General Sergey Surovikin reportedly in Algiers with Russian Defense Ministry delegation

The Russian newspaper Kommersant and the Wagner Group-affiliated Telegram channel Grey Zone reported Friday that General Sergey Surovikin is currently located in Algiers. Both outlets published photos of the general.

According to Kommersant, Surovikin traveled to the city as part of a Russian Defense Ministry delegation. A source told the newspaper that the trip is a result of the fact that “Russia's military-political leadership attaches great importance to the implementation of foreign policy in the eastern direction,” and the Russian government continues to trust Surovikin.

“This trip could be linked to [Surovikin’s] possible appointment to a post related to work in the eastern direction,” the source said.

Sergey Surovikin served as Russia’s top commander in Ukraine from October 2022 until January 2023. After Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed rebellion against the Russian Defense Ministry in June 2023, media reports surfaced about Surovikin’s possible arrest. On September 4, Russia media figure Ksenia Sobchak posted a picture of Surovikin online, writing that the general was “alive, healthy, and home with his family in Moscow.”