British Intelligence: One More Russian General Disappear After Prigozhin's Rebellion As Well As Surovikin

Did they arrest Shoigu’s deputy?

The military mutiny of the mercenaries of the Wagner group has triggered bitter disputes among the Russian security forces. High-ranking generals do not appear in public and can be arrested.

The British Ministry of Defense reported on Twitter.

General Sergei Surovikin, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces and Deputy Commander of Russian Forces in Ukraine, has not appeared in public since the Wagner mutiny on June 23-24, 2023, the report reads.

Meanwhile, Deputy Defense Minister Colonel-General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was also notably absent from the televised appearance by the MoD’s leadership on 3 July 2023.

Reports of Surovikin’s arrest cannot be confirmed. According to British intelligence, authorities will likely be suspicious of his long association with Wagner dating back to his service in Syria from 2017. Similarly, Yevkurov was filmed talking to Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin during the uncontested take-over of Rostov-on-Don.

“Although largely known in the West by his brutal reputation, Surovikin is one of the more respected senior officers within the Russian military; any official sanction against him is likely to be divisive. The suspicion that has potentially fallen on senior serving officers highlights how Prigozhin’s abortive insurrection has worsened existing fault lines within Russia’s national security community,” the British MoD said

General Surovikin

General Sergei Surovikin has been in command of Russian troops in Ukraine since the beginning of October 2022. In January, he was removed from this position. Surovikin is also called "Armageddon General" because of his criminal orders to bombard Syria.

The media reported that Surovikin had been detained after the Wagner rebellion. There was also information on the Web that he allegedly supported Prigozhin, although the Russian general recorded a video where he urged Prigozhin to stop.

According to CNN, Surovikin was part of a circle of high-ranking Russian military officials who were VIP members of the Wagner group.

He and 30 other high-ranking Russian military and intelligence officers, according to the Russian Dossier Center, were honorary members of the PMC.