Sergei Surovikin, the Russian general who had prior knowledge of the Wagner Group rebellion, will have been arrested, say three sources quoted by the Financial Times newspaper, at a time when the Russian president was beginning to purge the military hierarchy.
The general, who until now was number 2 in command of Russian troops in Ukraine, has not been seen since Saturday, precisely the day the Wagner Group invaded military installations in Rostov, Russia.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the leader of the mercenary group, headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, planned to capture the Russian military leadership during the rebellion before secret agents discovered the plan.
The American newspaper points out that Western sources believe that Prigozhin has communicated his intentions to Russian General Sergei Surovikin, information also published by The New York Times and classified as speculation by the Kremlin.
In an audio broadcast on Telegram, Surovikin’s daughter guarantees that her father is not detained, but does not clarify his whereabouts.
The Kremlin dismantled the Wagner Group and Putin gave the mercenaries three options: return home, asylum in Belarus or enlist in the Russian army. The oligarch Prigozhin traveled to Minsk, where Lukashenko reportedly offered him protection.
The presence of the leader of the Russian mercenaries led countries like Poland, Lithuania and Latvia to ask NATO to reinforce the border.
Source: TSF
