Russian General Sergei Surovikin Was Reportedly Arrested and Detained

Russian general Sergei Surovikin has reportedly been arrested and detained.

The Moscow Times reported on the matter on Wednesday, citing two unnamed sources close to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The Ministry of Defense has yet to comment on the alleged arrest of Surovikin, who has not been seen in public since Saturday.

When the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, launched an armed uprising against the Russian military leadership,

"The situation with him is not OK. As for the authorities, I can't say anything more," said one of the sources.

According to a second source, the arrest was made in the context of PMC Wagner Leader Prigozhin.

"Apparently, he (Surovikin) chose Prigozhin's side during the uprising, and they managed to arrest him," said the source.

When asked about the general's current whereabouts, the source replied, "We don't even comment on this information through our internal channels."

Earlier Wednesday, pro-war military blogger Vladimir Romanov said Surovikin was detained on Sunday, a day after the Prigozhin uprising was called off.

Romanov claims that Surovikin is currently being held at Moscow's Lefortovo Detention Center.

Alexei Venediktov, editor-in-chief of the shuttered Ekho Moskvy Radio station, wrote on Telegram that Surovikin had not contacted his family for three days and that his bodyguards had not responded.

The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing unnamed US officials, that Surovikin had been aware of Prigozhin's plot to incite an uprising against the Russian military leadership.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the report on Wednesday as "speculation" and "gossip", suggesting that Putin had not given in to Prigozhin's demands for an imminent reshuffle of Russia's military leadership.

The Wagner uprising sparked Russia's most serious security crisis in decades before Prigozhin agreed to step down late Saturday in exchange for immunity in exile as part of a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Surovikin commanded Russian troops in Ukraine for three months between October 2022 and January 2023 until he was replaced by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.