Kyiv — Beloved supporters greeted President Vladimir Putin in Russia’s southern Dagestan region on Wednesday on behalf of The Kremlin continued to project the picture A popular leader and rule over his country. But less than a week later President of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny PrigozhinBecause of the failure of his rebellion, there are still many questions about the strength of Putin’s hold on power that has lasted more than two decades.
CBS News learned Wednesday that the United States has intelligence indicating a top Russian general has advanced knowledge of it. RebellionThis raised the possibility that the Wagner leader believed he would gain support from within the Russian military for his coup.
The Kremlin has dismissed the allegations as speculation and hearsay, but in its first interview since the weekend’s uprising, Ukraine’s Minister of National Security and Defense Oleksiy Danilov told CBS News that he believed Prigozhin was in league with not just one Russian. Military officer but 14.
“Prigozhin is not an independent person,” Danilov told CBS News. “It is owned by high-ranking people in President Putin’s inner circle…they are its owners.”
Danilov claimed: “This is a group of people with a goal to change the leadership of Russia.”
One of the senior generals who is widely said to have been involved in or at least to have known about the attempted Prigozhin uprising is Sergei Surovikin, who led Russia’s war in Ukraine For several months so it was lowered in January Russian troops also lost ground.
Former Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, Surovikin – who was awarded Title “General Armageddon” To such ruthless bombing campaigns in Syria – not seen since I asked the Wagner rebels to return to their bases as Saturday’s insurgency collapsed. Two US officials told CBS News on Thursday that General Surovkin is being held in Russia. It was not clear if the senior Russian commander was still in detention, or if he had just been detained for questioning and then released.
Sputnik/Mikhail Klementev/The Kremlin via Reuters
Asked about Surovikin Thursday in the Kremlin, spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred reporters to the Russian Defense Ministry.
We asked Danilov if Surovkin was one of the generals involved in the brief rebellion.
“Do you want me to name them all?” Danilov asked with a wry smile. “I can’t.”
Many analysts say the rebellion has weakened Putin more than any other challenge he has faced since he came to power in Russia nearly a quarter of a century ago, and Danilov believes the Russian leader could face another rebellion.
“Even if the generals who had some role in the mutiny were executed, this would not affect the outcome,” Danilov told CBS News. “The wheels are turning for Putin’s demise.”
Danilov believes that the chaos created by Russia’s failed insurgency will ultimately benefit Ukraine as it launches a grinding counteroffensive against Putin’s invasion.
Among America’s close European allies, who have supported Ukraine alongside Washington, there was apparent apprehension Thursday about what the “weaker” Putin or those around him might do next.
“Putin’s weakness presents an even greater danger,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top foreign and security affairs official, told reporters in Brussels. “Now we have to view Russia as a threat because of its internal instability.”