Putin to Fire General Running Russia's Armored Vehicle Production: Report

Another top defense official in Russia will be removed from his post in part of an ongoing shake-up of the country's military establishment in Vladimir Putin's new presidential term.

Since his reelection in a tightly controlled ballot in May, Putin has overseen a reshuffle of the defense ministry. It started with him replacing his close ally Sergei Shoigu as defense minister with Andrei Belousov, an economist.

Also, some figures close to Shoigu, now Russia's Security Council secretary, have been arrest on corruption charges; it has been viewed as a crackdown on the leadership of the defense ministry he used to head.

The Telegram channel Children of the Arbat, which has previously predicted defense ministry command changes, posted on Monday that Lieutenant General Alexander Shestakov will soon be replaced.

At the start of his full-scale invasion in Ukraine in February 2022, Putin appointed Shestakov as head of the defense ministry's main armored directorate, which is in charge of planning and deploying Russia's armored vehicles.

The channel said that Shestakov could not get along with his immediate superior, Lieutenant General Andrei Bulyga, who in March was appointed Putin's deputy defense minister in charge of army logistics. "Bulyga does not tolerate the phlegmatic nature of his subordinate and considers him a temporary worker, which, given Bulyga's own job, is at least funny."

The post said that Shestakov was stoic about his fate and had informed his inner circle about his impending departure, and so would not be able to deal with operational issues.

The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said on Monday that it could not confirm the potential command change. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

The speculation about Shestakov did not include the corruption accusations that other defense ministry officials close to Shoigu and Putin's war effort have faced.

On Monday, Vyacheslav Akhmedov and Major General Vladimir Shesterov were arrested on suspicion of fraud linked to the theft of government funds for Patriot Park—Shoigu's personal project, which showcases Russia's military prowess.

In April, Timur Ivanov, the former deputy defense minister, was arrested on accusations of treason bribe-taking. Last week, Russian media reported that Vladimir Pavlov, who headed the defense ministry's procurement arm, JSC Voentorg, had been arrested and accused of fraud.

Meanwhile, the Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, which claims to have links to Russia's security services, said last week that longtime Shoigu ally Pavel Baryshev had been dismissed as deputy minister of natural resources in a move that signaled "the loss of influence of the Shoigu clan."

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