2/ The jailed Girkin has sent another lengthy missive from his confines, returning to a theme he has promoted before – the wastefulness of the Russian army's tactics and the uselessness of its generals – as well as getting dangerously close to directly attacking Putin himself:

3/ "(in response to a letter dated October 13, 2025) Dear Alexander Nikolaevich! Thank you for the information—both regarding the much-talked-about post by blogger Kartavykh and other events...."

4/ (This is a reference to a viral and widely-discussed series of posts by warblogger Alex Kartavykh in which he asked his readers why they didn't want to fight, and got over 5,000 responses.) https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/stat...

5/ "Of course, I completely agree with both the statements and opinions of the citizens who responded to the discussion, as well as the author's final conclusions. There are some minor nuances, but they don't make a difference and, in fact, shouldn't even be mentioned.

6/ "A "harsh" text of this kind might (in any other situation than in Russia and now) have triggered a "government crisis" or, at the very least, "heated parliamentary debates."

7/ "In another era, it's entirely possible that a small, pockmarked, mustachioed man in a shabby, old-fashioned service jacket, having read the most "salient" paragraphs and theses underlined in red pencil by the People's Commissar of State Security,…

8/ …would have taken his pipe out of his mouth and said: "... yes, something didn't work out for us with the Finnish campaign... we need to urgently correct the mistakes made... and punish them for their miscalculations."

9/ "And the author..., summon the author... No... there's no need to 'explain' yet... he might come in handy..." But we (unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) do have a small man, but he's not pockmarked, doesn't smoke, and doesn't have a withered arm.

10/ "And this man WILL DO NOTHING, because his signature style of governance is to let everything slide and then declare any result that comes out to be "the goal achieved".

11/ "His primary objective is to preserve power for himself and a group of associates who form the "core" of this power in all areas: politics, economics, military affairs, the media, and so on.

12/ "It so happens that any "active action" in the current acute crisis inevitably leads only to a worsening of the situation and, consequently, to increased threats to the government.

13/ "The more abrupt and decisive the changes, the greater the threat, since the "core" (never, incidentally, shone with talent or efficiency—even in its best years, when a great energy power was being built and the industry inherited from the USSR was being sawed up for scrap)…

14/ …has aged considerably and, in places, even become decrepit. Every sudden movement causes acute discomfort, while "static calm" evokes a feeling of security and stability.

15/ "One day, after the "Cook and Co." [Wagner Group] mutiny, which had scared them to death and its successful suppression, the Russian Ministry of Defence (or, rather, its leadership thought) found a recipe for victory:

16/ "We take a lot of money, buy (like "Cook" [Prigozhin]) a lot of meat, and then just pelt the hohols with it! We have more meat, sooner or later the hohols won't be able to take it anymore and will break!"

17/ They called this idiotic strategy a "war of attrition" (repeating the idiotic mistake of Field Marshal von Falkenhayn during the First World War) and declared it "the only correct one."

18/ And the meat grinder started spinning—this time not the Verdun one (as in 1916), but the Donetsk one. With the same efficiency of a manual meat grinder—only splashes flew.

19/ Some time passed (two years), and suddenly it became clear that: a) the money is running out; b) the meat too; c) the enemy has found ways and tactics to fight the meat,…

20/ … exchanging completely absurdly small areas of terrain for absurdly large volumes of meat, storming them head-on one after another.

21/ "In the end, over the past two years, we've stormed hundreds of "forester's huts" (to use a well-known meme from the First World War), fought dozens of "battles on the Isonzo River" (from there), destroyed the remnants of the regular [Russian] army and most of those…

22/ …mobilised in 2022, as well as volunteers—and... are much further from victory over the enemy than we were. Simply because over the past two years, the ENEMY HAS BECOME STRONGER.

23/ "Not numerically, perhaps (the Ukrainian Armed Forces are also suffering heavy losses). But technically and organizationally—absolutely.

24/ "Two years ago, the Ukrainians were physically incapable of attacking our economy and resources outside the frontline regions. Now it's commonplace—everyday commonplace! All the way to the Urals!

25/ "The enemy has become extremely hardened and feels the powerful military-technical and economic (and social, too!) support of all of NATO.

26/ "Breaking it by taking a few hundred more worthless (after total destruction) "butcher's huts" (even if they were the size of Chasiv Yar) is impossible.

27/ "The enemy must be truly crushed, creating such a level of military-technical and numerical superiority that even their battered soldiers will be unable to withstand it and will break, after which the rapid disintegration of both their army and…

28/ …their entire bastard "state" will begin. But to do this, we must DO A LOT, EXERCISE A LOT, TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR A LOT, and (now—inevitably!) SACRIFICE and take risks.

29/ Our "irreplaceable leaders" simply cannot stand being responsible for anything, taking risks, and (especially!) sacrificing! For them, the "sacrifice" must be their country and the people who inhabit it.

30/ And they only know how to consume and bask in praise for "graciously deigning to govern this country" (where, before, and even now, they don't even keep their own children).

31/ Ceding part of their power/authority and (God forbid they win!) glory to someone who can do everything for them is akin to some kind of extremism... Even doubting their genius (especially publicly, like Kartavykh) is already 'extremism.'"