Russia detained top generals just hours after Wagner revolt: Report

Just hours after Wagner group leader Yevgeny Progozhin began his short-lived coup and his forces started a march to Moscow, Russia's domestic security service detained several high-ranking military officers, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday (July 13). The news outlet reported that those detained included General Sergei Surovikin, who is the head of Russia's aerospace forces. The WSJ cited people familiar with the situation.

Surovikin is also nicknamed as General Armageddon over the bombing campaigns he waged in Syria. He is now reportedly being held and interrogated in Moscow but hasn't been charged with a crime. WSJ cited a source to report that Surovikin knew about plans for Wagner insurrection but he himself was not involved in the mutiny.

According to the report, at least 13 senior officials have been detained for questioning, some were later released while around 15 were suspended from duty or were fired.

“The detentions are about cleaning the ranks of those who are believed can’t be trusted anymore,” one said as quoted by the WSJ.

The June 24 mutiny by the Wagner group saw its mercenary fighters capturethe southern city of Rostov-on-Don and then they began a march to Russian capital Moscow. The forces drove hundreds of miles towards Moscow with almost no resistance on the way.

Just when there were fears of a civil war in Russia, the situation was abruptly defused in a deal which was ostensibly brokered by Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Prigozhin had said at the time that the mutiny was not aimed at overthrowing the Putin government but instead was aimed at "bringing to justice" the army and defence chiefs for what was described as their blunders in Ukraine.

Confusion among Russian leadership since mutiny: US

A top US general has now said that there is confusion among the Russian leadership after the Wagner revolt.

"At the strategic level, it is pretty clear that you have a significant amount of friction and confusion," General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a small group of reporters traveling with him in Asia.

"There's a lot of drama going on at the very senior levels. How that's all going to play out at the end of the day? I'm not so sure yet," Milley said. "I don't think we're done with it. I think there's many more chapters to be heard on that."

Milley said that lower-level Russian troops in Ukraine were likely more focused on the situation on the ground and surviving day to day.

(With inputs from agencies)

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