As Putin Takes Selfies, U.S. Says Russia May Have Detained Top General
As Putin Takes Selfies, U.S. Says Russia May Have Detained Top General
President Vladimir V. Putin made highly choreographed public appearances days after a mercenary group attempted to overthrow his leadership in Russia. U.S. officials said early intelligence reports suggested that a top general had been detained in connection with the failed uprising.
On Thursday, Mr. Putin joked onstage at a technological fair in Moscow. He shook hands, kissed a girl on the head, and took selfies with well-wishers in southern Russia the day before. Russians had not seen this from their leader in years.
“My God, this is Vladimir Putin!” people shouted as the Russian president, flanked by bodyguards, mingled in a crowd in the southern city of Derbent on Wednesday, breaking his strict social-distancing protocols since the pandemic began, including sitting at a long table far from visitors.
However, U.S. officials said that the Kremlin appeared to have detained Sergei Surovikin, the former commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, who had known about the Wagner mercenary group’s rebellion.
The general was last spotted early Saturday. American authorities did not know if he was arrested or detained for interrogation.
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov deferred to the Defence Ministry on General Surovikin.
A senior NATO diplomat stated that hard intelligence was missing, but Mr. Peskov’s careful words seemed to confirm the general’s imprisonment. The Financial Times reported General Surovikin’s imprisonment.
Since Wagner’s chief, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, halted his revolt on Saturday, Russian diplomats have tried to convince friends, especially Central African Republic authorities, that little would change for them.
“Russia gave us Wagner; the rest isn’t our business,” said Fidèle Gouandjika, a special adviser to Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadéra. The Wall Street Journal first reported Russia’s diplomatic attempts.
Ukraine was at war as Moscow sought partnerships abroad. According to the local military administration, Russian shelling in southern Kherson killed two and wounded two. It stated the strike hit “a place where civilians came to receive humanitarian aid.” Russia bombarded the region for months.
In Kramatorsk, a 12th body was recovered from a restaurant destroyed by a Russian missile on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Ukrainian deputy minister of defence Hanna Malyar said the counteroffensive to retake Russian-held areas in the south and east was “tough” but progressing. She said Kyiv’s soldiers marching south have moved into Berdiansk and Melitopol, two significant Russian-occupied cities in Zaporizhzhia, by roughly 1,400 yards.She added that Ukrainian forces had advanced 1,300 yards towards Klishchiivka, a settlement in eastern Donetsk taken by Moscow in January. Her assertions were unverifiable.
This week, Mr. Putin’s limited but highly publicised public appearances were a deviation from his coronavirus pandemic precautions.
Years of security restricted president access. Visitors needed a negative P.C.R. test and a two-week quarantine to see him. Before his February 2014 invasion of Ukraine, ministers and foreign leaders sat across a long table from Mr. Putin, further isolating him.
