WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
The CIA knew about the aborted coup for weeks, and many believe it was because they were instigating it. There is a story on the Internet that Ukraine and CIA agents met with Yevgeny Prigozhin, and the US offered him billions to launch a coup.
The episode is strange.
Putin’s speech and then diplomatic turn were backward. Diplomacy should have come first. He did get intel from it. He knows who some of his opposition is, and telegram users claim he’s rounding them up now.
Putin now knows the Chechens, FSB, army, and opposition party supported him, as did civilians. If the West thinks he’s in danger of a coup, and that’s what they’re working towards, that’s a mistake.
However, Prigozhin was able to make his way to Rostov and take over the defense ministry headquarters without resistance. Rostov has a lot of Wagner Group supporters. Russian media said Prigozhin downed a few helicopters. Then he made his way to Moscow, with nothing stopping him.
Did it make Putin look weak or incompetent? Who knows. We don’t know what is going on. Accepting a peaceful resolution could make him look like a peacemaker.
Where is Prigozhin now? He’s in Belarus, at the border, near Kyiv, allegedly still with his men.
THE COLORFUL MR. PRIGOZHIN
As an aside, we should take a brief look at who Prigozhin is.
Yevgeny Prigozhin is a colorful character who was Putin’s chef and took a turn at writing children’s books. Born in Leningrad in 1961, he was a ski master by 1981. He stole in his early 20s and went to prison for nine years. Yevgeny then became a hot dog seller and on to restaurants. He fed the Russian Military for $1.2 billion per year. Coup man is rich – very – with a jet and a yacht. He only started the Wagner Group mercenaries in 2014. The Wagner Group founder boasted that he interfered in the US election.
— Russian Market (@runews) June 25, 2023
The one thing I can’t get my head around is all these Americans, mostly Democrats, even in the media, cheering Prighozhin on. He slaughtered thousands of Ukrainians and Europe fears him more than Putin.
As for the future, people are predicting his imminent death, and that does seem likely. However, we don’t know what the hay went on, especially during negotiations. We don’t know why Putin has given Prigozhin so much latitude. Prigozhin has been ranting that the Ukraine war was built on a lie and Putin did little.
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov defended the reversal, saying Putin’s “highest goal” was “to avoid bloodshed and internal confrontation with unpredictable results.”
Until now, at least, Mr. Prighozhin is still alive. Here’s Prighozhin from last night:
Prighozhin seen her last night with his men. Putin allegedly said he let them go because of their service on the battlefield.
More to come.
Subscribe to the Daily Newsletter
