Rebel Russian mercenaries, known as the Wagner forces and led by former Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, are advancing towards Moscow after capturing the city of Rostov. Russian military forces have been unable to halt their progress, and a helicopter fired on the convoy as it approached Voronezh. President Vladimir Putin compared the situation to Russia’s Civil War and vowed to crush the armed mutiny. Prigozhin claims his men are on a “march for justice” to remove corrupt commanders. The situation poses a significant challenge to Putin’s rule, and the loyalty of Russia’s security forces is crucial in determining the outcome.
How long before Gaetz or MTG start tweeting that the Wagner group is on an ordinary tourist visit of Rostov, and now moving to see the sights in Moscow?
Seems like Prighozin has achieved tactical surprise (if we can call it that).
Most of the Russian military is bogged down in Ukraine so the military forces in the rest of the country are heavily depleted (and likely not the best trained folks either). He is leading a force of about 10k mercenaries in his march to Moscow, who are arguably better trained than most Russian troops they are facing.
They are predicting he could reach Moscow by tonight (Saturday), as he is only up against militia and hastily drawn up barricades along the way (with the heavy weapons Wagner has these won’t really slow him down).
Am starting to think there is method to Prighozin’s current “madness” and someone inside the Kremlin is very likely feeding him information about military and militia movements. The timing of all of this is too coincidental.
Its highly likely that Putin has left Moscow so think about the symbolism of Prighozin and Wagner rolling into Moscow and claiming they are “liberating” it.
This was what I thought might be the case Friday night: i. e. this was just lies and Russia would intensify Ukraine attacks. The happenings today, even if not totally accurate, confirm that Putin is in some trouble. Anything that hastens the end of the war in Ukraine is positive imo.
And Putin knows that. If he is losing the battle, he will leave if he can. Staying in Russia is a 100% losing proposition but at least he has a chance somewhere else. “So you say there’s a chance”
Can’t Russia just get with the times and become a free market democracy and then everyone gets rich or something? I don’t understand this dictator shit and why dictatoring a poor ass country is more preferable than being rich.
ETA: the headline of this preview is the news of Wagner pulling back. The body of the preview is a little misleading as its referring to comments Putin made earlier about the insurrectionists.
With this detente, Prighozin avoids being completely sidelined (which is what the military and FSB wanted), while not having to engage in a near suicidal mission (I think he could have gotten to Moscow but he would not have lasted very long).
So you can sort of say he has solidified his place at the political table in Russia via public opinion.
Still, its a dangerous play for him. Not sure how long this detente will last.
