Putin steps up effort to undercut Wagner leader after revolt

[Elderberry]

American Military News  July 01, 2023 Bloomberg News - TNS

President Vladimir Putin sought to cast the Wagner leader who rose against him as corrupt, even as he said the Kremlin was financing the mercenary’s operations.

As Yevgeny Prigozhin arrived in Belarus in his private jet from St. Petersburg on Tuesday, Putin was detailing more than $3 billion he said Russia had paid from the state budget in the past year for Wagner’s troops and for food supplied by Prigozhin’s Concord catering company for the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.

“I hope that no one stole anything, or, let’s say, stole just a little, in the course of this work,” Putin told a group of soldiers at the Kremlin. “We will of course look into all this.”

The portrait of Prigozhin as a grasping traitor was an effort to undercut the Wagner leader’s claims to popular sympathy as his troops raced through southern Russia to within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of Moscow before aborting the rebellion after a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Under the agreement, Putin pledged not to prosecute Wagner for armed mutiny and investigators closed a criminal case Tuesday.

That doesn’t mean prosecutors can’t open embezzlement and corruption cases, according to Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Ordinary Russian citizens, for the most part, love defenders of the motherland, and don’t like sly businessmen,” he said on Telegram.

The implication was that Prigozhin had revolted ahead of a July 1 deadline for Wagner fighters to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry, effectively ending its independence and the flow of state cash to his mercenary group in the war.

More: https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/07/putin-steps-up-effort-to-undercut-wagner-leader-after-revolt/

[sneakypete]

Putin is now fighting the Ukrainians as well as his own hired allies?

Yeah,THAT ought to work out well for him.

[Smokin Joe]

Putin is now fighting the Ukrainians as well as his own hired allies?

Yeah,THAT ought to work out well for him.

Well, if it isn't all smoke and mirrors.

Some ask would the Russians down a few of their own planes to make a false flag look good?
I think they would, if it made the operation convincing.

[sneakypete]

Well, if it isn't all smoke and mirrors.

Some ask would the Russians down a few of their own planes to make a false flag look good?
I think they would, if it made the operation convincing.

@Smokin Joe

What would be the purpose in a false flag at this point?

Putin is losing,and everyone knows it,including him. IF he is doing anything,it is trying to figure how to get his HUGE private Yacht out of Russia,along with his personal fortune,before he gets backed against a wall and shot.

Assuming of course he is lucid enough  to understand what is happening,and that his Generals are bold enough  to tell him the truth.

[Smokin Joe]

@Smokin Joe

What would be the purpose in a false flag at this point?

Putin is losing,and everyone knows it,including him. IF he is doing anything,it is trying to figure how to get his HUGE private Yacht out of Russia,along with his personal fortune,before he gets backed against a wall and shot.

Assuming of course he is lucid enough  to understand what is happening,and that his Generals are bold enough  to tell him the truth.

To set up the next phase of the war, an attack from Belarus to Kviv.

[sneakypete]

To set up the next phase of the war, an attack from Belarus to Kviv.

@Smokin Joe

My chemo brain can't process that at the moment,but I am ASSUMING you think he has the reserves to create another offensive force?

If not,how can he do this with all his available forces already involved?

@Smokin Joe

BTW,I had not even considered the possibility  of China sending troops to help the Russians,but if they are now supplying Russia with munitions and other war goods,supplying them with troops isn't a great big Giant Step  away.

Especially not if it means China gets access to the eastern border of Russia and the resources there.

And it's not like China  is afraid of taking causalities. The more they lose,the fewer mouths they have to feed,apartment building to construct so they have places to live,schools for their children,medical care,etc,etc,etc.

China would probably consider the loss of 100,000 soldiers as a bonus.

[Kamaji]

To set up the next phase of the war, an attack from Belarus to Kviv.

Why couldn't Russia have simply moved additional troops into Belarus and attacked Kviv?  Occam's Razor says that was not the point of having Prigozhin go to Belarus.