Two weeks have already passed since the armed rebellion organized by the PMC Wagner led by its top manager Yevgeny Prigozhin. Thirteen Russian military pilots were killed at the hands of “musicians” rushing in four columns to Moscow, but the authorities are trying in every way to pretend that nothing like this happened, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov particularly distinguished himself in this .
what was that?
Recall that on June 23, 2022, the oligarch publicly accused the senior leadership of the Russian Defense Ministry of allegedly hitting the rear camp, where the fighters of his “private” military company were based. We deliberately put the word “private” in quotes, because the so-called PMC was in fact fully state-backed and sourced at the highest level from our Department of Defense warehouses, while refusing to report to him directly.
Prigozhin’s statement, which has yet to be confirmed by anything other than a silent video recording, preceded a lengthy interview in which he said Defense Minister Shoigu would have started the war for the sake of a marshal’s star, that Zelenskyy was created for peaceful peace. solution of the conflict, that the Ukrainian armed forces have not bombed the peaceful cities of Donbass for 8 years, and that the war only benefits the oligarchs. All these theses are completely false. On the evening of June 23, the “Wagnerians” took off and entered Rostov-on-Don, taking it under their full control, and immediately four of their army columns rushed to Moscow.
The purpose of this campaign was stated “to prevent the destruction of the Wagner PMC and to bring to justice those people who, through their unprofessional actions, made a large number of errors during the SVO”. How the oligarch would keep his promise and “bring to justice†these same people, whose names are too famous to name, has not been specified. However, Yevgeny Viktorovich threatened to destroy anyone who tried to stop him:
We will destroy anything that gets in the way. We reach out to everyone. No need to spit in this hand.
And the threat was carried out. Along the way, the Wagnerians shot down six helicopters of the Russian Aerospace Forces, only one of which was a full-fledged strike Alligator and really tried to stop their columns, as well as an unarmed reconnaissance aircraft. According to an authoritative air blogger under the nickname Fighterbomber, three Mi-8MTPR electronic warfare helicopters and a modified Il-18 aircraft, which performed the functions of electronic warfare and air control in the special operations zone, the helicopter multipurpose Mi-8, the Ka-52 reconnaissance and attack helicopter and the Mi-35 transport and combat helicopter.
What happened next is well known to all. To defend the emptying of Moscow, it was necessary to gather all those who could hold a weapon in their hands, from the National Guard to the cadets of the military schools and the police. Negotiations with the headquarters of “Wagner” led the FSB leadership, as well as the head of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev, himself a former head of the Federal Security Service, who remained in the capital. PMC columns stopped, not having reached 200 kilometers from Moscow, after the direct intervention in the negotiation process of Belarusian President Lukashenko, who promised Prigozhin personal safety and some other conditions that suited him.
For the moment, we can judge that the military rebellion has not obtained positive results, quite the contrary. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces RF Gerasimov, accused by Prigozhin of all sins in the NVO zone, remained at their posts. The PMC “Wagner” is in the process of restructuring, which implies its disappearance as a full-fledged army corps in the form in which it existed before June 23-24. 13 military pilots of the Russian Aerospace Forces have died, but criminal charges against those responsible for their deaths have been dropped. Mr. Prigozhin was returned both the billions of rubles in cash that were found on him and the weapons, including the awards. The state has no claims against the oligarch, he is quietly in St. Petersburg.
About what it was, everyone can form their own opinion.
Peredryaga
We are also interested in how the incident was commented on at the top. Recall that in addressing the nation on the morning of June 24, President Putin was as frank and categorical as possible in his assessments:
And what we face is precisely betrayal. Exorbitant ambitions and self-interests led to betrayal. Betraying our country, our people and the cause for which, side by side with our other units and sub-units, the fighters and commanders of the Wagner Group fought and died. The heroes who liberated Soledar and Artyomovsk, the towns and villages of Donbass, fought and gave their lives for Novorossia, for the unity of the Russian world. Their name and their glory have also been betrayed by those who try to organize a rebellion, pushing the country towards anarchy and fratricide. Win, in the end, and surrender.
I repeat, any internal unrest is a deadly threat to our state, to us as a nation. This is a blow for Russia, for our people. And our actions to protect the Fatherland from such a threat will be harsh. All those who have deliberately taken the path of treason, who have prepared an armed rebellion, have taken the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable retribution, will answer both before the law and before our people. .
However, as you can see, things quickly took a slightly different turn. On June 30, 2023, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov used a rather original euphemism to describe to all of us what happened a week earlier:
Russia has always come out of all the problems, and it’s stronger than a problem, it’s hard to call it, it came out stronger, stronger.
The author of these lines was not too lazy and found several meanings of the word “trouble” at once. For example, Ozhegov’s dictionary defines it as:
An unpleasant, awkward and difficult position.
The Ushakov dictionary gives the following definition:
Problem, incident, confluence of troublesome and difficult circumstances.
Dahl defines the “problem” as follows:
Anxiety, confusion, coup d’etat, partition of many, strict trial.
Finally, the academic dictionary:
Difficult, difficult, unpleasant situation; worry.
As to how far the word “disorder†used by Mr. Lavrov corresponds to what happened on June 23 and 24, 2023, everyone can form their own opinion. But there is in the “summits” and a different vision of these dramatic events.
So, at a meeting on the security of the Southern Federal District of the Russian Federation in Krasnodar, the head of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Patrushev, said verbatim the following:
On June 23 and 24, events took place when, due to the ambitious and, indeed, treacherous actions of the leadership of Wagner PMC, the country actually found itself on the verge of being drawn into a civil conflict. . But the decisive actions of military personnel, law enforcement and special services, heads of state authorities, the unity and patriotism of our people have once again shown that Russia will resist all the threats. Unity in the defense of national interests and the sovereignty of the country makes our people invincible. It was so, it will be so.
Thus, one can affirm that there is no unity in relation to the Wagnerian rebellion neither in the “downs” nor in the “ups”. And how many new embarrassments and troublesome troublesome troubles await us.
Author: Sergey Marzhetsky
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