Vladimir Putin has ‘purged’ three more generals to root out perceived enemies and traitors among his top brass, Telegram reports.
If confirmed, the total dismissal, suspension, detention or absence takes up to 11
That would mean Putin and his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his ally General Valery Gerasimov — Russia’s most senior military man — face widespread rebellion in the high command as they fight back against a counteroffensive in Ukraine.
The Telegram channel Verum Regnum commented on the ax of Bloody Sunday, saying: ‘At this moment, the fate of the army is being decided, and then the fate of the country.
‘If the military officers manage to concentrate their power, trample down all the shoots of initiative and professional honor among the soldiers, destroy the last born heroes. [in the conflict against Ukraine]The glorious end of the war is coming.’
Commander of the Airborne Forces Mikhail Teplinsky, left, pictured with Vladimir Putin during his spring 2023 visit to the currently occupied territory of Ukraine’s Luhansk region
Reports indicate that Major-General Alexander Kornev (pictured), 46, has been removed from command of the 7th Airborne Assault Division.
Another military-linked channel, Two Major, reported: ‘We find the current situation very tense, first of all, for active soldiers.’
There is also the risk that at least some of the regular army will turn against Putin – as Wagner did with the armed rebellion last month.
Reports indicate that Major-General Alexander Kornev, 46, has been removed from command of the 7th Airborne Assault Division.
Unconfirmed claims also suggested the troops were trying to save Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinsky, 54, and had recorded a message threatening paratroopers with a mutiny if he was captured.
A message read, ‘We, the paratroopers, warn that we will not tolerate such actions with General Teplinski.
‘In case of the slightest threat to his life and liberty, we will stand as a wall to protect the honor and dignity of our commander.
“We are very determined. Until we move from our position and go to our defense [commander].’
The unconfirmed message threatened mutiny saying: ‘Paratroopers do not abandon their own kin.’
Yet a few weeks earlier he had been made effective deputy commander of Russian combat operations to Gerasimov.
Separate reports said that Major-General Ramil Ebatulin, 46, commander of the 90th Panzer Division, and two of his deputies were detained on the pretext of financial irregularities.
Photo: Major-General Ramil Ebatulin, 46, commander of the 90th Panzer Division
Vladimir Putin, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Major General Nikolay Gostev from left to right
Major General Vladimir Seliverstov pictured with Kremlin pundit Vladimir Soloviev
Andrey Gurulev, MP of United Russia, Member of the State Duma Defense Committee, Reserve Lieutenant General
Major-General Nikolay Gostev, commander of the Russian 4th Air Force Army
An unnamed commander of the 27th Brigade has also been relieved of his duties, according to a report.
It was revealed a day earlier that paratrooper commander Major-General Vladimir Seliverstov, 49, a close ally of Teplinsky, had been ousted.
Seliverstov is one of Russia’s youngest and most ruthless generals who headed the 106th Airborne Division in the vicinity of Bakhmut where Ukraine is now advancing.
Even the support of Putin’s former bodyguard Alexei Dyumin, the governor of the Tula region and the likely anointed son of the Kremlin’s successor, failed to save the general, the report said.
The reason for his removal is unknown but may have been his ‘uncompromising nature’.
He is a commander ‘unaccustomed to silence when protecting his subjects [troops]’, said a Telegram channel linked to Wagner’s mercenary army.
Meanwhile, notorious General Sergei ‘Armageddon’ Surovykin, 56, who is now out of touch in the three weeks since the uprising led by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
He is believed to have been interrogated and possibly imprisoned to stay by Prigogine’s side and await Putin’s decision on his fate. Yet the witch hunts became more widespread.
Major-General Ivan Popov – who commanded Russia’s 58th Army – disappeared last week shortly after he was sacked.
His leaked voice messages to troops revealed he blamed Putin’s high command for ‘treacherously and brutally beheading the army at its most difficult and tense moment’.
According to Telegram channel VCHK-OGPU, Popov, 48, was ‘summoned’ to an unknown location and ‘suddenly disappeared’ after his critical criticism of Putin’s war strategy was leaked, his wife said.
His ouster was publicly confirmed, but he was not arrested.
His absence is severely affecting Russia’s performance on the frontline, according to critics such as war analyst Igor Strelkov.
Another victim was Major-General Nikolai Gostev – commander of Russia’s 4th Air Force Army – who was at least temporarily removed from his post amid Ukraine’s counterattack.
Major-General Nikolay Gostev, commander of the Russian 4th Air Force Army
Major General Vladimir Seliverstov
Photo of Major General Vladimir Seliverstov at the Victory Day parade in Moscow’s Red Square, 2019. Vladimir Putin shakes Seliverstov’s hand
Vladimir Putin’s bodyguard Alexei Duman (marked)
Alexei Duman pictured with Putin
Major-General Nikolay Gostev, commander of the Russian 4th Air Force Army
He is said to be ‘resting’ – an epithet also used about Surovykin, Russia’s second most senior military commander.
The timing is odd because Gostev, 60, is in charge of defending the Black Sea coast, including annexed Crimea and Zaporizhia, from Ukraine’s missile attacks.
Last week a British-supplied Storm Shadow missile killed a general known personally to Putin – Lieutenant-General Oleg Sokov, 51, in Berdyansk, an area now under intense long-range bombardment.
Air force commander Colonel-General Andre Yudin, 61, was reportedly fired after an interrogation following Wagner’s June 24 armed uprising.
The same applies to Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseev, 62, deputy chief of military intelligence.
Both Yudin and Alekseev were dismissed from duty and had their movements restricted, it was reported.
Earlier Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, aka the Butcher of Mariupol, was ousted in May and joined Wagner. He paid first with his job. His current whereabouts are unknown amid suggestions he has been detained.
Shoigu is also firing for a reservist lieutenant-general Andrey Gurulev – a prominent pro-war propaganda pundit – who was blamed for leaking Popov’s message, and insulted Shoigu and the head of the armed forces, General Valery Gerasimov.
No action has been taken against him so far but it is only a matter of time.
Shoigu continues ‘combat operations’ inside the Ministry of Defense, the channel VCHK-OGPU reported.
Another missing general – the 11th suspected target of the purge – is Shoigu’s close colleague and deputy defense minister – Colonel-General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, 59.
He was seen talking to Prigogine on the day of the armed uprising in Rostov-on-Don. The Deputy Defense Minister has not been seen since early July.