MOSCOW Since then the failed mutiny of the Wagner mercenary group against the KremlinThree weeks ago, a senior Russian commander disappeared and another was killed in an airstrike Ukraine and a third was shot while jogging.
The shortlived uprising, under pressure from Russia, brought even more insecurity into the ranks of the Russians Moscow until almost 17 months of war. the secret about the fate of General Sergei Surovikin, the country’s former commander in Ukraine, nicknamed “General Armageddon” for his reckless tactics, delved deeper into the matter yesterday. He has not been seen since the riot.
One of the country’s top MPs, urged by a reporter, said the general was “resting”. “He is not available at the moment,” Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the Duma (House of Representatives) Defense Commission, added in Telegram.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting via videoconference with members of the Security Council at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia July 7, 2023. Photo: ALEXANDER KAZAKOV / EFE
General Surovikin was considered an ally of Ievgeni Prigozhin, head of the Wagner groupwhose forces launched a brief uprising in late June aimed at overthrowing the military leadership Russiabefore giving up on making a deal with the Kremlin.
According to the New York Times, US officials believe General Surovikin already knew about the mutiny, but don’t know if he took part. In the hours after the rebellion began, Russian officials released a video of the general urging the Wagner fighters to retreat.
The MP’s enigmatic comment on General Surovikin comes two days after Russian authorities released the first footage of the country’s top military officer, General Valery V. Gerasimov, since the uprising.
In the video, General Gerasimov received a report from the Russian Aerospace Forces commanded by General Surovikin. But the person who gave the update on the footage was Surovikin’s deputy, ColonelGeneral Viktor Afzalov.
General Surovikin’s whereabouts are just one of many mysteries that have surfaced since the mutiny. Despite an agreement announced by the Kremlinafter which Prigozhin would leave Russia for Belarus and avoid prosecution, the mercenary magnate seems to have stayed in Russia.
The Kremlin announced this earlier this week Prigozhin met with President Vladimir Putin five days after the uprisingwhich raises many questions about what kind of agreement was reached between them.
Russia, meanwhile, has taken another hit at its military top ranks. Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov, deputy commander of Russia’s Southern Military District, was killed in a rocket attack in the occupied city of Berdyansk in Ukraine on Monday night, marking one of Russia’s worst casualties during the war.
A Russian MP and retired general, Andrei Gurulyov, yesterday confirmed Tsokov’s death and said he “died heroically”. The death was reminiscent of the early days of the war, when Ukrainian authorities are said to have killed around 12 generals at the front.
Russian authorities also yesterday arrested a Ukrainian man on suspicion of shooting dead former Russian submarine commander Lt. Gen. Stanislav Rzhitski earlier this week in the southern city of Krasnodar, where he served as deputy director of the United Nations Mobilization Office.
Russian media reported that General Rzhitski, who publicly posted his routes on the Strava exercise service, was shot dead while jogging in a park in Krasnodar.
On Tuesday 11th, a day after the body was found, Ukrainian military intelligence reported on its official Telegram account that General Rzhitski had seized a submarine involved in missile attacks against Ukraine. However, friends and relatives told Russian media that he left the military before the February 2022 invasion.
The staterun RIA Novosti news agency, citing an anonymous Russian police source, reported that the man arrested on Wednesday admitted during interrogation that he had been recruited by the Ukrainian secret service to carry out the murder.
General Rzhitski’s name was entered into the Myrotvorets online database, which publishes photos, social media accounts and phone numbers of people accused of crimes against Ukraine. /NYT