Ukraine war: Why Vladimir Putin fears his star generals

Russian state media are ordered not to focus on the country’s generals over fears their success in Ukraine could make them into a Putin rivals.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is wary of the popularity of his generals. Picture: AFP.

Russian state media have been ordered not to focus on the identities of the country’s generals over fears that battlefield success in Ukraine could make them into a rival to President Putin.

Although pro-Kremlin media often praises officers and soldiers, it prefers to gloss over the accomplishments of commanders.

A source close to the Kremlin told Meduza, an opposition website: “If there were a general who often appeared in the news, he would inevitably become popular. He would get credit for victory. Who knows what that popularity could turn into among supporters of the war?”

Hardliners in Russia are increasingly angry at Putin over his refusal to order a nationwide mobilisation or launch missile strikes on key government buildings in Kyiv.

Alexander Lebed (seen here in 1996) was tipped as a successor to Boris Yeltsin before Putin’s rise.

Another source said Putin was wary of the emergence of a figure such as General Lebed, who gained popularity for ending the First Chechen War, as well as helping to foil a KGB plot to depose Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991. Lebed was tipped as a successor to President Yeltsin before Putin’s swift rise.

Putin, who reignited the conflict in Chechnya after coming to power, later said Lebed’s peace deal was a betrayal of Russia’s interests. The general died in a helicopter crash in Siberia in 2002. An ally said the helicopter may have been sabotaged by the general’s enemies. Putin “clearly remembers the 1990s” and he doesn’t want there to be “another General Lebed”, a source said.

The report came as about 150 Russian soldiers from a poor area in eastern Siberia deserted in the latest sign of discontent among Putin’s troops. They reached Buryatia, 3,500 miles east of Moscow, at the weekend, Alexandra Garmazhapova, an opposition group activist, said. “You made the right choice: you saved your lives and the lives of others!” she wrote. “Don’t fight for Putin’s ambitions. While you die, he eats well, sleeps well and builds himself another palace.”

The Times