Interesting that so far Putin has not resorted to the Stalin extreme of rapidly exeucuting swarms of his military elite. I wonder if all this firing and arresting might be occurring to allow Putin to withdraw from Ukraine and say, “it is all these General’s fault that we have not settled this Special action in Ukraine.” Thereby making many of his oligarchs happy, and With so many troops no longer dying, the Russian people who most support Putin in this warfare may be molified that, after all, it was just the fault of those crooked and incompetent military, not our beloved Putin. Maybe he could now give them butter and toilets instead of guns? I wonder how the Iran situation is now affecting Putin’s thinking?
Here is a Russian blogger (He only talks about corruption, but is that the real reason?):
The Kremlin is surprised by such an active general purge of Belousov. According to rumors, Shoigu may also become his “victim”. Over the past month, four generals have already been arrested in Russia. And this is not the limit.
There have never been such large-scale purges at the top of the Ministry of Defense. They began even before the departure of Sergei Shoigu, but became more active with the arrival of the new Minister of Defense. The activities of Andrei Belousov have already divided the Kremlin. Some believe that he is bringing order. Others say that his waving of a saber could end in the punishment of the innocent, and in general could have an unpleasant ending for Belousov himself. “He didn't have time to enter the ministry, and the generals were already being taken away from there. One by one. This, let's say, upsets a certain balance. And it definitely strengthens the influence of the FSB,” commented a source in the Kremlin's political bloc.
The Ministry of Defense does not hide its surprise at the scale with which Belousov launched his activities. “It turns out that everyone around was stealing, but no one knew. Neither Shoigu, nor the president. Is this how it turns out? Otherwise, why did Shoigu go for a promotion, albeit a formal one? They promised not to touch him, but the rest? Now, it turns out, anyone can find themselves between “There were rumors that at least five generals received an offer to hand over the schemes that were used to make money under Shoigu,” said an interlocutor once close to Shoigu.
Interlocutors at the FSB do not hide their interest in the schemes in the Ministry of Defense, but clarify that no one received any immunity. “If we have to, we'll get to Shoigu,” a high-ranking FSB officer told us.