President Putin dismissed military commanders

Vladimir Putin has signed the decree on dismissing Vladimir Putin general Anatoly Kvashnin for the post of Chief of General Staff of Russian Military Forces.
Former First Deputy of Chief of Staff colonel-general Yury Baluevsky has been appointed the Chief of General Staff-First Deputy of Russian Ministry of Defense.

Russian president awarded Anatoly Kvashnin with order “For Service to the Motherland” for “valuable contribution in improving Russia’ defense capacities and many years of good service”, the official statement says.

According to the press, general Anatoly Kvashnin sent Vladimir Putin written note of resignation in mid-July. Allegedly, the former General Staff Commander decided to step down because of the coming reform of Russian Defense Ministry. The reform will pass some authorities in controlling the army from General Staff to the Minister of Defense.

Earlier deputy of Russian Interior Minister, Commander of Interior Troops General of Army Vyacheslav Tikhomirov resigned (on July 12). The general resigned after his conversation with Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev, who said that the recent Chechen terrorists’ raid in Ingushetia was general Tikhomirov’s fault.

Here are some comments on resignation in General Staff and Interior Ministry:

Colonel Sergey Goncharov, President of Association of veterans of special group KGB-FSB “Alpha”,

The resignations of generals Kvashnin and Tikhomirov was absolutely right reaction of President Putin on the raid of Chechen terrorists in Ingushetia which happened on June 22. Some people must be accountable for this, and I am sure that dismissing some notorious figures from law-enforcement bodies will stabilize the political situation in the Northern Caucasus region.

Victor Imaledinov, colonel of Russian Army (previously he worked for General Staff),

Kvashnin’s resignation demonstrates that Vladimir Putin starts clearing up the Army command from the people who are not loyal to him. This will strengthen Russian authorities, improve the situation in the Northern Caucasus region and will reduce corruption in the Army. As for the resignations in Russian Interior Ministry, they are aimed at fighting corruption in this law-enforcement body. Some banks patronized by Interior Ministry, were engaged in selling weapons and transferring money to Chechnya. I hope much that President Putin, Russian authorities and General Staff will bring order both in Chechnya and Russia.

Yury Barteniev, FSB officer,

Appointing new chiefs at General Staff, Interior Ministry and FSB is a start of big-scale fight with corruption, and God bless President Putin and the new commanders to succeed in this fight as soon as possible, and be tough in it.

Vitaly Prelukov, ex-KGB lieutenant-general, former Deputy Chief of KGB Administration in Moscow and Moscow region,

I strongly support the decision of President Putin on dismissing general Kvashnin. Of course, Kvashnin’s stepping down was caused by Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov disagreement with him in the first place, I am glad he resigned as he did much harm to the army. As for the other resignations, in the Interior Ministry in particular, if I were Vladimir Putin, I would not have been in a hurry. I think special commission should be established to investigate the recent events in Ingushetia.

Ilia Tarasov