After the Wagner paramilitary group‘s failed mutiny, Russia’s “General Armageddon” has been gone for ten days.
Former top Russian commander in Ukraine Sergei Surovikin was charged with supporting mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin during the revolt.
His detention and subsequent release have been rumoured in some sources, but they have not been verified.
According to the UK Ministry of Defence, he has not been seen since June 24, but officials stressed that any on-the-record sanctions against him will be ‘divisive’ as he is one of the most respected senior officers within the Russian military.
Surovikin’s deputy defence minister Colonel General Yunus-bek Yevkurov was also ‘notably absent from a televised appearance by the Ministry of Defence’s leadership on July 3,’ the UK MoD said.
Away from the turmoil in Russia, there were reports of long queues at the border between Ukraine and Moldova amid a ‘serious threat’ at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
According to reports from Sky News, a number of Ukrainians are now fleeing to the neighbouring ally.
But Daniel Voda, a spokesperson for the Moldovan government, stressed that any increase in numbers of people crossing the border is due to the summer holidays.
Numbers analyzed by Metro.co.uk show there has been no drastic increase in the border crossings in the last 72 hours.