The Russian newspaper "Kommersant" reported today, Friday, citing a source close to General Sergey Surovikin, that he is currently in Algeria as part of a delegation from the Russian Ministry of Defense, appearing to resume his official duties after coming under suspicion regarding the mutiny of the Wagner Group in June.
The newspaper published photos of Surovikin wearing a khaki suit without military rank, stating that the images were taken in Algeria. Algeria is a major buyer of Russian weapons. Surovikin, nicknamed "General Armageddon" in the Russian media for his use of intense bombing tactics during Russia's intervention in the Syrian civil war, briefly led Russia's campaign in Ukraine last year before being demoted in January.
He gained notoriety among staunch critics of the Russian military establishment, including Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in an airplane crash last month. When Wagner mercenaries advanced towards Moscow in late June, he appeared in a video looking tense, holding a rifle and urging them to retreat. The general, who was publicly praised by Prigozhin, disappeared from the public eye after the mutiny.
The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence believes he was aware of the mutiny in advance. The mutiny represented the greatest challenge to President Vladimir Putin's rule during his 24 years in power. Many media outlets reported that Surovikin had fallen out of favor with the Kremlin and was being investigated for possible complicity in the mutiny.
Last month, Russian state media reported that he had been removed from his position as head of the Air Force, with his deputy Viktor Afzalov temporarily taking over the role. The Kremlin declined to comment on Surovikin's status. Unconfirmed reports this month suggested that Surovikin had been appointed head of the air defense committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which includes Russia and eight other former Soviet states.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War indicated that this move would be "consistent with previous patterns applied by the Russian military leadership, as they transfer disgraced or deemed incompetent commanders to marginal positions far from Ukraine without fully dismissing them from the Russian military."
