Russian president Vladimir Putin has found himself in unfamiliar waters after his former confidant turned on him and sought to, technically, overthrow his decades-old regime.
Many experts have termed the insurrection mounted by a Kremlin-linked mercenary group PMC Wagner under the command of their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin as the most profound challenge to President Putin who has been at the helm since late 1999.
Despite Prigozhin calling off the ‘March on Moscow’, tensions remain high among the military and the people of Russia. According to reports, a deal was brokered by Belarusian President Viktor Lukashenko who is also staunch Putin ally.
The trio reportedly agreed that Prigozhin should go to exile in Belarus while the Wagnerites to join the Russian military ranks under the Ministry of Defence umbrella.
The above reason has reportedly been the major bone of contention between the Wagnerites and the senior ministry of defence officials such as Sergei Shoigu and Gerasimov.
The Wagner boss has been railing against the two for months accusing them of not supplying his troops with enough ammunitions and for treating his(Prigozhin’s) fighters as ‘cannon fodder.’
Putin had addressed the nation in the early morning of Sunday saying what happened was a ‘betrayal’ and that the perpetrators will be ‘punished’.
“Excessive ambitions and vested interests have led to treason,” a fuming Putin retorted without mentioning the Wagner boss by name.
in a televised address, comparing the insurrection to Russia’s revolution and civil war that took place during World War I.
“All those who deliberately stepped on the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed insurrection, who took the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment, will answer both to the law and to our people,” Putin said.
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