A retired Russian military
commander has re-appeared on state television waring Ukrainian officials not to
underestimate Russia’s military and economic might, despite having disparaged
his nation’s war efforts live on air just days ago.
Mikhail Khodaryonok, a former air defense commander and graduate of some of the
Soviet Union’s top military schools, took to the stage yesterday where he waxed
lyrical about the quality of Russian weapons and boasted about the strength of
the military.
he said: “The Russian Federation has not yet committed even a tenth of its
military and economic potential.. so be careful what you wish for, gentlemen! When
a country buys Western-made equipment, it sometimes stops working or
malfunctions right in the heat of battle…. our arms are different in their
reliability – you get exactly the weapons described.”
But his comments directly contradicted his interview broadcast just days ago,
when he appeared on the same show and gave a distinctly bleak prognosis for
Russia’s war.
Khodaryonok added: “We are in full geopolitical isolation, and that, however
much we would hate to admit this, virtually the entire world is against us. And
it’s that situation that we need to get out of.”
The sudden U-turn has stoked suspicions that Khodaryonok was subject to a stern
talking-to from Vladimir Putin behind the scenes.
Though the colonel has seemingly reversed his publicly negative perception of
Russia’s invasion, he continued to refer to the conflict as a ‘war’, rather
than a ‘special military operation’ or ‘demilitarization operation’ as Putin
prefers.
