- A big blow to Vladimir Putin
- A settlement has to be made by the end of June
- A state of emergency has been declared in Moscow
Russia’s powerful President Vladimir Putin, who launched an open challenge to the US, Europe and NATO countries by attacking Ukraine on February 24 last year, was caught up in the coup on Saturday. The rebellion was that of Wagner’s private army of Russia, whose troops had captured a city and announced a march on Moscow. Now the eyes of the whole world were focused on how Putin would deal with this rebellion at home. Is this the end of Putin’s decades-long monopoly? But within 24 hours, Putin changed the game again.
A big blow to Vladimir Putin
The insurgency started by Private Army Wagner in Russia may have been shut down within 24 hours, but whatever happened in the last 24 hours in Russia amid the ongoing war with Ukraine is considered a major blow to President Vladimir Putin. The question is also being raised whether Putin’s grip on power in Russia is weakening.
In reality, Wagner is a private army. Wagner’s army is fighting a war in Ukraine with the Russian army. It has also been embroiled in controversies over military and intelligence operations for quite some time now. Wagner’s army has also been accused of human rights abuses.
When and why did Wagner rebel?
In fact, Wagner Army Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was once President Vladimir Putin’s most special. But now there is a confrontation between Prigozhin and the Russian army. Prigozhin made serious allegations against Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on 23 June. He claimed that Russia’s defense minister had ordered rocket attacks on Wagner’s forces in Ukraine.
Prigozhin said he would seek revenge for the attack from the Russian Defense Minister and that the Russian military should not interfere. After this, Prigozhin returned from Ukraine with his fighters and began marching towards the Russian border. On June 24, Prigozhin claimed that he had captured the southern Russian city of Rostov. After this Prigozhin began to move towards Moscow. However, Wagner did not name Putin. Earlier, when Russia occupied Donetsk in Ukraine, Prigozhin gave full credit to Wagner’s army and accused the Russian Ministry of Defense of trying to suppress Wagner’s role.
A settlement has to be made by the end of June
Not only this, the Russian Ministry of Defense ordered on June 11 that all other private army soldiers, including the Wagner Group, would be inducted into the Russian Army. Everyone has to settle for this by the end of June. This order from the Ministry of Defense was seen as an attempt to gain full control over the Ukraine war. In such a situation, Prigozhin protested and said that we will not enter into any such agreement. We will boycott it.
Putin said – we were stabbed in the back
On the other hand, seeing Prigozhin’s rebellion, Putin addressed the people of Russia. Meanwhile, Putin said, “We were stabbed in the back and they will be punished for this.” We are fighting for the safety of our people. We will give a befitting reply to the armed rebels.” However, he did not name Wagner and Yevgeny Prigozhin in his address.
A state of emergency was declared in Moscow
The Russian administration swung into action after Vladimir Putin’s address. A counter-terrorism state of emergency was declared in Moscow. Apart from this, anti-terrorist operation was also carried out in view of the possibility of terrorist incidents in and around Moscow. A state of emergency was also declared in the city of Voronezh, which borders Ukraine. The Russian government closed the highway between Rostov and Moscow and raided Wagner’s offices.
What were the agreements between Russia and Wagner?
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, the official residence of the Russian president, said Lukashenko offered to mediate only after Putin’s approval. According to the conversation with Lukashenko, Prigozhin will go to Belarus. He said the charges against Yevgeny Prigozhin in the rebellion case would be dropped. Also no action will be taken against the Wagner Group fighters. He described the whole incident as sad.
