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(TNS) — Investigators have questioned one of Russia’s top generals about the failed mutiny that presented the greatest challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s quarter-century rule.

Sergei Surovikin was quizzed by officials representing military prosecutors over several days about his links to Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information is sensitive. The general is being kept in one place but isn’t in prison, and investigators are treating him cautiously to avoid antagonizing others within the military who admire Surovikin’s record of achievements with the army, the person said.

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Surovikin, 56, is a career military officer with a fearsome reputation that earned him the nickname “General Armageddon.” He hasn’t been seen since the end of Saturday’s rebellion by Wagner mercenaries that Putin said brought Russia to the brink of “civil war.”

The uprising shattered Putin’s image as an invincible leader after Wagner’s forces raced to within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of Moscow virtually unchallenged before Prigozhin called a halt.

The crisis has left the U.S., Europe and China puzzling over the political fallout from the rebellion, which highlighted bitter divisions in Russia over how to fight the faltering war in Ukraine that’s the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. A Ukrainian counteroffensive is pushing to oust Russia from occupied territories.

While the Kremlin attempts to project an image of the president resuming routine duties, Putin has bolstered loyalists within his security establishment as he seeks to reassert his authority.