wagner's mutiny: Why the 'mad gangster' prigozhin scares the West
The US, UK and Australian militaries are sounding the alarm over a crazed military leader who is striving for nuclear weapons in russia
On Friday, June 23rd, yevgeny prigozhin, the leader of the wagner PMC, started an armed coup, declaring that his 25,000-strong group is taking action against the military leadership of russia. Retired US General Barry McCaffrey referred to prigozhin as an out-of-his-mind gangster capable of changing the course of the war in Ukraine.
"prigozhin spent a decade behind bars. Armed robbery. Burglary. Fraud. Choked out a woman and stole her earrings and boots. Executed a deserter with a sledgehammer. He is a corrupt and dangerous actor. putin criminal enterprise perhaps coming apart." McCaffrey wrote on Twitter.
"We have seen prigozhin making all these statements for the last two weeks, making more and more out of control. Now we are receiving unconfirmed information that russian army units are not opposing him and that the fsb (russian; federal security service of the russian federation – Mind) may refuse to arrest him. We, the US, EU, and NATO, do not like a nuclear-armed country involved in a civil war. And prigozhin is not a step out from putin. He is just another gangster," McCaffrey commented on the situation.
prigozhin's coup, according to his statements, occurred against the backdrop of Ukraine's counteroffensive, which was stalled due to mines, trenches, and a lack of air cover. russia's positions appeared strong, but after wagner PMC mercenaries easily crossed the border and seized the city of Rostov-on-Don, with a population of 1.1 million, the world began to doubt putin's ability to hold onto power.
On Saturday, the UK Ministry of Defence released a statement expressing doubt that the security forces would remain loyal to the president and not switch sides to support the rebellious PMC.
"Over the coming hours, the loyalty of russia’s security forces, and especially the russian national guard, will be key to how the crisis plays out. This represents the most significant challenge to the russian state in recent times," warned the British government.
Mick Ryan, a retired major general in the Australian military and fellow for the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, expressed the opinion that in the current situation, there will be no winner. prigozhin, who 'crossed the Rubicon,' according to him, will bring uncertainty and chaos to all levels of the russian system, even if reports of his coup are exaggerated.
"prigozhin is likely to be the biggest loser," Insider quoted Ryan as saying. "But putin and his inner circle will look like they don't have their hands on all the levers of power in a way that some russian elites would expect them to. And the russian army will be looking forward at the Ukrainians attacking them and looking behind themselves and their nation."
Previously, the U.S. Department of State and leaders of European countries repeatedly assured that they were not interested in regime change in russia. For instance, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that a change of power in russia is not NATO's goal. French President Emmanuel Macron said he did not believe that a change of regime in russia would lead to positive shifts. According to his statement, supporting regime change always ended in failure.
The situation in russia escalated sharply on the morning of Friday, June 23rd, when yevgeny prigozhin made several bold statements accusing the ministry of defence of deceiving the russian president and claiming that the invasion of Ukraine was an unnecessary and poorly planned operation. Later that same evening, prigozhin accused the russian ministry of defence of killing a 'large number' of wagner mercenaries, providing video evidence of missile strikes on his mercenaries' rear training camps. The leader of the PMC promised to organise a "march for justice" on Moscow to stop the "evil brought by the military leadership of the country".
In response, the ministry of defence dismissed the presented video as a "fake," and a criminal case was opened against prigozhin for organising an armed coup. In a video address, general sergey surovikin called on the commanders and fighters of wagner PMC to "stop their columns, return them to their permanent deployment points".
However, the wagner PMC columns crossed the russian border without resistance, travelled 100 km to Rostov-on-Don, and by Saturday morning, June 24th, they had seized administrative buildings in this 1.1 million city, including the headquarters of the Southern Military District and the municipal airfield.
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