Top Russian generals reportedly 'missing' following Wagner mutiny

Generals Garasimov and Surovikin are nowhere to be found after the Wagner Group's aborted mutiny whose goal was to target the Russian military leaders. Where could they be? Are there any 'open windows' they might have 'accidentally' fallen from? Defenestration can be a bitch.

Ever since Yevgeny Prigozhin called off the coup he planned and relocated to Belarus, one general was arrested. 

Prigozhin's "march for justice" on Moscow was perhaps the most significant challenge to the Putin regime in decades, and now Putin must reassert his power and authority if he wishes to remain sentient.

The Russian Armed Forces Chief of Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, has not appeared in public or on state TV since the aborted mutiny on Saturday, when Prigozhin demanded Gerasimov be handed over to him. Gerasimov also has not been mentioned in a defense ministry press release since June 9th, Reuters reports.

Gerasimov, 67, is [or was] the commander of Russia's invasion force in Ukraine and one of three Russian commanders who hold "nuclear briefcases," according to some Western military analysts. It's a good bet that he has since turned over his briefcase.

Gen. Sergei Surovikin [aka "General Armageddon"] is also nowhere to be found. The Moscow Times, in an unconfirmed report said that he was arrested on Sunday, and this had been previously reported by a military blogger, Vladimir Romanov.

News of his possible arrest came after former newspaper The New York Times reported that he had advanced knowledge of Prigozhin’s plans to rebel against Russia’s military leadership.

U.S. officials briefed on American intelligence told the Times they are trying to determine whether Surovikin helped Prigozhin.

The Kremlin on Wednesday played down the reports, saying there would be a lot of speculation and gossip, just as there was with former president of the United States, Donald Trump, so don't believe everything you read or hear.

Rybar, a Telegram channel run by a former Russian defense ministry press officer, said a purge was underway.

Rybar claimed Russia's top military brass were trying to clean out those personnel who showed "a lack of decisiveness" in crushing the rebellion amid reports that Wagner fighters met little resistance from Russia's armed forces in the first hours of the rebellion.

"The armed insurgency by the Wagner private military company has become a pretext for a massive purge in the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces," Rybar said, per Reuters.

Gerasimov was not present on Tuesday when Putin thanked the army for preventing a civil war, unlike Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, a long-time Putin ally who Prigozhin had accused of corruption and incompetence in prosecuting the war in Ukraine.

Surovikin, Gerasimov's deputy, has not been seen in public since Saturday when he appeared in a video appealing to Prigozhin to stop the mutiny. Western analysts suggested Surovikin looked exhausted and may have been speaking under duress--the kind of duress one typically sees after an individual has undergone a series of torture sessions.

Meanwhile, as the Ukraine-Russia war rages on, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is stifling the scheduled presidential election.

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