Russia’s top general Valery Gerasimov makes first public appearance since aborted Wagner mutiny

Top Russian general, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, was shown in a video released by the defence ministry, on Monday (July 10), ordering officers to destroy Ukrainian missile sites, in his first public appearance since the aborted Wagner mutiny last month. This also comes days after the Russian defence minister made his first public appearance since the mercenary group’s attempted coup.

What was the video about?

In the footage released by the Russian defence ministry and also shown on state TV, Gerasimov was seen sitting in a military command centre chairing a meeting with top generals, reported Reuters. The 67-year-old top Russian general asked for and then listened to a report by Viktor Afzalov, a deputy in the aerospace forces to General Sergei Surovikin.

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Surovikin has yet to make a public appearance, and his whereabouts remain unclear. The meeting seen in the footage was said to have taken place on Sunday and also described Gerasimov as the general staff of the Russian armed forces and commander of Moscow’s forces in Ukraine, which are positions he held prior to the Wagner mutiny.

In the video, Gerasimov was being briefed about a Ukrainian missile attack over Crimea and the Rostov region, which Russian officials reported on Sunday. Russia also claimed that it intercepted both missiles, one near the city of Kerch in the Crimean peninsula which Moscow annexed in 2014 and another in the Rostov region, close to the Ukrainian border.

Russia’s top general was seen ordering a response to the attacks, where no casualties and some damage to the buildings in the Rostov region were reported by officials. Gerasimov said, “We note that the aerospace forces have coped with the task (of shooting down the missiles),” reported Reuters.

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Subsequently, he also asked the aerospace forces and GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate) military intelligence to identify “the storage sites and launch positions of the missiles and other enemy strike weapons to plan a preemptive strike”.

Notably, the faces of most of the participants in the video call were blurred out except for Surovikin’s deputy Afzalov. Additionally, Gerasimov’s subordinates Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi and Colonel-General Alexei Kim were also seen in the video released on Monday, reported Reuters.

What do these public appearances mean?

The recent footage released also comes after the defence ministry, on Saturday, said Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected troops and oversaw the training of the newly formed units made up of contracted servicemen.

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It was the defence minister’s first public appearance since last month’s aborted mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group. The Russian ministry also released footage on Telegram which shows Shoigu in khaki military fatigues inspecting soldiers at a shooting range, reported Reuters.

The recent footage and first public appearances indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin retained his two most powerful military men Shoigu and Gerasimov. This was despite repeated criticism and demands from Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin who called for them to be sacked over alleged incompetence amid Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.

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On June 24, Prigozhin announced a coup against the Kremlin amid growing discontent with the top Russian defence officials. The mercenary group’s fighters took control of Rostov-on-Don, which is one of Russia’s largest cities, but did not proceed further saying that they wanted to avoid “shedding Russian blood” and agreed to live in exile in Belarus.

(With inputs from agencies)

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