Has Gen. Surovikin been arrested?

On Saturday when the march toward Moscow was taking place, Gen. Surovikin put out a video asking Prigozhin to stop. But earlier today I wrote a report that Gen. Surovikin knew in advance about Prigozhin’s plans to essentially kidnap Russia’s defense minister. The NY Times report attributed the information to unnamed US officials:

A senior Russian general had advance knowledge of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plans to rebel against Russia’s military leadership, according to U.S. officials briefed on American intelligence on the matter, which has prompted questions about what support the mercenary leader had inside the top ranks.

The officials said they are trying to learn if Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the former top Russian commander in Ukraine, helped plan Mr. Prigozhin’s actions last weekend, which posed the most dramatic threat to President Vladimir V. Putin in his 23 years in power.

Since the video was released Saturday, Gen. Surovikin hasn’t been seen. Today the independent outlet Moscow Times is reporting that’s because he was arrested.

Russian General Sergei Surovikin has been arrested, The Moscow Times’ Russian service reported Wednesday, citing two sources close to the Defense Ministry who spoke on the condition of anonymity…

“The situation with him was not ‘OK.’ For the authorities. I can’t say anything more,” one of the sources said.

According to the second source, the arrest was carried out “in the context of Prigozhin.”

“Apparently, he [Surovikin] chose Prigozhin’s side during the uprising, and they’ve gotten him by the balls,” the source said.

A pro-Kremlin blogger was the first to report Surovikin’s arrest earlier in the day. He claimed the arrest happened Sunday. Another source claimed that Surovikin hadn’t contacted his family for three days.

The first report of Surovikin’s possible arrest emerged on the Telegram channel of a Kremlin-aligned blogger Vladimir Romanov. He claimed that Surovikin was arrested on 25 June, immediately after the Wagner PMC mutiny. Romanov asserted that Surovikin was being held in the Lefortovo Detention Centre in Moscow…

Alexei Venediktov, editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, reported that Surovikin “has not been in contact with his family for three days and that his guards are not responsive”.

There’s no confirmation of this but the Financial Times has a story up confirming that Putin is doing his best to look tough in the wake of a weekend that made him look weak.

While Putin has dropped charges against Wagner, Russia’s security forces “have started shaking down sympathisers and those who violated their oath”, said a person who has known Prigozhin since the 1990s…

Putin “knows they look weak” after Russia dropped charges against Wagner to avoid an open firefight that would have likely killed thousands, said a sanctioned figure within Russia’s elite.

“It’s real tough guy stuff,” the person said. “It’s like when you go into the prison cell for the first time and punch the biggest guy you can find in the face to show nobody can mess with you.”

The FT story goes on to suggest that there was a split at the top levels between Defense Minister Shoigu and Gen. Surovikin with Surovikin more friendly toward the Wagner group even as Prigozhin was attacking Shoigu. But after the “March for Justice” anyone who was sympathetic to Prigozhin can now be painted as a possible traitor. And of course it’s also possible he really is a traitor, though in this case that’s would probably be a good thing.

Here’s Surovikin’s video from Saturday which some are now suggesting looks like a hostage video. He’s clearly reading this and doesn’t seem to be too enthusiastic about it.

General “Armageddon” Surovikin published a video calling Wagner to “obey the Supreme Commander”.

“I have just returned by the order of the Ministry of Defence from the zero line, where our forces, our commanders, our soldiers, volunteers carry out the objective, fighting the… pic.twitter.com/oUgGWmlHsI

— Dmitri (@wartranslated) June 23, 2023