THE STUPIDIEST THING ANY DICTATOR CAN DO IS ARM AN ARMY OF MERCENARIES. WHAT THE HELL DOES WAGNER NEED ANOTHER DICTATOR LIKE PUTIN FOR?
Kremlin Coup? Wagner Group Chief Refuses to Surrender as His Forces Reportedly March on Moscow
Wagner PMC boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has refused to surrender amid claims of a coup attempt against the Kremlin and warnings from UK military intelligence that his mercenary forces “almost certainly” marching on Moscow.
Following the outbreak of what is being described as a coup against the Kremlin, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) — which has been publishing semi-daily intelligence drops during the war in Ukraine — has claimed that Wagner PMC units are marching north through the Voronezh Oblast (region) of Russia “almost certainly aiming to get to Moscow”.
“In an operation characterised by Prigozhin as a ‘march for freedom”, Wagner Group forces crossed from occupied Ukraine into Russia in at least two locations. In Rostov-on-Don, Wagner has almost certainly occupied key security sites, including the HQ which runs Russia’s military operations in Ukraine,” the MoD said in a Saturday morning intelligence briefing.
“Further Wagner units are moving north through Vorenezh Oblast, almost certainly aiming to get to Moscow.” the ministry added.
The Russian governor of the region, Alexander Gusev, reportedly confirmed on his Telegram channel that fighting had broken out in Vorenezh, saying: “As part of the counter-terrorist operation on the territory of the Voronezh region, the armed forces of the Russian Federation are carrying out the necessary operational and combat measures.”
Following the outbreak of fighting between Russian and Wagner forces and the allegations of a planned coup, Vladimir Putin called on Prigozhin, whose forces have been on the front lines in the war against Ukraine, to turn himself him and “answer” for his “betrayal” of the nation.
In a Saturday post on Telegram, Prigozhin responded in comments translated by CNN: “Regarding the ‘betrayal of the motherland,’ the president is deeply mistaken. We are patriots of our Motherland, we fought and are fighting, all the fighters of the PMC Wagner.”
“And no one is going to turn themselves in at the request of the president, the FSB or anyone else.” he continued.
“When we were told that we were at war with Ukraine, we went and fought. But it turned out that ammunition, weapons, all the money that was allocated is also being stolen, and the bureaucrats are sitting [idly], saving it for themselves, just for the occasion that happened today, when someone [is] marching to Moscow,” he said.
On Friday evening, Russia’s Federal Security Service confirmed that it has filed charges against Prigozhin for allegedly calling for an “armed rebellion” against Moscow. It followed accusations from Prigozhin that Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu had ordered military strikes on Wagner forces in Ukraine and had killed “a large number of our fighters.”
The Wagner boss has long been at odds with Shoigu, whom he has even suggested should be executed in Red Square for his failings in Ukraine. Earlier this month, Prigozhin reportedly balked at the notion of his forces coming under direct command of the Russian Defence Ministry, opting to remain independent as opposed to the Islamist Chechen forces of Ramzan Kadyrov, who acquiesced to the consolidation demands of the Kremlin.
Following the announcement of the arrest warrant, Prigozhin reportedly said that he intended to march 25,000 of his troops on Moscow, but claimed: “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice.”
While the Wagner chief has been very critical of the handling of the war in Ukraine, he has saved most of his criticisms for the military leadership, rather than Vladimir Putin himself, leading some to question whether he would actually seek to topple the 70-year-old leader should his forces reach Moscow.
Although Prigozhin has seemingly been hesitant to openly criticise Putin, he has warned that the current state of Russia is ripe for a revolution along the lines of Vladimir Lenin’s communist takeover in 1917.
Despite being very wealthy, Prigozhin has attempted to cast himself as a populist man of the people over the past months. Following what appeared to be drone attacks in Moscow earlier this year, the Wagner chief took aim at the Ministry of Defence.
“As a citizen, I am deeply indignant that these scum sit quietly and sit on their fat assholes smeared with expensive creams. And therefore, I believe that the people have every right to ask them these questions, these bastards,” he said.
