A deadly plague is sweeping through the ranks of Russia’s top military commanders.
One has turned up dead just months after being sacked.
Another has vanished – after losing his rank as “General Armageddon”.
And many regard the most senior of them all to be “Patient Zero”.
One of President Vladimir Putin’s revolving door of overall commanders for the botched invasion of Ukraine, General Sergei Surovikin – also known as General Armageddon for his brutal tactics in Syria and Chechnya – hasn’t been seen since the Wagner mercenary group’s failed mutiny in June.
And Colonel General Gennady Zhidko, who led the failed push into southern Ukraine, has died “after a long illness”. He had been sacked in October after his forces sustained heavy losses in a Ukrainian counteroffensive around the southern city of Kherson.
Around 10 Russian generals were killed in the action, and another six were dismissed.
The governor of the Russian district of Khabarovsk Krai posted to the social media service Telegram that his 57-year-old friend had died this week in Moscow.
“Eternal memory to the Hero, God rest his soul,” he wrote.
Surovikin’s fate, however, remains unclear.
He was last seen in a video posted to social media calling on Wagner mercenaries to halt their advance on Moscow and give up their coup attempt. That appeal was successful.
But Russian media reports now suggest he has been placed under house arrest and stripped of his military rank.
Of Putin’s many Ukraine war commanders, Surovikin was among the most controversial – and successful.
Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin had supported his promotion. And his leadership was behind the creation of the so-called “Surovikin Line” – a defensive network of trenches and tank traps designed to halt any Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Despite his ousting, his defensive strategy has so far proved largely successful.
But Surovikin was quickly embroiled in the bitter power struggle between the man who had been Putin’s personal chef and the Kremlin’s two most senior military figures – Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff.
Unsubstantiated media reports immediately after the coup claimed he had been arrested. Suspicions were further fuelled when he failed to appear at a public July 10 meeting of Russian military officials. The official reason given was that he was “resting”.
But he still has yet to appear in public.
Then, earlier this week, a military-backed Telegram channel cited unnamed sources as stating Surovikin was “under a kind of house arrest”.
“There is no official investigation, but Surovikin spent a long time in limbo answering uncomfortable questions,” the post reads. His fate now depended on “one person (President Putin,” the post states, adding that “the longer this takes, the more this person will cool down”.
Russian MP Viktor Sobolev has also told local media that Surovikin had been removed from his role as commander of the Kremlin’s forces in Ukraine.
“If Surovikin is not found to have made serious violations, then he can be useful in the army again,” he added.
The Kremlin has not officially commented on Surovikin since the failed coup. And when asked by media, it has rejected all questions as “speculation and allegation”.
The fate of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin also hangs in the balance.
Despite being granted a “general amnesty” after leading the June revolt, Prigozhin remains a focal point for discontent with Putin’s failed invasion.
Bellingcat open-source investigator Christo Grozev has told the Financial Times that tensions between the mercenary leader and the President continue to escalate.
“Everyone knows what they do with ‘traitors’, and Putin hasn’t done that,” Grozev said.
“He wants to see him dead. But he can’t do that yet.
“In six months, Prigozhin will either be dead, or there will be a second coup. I’m agnostic between the two, but I can’t see neither of these happening.”
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @JamieSeidel