General Ivan Popov is not just anyone. Until recently, this 48-year-old soldier, hailed as a brilliant officer, commanded the Russian 58th Army, considered one of the most combative and also stationed in the occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, directly opposite the Kiev counteroffensive.
On Wednesday night, his men learned in a conveniently leaked audio message that Popov had been fired. The officer tells how he sharply drew the attention of the high command to the difficulties encountered and the heavy human losses caused, in particular, by the lack of advanced equipment, such as radars for tracking enemy artillery.
low blow
High-ranking officials saw me as a threat and quickly gave orders to get rid of me within a day, Popov claims. Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov is said to have been angered by his comments about the need to rotate his exhausted troops, which have been fighting since early June.
The way Popov’s message got through speaks volumes about the blows at the top of the political-military hierarchy. Originally reserved for a private conversation between soldiers of the 58th Army, the statement was released by retired general and former commander of the 58th Army, Andrei Gurulev, now a Duma deputy. The desire to harm Defense Minister Sergei Choïgou and Chief of Staff Guerasimov seems obvious.
The controversy immediately ignited the only space for debate about the war allowed in Russia, namely the galaxy of military bloggers, all ultra-nationalists who support the war but disagree over the way it should be waged.
Where is General Surovikin?
The Popov episode comes at a time when we still don’t know what the ultimate fate of Wagner’s chief Evguéni Prigojine, his deputies, and their supporters within the Russian army was in store after the failure of the June 24 uprising. In this regard, the disappearance of General Sergey Surovikin’s radars is intriguing.
A brutal veteran of the wars in Chechnya (1999-2009) and Syria, Zurovikin led Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine from October 2022 to January 2023 before being replaced by Gerasimov. He is considered a confidante of Prigojine, who had spared him in his aggressive videos against the Russian general staff. But since the failure of the rebellion, Sergei Surovikin has vanished into thin air. His last public appearance dates back to a video from the night of the mutiny in which he violently asked Wagner’s troops to surrender. He is wearing a uniform but no epaulettes, which some observers take as a sign that he has already been arrested.
According to the New York Times, which cites American intelligence, General Surovikin was aware of the mutiny. He denies the Kremlin and says the man is still in office.