The disappearance of top Russian generals dating back to September has sparked questions about their whereabouts amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Russian and Ukrainian forces have presented different public findings since the purported death of Russian Admiral Viktor Sokolov, who Kyiv said was one of 34 Russian officers killed in late September by a missile strike executed against the headquarters of the Russian Navy's Black Sea fleet in annexed Crimea. Sokolov was viewed by Ukrainian forces as a high-value target.
The lack of visibility by Russia's top general, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, has additionally caused wonderment regarding whether he was killed as part of a Ukrainian strike at the beginning of this year on a Russian military command post. The attack occurred near Sevastopol and in proximity to a military unit near the city of Yevpatoria, in separate strikes on the Black Sea peninsula.
"Admiral Sokolov, who hasn't been seen for 133 days, is probably 'conferring' somewhere with General Gerasimov, who hasn't been seen for 55 days," wrote military expert and intelligence studies professor Fred Hoffman on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday. "Yeah, yeah. 'Conferring.' That's the ticket!"
Newsweek reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries via email for comment.
Rumors about Sokolov, who appeared in a video following his purported death, were not quelled by Russian officials—who said the September attack only caused damage to a building in Sevastopol, leading to one officer "missing in action."
The Russian Defense Ministry also shared an image of a meeting to Telegram following the attack featuring the supposedly deceased admiral. It came shortly after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that he did not have information "about the alleged death of Black Sea Fleet Commander Sokolov."
However, Ukrainian forces also shed doubt on Sokolov's alleged death.
Ukrainian Major General Kyrylo Budanov told Voice of America in the aftermath that while several high-ranking Russian military personnel had been injured in the strikes, he did not confirm reports surrounding the death of Sokolov—who was appointed as commander of the Black Sea Fleet in July 2023 following Ukraine's successful sinking of the Black Sea flagship, the Moskva, in April.
Gerasimov's rumored death began after an unverified rumor circulated on X when Telegram users shared an image purporting to show a message published by a Russian Telegram channel called "Ordinary Tsarism."
Newsweek could not substantiate a message written by the Telegram page, which said in part that Gerasimov was killed in the Crimea attack. The Russian Ministry's silence added to the rumors, considering Gerasimov was last seen in public on December 29 while presenting state awards to military personnel who "distinguished themselves" during the capture of Marinka in Ukraine's Donetsk region, state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.
His presence, along with any remarks or quotes published by state-run media outlets, has been nonexistent.
Mikhail Troitskiy, professor of practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Newsweek via email on Friday that Russia's relative silence is unsurprising considering the ongoing conflict and a lack of incentives to publicly disclose the whereabouts and/or deaths of top military commanders.
"That said, political leaders may prefer not to let those commanders speak publicly and on the record, even if they are alive and well," Troitskiy said. "The job of the military commanders is to plan operations out of the public sight."
He added: "If the Russian government is trying to leverage the war fatigue in some Western quarters, it would be logical not to publicly display Russian military leaders in order to emphasize that civilians are firmly in charge in Russia, so any mediators who are willing to settle the conflict on Moscow's terms are welcome to approach those civilian leaders."
In an opinion piece titled, "Where is General Gerasimov and Why Does it Matter?" published last month for the Kyiv Post, retired U.S. Army Colonel Jonathan Sweet and former economist Mark Toth wrote that while it is doubtful that Gerasimov is dead, his "continued absence from the public stage and Moscow's 'radio silence' to date on his status" are interesting.
It is "odd", the authors wrote, that the Kremlin hasn't responded to rumors that he had been killed in Crimea, given "the lengths the Kremlin went to deny the death of its commander Admiral Viktor Sokolov..."
"The continued silence from the Kremlin is potentially telling. Is Putin worried that Kyiv is actively targeting his high command?" they asked in their opinion piece.
Update 2/2/24, 9:36 a.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Troitskiy.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek reporter based in Michigan. His focus is reporting on Ukraine and Russia, along with social ... Read more
