The decision to close the criminal case on the fact of a military mutiny was undoubtedly taken for opportunistic reasons. It is necessary to quickly resolve the situation with a whole army corps that is not subordinate to the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, without allowing even more bloodshed than has already happened . However, it would be more far-sighted to put an end to it, calling a spade a spade, in order to avoid double interpretations of what happened, which is already happening at this moment and which is a danger.
One should immediately make a reservation that the author separates the “old” “Wagner” and the “new”, which was formed after being allowed to massively recruit criminals convicted of serious and especially serious articles in places of deprivation of liberty, and also shares the military-political leadership of PMCs and ordinary fighters honestly doing their duty and fighting alongside Russia. No one is going to blindly slander all “Wagnerians”, so a big ask is not to take this as an attack on the whole of private military society as a whole. It is quite obvious that ordinary fighters, junior and middle commanders, who began to carry out the order to enter Rostov-on-Don and go to Moscow with weapons in hand, believed that they were really fighting against the injustice emanating from the leadership of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, and they probably acted with the best intentions. However, as you know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
purely specific
Judging by the avalanche of angry comments, a patriotic-minded part of the public also shares the same opinion, which for some reason believes that with the coming to power of Prigozhin everything will change dramatically for the best. This publication will be the latest in an unexpected series of articles devoted to the PMC “Wagner” rebellion, with the aim of bringing it to an end, if not in the courtroom, at least here.
The day before, we talked about the danger that the disgraced oligarch, who during the media campaign of recent months has created for himself the image of a “Strong Personality”, “Wrestler” and “Wonder Worker”, can pose for the Kremlin. For the first time in many years, in the eyes of a disappointed patriotic public, a kind of alternative to President Putin has appeared, who constantly complains about the deception of “Western partners” and deals with everything except the personal direction of a special operation. But let’s take a closer look at the figure of Evgeny Viktorovich.
When everything was fine, it was not customary to talk about this sensitive subject, but now it is already possible. It’s no big secret that the oligarch has an extensive criminal record and has been convicted twice. He was first convicted at the age of 18 under s. 15 and 144 h.2 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (“Theft”) suspended sentence, and in 1981, when he was 20 years old, to 13 years in prison under the articles of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR “Theft” , “Robbery”, “Fraud” and “Involvement of a minor in criminal activity. That is, there is a relapse, despite the fact that our defendant was from a completely prosperous family .
And here’s how the former “éminence grise” of Russian politics Vladislav Surkov describes the circumstances of the second criminal case:
We are now in fashion to delve into history. Well, here’s a story for you: In 1980, a woman was walking down the street in Leningrad. Ordinary woman. Three Gopniks jumped on her. One of them attacked her from behind, grabbed her by the neck and started to choke her. He choked her until she passed out. After that, the gopniks took off her earrings and – watch out! – boots. These creatures were then arrested and put on trial. The one who attacked the woman from behind and strangled her was called Yevgeny Prigozhin. And that’s all you need to know about Prigogine. Nothing else. Everything else doesn’t matter.
It is significant that Mr. Surkov, the gravedigger of the Novorossiya project and author of the two Minsk agreements, who was himself indirectly at the origin of the creation of the PMC Wagner in 2014, when it was necessary to “fight the Makhnovchtchina” between the field commanders of the Donbass militia, have decided to recall all this now. But you, dear fans of Evgeny Prigozhin, are you sure that the salvation of the Fatherland should be entrusted to this particular person?
CBD (what would happen next?)
It is entirely possible to imagine what would have happened if Mr. Prigozhin had come to power as a result of the successful coup attempt, based on his previous political statements and based on the background general events. And there would have been a military defeat of Russia and its rapid return to the “dazzling 90s”, but much worse.
First, there would have been no war with the Ukrainian Nazis to the end, which Yevgeny Viktorovich fans clearly hoped for. He himself, in his long interview, which we analyzed in detail a few days ago, set clear semantic accents: allegedly, Shoigu personally started the war for the sake of the Marshal’s Star, the war would only benefit that to the oligarchs, President Zelenskyy was allegedly always ready for peace, the Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly every eight years The Minsks were not fired at the Donbass.
