Russia has removed Sergei Surovykin, nicknamed the “Armageddon General”, as air force chief, who has yet to appear publicly since the Wagner mutiny against the army’s top brass, state news agency RIA reported on Wednesday. .

A recipient of Russia’s top military award, Surovikin is the most senior official to be dismissed over the June 23-34 mutiny, which President Vladimir Putin has said could lead Russia to civil war.

The so-called “general of Armageddon” for his brutality, Sergei Surovikin he is one of the “flagship” military commanders of the Russian offensive against Ukraine. But relations with the mercenary company Wagner and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin cost him his position. At least for now.

“Army General Sergei Surovykin has been relieved of his duties,” the state-run Ria Novosti news agency reported today, citing a military source.

Since Wagner’s brief mutiny, General Surovikin has disappeared. But on the night of June 23-24, as Prigozhin calls for the overthrow of the Russian military leadership and his mercenaries march on Moscow, Sergei Surovykin appears on video, with a shaved head, under the influence of alcohol, according to some observers, and an automatic weapon resting on his leg.

“I am addressing the commanders and leaders of Wagner (…) We have the same blood. We are warriors. I am asking you to stop. Before it’s too late,” he says, speaking slowly, clean-shaven, staring into the camera.

Less than 24 hours later, Prigozhin backs down and goes into exile in Belarus. But Surovikin’s plea, seen as a product of coercion by observers, was not enough to save the general from disfavor. So strong were his ties to Wagner.

Because the 56-year-old Russian military man, with his menacing face and reputation for being merciless, was considered the main ally of the paramilitary organization in Russia’s Ministry of Defense at a time when Wagner was asking for the heads of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov.

Wagner prop

Last May, while vilifying the Russian defense minister, accusing him of depriving his mercenaries of ammunition, Prigozhin had succeeded in making Surovikin his main interlocutor.

Prior to that, Surovikin had been appointed in early October 2022 as the commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, and Yevgeny Prigozhin had been happy about this appointment. But three months later, the general was replaced by the chief of staff. And that was a defeat for Wagner.

In November 2022, Russian troops under the command of Surovikin were forced to withdraw from the city of Kherson and the west bank of the Dnieper in southern Ukraine. This was an indisputable defeat for Moscow.

General Surovikin subsequently became the architect of the autumn and winter Russian bombing campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which failed to achieve its objective.

After being replaced by General Gerasimov, Surovikin remained in the circle of military commanders, cultivating a tough image as a veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the second Chechen war and the brutal Russian campaign in Syria in 2015 that earned him the nickname of the “sir butcher”.

Hospital bombings

“He is a very well-known person, the military people talk a lot about him. He has a reputation as a madman, a merciless commander,” said a Russian military expert on condition of anonymity last fall.

Other connoisseurs emphasize its “virtues”. Russian forces of the southern sector under his command had occupied most of the Ukrainian territory until last autumn in Ukraine.

According to the military blog Rybar, Surovikin’s removal took place de facto “immediately after” Wagner’s stop, but it is likely that it is “not necessarily a reprimand, but a temporary measure.”

Before Ukraine, Surovikin, who hails from Siberia, he was one of the Russian military commanders in Syria. The non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch accused him in 2020 of being one of those who claimed responsibility for the attacks on residential areas, schools and hospitals.

In Russia, he is known for his participation in the failed coup attempt of 1991, which also signed the death act of the Soviet Union. He was imprisoned when military forces under his command killed three pro-democracy protesters, only to be released a few months later.