British intelligence sees further signs that Russian general Sergei Surovikin has been sidelined after the Wagner private army mutiny. The Ministry of Defense in London announced on Wednesday that his deputy as head of the Russian air and space forces, Viktor Afsalow, is becoming more and more public. When Chief of Staff Valeri Gerasimov was recently seen on television for the first time since the Wagner uprising on June 24, Afsalov informed him via video.
“Afsalov has been in office for at least four years, but this is probably his first public appearance with Gerasimov,” it said in London. “Afsalov’s increased publicity, while Surovikin’s whereabouts remain unclear, lends even more weight to the hypothesis that Surovikin was sidelined after the mutiny.” Surovikin has not been seen since the mutiny. According to British estimates, he was a liaison with the Russian Ministry of Defense for Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The British Ministry of Defense has published daily information on the course of the war since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, citing intelligence information. Moscow accuses London of a disinformation campaign.
