‘Missing’ Russian General Surovikin Allegedly A Leading Member Of Wagner PMC

The ‘missing’ Russian General, Sergei Surovikin, was allegedly a leading member of the Wagner PMC.

A report this Friday, June 30, by the US news corporation CNN claimed that the outlet was in possession of documents that showed the high-ranking officer was in fact listed as a VIP in Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenary army.

It was reported by several Russian news sources recently that Surovkin had been detained on suspicion of being involved in last weekend’s ‘armed uprising’ by the private army.

Surovikin was in charge of the Russian operation in Ukraine until he was replaced in January by General Valery Gerasimov, who took over as the new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia.

Surovikin and Gerasimov have both ‘vanished’

Both officers are reported to have ‘vanished’ since last weekend’s incident as Vladimir Putin appears to be purging his military in a search for anybody he believes could be secretly linked to, and helping, Prigozhin.

According to the CCN report, the documents were obtained by the Russian Investigative Dossier Centre and revealed that Surovikin had a personal registration number with Wagner since 2018.

At least 30 other senior Russian military and intelligence officials had also been integrated into Wagner, according to the information received by the news outlet, although their names were not revealed.

VIP membership of Wagner of course in no way proves that Surovkin – or any of the others – was on the PMC’s payroll. However, it does suggest that they enjoyed a healthy relationship with each other.

Surovkin’s daughter claimed her father was ‘at work’

While there are numerous reports about Surovikin going missing, his daughter Veronika denied the claims and told the Baza Telegram channel: ‘Honestly, nothing has happened to him. He is in his workplace’.

‘He is the only person with an army general’s star who knows how to fight. There is no one else so sensible and star-spangled’, the Wagner boss said previously of Surovikin.

He was nicknamed ‘General Armageddon’ for the brutality of his actions in previous operations. At the time of his ‘disappearance’ the officer was still deputy commander of Russian troops in Ukraine.

Moscow’s military leadership appointed Surovikin to liaise with Prigozhin

Surovikin was appointed by Moscow’s military leadership as Prigozhin’s liaison to the frontline after dialogue became untenable with the mercenary chief because of his criticism of the defence ministry.

Following last weekend’s rebellion, the general was among the first to urge the Wagner forces to stop their mutiny. He appeared in recorded video footage making his appeal for them to return to their bases before it was too late.