SSU MG: Russian Military Elite Is Nervous

Prigozhin came useful.

Two generals died in one day in Russia. One was the former commander of the occupying forces in Ukraine, the second was the former curator of Putin's palace erection. There are also recent conspiracy theories that the deaths were not accidental.

Could the theories be true? Journalists of Charter97.org asked the former deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), reserve Major General Viktor Yagun, about this.

– In general, I am very skeptical about any conspiracy theories like Putin has cancer and will die tomorrow. He is in power for 20 years and is not going to die. Their situation is really difficult in the sense that a lot of people are nervous. They are bearing great responsibility and they understand that life will no longer be the same as it was before February 24 of last year. The future is not clear, so they can not stand it psychologically. I also belong to a social group of men after 50 with a lot of problems. Therefore, I am not even surprised that at the age of 57 the general passed away, it's possible. Therefore, I believe that there were natural causes.

There are suspicions not about this case but regarding the deaths of the heads of the Main Department of the General Staff (the former GRU - military intelligence) for example. It's really interesting - they are dying or something like that happens in a short time after they take their positions. This is really suspicious, but everything else - we have what we have.

– Even if their deaths are accidental, it coincides with the purge among the Russian generals after Prigozhin's rebellion. General Surovikin is still under arrest. How do such events affect the Russian military elite?

– They are definitely nervous about that, for sure. What happened to the commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army, Ivan Popov, is clear that there is nothing good. The person seems to be trying to tell the truth, to change something for the better, but it turns out that he also became guilty. That is, it’s really not very pleasant when you are featured in personnel promotion and suddenly find yourself in a situation where no one listens to you, no one needs you, and in general, you are just a pawn trapped in a game. Therefore, a very tense situation is developing, especially considering that more than ten generals have died during the war in Ukraine (almost a year and a half). I don’t even count the colonels who passed away. This is also not very pleasant for everyone. What kind of war is this when the generals die? I don’t remember anything like this, a single case maybe.

The difference between our army and the Russian one is as follows: we have a person who is at the very bottom who, let's say, can make personal decisions and, if not argue, then at least provides his reasons to the higher command. For sure, no one will disagree if it is really beneficial. It doesn’t work like that in Russia, any order goes through all levels right down to the very bottom there, almost from Moscow. And while some lieutenant reports there, until some decision is made, a day passes, if not more. If a person shows any initiative, the one will immediately be averted. Any purge in the Russian army is quite simple in the sense that places will finally be vacated and colonels will become generals. That's their purge.

– Will Russian generals remain silent while they are being arrested or even killed? Is there in your opinion the possibility of rebellion or at least opposition?

– No opposition is possible there. They are a specially bred lifeform unable to protest. About the story with Prigozhin. I do not believe that this was a protest. This was an artificially created situation in order to figure out the wrong generals, remove the dissatisfied, put everything in its place and continue to control the situation. They used Prigozhin. He came useful.