A Russian general who accused army chiefs of “treacherously” ousting him for criticizing troop losses in the war in Ukraine has sparked a political feud within Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party, the latest sign of tensions over the military following the mutiny by Wagner mercenaries.
Major General Ivan Popov, whose call sign is “Spartacus,” said in an audio message that he’d been removed as commander of Russia’s 58th army in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region after he spoke to Defense Ministry chiefs “at the highest level, extremely harshly” about shortcomings in combat operations.
Popov told his “gladiators” in the message that he’d emphasized “the large-scale death and injury of our brothers from enemy artillery” because of an absence of countermeasures.
“Apparently, the senior bosses sensed some kind of danger” from the criticisms and quickly arranged an order from Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to remove him, Popov said. While Ukrainian forces couldn’t penetrate Russian defenses, he said, the army’s top leadership “hit us from the rear, treacherously and viciously decapitating the army at the most difficult and tense moment.”
Popov’s accusations and the political dispute over his removal underline continued tensions among officials after the June 24 mutiny by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin that aimed to remove Shoigu and army Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov for failures in Russia’s disastrous invasion of Ukraine.
Andrey Gurulev, a lawmaker for the ruling United Russia party who’s on the State Duma’s defense committee, made the general’s complaints public by posting the audio recording on his Telegram channel late Wednesday.
That prompted Andrey Turchak, a top party official and a senator in the upper house of parliament, to accuse Gurulev of making a “political show” of the general’s departure. “The army was and remains out of politics,” Turchak said Thursday on Telegram.
Popov and Prigozhin exposed “big, systemic” problems in the army as well as the unpopularity of Russia’s military leadership, said Sergei Markov, a political consultant with close Kremlin ties. “And now a third problem has been added — the disintegration of military discipline, an open manifestation of disloyalty.”
Another top general, Sergei Surovikin, hasn’t been seen in public since the rebellion ended, as the security services seek to establish whether elements in the military knew about Prigozhin’s plans in advance. Surovikin, who was repeatedly praised by the Wagner founder, has been quizzed by investigators over his links to the mercenaries, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Putin appointed Gerasimov as overall head of Russia’s invasion force in January in place of Surovikin, a career military officer dubbed “General Armageddon” for his ruthless tactics during operations in Syria. He’s also stood by Shoigu, a long-standing ally who’s served alongside Putin for decades.
Putin said Russia had been on the brink of “civil war” after Prigozhin’s forces advanced to within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of Moscow, meeting little resistance from army units, before calling off the revolt under a deal brokered by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.
With the U.S., Europe and China puzzling over the political fallout from the rebellion that shattered Putin’s image as Russia’s invincible leader, the Kremlin disclosed on Monday that the president met Prigozhin and 35 Wagner commanders for nearly three hours of talks five days after the mutiny that he had denounced as treason.
