Kremlin, asked if top general knew of mutiny in advance, says there's a lot of gossip

The newspaper cited U.S. officials briefed on U.S. intelligence regarding the matter, and reported that the officials were "trying to learn if Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the former top Russian commander in Ukraine, helped plan Mr. Prigozhin's actions last weekend".

The Kremlin, asked on Wednesday about a U.S. media report suggesting a top Russian general had known in advance about Saturday's aborted mutiny by mercenaries, said there would be "a lot of speculation" in the aftermath of the events.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question regarding a report in the New York Times newspaper citing U.S. officials as saying that General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russia's military operations in Ukraine, had advance knowledge of the planned mutiny. "There will now be a lot of speculation, gossip and so on around these events. I think this is one such example," said Peskov.

Surovikin, who has not been seen in public since Saturday when he made an appeal for the mutiny to be called off, has often been praised by Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin who led the brief rebellion. The newspaper cited U.S. officials briefed on U.S. intelligence regarding the matter, and reported that the officials were "trying to learn if Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the former top Russian commander in Ukraine, helped plan Mr. Prigozhin's actions last weekend".