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The commander of Russia's largest military district, General Alexander Lapin, has been fired after weeks of criticism about the handling of the Ukraine war, according to a pro-Kremlin media outlet.
Lapin, the commander of the Russian Armed Forces' Central Military District, has been removed from his post, Russian news agency RBK reported on Saturday, citing the Grozny TV channel's website.
A Russian Defense Ministry source separately told independent Russian news outlet The Moscow Times that Lapin had been dismissed. The news hasn't been officially confirmed by Russia's Defense Ministry, and his details are still listed on the government website.
Lapin has come under fire recently from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russian mercenary outfit the Wagner Group, who have blamed the general for the loss of the city of Lyman, a key supply hub in Ukraine's east.
Just days before Lapin's reported dismissal, Kadyrov sharply criticized Lapin, siding with Prigozhin in his criticism of the defense ministry.
Kadyrov mentioned Prigozhin in a post on Telegram, calling him a "dear brother" and "a born warrior." He said that "it is necessary to pay close attention to the assessment of such people, listen, draw conclusions."
"They know for sure what is right and wrong in war," Kadyrov wrote. "As [Prigozhin] correctly noted, tactical and personnel changes are needed. Now, not tomorrow."
In an earlier critique of the general, Kadyrov said, "If I had my way, I would demote Lapin to a private, deprive him of his awards and, with a machine gun in his hands, send him to the front line to wash away his shame with blood."
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a think tank, wrote this past Friday that the recent criticism of Lapin by Kadyrov is a "likely" response to Ukraine's "strike on Chechen units in northeastern Kherson Oblast." Kadyrov said 23 military members were killed and 58 more were wounded.
"Kadyrov accused Lapin of failing to communicate with Chechen leaders, claiming that he had unsuccessfully attempted to reach Lapin to discuss Ukrainian breakthroughs around Lyman," the ISW wrote. Lyman had been occupied by Russian forces before the Ukrainians recaptured it during a counteroffensive a few weeks ago.
The ISW said that Kadyrov's "critique of Lapin indicates a further fragmentation within the pro-war community that may allow Prigozhin to accrue more power in the long-term."
"Putin will need to continue to appease the siloviki faction while attempting to support his disgraced higher military command and retain favor with the milbloggers that respect some conventional Russian military commanders such as Lapin and the Commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin," the ISW wrote.
Lapin, 58, had been the commander of the Central Military District since 2017.
Vlad Mykhnenko, an expert in the post-communist transformation of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union at the University of Oxford, told Newsweek that Kadyrov and Prigozhin both personally, but also through their numerous social media outlets, bot farms, and so-called "war correspondents"—Russian war mongers and propagandists imbedded with the occupation forces—have orchestrated a "real hate campaign" against Lapin.
More broadly, they have also targeted Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Valery Gerasimov.
Mykhnenko noted that the recent criticism, and the fact that Prigozhin has openly been allowed to recruit into Wagner prisoners from Russia's most notorious jails, "including serial killers, serial rapists, assassins and dangerous, mentally ill inmates," and promise them presidential pardons, suggests that Russia is "rapidly becoming a failed state."
"The federal state—the Kremlin and its ruler—allow individual warlords to be above the formalities of Russian laws, having lost the legitimate state monopoly over the means of violence," he explained.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign and defense ministries for confirmation that Lapin was removed from his post.
Update 11/1/22, 5:06 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include comment from Vlad Mykhnenko.
About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more