ANALYSIS โ It appears that Vladimir Putin is cleaning house at the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD). The armed rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenary group has now become a pretext for a purge in the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW)ย cited a prominent Russianย military blogger (โmilblogger') as saying that the mutiny has instigated โlarge-scale purgesโ among the Russian armed forces command and that the MoD was currently undergoing a โcrash testโ for loyalty.
ISW also reported, citing the milblogger, that the Federal Guard Service (FSO), which provides security for the president and other state officials, is conducting an in-depth review into theย Russian militaryย leadership and commanders of individual units.
Specifically, ISW wrote that: โThe milblogger claimed that Russian officials are using the MoD's โindecisiveness' in suppressing the rebellion and โsupport for paramilitary companies (PMCs)' as pretexts to remove โobjectionable' personnel from their positions.โ
On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal and New York Times ran stories about who knew what ahead of Prigozhin's attempted coup.
Some called the reporting deliberate disinformation by the U.S. intelligence community (IC) intended to sow distrust in the Kremlin.
If so, it appears to be working. (RELATED: Questions Swirl As Popular Russian General Goes Missing)
The Moscow Times and Russia's military-connected Telegram channels report the arrest of top general Sergei Surovikin โ nicknamed โGeneral Armageddonโ by the Russian press for his reputed ruthlessness โ for allegedly supporting Prigozhin's actions last weekend.
Reuters reportedย U.S. intelligence as saying Surovikin was sympatheticย to the Wagner rebellion, but it was unclear if he actively supported it.
Also, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov has not been seen publicly or on TV since Saturday's aborted coup. Reportedly, the FSB domestic security service is questioning him.
ISW cited a different Russian source as saying that an โatmosphere of suspicion has enveloped the General Staffโ and that Gerasimov's affiliates are being accused of โindecision and failure.โ
According to the milblogger cited by ISW, Gerasimov may have been stripped of his responsibilities for Russian operations in Ukraine while retaining his post.
The day before launching his mutiny, Prigozhin said Russia was losing the war and accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gerasimov of โgenocideโ against their people โfor the murder of tens of thousands of Russian citizens and the transfer of Russian territories to the enemy.โ
In addition to the FSB, Russia's National Guard was also aware of the planned mutiny, according to its commander, Gen. Viktor Zolotov.
โSpecific leaks about preparations for a rebellion that would begin between June 22-25 were leaked from Prigozhin's camp,โ Zolotov told state media on Tuesday, according to the Journal.
Prigozhin ended his revolt after accepting a deal with Putin โ brokered by Belarus' strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko โ that dropped criminal charges against the Wagner founder and his fighters and allowed him to go to the neighboring country.
And, as perย my latest PDB, that may be opening a whole new can of worms.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions ofย American Liberty News.
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4 Comments
Get rid of the soros group and the biden group and the zelensky group and the cia group and their wagner group .
Murder by FSB
Nothing new….that’s what commies do to those who disagree with their intolerant behavior if anyone cares to review the real history of communism.
Yevgeniy Progozhin did INDEED warn in a video that military heads would soon roll.