{"id":2009240,"date":"2023-08-23T12:10:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T16:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/russia-cans-air-force-chief-who-disappeared-during-wagner-mutiny\/"},"modified":"2023-08-23T12:12:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T16:12:52","slug":"russia-cans-air-force-chief-who-disappeared-during-wagner-mutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/russia-cans-air-force-chief-who-disappeared-during-wagner-mutiny\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia fires Air Force Chief who vanished during Wagner mutiny."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frussia-cans-air-force-chief-who-disappeared-during-wagner-mutiny%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2009240&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n<h2>Russia Removes &#8220;General Armageddon&#8221; \u200bas Head of Air Force<\/h2>\n<p>Russia has reportedly removed Sergei Surovikin, also known as\u2064 &#8220;General Armageddon,&#8221; from his position as head \u200dof the air force. This comes after he disappeared during a Wagner mercenary mutiny against top army officials, according to two Russian news outlets.<\/p>\n<p>Surovikin, who received Russia&#8217;s top military award, is the highest-ranking military figure to lose his job due\u200c to the mutiny that took place from June\u200c 23-34. President Vladimir Putin even stated that \u2063the mutiny had\u200b the potential to push \u200cRussia into civil war.<\/p>\n<p>While Surovikin has not been publicly fired, reports suggest that he has been relieved of his post. Colonel-General Viktor Afzalov, head of the main staff\u200c of the Air Force, is\u200c temporarily acting as commander-in-chief of the Air Force.<\/p>\n<p>It is believed that Surovikin&#8217;s removal and the appointment of an\u2062 acting successor indicate that the authorities found fault \u2063with his\u2062 behavior during the\u2062 revolt. This move seems to be part of\u2062 an effort to distance anyone considered too \u200bclose to Wagner.<\/p>\n<h3>Uncertain Allegiances<\/h3>\n<p>U.S. officials previously mentioned that Surovikin had shown support \u200cfor Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner. However, Western \u2063intelligence agencies cannot confirm whether he actively\u2064 assisted the \u2064rebellion.<\/p>\n<p>Given\u200b Surovikin&#8217;s reputation for competence, some Western military experts fear that his removal from \u2062battlefield operations could \u200dnegatively impact Russia&#8217;s campaign \u200bin Ukraine, which it refers to as\u2063 &#8220;a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/uae-blames-houthi-drones-for-abu-dhabi-tanker-explosions\/\" title=\"UAE Blames Houthi Drones for Abu Dhabi Tanker Explosions\">special military operation<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>A Mysterious Disappearance<\/h3>\n<p>Surovikin&#8217;s last public appearance was on June 24, the final day of the mutiny. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/russia-cans-air-force-chief-who-disappeared-during-wagner-mutiny\/\" title=\"Russia fires Air Force Chief who vanished during Wagner mutiny.\">carefully stage-managed video<\/a>, \u2064he appeared \u200bvisibly strained, without insignia, and holding an automatic \u2063weapon. He \u2063urged Prigozhin to abandon his\u2064 march\u2064 on Moscow.<\/p>\n<p>Since the mutiny, there have been reports that Surovikin, who was previously praised by Prigozhin, is under investigation\u200b for possible involvement and is currently under house arrest.<\/p>\n<p>Surovikin earned the\u2064 nickname &#8220;General Armageddon&#8221; for his ruthless bombing\u200b tactics during Russia&#8217;s\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-flack-for-gop-russia-stooge-finds-redemption-as-lincoln-project-damage-control-adviser\/\" title=\"Former Flack for GOP Russia Stooge Finds Redemption as Lincoln Project Damage Control Adviser\">military intervention<\/a> in Syria. He was initially in charge of Russian military operations in Ukraine but was later replaced by General Valery Gerasimov.<\/p>\n<p>Afzalov, who was previously Surovikin&#8217;s deputy, has been\u2064 chief of staff\u200d of the Aerospace \u2062Forces for at least four years. Ukrainian\u200b authorities claim that\u200c he played \u200ca direct role in planning and executing\u200c Russia&#8217;s onslaught \u200cagainst Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>During Surovikin&#8217;s absence, Afzalov\u2062 was seen \u200con television briefing \u200dGerasimov last month.<\/p>\n<p>Reuters could not independently\u2063 verify the\u200d reports, and there has been no official confirmation at this time.<\/p>\n<p>(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by \u200dMark Trevelyan and Bernadette Baum)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russia has ousted Sergei Surovikin, known as &#8220;General Armageddon,&#8221; as air force chief. He disappeared during a Wagner mercenary rebellion against top army officials. This marks a significant loss for the Russian military, as Surovikin is a decorated recipient of their highest military honor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":2009241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2009240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2009240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2009241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2009240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2009240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2009240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}