Scott Ritter writes:
“Soon both Prigozhin and the ostensible “pro-Russian” social media accounts were highlighting the potential of a Russian Civil War and the collapse of the Putin regime in a repeat of the collapse experienced in the Russian Army in 1917, leading to the downfall of Tsarist rule and the Romanov dynasty. Indeed, informed observers have stated that many of the Wagner fighters who accompanied Prigozhin into Russia as part of the ongoing armed insurrection apparently believed that they were being dispatched to reinforce the border region to guard against future incursions into Russia by forces loyal to Ukraine.
If the goal of Prigozhin was to achieve the collapse of the Putin regime, it appears to have failed miserably. No political leaders, no military leaders of units, no oligarchs have rallied to Prigozhin’s cause. Russia appears to be firmly behind President Putin, and supportive of his stated goal of bringing this insurrection to an end using all means necessary. While Prigozhin claimed to have assembled a force of some 25,000 men for his march of Moscow, the reality is the total number of Wagner soldiers involved is no more than half that number.”
https://www.scottritterextra.com/p/prigozhins-gambittreason-by-any-other?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Posted by: Mikkael | Jun 25 2023 13:03 utc | 3

western msm reporting today nonstop about resistance groups operating in Mariupol. This groups have killes 4 russian servicemen in Mariupol
Does anybody knows if true or just western propaganda

Posted by: moon2day | Jun 25 2023 13:06 utc | 5

Peanut gallery comments under mainstream articles express shock that Prigozhin is allowed to speak so freely, completely undermining narrative that Russia is monolithic police state. Even assuming court buffoon’s prank was planned (to separate loyalists from traitors), the demonstration of free speech was almost certainly not planned, but this unintended side effect does benefit Russia.

Posted by: Revelo | Jun 25 2023 13:09 utc | 7

Passerby posted this on another thread worth reposting:
You think of an American was marching on the White House with 25,000 troops he’d still have his social media accounts active ?
Posted by: Exile | Jun 25 2023 13:14 utc | 8
Excellent observation!
Only if you were part of the op!

Posted by: jpc | Jun 25 2023 13:19 utc | 9

So Prigozhin went from Spartacus to Buffalo Man in 24 hours. Quite the spectacle.

Posted by: Chas | Jun 25 2023 13:33 utc | 11

hmmmm …..what were those goals again, left footed into your own net? Hell of a lot of people to kill for a bit of theatre.
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jun 25 2023 13:36 utc | 13

Again, are you not entertained?
I note with great amusement the continued dissemmbling and slow winding down to the realization..
You’ve been had!
Hot Dog guy crosses the Rubicon on social media with a handful of ragtags, and makes NATO nearly swoon with miraculous hope, victory from the jaws of their self engineered defeat!
Insert Nelson Muntz laugh here.

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Jun 25 2023 13:44 utc | 15

jpc@9….would you shoot down a hellie and kill it’s crew as part of an op? Just plain weird shit regardless of how it’s wiped.
Cheers M
maybe that was fake too, like the prosecution of the SMO, trains still choo choo, traffic flows, lights on and party in downtown Kiev, SMO seems more of an inconvenience than a movement to secure Russia from NATO or whatever the original stated goals were.
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jun 25 2023 13:33 utc | 12
As tragic the deaths of the aircrew she.
It could have been do many times worse.
Interesting that the Ukrainians didn’t add to chaos at a time when it would have been possible and deniable.
Looking more like solo run by Prigozhin.

Posted by: jpc | Jun 25 2023 13:57 utc | 17

Fellow Barflies –
What likely course of action will NATO make as a result of the events yesterday ? Does this change anything in the big picture ?

Posted by: Exile | Jun 25 2023 14:01 utc | 19

Re: Organ Harvesting
Article on Organ Harvesting and Child Slavery in The Ukraine
https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/06/23/ukraine-human-organ-and-child-prostitution-trafficking-industries-does-only-russia-maria-zakharova-still-care/

Posted by: Exile | Jun 25 2023 14:17 utc | 21

So the NYT reports that the US knew about Prigozhin and his intended coup and said nothing?
Ok, what else did they know? What else did they do? Maybe Simplicius and Ritter aren’t crazy about their suspicions as to attempted regime change.

Posted by: Eighthman | Jun 25 2023 14:19 utc | 23

2010 mainstream article on Organ Harvesting in the Ukraine …..
…Ukraine’s interior ministry says four surgeons and four others have been arrested for taking part in a scheme to recruit organ donors from former Soviet countries and transplant the organs into wealthy foreigners.
The head of the ministry’s department on human trafficking, Yuriy Kucher, says the scheme was headed by an Israeli who was arrested last month.
Kucher said yesterday that they sought mostly kidneys from ……
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/06/surgeons-arrested-for-selling-organs-ukraine

Posted by: Exile | Jun 25 2023 14:22 utc | 25

Maskirovka, clever deception, is a historical tenet of Russian military doctrine.
My only question is about the lost helicopters. I suspect maskirovka on that too.

Posted by: Sideshow Bob | Jun 25 2023 14:28 utc | 27

@#5 moonday.
Sure. Some zombies doing anti-human stuff.
‘It’ can deploy such abominations.
And they will, every single one, be liquidated.
Russia is ready.

