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. 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.
The arrests now taking place suggest that the system has begun to crack.
The most significant recent arrests and criminal cases:
◾️ Putin’s inner circle of friends and associates
🔹 Ilya Traber – one of St. Petersburg’s most influential businessmen, personally acquainted with Putin since the 1990s. 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.
🔹 Konstantin Makhov – former Rosaviatsiya official and top manager at companies owned by billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, another of Putin’s closest childhood friends. In July 2026, Makhov was detained in Moscow with the involvement of FSB special forces.
◾️ Purge within the leadership of Russia’s defense ministry
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.
🔹 Ruslan Tsalikov – former first deputy defense minister. In March 2026, he was placed under house arrest/pretrial detention in a case involving the embezzlement of billions of rubles.
🔹 Timur Ivanov – former deputy defense minister responsible for military construction. He 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.
🔹Yury Kuznetsov – lieutenant general and head of the main personnel directorate of the ministry of defense.
🔹Vadim Shamarin – head of the main communications directorate of the Russian armed forces.
🔹 Ivan Popov – former commander of the 58th guards combined arms army. Arrested in a case involving the embezzlement of rolled metal intended for defensive structures.
◾️ Regional elites and mayors of major cities
At the same time, a sweeping purge is underway among governors and mayors. The most high-profile cases include:
🔹Aleksey Kopaygorodsky – former mayor of Sochi. Arrested on corruption charges and over alleged land fraud.
🔹 Ratmir Mavliyev – mayor of Ufa, detained on charges of accepting a large bribe in the form of real estate.
🔹 Aleksey Smirnov and Maksim Yegorov – former regional governors whose resignations later turned into criminal prosecutions.
All of these prosecutions and arrests point to a redistribution of influence within the Kremlin, an intensifying struggle over resources, and the fact that the principle of the elite being “untouchable” no longer applies – even to Putin’s longtime friends.
Putin is persecuting and eliminating his “old friends” while becoming even more fearful for his own life.
We’ll see how it ends.
— @Gerashchenko_en Jul 20, 2026
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