In response to the threat of the Wagner forces, many of whom are Russian prisoners who were freed to fight the Ukrainians, highways have been shut down and counter terrorism measures have been put in place around Moscow.
Britain’s military intelligence briefing concluded by saying that in the coming hours the “loyalty” of Russian security forces and the National Guard will be critical in how the situation develops, with Prigozhin likely to attempt to sway loyalties away from the Kremlin.
“This represents the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times,” the MoD said.
Wagner Forces Reach Area Just South of Moscow, According to Local Governor
The Wagner paramilitary forces of Yevgeny Prigozhin have reportedly broken through to the Lipetsk Region, around 230 miles south of Moscow, amid concerns that the band of mercenaries are planning on staging a coup against Vladimir Putin’s government.
According to the governor of the Lipetsk Oblast (region), Igor Artamonov, the rogue mercenary forces of Wagner Private Military Company are moving through the area, which is located just 370km (230 miles) south of the Russian capital.
“The situation remains under control,” Artamonov said per Russian state media RT, adding that the Oblast’s critical infrastructure remains intact.
Earlier in the day, British military intelligence suggested that the Wagner group was marching north through the Voronezh region “almost certainly aiming to get to Moscow”.
The Spasskaya Tower is seen through metal barriers at Moscow’s Red Square on June 24, 2023. Photo by Natalia KOLESNIKOVA / AFP) (Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images)
Prigozhin, who claims to have around 25,000 men under his control, was issued with an arrest warrant on Friday evening for allegedly inciting an “armed uprising” against the Kremlin.
The Wagner boss has denied that he is staging a coup, but rather conducting a “march for freedom” to punish the Russian top military brass, which he has accused of striking his paramilitary forces with missile strikes in Ukraine where Wagner has been fighting on the front lines against the Western-backed forces of Volodymyr Zelensky.
In response to the threat of a direct strike against the capital, the Kremlin has closed off highways into Moscow as well as instituting counter-terrorism measures throughout the city.
Meanwhile, the Islamist Akhmat special forces unit of Chechnya has reportedly reached the city of Rostov-on-Don, which Wagner has allegedly taken control of after seizing a Russian military headquarters, which has been instrumental in setting out military operations in Ukraine.
Unlike Wagner, the Islamist Akhmat group — also known as the Kadyrovites — agreed earlier this month to come under the direct control of Russia’s Ministry of Defence, a move which Prigozhin could not stomach, given his longstanding feud with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov.
ROSTOV-ON-DON, RUSSIA – JUNE 24: Members of Wagner group on streets amid escalating tensions between the Kremlin and the head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner in Rostov-on-Don, Russia on June 24, 2023. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Islamist head of the Russian-controlled Chechen Republic, continued to pledge his allegiance to Vladimir Putin on Saturday, saying according to the Russian TASS state news service: “It is necessary for the military, security forces, governors and the civilian population to rally around the national leader.”
“Each of us sees only one part of the map, but he sees it all! The president noted quite correctly in his address to the nation – this is a military mutiny! There is no excuse for such actions! I fully support Putin’s every word,” Kadyrov continued.
Pledging his support against the Wagner forces, the Chechen leader said: “Soldiers of the Ministry of Defense and Chechnya’s units of the National Guard (Rosgvardiya) have already left for the areas of tensions. We will do everything to preserve the unity of Russia and to protect its statehood!”
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter: or e-mail to: kzindulka@breitbart.com
Kremlin Coup? Wagner Group Chief Refuses to Surrender as His Forces Reportedly March on Moscow
Wagner PMC boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has refused to surrender amid claims of a coup attempt against the Kremlin and warnings from UK military intelligence that his mercenary forces “almost certainly” marching on Moscow.
Following the outbreak of what is being described as a coup against the Kremlin, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) — which has been publishing semi-daily intelligence drops during the war in Ukraine — has claimed that Wagner PMC units are marching north through the Voronezh Oblast (region) of Russia “almost certainly aiming to get to Moscow”.
“In an operation characterised by Prigozhin as a ‘march for freedom”, Wagner Group forces crossed from occupied Ukraine into Russia in at least two locations. In Rostov-on-Don, Wagner has almost certainly occupied key security sites, including the HQ which runs Russia’s military operations in Ukraine,” the MoD said in a Saturday morning intelligence briefing.
