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News Russian PMC Wagner have declared their intent to overthrow the Russian Ministry of Defense, and are now marching on Russian Territory

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Russian mercenary chief says his forces are rebelling, some left Ukraine and entered city in Russia

The Russian owner of the private military contractor Wagner has made his most direct challenge to the Kremlin yet, calling for an armed rebellion aimed at ousting Russia’s defense minister.
apnews.com apnews.com

The owner of the Wagner private military contractor made his most direct challenge to the Kremlin yet on Friday, calling for an armed rebellion aimed at ousting Russia’s defense minister. The security services reacted immediately by calling for the arrest of Yevgeny Prigozhin.

In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin was taking the threat, security was heightened in Moscow and in Rostov-on-Don, which is home to the Russian military headquarters for the southern region and also oversees the fighting in Ukraine.

While the outcome of the confrontation was still unclear, it appeared likely to further hinder Moscow’s war effort as Kyiv’s forces were probing Russian defenses in the initial stages of a counteroffensive.

Prigozhin claimed early Saturday that his forces had crossed into Russia from Ukraine and had reached Rostov, saying they faced no resistance from young conscripts at checkpoints and that his forces “aren’t fighting against children.”
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This is potentially a massive development for not just the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but for Russia itself. Wagner is best known as the brutal private army of the Kremlin, one that has largely been responsible for forward military operations in Ukraine, including this spring's campaign in Bakhmut. Their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin has recently been more and more critical of Putin and the war itself, and this friction has led to Russia wanting to bring Wagner under the direct control of the Russian military. This has apparently proved unacceptable, and now things are getting interesting as Wagner claims Russia has attacked them, as it appears they are marching on Rostov in Russia.

This is a developing story. It's possible this is a high level bluff by Wagner to secure their position, or it could be the start of a wider conflict of unknown scope. I'll try to keep things updated as they develop.

Transcript from Prigozhin:
New audio statement by Prigozhin (00:03 BST), stating Wagner "crossed state borders in all areas" and is now entering Rostov, promising to "destroy anything standing in their way":

"The current situation: today, we were dealt a missile strike. After this strike, helicopters did their work. Then, artillery.

The orders were coming from the Head of General Staff to destroy PMC Wagner. After a meeting with the Minister of Defence Shoygu where they made this decision - to destroy the rebellious units, who are ready to defend the motherland, but not their asses.

As of now, we’ve crossed the state borders in all areas. Border guards came towards us and hugged our fighters.

Now, we’re entering Rostov. Units of the Ministry of Defence, in fact, the conscripts who were thrown to block our path, moved away.

We do not fight with children. We do not kill children. Shoygu is killing children by throwing untrained soldiers, conscripts included, into the war.

He set up 18-year-old lads against us. They’re like children and grandchildren to us. Therefore, these lads will live and return to their mothers.

We only fight with professionals. But if someone stands in our path, we will destroy EVERYTHING in our way.

We lend a hand to anyone. No need to spit in this hand. We are moving forward, going to the end.

Regarding claims regarding the arrest: this brotherhood, this justice, this honour, this conscience is what we have. But when you make these claims, you haven’t got these feelings. These feelings are destroyed. Thus, you cannot understand anything but betrayal."
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This is covering an active conflict and may contain disturbing imagery and situations.
 
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Rostov appears to have been already taken





Fighting also seems to have spread beyond, closer to Moscow

 
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EvilChameleon said:
Ho hum, seems like shit is about to go down.
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It's already going down. Rostov is a city of more than a million people and Wagner seemed to capture it easily. If they're able to continue on this way, this is going to be catastrophic for Russia.

 
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bellydrum said:
Is Putin dead or something? Where the fuck is that guyy
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Putin is still alive, the guy in question is the head of Wagner, and he and Putin/the Russian military have been at odds for most of the past year. He had accused the government of undersupplying them in the Bakhmut campaign, and been growing increasingly critical of the war in general. The consensus thought is he sees the writing on the wall and believes that either Putin will fall and he's best positioned to seize control of Russia, or that Putin will have him eliminated as a threat to his power for that very reason, and so Prigozhin is acting now while he can.
 
bellydrum said:
Not sure if you saw what's going on, but they're engaging in a coup, which is a good thing because fuck all of them.
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Two fascist groups fighting for the control of a nuclear state isn't good, yes.
 
