PRIGOZHIN BLINKS FIRST

'We are turning back': Wagner chief sensationally agrees to END his mercenary group's march on Moscow following emergency negotiations - after Russian military desperately rushed to build defences around the capital... but what has he been offered?

 

Daily Mail 

June 24, 2023

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has confirmed he has ordered his mercenaries to halt their march on Moscow to avoid shedding Russian blood

 

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has confirmed he has ordered his mercenaries to halt their march on Moscow and retreat to their field camps in Ukraine to avoid shedding Russian blood. 

'We are turning back our columns and leave in the opposite direction to the field camps according to the plan,' an audio message on his Telegram feed said. The announcement from Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared to defuse a growing crisis. 

 Moscow had braced for the arrival of the private army led by the rebellious commander. And President Vladimir Putin had vowed he would face harsh consequences. 

Prigozhin said that while his men are just 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Moscow, he decided to turn them back to avoid 'shedding Russian blood.' 

He didn't say whether the Kremlin has responded to his demand to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. 

There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.  

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Has Putin fled Moscow already? Reports claim planes linked to Russia's leader flew north 'then switched off its transponder' after Wagner Group boasted: 'Soon we will have a new president'

 

 

Two presidential planes linked to Vladimir Putin flew out of Moscow towards Tver and St Petersburg today before switching off their transponders, according to reports, as the Wagner group marched through Russia. 

The jets carry top Kremlin officials, including the Russian President. Other business planes were also 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. 

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IS RUSSIA ABOUT TO COLLAPSE ? 

 

By Bob Walsh 

 

                  

 

Some of the U.K. press is openly speculating that Russia is about to collapse and asserting that the rats (Russian oligarchs) are deserting the sinking ship and taking as much of their wealth with them as possible.

I have no idea if that is true or not.  I do remember that American intelligence had no freaking idea that the old USSR was about to collapse because they had no real information about the internal machinations of the upper strata of Russian society.  I suspect (but do not know) that the same is true now.

The "armed mutiny" currently under way by the Wagner Group could be as big deal.  Wagner has roughly 25,000 armed people in Ukraine.  Many of these people are convicts, brig bunnies and general low-lifes but a lot of their officers are former Russian military regulars, many of who were cashiered for petty thievery, gross insubordination and other unmilitary activity.  They sometimes regard themselves as the "real" Russian military, as opposed to the brown-nosers.  Also (assuming my recollection is correct) the Russian army is unusual in one important respect.  The non-commissioned officers are almost always draftees, given rank due to political reliability rather than military skill and experience.  They are in and out for their two-year cycle.  This might tend to mean the Russian army lacks the cohesion that an army with a professional cadre of non-commissioned officers might have.  

The result is, so far, that the Russian army seems to be sitting out this situation.  There are APCs in the streets of Moscow right now.  This could be a big nothingburger, but it also could be a big deal.  The Wagner people are very pissed that their camp was apparently attacked deliberately by the Russian military, killing a lot of their people.  They are also pissed at what they perceive to be a lack of logistic support from Russia for the Ukraine invasion.  

This COULD end up with a major upheaval in Russia and the Ukraine invasion collapsing.  Or not.  We should know in a few days.  These things, once they start, tend to either come to a head or peter out fairly quickly.   We shall see, and probably-maybe fairly soon.