Russia: Sergei Shoigu v.Viktor Zolotov: Ivanov arrested
2 May, 2024
Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov is charged with taking bribes of more than 1 million rubles (€10,000) — a “laughable” accusation in light of the gigantic amounts passing through his hands. Ivanov will spend the next two months in pretrial detention in Moscow’s high-security Lefortovo prison. It is safe to say something has changed to make Ivanov, a well-connected insider who in normal times would have been considered untouchable, a target.
[April 26 2024 ]
Deputy defense minister Timur Ivanov was arrested immediately after a meeting with Defense Ministry colleagues—including Ivanov’s protector, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu — on April 23 and charged with taking bribes. Notable is the distinct lack of regard for the opinion of the president, who is clearly favorably disposed to the defense minister right now. Ivanov is a prominent representative of an influential clan. That clan includes Shoigu himself; Gennady Timchenko, a businessman close to Putin; Federation Council deputy speaker Yury Vorobyov and his son, Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov; Shoigu’s nemesis is considered to be Viktor Zolotov, the head of Russia’s National Guard (Rosgvardiya).
[February 21 2024 Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov ]
The Russian Ministry of Defense Telegram channel posted video on Wednesday that purported to show Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov visiting troops in Ukraine and distributing medals for “the liberation of Avdiivka.”
The news that Gerasimov has resurfaced should finally put the conjecture that he had been killed by a Jan. 8 missile strike on a Russian command post in occupied Crimea to bed.
[January 6 2024 ]
The head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, has not yet confirmed that Gerasimov had been killed following AFU strikes on military facilities in Russia-occupied Crimea, amid rumors of Gerasimov’s passing.
[January 5 2024 ]
“media information about the command post in Crimea being hit was true but that the death of the head of the General Staff is 99 percent fake.”
Rumors are circulating that Russia’s top general, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, was killed in an attack on annexed Crimea by Ukrainian forces on Thursday. There is no concrete evidence to suggest that Gerasimov has been killed, nor is there evidence that Gerasimov was in Crimea at the time of the attack.
[July 10 2023 ]
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia’s top general, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, was shown ordering subordinates to destroy Ukrainian missile sites in a video released on Monday, his first appearance in public since a failed June 24 mercenary mutiny.
The footage indicates that President Vladimir Putin has for now kept his two most powerful military men, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gerasimov, in their posts despite demands from mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin to sack them
[July 9 2023 Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinskiy in, General Valery Gerasimov not out ]
General Valery Gerasimov, 67, has not been ousted as conflict commander less than six months after he was appointed. He has been replaced by Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinskiy, according to Russian media.
The move by Putin has not officially been confirmed –
Hue and Cri 