Russian President Vladimir Putin has fired one of his government’s top military leaders, Aerospace Forces Commander Sergei Surovikin, known as “General Armageddon”.
In his place, according to the state agency RIA, the number 2 of the sector in the Army, Viktor Afzalov, assumes the position on an interim basis.
The reason for the dismissal would be the general’s proximity to the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who would have died in a plane crash this Wednesday (23). Surovikin was reportedly fired for allegedly consenting to the failed June riot. He has not appeared in public since then.
On the occasion of the uprising, he was seen in a video holding a machine gun in response to the mercenaries’ action, asking them to retreat and cease the rebellion against Putin’s government.
The general had taken over as commander of troops in Ukraine in October last year, after a series of Russian defeats in the war. Since his arrival, Russia’s army has increased attacks on the Ukrainian civilian structure.
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