“Further Wagner units are moving north through Vorenezh Oblast, almost certainly aiming to get to Moscow.” the ministry added.
The Russian governor of the region, Alexander Gusev, reportedly confirmed on his Telegram channel that fighting had broken out in Vorenezh, saying: “As part of the counter-terrorist operation on the territory of the Voronezh region, the armed forces of the Russian Federation are carrying out the necessary operational and combat measures.”
Following the outbreak of fighting between Russian and Wagner forces and the allegations of a planned coup, Vladimir Putin called on Prigozhin, whose forces have been on the front lines in the war against Ukraine, to turn himself him and “answer” for his “betrayal” of the nation.
In a Saturday post on Telegram, Prigozhin responded in comments translated by CNN: “Regarding the ‘betrayal of the motherland,’ the president is deeply mistaken. We are patriots of our Motherland, we fought and are fighting, all the fighters of the PMC Wagner.”
“And no one is going to turn themselves in at the request of the president, the FSB or anyone else.” he continued.
“When we were told that we were at war with Ukraine, we went and fought. But it turned out that ammunition, weapons, all the money that was allocated is also being stolen, and the bureaucrats are sitting [idly], saving it for themselves, just for the occasion that happened today, when someone [is] marching to Moscow,” he said.
On Friday evening, Russia’s Federal Security Service confirmed that it has filed charges against Prigozhin for allegedly calling for an “armed rebellion” against Moscow. It followed accusations from Prigozhin that Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu had ordered military strikes on Wagner forces in Ukraine and had killed “a large number of our fighters.”
The Wagner boss has long been at odds with Shoigu, whom he has even suggested should be executed in Red Square for his failings in Ukraine. Earlier this month, Prigozhin reportedly balked at the notion of his forces coming under direct command of the Russian Defence Ministry, opting to remain independent as opposed to the Islamist Chechen forces of Ramzan Kadyrov, who acquiesced to the consolidation demands of the Kremlin.
Following the announcement of the arrest warrant, Prigozhin reportedly said that he intended to march 25,000 of his troops on Moscow, but claimed: “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice.”
While the Wagner chief has been very critical of the handling of the war in Ukraine, he has saved most of his criticisms for the military leadership, rather than Vladimir Putin himself, leading some to question whether he would actually seek to topple the 70-year-old leader should his forces reach Moscow.
Although Prigozhin has seemingly been hesitant to openly criticise Putin, he has warned that the current state of Russia is ripe for a revolution along the lines of Vladimir Lenin’s communist takeover in 1917.
Despite being very wealthy, Prigozhin has attempted to cast himself as a populist man of the people over the past months. Following what appeared to be drone attacks in Moscow earlier this year, the Wagner chief took aim at the Ministry of Defence.
“As a citizen, I am deeply indignant that these scum sit quietly and sit on their fat assholes smeared with expensive creams. And therefore, I believe that the people have every right to ask them these questions, these bastards,” he said.
In response to the threat of the Wagner forces, many of whom are Russian prisoners who were freed to fight the Ukrainians, highways have been shut down and counter terrorism measures have been put in place around Moscow.
Britain’s military intelligence briefing concluded by saying that in the coming hours the “loyalty” of Russian security forces and the National Guard will be critical in how the situation develops, with Prigozhin likely to attempt to sway loyalties away from the Kremlin.
“This represents the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times,” the MoD said.
Russia: The revolution that isn't getting televised
Leading historian Simon Schama noticed something interesting about the news coverage coming out of Russia:
He's right.
Just take a look at the front page of Saturday's RealClearPolitics ... and blanch.
I see one tiny reference to the less-read gray right column of the page, regarding the goings on in Russia, which involves a mercenary takeover of Russia's top military command in Rostov and a march on Moscow, with a link to the official reaction of Vladimir Putin.
That's not because RCP is unaware of what's going on, but most likely, because they have next to nothing to work with.
