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A Russian basic has mentioned he was dismissed for difficult the military’s high brass over their dealing with of the invasion of Ukraine and accused them of betraying the troops amid Kyiv’s counteroffensive.

The unusually public criticism is an indication that defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, commander of Russia’s invasion pressure, stay the goal of anger amongst components of the navy institution after the Wagner group launched a failed mutiny to take away them final month.

In an audio recording posted by a Russian distinguished lawmaker on the social media app Telegram on Wednesday, Ivan Popov, the previous commander of Russia’s 58th military, mentioned the military’s senior leaders had sacked him after he gave a dire evaluation of the state of affairs on the entrance.

Popov’s four-minute message to his troops suggests tensions stay excessive over Vladimir Putin’s disastrous invasion, even after the Russian president reached an eleventh-hour deal to finish Wagner’s mutiny and saved Shoigu and Gerasimov of their posts.

The overall mentioned he had requested military leaders to rotate frontline items, which he mentioned had been sustaining heavy losses due to an absence of counter-artillery programs and artillery reconnaissance.

Popov mentioned unnamed “senior bosses” had “evidently sensed some kind of lethal hazard in me” and sacked him.

“As many regimental commanders mentioned at the moment, Ukraine’s armed forces couldn’t break by our entrance strains, however our senior boss hit us from the rear, treacherously beheading the military on the most troublesome and tense second,” Popov added.

It was not instantly clear whether or not Popov was referring to his personal dismissal or the destiny of different senior Russian commanders who’re believed to have harboured comparable grudges in opposition to Shoigu and Gerasimov for months, with some reportedly shedding their jobs for questioning the military’s ways.

The MP who posted the recording, Andrei Gurulyov, is himself a former commander of the 58th military who has mentioned he stays near Russia’s armed forces and publicly confirmed the loss of life of a lieutenant basic earlier this week.

Andrei Turchak, secretary of Putin’s United Russia celebration, mentioned Popov’s message had been posted in personal chats for males of the 58th military and never supposed for publication.

“Let the truth that the ‘lawmaker’ Gurulyov acquired it one way or the other and turned it right into a political present be on his conscience,” Turchak wrote on Telegram. “Ivan’s conscience is evident. The Motherland could be happy with commanders like him.”

Kartapolov mentioned in an audio message that Popov’s message had been “heard and seen, and the individuals who have to do it should take measures”.

Earlier than Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin’s spat with the military span uncontrolled within the spring, the warlord mentioned a number of distinguished generals sympathised with the paramilitaries and publicly thanked them for supplying the group.

Essentially the most senior of them, deputy invasion commander Sergei Surovikin, was detained final month within the wake of Prigozhin’s mutiny and has not been seen since. One other senior lawmaker, Andrei Kartapolov, mentioned on Wednesday that Surovikin was “resting” and “not accessible proper now,” with out elaborating.

Gray Zone, a channel on Telegram affiliated with Wagner, was the primary to report on Popov’s dismissal earlier than Gurulyov posted the audio recording.

It mentioned Gerasimov had accused Popov of “disinformation and panic-spreading” and sacked him after the final threatened to make efforts to “get by to the president”.

The Kremlin and Russia’s defence ministry haven’t commented on Popov’s obvious dismissal.