By Mike Eckel
(RFE/RL) — The guessing game in Moscow these days: Where are they?
Days after a mutiny by the mercenary warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, who sent thousands of his fighters racing toward the Russian capital, a growing number of prominent commanders and public figures have disappeared from public view.
Rattled by the biggest challenge he has faced in his 23 years as the country’s preeminent political figure, President Vladimir Putin has suggested he would root out those inside and outside the military people who have allied themselves, quietly or overtly, with Prigozhin.
He may also be seeking to sideline those who let it happen or whose conduct of Russia’s war in Ukraine has made them liabilities in his eyes.
“The armed insurgency by the Wagner private military company has become a pretext for a massive purge in the ranks of the Russian armed forces,” said Rybar, а Telegram channel linked to a former Defense Ministry official.
The scope and scale of the purported purge is unclear, as is the depth and breadth of support for Prigozhin in the Defense Ministry, security agencies, and elsewhere. Some of those who have faded from view may simply be lying low — under orders or at their own initiative — in the hope the crisis will blow over.
Tatyana Stanovaya, a longtime Russian political analyst, cautioned that it is unclear whether there will be widespread dismissals and a major reshuffling of Putin’s closest advisers or other influential figures.
“What distinguishes the current situation is ..
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