Wednesday 5 July 2023

Is there a Putin purge going on or not?

So far there have been no reports of people falling out of top-floor windows or bodies being found in dark alleys or individuals suddenly suffering from stomach cramps. In other words, Putin's purge (assassination) squads don't seem to be out in force to eliminate the Russian president's perceived enemies who might have supported the attempted mutiny by the Wagner Group leader last month. There was talk of certain generals vanishing. Indeed one general, General Sergei Surovikin, former commander in Ukraine and allegedly in sympathy with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has still not been seen in public since the march on Moscow and may have been disappeared. But Putin is trying to put it across that he is being magnanimous and keeps on praising the Russian army for being so loyal and nice to him. So a permanent vanishing trick by Surovikin might begin to look a little suspicious in due course. The FSB, successors of the KGB and groomed the same way as their Cold War counterparts, is supposedly still investigating possible traitors. So it may be that open windows in office buildings should still be avoided. If Putin was resolved to pursue a Stalinesque purge you would have thought the evidence would have been apparent by now. It may be early days. Don't ever underestimate Putin's revenge streak which runs through his body like jam in a doughnut. It's always there buried in his heart, ready to burst out when the FSB drops the files in front of him. Surovikin may still be alive but it was reported he had been detained. So if nothing emerges about his whereabouts or his future, we can only assume the news is bad.

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