MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2023) Alexey Melnikov, the executive secretary of Moscow's Public Monitoring Commission, on Thursday denied media reports that Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the commander of Russia's Aerospace Forces and the deputy commander of the Joint Group of Forces fighting in Ukraine, has been allegedly detained and is being held in the Lefortovo or any other pre-trial detention center.
"Representatives of a huge number of Russian and foreign media have been writing/calling me very often in recent days. They ask: 'Is it true that Surovikin is in pre-trial detention? Tell us which cell he is in, and so on and so forth.' I Answer: he is not in Lefortovo or any other pre-trial detention facility. I do not even want to comment on the nonsense about an 'underground detention facility in Serebryany Bor,'" Melnikov said on Telegram.
Earlier on Thursday, The Financial Times reported, citing sources in Russia's elite and Western government officials familiar with the matter, that Surovikin, known to have a good relationship with Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been allegedly detained as he has not been heard from for several days.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday recommended reporters forward questions about the whereabouts of Surovikin to the Russian Defense Ministry. When asked whether the Kremlin considered it necessary to remove from office law enforcement and military officials who communicated with Prigozhin or who had some ties with him, Peskov said: "This question is not my prerogative," adding that he had nothing more to say on the matter.
The Wagner Group seized an army headquarters in the Russian southern city of Rostov-on-Don on the night of June 23 and moved toward Moscow the following day. Prigozhin presented his actions as a response to the alleged attack on his group's field camps by the defense ministry, which the latter denied. Prigozhin agreed to stop the mutiny after negotiations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who acted at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Tuesday, Lukashenko confirmed that Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus.