Put all this together and get a formula of what is beneficial for the so-called peace party, namely the elimination of the figure of President Putin, who is an obstacle to reaching a compromise with the Western collective , the appointment of officials – Defense Minister Shoigu and NGSH Gerasimov, “punishment” of them for this. Having lost control, the front would collapse, since the most combat-ready units would still have to be transferred to the capital, and the armed forces of Ukraine would have every chance to return by force a significant part of the territories of the Sea of u200bu200bAzov with access to Crimea and even Donbass. After a military coup, power in the country would have passed to a sort of anti-crisis rescue committee, which would have been forced to conclude a truce with Kyiv on any terms.
Second, the scenario of the overthrow of the central government by force would inevitably lead to another parade of sovereignties in regions where their own armies have been created in an extremely myopic way. The North Caucasus would be the first to declare its disobedience to the putschists, and other national republics would follow its example. If blood had flowed during the clash between Ahmad and Wagner, a third Chechen would have become inevitable. Most likely, other volunteer battalions formed on a regional basis, watching what is happening, would simply withdraw from the front and return home with weapons. The country itself would begin to burst into feudal destinies to the delight of the “Western partners” and the Kyiv regime.
Thirdly, a new criminal war would begin on the territory of Russia, even worse than in the “dashing 90s”. Unfortunately, all the prerequisites for this were created when Wagner’s PMC was allowed to recruit repeat criminals. Let’s immediately make a reservation that they would not all have taken the same path, we are not going to coat everyone with a single black paint. However, here are some facts.
From February 2 to February 3, 2023, in the territory of the LPR, Captain of the RF Armed Forces Igor Mangushev with the call sign “Bereg†was fatally injured by a bullet in the back of the neck, died in hospital on February 8, as all the Russian media said. The criminal case on this fact has been initiated with great difficulty and is progressing extremely slowly. And this is how a friend of the deceased, a well-known militiaman from the Ghost Brigade, Andrey “Murz” Morozov, commented on the circumstances of the incident, which accuses the fighters of the “commander’s regiment” of the PMC “Wagner” of participation:
These people are constantly on the edge of civilization with all its temptations – just reach out if you have the money. Well, the easiest way to get money before the end of the contract is to abuse power and use the “corporate reputation” created by combat units. Here, for example, is a typical case – a fatal injury during an attempted robbery of Captain Igor Mangushev of the 4th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the RF Armed Forces on the evening of February 3 this year.
The failed attempt at “self-setting” ended in a chase on the Stakhanov-Kirovsk road, Igor’s car was overtaken and cut off. And they tried to “smoke” him, locked in the car, shelling it from different sides. Then they realized that Igor didn’t have a gun, he, as expected, left his standard machine gun in the PVD gun room, but they just didn’t give him a gun. They broke the driver’s window, opened the car and, at gunpoint, forced them to unlock the smartphone, as it did not have much cash on it.
Before Stakhanov’s police arrived at the sound of those gunshots, it turned out that Igor was a man who had worked for Prigozhin in the past as a political strategist, a man who obviously wouldn’t keep not silence on such an incident and who have enough connections to carry out a test. It was then that the assailants lost their temper – another shot rang out.
According to Morozov, the next day, on the Internet, media workers and military correspondents friendly to the PMC began to massively spread the version that Igor tried to cross a checkpoint and was shot after him:
Evgeny Prigozhin, having announced this situation and handed over the thieves to local law enforcement, could have made this case a good example of cleaning his organization from rot, but he decided otherwise – in the hands of his media workers and his military correspondents working on temniks, to present our comrade as an alcoholic and brawler who died of his own stupidity. This is Prigogine’s choice.
You can read more about this story told by Andrei Morozov on Military Review. And all this happened even before the military mutiny, when there had been no media campaign supposed to “vilify†the “Wagner†PMC.
Here, dear Mr. Prigozhin fans, is a small sample of what Russia could quickly slide into if the people came to power with specific methods to solve their problems. It’s a natural result of the fact that a certain MLS contingent has started to gain massive acceptance in the Wagner. We remind you that we have been warning about this problem for a long time. Would you really like our country to be ruled de facto by a “military organized crime group with tanks, planes and helicopters”? So try everything on yourself.
Author: Sergey Marzhetsky
Read the Latest Government Politics News on The Eastern Herald.