2023-06-26 23:25:36
by Marco Imarisio
Wagner’s boss returns in an audio: “We showed everyone how the invasion should have been done”. Spotted in Minsk, he doesn’t say what awaits him
«Ours was a masterclass on how Russia should have acted on February 24, 2022». Yevgeny Prigozhin speaks, after almost two days of silence that seemed like two months long. Because everything seems to pass from him now. It is his fate that will give full meaning to what happened, and will determine the future consequences, for the prestige of Vladimir Putin and the entire country. Impossible not to start with that sentence, with a lot of recourse to a word in English, to summarize this eleven-minute audio, sent from Minsk, where he seems to have finally arrived, currently a guest of a hotel in the Belarusian capital. «So, we started our march because of the injustice towards us. We had no aim at all to overthrow the current regime and legitimately elected power. We went back so as not to shed the blood of Russian soldiers.”
Excuses and reasons
It is not the apology with the head sprinkled with ashes long awaited by the Russian authorities to close an embarrassing affair as soon as possible. But not even a new gauntlet. Something in between, in his style. Prigozhin repeats twice, at the beginning and at the end, that Wagner had no intention of imposing a change at the top of the country, Vladimir Putin is never named, not even once. But at the same time, Mr. Wagner reiterates the reasons for the military insurrection, which he defines as a March for justice. And every step of his speech seems to conceal a warning. Be careful, without us in Ukraine you risk losing. “We are the most experienced and combat-capable Russian unit in our country and perhaps even in the world,” he says. «Lately, we have achieved good results in Ukraine by carrying out very serious missions. But as a result of intrigues and impondered decisions, Wagner was to cease to exist on July 1st. Almost none of ours agreed to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, because everyone knows that this will lead to the complete loss of our combat capability. Experienced militiamen and officers will be used as cannon fodder and will not be able to put their military potential and experience to good use».
This is perhaps the most important passage, almost an invitation to rethink it. The rest is a summary of the facts, the attack suffered by the Russian regular troops, the decision to act, the capture of Rostov-on-Don, the acclamation of the people. “Everyone knew what the goal of the march was. We wanted to avoid the annihilation of the Wagner and to hold accountable the people who with unprofessional actions committed a huge number of mistakes during the Special Military Operation. We stopped when it became clear that a lot of blood would be shed as we advanced.”
Prigozhin continues to fan the sails of popular discontent with the progress of the Special Military Operation. “In twenty-four hours we covered the distance corresponding to that from the starting point of the Russian troops on February 24, 2022 to Kiev, and from that point further to Usgorod,” he says, citing a location on the western border of Ukraine. «So if at the beginning of the conflict the work had been done by men of the same level as ours, perhaps everything would have lasted one day. We have demonstrated the level of organization that must have been inherent in the Russian army. For this we were celebrated by the civilian population. People saw in our march support for the fight against bureaucracy and the other evils that afflict our country today”.
Future still uncertain
Not a word about what his future will be. Still, it’s no small detail. Quoting a source from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Russian media have announced that the investigation against him for conspiring to organize an armed rebellion is by no means over, but rather continues. An official communication in open contradiction with the amnesty promised to the founder of the Wagner Brigade. And in the evening, Vladimir Putin during his new speech to the nation specified that the organizers of the revolt will be brought to justice.
By now, Prigozhin’s personal fate has become a matter of state, and of principle. The choice to leave him free represents the weak point of the compromise reached to avoid the bloodbath at the gates of the capital. Even from United Russia, the president’s personal party, there has been some criticism. “Prigozhin and the Wagner bosses should be beheaded,” said deputy Andrey Gurulyov, one of his loyalists. “Some of our soldiers have died as a result of this insurrection. Who gave the order to strike them? The law exists and it must be applied.
Yesterday morning, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta, a newspaper obviously aligned with the Kremlin, argued that a compromise of this kind is made with political opponents, not with terrorists or criminals. “Must we therefore consider Prigozhin a protagonist of our politics?”
Putin is capable of sniffing the wind in his country. And he knows well that in the most serious moments, a true Tsar doesn’t come to terms with anyone. Much less if he is a former friend who challenged him so blatantly.
June 26, 2023 (change June 26, 2023 | 23:05)
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