UK intelligence: Two Russian generals disappear after Prigozhin's riot

The military mutiny by the mercenary group Wagner has exacerbated divisions among Russian security officials.

“General Sergei Surovikin, Commander-in-Chief Russian Aerospace Forces and deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, has not been seen in public since the 23-24 June 2023 Wagner Group mutiny. The suspicion that has potentially fallen on senior serving officers highlights how Prigozhin’s abortive insurrection has worsened existing fault lines within Russia’s national security community,” Caliber.Az reports, citing the UK Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine.

“Meanwhile, Deputy Defence Minister Colonel General Yunus-bek Yevkurov was notably absent from a televised appearance by the Ministry of Defence’s leadership on July 3, 2023. Reports of Surovikin’s arrest cannot be confirmed, but authorities will likely be suspicious of his long association with Wagner dating back to his service in Syria from 2017,” the intel data reports.

“Similarly, Yevkurov was filmed talking to Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin during the group’s uncontested take-over of Rostov-on-Don. Although largely known in the West by his brutal reputation, Surovikin is one of the more respected senior officers within the Russian military; any official sanction against him is likely to be divisive,” the report said.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 05 July 2023.

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