Russian President Vladimir Putin, 70, faces a real insurrection with his once close 63-year-old comrade Yevgeny Prigozhin threatening to turn his Wagner mercenary army against the Russian Federation. Unlike the misfits protesting Jan. 6, 2021 at the Capitol, Prigozhin’s group of ex-criminals have real firepower enough to seize Rostov-on-Don military base in Southwestern Russia. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) fashioned her fake impeachment article against former President Donald Trump from the Constitution’s recognized grounds for impeachment involving “insurrection” against the United States. Pelosi and her sycophants, like Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) in Congress, knew their was no real insurrection, only language the Democrat press could use to against Capitol Hill protests. When it comes to Prigozhin, it a real insurrection armed with lethal weapons not harmless cell phone.
Prigozhin’s mercenaries were used by Putin in the battle of Bakhmut that went on for months losing thousands of his troops, while asking 68-year-old Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for more arms and ammunition. Prigozhin’s dispute with the Kremlin was largely over money and re-supplying his mercenary forces, something he complained about for months. Only recently, Prigozhin went over the deep end ordering his forces to march on Moscow in an apparent coup attempt. Putin reacted harshly to his St. Petersburg friend, a former prisoner who reformed himself from a humble hot dog stand, to successful catering service to a scheme to take Russian prisoners to give them freedom in exchange for serving in his mercenary army. Once the Ukraine War proved challenging for the Russian army, Putin was all in letting Prigozhin train-and-arm a mercenary army to help out in Ukraine.
Once Prigozhin said he’d take his mercenary army to Moscow in an apparent coup attempt, Putin reacted harshly to his once comrade. “Our actions to defend the Fatherland from this threat will be harsh,” Putin said in a video, showing reinforcements in Moscow. “Any actions that splits our nation are essentially a betrayal of our people, our comrades-in-arms who are no fight at the frontline. This is a knife in the back our country and our people,” Putin said, comparing it to the 1917 Boleshevik Revolution. When it comes to insurrection, Prigozhin is the real deal, not the misfits playing around Jan. 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol. Putin has been locked in a life-or-death struggle against the United States and NATO, using Ukrainian proxy forces to battle the Russian Federation. Prigoxhin said he was calling back his troops, saying he was not interested in “shedding Russian blood.”
Putin faces a two-front war, one in Ukraine and one with Prigozhin’s mercenary army, discontent over its treatment by Shoigu and the Russian military chief Valery Gerasimov. Prigozhin wants more cash-and-arms to manage his mercenary army, something Putin recognized as a threat to his 23-years in power. Frustrated with Shoigu’s response to his demands for more cash-and-weapons, Prigozhin said he wants Shoigu and Gerasimov fired for not responding to his demands for more cash-and-weapons. After capturing Rostov-on-Don Russian military base, Prigozhin ordered his troops to head on the M-4 highway to Moscow, prompting panic in the Kremlin. Putin called Prigozhin’s forces heading toward Moscow “traitors,” “who are attempting to stage a revolt and are pushing the country towards anarchy and fratricide—and ultimately, toward defeat and surrender,” Putin said.
Calling back his forces, Prigozhin realized he went too far, threatening a coup d’etat in Moscow, seeking to topple Putin’s government. Putin’s Chechen ally Ramzan Kadyrov, said he would mobilize his forces to liberate Rostov-on-Don, despite Priigoazin saying he called back his troops. Whether or not Prigozhin returned to his senses is anyone’s guess. It’s going to be difficult for Putin to every trust his once close confident again after the latest escapade. Prigozhin went over the deep end when he thought Putin ordered air strikes on his Wagner Group mercenary forces. Prigozhin complained about a lack of support for months while he lost thousands of his 25,000-force battling to take over Bakhmut. Prigozhin’s mercenary group was strangely similar to 48-year-old Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s al-Mahdi milittia, once battling U.S. forces during early stages of the Iraq War.
Prigozhin is a persona non grata, no longer trusted by Putin or the Kremlin. Putin has bigger fish to fry in Ukraine to worry about a potential coup in Moscow from his once close comrade. Whatever Prigozhin wants, including replacing Shoigu and Gerasimov, he’s burnt his bridges now threatening to topple Putin’s Kremlin government. Prigozhin went ballistic after he thought Shoigu ordered air strikes on his Wagner Group militia. Whether that was an inadvertent mistake or not, Putin has real problem reconciling with Prigozhin, not knowin what his once close friend would do next. Western officials jumped at the prospects of Prigozhin attacking the Russian military, seizing an opening to make more ground in Ukraine. Whatever happens from here, it looks like Prigozhain has called back his march on Moscow, realizing that he had gone too far it betraying Putin.
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.
