Moscow: The Kremlin remained silent on the whereabouts of Russia’s deputy chief of staff, General Sergei Surovikin, reported German news agency (dpa). Surovikin’s whereabouts were a matter for the Defence Ministry, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency Interfax, following reports that the general had been arrested.
Peskov had on Wednesday dismissed a US media report as “speculation” that Surovikin was said to have known in advance about the uprising plan of Wagner mercenary force founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Asked whether Russian President Vladimir Putin continued to trust Surovikin, Peskov said the Kremlin chief, as commander-in-chief, was working with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Commander-in-Chief Valery Gerasimov.
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The Kremlin had dismissed a New York Times report that claimed Surovikin knew about the Wagner uprising in advance.
Surovikin is considered an ally of Prigozhin, but sided with Moscow on Saturday night. In a video message, Surovikin called on Prigozhin to end his struggle. Surovikin’s name surfaced repeatedly as Prigozhin’s Wagner Group forces seized Russia’s southern regional military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and sent a military contingent toward Moscow.
The Russian general put out a video in the early hours of Saturday morning, urging Wagner’s mercenaries and leaders to abandon their uprising. His name was then mentioned as a possible mediator between Prigozhin and the defense ministry, a role he has previously played.
Surovikin is the commander of Russia’s Aerospace Forces. He led the Russian war campaign in Ukraine from October 2022 to January 2023. He previously commanded Russian forces in Syria — another instance where he shared a theatre of operations with Prigozhin.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that Moscow will emerge from the aftermath of a recent armed insurrection by the Wagner mercenary group “stronger” than before.
“Russia has always overcome all its problems ... it comes out stronger and stronger. It will be the same this time, too. This process has already begun,” Lavrov told journalists during a briefing in Moscow, after the rebels marched on the capital last week to oust the country’s military leadership.
The revolt posed the most serious threat to Putin’s decades-long rule and spurred Kremlin efforts to disband the private military outfit.
The Wagner group played a key role in the capture of several east Ukraine towns, including Bakhmut, after a mass recruitment drive in Russia.
Answering a question from foreign media, Lavrov said: “thank you for your concern about our national interests, but you shouldn’t be worried”.
Drone strikes early Friday hit an airbase in Libya’s east used by mercenaries of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, without causing any casualties, a military official told AFP.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the origin of the overnight strikes on the Al-Kharruba airbase, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) southwest of Benghazi, was “unknown”.
The base that was hit is “where members of the Wagner group are located”, the official said, adding there were “no victims”.
Libya has been torn by more than a decade of stop-start conflict since a 2011 revolt toppled strongman Moamer Kadhafi, which has also drawn in multiple foreign powers.
The North African country remains split between a nominally interim government in Tripoli in the west, and another in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
Alongside fighters from Chad, Sudan, Niger and Syria recruited as mercenaries, the Wagner group has come to Haftar’s help including in his past failed attempt to take the capital.
Wagner mercenaries remain active in oil-rich eastern Libya as well as the country’s south, though some had left to fight in Mali and Ukraine, supporting the Russian army’s invasion.
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