Putin sacrificing his best shock troops to save his own skin
‘Putin has started dismantling Wagner group, as he is terrified of another coup. But these men are Russia’s best shock troops, writes Lt Col Stuart Crawford.’
The fallout from Prizoghin and his Wagner Group cronies’ failed rebellion, or non-coup if you prefer, shows no signs of abating. After marching his men halfway to Moscow, the Wagner leader got cold feet and, Grand Old Duke of York style, marched them back again.
Now some of Russia’s most senior generals have seemingly disappeared, dropping out of public view following the failed mercenary “mutiny”.
Primus inter pares among the disappeared is General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed ‘General Armageddon’ for his uncompromising tactics in the Syrian conflict and who is deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.
It appears he may have had advance knowledge of the Wagner mutiny and was Prizhogin’s point of contact in the Kremlin before and during the escapade. Reuters reported that Surovikin had been in support of Prigozhin, but that Western intelligence did not know with certainty if he had helped the rebellion in any way, adding that Russian authorities were checking if he was complicit.
Also keeping a low profile has been Russian Armed forces chief of staff General Valery Gerasimov, who has not appeared in public or on state TV since the aborted mutiny, during which Prizhogin had demanded Gerasimov be handed over. Gerasimov is the commander of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the holder of one of Russia’s three ‘nuclear briefcases,’ according to Western military analysts.
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