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If they win against Russia, this is a good thing for Ukraine and the war as a whole...or worse?

For what i have read, these guys are hardcore psychos and the Russian leaders tried to keep them under control, no?
 
Fercho said:
If they win against Russia, this is a good thing for Ukraine and the war as a whole...or worse?

For what i have read, these guys are hardcore psychos and the Russian leaders tried to keep them under control, no?
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People who think the Wagner group would be less pro-war than Putin are gonna be very disappointed.
 
bellydrum said:
Yeah, of course. That goes without saying. But clearly I'm speaking in vast generalizations, where bad guys fighting bad guys is good for good guys.
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Wagner has been massacring Ukrainians left and right since a couple of years ago, no one is winning out of this and certainly they won't stop if they manage to get hold of power.
 
I highly doubt Wagner is just gonna nuke the entire world for no reason if that's what you mean, even they aren't THAT crazy. And that's even if they somehow get nukes.

It also seems like their main beef is with Shoigu and not Putin
 
Brock Reiher said:
If they successfully pulled off a coup wouldn't they be in charge of the nukes?
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Unless they can actually get the Russian military to defect to them en masse, Wagner is not taking Moscow. Coups only happen when the actual military looks the other way as the rebels take control, and if that's the case, Putin was already fucked. Wagner likely does not have the manpower to sustain a long-term campaign, and seem at most right now trying to just undermine the military leadership, and if they succeed, will be rewarded with further legitimacy and autonomy going forward. This could end with Russia getting its shit together and taking out Wagner's leadership, or with Wagner rising further as Russia's main power, but it's very unlikely to end with Wagner actually taking control of Russia.
 
Ukraine for their part does not seem to be complaining. Neither group is a friend, but Ukraine is currently mounting a major counter offensive, and this will pull resources and attention away from Russia's frontlines, hurt Russian morale, and further strain the narrative at home of the war's necessity.



Worth noting that Rostov is basically the logistics hub of Russia's military operations in Ukraine. If Wagner is actively disrupting operations there, that is going to be massively disruptive for Russia's soldiers in Ukraine.

Worth noting that even while this is going on, Russia is conducting missile attacks accross Ukraine tonight. Earlier in the evening, a missile struck an apartment building in Kyiv, killing at least 2 and causing damage to several homes.
 
This isn’t a coup aimed at seizing control of Russia. They don’t have the resources for that. It’s like a disgruntled mercenary division heading back from the front line to knock out the army’s incompetent command structure that’s been getting them killed while claiming everything is going great. Obviously these are not good people. These aren’t Russian rebels to cheer for. Their complaint is that the Russian army leadership isn’t effective enough and targeted them with a missile strike, not that they want a charge of government. But it’s a break for Ukraine as it’s taking a chunk of their opponents and Russian focus off the frontline for a protracted period of time while whoever wins reorganises. If Wagner are defeated, that’s one of the stronger Russian formations about to have its leadership taken out. If they are successful, it’s underlining their case to Russian civilians, that they’ve been lied to all along and that Russia’s military is deeply incompetent, but the downside is Prigozhin securing his position. He’s been careful not to overly criticise Putin directly, but with Wagner’s actions badged as ‘illegal attacks’, Prigozhin seems unlikely to win this gamble and this is likely just him acting while he is still free to do so and with the strength to accomplish anything. This is still a major opportunity Ukraine armed forces will be scrambling to exploit.

This isn’t about nukes and Moscow. It’s about army leadership and political conflict between groups in Russia (Prigozhin’s faction has been going after senior Russian military leaders for months) and a lift of martial pressure in Ukraine. It’s a good thing for those on the frontline in Ukraine, the first major break they’ve had in months where they are in constant deadlock as the only thing slowing down Russia’s near-endless resources is it’s incompetence. This gives them a window (that may or may not close relatively quickly) to gain ground and regroup, on top of watching the morale of a large chunk of their enemies plummet either way.

