– Dr. Prabhat Ojha
There was a military revolt in Russia. This fact may be a half-truth. Because the rebel ‘Wagner’ fighters are not full-fledged soldiers of Russia. ‘Wagner’ is Private Army. The special thing is that it was on the front from Russia in the Ukraine war. Its chief is Yevgeny Prigozhin. He has been close to President Putin. He is also called their cook. The cook has now become the enemy of life. It was celebrated in a dramatic manner. ‘Wagner’ revolted. The fighters advanced towards the capital Moscow. … and some reached near that before that their chief gave the order to return. This total happened in less than 36 hours. During this period, the world’s eyes were fixed on Russia as to what would happen to President Vladimir Putin.
This question is expected to remain in the future as to what will happen to Putin. According to the recent changes in the Russian constitution, he can remain president for life, but this is a normal arrangement. What has happened is not normal. On Friday night and till late evening on Saturday, this rebellion was called a coup attempt.
There are many who believe that a coup cannot happen in Russia. Such people have to remember that there may not be a coup in the form of a rebellion, but in 1989, when the Soviet Union was weakening, there was a rebellion against Brezhnev. 15 republics of the erstwhile Soviet Union were demanding their independence. Mikhail Gorbachev was holidaying at the dacha and tanks were rolling through the streets of Moscow. Boris Yeltsin was the elected President. He dramatically appealed for peace by standing on a tank. Brezhnev returned to the capital a day later. After this incident, the death of Brezhnev and the rise of Yeltsin is a link in history. Then slowly the Soviet Union started disintegrating. Shortly afterwards, in 1993, Yeltsin too faced a coup. The dispute between the extreme leftists and the so-called nationalists reached the point of conflict. Then on September 21, a demand was made to hand over power to Vice President Alexander Ritskov. The mayor’s office and the television center were captured by the rebels. On Yeltsin’s orders, tanks fired shells outside the parliament. Officially 148 and unofficial sources put the death toll at over a thousand.
The story of the disintegration of the Soviet Union is now out of date. Such stories have taken a new form after the latest rebellion. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, even the most powerful Russia has once again started looking helpless. The uprising comes at a time when Russia has been at war with Ukraine for more than 16 months. In this struggle, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of ‘Wagner’ as a private army, supported Russia and its President Putin. Prigozhin played a key role in the capture of several key targets, including the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Then there is the question why Putin’s ‘close’ Prigozhin went to the extent of rebellion and even said that now Russia is going to get a new President. Initially he said that his campaign was not a coup.
Prigozhin, once serving a 13-year sentence for assault, robbery and fraud, was released after nine years. He started selling hot dogs in St. Petersburg. The business went so well that he opened an expensive restaurant. It became so popular that even Putin started coming to this restaurant with his guests. From here Prigozhin also came to be known as ‘Putin’s cook’. Now this cook appears to be an ‘enemy of Putin’.
Putin’s chef and his ‘Wagner’ group have been influential since 2017 with military interventions in Mali, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Libya and Mozambique. Now it is taking mines and land leases in resource rich countries. According to a 2022 report by the Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, ‘Wagner’ has become the most influential Russian group in African countries. It is said that Prigozhin’s ambition has become strong in Russia too. Initially, he complained to the Defense Minister of Russia and senior military officers that his group did not get enough equipment despite being on the front line of the war. He repeatedly complained about this to President Putin as well. However, Russia is no longer the mysterious secretive country it used to be. Various types of reports are coming. It would be meaningless to see the direct role of NATO and America in this rebellion, but America’s laxity on the demand of ban on ‘Wagner’ gold mining digging in African countries raises questions. In any case, Prigozhin has put Putin on edge. Now his close aide Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has convinced Prigozhin to return. It is said that he will return to Belarus only, but in Russia he has left many messages amidst the war. The main thing is that the common people have already been against the war, somewhere after this rebellion, the voice of protest among them may increase.
(The author is associated with Hindusthan Samachar.)
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