Kremlin releases Putin's call with commander long believed dead
The Kremlin has published a recording of a phone call between Vladimir Putin and a Russian division commander, but Russian media reportedly declared the officer dead over a year ago. The discrepancy was flagged by the US-based Institute for the Study of War.
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The Kremlin has released a recording of a phone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and a commander of a Russian army division, raising questions about the identity of the person on the other end of the line.
According to the officially released transcript, Putin spoke with Colonel Abdulasis Shikhabidov, who identified himself as commander of the 76th Guards Air Assault Division.
Reports of death
The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) notes that several Russian media outlets had previously reported Shikhabidov's death. According to those reports, the commander died in May 2025 — more than a year before the Kremlin published the recorded call.
ISW highlighted the discrepancy in its analysis, though no official explanation has been given for how the contradiction arose or whether the officer named in the recording actually took part in the conversation.
The case adds to a series of uncertainties surrounding the composition of Russia's senior military command, which has repeatedly become a subject of speculation during the war in Ukraine.
