[elfsight_social_share_buttons id=”1″]
A short-lived revolt by Russia’s renegade Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin ended Sunday with his exile to Belarus.
Prigozhin’s ongoing feud with Moscow’s armed forces chief came to a head on Saturday. The Wagner leader claimed that he was responding to Russian attacks on his camps in Ukraine sometime on Friday.
U.S. intelligence, however, suggests he had been building up his group of mercenaries on the Russian border for some time. Regardless, on Friday Prigozhin released a video openly criticizing Russia’s decision to go to war, calling out both President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Then, Prigozhin announced that his force was leading a so-called “march for justice” against the Russian military and a whirlwind 24 hours followed from there.
Russia opened a criminal case against Prigozhin saying he called for armed mutiny while military leaders called for the mercs to return to their bases in Ukraine. But on Saturday, Prigozhin said his troops had crossed the Russian border and marched unopposed into the city of Rostov-on-Don with the intention to go all the way to Moscow.
Western governments all issued statements saying they were closely watching the situation while Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pointed to an “obvious” weakness in the Russian military. Moscow forces prepared for the worst as more bickering ensued before Belarus eventually announced a brokered deal with Prigozhin and Russia.
The deal allowed the mercenary leader to reside in Belarus and have all criminal charges against him dropped, while he ordered his group to halt their advancement into Moscow and return to their bases in Ukraine.
A popular photo showing Prigozhin taking a selfie with a citizen while leaving Rostov soon began making the rounds as his journey to Belarus began.
It wasn’t until Monday morning that we received any update from the Russian officials. A video released from the Russian Defense Ministry showed Shoigu interacting with soldiers while Putin released a public statement – that didn’t even mention what had occurred over the weekend.
Like Zelenskyy said on Saturday, many in the U.S. think that this whole ordeal has exposed Putin and the Russian military to “severe weaknesses” in their operations. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the rebellion exposed ‘real cracks’ in Putin’s authority.
The Institute for the Study of War also said that the Wagner group “likely could have reached the outskirts of Moscow” if they wanted to, citing the Kremlin’s lack of a coherent response.
But perhaps the biggest question on everyone’s minds is “What could this mean for the war in Ukraine?” Although no one can truly know the answer to this, the war will be nonetheless monitored in a whole new light after these events.