INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Updated to include additional reports.Russian General Sergei Surovikin has been arrested, The Moscow Times' Russian service reported
Wednesday, citing two sources close to the Defense Ministry who spoke on the condition of anonymity.The Defense Ministry has yet to comment
on the alleged arrest of Surovikin, who has not been seen in public since Saturday, when Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin launched an
armed rebellion against Russia's military leadership."The situation with him was not 'OK.' For the authorities
I can't say anything more," one of the sources said.According to the second source, the arrest was carried out "in the context of
Prigozhin.""Apparently, he [Surovikin] chose Prigozhin's side during the uprising, and they've gotten him by the balls," the source
said.When asked about the general's current whereabouts, the source replied: "We are not even commenting on this information through our
internal channels."The sources did not specify whether he was detained as a suspect or a witness.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday
declined to comment on Surovikin's whereabouts, instead advising journalists to refer their questions to the Defense Ministry.Later on
"crackdown on pro-war elites."Bloomberg and independent investigative outlet IStories followed with similar reports, but said Surovikin had
pro-war military blogger Vladimir Romanov said Surovikin was detained Sunday, the day after Prigozhin's aborted mutiny.Romanov claimed that
Surovikin is now being held in Moscow's Lefortovo detention center.Alexei Venediktov, editor-in-chief of the shuttered Ekho Moskvy radio
officials, that Surovikin had prior knowledge of Prigozhin's plan to instigate a rebellion against Russia's military leadership.Kremlin
crisis in decades before Prigozhin agreed to stand down Saturday night in exchange for immunity in exile, as part of a deal brokered by
2023 until he was replaced by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
