The Kremlin refused on Thursday to answer questions about General Sergey Surovikin, whose status and location have not been made public since Saturday’s failed riot. Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov referred questions about Surovikin to the Defense Ministry, which has so far not made any statement about him: what is he doing, is he free, is he still in office it’s a mistake to investigate. Meanwhile, from the Russian Parliament, a defense spokesman announced that Wagner I would not continue fighting in Ukraine as a mercenary group, since it has not wanted to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense. The government wants to control individual mercenaries, also in Ukraine.
nicknamed as “General Armageddon” by the Russian press for his cruel methods against the civilian population in Syria, Surovikin, who is the deputy commander of the Russian forces in Ukraine, has been absent since saturdaywhen he appeared in a video appealing to the leader of the Wagner mercenaries, Evgeny Prigozhin, to stop their mutiny.
On the recording he looked strange. She seemed uncomfortable and wheezing. Speaking on camera without insignia, he urged the head of the Wagner Group mercenaries to surrender. To some experts, it was not clear if he was speaking under duress. Since then various sources in Russia have indicated that the security services they are interrogating and even that he was or had been detained. The government did not want to confirm or deny this.
‘The New York Times’, based on a US intelligence report, said that Surovikin had foreknowledge of the riot and that the authorities were verifying if he was an accomplice. He is considered one of the closest generals to Wagner. Last year Prigozhin, a fierce critic of Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, praised Surovikin as “a man who is not afraid of responsibility”. A month ago, Prigozhin said that Surovikin should replace Gerasimov.
The Moscow Times newspaper and a military blogger reported Surovikin’s arrest yesterday, while other defense analysts said he and other senior officers they were being interrogated by the FSB security service to verify their loyalty.