General Surovikin arrested in Russia after Prigozhin's mutiny

This is reported by the Financial Times.

Surovikin's arrest was confirmed to the publication by three people familiar with the case. However, it remains unclear whether he was charged with participating in a mutiny organized by Prigozhin or simply detained for questioning.

One source said they believe Surovikin has been detained. Another source said that the Russian general was not at home and that neither he nor his bodyguards and aide could be reached.

At the same time, Surovikin's daughter Veronika denied the general's arrest in a commentary to a Russian propaganda media. She said that nothing had happened to him and that he was at his workplace. Veronika also reminded that Surovikin never appeared in the media on a daily basis and never made any statements. The general's wife refused to comment on the situation.

Earlier, the arrest of Surovikin was reported by Russian propagandists and The Moscow Times, citing sources close to the Russian Defense Ministry.

For the first time, the message about Surovikin's possible arrest appeared on the Telegram channel of blogger-propagandist Vladimir Romanov. According to his information, Surovikin was arrested on 25 June, immediately after the Wagner mutiny. Romanov claimed that Surovikin was being held in the Lefortovo detention centre. 

Subsequently, some pro-war Russian telegram channels reported the arrest of the Russian general. However, some claimed that Surovikin was not arrested, but was only writing explanatory notes in connection with the mutiny.

One of The Moscow Times' sources noted: "The story with him there was not OK. For the authorities. I can't say anything else".

A second source said: "In the context of Prigozhin. Apparently, he (Surovikin - ed.) chose a side (Prigozhin's during the rebellion - ed.) and they caught him". When asked about the general's whereabouts, the source replied: "We don't even comment on this information through internal channels".

According to the sources, it is not entirely clear whether Surovikin was aware of Prigozhin's mutiny. However, they noted that Surovikin allegedly "did not behave particularly submissively when he was given the task of reading the text on camera and ruling, he was too rude to the management". This could have given the impression that Surovikin was a member of the 'Pryzhyn coalition'.

However, the Russian Ministry of Defence has not commented on this information so far.

Surovikin himself last appeared in public on the evening of 23 June. Then he recorded a video message in which he called on the Wagner PMC fighters to stop. As The Guardian wrote, Surovikin, who was awarded the highest general rank in the Russian army - along with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu - disappeared immediately after the mutiny.

In turn, the former editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, Alexei Venediktov, claimed that, according to his information, Surovikin had not been in contact with his family for three days. According to Venediktov, it is also impossible to contact his security.

Whether Surovikin knew about Prigozhin's mutiny

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 different speculations, gossip and so on around these events. I think this is one such example," he said.