Russia removes Sergei Surovikin as head of aerospace forces

Sergei Surovikin had been rumoured to have been put under house arrest, interrogated, or even put in the notorious Lefortovo prison after the Wagner rebellion. Photograph: Sputnik/Reuters

Russia has relieved Gen Sergei Surovikin of his command of the Russian aerospace forces, in the highest-level sacking yet of a military commander after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s abortive mutiny in June.

The extended absence and now removal of Surovikin, a prominent commander, indicates the shock waves sent through the military establishment by Prigozhin’s armed uprising. He sent thousands of troops to seize a military headquarters in the city of Rostov-on-Don and try to march on Moscow to protest against the dismantling of his Wagner private military company.