One prime commander has disappeared since a mutiny. Another was killed in an airstrike in Ukraine. Another accused his management of treachery after being fired. And a fourth former commander was gunned down whereas out on a jog in what might have been an organized hit.
The ranks of the Russian army have continued to be roiled by instability within the days since a short-lived rebellion by Wagner mercenaries three weeks in the past, as pressures from Moscow’s practically 17-month struggle reverberate throughout the armed forces.
On Wednesday, thriller deepened over the destiny of Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the nation’s former prime commander in Ukraine, who has been dubbed “General Armageddon” for his ruthless ways, and who has not been seen for the reason that Wagner rise up.
One of the nation’s prime lawmakers stated, when pressed by a reporter, that the final was “taking a rest.”
“He is unavailable right now,” the lawmaker, Andrei Kartapolov, the top of the Russian Duma’s protection committee, added in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app earlier than hurrying away from the reporter.
General Surovikin was thought-about to be an ally of Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the chief of the Wagner mercenary firm, whose forces mounted the transient rebellion in late June aimed toward toppling Russia’s army management, earlier than standing down in a take care of the Kremlin.
The New York Times reported that U.S. officers imagine that General Surovikin had advance information of the mutiny however have no idea whether or not he participated. In the hours after the rise up started, the Russian authorities rapidly launched a video of the final calling on the Wagner fighters to face down.
The lawmaker’s enigmatic remark about General Surovikin got here two days after the Russian authorities launched the primary footage of the nation’s prime army officer, Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov, for the reason that rebellion.
In the video, General Gerasimov was receiving a report from the Russian Aerospace Forces, that are run by General Surovikin. But the particular person giving the replace within the footage was General Surovikin’s deputy, Col. Gen. Viktor Afzalov.
General Surovikin’s location is simply one of many many mysteries which have arisen for the reason that mutiny. Despite a deal introduced by the Kremlin, underneath which Mr. Prigozhin would depart Russia for Belarus and keep away from prosecution, the mercenary tycoon seems to have remained in Russia.
The Kremlin disclosed earlier this week that Mr. Prigozhin and his prime commanders had met with President Vladimir V. Putin 5 days after the mutiny, elevating many questions on what kind of deal had been struck with the previous insurrectionists. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Defense stated that Russian armed forces had been gathering Wagner’s weapons, ammunition, and army gear.
The matériel is anticipated to be restored for additional use. So far, the mercenary group has handed over hundreds of small arms and heavy weapons, the ministry stated, together with rocket launch and mortar programs, anti-tank weapons and multipurpose armored tractors.
Russia, in the meantime, acquired one other blow to its prime army ranks. Lt. Gen. Oleg Tsokov, the deputy commander of Russia’s Southern Military District, was killed in Ukraine throughout a Monday evening missile strike on the occupied metropolis of Berdiansk, one of many highest-level losses for Russia through the course of the struggle, Ukrainian authorities introduced.
A Russian lawmaker and retired normal, Andrei Gurulyov, confirmed General Tsokov’s loss of life in an look on state tv Wednesday, saying he “died heroically.” The loss of life recalled the early days of the struggle, when Ukrainian officers stated they’d killed about 12 generals on the entrance strains.
Mr. Gurulyov additionally launched a recording late Wednesday of the commander of Russia’s 58th Combined Arms Army, Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, explaining to his troops why he was relieved from commanding the unit, which is preventing on the entrance in Ukraine close to Zaporizhzhia.
General Popov described a “difficult situation with the senior leadership,” which led to him being relieved after he introduced up issues on the battlefield, together with the shortage of counter battery hearth and artillery reconnaissance stations, in addition to deaths and accidents the power is affected by enemy artillery hearth.
General Popov appeared to take purpose at General Gerasimov with out naming him, saying that whereas Ukrainian forces couldn’t break by way of his military unit from the entrance, “our senior commander hit us from the rear, treacherously and vilely decapitating” the military unit “at the most difficult and tense moment.”
Russian authorities additionally arrested a Ukrainian man Wednesday on suspicion of gunning down a former Russian submarine commander, Capt. Second Rank Stanislav Rzhitsky, earlier this week within the southern metropolis of Krasnodar, the place he had been serving because the deputy director of town’s mobilization workplace.
Russian news retailers reported that Captain Rzhitsky, who posted his working routes publicly on the train service Strava, was shot to loss of life whereas jogging in a Krasnodar park.
On Tuesday, the day after the physique was discovered, Ukrainian army intelligence stated on its official Telegram account that Captain Rzhitsky had commanded a submarine that was concerned in missile assaults on Ukraine. Friends and kin, nevertheless, instructed Russian news retailers that he had left active-duty army service earlier than the February 2022 invasion.
The state news company RIA Novosti, citing an nameless supply in Russian regulation enforcement, reported that the person arrested Wednesday had admitted underneath questioning to being recruited by Ukrainian intelligence to hold out the killing.
Captain Rzhitsky’s title had been entered within the on-line database Myrotvorets, which posts pictures, social media accounts and phone numbers of individuals thought-about to have dedicated crimes towards Ukraine.
A purple stamp was added over his {photograph} on the database studying, “Liquidated.”
July 12, 2023
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Because of an enhancing error, an earlier model of this text misstated the rank of a former Russian submarine commander, Stanislav Rzhitsky, who was gunned down this week. He was a captain second rank within the Russian navy, not a lieutenant normal.
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Source: www.nytimes.com