Russian authorities try to purge Prigozhin supporting officers - international security expert

Taras Zhovtenko, an expert on international security at the Democratic Initiatives Foundation and PhD in Political Science, said this on Espreso TV.

"Putin's regime is doing everything it can to purge the senior officers of the Russian army of Prigozhin's supporters. They started with Surovikin, Prigozhin's creator in Syria, and they are not stopping there, but are trying to eliminate all those suspected of loyalty to the Wagner PMC head," he emphasized.

According to the expert, the Russian authorities were shocked by how quickly the Wagner soldiers seized almost all military facilities in Rostov and encountered almost no resistance, meaning that the Russian troops surrendered to them. In particular, the rebels took control of the headquarters of the Southern Military District, from where they coordinated the war against Ukraine.

"This is a classic panic reaction on the part of the Russian dictatorship - to try to eliminate disloyal military officers who could potentially threaten with something similar to what Prigozhin did, but from within the army," noted Zhovtenko.

What is known about Surovikin

General Sergei Surovikin has been the head of the Russian forces in Ukraine since early October 2022. In January, he was removed from this position. Surovikin is also called "General Armageddon" because of his criminal orders to bomb Syria.

Earlier, The New York Times, citing US officials familiar with the intelligence, wrote that Surovikin knew in advance about Prigozhin's plans to launch an armed rebellion against Russia's military leadership. Now the US authorities are trying to find out whether Surovikin helped plan the rebellion.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on the publication and said it was speculation.

"Now there will be a lot of speculation, gossip and so on around these events. I think this is one such example," he said.

After the unsuccessful rebellion of the Wagner PMC leader Prigozhin, the media reported that Surovikin had been arrested. The network wrote that he allegedly supported Prigozhin, although the Russian general recorded a video calling on the Wagner mercenaries to stop.

General Sergei Surovikin, commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces and deputy commander of Russian troops in Ukraine, could be arrested after the failed coup by Wagner PMC financier Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Financial Times reported on June 29.  

Instead, Surovikin's daughter Veronika denied the general's arrest in a commentary to a Russian propaganda media. 

According to British intelligence on July 5, the information about Surovikin's arrest has not yet been confirmed.

Later, a representative of the press service of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Andriy Yusov, said that Sergei Surovikin was interrogated in Russia to find out about his involvement in the Wagner PMC rebellion.

On July 13, the WSJ reported that after Prigozhin's mutiny, along with Russian commander Sergei Surovikin, at least 13 senior officers were detained in Russia, and another 15 were suspended or dismissed.