Kremlin Silent on Top General’s Post-Mutiny Absence From Public View
The Kremlin has declined to comment on the current whereabouts of Sergey Surovikin, a top Russian general who has been absent from public view since last week’s aborted mutiny by the leader of Russia’s Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin.
“I recommend that you ask the Defense Ministry,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on June 29 when queried about Surovikin’s whereabouts.
“That’s the ministry’s prerogative,” he added.
The Defense Ministry, for its part, has not issued any statements regarding the general or his recent activities.
Highly regarded in Russian military circles and reportedly popular with the troops, Surovikin served with distinction in previous conflicts, including those in Chechnya and Syria.
Some experts have posited him as a possible successor to Sergey Shoigu, Russia’s current defense minister.
Last October, Surovikin was given overall command of Russian military operations in Ukraine. In January, after consolidating Russia’s frontline, he was replaced by Valery Gerasimov, chief-of-staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
Surovikin has continued to play a leading role in the conflict, however, and now serves under Gerasimov as one of three deputies.
Surovikin’s last known appearance was on June 24, when he called on Prigozhin to end an armed mutiny that had briefly appeared to threaten Moscow.
“I urge you to stop,” he told Prigozhin in a video message broadcast on national television.
“Before it’s too late, it is necessary to submit to the will and orders of Russia’s elected president, stop the convoys [en route to Moscow], return them to their permanent bases, and peacefully resolve all outstanding issues,” Surovikin said in his appeal to Prigozhin.
On the same day the message was broadcast, the renegade commander called off his rebellion and ordered his fighters back to their base camps.
Despite the enormity of his transgression, Prigozhin has since been allowed to relocate to Minsk, where—under a deal brokered by the leader of Belarus—he will not face prosecution.
As of the time of writing, however, Surovikin’s whereabouts were still unknown—at least to the general public.
In the months leading up to the mutiny, Prigozhin had frequently criticized, in exceptionally harsh terms, both Shoigu and Gerasimov.
He repeatedly—and publicly—accused both men of incompetence and of failing to provide needed support to Russian forces on the frontlines.
At the height of his rebellion last week, Prigozhin had demanded a meeting with both men in Russia’s western city of Rostov-on-Don, which Wagner fighters had briefly occupied. Moscow, for its part, ignored the demand.
But unlike Shoigu and Gerasimov, Surovikin was largely spared Prigozhin’s ire. Late last year, the Wagner chief even praised the general as someone “who doesn’t fear responsibility.”
In one of his recent trademark diatribes, Prigozhin went so far as to say that Surovikin should replace Gerasimov as the top commander in Ukraine.
Surovikin’s five-day absence has led to a host of rumors online that he had been arrested by the authorities amid a post-mutiny “purge” of Russia’s top brass.
Some Russian commentators have suggested that high-ranking officers, including Surovikin, were being questioned by Russia’s Federal Security Service with a view to ensuring their loyalty.
None of this speculation, however, has yet to be backed by credible evidence.
When asked on June 29 whether Russian President Vladimir Putin still trusted Surovikin, Peskov said: “He [Putin] is the commander-in-chief, and he works with the defense minister and the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.”
“In respect to departments within the [defense] ministry,” he added, “I refer you to the ministry itself.”
Advance Knowledge?
It was not the first time that questions were raised about Surovikin’s role—if indeed there was one—in Prigozhin’s aborted mutiny.
On June 27, the New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. officials reported that Surovikin may have had advance knowledge of the rebellion.
The newspaper cited “U.S. officials briefed on American intelligence on the matter” as its principal source for the claim, which remains far from being confirmed.
According to the New York Times, U.S. officials are still “trying to learn” if Surovikin had “helped plan Mr. Prigozhin’s actions last weekend.”
“American officials also said there are signs that other Russian generals may also have supported Mr. Prigozhin’s attempt to change the leadership of the [Russian] Defense Ministry by force,” the article reads.
The same officials, it goes on to assert, believe Prigozhin “would not have launched his uprising unless he believed that others in positions of power would come to his aid.”
Notably, Gerasimov has reportedly not made any public appearances since last week’s short-lived rebellion.
Responding to questions about the New York Times article on June 28, Peskov dismissed the paper’s assertions as “gossip.”
“There will be a lot of gossip and speculation about this issue,” he said in reference to Prigozhin’s failed mutiny.
He added: “I think this is one such example.”
