Purge in the Russian Military: Putin’s Crackdown on Personnel Amid Ukraine Invasion

Russian President Vladimir Putin (centre) is accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (left) and Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov in Cher, outside Ussuriysk The Gevsky training ground oversees the “Orient 2022” military exercise. (Photo credit: MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images )
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[Look at China News, July 1, 2023]RussiainvadeUkraineIt has been more than 16 months since the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary organization, launched a mutiny on the 24th and once marched towards the capital Moscow, which has already targeted the Russian President.Putin(Vladimir Putin) poses a serious security crisis. After this incident, several senior Russian generals have not been seen in public, especially the supreme commander of the Ukrainian military operation, Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov and Deputy Commander Sergei Surovikin , the whereabouts of these two people are unknown, which has aroused speculation from the outside world. According to foreign media reports, in order to restore his authority, Putin has begun to purge the military personnel who contributed to the mutiny, which may change the direction of Russia’s combat operations in Ukraine.
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According to the “New York Times” report, Putin recently met in the Kremlin withRussiaThe high-level media held a closed-door meeting, which increased outside speculation that he would expand the purge of the Russian military. According to Konstantin Remchukov, the editor-in-chief of the Russian media who attended the meeting, Putin clearly focused on the economic motives of the mutiny, and he wanted to go deep into the veins of Wagnerian leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. Oleg Matveychev, a longtime Kremlin supporter of Russia’s parliament, emphasized that the targets were those who were active in his cover and in opposition to the president’s policies.

But Prigozin’s deep connections among the political and military elite will complicate Putin’s purge, and now the Russian military is fightingUkraineThe army’s counter-offensive actions will cause internal turmoil in the Russian military, and may even change the direction of the war against the invasion of Ukraine. According to the analysis of Lawrence Freedman, a professor of war studies at King’s College London, Sulovkin is a relatively capable Russian general. It may be more destructive to Russian military operations than mutiny.

Several Russian supportersPutinBloggers who sent troops to invade Ukraine revealed that the Russian authorities are currently investigating people who have relations with Prigozin in the military. “In progress”, the authorities are trying to root out “people who are not doing enough to quell the mutiny”. Now Wagner’s armed mutiny has become the pretext for a massive purge of Russia’s armed forces. Sulovkin was called “General Armageddon” (General Armageddon) by the Russian media because of his cruel style, and he has not been seen since the day of the mutiny on the 24th.

On the 28th, according to the Russian version of the “Moscow Times” citing sources, it was reported that Sulovkin had been arrested, and this arrest was in line with thePrigozinThe Russian military blogger Vladimir Romanov (Vladimir Romanov) also claimed that Sulovkin was detained on the 25th. Aleksei Venediktov, editor-in-chief of the banned independent radio station “Echo Moscow”, revealed that Sulovkin and his aides had not contacted his family members for three days. He once served as the commander of the Russian army in the Ukrainian war in October 2022, but he was dismissed in just three months, that is, in January 2023, and was replaced by Gerasimov, the chief of staff of the Russian army. to take over.

However, the current whereabouts of Gerasimov is also a mystery. He has disappeared from public view since the mutiny incident. Even Putin was suspiciously absent when he rewarded the officers and soldiers who have contributed to the suppression of the chaos on the 27th. Gerasimov is one of the custodians of three “nuclear button suitcases” in Russia. Michael Kofman, an expert on the Russian military at the think tank “Carnegie Foundation”, believes that the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who Prigozin desperately wants to overthrow, may have retained his official position; Commander-in-Chief Viktor Zolotov also benefited from the incident by being quick to pledge his loyalty after Wagner’s mutiny.

Responsible editor: Wang Jun

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2023-06-30 23:02:00