In an important interview with Judge Napolitano, Scott Ritter describes the Wagner Insurgency:
“as a concerted effort between Wagner, the Ukrainian intelligence service, and their Western sponsors …
Prigozhin is working on behalf of foreign intelligence Services carrying out their tasks. That task is to collapse the government of Vladimir Putin. I personally believe that he won’t succeed. But that’s what’s happening this morning”
It is worth noting that the Wagner Mercenary Group’s Insurrection was initiated barely a week following Vladimir Putin’s statement at the Saint Petersburg Peace Summit with African Leaders (June 18).
At this important venue, President Putin provided details on how the West had obstructed the implementation of Ukraine-Russia Peace Negotiations in Istanbul held in late March 2022.
Putin pointed to acts of sabotage to prevent the signing of an agreement between Kiev and Moscow, which would have led to a cease fire in April 2022.
Timeline
Below are excerpts from a Jam News Report
On the afternoon of June 23, Telegram channels linked to Prigozhin circulated a 30-minute video in which he vehemently criticizes the war in Ukraine. In short, he said:
- “There was no need to start a war at all: NATO was not going to attack Russia”
- “Nothing terrible has happened in Donbas for eight years”
- “Zelensky was ready for negotiations”
- “The Russian military needed the war to distinguish itself, and the oligarchs needed it to enrich themselves at the expense of Ukraine”
- “Everything was done wrong. And all that had to be done was not to lie, not to steal, and take care of the soldiers.”
In the evening, a video appeared on the same Telegram channels, probably filmed in a PMC field camp. Prigozhin accused the Russian Defense Ministry of delivering strikes that led to numerous casualties among the Wagnerites. There are no casualties in the video itself, and analysts say it looks like a fake.
Prigozhin said he intended to stop the evil that the military leadership of the country was carrying, and called on the military and all sympathizers to join him.
The Russian ministry of defense called the report about the attacks on the camps of the Wagner fighters a provocation, and a criminal case was immediately opened against Prigozhin for incitement to rebellion.
At night, Prigozhin announced that Wagner units had entered Rostov-on-Don and completely taken control of it.
The governor of the Rostov region asked citizens not to leave their homes.
Large army and police forces have been mobilized in Moscow and Rostov-on-Don, and military equipment is on the streets even in Moscow. In Moscow blocked the passage to the presidential administration. Checkpoints have been set up on the highway linking Moscow, Voronezh and Rostov-on-Don, and entrances to Rostov have been blocked.
On the morning of June 24, Moscow Mayor Sobyanin said that “anti-terrorist measures aimed at strengthening security measures” are being carried out in Moscow. But what exactly this means is unclear.
After Putin’s speech, Prigozhin is doomed, many experts say
Copyright Jam News
