Russian general detained days after Wagner Group rebellion

A Russian general appears to be one of the first officials to suffer consequences after Wagner Group mercenaries staged a brief rebellion. Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces fighting in Ukraine, has reportedly been detained.

It’s not clear where Surovikin is detained, or whether he has been charged with any crimes. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Surovikin’s whereabouts on Thursday, June 29.

“I recommend you to contact the Defense Ministry. This is the ministry’s prerogative,” Peskov said. “You need to understand [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is the supreme commander, and he works with the defense minister, the chief of the General Staff. As for all the structural units in the ministry, I ask you to contact the ministry.”

Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has spoken positively of Surovikin, while criticizing other Russian military leaders. On June 27, The New York Times reported that U.S. officials believe Surovikin had advanced knowledge of Prigozhin’s plan to stage the rebellion.

It isn’t clear if Surovikin will be the only Russian general to face consequences from the Wagner Group rebellion. U.S. officials are still monitoring the effect of the rebellion on the group itself.

“What I would tell you is right now we continue to see some elements of the Wagner group in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a press briefing Thursday. “But in terms of the future of Wagner Group, that’s really a question best addressed by Russia, which, of course, as you know, funds the Wagner Group and how they will be employed going throughout the rest of this conflict and elsewhere around the world.”

The fallout from the Wagner Group rebellion comes as Ukraine continues its counteroffensive on Russia. Ukrainian forces are attempting to wear down the Russian military and reshape battle lines to create more favorable conditions. One strategy could be to try to split Russia’s forces in two so that the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, is isolated from the rest of the territory it controls.