Russian General Surovikin arrested after Wagner Group's rebellion

Sergei Surovikin, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces and Deputy Commander of the Russian forces in Ukraine, has been arrested after a failed coup by Yevgeny Prigozhin, financier of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), The Moscow Times reports.

Source: The Moscow Times, citing two sources close to the Russian Defence Ministry; Insider

Quote from a source: "In the context of Prigozhin. Apparently, he [Surovikin] chose Prigozhin's side during the uprising, and they got ahold of him."

Details: Answering a question regarding the general's whereabouts, the source replied, "We are not even commenting on this information through our internal channels".

Another source commented on the purpose of the arrest as follows: "The situation with him was not 'OK.' For the authorities. I can't say anything more".

The first report of Surovikin's possible arrest emerged on the Telegram channel of a Kremlin-aligned blogger Vladimir Romanov. He claimed that Surovikin was arrested on 25 June, immediately after the Wagner PMC mutiny. Romanov asserted that Surovikin was being held in the Lefortovo Detention Centre in Moscow.

The insider points out that the source of this information is unknown.

A source told The Moscow Times that it was not entirely clear whether Surovikin had prior knowledge of Prigozhin's rebellion.

The source said that Surovikin allegedly "was not particularly obedient when given the task of reading the text on camera and acting out, was too rude to the leadership". He said this could have given the impression that Surovikin was part of the "Prigozhin’s coalition".

Alexei Venediktov, editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, reported that Surovikin "has not been in contact with his family for three days and that his guards are not responsive".

Earlier, The New York Times, citing US officials briefed on the intelligence, noted that Surovikin was aware of Prigozhin's plans to launch an armed rebellion against Russia's military leadership.

The US authorities are now trying to determine whether Surovikin helped plan the coup.

Surovikin shot a video on Saturday, 24 June, condemning Prigozhin's rebellion and urging the Wagnerites to stop.

Previously: According to Russian pro-war media and Telegram channels, 13 to 20 people were killed in the mutiny by Wagner Group fighters.

The Russian army also suffered losses in equipment: according to Vazhnye Istorii [Important Stories], a Russian media outlet, these include three Mi-8 electronic warfare helicopters, one transport Mi-8 helicopter, two attack helicopters (Ka-52 and Mi-35M), as well as an Il-22M command post aircraft and two armoured vehicles (KamAZ and Tigr). The Wagner PMC lost two UAZs, one KamAZ and a VPK-Ural armoured vehicle.

At the same time, according to the Russian service of Radio Liberty, citing estimates by the Dutch Oryx project, the Wagnerites shot down an Il-22M aircraft and six Russian army helicopters during the mutiny.

Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, acknowledged the deaths of Russian pilots during the rebellion by the mercenaries of the Wagner Group, but he did not make any high-profile statements on this matter. On the contrary, he met with the heads of law enforcement agencies and thanked them for "suppressing" the rebellion of Wagner Group mercenaries and also thanked the Wagnerites themselves for "not resorting to fratricidal bloodshed".

Background:

• On the evening of 23 June, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the regular Russian army had launched a missile strike on the Wagner mercenaries’ rear camps. He therefore deployed 25,000 of his mercenaries "to restore justice".

• Prigozhin claimed that his forces had taken control of military facilities in Rostov-on-Don, including the air base, and were heading "to Moscow" and that his soldiers had shot down three Russian helicopters. Wagner mercenaries also seized military facilities in the Russian city of Voronezh.

• In an emergency address on 24 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was "fighting for survival" and that attempts were being made to "organise a rebellion" in the country.

• The Russian presidential administration feared that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group fighters could be near Moscow, and that fighting would begin near Russia’s capital. Ukrainian intelligence had information that Putin had urgently left Moscow for his residence in Valdai. The convoy of Wagner fighters was spotted 400 km from Moscow.

• On the evening of Saturday, 24 June, after a conversation with Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, Prigozhin announced that his mercenaries were turning their convoys around and going in the opposite direction, back to their field camps. Later, the Kremlin announced that the criminal case against Prigozhin would be closed and he would "go to Belarus".

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