Russia's most senior generals have dropped out of public view
Russia's most senior generals have dropped out of public view after a failed mercenary mutiny aimed at toppling the top military brass, amid a drive by President Vladimir Putin to reassert his authority, Reuters reports.
Unconfirmed reports say that at least one person has been detained and is being questioned.
Armed forces chief of staff General Valery Gerasimov has not appeared in public or on state TV since the aborted mutiny on Saturday when mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin demanded Gerasimov be handed over. Nor has he been mentioned in a defence ministry press release since June 9.
Gerasimov, 67, is the commander of Russia's war in Ukraine, and the holder of one of Russia's three "nuclear briefcases," according to some Western military analysts. Absent from view too is General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed "General Armageddon" by the Russian press for his aggressive tactics in the Syrian conflict, who is deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.
A New York Times report, based on a U.S. intelligence briefing, said on Tuesday Surovikin had advance knowledge of the mutiny and that Russian authorities were checking whether he was complicit.
The Kremlin on Wednesday played down the report, saying that there would be a lot of speculation and gossip. On Thursday, it declined to answer questions about Surovikin, referring journalists to the defence ministry, which has not yet made a statement about him.
Asked if Putin still had trust in Surovikin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not give an answer either way. He said only that Putin worked with the defence minister and chief of the General Staff rather than someone of Surovikin's rank.
U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday that Surovikin had been supportive of Prigozhin, but that Western intelligence did not know with certainty whether he had helped the rebellion in any way.
