Russia’s Gen. Sergei Surovikin has officially been relieved of duty after reportedly spending weeks on house arrest over his suspected involvement in June’s deadly military coup.
The news was first announced Tuesday by journalist Alexei Venediktov, who posted the text from a presidential decree ordering Surovikin’s dismissal as the commander of the Aerospace Forces on Twitter. The decree was not publicly available.
Several pro-Kremlin Telegram channels also shared news of Surovikin’s firing, writing that President Vladimir Putin’s decree was signed last week but kept under wraps.
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Surovikin, who served as the deputy commander of Russian troops in Ukraine, has not been seen in public since June 24, when he was recorded pleading with the notorious Wagner Group to end their violent uprising against military leadership in Russia.
Reports soon emerged that he may have had advance knowledge of the mutiny started by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, with whom he had close ties dating back to when they worked together in Syria. Prigozhin, for his part, had routinely praised Surovikin’s handling of the war against Ukraine even as he railed against other top military brass.
Speculation about Surovikin’s whereabouts has run rampant for months, with numerous reports saying he’d been detained and interrogated over the brief-lived military coup. His disappearance led some to question if he was even still alive.
Last week, the well-connected Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU cited unnamed sources who said Surovikin had been urged to make sure he is simply “forgotten” amid the scandal. A decision on his fate “must be made by one person, and the later this happens, the more he will cool down,” a source was quoted saying of Putin.
