A large campaign of arrests among the officers of the Russian army

Hours after the leader of Russia’s Wagner paramilitary forces, Yevgeny Prigozhin, began his short march to Moscow, the country’s internal security service arrested several top military officers, including General Sergei Surovkin, head of the space forces, people familiar with the situation told the Wall Street Journal. American Journal.

The sources said that Surovkin, known as General Armageddon due to his bombing campaigns in Syria, is being held in Moscow, is being interrogated and has not been charged with a crime.

aware of the plans of the rebellion

The sources said Surovkin was aware of the mutiny plans but the general was not involved in the mutiny. They were detained for questioning, some were later released, and 15 officers have been suspended or fired.

One source said the arrests happen in order to clean up the ranks of those who can no longer be trusted.

According to the sources, Surovkin’s deputy, Colonel Andrei Yudin, and the deputy chief of military intelligence, General Vladimir Alexeyev, were arrested, but they were later released, and one of the officers said that they were suspended from work and their movements were restricted while they were under surveillance.

Among the other figures arrested was former colonel general Mikhail Mezintsev, a former deputy defense minister, who joined Prigozhin’s Wagner Group private military company in late April.

Surfokin was last seen in a video posted on June 23 in which he appears distressed and clutches a weapon in his right hand as he pleads with Brogozhin and his fighters to call off the armed rebellion.

Since the late June rebellion, the Kremlin has proceeded to dismantle Wagner, an important fighting force for the Russians in Ukraine, responsible for the recent capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, and a tool for projecting Russian power in the Middle East and Africa.