Several Russian journalists on Monday published photos of Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the commander known as “General Armageddon” for his aggressive tactics who has not been seen in public since Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin launched his ill-fated mutiny in June.
“General Sergei Surovikin is out. Alive, healthy, at home, with his family, in Moscow. Photo taken today,” Russian media personality Ksenia Sobchak wrote Monday on the encrypted messaging platform Telegram.
Sobchak included a photo of Surovikin dressed in casual civilian clothes and walking through a garden beside a woman who appears to be his wife Anna.
A photo of Surovikin and his wife has emerged. A thread on the choppy information about him, which is more telling, and some implications for the state of Russian military leadership and the war effort. /1 pic.twitter.com/qj9MLjIWoE
— Dara Massicot (@MassDara) September 5, 2023
“General Surovikin is at home with his family. He is on leave and available to the Defence Ministry,” seconded Russian journalist Alexei Venediktov, without providing any photographic evidence for his assertion.
Venediktov said Surovikin was allowed to speak with his family shortly after the mutiny but has been held incommunicado ever since, possibly while President Vladimir Putin decides his fate.
Venediktov said Surovikin has been interrogated by a commission to weed out Prigozhin sympathizers, which was established by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the primary target of Prigozhin’s anger.
International media outlets could not confirm the authenticity of Sobchak’s photo, or when and where it was taken. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on Surovikin’s status at a press conference on Tuesday.
However, unnamed U.S. officials told the New York Times (NYT) on Tuesday they believe Surovikin has been released from the secret detention in which he has been held ever since Prigozhin’s mutiny. These officials said it was unclear whether Surovikin remains under some form of house arrest, or if he is still an officer in the Russian military.
A person “close to the Russian Defense Ministry” told the NYT that Surovikin was arrested during the mutiny but released in late August after Prigozhin and most of his Wagner Group’s top leaders were killed in a mysterious plane crash.
Russian state media reported in August that Surovikin had been quietly relieved as commander of aerospace forces, making him the highest-level military official to be disciplined in connection with the Prigozhin mutiny. Those earlier reports suggested Surovikin had been demoted but not dismissed from military service entirely.
Surovikin picked up the nickname “General Armageddon” for ordering brutally effective air and ground attacks against civilian targets in Syria, where Russia intervened in a long-running civil war to prop up dictator Bashar Assad.
A man sits near the grave of Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash, as people visit the grave to pay tribute in Saint Petersburg, Russia on August 30, 2023. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Surovikin was placed in charge of Russia’s bogged-down Ukraine invasion in early October 2022 and promptly implemented his Syria playbook of attacking civilian targets.
“I am not surprised to see what happened this morning in Kyiv. Surovikin is absolutely ruthless, with little regard for human life. I am afraid his hands will be completely covered in Ukrainian blood,” a former Russian Defense Ministry official told the UK Guardian at the time.
While he was managing the war in Syria, Surovikin developed a good working relationship with the Wagner Group, which had fighters deployed in the Syrian theater. Prigozhin was among those who loudly applauded the appointment of General Armageddon to lead the war effort in Ukraine.
When Prigozhin launched his two-day mutiny on June 23, Surovikin was the top Russian military officer he conspicuously did not criticize. Surovikin’s last public appearance, until now, was in a very awkward videotaped message he recorded to Prigozhin and his mercenaries, urging them to halt their march on Moscow and lay down their arms.
“We fought together with you, took risks, we won together. We are of the same blood, we are warriors. I urge you to stop,” Surovikin said to Prigozhin in the video, his tone so lifeless that viewers speculated he was either drunk or being forced to recite the message at gunpoint.
Russian state media floated rumors that Surovikin was merely “resting” after recording his hostage video, but most observers assumed he was either dead or under arrest, possibly having been arrested for supporting the Prigozhin mutiny.
During his three months as commander of the Ukraine invasion, Surovikin established a defensive line that proved capable of repelling several Ukrainian counterattacks. On Tuesday, Ukrainian forces reportedly managed to breach the “Surovikin Line” after four months of effort.