The daughter of a top Russian general thought to have been detained after he was implicated in mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s attempted insurrection over the weekend is denying reports he’s in trouble with the Kremlin.
“Nothing happened to him, no one arrested him, and he’s in his office,” Veronika Surovikina was quoted as telling the Baza Telegram channel, known for its contacts in the Russian security services.
The Financial Times cited several sources earlier Thursday who said General Sergei Surovikin had been detained, though it wasn’t clear if he was facing any charges or just being questioned. The independent Russian outlet iStories, meanwhile, cited sources who said Surovikin had been detained for questioning but has since been released.
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Questions over his whereabouts and current standing with the Kremlin have run rampant in recent days as the fallout over Prigozhin’s armed uprising is expected to lead to a crackdown on any members of the security services who supported him. An arrest would signal that the mercenary boss’ so-called justice march was not simply a rogue rebellion but a sign of deeper rifts among the Russian elite.
Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, vanished from public view after issuing a video appeal for Prigozhin and his men to stand down from their mutiny on Saturday.
The New York Times later reported that Surovikin, who was known to be close to the Wagner founder, knew about the armed uprising in advance and may have supported it.
Dubbed the “butcher of Syria” for his brutal tactics in that country when he led Russia’s military campaign there, he has reportedly been an honorary member of Wagner since he worked closely with Prigozhin in Syria in 2017.
