Russian general says he was fired after criticizing military leadership, accuses Shoigu of treason

A Russian general accused senior military leadership of acting “treasonously” and claimed he was fired for reporting the difficult frontline conditions faced by Moscow’s forces in Ukraine, amid rising tensions between warring factions in the military leadership.

Major General Ivan Popov, the commander of Russia’s 58th Combined Arms Army that has been deployed to the frontline in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, said in a voice message addressing his former subordinates that he had been relieved of his duties after complaining to the military leadership about a lack of supplies and casualties.

“I am awaiting my fate,” Popov said in the voice memo, which was posted on Telegram overnight by lawmaker Andrey Gurulyov, who is a member of President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.

“A difficult situation emerged with senior leadership, where I had to either shut up and make peace with that, and tell them what they wanted to hear, or say things as they are,” Popov said in the memo. “I, in your name, in the name of our dead friends, our fighters, couldn’t lie. So, I identified all the problems which exist.”

Popov said he had conveyed concerns “to the highest level” of the military leadership about “the lack of counter-battery combat, the absence of artillery reconnaissance stations and the mass deaths and injuries of our brothers in enemy artillery fire.”

“The senior bosses apparently sensed some kind of danger from me and quickly in one day concocted an order from the defense minister and got rid of me,” Popov added.

Without explicitly naming Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Popov takes direct aim at him, saying: “The armed forces of Ukraine couldn’t break through our army on the frontline; we were hit from behind by our highest boss, treacherously and vilely.”

POLITICO was not able to independently confirm that the voice message came from Popov, nor when it was recorded.

The development is the latest sign of ructions in Russia’s military establishments, as reverberations continue from Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s attempted mutiny in June.

Prigozhin claimed his mutiny aimed to secure the resignations of Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, whom he accused of botching Russia’s attempted invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, alleged Prigozhin ally General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of Moscow’s forces in Ukraine, hasn’t been seen in weeks, amid reports he had advance notice of the mutiny. On Wednesday, a Russian lawmaker claimed the general is “resting.”