Vladimir Putin settles his accounts with the Russian army, writes the German publication focus.de. Experts explain what his actions mean.
The Russian president fired four deputy defense ministers and even appointed his relative Anna Tsivileva to one of the vacant positions. It is a continuation of a purge that began a month ago with the removal of his close confidant, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The purge comes a year after Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenaries marched on Moscow and came close to overthrowing Putin's regime, but backed out at the last minute. In the end, it also cost him his head.
Now Prigozhin's mercenaries are under the cap of the Russian army. “Putin is in the process of increasing the capacity of the army for a long war against Ukraine and for a long military confrontation with the West,” said Mikhail Komin, a Russian expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
The army leadership is only now paying the bill, shortly after Putin, 71, was re-elected as president for another six years. Immediately after the coup attempt, only Army General Sergei Surovikin, the commander of the war against Ukraine, was fired.
According to experts, one of the main reasons for the purge is the massive corruption in the Russian army. Billions disappeared into dark sewers. Six Russian generals are already in custody. The charge is: corruption. Among those arrested were three generals from Shoigu's inner circle.
Gerhard Mangot, a professor of political science with a focus on international relations and Russia at the University of Innsbruck, is convinced that nothing will happen to Shoigu himself.
Putin is also unhappy with the conduct of the war against Ukraine. According to analysts, the purges in the Russian army are not over yet.