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Top Russian army general Sergei Surovikin has been detained as Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin cracks down on Wagner sympathisers following the militia’s failed mutiny last week.
Surovikin, a senior Russian general known to have a good relationship with Wagner’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, has not been heard from for several days and has been detained, according to sources in Russia’s elite and western government officials familiar with the matter.
It remains unclear whether Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russia’s invasion force in Ukraine and head of its aerospace forces, has been charged as a plotter in the uprising or simply detained for interrogation, and where he is being held.
The Kremlin has declined to explain why the general disappeared from public view, while Surovikin’s daughter Veronika claimed “everything is fine” with her father.
“Honestly, no, nothing has happened to him, he’s at work,” she told Russian news outlet Baza. “When did he appear in the media every day? He never made any statements every day,” she added. “As I understand, everything is sort of flowing as things normally happen. Everyone is at their workplace, everything is fine.”
Putin has begun a clean-up operation at the top of the security services, members of the Moscow elite and western officials have said, with the president moving to quash critics, restore order and re-establish his dominance after the first coup attempt in Russia in three decades.
Many of the hardliners who have been known to sympathise with Wagner and criticise the regular armed forces have disappeared from view in recent days. At the same time, loyalists — such as defence minister Sergei Shoigu, whom Prigozhin hoped to unseat in his coup — have been given a platform and have been shown in public participating in high-level meetings and events.
“Putin knew about [Prigozhin’s uprising plans] in advance, as we understand, and so could prepare to a certain extent,” a western government official said. “He was able to see who did what on that day. And he’s now cleaning house.”
The official said they believed Surovikin had been detained, adding: “We understand that there will be more people who will follow.”
The EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said at the bloc’s summit on Thursday: “It remains unclear who was behind this . . . military rebellion. Some generals have been arrested. So I suppose that Putin will be in a cleaning mode, internally. And a more assertive mood.”
The Kremlin on Thursday refused to answer any questions about Surovikin and told journalists they should ask the defence ministry instead.
Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political consultant and former MP, suggested that the net would widen to take in “absolutely all generals and officers who were in touch with Prigozhin and Wagner” in an attempt to work out how the Russian state had come so close to collapse.
“The main task of the investigation isn’t to find out who needs to be punished, but which systemic mistakes were made by different elements of the government. So that the uprising never happens again,” Markov wrote on social media app Telegram.
“Surovikin is probably being interrogated for many hours over many days. Not because he is the main suspect, but because he is the best informed. He was the main point of contact between the defence ministry and Wagner, so he knows more than anyone,” Markov added.
Known as “General Armageddon” for his brutal bombardment tactics in Syria, Surovikin was promoted last autumn to manage Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Though swiftly demoted, he remained a favourite among the more hardline pro-war community in Russia, and emerged as a handler of the Wagner paramilitary contingent fighting on the frontline in eastern Ukraine.
As Prigozhin’s conflict with the military establishment in Moscow escalated, Surovikin is believed to have acted as the go-between.
Once the conflict boiled over into an armed rebellion against the defence elite in Moscow late on Friday, Surovikin recorded a brief statement calling on Wagner fighters to put down their weapons. Then he disappeared.
Veteran Russian journalist Alexei Venediktov said on Wednesday that Surovikin “has not been in touch with his family for three days. His security guards do not answer either.”
Suspicions around Surovikin may have resulted from his good relationship with Prigozhin. While the Wagner warlord railed against other generals and the defence elite — blaming them for the high death toll among Russian soldiers during the invasion and accusing them of “genocide” — he maintained a dialogue with Surovikin.
Surovikin also clashed with the defence ministry’s top brass over tactics and strategy, leading Putin to demote him from the head of the Russian invasion after just a few months on the job. Putin reappointed Valery Gerasimov instead and Russia launched a new offensive soon after.
On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed a New York Times report, citing US officials, about the general having been aware of the coup plot in advance. Peskov said he expected “a lot of speculation around these events”, adding: “I think this is an example of that.”
People familiar with the matter said Surovikin, like many in Russia’s security establishment, knew about Prigozhin’s plans but said he had not been among the plotters.
EU leaders will discuss the uprising and its potential fallout at the summit in Brussels on Thursday.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said on Thursday that the EU should respond by increasing support to Kyiv. “This mutiny of last weekend will also have aftershocks, that we will see.”
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