Top Russian army commander arrested following failed Wagner mutiny

After the failed mutiny by the Wagner private military company leader Prigozhyn, the Commander of the Aerospace Forces, the Deputy Commander of the Russian Grouping in Ukraine, Sergey Surovikin, was arrested.

The Moscow Times reports this, citing two sources close to Russia's Ministry of Defense and Insider.

"In the context of Prigozhin. Presumably, he (Surovikin – ed.) chose a side (of Prygozhin during the mutiny – ed.), and he was grabbed by the balls," said the source of the publication.

When asked where the general is now, he replied, "We do not comment on this information even through internal channels."

Another source commented on the reason for the arrest: "There, the story with him was not OK. For the leadership. I can't say anything more."

For the first time, information about the possible arrest of Surovikin appeared in the Telegram channel of blogger-propagandist Vladimir Romanov. According to him, Surovikin was arrested on June 25, immediately after the Wagner mutiny. Romanov claimed that Surovikin is in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center.

The Insider reports that it's unknown where he got this information from. According to a source in The Moscow Times, whether Surovikin was aware of Prigozhin's mutiny is not entirely clear.

The source of the publication stated that Surovikin allegedly "behaved not quite submissively when they were given the task of reading the text on camera and rolling it out. He was too rude to the management." He said one could get the impression that Surovikin is part of the "Prigohyn coalition."

The former editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, Aleksey Venediktov, reported that Surovikin "has not been in touch with his family for three days" and that his bodyguards are also not responding.

The New York Times, citing US officials familiar with the intelligence, wrote that Surovikin knew in advance about Prigozhin's plans to launch an armed rebellion against Russia's military leadership.

Now the US authorities are trying to determine whether Surovikin helped plan the mutiny. Surovikin appeared in a video on Saturday, condemning Prigozhin's mutiny and calling on the "Wagnerians" to stop.

According to Russian pro-war media and Telegram channels, 13 to 20 people died due to the mutiny of the Wagner mercenaries.

The Russian army also suffered losses in equipment: according to Vazhnye Istoriyi, these are three Mi-8 electronic warfare helicopters, one transport Mi-8, and two attack helicopters, Ka-52 and Mi-35M, as well as a command post aircraft Il- 22M and two KamAZ and Tiger armored vehicles. "Wagner" lost two UAZs, one KamAZ, and an armored car, VPK-Ural.

At the same time, as reported by the Russian service of Radio Liberty with reference to the calculations of the Dutch Oryx project, during the mutiny, the Wagnerites shot down an Il-22M plane and six helicopters of the Russian army.

Putin acknowledged the death of Russian pilots during the mutiny but did not make any loud statements about it. The Russian dictator convened a meeting with the heads of law enforcement agencies, but at it, he only thanked them for the alleged "suppression" of the mutiny of the Wagner mercenaries. Putin also thanked the Wagner mercenaries themselves, allegedly for "not resorting to fratricidal bloodshed."

Background

On June 23, Wagner mercenary group chief Prigozhin stated that the Russian army had attacked Wagner's rear positions, causing "a huge number of soldiers" to die. In response, he announced a "campaign" to Rostov-on-Don to "deal with lawlessness in the army" and Russian defense minister Shoigu.

On June 24, Prigozhin's mercenaries seized military facilities in Rostov, including the headquarters of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation and an airfield, and took control of military facilities in Voronezh. The Wagner column was also in the Lipetsk oblast. The Russian authorities were already preparing for the siege of Moscow.

In the end, on the evening of June 24, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Aleksander Lukashenko, said that the owner of the Wagner company, in a conversation with Lukashenko, had agreed to stop the movement of mercenaries on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Later, Prigozhin confirmed that his mercenaries were turning their columns and going in the opposite direction. According to him, the mercenaries "passed 200 km before reaching Moscow" in a day. He did not mention the conversation with Lukashenko.

The Kremlin announced that the criminal case against Yevgeny Prigozhin would be dropped, he would "go to Belarus," and the authorities would not prosecute the "Wagners" for attempted sedition. The guarantee that Prigozhin will be able to go to Belarus "is the word of the President of Russia."