Vladimir Putin allegedly
purged the chief of his airborne forces amid heavy losses in the war with Ukraine.
Colonel-General Andrey
Serdyukov, 60, has paid the price of devastating “mass casualties” among
paratroopers, it was alleged.
The speculation comes as
one Russian source suggested the country’s overall losses in Ukraine
are close to 50,000 – significantly higher than most other estimates.
Unconfirmed Ukrainian sources
cited by Odessa military-civilian spokesman Serhiy Bratchuk say that Putin has
axed Serdyukov and replaced him with Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinsky, 53,
current chief of staff of the Central Military District who was born in Donetsk
region.
Serdyukov was sanctioned by
Britain as having Ukrainian blood on his hands in the wake of the Bucha
horrors.
If his axing is true this “would
indicate that Serdyukov is being held responsible for the poor performance of,
and high casualties, among Russian [airborne] units, particularly in early
operations around Kyiv.
“Continued dismissals and
possible internal purges of senior Russian officers will likely further degrade
poor Russian command and control capabilities and the confidence of Russian
officers.”
There has been no indication
from Moscow that Serdyukov has been ousted.
He is a “Hero of Russia ”
– the country’s highest honour – and is seen as one of the country’s ablest
military minds.
Izvestia said he commanded the
operation to annex Crimea from Ukraine in the spring of 2014.
Russia has announced very few
of the myriad changes Putin has made among commanders during the war which
started on 24 February.
