That The Kremlin has repeatedly denied today Thursday to answer questions about the general Sergey Surovikin, who is known as “General Armageddon” because of his tactics in the war in Syria and is deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.

Surovikin’s fate remains unknown after Wagner’s brief mutiny on Saturday when he appeared in a video calling on mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin to end the mutiny.

In the video, he appeared exhausted and it was unclear if he was speaking under threat. Unconfirmed reports have since circulated that he was arrested and is being interrogated by the security services.

Asked if Surovikin still enjoys the trust of Russian President Putin, Peskov replied that “Putin as the head of the Russian Armed Forces cooperates with the Minister of Defense (Sergei Shoigu) and the Chief of the General Staff (Valery Gerasimov)”, so he said that “this question concerns the Ministry of Defense which so far has not made any statement”.

Questions about “structural units within the ministry,” Peskov said, should be asked in the Ministry of Defense.

In particular, also asked by journalists if the Kremlin can clarify the situation in relation to Surovikin, Peskov answered: “No, unfortunately not. I suggest you contact the Ministry of Defense, it is their prerogative.”

Regarding the fate of Yevgeny Prigozhin, Peskov replied that he has no information about the whereabouts of the Wagner leader.

The information of the New York Times about the arrest of the general was also confirmed by the Russian service of the Moscow Times on Wednesday, citing two sources close to the Ministry of Defense who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Ministry of Defense has not commented yet the alleged arrest of Surovikin, who has not been seen in public since Saturday, when the head of the Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin began an armed rebellion against Russia’s military leadership.

“The situation with him was not ‘OK’. For the authorities. I can’t say anything more.” said one of the sources.

According to the second source, the arrest was made “in context (of the situation with) Prigozhin”.

“Obviously, he (Surovikin) chose Prigozhin’s side during the rebellion and he has been caught by the…”, the source said. When asked about the general’s current whereabouts, the source replied: “we don’t even comment on this information through our internal channels.”

The former editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, Alexey Venediktov, claims according to the information he has, that the so-called “Armageddon” general has not been in contact with his family for three days. According to Benedictov, it became impossible to get in touch with his guards.

Some Russian channels on Telegram, which are in favor of the war in Ukraine, reported the arrest of Surovikin. Specifically, blogger Vladimir Romanov wrote that the general he was arrested on June 25, i.e. the day after the end of the Wagner PMC rebellion. Other channels, however, claim that the general was not arrested, but “merely giving explanations” in relation to the mutiny.

The New York Times they report that Surovikin knew about his plans Yevgeny Prigozhin to challenge the Russian high military command.