KIEV — Enthusiastic supporters welcomed President Vladimir Putin in southern Russia’s Dagestan region on Wednesday, while the Kremlin continued to project the image of a leader who is popular and in control of his country. But less than a week after Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed uprising, many questions remain about the strength of Putin’s more than two-decade-long seizure of power.
CBS News learned Wednesday that the U.S. has intelligence suggesting a senior Russian general had advanced knowledge of the mutiny, raising the possibility that the Wagner leader believed he had support for his coup inside the U.S Russian military would receive.
The Kremlin dismissed these claims as speculation and gossip, but in his first interview since the weekend uprising, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov told CBS News he believes Prigozhin is not just in league with one Russian be a military officer, but 14.
Intelligence indicates that the Russian general had advanced knowledge of the Wagner leader’s mutiny. Click here to view related media.
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“Prigozhin is not an independent person,” Danilov told CBS News. “It is owned by high-ranking people from President Putin’s inner circle… They are its owners.”
“This is a group of people who aim to change the leadership of Russia,” Danilov claimed.
One senior general who is widely reported to have been involved in, or at least known about, Prigozhin’s attempted insurgency is Sergei Surovikin, who commanded Russia’s war in Ukraine for several months until he was demoted in January when Russian troops were on the ground lost.
Former Russian Air Force commander-in-chief Surovikin – nicknamed “General Armageddon” for those reckless bombing raids in Syria – has not been seen since he told the Wagner mutineers to return to their bases when the mutiny on Saturday failed. Two US officials told CBS News on Thursday that General Surovikin had been arrested in Russia. It was not clear whether the Russian supreme commander remained in custody or was only arrested for questioning and then released.
Russian President Vladimir Putin awards the Order of St. George, third class, to General Sergei Surovikin, then commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, December 31 at the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. 2022. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via Portal
When asked about Surovikin in the Kremlin on Thursday, spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred reporters to the Russian Defense Ministry.
We asked Danilov if Surovikin was one of the generals involved in the brief mutiny.
“Shall I name them all?” asked Danilov with a sarcastic smile. “I can’t.”
Many analysts say Putin has been weakened by the revolt more than any challenge he has faced since he took power in Russia almost a quarter-century ago, and Danilov believes another rebellion may be on the horizon for the Russian leader.
“Even if he executes the generals who were in any way involved in the mutiny, it will not affect the outcome,” Danilov told CBS News. “The wheels of Putin’s downfall are in motion.”
Danilov believes the chaos caused by the failed mutiny in Russia will ultimately benefit Ukraine as it launches a violent counter-offensive against Putin’s invasion.
Among America’s close European allies, who have supported Ukraine alongside Washington, there was apparent concern Thursday about what a “weaker” Putin or those around him might do next.
“A weaker Putin poses a greater threat,” Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top foreign and security official, told reporters in Brussels. “Now we have to consider Russia as a risk because of internal instability.”
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