General Sergei Surovikin of Russia, a onetime ally of the Wagner chief who hasn’t been seen publicly since a short-lived mutiny last month, is “taking a rest”, one of the country’s top lawmakers said on Wednesday when pressed by a reporter.
“He is unavailable right now,” the lawmaker, Andrei Kartapolov, the head of the Russian Duma’s defence committee, added in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app before hurrying away from the reporter.
General Surovikin was considered to be an ally of Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary company, whose forces mounted the brief insurrection in June. In the days since then, speculation has surrounded General Surovikin, who skillfully pulled out Russian forces from Kherson amid Ukraine’s counteroffensive last year.
The New York Times reported that US officials believe General Surovikin had advance knowledge of the mutiny. In the hours after the rebellion began, the Russian authorities released a video of the general calling on the fighters to stand down. He hasn’t been seen in public since.
New York Times News Service
