As rumors spread that Russia’s deputy defense minister has been fired, the Kremlin’s spokesman declines to comment

According to Russia’s top pro-war military Telegram channels, Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, Russia’s deputy defense minister for materiel, may have been fired.

The major military-focused channel Rybar has reported the cadre change without citing the source of the information.

Another military observer, Alexander Sladkov, writes that Mizintsev’s removal will not be the last of major cadre changes awaiting the Defense Ministry, given the “untimely” power struggle among Russia’s military, law enforcement, and state security structures.

Sladkov reports that Alexey Kuzminkov, until now the National Guard’s deputy chief, has been appointed the new deputy defense minister.

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has declined to comment on these claims: “There’s nothing I can say about this. It’s a Defense Ministry topic,” he said.

Although Russia never confirmed this officially, Ukrainian military sources have claimed that Mizintsev was personally in command of the siege of Mariupol, a brutal military operation that led to the city’s near-complete destruction, earning Mizintsev himself the reputation of “the butcher of Mariupol.” He became Russia’s deputy defense minister for materiel in September 2022.