As many as 50 senior officers including a Vice Admiral have been purged by Vladimir Putin amid reports they refused to confront Western ships . Getty Images 3 Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during celebrations for Navy Day in the Kaliningrad region in 2015 . He has reportedly carried out a Stalin - style purge by sacking personnel.endposition.na every commander in his Baltic fleet Other Russian news sites also speculated that attempts to cover up a crash between a Russian sub and a Polish boat may have been behind the bloodletting . But given the endemic nature of corruption and incompetence across the Russian military , Western analysts are scratching their heads as to the real reason behind the purge .

Coates said that the reason the senior officers gave for refusing to follow the orders to be more confrontational was because the orders were “ dangerous . ” Putin , according to Coates , retaliated by firing the 50 naval officers , considering their refusal to be a dereliction of duty . Though the news that Putin purged the 50 senior naval officers is just hitting many of the world ’s media outlets , The Moscow Times announced that it occurred on June 29 . The newspaper stated that “ the Russian Defense Ministry ” was behind the sacking personnel.endposition.firinglayoff of “ the entire senior and mid - level command of the Baltic Fleet . ” The purge of the 50 senior officers who were members of the Baltic Fleet , according to The Maritime Executive , “ followed a month - long audit by the Kremlin ” in the wake of the collision between a Polish patrol boat and a Russian submarine . The 50 officers who were purged also demonstrated , according to the Russian Defense Ministry , “ serious shortcomings in the organisation of combat training , daily activities of their forces , failure to take all necessary measures to improve personnel accommodations , inattention to their subordinates and distorted reports on the real state of affairs in the fleet . ”

The fighting in South Sudan , whose 2011 secession from Sudan was supported by the United States , has torn apart the world 's youngest country . The country 's rebel leader Riek Machar was sworn in as first vice president on Tuesday after he returned to the capital Juba for the first time since conflict broke out two years ago . President Salva Kiir 's sacking personnel.endposition.firinglayoff of Machar as his deputy ignited a war in December 2013 which has killed thousands and displaced millions in the world 's newest country . The United States has said Machar 's return is an important step toward the establishment of a unity government . But Booth said an arms embargo could only work if neighboring countries cooperated .