RUSSIA'S most feared general has been spotted for the first time since Wagner's failed coup.
Ruthless Sergey Surovikin's disappearance sparked rumours he had been purged by the tyrant after warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin's march on Moscow dented his authority.
But it is now thought Surovikin – dubbed General Armageddon – has been held behind bars and interrogated by Putin's henchmen over the rebel Wagner chief's plans.
Prigozhin, who Surovikin was close to, was killed in a fiery plane crash last month.
Surovikin – renowned for his merciless manoeuvres – vanished in the fallout of the short-lived march on the capital.
The former commander of Russia's forces in Ukraine was feared to have been killed by Putin over speculation he knew of the Prigozhin's plans.
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Putin fired the 56-year-old as head of aerospace forces on August 23.
But nine weeks on from the aborted coup on June 24, Surovikin appears to have re-emerged.
A picture purportedly shows the commander walking with his wife near his palatial home in Moscow.
Surovikin can be seen looking dishevelled, wearing dark sunglasses, a cap and baggy jeans.
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In July, his absence from his glamorous wife Anna's birthday further fuelled rumours he had been killed.
It is now widely believed Surovikin has been held in custody and faced interrogation over his role in – and knowledge of – the Prigozhin putsch.
Sources say his wife and family had not seen him for weeks.
Defence minister Sergei Shoigu also refused to answer questions on Surovikin, specifically whether he is under criminal investigation.
The brutal commander – renowned for his cruelty – appeared to be with his multi-millionaire wife Anna, 50, in Moscow.
A post by leading journalist and former presidential election candidate Ksenia Sobchak said: “General Sergei Surovikin….Alive, healthy, at home, with his family, in Moscow.”
Surovikin – seen as Russia’s ablest but also cruellest general – is understood to have earlier lost his other role as deputy to armed forces chief General Valery Gerasimov, who is also Putin’s overall war commander.
Yet he remains in the Russian army.
During the mutiny father-of-four Surovikin was summoned back from the war zone to Moscow.
He issued a video calling on the Wagner mutineers to lay down their arms and halt a march on Moscow – the last time he was seen.
But some Putin loyalists believed he had prior knowledge of the bid, or was even colluding.
Reports followed that he had been locked away for interrogation in Lefortovo jail – or a secret military prison.
He is believed to have been interrogated by a commission appointed by Shoigu.
But a veil of secrecy was thrown over his status.
Surovikin was notorious for his brutality in Syria and Chechnya.
He has also faced claims of corruption over a £3 million "English-style mansion" he shared with his wife.
Surovikin was briefly in charge of the Russian war campaign in Ukraine from October until Putin removed responsibility from him in January, handing it to Gerasimov.
During his tenure, he was accused of "genocidal" attacks on Ukrainian power stations.
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Yet he was also credited with ordering the defence lines that have blocked progress for Kyiv in the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
He was replaced in charge of the aerospace forces by Colonel-General Viktor Afzalov, 55, a man who dozed off to sleep during a Putin speech about the war.
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