- A Russian general who knew of Wagner's uprising plans hasn't been seen in days.
- Gen. Surovikin knew Prigozhin was planning an uprising against Russian military leadership, NYT reported.
Speculation grew Wednesday about a top Russian general with ties to the Wagner Group who hasn't been seen in the days since the mercenary group's armed rebellion last weekend.
General Sergey Surovikin knew Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was planning an uprising against Russian military leadership, The New York Times reported Tuesday, heightening scrutiny of the whereabouts of one of Russia's top war commanders in Ukraine.
It's unclear if other Russian military leadership knew of the uprising, the Times reported, but US officials said Prigozhin wouldn't have marched on Moscow and undermined Russian President Vladimir Putin unless he believed he had help.
On Wednesday, anonymous sources affiliated with Russia's ministry of defense told the independent Moscow Times that Surovikin's absence was due to his secret arrest. One of them claimed that Surovikin was taken into custody Sunday, the day after Prigozhin agreed to withdraw his forces from the Russian region he'd seized.
Russian officials have not confirmed the arrest of the high-ranking officer, and the anonymous officials intimated to the Moscow Times that details regarding Surovikin were highly sensitive, with one saying: "The story with him was not OK. For power. I can't say anything more." A Russian military blogger also claimed that Surovikin had been arrested, and taken to a notorious prison.
—Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 28, 2023
Surovikin is a popular and feared general, commanding troops between October 2022 and January 2023, until he was replaced by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. He stayed on as Gerasimov's deputy.
Wagner's insurrection posed a dire threat to Putin and the Russian Ministry of Defense's leadership, although ending in retreat and a murky peace deal between Prigozhin and Russian leadership.