Less than 36 hours after the head of the Wagner Group mercenaries, Evgeny Prigozhin, announced on Saturday afternoon that he was ending his armed uprising and reversing the advance of his units towards Moscow, where they had almost reached , the result of the mediation of the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, shows that what was supposedly agreed with the mediation of the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, is not being fulfilled.
The mercenaries, in their Telegram channels, assured that Lukashenko, who was speaking on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Prigozhin agreed that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, whose dismissal was the declared objective of the Wagners, would be effectively dismissed. . Later, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, assured that, as agreed, Prigozhin’s charges of “treason” and “sedition” were withdrawn, among others, and he left for Belarus already stripped of command over his fighters, who returned “to their camps.”
However, the Russian Ministry of Defense has released a video this morning showing Shoigu in action, reviewing the troops in eastern Ukraine, in a meeting with the military command of the area and on board a helicopter or plane, is not seen clearly, supposedly inspecting the front area. At the same time, the newspaper ‘Kommersant’, the RIA-Nóvosti agency and other Russian media maintain that the charges against Prigozhin have not been withdrawn. As a result of all this, it seems that the so-called “march for justice” launched by the Wagners on Friday has served no purpose other than further fracturing Putin’s power, sinking the mercenaries themselves and placing Prigozhin between the sword and Wall.
According to the Ministry of Defense, Shoigu “inspected the forward command post” of “one of the formations” of the Western group of troops in Ukraine, although it is not clear when this check took place. Some Telegram channels claim that they were taken before the crisis caused by Prigozhin. The official statement also states that the minister heard a report from the group’s commander, Colonel General Evgueni Nikíforov, “on the current situation” and “the nature of the enemy’s actions.” Shoigu ordered a reconnaissance of the terrain to “determine in advance” the plans of the Ukrainian Army “in its approaches to the line of contact.” Since the Prigozhin mutiny broke out, the Defense Minister had been nowhere to be found and no one reported his whereabouts.
Investigation to Prigozhin
On the other hand, the newspaper ‘Kommersant’, which cites anonymous sources, assures that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB or former KGB) continues to investigate Prigozhin’s actions, which shows that the case is not closed, against what was announced by the spokesman of the Russian Presidency. This same information is appearing in other Russian media and agencies. On Saturday morning, in a message to the nation, Putin called the Wagner uprising a “treason,” though he did not directly refer to his boss.
«On the morning of June 26, the criminal case in connection with the organization of an armed rebellion (Article 279 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), in which Prigozhin became the main defendant, has not been filed and continues being investigated”, maintains the source of ‘Kommersan’t, a factor that, if confirmed, would reveal the existence of a serious division within the Russian State and its leadership as to how to proceed in the face of the enormous challenge launched by the Wagner.
In an attempt to give an image of normality, the authorities of Moscow and its region lifted this morning the “anti-terrorist operation regime”, decreed due to the danger that the mercenaries, as promised, could reach Moscow,
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