Analysts dispute about motives for Kadyrov's and Prigozhin's attacks on military leadership

Ramzan Kadyrov's and Evgeny Prigozhin's criticism against the Russian military command is caused by the desire of each of them to win political dividends, Alexei Malashenko, a political scientist, has suggested. Their parallel attacks on the military command look like a formation of an influential political group including Kadyrov and Prigozhin, Evgeny Minchenko, a political consultant, has objected.

The "Kadyrov-Prigozhin" political tandem exists "only at the level of rumours," the synchronism of their critical statements doesn't allow us to make an unambiguous conclusion that they represent an influence group, Alexei Malashenko, a Caucasian expert, believes.

"Some talk about Prigozhin in general as a future country's president. In fact, no one can say for sure what place he occupies in all this ... Probably, they are being egged on to some kind of statements and actions," Mr Malashenko has stated, explaining that Prigozhin and Kadyrov are just allowed to speak more than others.

Earlier, Kadyrov stated that 23 Chechen fighters had perished in the Kherson Region, and 58 others were wounded. They want to put responsibility for the deaths of the fighters, including those from Kadyrov's detachments, on the army leadership, Alexei Malashenko did not rule out.

Evgeny Minchenko, the head of the Minchenko Consulting Group, has treated the objective problems in conducting the special operation as one of the reasons for Prigozhin's and Kadyrov's public criticism of the army, as well as of the fact that the political group, which includes Kadyrov and Prigozhin, is trying to increase its influence in this way.

Since the start of the military operation, Kadyrov has repeatedly criticized the army commanders. Thus, on September 22, he expressed his strong dissatisfaction with the exchange of prisoners of war (POWs), which was organized by the Russian MoD and the FSB.