The arrest of Army General Sergei Surovikin on June 28, possibly indicates that the Kremlin intends to purge the MoD of figures viewed as disloyal, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said, Report informs.
According to ISW, if Russian authorities did arrest Surovikin then the Kremlin will likely use Surovikin and his affiliates as scapegoats to publicly explain why the Russian military and Russian internal security apparatuses responded poorly to the rebellion and to justify a potential overhaul of the Russian military leadership.
American analysts think that the Kremlin will likely attempt to balance a desire to mitigate the widespread disdain for MoD establishment figures that fueled Wagner’s rebellion while also trying to disempower those who may have sympathized with the rebellion.