The Kremlin elite has descended into a “war of all against all,” with unprecedented arrests targeting people once considered untouchable by Vladimir Putin. Writing in a post on X, former Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko stated: “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 wave of high-profile arrests “suggests that the system has begun to crack,” according to Mr Gerashchenko.
Prominent cases include the detention of Ilya Traber, one of St Petersburg’s most influential businessmen personally acquainted with Putin since the 1990s.
Mr 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.”
In July 2026, Konstantin Makhov, a former Rosaviatsiya official and top manager at companies owned by billionaire Arkady Rotenberg — another of Putin’s closest childhood friends — “was detained in Moscow with the involvement of FSB special forces.”
A large-scale purge has hit the leadership of Russia’s defence ministry. Mr Gerashchenko said: “As part of a large-scale campaign under the pretext of fighting corruption and embezzlement, nearly the entire inner circle of former defence minister Shoigu has ended up either in pretrial detention or under house arrest.”
Those affected include Ruslan Tsalikov, former first deputy defence minister, placed under house arrest or pretrial detention in March 2026 “in a case involving the embezzlement of billions of roubles.”
Timur Ivanov, former deputy defence minister responsible for military construction, “was sentenced to 13 years in prison for accepting an especially large bribe (more than 1.3 billion roubles ($16.6 million)) and transferring funds abroad.”
Further arrests targeted Yury Kuznetsov, lieutenant general and head of the main personnel directorate of the ministry of defence; Vadim Shamarin, head of the main communications directorate of the Russian armed forces; and 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.”
Sweeping actions have also struck regional elites and mayors. 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; and former regional governors Aleksey Smirnov and Maksim Yegorov, whose resignations turned into criminal prosecutions.
Mr Gerashchenko said: “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.”
The developments come as Russia continues its military campaign in Ukraine, now in its fifth year.
The arrests reflect ongoing efforts to address alleged corruption in defence procurement and regional governance, sectors long tied to Putin’s power structure.
