Russia said on Tuesday preparations were underway to transfer Wagner’s “heavy” weapons to the army, a way to neutralize the rebel paramilitary group against which charges have been dropped. The Wagner Group, whose chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been called a “traitor” by Vladimir Putin, has not confirmed that it will hand over its weapons to the authorities and it was not clear what kind of teams were involved.
In an angry speech Monday night, the Russian president, facing his worst crisis since coming to power more than 20 years ago, congratulated himself on avoiding “bloodshed” during this rebellion that shook the Kremlin on Friday and Saturday.
While denouncing a “betrayal”, Vladimir Putin assured that Wagner’s fighters could return home, join the regular army or go to Belarus, whose leader Alexander Lukashenko acted as mediator. Some analysts saw this unusual leniency as an admission of weakness.
Poorly managed rivalries
Alexander Lukashenko, precisely, estimated this Tuesday that the rebellion was the result of mismanagement of the rivalries between Wagner and the Russian army that have not stopped growing in recent months. An implicit criticism of Vladimir Putin.
“The situation got away from us, then we thought it would be resolved, but it was not resolved,” Alexander Lukashenko told reporters. “There are no heroes in this story,” he lamented.
As if to turn the page on this episode, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that “preparations are underway for the transfer of Wagner’s heavy military equipment to active units of the regular armed forces.” Such a measure would be equivalent to effectively neutralizing the Wagner group, whose leader, however, claims to have launched his revolt to “save” this organization threatened to be absorbed by the army on July 1.
A likely Prigokhine/Kremlin deal
Evgeny Prigokhine has not appeared in public since the end of the revolt on Saturday night. In an audio recording on Monday, he denied wanting to “overthrow power.” Some Belarusian media reported that a private jet belonging to Yevgeny Prigozhin landed Tuesday morning in Belarus, but neither the person concerned nor the authorities confirmed this.
Firm in any case that an agreement seems to have been reached between Evguéni Prigojine and the Kremlin, the security services (FSB) announced on Tuesday the dismissal of the process against Wagner for “armed riot.”
It was established that the participants in the riot “terminated their actions directly aimed at committing a crime,” the FSB said in a statement. Given this fact and “other circumstances” not specified, “the dismissal of the proceedings has been decided,” adds the same source.
Putin’s admission of weakness?
This leniency, while Vladimir Putin himself acknowledged Monday night that the mutineers had killed Russian army pilots, contrasts with the relentless crackdown on opponents and anonymous denunciations of the military offensive in Ukraine.
For many analysts, the abortive rebellion by the Wagner group has exposed the weaknesses of Vladimir Putin’s regime and its army in the face of heavily armed men who seized control of military sites and swallowed up several hundred kilometers to Moscow in one day.
In a sign of concern, Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that he had ordered his army to be “ready for combat” when the rebellion broke out.
Some analysts also believe it could weaken Russian forces in Ukraine and benefit kyiv in its counteroffensive. Despite the scare, the Russian authorities tried throughout the day on Monday to give an image of normality in the country, lifting the security measures that had been put in place in Moscow and in various regions.
Source: BFM TV
