2023-06-29 17:37:38
Mystery surrounds the fate of the former commander of the Russian forces in Syria, Sergei Surovikin
Veronika Surovikina, via the Baza channel on Telegram, quickly denied the news reported by the British newspaper, the Financial Times, today, Thursday, that her father, deputy commander of the Russian Forces Group in Ukraine, General Sergey Surovikin, had been arrested, stressing that “everyone is in places.” their work.”
Surovikin had participated in the Russian military operation in Syria, taking command of the Russian forces group in Syria, as part of his two missions in 2017 and 2019.
Surovikin has been out of the public eye since Saturday, when he appeared in a video clip appealing to the commander of the Wagner private military group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to end the rebellion. Surovikin, dubbed General “Armageddon” in the Russian media for his brutal methods in the Syrian conflict, is the deputy commander of the Russian forces in Ukraine.
He appeared exhausted in that clip, and it was not clear if he was speaking under compulsion. Since then, there have been unconfirmed reports that the security services are investigating him.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred questions about Surovikin to the Defense Ministry, which has not yet issued a statement on it.
When reporters asked him if the Kremlin could clarify Surovikin’s situation, Peskov said: “No, unfortunately not.” He added, “Therefore, I recommend that you contact the Ministry of Defense, this is its competence.”
And Peskov added that questions about “structural units within the ministry” should be directed to the Ministry of Defense.
And last October, Surovikin was appointed commander of the United Forces Group in the area of conducting the “special military operation” in Ukraine, according to a decision by the Russian Minister of Defense, Sergey Shoigu, hours after the incident of targeting the Crimean bridge linking continental Russia and the peninsula that Moscow annexed it in 2014. Since then, Russia has launched a series of massive strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure sites.
From Syria to Ukraine
Surovikin, 56, was born in Novosibirsk, Siberia, and has been serving in the Soviet Armed Forces since 1983. In 1995, he graduated from the Frunze Military College in Omsk, before holding, since 1998, a number of leadership positions. From the motorized rifle teams, then in various military departments, until he was appointed commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces at the end of 2017.
Surovikin participated in the Russian military operation in Syria, assuming command of the Russian forces group in Syria in the framework of his two missions in 2017 and 2019.
Sorovikin was assigned full responsibility for operations in Ukraine last October, but Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu assigned in January the Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, to supervise the campaign, with Sorovikin as his deputy.
Surovikin has a long military field record, as he participated in a number of wars, including the armed conflict in Tajikistan in the 1990s, the second Chechen war (1999-2000), and he was awarded the Orders of the Hero of Russia and St. George of the fourth degree, courage and others.
And the New York Times reported, last Tuesday, that the deputy commander of Russian military operations in Ukraine, General Sergei Surovikin, had prior knowledge that the commander of the Wagner Special Military Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was planning to rebel against Russian defense officials.
Citing US officials briefed on US intelligence, the newspaper said the officials “were trying to determine whether General Sergei Surovikin, Russia’s former top commander in Ukraine, helped plan Prigozhin’s movements over the weekend.”
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