Russian President Vladimir Putin, 70, thanked his military and security services for preventing civil war, removing the threat posed by renegade mercenary chief 64-year-old Yevgeny Prigozhin. Prigozhin has been exiled to Minsk, Belarus, where 68-year-old Belarus President Alexander Luknashenko has started to disarm the former Wagner Group chief. Prigozhin went mad, deciding to turn his militia toward the Kremlin, prompting cheers from Washington and Kiev, insisting that Putin’s 23-year hold on the Russian Federation was in question. Ukriaine’s 45-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky said his counteroffensive was stronger without dealing with the Wagner Group. But the false narrative from Kiev and Washington was that Putin’s power in Russia was compromised. U.S. and Ukrainian officials would like to see Putin toppled at the earliest possible time.
U.S. officials claimed that Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots were an attempted coup, when protesters held no lethal weapons, only cell phones to take selfies of themselves trespassing in the House Chamber. Unlike Jan. 6, when it came to Prigozhin’s failed coup attempt, the Wagner Group actually possessed lethal weapons, taking down several Russian helicopters during its short-lived march to Moscow. Yet Democrat U.S. lawmakers are the first to tell you that Jan. 6 was a real insurrection without any real weapons. Putin was never really threatened by Prigozhin who obviously had some kind of breakdown before ordering his troop to Moscow. Realizing his mistake and dire conseuquences, Prigozhin quickly accepted a plea deal to accept asylum in Belarus to dismantle his 25,000-man militia. Contrary to Kiev and Washington, Prigozhin didn’t threaten Putin’s power.
Putin’s speech to the Russian people praised the army and security services to prevent a civil war. “You have defended the constitutional order, the lives, security and freedom of our children. You have saved or Motherland from upheaval. If fact, you have stopped civil war,” Putin said, exaggerating the threat posed by Prigozhin’s Wagner Group. When you consider Prgozhin went over the deep end, it was only a matter of time before the 64-year-old Russian renegade would have failed. Prigozhin was pushed over the edge by the Russian military that accidentally killed hundreds of his troops. Prigozhin went ballistic decided to retaliate against 68-year-old Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu with whom he had an ongoing feud. Prigozhin blamed Shoigu for not supplying him enough arms-and-ammo in his months-long fight for Bakhmut killing thousands of his troops.
Putin admitted that several Russia helicopter were lost by attacks from the Wagner Group while trying to prevent their march to Moscow. “In the confrontation with insurgents our comrades-in-arms, the aviators died,” Putin said. “They did not falter and carried out their orders and their military duty with honor,” admitting casualties at the hand of the Wagner Group. Once Prigozhin returned to his senses, he knew he would be either killed or arrested to face treason charges. Belarus President Lukashnko was able to negotiate an asylum agreement as long as Prigozhin agreed to dismantle what’s left of his militia. Putin offered to incorporate Wagner’s soldiers into the Russian army to continue fighting the Ukraine War. Prigozhin, during his bout of temporary insanity, was the only threat to Putin’s authority, not firmly back in control. Biden and Zelensky exaggerate the threat to the Russian state.
Washington and Kiev used Prigozhin’s failed coup to highlight Putin vulnerability in power, despite offering no evidence that other threats loomed for the Russian leader. When 47-year-old Russian dissident Alexi Navalny roamed about Moscow, the Western press touted his threat to Putin’s 23-year-old regime. Navalny sits in solitary confinement in a Russian penal colony, likely to die in prison. When it comes to Prigozhin, he was a former Putin ally, who used his resources and connections to the Kremlin to develop his 25,000-man militia, largely from Russian prisons. Prigozhin was less of a threat than Navalny that had the West’s backing in his pursuit to topple Putin. Putin’s power over Russian has never been stronger, holding approval ratings over 70%. Washington and Kiev would like the world to believe Putin’s grip on power was in trouble. Only one problem, there’s zero support for any challenge.
Allowing the Wagner Group to amass arms and an army of 25,000, Putin learned his lesson of what could happen with a former ally. Prigozhin obviously went insane threatening to march on Moscow to protest Defensive Minsiter Sergei Shoigu and Army Chief Valery Gersasimov. U.S. officials the value of a well-armed militia after the Jan. 6, 2023 Capitol riots that Democrats called an “insurrection.” When it came to Prigozhin’s 25,000-man militia, you could make the argument it threatened the Russian State. How does Congress make the argument that Jan. 6 rioters threaten the U.S. government? “The rapid and accurate deployment of law enforcement units made it possible to halt the extremely dangerous developlement of the situation in the country and to prevent casualties among the civilian population,” Putin said. Putin’s power was never threatened by Prigozhin.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
