A Russian “meatgrinder” commander sacked for horrific battlefield bungles and troop losses has not been seen in public for days after being dumped by the Kremlin. Under Dagestani Sukhrab Akhmedov’s command thousands of troops had been sent on near-suicidal full-frontal assaults resulting in large frontline casualty rates. Once favoured by the Kremlin the 51 year-old career officer became unpopular with Russian troops for ordering brutal assaults which achieved very little. He is among a number