision for Russia. And this is very painful.

One of the reasons to make this film was to make a film about a group of people who were completely different, different Russians but fighting together for the same thing. For independent media. It was something important. But now, I dont know. Ever since Feb. 24, I have no real vision, no optimism right now.

NS: OK, for me, on one hand, I see my country as ruined, and I cannot say I have optimism right now. I believe Russia is moving toward some kind of catastrophe.

But my hope, my vision, I suppose, is that once we have survived this catastrophe, whatever it will be, then we will get another chance for the future. So if you ask me about today, no, I have no optimism for Russia. But I can see a day, after whatever is coming, when there will be a chance to have optimism again.

Thanks to Lillian Barkley for copy editing this article.

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'Tango with Putin' is the story of TV Rain and what happened to Russia - Grid

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Russian Jews to make a hefty contribution to the countrys multiethnic identity Sunday, in a Rosh Hashanah greeting overshadowed by tensions between the Kremlin and the countrys Jewish community amid the invasion of Ukraine.

Tens of thousands of Jews have left Russia since the onslaught began in February, and thousands more are expected to flee to Israel and elsewhere as Moscow plans a partial call-up of reservists to contribute to the war effort.

In the message, Putin noted that while it was important for Russian Jews to remain close to their customs, he emphasized they had a duty to contribute to Russia.

It is very important that while retaining their loyalty to old spiritual traditions, Russias Jews make a hefty contribution to the preservation of cultural diversity in our country, to strengthening interethnic concord and the principles of mutual respect and religious tolerance, he said.

Nearly 200,000 Jews now live in Russia, though roughly three times as many are eligible for Israeli citizenship, having at least one Jewish grandparent.

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Israeli government officials held an emergency meeting last week to prepare for an expected spike in immigration from Russia after Putin decided to mobilize another 300,000 troops, in a move that sparked protests across the country.

Authorities reportedly plan to bolster the number of flights between Moscow and Tel Aviv and find ways to facilitate the transfer of funds out of Russia.

Nearly 40,000 Ukrainians, Russians, and Belarussians have immigrated to Israel so far this calendar year, officials said last week. Russia provided half of 2022s new immigrants, with 23,789 documented immigrations. Ukrainians taking on Israeli citizenship followed with 13,097, and a much smaller number 1,316 of Belarussians.

People gather outside the Basmany district court in Moscow ahead of a hearing in the Russian governments case against the Jewish Agency on July 28, 2022. (Screen capture: TASS)

In a sign of the Kremlins desire to tighten the screws on Jewish immigration, Russias Justice Ministry filed a petition to a Moscow court in July to liquidate the offices of the Jewish Agency for Israel the semi-governmental organization which encourages and facilitates Jewish immigration to Israel.

Though the trial officially opened in July, it has not progressed significantly over the past two months, with all of the hearings ending in postponements. The Moscow court will next hear the case on October 19.

One of the most notable figures to have fled Russia is former Moscow chief rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, who left for Israel with his wife two weeks after the war began, after first refusing pressure to support the invasion and then openly opposing it.

Earlier this month, dozens of Russian rabbis met in Moscow to discuss the challenges facing them and their communities, and also as a subtle criticism of Goldschmidt.

While not explicitly mentioning the war in Ukraine, the rabbis issued a resolution calling for peace and the cessation of the bloodshed.

The Kremlins attempts to justify the war as ridding Ukraine of Nazis, including its Jewish president, has also served to strain relationships with Jews.

In May, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that Adolf Hitler was part-Jewish and that many Jews were antisemites, drawing strong protests from Israel and Diaspora Jewish groups.

The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, begins at sundown Sunday; other leaders from across the globe also sent their New Year wishes to local Jewish communities.

United States President Joe Biden wrote in his message that the time of reflection, repentance, and renewal could also apply to America writ large.

In the coming year, we must not only look inward, but also look to each other. We must rebuild our communities through empathy and acts of kindness, bridging the gap between the world we see and the future we seek, he said.

Russian chief rabbi Berel Lazar addresses a gathering of Russian rabbis in Moscow on September 5, 2022. (Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia)

Australias Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised the Jewish communitys contributions to society and hailed the return of in-person gatherings as the COVID-19 pandemic winds down

Your spirit of unity and community will continue to be a light to Australia as we face a year filled with new opportunities and challenges, Albanese wrote.

Recently appointed UK Prime Minister Liz Truss delivered a video statement on the eve of the holiday, promising to champion our Jewish community in the year to come.

I am determined to stamp out antisemitism. I will be a staunch friend of Israel, and I will always be on your side, she said.

Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev thanked his countrys Jewish community for being an integral part of our society and boasted of the peace and tranquility experienced by the population in Azerbaijan for centuries.

Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report

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Putin tells Russian Jews he expects hefty contribution in New Years message - The Times of Israel

Vladimir Putin has sacked Russias highest-ranked general in charge with managing its militarys logistics operations in Ukraine.

Russias Defense Ministry announced Dmitry Bulgakov was being transferred to a new role and will be replaced by Col Gen Mikhail Mizintsev.

The reason for the former deputy minister of defences his change in position was not revealed but it is widely seen as a punishment for the flaws in supporting operations in Ukraine.

Gen Bulgakov has overseen the militarys logistics operations since 2008, including its Syria campaign in 2015.

But sources claim he was blamed for logistics failures in Ukraine, which limited Russias advance and left troops undersupplied.

His dismissal comes after the Kremlin was forced to approach its allies, North Korea and Iran, for new artillery and drone supplies in recent months.

The change in Russias logistics leadership comes after footage share social media, which has not been verified by i, showed newly drafted Russian recruits being equipped with rusty assault rifles.

Gen Mikhail Mizintsev managed Moscows brutal siege at the port city of Mariupol.

Mizinstev, 60, was slapped with sanctions by Britain over his involvement Russian seizing Ukrainian port city Mariupol in May after a siege that lasted more than two months.

Russian Pro-war figures have welcomed his dismissal and the appointment of Gen Mizintsev, who was dubbed the Butcher of Mariupol.

Gen Mizintsev led Russian forces in Syria and led a brutal bombing campaign that levelled the city of Aleppo, it is claimed.

The change in command comes amid reports Mr Putin has taken a more active role in strategic planning for the war in Ukraine in recent weeks.

He has been rejecting requests from his commanders on the ground that they be allowed to retreat from the southern city of Kherson which it seized earlier in its war, The New York Times reports.

If troops withdrew from Kherson, it could enable the Russian military to preserve equipment and save the lives of soldiers.

US officials also told CNN that Putin was forced to take action due to the increasingly dysfunctional command structure in Moscow.

UK defence officials suggested Mr Putin had side-lined his defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, after he was mocked by senior officials for his ineffectual and out-of-touch leadership and for failing to deliver a quick and decisive victoryin Ukraine.

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Vladimir Putin sacks another general as he takes a more active role in Ukraine war - iNews