Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov said that media reports that the former commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, General Serhiy Surovikin, nicknamed “General Armageddon” knew about the armed mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin, are pure speculation, writes Reuters.

Asked by the Kremlin on Wednesday about a New York Times article that a senior Russian general knew in advance of the one-day mutiny by Wagner mercenaries initiated by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin said there would be “a lot of speculation” after the events. saturday

“Now there will be many different speculations, gossip and so on around these events. I think this is such an example,” Peskov said, TASS reports.

U.S. officials told The News York Times that General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russian military operations in Ukraine, may have known in advance of Prigozhin’s planned uprising.

The US officials quoted by the publication are trying to find out whether the general helped the founder of the paramilitary group to plan the uprising and whether other Russian military supported the rebels.

Current and former US officials have speculated that Prigozhin would not have launched the rebellion if he did not believe that others in key positions would support him, leading them to believe that the mercenary leader had internal support to carry out the rebellion.

Surovikin, who was nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian press, headed operations in Ukraine in October 2022.

But in January 2023, the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Serhiy Shoigu appointed the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in his place, and Surovikin remained his deputy.

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