Russian General Sergei Surovikin, who earned the nickname “General Armageddon” for his brutal tactics and has not appeared in public since the failed uprising of the Wagner Group in June, has resurfaced, writes The Guardian.

Ostorozhno Media published a photo of the Russian general with his wife, noting that the photo was taken in Moscow on Monday.

General Sergey Surovikin has not appeared in public since the uprising of Wagner’s mercenaries, started by Yevgeny Prigozhin on the night of June 23-24, and there is information about his arrest. However, the Kremlin systematically refuses to confirm this.

In August, Vladimir Putin fired General Surovikin, a suspect in the deal with the Wagner mercenaries, from the post of commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which he had held since before the start of the war, wrote a well-known Russian journalist quoted by Reuters. .

The former editor-in-chief of the Echo of Moscow radio station, Russian journalist Oleksiy Venediktov, reported on his Telegram channel that Surovikin was dismissed from his post by official decree, but did not provide details.

In 2017, Vladimir Putin appointed Surovikin as commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces (the Moscow name for the Air Force).

This is one of the most prestigious positions in the Armed Forces of Russia, which, in addition to the Aerospace Forces, have 5 other types of troops: Ground Forces, Naval Forces, Strategic Missile Forces, Airborne Forces and Special Forces. The logistics service of the Russian Armed Forces is also organized as a separate type.

Sergey Surovikin is considered one of the most capable generals of Russia

Surovikin was appointed commander of Russia’s air force after also commanding Russian forces in Syria in 2017, during which he earned the nickname “General Armageddon” for his brutal tactics. Previously, he was the commander of the Eastern Military District for 4 years.

Last October, Putin chose Surovikin as commander-in-chief of the forces invading Ukraine. But in January 2023, Putin changed the leadership of the invasion forces, appointing General Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian General Staff, as their commander.

The move caught Russian military bloggers and correspondents by surprise, given that Surovikin had successfully led an organized retreat from the east bank of the Dnieper in Kherson Oblast and was considered a competent general with good results.

He was also the one who ordered a massive expansion of Russian defense lines in eastern and southern Ukraine, which are now posing huge problems for the offensive launched by Ukraine in June. Despite the general’s disgrace, Russian military bloggers and some Moscow media still refer to these fortifications and minefields as the “Surovikin Line.”