"Speculations and Gossip"
"Putin is orchestrating a purge to capitalize on the coup, which in my intelligence assessment was a false flag operation.""He is continuing to advance the narrative that he is the one and only strong leader who is able to crush all the traitors, squash the mutiny and save Mother Russia — this is in preparation for his 2024 re-election run.""He is consolidating power even further, ensuring he is only surrounded by loyalists.""General Armageddon [Sirovikin] is arrested and Gen. Gerasimov, of the holders of Putin’s three nuclear footballs is missing — a threatening situation.""Until Ukraine is crushed by Russia and Putin gets to keep Crimea and the provinces he has annexed, no one will sleep safely.""This is what Putin wants the world to know."Former U.S. defense intelligence officer Rebekah Koffler
Now that Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is in exile following
his brief, inchoate mutiny of last weekend, more sinister drama has
entered the scene in Russua. Suddenly several top Russian generals are
nowhere to be seen. These are not merely medalled generals, but the
elite of the Russian Federation's military establishment. One of the
missing, named General 'Armageddon' is known to have been a close
contact/colleague of Prigozhin's.
Reports
have surfaced, as yet unconfirmed, that General Sergei Surovikin with
his links to Prigozhin has been arrested. He is not alone. Another
general was absent from a number of events that embattled Defence
Minister Sergei Shoigu accompanied President Vladimir Putin to. The
others, who should have been there, were mysteriously absent. Which has,
of course, led to speculation some top military officers may be
suspected of having colluded with Prigozhin.
Suspicion
is enough in the opaque world of Kremlin politics to pass judgement.
Those suspected of disloyalty may now be in line for a punishing
conclusion to their elite careers in the Russian military. The mutinous
Wagner procession that marched along highways leading from Rostov-on-Don
to Moscow almost a week ago had gone unchallenged. Where was the
Russian military under the command of trusted generals? No army
battalion challenged the Wagner convoy, no air assaults on the convoy
took place.
The unchallenged march toward Moscow was an event that Vladimir Putin called treason, and a "stab in the back".
General Surovikin has not been seen since the rebellion advanced
unchallenged, at a time when he posted a video urging that the unfolding
event be stopped. And it was stopped, wasn't it, only he wasn't
involved in halting it. The Moscow Times and the Financial Times, along with a Russian military blogger reported that Surovikin, commander of the Russian air force, has been arrested.
Former head of the Ekho Moskvy,
a prominent independent radio station shuttered by authorities
following the February 2022 'special military operation' invasion of
Ukraine, claimed Surovikin and his lieutenants are known not to have
been in contact with their families for several days. Rybar,
another prominent military messaging channel operated by a former press
officer with the Defence Ministry, reported that a purge in the ranks
was underway. Authorities had examined allegations that some members of
the elite military might have supported Prigozhin.
Should
an event of the nature of a purge be underway, the military chain of
command could be destabilized, trickling down to erode troop morale in
this still-early stage of Ukraine's summer of 2023 counteroffensive.
Conceivably, Kyiv could grasp an opportunity amidst the chaos in the
Russian military chain of command to reclaim more of Ukraine's geography
from the Russian occupying invader.
Both
Surovikin and Prigozhin had been involved in Russia's military aerial
and ground action in Syria since 2015, dedicated to supporting Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad, aiding him in the reclamation of territory
following Syria's civil war. Then there is the little detail that while
Prigozhin unleashed his expletive-driven insults at Shoigu and chief of
the General Staff General Valery Gerasimov before the mutiny of last
week when he demanded their ouster, he continued to praise Surovikin.
The New York Times
had earlier reported it was thought by U.S. officials that General
Surovikin had advance knowledge of the Prigozhin-Wagner mutiny. When
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was questioned with respect to the
report, he shrugged it off as "speculations and gossip". Refusing to comment on whether Surovikin had been arrested.
Labels: General Armageddon, President Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin Revolt, Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Russian Military
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