Strategic Affairs
Russian ground force chief dismissed amid Kremlin leadership turmoil
More than a dozen senior military and defense officials have been charged with corruption or abuse of power.
![Gen. Oleg Salyukov, then-commander-in-chief of the Russian ground forces, is pictured March 15, 2017. Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 15 sacked Salyukov, the latest removal of a high-profile figure from Russia's military establishment amid its offensive on Ukraine. [Roberto Schmidt/AFP]](/gc7/images/2025/05/20/50478-rus_gen-370_237.webp)
By Global Watch and AFP |
MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin's firing of Gen. Oleg Salyukov, the long-serving chief of Russia's ground forces, is the latest indication of turmoil within the Russian military leadership amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Salyukov's dismissal was announced May 15 via a Kremlin decree, less than a week after he reviewed Russia's annual Victory Day parade in Red Square alongside newly appointed Defense Minister Andrei Belousov.
His abrupt removal highlights the growing instability at the top of the Russian military hierarchy.
Salyukov had held the position since 2014, playing a central role in Moscow's campaigns in Syria and later Ukraine -- a conflict now dragging into its fourth year with no clear path to victory.
![Russia's President Vladimir Putin greets military commanders after the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in central Moscow on May 9. Russia was celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. [Gavriil Grigorov/AFP]](/gc7/images/2025/05/20/50480-put_soldiers-370_237.webp)
He will reportedly become a deputy to Sergei Shoigu, a former defense minister who was himself sidelined in 2024 and reassigned as secretary of the Security Council -- a move widely interpreted as a demotion.
Col. Gen. Andrey Mordvichev will replace Salyukov, the Kyiv Independent news site reported May 16, citing Russian state-controlled media. As a commander of the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army of Russia's Southern Military District, Mordvichev led the assault on Mariupol in 2022, it added.
A broader purge?
The dismissal of Salyukov is only the latest in a series of high-profile firings and arrests that have swept through the Russian defense establishment over the past two years.
More than a dozen senior military and defense officials have been charged with corruption or abuse of power since last year, including Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov and several regional commanders.
While the Kremlin insists these moves are not part of a broader purge, the pattern strongly suggests otherwise.
Among those that Putin has fired or replaced include at least a dozen generals and senior military officers:
- Gen. Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed "General Armageddon," removed as aerospace force commander
- Adm. Igor Osipov, dismissed after the sinking of the cruiser Moskva
- Gen. Dmitry Bulgakov, former deputy defense minister, fired over logistics failures
- Gen. Ivan Popov, dismissed after complaining about frontline problems in Ukraine and sentenced to five years in prison in April
Leadership chaos
Many of the fired officials face charges of corruption and embezzlement of funds from major defense projects.
These leadership changes at the highest levels of Russia's military establishment have fueled speculation about deep dissatisfaction within the Kremlin over the conduct of the war.
The leadership turnover also points to possible infighting within Russia's defense establishment as various factions compete for influence and resources.
These frequent leadership shakeups reflect the Kremlin's search for scapegoats as the war in Ukraine continues to drag on far longer than initially anticipated, analysts suggest.
Russia, which allegedly planned to take Ukraine -- a country with a much smaller military -- in three days, has been stuck in a bloody and grinding three-year conflict that has left thousands dead.