(Reuters) – Common Sergey Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russia’s army operations in Ukraine, had advance information that the mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was planning a revolt towards Moscow’s defence officers, the New York Occasions reported on Tuesday.
The newspaper cited U.S. officers briefed on U.S. intelligence concerning the matter, and reported that the officers had been “attempting to study if Gen. Sergey Surovikin, the previous high Russian commander in Ukraine, helped plan Mr. Prigozhin’s actions final weekend.”
Prigozhin flew into exile in Belarus on Tuesday underneath a deal that ended a quick mutiny by his Wagner fighters over the weekend, as President Vladimir Putin praised his armed forces for averting a civil warfare.
The New York Occasions reported that American officers additionally stated there have been indicators that different Russian generals additionally could have supported Prigozhin.
Reuters couldn’t independently confirm the report.
The Pentagon didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ request for a remark. The Kremlin and the Russian defence ministry additionally didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ queries.
Surovikin, nicknamed “Common Armageddon” by the Russian media, had been put in general cost of Ukraine operations in October. However in January Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu appointed Chief of the Common Workers Valery Gerasimov to supervise the marketing campaign, with Surovikin staying on as his deputy.
Earlier than launching the mutiny, Prigozhin had raged towards each Shoigu and Gerasimov, blaming them for the marketing campaign’s failures and the military’s lack of help for Wagner fighters.
Surovikin urged the Wagner group to surrender their opposition to the army management and return to their bases simply earlier than Prigozhin led his fighters on a so-called “march for justice”. Having set off from the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don over the weekend, Prigozhin aborted the march inside 200 kilometres (125 miles) of Moscow.
(Writing by Lidia Kelly; Further reporting by Eric Beech; Enhancing by Simon Cameron-Moore)