MOSCOW (Reuters) -A Russian general said he had been dismissed as a commander after telling the military leadership about the dire situation at the front in Ukraine where he said Russian soldiers had been stabbed in the back by the failings of the top military brass.
Major General Ivan Popov, who commanded the 58th Combined Arms Army, said in a voice message published by Russian lawmaker Andrei Gurulyov that he had been dismissed.
There was no immediate comment from the defence ministry and Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of the voice message. Lawmaker Gurulyov is a hardline former army commander who regularly appears on state television.
“There was a tough situation with the senior bosses in which it was necessary either to keep quiet and be a coward or to say it the way it is,” Popov said.
“I had no right to lie in the name of you, in the name of my fallen comrades in arms, so I outlined all the problems which exist.”
He said he raised the deaths of Russian soldiers from Ukrainian artillery and said the army lacked proper counter battery systems and reconnaissance of enemy.
“The senior chiefs apparently sensed some kind of danger from me and quickly concocted an order from the defence minister in just one day and got rid of me.”
“The Ukrainian army could not break through our ranks at the front but our senior chief hit us from the rear, viciously beheading the army at the most difficult and intense moment,” Popov said.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Andrew Osborn)
