Putin begins post-mutiny purge as ‘General Armageddon’ reportedly detained and deputy fired
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A top Russian general has reportedly been detained after Vladimir Putin launched a purge targeting supporters of the Wagner mutiny at the weekend.
Sergei Surovikin, the former commander of Russia’s forces in Ukraine, nicknamed “General Armageddon”, has not been seen since early on Saturday when he released a brief video calling on the mercenaries to end their rebellion.
The Financial Times on Thursday reported that the general had been detained, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
It was not clear whether Gen Surovikin was detained as part of a formal investigation but Bloomberg on Thursday reported that he has been questioned by military prosecutors over his links to Wagner. The general, it said, is not in prison but is being “kept in one place”.
US intelligence sources told the New York Times earlier this week that he may have had prior knowledge of the mutiny.
Reports about Gen Surovikin’s arrest first surfaced on Wednesday night when a pro-war Russian blogger said the general had been taken to the FSB’s notorious Lefortovo prison in Moscow.
But later on Thursday, a media outlet with close links to Russia’s FSB security service published an interview with an unnamed daughter of Gen Surovikin who insisted he was not arrested.
“Nothing happened to him. He’s at work,” the woman told Baza.
It came as satellite imagery appeared to show rapid building activity at a military base in southern Belarus, prompting speculation that Wagner troops would relocate to the country.
Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, invited Wagner to set up operations in his country as part of a deal that ended the mutiny on Saturday.
The images appeared to show rows of tents being built at the previously vacant military facility near the town of Asipovichy, about 50 miles from Minsk.
The FSB earlier this week dropped the criminal investigation into the mutiny but it was unclear if Gen Surovikin and others might be questioned as part of another probe.
Josep Borrel, the EU’s foreign policy chief, appeared to confirm the reports on Thursday, saying Putin had launched a crackdown targeting those with ties to the mutineers.
“Some generals have been arrested so I suppose that Putin will be in a cleaning mode internally,” he said.
Gen Surovikin, who earned his nickname and reputation for brutality by flattening Syria’s Aleppo during Russia’s air campaign in support of the Assad regime in 2016, was replaced as commander of Russian forces in Ukraine in January by Gen Valery Gerasimov after only three months in the post.
He remained an influential figure, however, and played an important role liaising with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and acting as an informal handler of the Wagner forces, which draw all their supplies, weapons and ammunition from the Russian military.
Meanwhile, Gen Surovikin’s deputy, Colonel-General Andrei Yudin, has now been fired from the Russian army in the fallout from the weekend’s aborted mutiny, according to Aleksey Venediktov, the former editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow.
Col-Gen Yudin told the Ura.ru website on Thursday that he was “at home on leave”.
Not a single general or senior public official publicly backed the rebellion over the weekend, but the Wagner boss has won a number of supporters through his group’s exploits in the war, including the capture of Bakhmut after a long and bloody siege.
Several governors and other officials openly sided with Prigozhin during his feud with the defence ministry and Gen Gerasimov, the army chief.
A Kremlin spokesman on Thursday refused to comment on the whereabouts of Gen Surovikin or reports that he has been detained.
Asked by reporters if the Kremlin could clarify the situation with Gen Surovikin, Dmitry Peskov said: “No, unfortunately not.”
Sergei Markov, a former member of parliament and a Kremlin-linked political scientist, on Thursday said the authorities should “show Surovikin to everyone” or Russians “might think of large-scale, secret arrests”.
Mr Markov also said the general is likely to be questioned not as a suspect but “as a very informed” source.
“Surovikin was the main in-between for the defence ministry and Wagner so he knows more than anyone else,” he said.
