Kremlin labels Sergei Surovikin prior knowledge of mutiny plans ‘gossip’

Save articles for later

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.

Moscow: The Kremlin, asked on Wednesday about a US media report suggesting a top Russian general had known in advance about Saturday’s aborted mutiny by mercenaries, said there would be “a lot of speculation” in the aftermath of the events.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question regarding a report in the New York Times newspaper citing US officials as saying that General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, had advance knowledge of the planned mutiny.

Last seen denouncing the mutiny: Russian General Sergei Surovikin.Credit: AP

“There will now be a lot of speculation, gossip and so on around these events. I think this is one such example,” said Peskov.

Surovikin, who has not been seen in public since Saturday when he made an appeal for the mutiny to be called off, has often been praised by Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin who led the brief rebellion.

The newspaper cited US officials briefed on US intelligence regarding the matter, and reported that the officials were “trying to learn if General Sergei Surovikin, the former top Russian commander in Ukraine, helped plan Mr Prigozhin’s actions last weekend”.

On Thursday, the New York Times noted that when asked “Peskov’s curt response did not deny The Times’s reporting or include an expression of the Kremlin’s confidence in the general”.

Two sources close to the Russian Defence Ministry told a Moscow-based publication that Surovikin had been arrested in connection to the mutiny.

The Moscow Times’ Russian service reported the arrest was carried out “in the context of Prigozhin,” one of two Defence Ministry sources said.

There has been no independent confirmation of the arrest.

Reuters with reporter

Most Viewed in World

Source: Read Full Article