1970-01-01 02:00:00
General Sergei Surovikin, deputy commander of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, had prior knowledge that mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigojin was planning a rebellion against Moscow defense officials, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
The paper quoted US officials briefed on US intelligence on the matter and reported that officials were “trying to find out whether General Sergei Surovikin, former Russian Commander-in-Chief in Ukraine, helped plan Mr. Prigojin’s actions in the last order of week”.
Prigojin fled into exile in Belarus on Tuesday as part of a deal that ended a brief uprising by his Wagner group fighters over the weekend, as President Vladimir Putin praised his armed forces for averting civil war.
The New York Times reported that US officials also said there were indications that other Russian generals may have also supported Prigojin.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the report.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. The Kremlin and the Russian Defense Ministry also did not immediately respond to Reuters queries.
Surovikin, dubbed “General Armageddon” by Russian media, had been placed in overall command of operations in Ukraine in October. But in January, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appointed Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov to oversee the campaign, keeping Surovikin as his deputy.
Before starting the revolt, Prigojin had spoken out against Shoigu and Gerasimov, blaming them for the failures of the campaign and the lack of support from the army to the fighters of the Wagner group.
Surovikin urged the Wagner group to give up their opposition to the military leadership and return to their bases shortly before Prigojin led his fighters in a so-called “march for justice”. After departing the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don at the weekend, Prigojin aborted the march about 200 kilometers from Moscow.
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