Russia’s top military commander was shown on state television Monday for the first time since the abortive mutiny by Wagner mercenaries aimed at ousting him.
(Bloomberg) — Russia’s top military commander was shown on state television Monday for the first time since the abortive mutiny by Wagner mercenaries aimed at ousting him.
Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, who’s in charge of Russia’s war operations in Ukraine, was shown in a brief video receiving battlefield reports from officials. He ordered steps to identify launch sites of Ukrainian missiles and to improve protection against air strikes, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on its Telegram channel that apparently sought to dispel recent speculation in some media that Gerasimov had been dismissed.
President Vladimir Putin appointed Gerasimov as overall commander of Russia’s invasion force in January in place of General Sergei Surovikin, who hasn’t been seen in public since the Wagner rebellion ended on June 24. Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin had sought to overthrow Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, blaming them for multiple failures during the war and accusing them of seeking to destroy his mercenary group.
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Surovikin, 56, has been questioned by investigators about the mutiny and his links to Prigozhin, who had heaped praise on the general prior to the revolt that posed the greatest threat to Putin’s nearly quarter-century rule in Russia. The career military officer, whose brutal reputation earned him the nickname “General Armageddon,” was last seen in a Defense Ministry video June 24 urging Prigozhin to end the uprising.
Wagner’s heavily armed troops took control of Russia’s southern city of Rostov-on-Don, and then moved rapidly to within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of Moscow, meeting little resistance from army units along the way. Prigozhin called off the mutiny under a deal brokered by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.
Prigozhin also hasn’t been seen publicly since the revolt ended. Lukashenko said last week that the Wagner leader had returned to Russia after traveling to his country.
The apparent ease with which Prigozhin is able to travel in and out of Russia raises questions about the terms of the deal with Putin, who publicly agreed to allow the Wagner founder to go to Belarus along with any of his fighters who wanted to join him, and to drop criminal cases against them for armed mutiny.
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