There's actually very little coverage of this Russia implosion in the mainstream press, with those of us who really want to know what's going on having to turn to foreign sources, social media posts, real-time news strings, and blogs, some of which can be dubious or propaganda efforts.
It's eerie. A story this huge is ... not being covered by the press.
Compare and contrast with the wall-to-wall coverage of other big events, such as the Iraq invasion of Kuwait.
Compare and contrast with the Russia-Russia-Russia collusion lies that the press couldn't get enough of in its bid to Get Trump. Oh, Russia was important back then.
Part of the problem now for this weird lack of Russia coverage on a very newsworthy event is that there's plenty of important news in the states surrounding the massive corruption of the Biden family that is also newsworthy.
Part of it is that it's a complex story that is rapidly unfolding and easy to get wrong, easy to be victim to disinformation on, easy to be misled on, very hard to verify.
But the part that leaps out at me is that Russia, a huge country of more than 100 million people, no longer has any significant base of foreign correspondents covering events in that country.
That's likely an effect of what happened earlier this year, when Russian security forces seized young Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and charged him with being a spy, which odds are very high he was not.
His prospects for getting out in some kind of spy exchange are very grim indeed, and the Biden administration is unusually feckless in securing that exit. In recent days, the Russians have delayed the trial for months now, likely hoping for an even bigger exchange of spoils to secure Gershkovich's release. That may serve their interests, but it's terrible for young Gershkovich and the rest of us, too.
Not surprisingly, the State Department has ordered all U.S.-based foreign correspondents, and pretty much anyone who can be nabbed as another potential hostage out of that country.
They've obliged.
That's put a crimp on all news from Russia and pretty well shut the news stream down. Oh, there are efforts by most of the same mainstream news outlets, often with secondhand and foreign reporting based sources, but essentially, it's cut the coverage from Russia, as if maintaining a base of foreign correspondents in Russia isn't already monstrously expensive for news outlets as it is. With less news being reported, the U.S. public and probably the U.S. intelligence agencies, too, are forced to rely on fewer mainstream news stories, and more on things like Twitter Spaces, which amalgamates experts talking, working with the social media scraps that are out there.
That's a new thing, in this age of mass media, wall-to-wall-coverage, big CNN spectaculars, and the internet in general. A bona fide insurrection is happening in Russia which could have momentous consequences if it succeeds (and even if it doesn't succeed), and there's barely any coverage.
Image: Twitter screen shot
Russia: What a real insurrection looks like
Want to see what a real insurrection looks like?
Look to Moscow.
By now, you've probably heard that Vladmir Putin has got big problems there.
There's an uprising, an actual insurrection from the armed Wagner mercenary group of 25,000 led by Russian rival oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. The group has been fighting in Ukraine alongside Russia's troops, but much more effectively than the Russian army, which had to have made its leader ambitious. Prigozhin, recall, is a revolting ex-criminal and based on his private phone calls, detests Putin. The uprising was triggered by a few days of negative words with the Russian military, which Prigozhin claimed wanted to take over Wagner, and now Wagner has struck out and literally taken over the southern Russian city of Rostov.
Which is home to Russia's southern military command which controls all of Russia's Ukraine war activity, and about half of Russia's land forces. It's a big deal, because in the north, the navy is the main military player and is focused on the Arctic. The army is in Rostov. Wagner's Prigozhin knew where the land forces were, and instead of targettin Moscow first, he strategically targeted military bastion Rostov, blocking all communications, and getting into the headquarters of the military command, where all the records, including of war deaths, were. The city and the military command fell easily to Wagner because so much of the Russian army is dispatched to Ukraine. What's more, discontent with the Russian conscript army and how it's run is so intense there that are many reports of soldiers peeling off and joining Wagner.
Reports say that the city of Voronezh to its north has now fallen and the Wagner army is now just a few hours from reaching Moscow, where the military there has stepped up readiness.
The Ukrainian press, which is hardly unbiased, says they are being greeted by the locals as heroes:
I listened to the Twitter spaces site for the latest on Russia right through the night, falling asleep to the yakkings of the various invited Russian experts, and thought it was a good way to get the latest as many voices contributed from various sources to what was going on. I think it's still going.
