The Moscow Times writes about internal war in Russia: FSB begins purge of military elites, blame is being thrown for the failure of the invasion of Ukraine

The recent arrests of five senior Russian military officers are likely to be just the first of dozens of military figures to be jailed in a sweeping purge by the security services, Russian government officials and sources close to the Kremlin and the ministry told The Moscow Times. of Defense.

The newspaper writes that Russia’s FSB (Federal Security Service) is trying to stamp out military corruption by going after high-ranking generals in the hope of blaming them for the failed 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

But the arrests risk throwing the military into turmoil at a time when Moscow is seeking to take advantage of Kyiv’s weapons shortages and push further into Ukrainian territory.

All of The Moscow Times’ sources requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter involving the military and the FSB.

There is a rough cleaning. The FSB is cleaning up [former Defense Minister Sergei] Shoigu’s team. It is to be expected. This type of operation can only be carried out with approval at the top [of the country’s leadership],” a Kremlin source told The Moscow Times.

The purge appears to be the culmination of wartime infighting and competition for resources between the security services and the Ministry of Defense – and marks a victory for the FSB, the successor to the Soviet KGB, in favor of the former KGB agent of President Vladimir Putin.

“There is still a long way to go before the purges are completed. More arrests await us,” he added.

In the two weeks since the sudden dismissal of defense chief Shoigu, four high-ranking officers have been arrested on charges ranging from bribery to abuse of power, the latest of which came late Thursday night.

As these arrests mount, they could expand into the “biggest purge” in modern Russian history, a serving Russian government official told The Moscow Times.

“I think that by the end of the year, dozens, maybe hundreds of people of various ranks will be arrested in all units of the Ministry of Defense,” said the Russian government official.

The Kremlin was quick to assert that the arrests were nothing more than the result of ongoing work to root out corruption at every level of government.

“This is continuous and consistent work to fight corruption, not a campaign,” Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Thursday.

But although independent media, the opposition and international observers have been reporting on the army’s rampant corruption for years, the arrests of generals began only after it became clear that Shoigu would lose his job.

This newspaper writes that the security services are “triumphant” in the confrontation between the two main wartime security agencies – the army and the FSB.

“There should be only one party to blame for the failure of the invasion,” said one source.

“Either the special services, which were engaged in intelligence and analytical preparations for the war and promised Putin a triumphant operation and a quick victory, but failed,” he said, “or the ‘second world army’ under Shoigu, which was supposed to ensure Putin’s victory – but turned out to be a paper tiger and failed miserably.”

Asked whether the purges could hamper the war effort by throwing the military leadership into disarray at a time when Russia is looking to take advantage of Kyiv’s ammunition shortages, the source said: “Do you really think any of them [the FSB] at this moment are they worried about the success of the special operation?”.