Russia's Vladimir Putin moves to seize control of Wagner's global empire

Investigators have questioned one of Russia’s top generals about the failed mutiny that presented the greatest challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s quarter-century rule.

Sergei Surovikin was quizzed by military prosecutors over several days about his links to Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information is sensitive. The general is being kept in one place but isn’t in prison, the person said. Surovikin, 56, hasn’t been seen since the end of Saturday’s rebellion by Wagner mercenaries that Putin said brought Russia to the brink of “civil war.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, In the hours after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s army of ex-convicts and mercenaries halted their advance on Moscow, the Kremlin set out to seize full control of the global empire built by the notorious military entrepreneur.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister flew to Damascus to personally deliver a message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad: Wagner Group forces would no longer operate there independently. Senior Russian foreign ministry officials phoned the president of the Central African Republic, whose personal bodyguards include Wagner mercenaries, offering assurances that Saturday’s crisis wouldn’t derail Russia’s expansion into Africa. Government jets from Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations shuttled from Syria to Mali, another of Wagner’s key foreign outposts.The rush of diplomatic activity reflected Vladimir Putin’s attempt to play down the chaos at home and to assure Russia’s partners in Africa and the Middle East that Wagner operations there would continue without interruption according to diplomats and intelligence officers, Wagner defectors, people briefed on the conversations and a review of international flight data.

Meanwhile, the Russian rouble weakened to 87 against the dollar on Thursday, hampered by domestic political instability. It reached 15-month low on Thursday.