“They” are high-ranking military officers and officials. And “over there” is, of course, in Russia.

Not that they’re dropping dead . . . just being fired, reassigned, or arrested on various charges such as corruption or incompetence. It is Putin’s Purge . . . although he calls it a “cleansing.” But that’s just semantics.

And this is his latest victim: Former Russian Deputy Defense Minister, General Pavel Popov:

General Popov has been charged with fraud. On a military officer’s salary, he seems to have acquired “numerous properties in prestigious areas of Moscow, the Moscow and Krasnodar region [sic] worth more than 500 million rubles . . .” [Anton Gerashchenko, x.com, August 29, 2024.]

That’s approximately US $5,463,000.

Popov probably knew his days were numbered when he was relieved of his post as Deputy Defense Minister in June. He is suspected of “illegal enrichment via fraudulent activities linked to his supervision of the operations of the Defense Ministry’s Patriot Park near Moscow in 2021-24.” [RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, August 29, 2024.]

Also arrested earlier this month in connection with the same project, and charged with embezzlement, were Patriot Park Director Vyacheslav Akhmedov, and Major General Vladimir Shesterov, Deputy Chief of the Defense Ministry’s Department for Innovative Development.

And Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov — said to have supervised the construction and development of Patriot Park — was arrested in April on bribe-taking charges. Shortly thereafter, two civilian businessmen — Sergei Borodin and Aleksandr Fomin — were also arrested in connection with the same case. [Id.] That’s a lot of people allegedly getting rich from just one project. It makes one wonder what the original budget must have been.

But wait . . . there’s more.

In May of this year, Vladimir Putin unexpectedly dismissed General Sergei Shoigu as Minister of Defense, moving him to the non-military position of Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation (a seat formerly occupied by one Nikolai Patrushev, who now seems to have faded into obscurity, and is currently identified as an “aide” to President Putin).

In this game of musical chairs, Shoigu’s position as Minister of Defense was filled by a non-military numbers-cruncher, former First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov. (Since Belousov’s appointment, Russia has been invaded and occupied — for the first time since World War II — and by Ukraine! But that’s probably just coincidence, right?)

May turned out to be a busy month for Putin’s Purges:

– In that month, the chief of the Defense Ministry’s Main Human Resources Department, Lieutenant General Yury Kuznetsov, was arrested, also on charges of bribe-taking.

– On May 21st, Major General Ivan Popov (no relation to Pavel Popov), former commander of Russias 58th Army, was arrested on charges of fraud; he was later transferred to house arrest.

– On May 22nd, Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin, was sent to pretrial detention on charges of bribery.

– And also in May, Vladimir Verteletsky, a top official in the Defense Ministry’s Department for Handling Armament Orders, was arrested on a charge of abuse of power.

– Finally were the announcements of the sudden deaths of Deputy Defense Minister Ivanov’s subordinate, Magomed Khandayev in June; and businessman Igor Kotelnikov in July, who was being held in detention on charges of bribing senior Defense Ministry officials. [RFE/RL, id.]

Did I say they weren’t dropping dead? My mistake.

*. *. *

To give credit where it’s due, I will say this: When Putin cleans house, he really cleans house! But what I’d like to know is . . .

Who’s running the Defense Ministry?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/31/24