BBC summary at the moment-

What is happening in southern Russia?​

Things are developing rapidly in southern Russia at the moment, so here's a quick roundup of what we know so far:
  • Wagner mercenary group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin says his forces control key sites in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don
  • He has posted video in which he says Wagner forces will continue to blockade the city and move on to Moscow unless defence chiefs Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov come and meet him
  • Earlier footage showed armed men in Rostov-on-Don surrounding a government building with troops and tanks
  • Anti-terror measures have been introduced in Moscow, with armoured vehicles seen on the streets
  • The M4 highway connecting Moscow and Rostov has been closed at the border between Lipetsk and Voronezh regions, the Lipetsk governor says
All this follows a dramatic escalation in Russian military infighting on Friday evening:
  • The Russian authorities have accused Wagner boss Prigozhin of armed rebellion
  • Prigozhin has accused the Russian military of carrying out a deadly missile strike on Wagner troops in Ukraine, which the defence ministry denies
  • Prigozhin has vowed to "go all the way" and topple the Russian military leadership, but denied he was carrying out a coup
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Mekanos said:
People who think the Wagner group would be less pro-war than Putin are gonna be very disappointed.
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Agreed, this is literally them going ‘this war isn’t being prosecuted well enough’, not ‘this needs to stop’. PMC in ‘war is good for our bottom line’ shocker.
 
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Hoping this ends up in a double KO and as much disruption to the invasion as possible.
 
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Hope Wagner and Ministry of Defense will weaken each other, so that Ukrainian Army can benefit.

Putin already called to stop Wagner, while they have taken Rostov and marching for Moscow. Let those russian facist organisations fight each other that Ukraine can take back their country.

#SlavaUkraini
 
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end the fucking bloodshed already, if this helps to make the whole war stop faster I'm all for it.
 
Fercho said:
If they win against Russia, this is a good thing for Ukraine and the war as a whole...or worse?

For what i have read, these guys are hardcore psychos and the Russian leaders tried to keep them under control, no?
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Just to add some numbers here,

All 25,000 of us are ready to die' - Prigozhin​

In a message posted to Telegram on Saturday morning, Yevgeny Prigozhin said that all the members of his Wagner group of mercenaries were "ready to die" in his action against the Russian military.
"All of us are ready to die. All 25,000, and then another 25,000," he said in an audio message, adding the action was being taken "for the Russian people".
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Wagner recruits mainly from Russian prisons, something they were allowed to do due to the regular Russian army struggling to recruit. They sent 38,000 people into Ukraine, and 30,000 of those died. Their rep for brutality and atrocities speaks for itself, it is also under ‘advance or die’ orders. Prisoners returned to them under prisoner exchanges have also been murdered for allowing themselves to be captured or surrendering.

Of this claimed 25,000 strength, even twice over, this isn’t enough to threaten Moscow as a whole (outside of partisan activity), let alone Russia. They rely on the regular army for intelligence, logistics and support. What it is enough of, is to make a stand in Rostov and disrupt Russian operations for long enough to make Prigozhin’s gamble, which is ‘I’m a man of the people, support me against corrupt elites!’. Likely as he felt the winds of change in the Russian heirachy shifting against him. He’s always had Putin’s support but has lost that now. All he has is a group of determined infantry, used to being under ‘to the death’ orders. The best result for Ukraine is that this stubborn disruption to the southern Russian command centre goes on for as long as possible, that Prigozhin’s gamble becomes protracted infighting and gains wider support. If it doesn’t gain support quickly, it’s going to be crushed, but even then that’s a win for Ukraine given that the big recruitment move Prigozhin had was going into prisons and going ‘I was locked up for ten years, follow me, fight for six months then you’re free!’.

Whether his troops loyalty to him becomes stubborness to hold on to Rostov and protect him, or whether they collapse when popular support doesn’t appear and heavy Russian response goes in, who knows. Win/win for Ukraine though.

Adding all this so people aren’t worried about (different) extremists gaining control of nukes etc. This isn’t about that.
 
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Time to follow this twitter account if you weren't already:



He remains a master strategist.
 
