A Russian general informs Putin “beyond the grave”. Strange moments during a visit to Vladivostok
During a recent visit to Vladivostok, the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, was guided by an exhibition area dedicated to the 155 Naval Infantry Brigade-one of the emblematic units of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine. During the presentation, the leader from Kremlin I was designed a commemorative film, narrated by the former commander of the Brigade, Major General Mihail Gudkov-after an Ukrainian attack in July.
General-Major Mihail Gudkov-deceased after an Ukrainian attack in July/Photo: X
According to the organizers, the film was thought of as a tribute to the unit, but also to its leader. The narrator, Gudkov, was presented as “the most appropriate voice to tell the story of the brigade”, a double-sense formulation, given that the general was killed in a Himars missile attack on the brigade in the Kursk region on July 2.
At that time, Gudkov held the position of deputy of the commander of the Russian naval forces – a promotion granted by Vladimir Putin. In the same attack, Colonel Sergei Ilin, Gudkov's successor at the brigade, and Colonel Leonid Bashkardin, his deputy, died.
Brigade 155 – military history and serious accusations
During the Ukraine war, the 155 Brigade has been involved in some of the most intense fighting episodes. At the same time, the unit plays serious suspicions. The Kiev authorities accused the military in this brigade of direct involvement in war crimes, including torture, rapes and summary executions during the temporary occupation of the localities of Bucharest, IRPIN and Hostomel, in the spring of 2022.
Also, in the east of Ukraine, soldiers who were supposed to be part of the unit led by Gudkov were filmed and photographed while beheading Ukrainian prisoners, materials later distributed on social networks. The information was not officially commented on by the Russian side.
Despite these accusations, Gudkov was decorated post-mortem with the title of hero of the Russian Federation, a distinction that he had received before and in the form of “golden star” for alleged courage and “military courage”. The decorations were personally offered by Vladimir Putin, within the symbolic campaign to legitimize the Ukraine offensive as a “historical mission”.
A new offensive and old methods
According to several sources, including from the Ukrainian press and from Western information media, the 155th Brigade – along with other units such as the 336 Brigade, Brigade 61, Regiment 177 and Division 70 – would have been repositioned for a new offensive operation in East Ukraine, with a potential concentration point around Pokrovsk, Drujkivka, in the Donetsk region.
In the Ukrainian public space, this mobilization is interpreted as a new attempt by the Kremlin to obtain a “propagandistic success”, with the price of massive losses among the troops, through the so-called “meat assaults”-tactics already used in Bahmut or Avdiivka.
Against the backdrop of these preparations, the film watched by Putin at Vladivostok takes on symbolic valences: a posthumous glorification of a dead commander on the front, transformed into a voice of continuity. A voice that, even “beyond”, seems meant to motivate a new generation of officers to trace.
