Putin allegedly arrests his own military chief

By Chris King • 17 March 2022 • 19:11

Putin allegedly orders arrest of top military chief. image: twitter

Vladimir Putin allegedly ordered the arrest of military chief, General Roman Gavrilov, by the FSB security service

As a conflict that Vladimir Putin reportedly believed would last only one week continues on its 22nd day, the Russian leader has allegedly ordered the FSB security forces to arrest one of his military chiefs.

It is being reported today, Thursday, March 17, that General Roman Gavrilov, has been detained. He was the deputy chief of one of the first units to enter Ukraine, the Rosgvardia, spearheading the whole ‘special operation’.

No official reason has been confirmed for Gavrilov’s arrest, but a source in Moscow is rumoured to have said he had possibly been detained on a charge of “leaks of military information that led to the loss of life”.

This would be a very serious offence of course, compared to an earlier source claiming that a quote from Bellincat’s Christo Grozev said he had been detained for “wasteful squandering of fuel”.

According to #Bellingcat's Christo Grozev General Roman Gavrilov, the deputy chief of #Russia's national guard, has been detained over a suspicion in leaks of military information that led to loss of many Russian guardsmen’s lives in #Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/sn4tpJksTB — U24 (@u24_news) March 17, 2022

The Rosgvardia is Putin’s Russian Federal National Guard Troops Service unit, which, according to the Russian news outlet, Pravda, has racked up a huge number of casualties so far in Ukraine.

Russia has failed to confirm any exact figures, but according to the Kremlin, a low total of 498 Russian soldiers have been killed since the start of the conflict. US officials claim this number is nearer to 7,000, while officials in Ukraine put the figure at an estimated 13,500 dead Russian troops.

Last week, according to reports in The Times, Putin arrested two of his top military intelligence officers. Head of the foreign intelligence branch of the FSB, Sergey Beseda, was detained, along with his deputy, Anatoly Bolyukh, and both men apparently placed under house arrest in Moscow.

Kremlin officials allegedly claimed the two had been arrested for financial misconduct, but it is widely believed that the Russian President has made them scapegoats for the failure of his invasion so far. He has apparently blamed their intelligence reports prior to the incursion into Ukraine, for not revealing how strong the Ukrainian defence would be, as reported by dailystar.co.uk.

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