Thread by @TheStudyofWar

#Russian forces are conducting a theater-wide operational pause in #Ukraine and engaging in operations to set conditions for future offensives. Russian milbloggers are increasingly criticizing Russian strategy and military leadership.

Read the report: isw.pub/RusCampaignJul…

🧵on tensions between the Russian military command and Russian war correspondents:

Russian milblogger Rybar stated that the Russian Defense Ministry and possibly actors within the presidential administration are actively attempting to silence unofficial coverage of the war.

Rybar noted that the relationship between the Russian military command and war correspondents particularly soured after Russian President Vladimir Putin met with war correspondents during the St. Petersburg Economic Forum on June 17.

This event likely occurred: Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on June 12 that Putin would hold a closed-door meeting with Russian war correspondents, and Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan confirmed that Putin had a “candid” conversation w/ journalists after the event.

Putin likely held the June 17 meeting to defuse milblogger discontent, which had become evident and dramatic after the disastrous failed river crossing attempt at Bilohorivka in mid-May.

However, if that was Putin's aim, he failed to win them over, as the milbloggers have remained staunchly critical of the way the Russian high command is waging the war ever since.

The Russian information space would change significantly if the Ministry of Defense cracked down on the milbloggers and stopped them from operational reporting.

ISW uses milbloggers and Russian war correspondents as sources of Russian claims on a daily basis, so the elimination of regular milblogger operational reporting would affect ISW’s approach to coverage.

ISW will continue to observe and report on milblogger and war correspondent behavior and will flag significant changes in the Russian information space as we observe them. /End