General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine who has not been seen in public since last month’s failed uprising by the Wagner Group, is “resting,” according to a senior lawmaker.
Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee, was heard telling a reporter in a video posted on social media Wednesday: “Surovikin is currently resting. [He is] not available for now.”
Kartapolov’s flippant response to a question about Surovikin’s status echoed previous comments reported by various Telegram news channels, saying that the general was resting “in one of the Caucasus resorts.”
Meanwhile, the independent Russian Telegram news channel Verstka reported Wednesday, citing anonymous sources, that Surovikin has been detained and questioned by the counterintelligence arm of the FSB, Russia’s security service, on suspicion of taking part in the organization of the Wagner Group’s insurrection. But so far, he has not been charged with any crime.
“Surovikin is in isolation and has not communicated with his relatives in more than two weeks,” according to a source familiar with the matter speaking to Verstka.
Surovikin, nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian media for his brutal tactics during the military campaign in Syria, was last seen when he released a video urging mutinous Wagner mercenaries to lay down their weapons.
The fearsome general’s cringe-inducing televised appeal was likened by many to a “hostage video.”
Surovikin, who was said to have enjoyed good relations with Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, allegedly had advance knowledge of the short-lived rebellion, according to a New York Times report based on a US intelligence briefing.
Russia’s influential pro-war Rybar Telegram channel later reported unconfirmed claims that Surovikin had been arrested and subjected to interrogation because of his ties to Wagner.
Some outlets have claimed, without evidence, that Surovikin had been thrown into Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison. A source speaking to Bloomberg argued that the general was “in some place,” but not behind bars.
The Kremlin swiftly dismissed allegations about Surovikin’s fate as “speculation” and “gossip” — but declined to directly answer questions about the general’s whereabouts.
When asked whether President Vladimir Putin still trusted Surovikin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov offered a characteristically evasive response: “[Putin] is the supreme commander-in-chief and he works with the defense minister and with the chief of the General Staff.”
In the days after Prigozhin agreed to a truce with the Kremlin, brokered to the leader of Belarus, Surovikin’s daughter, Veronica Surovikina, denied reports that her father had been arrested.
“Nothing has happened to him, he is at his place of work,” she told the Russian news outlet Baza last month.