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Just woke up and checked on the developments since last night. From what I've gathered:

  • There has been some fire exchanged between Russia and Wagner but few actual full skirmishes yet
  • Wagner is consolidating control of Rostov, and has begun mining the streets for defense. They seem to have at least some civilian support, who are willingly bringing them food and water.
  • Wagner has also shot down some helicopters/aircraft
  • Putin gave a quick 5 minute public address labeling Prigozhin a traitor.
 
WestEgg said:
Just woke up and checked on the developments since last night. From what I've gathered:

  • There has been some fire exchanged between Russia and Wagner but few actual full skirmishes yet
  • Wagner is consolidating control of Rostov, and has begun mining the streets for defense. They seem to have at least some civilian support, who are willingly bringing them food and water.
  • Wagner has also shot down some helicopters/aircraft
  • Putin gave a quick 5 minute public address labeling Prigozhin a traitor.
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ye there's no turning back for either. Wagner has already seized control of Rostov, and the Putin sphere already labeled them as traitors and are scrambling to defend the capital from seizure and trying to wipe the mercs out.
 
PixelKnight said:
This isn’t a coup aimed at seizing control of Russia. They don’t have the resources for that.
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Hmm, I wouldn't be so sure of that, considering they are marching on Moscow and the leader of this coup is quoted as saying Putin made a mistake and Russia will have a new president.
 
WestEgg said:
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The whole push north make no sense to me. Moscow is a heavily defended, massive capital city of 12m people and crawling with miltary, armed police and intelligence units. Whatever the Wagner convoy is, they have to be counting on support from other elements somehow, or the regular military to just take the day off. Unless they are just reheating the initial Russian plan of “yeah, we’ll just drive into Kyiv and take over.” It worked so well /s
 
EvilChameleon said:
Hmm, I wouldn't be so sure of that, considering they are marching on Moscow and the leader of this coup is quoted as saying Putin made a mistake and Russia will have a new president.
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Fair point, he’s also quoted as saying it isn’t a coup and it was aimed at the Russian MoD, but then maybe that all changed the minute Putin called him a traitor and his only remaining card is to go for the top.

I also noted they’ve got armed police out on the roads. I would have thought Moscow would put out miltary units given what’s driving towards them, but maybe after miltary troops seemed to just wave Wagner through in places earlier today, Putin’s a bit concerned about who’s troops are loyal and whose arent. Which wouldn’t surprise me one bit when he likes to keep his generals at each others throats.

Seems like the entire commentary from Kyiv and western miltary types is ‘wut’
 
Josh5890 said:
Sounds like Putin isn't hanging around in Moscow for this.

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Marked difference between him and Zelensky who was facing down ten times worse, isn’t it. Seems like a lot of rich people deciding it’s time to watch from a bit further away while ordering regular troops to fight for them.
 
Latvia closing the border to fleeing Russians.

Countries around the world are reacting to the crisis unfolding in Russia - with its closest neighbours taking the most decisive steps.

Latvia - which saw an influx of Russians fleeing when the war in Ukraine began last year - has sealed its border with Russia. In a tweet, the Foreign Minister said entry for anyone leaving "due to current events" would not be considered for entry.

Estonia too has said it is beefing up security along its border, with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas adding that she was in “close touch” with her Latvian, Lithuanian and Finnish counterparts.
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PixelKnight said:
Seems like the entire commentary from Kyiv and western miltary types is ‘wut’
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Yeah, I don't think anyone saw this coming. Or at least not coming right now. This is going to open a window for Ukraine to make progress, but otherwise this is a chaotic mess.
 
The BBC Russia has reported evacuations of public buildings across Moscow as the Wagner rebels advance.

The broadcaster said museums near the Kremlin were being evacuated in Moscow.

There have been reports over the last few hours of the evacuation of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum and the GES-2 House of Culture, the BBC added.
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Just wow.

‘The traitors will be punished!”
“By the way, empty out the museums around the Kremlin, I’ll be at my other place up in the worlds most northern city.”
 
Gonna be fascinating when Moscow is under "enemy" control while Putin runs the government from somewhere else.
 
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