Salted on the air: the RF was cut out by the General's speech due to voiced losses - ISW

According to American analysts, VAT commander General Mikhail Teplinsky stated that 8500 Russian paratroopers were injured in Ukraine, after which his statement was "erased" from broadcasting. The Ministry of Defense of Russia removed the speech by the commander of the Airborne Troops (VAT) of Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinsky on August 2. This is stated in the report of the American Institute of War Study (ISW) of August 3.

Analysts believe that such an event was associated with the fact that during the speech, the General revealed information about Russian losses in Ukraine. Thus, in his speech in honor of VAT Day, which is celebrated in Russia on August 2, Teplinsky stated that at the beginning of the war in Ukraine at least 8,500 VAT servicemen had been injured. This is a rare official recognition of Russian losses that Russian officials have tried earlier, it is noted in ISW.

It is reported that Zvezda, which is the mouthpiece of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, removed the speech of Teplinsky from August 2, and some sources claim that this was done in connection with the discussion of losses. "BBC and the opposition edition of" Mediazon "confirmed that as of July 30, at least 1800 VAT servicemen were killed in Ukraine, and the ratio of killed and wounded is 1: 3 (if not a little better) for Russian troops in Ukraine," report.

ISW analysts note that the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation may also seek to censorship the disclosure of Teplinsky details about new VAT formations. Earlier, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other military officials discussed the creation of new formations, but did not provide accurate information on the names and subordination of existing parts.

The ISW also reminded that Teplinsky used to use the Day of Defender of the Fatherland (February 23) to criticize the Commander-in-Chief of the General Staff and Airborne Air Force Army Valery Gerasimov on the scale of Russian losses in Ukraine. As previously noted in ISW, in mid-July there were rumors about the possible arrest of VAT commander of Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinsky. The reason is his possible connection with Eugene Prigogin, founder of Wagner PEC.

However, Teplinsky managed to avoid personnel "cleaning". In his recent speech, he declared the formation of two new VAT regiments and the reproduction of the 104th VAT Division by the end of 2023. Teplinsky headed the Russian VAT in July 2023. Before that, he was held by the Colonel-General Andriy Serdyukov, but he was removed because of high losses among the personnel of the paratroopers who fought in Ukraine.