Russia’s criminal case against Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin remains open, in spite of an agreement found with the Kremlin which would allow the renegade warlord to avoid prosecution for leading a mutiny against President Vladimir Putin’s regime, according to media reports.
“The criminal case against Prigozhin has not been terminated,” Russian state-owned newswire Ria Novosti reported Monday, quoting a “source in the Prosecutor General’s Office,” and confirming previous Russian media reports, including from the other major Russian state-owned newswire, TASS.
Russian intelligence services threatened to harm the families of Wagner leaders before Yevgeny Prigozhin called off his advance on Moscow, according to UK security sources.
It has also been assessed that the mercenary force had only 8,000 fighters rather than the 25,000 claimed and faced likely defeat in any attempt to take the Russian capital.
Vladimir Putin will now try to assimilate Wagner Group soldiers into the Russian military and take out its former leaders, according to insights shared with The Telegraph.
The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday that the Wagner head had agreed to leave Russia for Belarus as part of a deal to end his armed revolt, while charges against him for organising the rebellion would be dropped. Peskov added that Vladimir Putin and the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko had guaranteed Prigozhin’s personal safety.
The warlord’s current whereabouts is unknown. He was last seen leaving the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don late on Saturday to a rapturous reception, with crowds of men gathering around him.
It was predicted that Vladimir Putin’s hold on power was tenuous. And now he is badly damaged goods.
By the time you read this, the fast-moving events in Russia may have outpaced this column . . . and Vladimir Putin. The latest reports say that the Wagner Group’s charismatic chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin has announced he is “turning his columns around.” This after his forces came within 100-to-150 miles of Moscow without resistance, indicating Putin’s weakness. Yet something has changed.
Perhaps some in the Russian command had given Prigozhin mixed messages and then chose not to support Prigozhin, i.e., he counted on support that did not materialize. Why else would he begin a military move toward Moscow, triggering the city to mobilize against a coup? You can bet that Putin will purge any military generals he suspects of questionable loyalties, and he will err on the side of caution, so anyone remotely suspected will be demoted, or in some cases imprisoned or even liquidated as an example to others.
Like Noah and Rich, I’ve seen enough, and studied enough Russian history, to be inclined to a large dollop of caution both about what exactly is happening in Russia right now, and about what we should want to see happening. Every possible source of information is unreliable. Hardly anybody saw these particular turns of events coming — either the rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin or what now appears to be its end.
The rebellious Russian mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow before abruptly reversing course will move to neighboring Belarus and not face prosecution, the Kremlin said Saturday, as part of a deal to defuse a crisis that represented the most significant challenge to President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power.
The charges against Yevgeny Prigozhin for mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped and the troops who joined him also will not be prosecuted, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced, and fighters from his Wagner Group who did not take part in the uprising will be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry.
The office of Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko said the Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has agreed to deescalate his force’s mutiny.
Lukashenko’s office said the president spoke to Prigozhin with the permission of Russian President Vladimir Putin to broker a deal to halt the movement of Wagner’s mercenaries across Russia.
Belarus said an agreement that guarantees the safety of Wagner fighters is on the table.
The announcement was carried on the official Telegram channel of the Belarusian president.
Wagner convoy destroyed Kremlin's dump trucks filled with sand on their way to Moscow. pic.twitter.com/iY6XEsVAmu
Wagner troops may reach Moscow by evening as Kremlin hurries to intercept
Wagner mercenary troops loyal to Yevgeny Prigozhin are heading north in a convoy that could reach the Russian capital of Moscow by Saturday evening.
The convoy of lorries, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles is hoping to take advantage of the element of surprise and reach Moscow before it is intercepted by a larger detachment of Russian regular troops, according to analysts and Russian military bloggers.
Video from the convoy showed it had broken through barricades in the Lipetsk region, which borders Moscow from the south. The Russian government has been hurriedly preparing defences, including anti-tank ditches dug into major highways, in order to prevent the convoy from reaching Moscow.
Moscow mayor tells people stay to home; Wagner nears , declares Monday non-working day
Moscow’s Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has issued a statement telling residents in the capital to avoid unnecessary travel and also declared that Monday would not be a working day for most people — except for core services, security services, the military and so forth.
“In order to minimize risks, I, within the framework of the operational headquarters, decided to declare Monday a non-working day,” Sobyanin said on the Telegram website.
He urged residents to refrain from unnecessary travel around the city and told them to report emergency situations to the emergency services hotline (112 in Russia) as quickly as possible.
Has Putin fled Moscow already? Reports claim plane linked to Russia’s leader flew north ‘then switched off its transponder’
A presidential plane linked to Vladimir Putin flew north from Moscow towards Tver and switched off its transponder, according to multiple reports.
Other business jets were seen making an exodus from the capital towards St Petersburg.
Earlier there were reports from Ukrainian intelligence indicating Putin had left from Moscow by helicopter for his palace at Valdai, between Moscow and St Petersburg.
