Paranoid Putin turns on his own 'untouchable' pals as Kremlin faces civil war

Paranoid Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has launched a severe wave of detentions targeting his own inner circle as the Kremlin descends into a ruthless “war of all against all.”

In an assessment of the despot’s deteriorating regime, former Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko stated that even the tyrant’s most loyal, longtime associates are no longer secure.

Posting on X, Gerashchenko wrote, “The Kremlin is now like spiders in a jar. A war of all against all has started among the Kremlin elite, accompanied by unprecedented arrests of people who were close to Putin.”‘

For years, Moscow’s ruling class functioned under the belief that their allegiance provided them protection.

But as Russia’s violent war in Ukraine extends into its fifth year, Putin’s escalating paranoia has sparked an unprecedented purge, reports the Express.

Gerashchenko continued, “They used to believe they were ‘untouchable’ and that this status was guaranteed. Now everyone understands it is only a matter of time before they are targeted.”

He also cautioned that the abrupt crackdown “suggests that the system has begun to crack.”

Among the most startling detentions is St. Petersburg powerbroker Ilya Traber, an influential businessman connected with Putin since the 1990s.

Gerashchenko noted, “He was long considered completely ‘untouchable.’ In June 2026, Traber was detained by the FSB and placed under arrest on suspicion of involvement in the contract killing of St. Petersburg lawmaker Alexander Petrov.”

Just weeks later, in July 2026, FSB special forces struck again, this time seizing Konstantin Makhov, a former Rosaviatsiya official and senior manager with ties to billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, one of Putin’s closest childhood friends. Makhov “was detained in Moscow with the involvement of FSB special forces.”

Meanwhile, a sweeping wave of arrests has engulfed Russia’s defense ministry under the banner of an anti-corruption offensive.

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Gerashchenko stated, “As part of a large-scale campaign under the pretext of fighting corruption and embezzlement, nearly the entire inner circle of former defense minister Shoigu has ended up either in pretrial detention or under house arrest.”

Former first deputy defense minister Ruslan Tsalikov was taken into custody in March 2026 “in a case involving the embezzlement of billions of rubles.”

In addition, former deputy defense minister Timur Ivanov, who presided over extravagant military construction projects, “was sentenced to 13 years in prison for accepting an especially large bribe (more than 1.3 billion rubles ($16.6 million)) and transferring funds abroad.”

The far-reaching purge also ensnared senior military commanders, among them Yury Kuznetsov, lieutenant general and head of the ministry’s main personnel directorate, and Vadim Shamarin, head of the Russian armed forces’ main communications directorate. Meanwhile, Ivan Popov, former commander of the 58th Guards Combined Arms Army, was arrested “in a case involving the embezzlement of rolled metal intended for defensive structures.”