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FILE - The top Russian military commander in Ukraine, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, left, and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, center, attend the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to the joint staff of troops involved in Russia's military operation in Ukraine, at an unknown location, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022. While denouncing most senior military leaders, Prigozhin, the maverick millionaire head of the private military contractor Wagner, spoke approvingly about Gen. Sergei Surovikin, who led Russian forces in Ukraine for several months in the fall before Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed the chief of the military's General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, to oversee the operations. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)