The Hands-Off Affair Between Putin and Prigozhin
"As for Prigozhin, he’s in St Petersburg. He is not on the territory of Belarus""Where is Prigozhin this morning? Maybe he left for Moscow.""[Vladimir Putin would not] wipe out [Prigozhin because the Russian president was not] malevolent and vindictive.""[The plan is to discuss the future of Wagner during an upcoming meeting with Putin]. Will Wagner end up in Belarus or not, and in what quantity – we’ll figure this out in the near future."Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko
Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin visited the FSB office in St. Petersburg Tuesday to pick up his weapons. New York Post |
The
thuggish Wagner Group founder led a rebellion against his old friend
and supporter, freshly sending an alert to their world audience that all
is not well in Moscow, and yet though Vladimir Putin publicly named
Prigozhin's incipient coup for what it was, a betrayal that he had
reason to suspect not only the warlord Prigozhin for, but the quietly
active cooperation of some of his generals being involved. The Wagner
convoy was voluntarily halted a mere several hours' ongoing march to
Moscow.
Whether
or how much of a success in destabilizing Putin's government and
removing him from his position as its head, might have been achieved is
anyone's guess, but this "stab in the back"
obviously had the support of others in influential positions, not only
the mercenary boss. Yet the obstreperous man who led his troops from
Rostov-on-Don toward Moscow encountered no opposition from the Russian
military. Wagner, in fact, shot down several Russian warplanes circling
above his troops, as well as a helicopter.
Leaving
the question, where were the generals commanding the army and the air
force while the Wagner force steadily advanced on Moscow, unimpeded, and
doubtless cheered on by many Muscovites given the popularity of the
pugilistic clown so fond of grandstanding complaints and threats? Now,
however, the leading question is why has Putin withdrawn his threats of
holding Prigozhin to account?
And
where, for that matter is Sergey Surovikin, the general who was placed
in charge of liaison with Wagner, known as a close associate of
Prigozhin? While Prigozhin, the principal fomenter of the infamous
rebellion has been left free to disport himself as he wishes and to
reclaim his goods and funds taken into custody by Russian police,
General Surovikin's whereabouts are currently unknown, vanished into the
thick air of conspiracy.
Vladimir
Putin has no love for the presence of competitors, yet findings of
reports from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs suggests that of
Russia's 46 regions, 17 sided with Prigozhin, with just 22 regions
supporting Putin; the remaining split in their loyalty. St.Petersburg,
Putin's home city, had prepared to throw its support to the Wagner
chief, although Moscow continued to back the president.
The
mystery that is Russian politics continues to puzzle. Yevgeny
Prigozhin, a threat to Vladimir Putin, was not arrested to stand trial
on charges of treason, but was invited to return to St. Petersburg to
claim his arsenal of weapons and his cached riches. Instead of leaving
for Belarus, his private jet and the Wagner boss were seen traveling
back and forth between Belarus and Moscow and St.Petersburg. Free to
come, free to go, no prison for Prigozhin.
All
charges were dropped against the businessman-turned-mercenary-chief.
Despite that Russian authorities launched a criminal investigation into
his private military group. Weapons and cash seized when police raided
his offices have been returned to Prigozhin. His vehicle, a 4x4, was
seen pulling up at a central St.Petersburg investigator's office where
he and his aides were seen ferrying weapons to his vehicle. Earlier,
local authorities returned ten billion rubles (US$110,619,500) to him.
A
camp, assumed to be a newly placed base for Wagner fighters appeared at
a disused military base in Belarus, but not a single mercenary has been
seen to arrive at the base. The mystery deepens. What does the
foul-mouthed clown possess to make him invulnerable to punishment for
humiliating and betraying his former financier who used the Wagner group
as a deniable vehicle for Russian interaction in foreign conflicts?
Labels: Larger conspiracy, Muted Punishment, Putin Reaction, Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Wagner Group Rebelleion
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