Top Russian general in Ukraine is dismissed, revealing new crack in military leadership
MOSCOW — A Russian general in charge of forces fighting in southern Ukraine has been relieved of his duties after speaking out about the problems faced by his troops, in a move that reflected new fissures in the Russian military command after a brief rebellion by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, the commander of the 58th Army fighting in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, a focal point in the Ukrainian counteroffensive, said in an audio statement to his troops released late Wednesday that he was dismissed after a meeting with the top military brass, which he described as a “treacherous” stab in the back of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.
Popov said that the military leadership was angered by his frank talk about the challenges faced by his forces, particularly the shortage of radars tracking enemy artillery, which resulted in massive Russian casualties.
“The top officers apparently saw me as a source of threat and rapidly issued an order to get rid of me, which was signed by the defense minister in just one day,” he said. “The Ukrainian military couldn’t penetrate our army’s defenses, but the top commander hit us in the back, treacherously and cowardly beheading the army at this most difficult moment.”
Popov, who uses the call name Spartacus, addressed his troops as “my gladiators” in the audio message released by retired Gen. Andrei Gurulev, who commanded the 58th Army in the past and currently serves as a lawmaker. The 58th Army consists of several divisions and smaller units.
The 48-year-old Popov, who rose from platoon commander to lead a large group of forces, had encouraged his soldiers to come directly to him with any problems — an easygoing approach that contrasted sharply with the stiff, formal style of command common in the Russian military. Military bloggers say he’s widely known for doing his best to avoid unnecessary losses, unlike many other commanders who were eager to sacrifice their soldiers to report successes.
The Ukrainian military’s surrender hotline, dubbed ‘I Want to Live,’ is enticing some Russian soldiers to quit the battlefield as the war drags on.
“I faced a difficult situation with the top leadership when I had to either keep silent and act like a coward, saying what they wanted to hear, or call things by their names,” Popov said. “I didn’t have the right to lie for the sake of you and our fallen comrades.”
In a sign that many in Russian officialdom share Popov’s criticism of the top military brass, Andrei Turchak, the first deputy speaker of the upper house of parliament, who heads the main Kremlin party, United Russia, strongly backed Popov, saying that “the motherland can be proud of such commanders.”
Andrei Kartapolov, a retired general who heads the defense affairs committee in the lower house, also said that the Defense Ministry should deal with the issues raised by Popov.
The news about Popov’s dismissal added to the blow that Russian troops in southern Ukraine received Tuesday when another senior officer, Lt. Gen. Oleg Tsokov, was killed by a Ukrainian missile strike.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky marked the 500th day of the war in a video from a Black Sea island that became the symbol of Ukraine resilience.
Russian military bloggers said that Popov’s remarks, in which he also spoke about the need to rotate his troops, which have been fighting to repel a Ukrainian counteroffensive since early June, angered General Staff chief Gen. Valery Gerasimov, who promptly ordered his dismissal.
Gerasimov was shown meeting with military officers in a video released by the Defense Ministry on Monday, the first time he was seen since last month’s abortive rebellion by Prigozhin, who demanded his ouster.
Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst, noted that Popov’s statement echoed criticism of the top brass by Prigozhin. However, he added that the general’s statement wasn’t a rebellion, but instead a call for Putin’s help.
“Such public disputes at the top of the Russian army [aren’t] a show of force,” he said.
Biden ended the NATO summit by highlighting the Western alliance’s newfound unity in the face of Russian aggression. But the bloc is split over Ukraine’s membership.
During the June 24 revolt, which lasted less than 24 hours, mercenaries from Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary group quickly swept through the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured the military headquarters there without firing a shot before driving to within about 125 miles of Moscow.
Prigozhin called his mercenaries back to their camps after striking a deal to end the rebellion in exchange for an amnesty for him and his mercenaries and permission to move to Belarus.
The rebellion represented the biggest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power and badly dented his authority, even though Prigozhin claimed the uprising was not aimed against the president but intended to force the ouster of Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, whose handling of the war in Ukraine he criticized.
On Monday, the Kremlin confirmed that Prigozhin and 34 of his top officers met with Putin on June 29, five days after the rebellion, a startling announcement that raised new questions about the terms of the deal with Wagner. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wagner’s commanders pledged loyalty to the president and said they were ready “to continue to fight for the motherland.”
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Putin has said that Wagner troops had to choose whether to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry, move to Belarus or retire from service. While details of the deal with Prigozhin have remained murky, uncertainty also has surrounded the fate of Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, who reportedly had been detained for questioning about his ties to Prigozhin.
Speaking in Helsinki on Thursday after a NATO summit, President Biden said he is not certain about what fate awaits Prigozhin.
“I’m not even sure where he is,” Biden said. “If I were he, I’d be careful what I ate, I’d be keeping an eye on my menu. But all kidding aside ... I don’t know. I don’t think any of us know for certain what the future of Prigozhin is in Russia.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Wagner mercenaries were completing the handover of their weapons to the Russian military, part of the Kremlin’s efforts to defuse the threat the group posed.
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