Russian General Sergei Surovkin, Russian Service of the Moscow Times, was arrested mentioned Wednesday, citing two sources close to the Defense Ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the alleged arrest of Surovikin, who has not been seen in public since Saturday, when Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin launched an armed insurrection against Russia’s military leadership.
“It wasn’t ‘right’ with him. As for the authorities, I can’t say anything else,” said one of the sources.
According to the second source, the arrest took place “in the context of Prigozhin.”
“Apparently, he is [Surovikin] They chose Prigozhin’s side during the uprising, and they took him from the balls, ”said the source.
When asked about the current general’s whereabouts, the source replied: “We don’t even comment on this information through our internal channels.”
Earlier Wednesday, pro-war military blogger Vladimir Romanov He said Surovkin was arrested Sunday, the day after Prigozhin’s thwarted revolt.
Romanov claimed that Surovkin is now being held in the Lefortovo Detention Center in Moscow.
Alexey Venediktov, editor-in-chief of the closed Ekho Moskvy radio, books On Telegram Surovikin has not been in contact with his family for three days and his guards are not responding.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed US officials, that Surovkin had advance knowledge of Prigozhin’s plan to incite a revolt against Russia’s military leadership.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday eviction The report was characterized as “speculation” and “chatter”, suggesting that Putin did not bow to Prigozhin’s demands for an imminent shakeup of the Russian military’s senior officers.
Wagner‘s The uprising sparked Russia’s most serious security crisis in decades before Prigozhin agreed to step down on Saturday night in exchange for immunity in exile, as part of a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Surovikin commanded Russian forces in Ukraine for three months between October 2022 and January 2023 until he was replaced by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.