Putin Should 'Shut Up' After Comments Showed Weakness—Former Commander

Prominent military blogger and former Russian commander Igor Girkin has again disparaged Vladimir Putin, saying that the president should "shut up" about aspects of his full-scale invasion.

In a video uploaded to his Telegram social media channel, the former FSB officer, who led Moscow-backed forces in the Donbas region from 2014, said that Putin does not act like he is the president "of a huge country with over 1,000 years of history."

Girkin mocked the reason that Putin gave state TV at the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant last week about why Russia did not invade Ukraine in 2014 following the annexation of Crimea when Kyiv's army was "rotten and weak."

"He started telling us that we didn't have hypersonic weapons," said Girkin who also goes by the name of Strelkov. "He again started saying that he was dragged by the nose.. and acted without confidence."

"The advice I can give him—or rather his speechwriters—is keep quiet. He should not open his mouth," said Girkin, who believed this would be better than "mumbling the most stupid of excuses which you can only laugh at."

Girkin said that "everyone knows" how in 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea, Russian forces could probably have been able to "walk from Kharkiv to Odessa without firing a single shot."

After eight years of the "hypothetical presence" of hypersonic weapons that Putin frequently boasts about, Girkin said, "not only is it impossible to walk to Odesa, but we could not even properly enter Kharkiv," referring the eastern city which Ukrainian forces pushed Russia out of.

Noting that the hypersonic Khinzhal missile had been tested three times in the first six months of the war, Girkin wondered if Russia was not using it, then "what significance does it have in conducting the war?"

"There is none," he said, dubbing Putin's excuses for the lack of weapons mitigating against the full invasion of Ukraine in 2014 as "bullsh**."

"Shut up. Vladimir Vladimirovich, shut up, it would be better to stay quiet," said Girkin, adding that "instead of accepting the leadership of the state's defense committee, he is flying helicopter simulators."

As of Tuesday morning the clip shared by War Translated, which tweets about the war in Ukraine, had received more than 245,000 views.

Girkin has repeatedly criticized Putin and his commanders' conduct in the war. Last week, he wrote a critical essay in which he said that not changing the leadership of the state, intelligence, and armed forces who "have already demonstrated blatant incompetence" will be certain to see Russia lose the war.

"Girkin's comments may indicate that there are considerable tensions between the Russian military command and the FSB, as well as within the FSB itself," the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Sunday. "Girkin's acerbic commentary continues to provide insight into growing inner circle frictions."

Newsweek has emailed the Kremlin for comment.