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The forces of the paramilitary group Wagner leave their positions in Russia this Sunday (25), by order of their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who decided to withdraw from the operation, after having frontally challenged the authority of Russian President Vladimir Putin. For experts interviewed by RFI, the Moscow regime is weakened after this coup attempt.
The forces of the paramilitary group Wagner leave their positions in Russia this Sunday (25), by order of their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who decided to withdraw from the operation, after having frontally challenged the authority of Russian President Vladimir Putin. For experts interviewed by RFI, the Moscow regime is weakened after this coup attempt.
The Wagner mercenaries abandoned the Russian army headquarters in Rostov, in the southwest of the country, which had been taken over by the rebels, whom Moscow called traitors. After a Saturday (24) of armed rebellion, Prigojin must leave for Belarus and the charges against him will be dropped, as announced by the Kremlin.
According to international analysts, the episode demonstrates the fragility of Vladimir Putin’s authority. “The fact that the mercenaries managed to advance almost 800 kilometers without encountering any resistance marks the weakness of Russian power, which was a myth for 20 years”, observes Ulrich Bounat, geopolitical analyst, specialist in Central and Eastern Europe, associate researcher at Open Diplomacy Institute. “This international demonstration of Putin’s loss of authority demonstrates that Russia is a state that is strongly weakening,” he adds.
Yevgeny Prigozhin announced that his men would return to their camps to avoid “a bloodbath” after negotiations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Yevgeny Prigozhin “will go to Belarus”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced last night, assuring that militia chief Wagner “had the word of the president” Vladimir Putin. “The criminal case against him will be dropped,” he added, and “no one will pursue” the fighters who followed him, “taking into account their merits on” the Ukrainian front. “Some of them, if they want, will be able to sign a contract with the Defense Ministry,” added Peskov, without giving further details.
The Kremlin spokesman also hailed Alexander Lukashenko’s mediating role in resolving the tensions that have shaken Russian power in a way that has not been seen for several years. “We are grateful to the president of Belarus for these efforts” of diplomacy, underlined Dmitry Peskov, referring to a “very long, frank and warm” discussion between the two leaders, allies against the West in the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.
“This situation has been resolved without further losses, without raising the level of tension,” the Kremlin spokesman said, as many feared a direct confrontation between the Russian army and Wagner militia fighters heading towards Moscow. Dmitri Peskov also recalled that Alexander Lukashenko “personally knows Prigojin for over 20 years” and that it was “his personal initiative” to resolve the situation.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his chief of staff, Valeri Guerassimov, have not made a statement and their continued tenure in their posts has not been decided. “This was not discussed yesterday,” said Dmitri Peskov, explaining that this decision, if it has to be taken, rests with President Vladimir Putin.
The whereabouts of the Wagner militia chief, who had promised to “liberate the Russian people” theremarching his troops towards Moscow, but finally withdrew to avoid casualties, he said, is currently unknown.
“The man who was publicly pointed out by the Russian president as guilty of high treason turns out to be acquitted with a kind of free pass to Belarus. This clearly demonstrates the decay of the monopoly of legitimate violence in Russia, since, from now on, it is tolerated by the head of Russian power to mount an armed mutiny and get away with it without any form of penalty,” analyzes Nicolas Gosset, a researcher specializing in Russia and Eurasia at the Royal Institute for Defense in Brussels.
holiday in moscow
Some roads remain closed in Moscow, where Monday has been declared a public holiday to prevent movement. According to the mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobyanin, the measure was taken in view of the “difficult” situation.
Prigojin, who disputes the General Staff of the Russian army over the conduct of the war in Ukraine, said that the men of the Wagner group reached 200 km from Moscow in the last 24 hours.
Despite this “very difficult day, full of very tragic events”, Dmitry Peskov insisted that Prigozhin’s attempt to overthrow military power “in no way” will affect the course of the Russian offensive in Ukraine. “The ‘special military operation’ continues. Our soldiers managed to repel Ukraine’s counter-offensive,” he argued to the press, as Kiev troops tried to break through Russian defences.
Ukraine hopes to benefit from instability in Russia. For President Volodymyr Zelensky, “the world has seen that the Moscow authorities control nothing but chaos.”
Over the past three weeks, during a mission to Estonia, British Royal Air Force fighters “intercepted” 21 Russian aircraft on the borders of NATO airspace.
(With information from RFI and AFP)
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