Amid the command chaos it is clear that only one man is ever really in charge: Vladimir Putin
, the chief of the general staff. Mr Prigozhin believes that they are deliberately limiting his room for manoeuvre. It was a remarkable declaration of dissent in a campaign already synonymous with chaos and disunity among its commanders.
Russia went to war in Ukraine in February 2022 without an overall operation commander of its armed forces. In the 15 months since then, Russia has rotated through at least four commanding generals . First came Alexander Dvornikov, who was replaced in late May 2022 by Gennady Zhidko, who served for barely four months. Sergei Surovikin then took over in October, following Ukraine’s unexpected counter-offensive success in the regions of Kharkiv and Kherson. He was replaced by the current top general, Valery Gerasimov, in January—a remarkable reshuffle given Mr Surovikin’s perceived competence and Mr Gerasimov’s centrality to the doomed effort to take Kyiv.
A second phase began last autumn. Mr Putin tried to reassert traditional military hierarchies following Ukraine’s successful counter-offensives. Mr Prigozhin stopped recruiting from prisons and Mr Surovikin was confirmed as the, a move that was interpreted as Russia trying to improve communication between its units and seeking a figurehead for disaffected troops.
Mr Putin’s tinkering amid obvious infighting continues. Some lower-level generals have been replaced as part of the latest changes, which came in April. General Mikhail Teplinsky, who was rumoured to have been dismissed following a personal conflict with Mr Gerasimov, was brought back to an important role, as head of Russia’s VDV Airborne forces. There are reports that he had been dismissed following a personal conflict with General Gerasimov.
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