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Who is the Russian general Surovikin, missing since the rebellion?

2023-06-30 08:48:36Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Who is the Russian general Surovikin, missing since the rebellion?
Sergei Surovikin and Vladimir Putin

Russian army general Sergei Surovikin is among the top generals who have disappeared from public view since the failed June 24 coup aimed at toppling Russia's political elite.

The burly, shaven-headed Surovikin, 56, was last seen on June 24, when he appeared in a video showing him feeling uncomfortable and having difficulty breathing, asking the mercenary boss to give up. of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

A New York Times report, based on a US intelligence briefing, said Surovikin had prior knowledge of the uprising and that authorities were checking whether he was an accomplice.

The Kremlin denied that report but on Thursday declined to answer questions about the general.

Surovikin, then the commander of Russian forces in southern Ukraine, was given overall command in Ukraine on October 8 – the first to be publicly appointed to that role.

Russia had just been defeated in the northeastern region of Kharkiv. Within a month, he had ordered a withdrawal from the west bank of the Dnieper River in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, recognizing that his forces were in danger of being pinned down by the bombing of an important bridge.

The contingent, estimated by the US at 30,000 troops, withdrew, blowing up the bridge after their departure.

Ukraine's defense minister and Western diplomats said Surovikin appears to have increased discipline while also increasing attacks on infrastructure.

His image as a giant Siberian, willing to use brutal tactics to achieve results, appealed to Russian nationalists, who felt he could oversee the withdrawal without opening dangerous internal divisions.

However, as the war stagnated, in January he was subordinate to the Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, standing as one of Gerasimov's three deputies.

After the retreat from Kherson, Prigozhin, a fierce critic of Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, praised Surovikin as "a man who is not afraid of responsibility."

A month ago, Prigozhin said that Surovikin should replace Gerasimov.

When Prigozhin organized his mutiny, Surovikin was one of two generals who watched a video while publicly urging him to step down.

However, Surovikin looked strained and uncomfortable.

US officials told Reuters on Wednesday that Surovikin had supported Prigozhin, but that Western intelligence did not know for sure whether he had aided the rebellion in any way.

The Moscow Times and a military publisher reported Surovikin's arrest, while several other defense correspondents said he and other senior officers were being questioned by Russia's FSB security service to verify their loyalty.

Even the Associated Press agency, citing sources, has reported that General Surovikin is believed to have been arrested a few days after the rebellion. Reuters could not independently verify these reports.

In 2017, while commanding Russia's vast Eastern Military District, Surovik, he was sent for about eight months to lead forces deployed to Syria to help President Bashar al-Assad fight various rebel groups.

By the time he left office, the civil war had turned in Assad's favor and President Vladimir Putin was preparing a visit to announce a withdrawal of Russian forces.

Surovikin was awarded the command of the Air Force of Russia and became a hero of Russia. In 2021 he was an army general, equal in rank to Gerasimov.

While Russia denied targeting civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian airstrikes and often indiscriminate bombing killed 5,700 civilians in the two years to September 2017. /REL


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