The biography of General Surovykin disappeared from the website of the Ministry of Defense of Russia

The biography of the former commander of the Russian group in Ukraine, General Sergei Surovykin, has disappeared from the website of the Ministry of Defense of Russia. The blogger and former adviser of Vyacheslav Volodin Anastasia Kashevarova drew attention to the absence of a military card.

According to the archived version of the department’s website, Surovykin’s page was available on September 2 of this year.

Earlier, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu refused to answer a question about the general. On September 5, the press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, also refused to answer a France Press correspondent’s question about the situation with Surovykin.

The former commander of the Russian group in Ukraine has not appeared in public for more than two months, since the mutiny of PMC “Wagner” mercenaries on June 24. The New York Times, citing American officials, reported that Surovykin knew about the mutiny in advance. A few hours after his start, the Russian authorities published a video in which he calls on the mercenaries to return to their place of deployment.

Mass media and various Telegram channels reported that Surovykin was in fact deprived of his freedom after the riot, but was not in a pre-trial detention center, but in another place. It was claimed that he was questioned about his possible involvement in the organization of the armed campaign against Moscow, organized by the now deceased Yevgeny Prigozhin.

On September 4, journalist Ksenia Sobchak published a photo of Surovykin. “General Sergey Surovykin left. He was alive, healthy, at home, with his family, in Moscow. Today’s photo,” she captioned the photo. The journalist did not say where she got the photo from. The New York Times newspaper also wrote about Surovykin’s release, referring to two American officials and a person close to the Ministry of Defense of Russia.

• Sergey Surovykin commanded the Russian troops in Ukraine from October 2022 to January 2023. His name was associated, in particular, with the campaign of attacks on the energy system of Ukraine, as well as the abandonment of Kherson and the entire right-bank part of the Kherson region. In January, he was transferred to the position of deputy commander under the head of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. At the same time, since 2017, Surovykin held the post of commander of the Air Force.