VIDEOS
1. Has Wagner’s rebellion changed the Ukraine war for Russia? - BBC Newsnight
BBC News
14.4M subscribers
Jun 29, 2023 7:00 a.m. EDT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz54uo0nXK8
Warning: There are graphic images in this film There were reports that President Putin had to be talked out of killing his former ally - the head of the mercenary Wagner Group Yezgeny Prigozhin, and that Mr Prigozhin had expected the Russian army to change sides to support him.
That’s according to the Belarus leader President Lukashenko who’s given asylum to Mr Prigozhin as part of the deal to end the revolt. He was speaking at a press conference yesterday.
President Putin meanwhile tried to paint a picture of life returning to normal. The Russian authorities said Wagner will be disarmed but its members will escape prosecution over its short-lived rebellion
2. Wagner’s mutiny is the tip of the iceberg of Russia’s rebellions | Defense in Depth
The Telegraph
3.91M subscribers
Jun 29, 2023 5:30 p.m. EDT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofe_w2dVENM
Wagner’s mutiny came to an end without the denouement many had anticipated. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the mercenary group, called off his advance on Moscow and has gone into exile in Belarus after striking a deal with the Kremlin. While no one backed Prigozhin publicly, some actors were quietly watching the events unfolding from afar.
ARTICLE
Ukrainian Chief Intelligence Directorate Head voiced his version of why Prigozhin did not reach Moscow
Ukrianska Pravda
Roman Kravets, VALENTYNA ROMANENKO
Thursday, 29 June 2023, 15:17
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/29/7409108/
Ukrainian Chief Intelligence Directorate Head voiced his version of why Prigozhin did not reach Moscow
The head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, believes that Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was persuaded to stop the armed rebellion by pressing on his “patriotic convictions”.
SOURCE: the head of the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda.
QUOTE: “I hate to admit it, but Yevgeny Prigozhin is a patriot of Russia. Lukashenko and others were able to convince him that his actions would tear Russia apart. A similar situation could arise, as we had in 2014 when Yanukovych shouted that he was ‘legitimate’.”
BACKGROUND:
-On the evening of 23 June, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the regular Russian army had launched a missile strike on the Wagner mercenaries’ rear camps. He therefore deployed 25,000 of his mercenaries “to restore justice”.
-On 24 June, the Wagnerites took control of military facilities in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and seized military facilities in the city of Voronezh. They were on their way to Moscow, and the Russian capital was preparing for defence.
-In an emergency address on 24 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was “fighting for survival” and that attempts were being made to “organise a rebellion” in the country. Ukrainian intelligence said he had urgently left Moscow for a bunker in Valdai.
-June 24, following a conversation with Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin said that his mercenaries were heading back to the field camps. He had been promised that the criminal charges against him in Russia were to be dropped, and he was supposed to “leave for Belarus”.
-Yevgeny Prigozhin’s business jet flew from the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don to Belarus.
-The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has reported that the criminal case of the armed rebellion against Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), has been closed.