WASHINGTON, US
General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces fighting in Ukraine, is believed to have been detained days after mercenaries staged a revolt inside Russia, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday, citing U.S. and Ukrainian intelligence assessments.
The people spoke on condition
of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
It’s not clear whether
Surovikin faces any charges or where he is being held, reflecting the opaque
world of the Kremlin’s politics and uncertainty after the revolt.
But his reported detention
comes days after Wagner Group mercenaries took over the military headquarters
in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and were heading toward Moscow in what
appears to have been an aborted insurrection.
Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin
has spoken positively of Surovikin while criticizing the country’s military
brass and suggested that he should be appointed the General Staff chief to
replace Gen. Valery Gerasimov. The New York Times this week reported that U.S.
officials believe Surovikin had advance knowledge of Prigozhin’s plan to stage
the revolt.
The
White House and the Kremlin declined to comment.
Surovikin, who has longtime
links to Prigozhin, hasn’t been seen since the start of the rebellion when he
posted a video urging an end to it.
A Russian military blogger,
the Moscow Times, and the Financial Times reported that Surovikin, who is also
the commander of the Russian air force, has been arrested.
There has been intense
speculation that some top military officers may have colluded with Prigozhin
and may now face punishment for the mutiny that briefly sent a virtually
unchallenged march toward Moscow that Putin has labeled treason and a “stab in
the back.”
Alexei Venediktov, former head
of the Ekho Moskvy, a prominent independent radio station that was shut down by
authorities after Moscow invaded Ukraine, said Surovikin and his close
lieutenants haven’t been in contact with their families for three days, but
stopped short of saying that he was detained.
Another prominent military messaging
channel, Rybar, which is run by a former Defense Ministry press officer,
reported a purge in the ranks was underway as authorities looked into
allegations that some could have sided with Prigozhin.
Surovikin has been linked to
Prigozhin since when both were active in Syria, where Russia has waged a
military action since 2015 to shore up Syrian President Bashar Assad’s
government and to help him reclaim territory after a devastating civil war.
While Prigozhin had unleashed
expletive-ridden insults at Shoigu and chief of the General Staff Gen. Valery
Gerasimov before last week’s mutiny in which he demanded their ouster, he has
continually praised Surovikin and suggested naming him to replace Gerasimov.
When the rebellion began, however, Surovikin recorded a video urging a halt to
the mutiny.
Earlier this week, The New
York Times reported that U.S. officials believed that Surovikin had advance
knowledge about the mutiny. Asked about that report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov shrugged it off as part of “speculations and gossip.”
On Thursday, Peskov refused to
comment on whether Surovikin had been arrested.
Asked by the AP if the
president still trusts Surovikin, he replied that Putin works with the defense
minister and the chief of the General Staff and referred questions about
officers to the Defense Ministry. He also referred all other questions about
Surovikin and his status to the ministry.
As to whether Putin considers
it necessary to dismiss military officials who had had links with Prigozhin,
Peskov said “the issue isn’t my prerogative, and I have nothing to say on
that.”
The bald, fierce-looking
Surovikin, who was nicknamed “General Armageddon” by Western media for his
brutal tactics in Syria and Ukraine, was credited with shoring up Russian
defenses after Moscow’s retreat from broad areas of Ukrainian territory last
fall amid a swift counteroffensive by Kyiv.
Named by Putin in the fall to
lead Russian forces in Ukraine, Surovikin presided over the bombing campaign
that targeted Ukraine’s power plants and other vital infrastructure but failed
to knock out power supplies.
In January, Putin replaced him
with Gerasimov, putting the General Staff chief in charge of the Russian battle
in Ukraine. Surovikin was demoted to the position of Gerasimov’s deputy.
Gerasimov’s own fate also is
unclear after the abortive mutiny. While Shoigu showed up at several events
attended by Putin, Gerasimov was mysteriously absent.
If a purge is indeed underway,
it could destabilize the military chain of command and erode troop morale amid
the early stage of Ukraine’s latest counteroffensive and offer Kyiv a chance to
reclaim more ground.
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