Former Russian State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev has announced the alleged arrest of Vladislav Surkov, an associate of Vladimir Putin. However, according to Alexey Arestovich, an adviser to the head of the President's Office, Surkov is under house arrest, and Russian human rights activist Mark Feygin says he may be in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center, where VIPs are being held.
This was discussed in Arestovich's conversation with Feigin during a traditional interview.
"Well, they say, it's hard to check, I'll tell you a secret, I was a lawyer, and in "Lefortovo", where VIPs are placed, it's more for isolation, it's the FSB prison, there are lawyers who go to their clients and It is impossible to hide who is sitting there, because lawyers arrange a lottery, who and when will go to his client, and surnames, the list is in the working chat. They say that there is a conversation. They say ⦠", - Mark Feygin answered Arestovich's question whether Surkov was arrested.
Instead, the adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine clarified that there is information that Surkov is still under house arrest.
"It's hard to check: "Surkov, hello, baby, how are you? Are you sitting at home? ". You can't, you know â¦", - Feygin answered.
In turn, Arestovich noted that if the information about Surkov's arrest is true, it means that a deep purge of the ranks has begun in Russia.
"Suppose this is true. Some say so. Well, suppose. This means that a deep cleansing of the ranks has begun. The whole architecture of the Ukrainian situation is starting to be cleaned up. One by one. Which is quite correct. Because if you pull 20 people at once, they can object together. Surkov - Holy of Holies, Most Holy ⦠", - said Arestovich.
He continued: "What's the point? What do we see? On the one hand, the internal purge in Russia, which before their change of command of the group, shows us that the Kremlin recognized that a catastrophic situation. Someone has to answer that basically, at the level of the design of Ukrainian politics, everything was wrong ⦠On the other hand, they continue to put pilots and the military and very expensive equipment, which there is no chance to restore, under sanctions. What are all these people guided by? ".
We will remind, Surkov was called the curator of pro-Russian fighters in Donbass. Six months ago, he wrote a propaganda article in which he "predicted" Russia's expansion. In particular, Surkov noted that the Kremlin managed to capture Crimea at the expense of "chaos" of Ukraine.