Wagner inches closer to Moscow as Putin vows to stop ‘rebellion’
Forces led by Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin advanced in the direction of Moscow on Saturday, moving north from the Voronezh region to the Lipetsk region, which is roughly 250 miles from the Russian capital. President Vladimir Putin, citing a threat to his nation, said he had ordered the military to quash the “rebellion” led by Prigozhin, who on Friday called for Russians to join a campaign against Russia’s military leadership.
Joe Biden has been briefed on the chaotic situation in Russia with US officials describing it as “serious”.
The president was being kept informed as Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was accused by Moscow of launching an armed rebellion.
A White House National Security Council spokesman said: “We are monitoring the situation and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments.”
We’re coming to get you! Wagner forces head to Moscow
Russia’s Wagner militia forces are headed towards Moscow on Saturday after chief Yevgney Prigozhin initiated a military coup against Putin and his regime, which has seen the group take key cities and mock the President, who called them ‘traitors’.
Putin addressed the Russian people on Saturday, warning that the military leader had ‘stabbed him in the back’, as Moscow is on lockdown as troops dig in in preparation to defend the city.
Key points of Putin’s address to nation over PMC Wagner coup attempt
Russian President Vladimir Putin has delivered an address to the nation amid a coup attempt by the private military company Wagner. He described the mutineers’ actions as “backstabbing” and called for unity.
Late on Friday, PMC Wagner’s boss Evgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian military of striking his group’s base – something the Defense Ministry has strongly denied.
Putin appears in a video address after Wagner mercenaries began a military coup and successfully seized the southern city of Rostov.
“Wagner group rebellion is a criminal campaign, Russia will defend itself.”
Russian military helicopters launch missiles at ground targets in Voronezh. Most likely on the positions of the Wagner forces. pic.twitter.com/UNDqy4XLnE
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 24, 2023
BREAKING:
The Russian Army has started building machine gun positions on the south-western entrances on the ring-road to Moscow.
It’s the expected attack direction of the Wagner Group.
Fears of a coup are growing in Russia this morning after Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin declared war on Moscow’s military leadership and claimed to have marched on the city of Rostov ‘unopposed’.
The private army boss claimed to have also shot down a Russian military helicopter in the city – home to the Kremlin’s headquarters for the war in Ukraine – which ‘opened fire on a civilian column’.
Russia opened a criminal probe into the maverick leader of the Wagner mercenary group after he alleged the Russian army killed an “enormous number” of his fighters in rocket strikes on their rear bases in Ukraine.
In an unprecedented escalation of his feud with the country’s top brass, Yevgeny Prigozhin threatened to “march” on Moscow with 25,000 fighters and punish those responsible, prompting speculation of a coup attempt.
He warned Russians against resisting his mercenaries and called on others to join him.
They are fighting more effectively at night than their Russian counterparts, U.S. officials say.
They are using American-made Bradley fighting vehicles to destroy Russian armor with anti-tank missiles. And they are deploying combined arms tactics — synchronized attacks by infantry, armor and artillery forces — that they learned from American and other Western troops.
It is, finally, showtime for the 36,000 Ukrainian soldiers — nine brigades — that have been armed, equipped and trained outside of Ukraine over the past several months by the United States and its NATO allies.
#Ukraine: In Tavriya, #Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the Ukrainian 128th Mountain Assault Brigade hit a Russian ISDM Zemledeliye remote mine-laying system with an artillery strike- fragments penetrated the launching assembly, igniting the rockets onboard. pic.twitter.com/tM6e6j49Ua
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 22, 2023
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says the war in Ukraine will eventually end through diplomacy, but that Canada’s support of the country will continue in the long term, to help prevent future conflict.
As the war approaches the 18-month mark, Joly told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday that the long-term support of Ukraine by Canada and other NATO allies is critical to deterring Russia, which Joly says will remain “a very dangerous neighbour” even after the war.
Decades of support? I can’t take this woman seriously.
The rock group Lyube are reported to have made more money since the invasion of Ukraine than in the previous eight years
President Putin’s favourite rock group, whose “patriotic” songs are played during the torture of dissidents, have made more money from Kremlin-sponsored concerts since Russia invaded Ukraine than they did in the previous eight years, a report says.
Lyube have earned more than 57 million roubles (£550,000) over the past 16 months of war, according to Agentstvo, a Russian media outlet banned by the Kremlin. The lead singer, Nikolay Rastorguyev, is a member of Putin’s ruling United Russia party.
A Russian soldier who was awarded almost £10,000 – one million roubles – for destroying a Western-donated tank had his arm recently amputated, casting doubts over the story broadcast on state media.
The Kremlin has promised a reward for Russian soldiers for destroying every German Leopard 2 tank, and for every major piece of Western-supplied equipment.
Russia’s defence ministry on Tuesday released footage of a ceremony at a military hospital outside Moscow showing a soldier with an amputated arm receiving an award certificate from an MP and three-time Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling.
Ukrainian forces launched their long-expected counter-offensive against Russia earlier this month, with German-made Leopard II main battle tanks, many of which have already been lost, taking part in the operations against Russian forces, but so far, territorial gains have been few in number.
The U.S.-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) stated this week that while Ukraine was conducting offensive operations in at least four sectors of the frontline, they have made “limited territorial gains.”
