Putin has made himself a 'laughing stock': Russia's ex vice-president

Putin has made himself a ‘laughing stock’ after surrounding himself with ‘absolutely incompetent’ military chiefs ahead of ‘senseless’ invasion of Ukraine, says Russia’s former vice-president

• Alexander Rutskoy accused Putin of ‘senselessly’ killing Russian soliders
• Rutskoy, who served as deputy to President Boris Yeltsin, said Putin’s invasion of Ukraine should never have been launched in scathing attack on Russian despot

Vladimir Putin has made himself a ‘laughing stock’ after he surrounded himself with ‘absolutely incompetent’ military chiefs ahead of the war in Ukraine, Russia’s former vice-president has said in a scathing attack on the Russian President.

Alexander Rutskoy, a former Soviet general, accused Putin of ‘senselessly’ killing tens of thousands of Russian soliders who have been used as cannon fodder in the war.

Rutskoy, who served as deputy to President Boris Yeltsin, said Putin’s invasion of Ukraine should never have been launched.

‘If the armed forces do not have the ability to conduct strategic offensive operations, then it is better not to try, especially outside your own country,’ Rutskoy said.

Alexander Rutskoy, a former Soviet general, accused Putin of ‘senselessly’ killing tens of thousands of Russian soliders who have been used as cannon fodder in the war

He added: ‘Everything happening today is explained by the fact that our armed forces are not able, I emphasise, to conduct strategic offensive operations.

‘Why….? For a quarter of a century the armed forces have been led by incompetent, absolutely incompetent people.’

‘The result is the carnage in Ukraine where Russia has suffered losses which one estimate puts at 175,000 in less than a year,’ Rutskoy said. 

‘This is a tragedy for our country,’ said Rutskoy, the only man ever to occupy the post of Russian vice-president. ‘This is a tragedy, because people are dying. 

‘People are dying senselessly, although the slogan is ‘Defend Russia’. Where are they defending Russia? What are they dying for….? Who has the right to take a father away from his children?

‘Who gave the right to take away sons from mothers and fathers? Nobody….’

Rutskoy, who served as deputy to President Boris Yeltsin, said Putin’s invasion of Ukraine should never have been launched. Pictured: Rutskoy (right) with Putin (centre)

He referred to Russian strongly disputed claims that Britain was behind explosions in the Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea, built to carry gas to the European market.

‘Britain blew up the Nord Stream pipelines [in the Baltic],’ he claimed. ‘And what is the reaction? Nothing. Just blah-blah-blah.

‘Why is this happening? Because from a military point of view, we have no strategic planning. The president voices his intentions, which are not realised. It makes him a laughing stock.’ 

Putin had surrounded himself with security apparatchiks and others who lack high-level military training and skills, said Rutskoy.

This includes defence minister Sergei Shoigu who – despite now holding the rank of army general – is not a career soldier, but a politician known for his loyalty to Putin, Rutskoy said. 

His predecessor, a furniture entrepreneur, Anatoly Serdyukov was ‘some kind of driver, a corporal and nothing more’, who was promoted because his then wife was the daughter of a close Putin crony.

Rutskoy added that the key people ‘never commanded or led anything’.

Ukrainian firefighters work in a house in flame following Russian shelling in the city of Kherson, on Sunday

He said: ‘Who do we have in the Security Council of the Russian Federation? Not a single person who served in the army, not a single person who has a military education.

‘No-one – and now they are sitting there, making decisions on conducting the special military operation. Well, jokingly, this is the same as impotent men who make decisions about sexual encounters.

‘What kind of sex can we talk about if you’re impotent? It’s the same there. It’s all the same.

‘The Security Council of a huge country and not a single person has military expertise. Not a single person.’

Rutskoy, 75, was speaking to host Andrey Kovalyov on Kovalyov Principle channel on YouTube.

He was once proclaimed Russian acting president by the country’s parliament in a standoff with Yeltsin.

But Yeltsin replaced the parliament and Rutskoy along with hardline parliamentarians was briefly jailed.

The nationalist politician was vice-president from 1991-93 after a highflying career in the Soviet military where he held the rank of aviation major-general.

He was three times shot down during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan where he commanded an independent air attack regiment of the 40th Army.

Rutskoy was made a Hero of the Soviet Union in 1988. He later served as governor of Kursk region, bordering Ukraine, during Putin’s presidency.

Source: Read Full Article