The coup attempt in Russia was a simple misunderstanding. In any case, this is what one might naively believe, reading the declarations of Yevgueni Prigojine, which should be taken with great caution. The boss of the paramilitary group Wagner published an audio message on the militia’s Telegram channel on Monday afternoon, two days after his coup at the gates of Moscow. “It was a question of protesting against the dissolution of Wagner, not of overthrowing the Russian authorities”, he assures, after referring to an ultimatum set for July 1 by the Kremlin, and against which he rebelled. He also wanted to “hold to account” those at the head of the Russian military who are responsible for failures in Ukraine, including his two pet peeves: Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov.
“The original plan was to go to Rostov [a Russian invasion force headquarters] on June 30 and transfer all the vehicles to the Defense Ministry,” he continues, but “for no reason, Wagner came under Russian missile strikes and helicopter attack. About thirty paramilitaries would then have lost their lives. “It triggered our decision to leave Ukraine immediately and launch a military response,” he said.
According to him, two columns of Wagner then darkened into Russian territory, one towards Rostov-on-the-Don, the other towards Moscow. On the Internet, unauthenticated images showed Wagner tanks speeding down the highway not on their tracks, but mounted on faster tank carriers, with the crews in the tanks, ready to fire. “We regret having had to hit the Russian air force, but bombs were dropped and we had to react,” Prigozhin added, responding to a criticism from Putin’s allies who blamed him for spilling Russian blood. On dry land, Prigozhin claims to have encountered no resistance and killed no Russian soldiers, as they “supported” Wagner’s move.
According to yet another message, military bases are to be opened and a first installation that can house 8,000 Wagner militiamen is already under construction, while Belarus has promised to open recruitment points for the militia. Wagner is known for her art of disinformation, so one should be careful with the claims published on her Telegram channel, but the justifications put forward by this party to the conflict are no less interesting to study.
