Army General Surovikin's surprise public appearance generates more rumours about his fate

Kremlin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that he had no knowledge about Army General Sergei Surovikin, TASS reports.

Journalists asked Peskov whether he knew anything about Surovikin's whereabouts.

"No, I don't know anything," the Kremlin spokesman said in response.

On September 4, a photo of Army General Surovikin appeared on the Internet. The photo showed Surovikin in plain clothes walking with his wife. The picture was published on Bloody Lady Telegram channel. The caption to the picture said that General Surovikin was in good health and that he was staying with his family in Moscow. The authors of the Bloody Lady Telegram channel, where the photo appeared, said that the picture was taken on September 4.

Sergei Surovikin has not made a public appearance for the last two months.

The same day, September 4, journalists asked Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu a question about Surovikin. In particular, they asked the minister what happened to Surovikin and whether an investigation was underway against him, Interfax reports.

"Are these all of your questions?" Shoigu asked in response and left, RBC said.

It is worthy of note that sources of military correspondent Semyon Pegov also confirmed information about Surovikin's release. Other sources said that Surovikin was allowed to leave the place of his house arrest on August 26, after the question with PMC Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was "finally closed."

Surovikin to serve outside Russia

In late August, The Last Insider Telegram channel said that "following the results of interviews with the investigation” Surovikin was appointed an adviser to the commander of the Libyan National Army, Marshal Khalifa Haftar. On August 22, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported that Deputy Head of the Military Department Yunus-Bek Yevkurov arrived in Libya at Haftar's invitation.

It is believed that General Surovikin may receive several job offers in the near future, but all of them would be related to working within the structures of the Russian Defence Ministry outside Russia.

The Russian Defence Ministry has not released any official comment on the subject.

Sergei Surovikin has not appeared in public since PMC Wagner's attempted rebellion in late June of 2023. The general then appealed to Wagner fighters in a video address urging them to stop the advance of military columns towards Moscow.

Western media were quick to report that Surovikin allegedly sided with Prigozhin during the rebellion. They also said that the general "knew in advance” about Prigozhin's plans to "revolt against the Russian military leadership.” The Kremlin later said that such reports were nothing but speculation and gossip. Andrei Kartapolov, the head of the State Duma Defence Committee, said in July that the general was "resting and unavailable."