Instead of being on the front lines, some Russian generals are now in prison. What's going on? The powerful Vladimir Putin is securing his position, says Wladimir Kaminer.
By removing the unpopular Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the Russian president has taken his long-time friend out of the firing line. After all, this man was Putin's personal leisure organizer for decades. Putin has stuck with Shoigu through thick and thin, slept in a tent with him in the taiga, they went bear hunting, rode half-naked horses, caught big fish and kissed a tiger on the mouth.
Putin would have preferred to keep Shoigu as minister. But during a war, private and professional life must be kept separate. The Ministry of Defense had become too powerful and had to slim down. After the deposed Minister of Defense was brought to safety on the Security Council, the Russian secret service began a large-scale purge of the generals.
Vladimir Kaminer is a writer and columnist. He was born in Moscow in 1967 and has lived in Germany for more than 30 years. His best known works include “Russian disco“. His current book “Instructions for use for Neighbors” (with Martin Hyun) was released in March 2024.
Five high-ranking generals were arrested within a week, and not just the so-called Arbat generals, office stallions who are traditionally suspected of being passionately corrupt. The deputy chief of the General Staff was taken away, as well as the right-hand man of the former defense minister, the head of the Defense Ministry's personnel department and two well-known army generals.
General Popov of the 58th Army, nicknamed “Spartacus”, allegedly very popular among soldiers, was responsible for repelling the Ukrainian counterattack last year. He allowed himself to criticize superiors, publicly complained about the “stubborns in the General Staff” and called his soldiers “my gladiators”.
The second general arrested, however, was hated by soldiers and was considered a “butcher”. Both generals are now accused of corruption and abuse of office, as well as theft of army property. The “Spartacus” is said to have sold armored hedgehogs and some unspecified “metal constructions”. These “constructions” are said to be very popular beyond the front and are used in courtyards and gardens.
A unit of the FSB secret service worked tirelessly to secure evidence. State security is not actually responsible for such accusations; the army has its own control bodies and security services for that. The army has a huge apparatus for internal investigations of such crimes; it has always been a state within a state, with all the structures that a civil society has. The army has its own residential towns, its own businesses and factories, its own hospitals and theaters, its own prisons and holiday camps; it bakes its own bread and sews its own uniforms.
The military is awash with money. Russia's Ministry of Defense has the largest budget, and cannot be compared with other ministries. According to the official state budget, eight percent of the gross domestic product is spent on the military, but unofficially the amount is said to be at least twice as high. Many observers are wondering why the army is being given such a blow from behind in the middle of a war and in an unstable situation.
A widespread opinion is that Putin was misinformed about the course of the war by the security services. He believes that he has already won the war. Western support for Ukraine continues to crumble, the democracies of Europe are constantly falling for his nuke scheme and are going under, the well-motivated soldiers are running from village to village: in short, everything indicates that Putin is about to end his political career in a great way. And that as the winner he will then be able to dictate a new world order in favor of his regime.
The only problem is the victorious generals who think they can win the war despite Putin. Putin had already been informed about the disloyalty of some army generals, he was worried and decided to punish the generals who had lost all fear before the end of the war. The Russian state security and the army had always intrigued against each other, now the secret service had been given the green light for the purges and went after the generals.
