MOSCOW, July 12 (Aljazeera) - A Russian lawmaker has said Sergei Surovikin, a deputy commander of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, who has not been seen in public since the Wagner Group mutiny, is “resting”.

Dubbed “General Armageddon” for his aggressive tactics in the Syrian and Chechen conflicts, he was last seen when he posted a video appeal urging top mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner chief, to cease his rebellion in Russia last month.

Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Russian State Duma Defence Committee, said in a video posted to social media on Wednesday, “Surovikin is currently resting. [He is] not available for now.”

Last month, a New York Times report based on a United States intelligence briefing said that Surovikin had advance knowledge of the mutiny and that the Russian government was investigating whether he was complicit.

Some Russian outlets reported that the missing official had been arrested, but there was no official confirmation and the Kremlin declined to answer questions.

Shortly after the Wagner rebellion ended, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked whether President Vladimir Putin still trusted Surovikin, said: “[Putin] is the supreme commander-in-chief and he works with the defence minister and with the chief of the General Staff.”

Several of Russia’s leading generals dropped out of public view following the mercenaries’ armed rebellion on June 23-24, which aimed to oust Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Commander-in-Chief Valery Gerasimov.

On Monday, Gerasimov was seen in a video for the first time since the episode, pictured listening to a report about Ukrainian missile attacks.