Russia detains 13 officers, mainly Surovikin, due to mutiny – WSJ
A Russian secret service has detained at least 12 high-ranking military officers, including General Sergei Surovikin, in connection with the mutiny of Yevgeny Prigozhin; 15 officers have been suspended or fired.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, referring to sources
Details: According to the sources of WSJ, Surovikin was detained a few hours after the beginning of the mutiny, and he is being held in Moscow at the moment. He has not been accused of committing any crime.
He has not been in custody but, reportedly, was being interrogated many times since the investigators were specifying what his role in the mutiny was.
One of the sources states that Surovikin knew about the plans concerning the mutiny but did not participate.
The general may be released when Putin decides what to do with the consequences of the mutiny.
In total, at least 13 high-ranking officers have been detained for interrogation; some of them were later released. About 15 officers have been suspended from fulfilling their duties or fired.
"These detentions are connected with removing those who, as it is thought, cannot be trusted anymore," one of the sources stated.
Andrei Yudin, deputy of Surovikin, and Vladimir Alekseev, deputy head of military intelligence, have been detained as well but later released. They have been suspended from fulfilling service duties; their movements are limited; and they are under surveillance.
Alekseev had long-standing ties to the Wagner group but, like Surovikin, called upon the mercenaries to lay down their arms at the beginning of the mutiny.
Among other detainees, there is former General-Colonel Mikhail Mizintsev, who used to hold the office of the Minister of Defence and joined the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) at the end of April.
Mizintsev got the nickname "Butcher of Mariupol" for being the commander of the Russian storm of the city with mass bombings of residential districts in order to force Mariupol to surrender. Mizintsev was suspended from the post of deputy Minister of Defence, responsible for logistics, and joined the Wagner PMC a few months before the mutiny.
Neither the Kremlin nor the Defence Ministry of Russia have responded to the requests of WSJ to provide commentary.
Background:
- Earlier, the Russian FSB claimed it had closed the criminal case against the mutiny.
- Yet Surovikin, who was linked to Prigozhin by the Western media many times, has not appeared in public since his address to Wagnerites on 24 June at night, in which he called upon them to lay down their arms.
- Financial Times reported on the detention of Surovikin. The outlet stated that he was in custody, but so far it is not clear if he was accused of conspiracy or detained for interrogation.
- The Bloomberg agency also reported that Surovikin was being interrogated by military prosecutors concerning his ties to Prigozhin for several days. The source of the agency reported that Surovikin had been being held "in one location", but he is not in prison.
- Russia denied the information about the detention of Surovikin.
- On 12 July, Andrii Kartapolov, head of the Defence Committee of the State Duma of Russia, claimed in response to a journalist’s questions that Surovikin "is on vacation" and "is so far not available".
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