Disappeared from the radar screens since the mutiny of the Wagner paramilitary group in June 2023, Sergei Sourovikine, the former Russian forces commander in Ukraine, resurfaced in Algeria, gratified by the Kremlin of a new mission. As we saw when the general recently appeared in the military cemetery of Dely Ibrahim, near Algiers, where he participated in the commemorations of the “Great Patriotic War” against Nazi Germany (1941-1945) in the presence of a delegation of the Russian diplomatic mission.
Posted on the Embassy Telegram channel on May 9, several photographs show it, sunglasses, floating in a civil suit too big for him, alongside Alexey Solomatine, the Russian ambassador to Algiers, and Vladimir Tsoukanov, the military attaché. Nothing sensational in itself, General Sourovikine having used to go to Algeria at least once a year, according to the brief reports of his visits by the Russian press – in 2023 in Oran, in 2024 in Algiers.
Otherwise, this time, unprecedented, the legend accompanying the photographs delivers precious information, specifying the new assignment of the general as “Head of the Russian Military Councilor Group in Algeria”. The Russian Embassy in this Maghreb country thus formalizes its new mission. In doing so, it confirms the growing commitment of Moscow to Algeria, among others via the strengthening of its military advisers.
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Source: Lemonde