For awhile there, they argued that Prigozhin was a friend of Putin (apparently not reading that Daily Mail report about the phone call) and all he wanted was for Russia's defense minister, Shoigu, to resign. I felt that was absurd, given that Wagner had taken over an actual city, and by its own claims, had shot down three Russian military helicopters. You don't do that if you just want a personnel change.
Putin was absent, and there was a lot of speculation at Twitter spaces about that, too. Was he hiding? Was he scared? Was he playing dead, so as to see who on his team was loyal and who was not when he sprang back into action? Prigozhin said that he was too sick to come out, and as a "friend" of Putin he probably would know. Was he heading out to exile in Uruguay? No one knew.
Russia's TASS official news agency reported that Prigozhin was facing 20 years in the can once they caught him, as if to suggest that his action was that of a mere mutineer. That's only about a decade more than American basketball star Brittney Griner got for a petty pot violation.
In other words, the threat seemed a little light and the activity, which literally threatens to topple the Russian state, seemed a little downplayed. It may be that the Russians were in some kind of paralysis or shock.
But Putin did come out eventually, looking strong and resolute:
His reading of Russian history, particularly what happened in 1917, was absolutely spot on.
His focus on this insurrection, exclusively through the lens of the war in Ukraine, is notable. He's focused as hell on that, even as the Russian state is literally tottering.
His call to the Russian nation to rally behind him, may or may not be effective, given the discontent and falling economy I know of in Russia, even among his loyalists.
It's notable that he urges Russians not to join Wagner. He's concerned about that.
He doesn't convey panic, but a calm assurance that he will take care of this problem.
I don't know about that, given the scope of the problem -- we are talking about falling cities -- and many reverberations of Russia's chaotic "Time of Troubles" post-Ivan the Terrible period of the past.
One thing he doesn't mention is that he dropped himself into this problem. What kind of leader permits a mercenary army, created from criminals emptied from Russia's jails, complete with a St. Petersburg headquarters in a glassy skyscraper (now being raided), and glossy promotional brochures, to form and co-exist and fight right next to the real Russian army? It seemed just a matter of time before this mercenary army would challenge him, particularly because it was so much more effective on the battlefield than the leaden, bureaucratized, angry-conscript-filled Russian army? It was a forgone conclusion that they would revolt, and who knows what kind of machinations the CIA might have been up to? There was that missing $6.2 billion nobody knows what happened to in the Ukraine funding matter, for one...
Some of his critics argued that the video was a deep-fake, with Putin speaking before an obvious green screen (likely) and the healthy Putin figure himself some kind of deep-fake, given Putin's ailing health.
Maybe so, but the message was pretty well done.
Still, it seems the Russians have been caught off guard. The attack on Rostov was a very strategically planned attack and now the march to Moscow seems very well planned in advance. Prigozhin is believed to have many sleeper agents along the way, so he doesn't, thus far, seem to be running into problems as his army marches. One wonders if Prigozhin was the author of the recent drone attacks on Moscow, which at the time, seemed to be the work of Ukraine, though in my account, I said it could have been him.
The interesting thing about the Twitter spaces event, and the tweets I found (I retweeted everything that looked interesting) is that many Russia experts who have either saddened or disgusted me for their Trump hate in the past, come off looking pretty plugged in and sensible -- Bill Browder, Michael McFaul, even Alexander Vindman.
McFaul seems to be on target here:
Yes, Putin is weakened by this, and all the hoopla around the BRICS and Putin's global influence, are quite likely to fall apart unless he gets the situation under control, which at this point, is only a maybe, and even if he does, he won't be the same.
There is likely a lot of disinformation out there, so one must be cautious. While it's true that Putin is taking a body blow here, the guy who could follow him, Prigozhin, should he take over -- is even worse. He's the muscular thug I wrote about here. Russians always did want a strong leader, but one should hope it's not this guy.
Bottom line here is that Putin created this problem for himself by allowing this mercenary army to even exist. Now, even if he beats it back, which he might not, given the broken communication lines and the takeover in the south and the Russian army peeling off, he's paying the piper.
Image: Twitter screen shot
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