Rosenberg: Putin's military purge echoes Prigozhin's call to act

The recent wave of arrests targeting high-ranking military officials in Russia has sent shockwaves through the country's armed forces and raised questions about the extent of a potential purge within the military ranks. The most recent individual to be apprehended is Lt Gen Vadim Shamarin, who is facing allegations of engaging in large-scale bribery and has been remanded in pre-trial detention for a period of two months. This development follows the detention of Vladimir Verteletsky, a senior procurement official within the defence ministry, who has been formally charged with abusing his authority in the execution of a state defence order. These detentions are part of a broader trend that has seen multiple defence figures implicated in corruption scandals, including Deputy Defence Minister Timur Ivanov and Lt-Gen Yuri Kuznetsov. President Vladimir Putin's recent decision to replace Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu with technocrat economist Andrei Belousov has been widely perceived as an effort to enhance the operational efficiency of the Russian military and combat corruption. The reshuffling at the highest levels of the ministry, coupled with the high-profile arrests, cast a shadow over the military leadership responsible for directing Russia's military activities in Ukraine.