If you can’t beat ‘em, co-opt ‘em.
That appears to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategy as he announced this week a new task force of military bloggers to help sell a possible new round of mobilization for the beleaguered Russian military.
While supporting Mr. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, many of the bloggers have emerged as among the harshest domestic critics of the Kremlin’s prosecution of the war.
Even as the government has moved strongly against critics of the war, the military bloggers have openly questioned Mr. Putin’s overall war plan, the performance of Russian generals and troops in the field, and what they say is the Kremlin’s failure to use even more ruthless tactics to force Kyiv to surrender.