British Intelligence Service insists that sanctions against General Sergei Surovikin “could lead to divisions”

MADRID, July 5 (EUROPA PRESS) –

British intelligence services had indicated this Wednesday that the brief mutiny staged on June 24 by the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeni Prigozhin, “has exacerbated differences within the Russian national security community.”

As such, they highlighted that General Sergei Surovikin, commander of the Russian Air Force and commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, has not been seen in public since the uprising, amid speculation about his possible arrest, an extreme measure the Kremlin has avoided. level in the last few days.

“Information about Surovikin’s arrest cannot be confirmed, but authorities may have suspicions because of its long association with the Wagner Group, which started from its service in Syria since 2017,” they explained, according to a statement published by the UK’s Ministry of Defense via its account on social networks. Twitter.

Similarly, Deputy Defense Minister Yunusbek Yevkurov “was absent on July 3 at the television appearance of the Ministry of Defense leadership”, before stating that “he was recorded talking to Prigozhin during the unopposed seizure of the city of Rostov”. during the group’s Wagner Rebellion.

In this sense, they have stressed that “although he is primarily known in the West for his reputation for brutality, Surovikin is one of the most respected officers in the Russian Army” and they added that “any official sanction against him could lead to divisions”. .

Prigozhin led an uprising on June 24 that included an advance of his troops towards the capital, Moscow, although hours later an agreement was reached implying the withdrawal of members of the Wagner Group with a view to their possible integration into the Army and the Army. Lower costs for those involved. In addition, Prigozhin is going to move to Belarus, where he is already.