Well, that was fun while it lasted.
But what an anticlimax.
@Magnus thank you for all the info, and for answering my questions earlier.
That Wagner charge toward Moscow reminded me of Evertonās charge up the table under Ancelotti. Nothing came of it.
Twitter is awash with bots saying that it was a master plan of Putin
A way to flush out traitors.
Difficult to say what end outcome will be. This certainly has weakened Russia and hopefully Ukraine can capitalise.
Would not surprise me if many of the Wagner fighters refuse to return to Ukraine and that the weakness illustrated today leads to Putins departure within 6 months.
Prigozhin has now agreed to move to Belarus and all charges against him are dropped!!!
I mean, WTF just happened???
I think he hoped and had planned for events in Moscow and elsewhere we donāt know about and could not raise enough support fast enough to win. But that is just a guess. In any case, Putinās authority is incredibly damaged. He declared them traitors, then amnesty and now all of those Wagner forces will not fight for Russia again (those who participated on the march are given amnesty, but will not be allowed to join ministry of defence forces they say, but will be redeployed to Africa). These are the most hardened troops they have, the loss of so many effective veterans will be felt on the battlefield, no doubt. The rest of Wagner, those who did not participate on the āMarch of justiceā will sign contracts with the RU MoD they report.
Of course, one cannot fully trust those reports since it is basically what Kreml says officially. But few, Ib think, believe that Kreml will dare to trust them again. That is a win for Ukraine.
Oh, I see. Prigozhin and those who marched with him will enjoy safe harbor in Belarus, where Putin has no friends who could take their sweet time doing him in. This would be like Putin fleeing Russia for The Hague as the revolution sweeps him from power.
From WSJ:
āWagner soldiers who took part in the mutiny will be granted amnesty, while those who stayed in their barracks will be offered a contract with the defense ministry, he added.ā
My comment: Because āstaying in oneās barracksā puts one in lock step with the rest of the Russian army.
Those who participated were most of them and included their crack units with T-90 and S-400, hehe.
I doubt many states will be dumb enough to give mercs their most advanced and sophisticated weaponry in the future
I mean, the very idea that they rolled out with S-400 comlexes and lots of Pantsirs is absolutely hilarious!
Sadly they only shot down 7 aircrafts. Could have been a lot more had this gone onā¦
ā¦or not
Welcome back @Magnus.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/24/us-intelligence-prigozhin-putin/
So everybody knew something was up, but not how and when.
When I first read that there was a possibility of a mutiny, I thought maybe just about time, then I read the profile of the Wagner guy and I am thinking this shit could even be worse than Putin, if that is even possible.
I was just hoping heād creat a big distraction for a while, at least a month, but no the lunatic fell at the 1st hurdle. Pathetic!
This āmodernā world is so depressing!
I wouldnāt be surprised if Prigozhin āfallsā from a high window or a mysterious substance finds itās way into his tea, in the near future.
How does Prigozhin , in the space of twenty four hours , go from being a traitor guilty of mutiny who will be dealt with in the most unforgiving way , to having all the charges dropped and packed off to live in ( opulent no doubt ) exile in Belarus ? This just makes Putin look like heās no longer in control of events.
Childish angry person threw his rattle out the pram, it made a lot of noise however noone moved, just waited for Uncle to come along and pick it up. Uncle set things straight and everyone lived happily ever after!