A prominent pro-Russian military blogger died of a reported suicide in the midst of a Russian state media backlash against his report that Russia lost 16,000 troops in the recent conquest of a Ukrainian city.
“I’ll shoot myself if no one dares to take on this trivial matter,” Russian soldier and blogger Andrei “Murz” Morozov wrote in an apparent suicide note, according to an unofficial translation, addressed to his commander. “And they will give you tanks and copters. From February 21, 2024 you can safely tell everyone who calls you that I do not serve, and there are no problems with me.”
Murz drew criticism from Russian state media personalities for writing on social media that the fall of Avdiivka, one of the most high-profile territorial losses for Ukraine of the last year, came at an immense cost for Russian forces and ended with Ukrainian troops withdrawing “to new, prepared positions.” His assessment heartened pro-Ukrainian platforms on social media while running contrary to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s celebration of the apparent victory in the war in Ukraine.
“As for the overall situation in Avdiivka, this is an absolute success, I congratulate you,” Putin told Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. “It needs to be built on.”
The Ukrainian retreat has been viewed in Western circles as one of the first losses attributable to the lack of aid from the United States, where a political deadlock in Washington, D.C., has deprived President Joe Biden of the funding authority to provide new supplies. With as many as 1,000 Ukrainian troops missing in action during the withdrawal, the battle could deliver a substantial blow to Ukrainian morale, according to the New York Times.
And yet, Murz took a scornful tone regarding “the published [Putin’s] ‘congratulatory Telegram’” and complained that Russian authorities had no interest in learning from the costly ordeal.
“If, as a result of all this … a large criminal case had been opened, it would not have been so bad,” he wrote on Sunday, according to the War Translated project. “The worst thing in this story, the worst sign of future new f***-ups, is that a soldier from the ‘destroyed’ regiment 1487, when he brings a statement to the St. Petersburg military prosecutor’s office, [the prosecutor] refused [to] accept this statement, according to the established procedure, popularly explaining that [the soldier] wants to publish those who have already been appointed heroes.”
Other military bloggers endorsed his assessment, according to War Translated, and emphasized their belief that the Avdiivka campaign was rushed to comply with Putin’s desire for a favorable talking point in Russia’s heavily managed presidential election next month.
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“Russia is my home, invaded by enemies: the servile a**-lickers of their superiors; generals ready to sacrifice thousands of soldiers just to ‘distinguish’ themselves; journalists who build their careers on lies from the screen,” Murz wrote, according to a translation by the Moscow Times.
A man identified as a lawyer friendly with Murz said that he “shot himself” overnight.