- Russian military leaders are at each other's throats amid continued losses in the Ukraine war.
- Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has been accused of treason by Russian general who claims he was fired for raising concerns.
Ukrainian forces are on offense and attempting to shatter Russian lines. But at this critical juncture in the war and while Russia's army continues facing losses, Russian military leaders appear to have more pressing targets in mind: each other.
As Russian officials struggle with the fallout of a rebellion and the challenges of a Ukrainian counteroffensive, one military general is now accusing the defense ministry's top boss of treason after he was fired for raising concerns about conditions on the front lines. And another top general with connections to the Wagner mercenary group has reportedly been detained as infighting continues.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has been in the hot seat for months, but the most serious threat to his reign came from Wagner, a paramilitary force which staged a failed rebellion against Shoigu and other top military leaders last month. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a one-time Putin ally and the head of Wagner, singled Shoigu out as being primarily responsible for Russia's problems on the battlefield.
Prigozhin often criticized Shoigu, as well as top general Valery Gerasimov, for a lack of supplies and ammunition that he believed was hindering Russia's efforts to gain ground in Ukraine and getting Wagner fighters killed in the battle for Bakhmut.
But even after Prigozhin all but disappeared following the Wagner revolt, concerns about Russia's military leadership persist.
Ivan Popov, a senior Russian general, has accused Shoigu of acting "treacherously" in a voice message posted to Telegram Wednesday night. Popov claimed he was removed from his post after flagging issues that Russian forces were facing on the front lines in Ukraine.
Politico reported that the Russian lawmaker Andrey Gurulyov, a Russian parliamentary member, posted the voice note to Telegram. Popov said in the message that he was dismissed after raising questions about "the lack of counter-battery combat, the absence of artillery reconnaissance stations, and the mass deaths and injuries of our brothers from enemy artillery."
Popov, who served as the commander of Russia's 58th Combined Arms Army, was heavily involved in Russia's operations in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, where Ukraine's counteroffensive is currently underway. He said in the voice note that "I had no right to lie, therefore I outlined all the problematic issues that exist today in the army in terms of combat work and support."
The former commander added, without specifying who he was referring to, that a top military leader "signed the order and got rid of me." Popov went on to say that Ukrainian forces "could not break through our army from the front," but that "our senior commander hit us from the rear, treacherously and vilely decapitating the army at the most difficult and tense moment."
Shoigu isn't the only high-ranking military official whose fate could be in question.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Sergei Surovikin, the head of Russia's aerospace forces, has been detained by the FSB along with several other senior military officials. The news comes after a top Russian lawmaker told a reporter that Surovikin was "taking a rest."
"He is unavailable right now," Andrei Kartapolov said, according to a video posted to Telegram on Wednesday.
Surovikin, who worked with Prigozhin during Russia's military intervention in Syria and served as a liaison between Wagner and the Russian military during the war in Ukraine, was reportedly aware of the Wagner boss' plan to stage a mutiny against top Russian officials.
Surovikin was tapped to be the overall commander of Russia's forces in Ukraine last October, but he was abruptly replaced three months later by Gerasimov, chief of the general staff. According to The New York Times, Surovikin shared Prigozhin's discontent with both Shoigu and Gerasimov.
Gerasimov, for his part, was also not seen publicly until Monday, more than two weeks after Wagner's mutiny. The Times reported that Russian officials released footage showing Gerasimov getting an update from Surovikin's Russian Aerospace Forces. Surovikin, however, was not in the video. His deputy, Col. Gen. Viktor Afzalov, delivered the update.