Putin 'purges three more generals' on Bloody Sunday

Putin ‘purges three more generals’ taking the total to be fired, suspended or vanished ‘up to 11’ as the Russian ruler continues to root out ‘enemies’ among his top brass

• It would mean Putin and his defence minister Sergei Shoigu sense mass mutiny
• Read more: Ukraine now has MORE tanks than Russia, data suggests 

Vladimir Putin has ‘purged’ up to three more generals as he roots out supposed enemies and betrayers among his top brass, according to Telegram reports.

If confirmed, it takes the total fired, suspended, detained or vanished up to 11.

It would also mean Putin and his defence minister Sergei Shoigu and his ally General Valery Gerasimov – Russia’s most senior soldier – sense they face a mass mutiny in the high command as they seek to fight against Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

Telegram channel Verum Regnum commented on the Bloody Sunday axings, saying: ‘Right now, the fate of the army is being decided, and afterwards the fate of the country.

‘If military officials manage to concentrate their power, trampling all the sprouts of initiative and professional honour in the troops, destroying the last heroes born [in the conflict against Ukraine], the inglorious end of the war is coming.’

Airborne Forces Commander Mikhail Teplinsky, left, pictured with Vladimir Putin during his spring 2023 visit to the currently occupied area of Luhansk region of Ukraine

Reports indicate Major-General Alexander Kornev (pictured), 46, was removed from command of the 7th Airborne Assault Division

Another military-linked channel called Two Majors reported: ‘We consider the current situation to be extremely tense, first of all, for the active troops.’

There is also seen to be a risk of at least some of the regular army turning against Putin – as Wagner did with its armed rebellion last month.

Reports indicate Major-General Alexander Kornev, 46, was removed from command of the 7th Airborne Assault Division.

READ MORE: War in Ukraine could plunge to new horrors says MARK ALMOND of the Crisis Research Institute

Unconfirmed claims also suggest that troops are seeking to save Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinskiy, 54, and have recorded a message threatening a paratroopers mutiny if he is detained.

‘We, the paratroopers, warn that we will not tolerate such actions in relation to General Teplinskiy,’ said a message.

‘In the event of the slightest threat to his life and freedom, we will stand as a wall to protect the honour and dignity of our commander.

‘We are very determined. Up to the point that we will withdraw from our positions and go to the rescue of our [commander].’

The unconfirmed message threatened mutiny by saying: ‘Paratroopers do not abandon their own kin.’

Yet it was only several weeks ago that he was made effective deputy commander of the Russian war campaign to Gerasimov.

Separate reports say Major-General Ramil Ibatullin, 46, commander of the 90th Panzer Division, and two of his deputies has been detained on the pretext of financial irregularities.

Pictured: Major-General Ramil Ibatullin, 46, commander of the 90th Panzer Division

Vladimir Putin, Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu and Major-General Nikolay Gostev left to right

Major General Vladimir Seliverstov pictured with Kremlin pundit Vladimir Solovyov

Andrey Gurulev, United Russia MP, member of State Duma’s Defence committee, reserve Lt General

Major-General Nikolay Gostev, Commander of Russia’s 4th Air Force Army

An unnamed commander of the 27th Brigade is also relieved of his responsibilities, said one report.

A day earlier it was revealed paratrooper commander Major-General Vladimir Seliverstov, 49, had been ousted, a close ally of Teplinskiy.

Seliverstov is one of Russia’s youngest and most ruthless generals who headed the 106th Airborne Division operating in the meat-grinder around Bakhmut where Ukraine is now advancing. 

Even the support of Putin’s former bodyguard Alexei Dyumin, governor of the Tula region and possible anointed son as Kremlin successor, failed to save this general, say reports

The reason for his removal is unknown but could be his ‘uncompromising nature’.

He is a commander ‘not used to being silent when defending issues regarding his [troops]’, said a Telegram channel linked to Wagner mercenary army.

Meanwhile, notorious General Sergei ‘Armageddon’ Surovikin, 56, who has now been incommunicado three weeks since the revolt led by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

He is believed to be under interrogation, and likely held in jail, for siding with Prigozhin, and awaiting Putin’s decision on his fate. Yet the witch-hunt goes wider.

Major-General Ivan Popov – who led Russia’s 58th army – vanished last week soon after he was fired.

His leaked voice message to troops revealed he blamed Putin’s high command for ‘treacherously and vilely decapitating the army at the most difficult and tense moment’.

His wife said Popov, 48, had been ‘summoned’ to an unknown place and ‘abruptly disappeared’ after his blistering critique of Putin’s war strategy was leaked, according to Telegram channel VChK-OGPU.

His ousting was publicly confirmed, but not his alleged detention.

His absence is acutely impacting on Russia’s performance at the frontline, according to critics like war analyst Igor Strelkov.

Another victim was Major-General Nikolay Gostev – commander of Russia’s 4th Air Force Army – who was removed from his post at least temporarily amid Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

Major-General Nikolay Gostev, Commander of Russia’s 4th Air Force Army

Major General Vladimir Seliverstov

Major General Vladimir Seliverstov pictured at the Victory Day parade in Red Square, Moscow, 2019. Vladimir Putin shakes Seliverstov’s hand

Vladimir Putin’s bodyguard Alexei Dyuman (marked)

Alexei Dyuman pictured alongside Putin

Major-General Nikolay Gostev, Commander of Russia’s 4th Air Force Army

He is reported to be ‘resting’ – a euphemism also used about Surovikin, the second most senior military commander in Russia.

The timing is bizarre since Gostev, 60, is in charge of protecting the Black Sea coast, including annexed Crimea and Zaporizhzhia from Ukrainian missile attacks.

Last week a British-supplied Storm Shadow missile killed a general known personally to Putin – Lieutenant-General Oleg Tsokov, 51, in Berdiansk, an area now under intense long range bombardment.

Air force commander Col-Gen Andrey Yudin, 61, is reported to be suspended after being interrogated following the 24 June Wagner armed mutiny.

The same applies to Lt-Gen Vladimir Alexseev, 62,deputy head of military intelligence.

Both Yudin and Alexseev were suspended from duty and their movements restricted, it is reported.

Earlier Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, aka the Butcher of Mariupol, was ousted in May and joined Wagner. He was the first to pay with his job. His current whereabouts are unknown amid suggestions he has been detained.

Shoigu is also gunning for a reservist Lt-Gen Andrey Gurulev – a prominent pro-war propagandist pundit – who was blamed for leaking Popov’s message, and so humiliating Shoigu and chief of the armed forces General Valery Gerasimov.

No action so far has been taken against him but it may be only a matter of time.

‘Shoigu continues to conduct ‘combat operations’ inside the Ministry of Defence,’ reported channel VChK-OGPU.

Another missing general – the eleventh suspected to have been targeted in the purge – is Shoigu’s close colleague and deputy defence minister – Colonel-General Yunus-bek Yevkurov, 59.

He was seen talking to Prigozhin on the day of the armed mutiny in Rostov-on-Don. The deputy defence minister has not been seen since early July.

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