Posted by: Robert Hope | Jun 25 2023 14:34 utc | 29

a lot of conspiracy theory camp followers are having their 15 minutes of fame – but the common sense is on a short supply these days. Even basic questions: like how many Wagner troops followed P’s call? how consistent is the Kremlin’s treatment of Wagner mutiny with its approach to Minsk Agreements? The Kremlin on both occasions come out as ultra softies

Posted by: not | Jun 25 2023 14:43 utc | 31

-videos going around of NK holding hands together in new Russian territories, could be translated as holding ‘arms’ and defined as weaponary
-Left Right nato fued
-Ru ordinance disposal units investigating missile footprint connection between nova kakhovka dam (storm shadow) & recent Crimean bridge attack for live active ordinance still remotely controlled buried deep under bridge. Londons storm shadow “had the means to do it.”
-Arriving 1000 freight containers from ch of armored equipment for ru donbass forces also include 200 apc’s + … What else?

Posted by: Merlin | Jun 25 2023 15:02 utc | 33

US Media Claims US Intelligence Knew About Prigozhin’s Planned Mutiny in Mid-June
“One source who spoke on condition of anonymity said that “there were enough signals to be able to tell the leadership … that something was up,” although the details of Prigozhin’s plans were not clear.
Over the past two weeks, the intelligence agencies briefed the White House, as well as senior officials at the Department of State, the Pentagon and in Congress, unnamed officials told the newspaper.
Another US news outlet reported that the intelligence was not declassified as the US spy agencies were concerned that Russia would accuse them of orchestrating a coup.
They also had “little interest” in helping Russian authorities, the report said.”
Sputnik

Posted by: G3I2R | Jun 25 2023 15:09 utc | 35

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jun 25 2023 13:33 utc | 12 and 13
Find us video with verifiable timestamps showing the 7 helicopter and plane shoot downs. And no The Sun articles with stills don’t count.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 25 2023 15:10 utc | 37

So he was a double agent?

Posted by: Jonathan W | Jun 25 2023 15:15 utc | 39

Re: Wagner, curious incident. The mediation of Lukashenko reminded me of this event from 2020:
“Belarus detains 33 Russian mercenaries, says over 200 arrived in total” (2020)
https://www.dailysabah.com/world/europe/belarus-detains-33-russian-mercenaries-says-over-200-arrived-in-total
It was later understood as a CIA/SBU plot to catch ‘war criminals’ who fought in Donbass.

Posted by: Browser | Jun 25 2023 15:20 utc | 41

A new post by Paul Craig Roberts that b may wish to respond to:
“Yesterday I posted a video discussion that Larry Sparano and I had about the alleged “Russian coup.” https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2023/06/24/the-russian-coup-that-wasnt/
Looking back at our discussion, I am satisfied that we did a good job given the unresolved situation about which there was not much information. I am addressing the “coup” again because there is a great deal to be learned from it that is not being learned.
It is discouraging to see that the Russian media is as capable of creating false narratives and setting them in stone as Western presstitutes. The Russian media has set in stone the narrative that Prigozhin, the commander of the Wagner Group which has done most of the fighting in the liberation of Donbass, launched an “armed rebellion” against Putin despite the fact that there is no evidence of an armed rebellion.
The so-called “coup” has many curious aspects and raises many neglected questions.
I acknowledge that Prigozhin had become increasingly displeased with the Russian military command. The Kremlin had not addressed the feud between Prigozhin and the Russian military brass. The Kremlin’s failure to resolve the differences is the most likely cause of events mischaracterized as a coup. For Prigozhin, the final straw was his belief that an encampment of his troops was hit by a missile from the rear, that is, from Russia, not from Ukraine. Perhaps Prigozhin was given false information for the purpose of worsening the relations between the main fighting force and the Russian high command during a Ukrainian “counter offensive.” Perhaps a missile strike occurred, but has a different explanation.
The situation exploded when the Russian Ministry of Defense denied Prigozhin’s accusation when the proper response would have been to send an investigatory team to establish the fact and if a missile strike did occur to determine the source.
In addition to tensions between the Wagner Group and the Russian military bureaucracy stemming from, for example, inadequate ammunition supplies at critical stages of the fighting, the Russian military bureaucracy was determined to exercise command over the Wagner Group, a demand or desire that Prigozhin would not accept. Getting rid of Prigozhin became a priority for the Russian military bureaucracy. As I illustrated in the discussion with Sparano, conspiracies against military commanders during war are commonplace, so an attack on Wagner forces designed to set Prigozhin off is a possible scenario. This possibility gains credibility from the immediate denial instead of investigation and from the instant official narrative of an “armed rebellion.” As there was no investigation, all that Putin knows is what the generals tell him, and that will be their side of the story.
What the “armed rebellion” amounted to was Prigozhin starting out to Moscow with a convoy of his troops to, in Prigozhin’s words, “confront corrupt generals.” Prigozhin announced in advance that he intended no coup.
But let’s assume he intended a coup and let’s accept the exaggerated claim by presstitutes of a convoy of 25,000 troops traveling with him on the roads to Moscow. How is a convoy of troops going to get to Moscow without being decimated by air attacks, and, should they arrive, how are 25,000 troops going to overcome the Russian Army, occupy Moscow, and establish a government?
The question that immediately jumped to my mind is: Why did Putin rush to embarrass Russia by announcing an “armed rebellion” unless he had no army with which to defend Moscow?
The question of the whereabouts of the Russian Army has been growing on my mind. Why, as I have repeatedly asked, has Putin, instead of using sufficient force to end the conflict, permitted it to ever-widen with increasingly provocative participation on the part of Washington and NATO? This makes no sense. It serves no Russian purpose. Why is Putin fighting a dangerous conflict not merely with Ukraine but with the West with a small private military group and Donbass militias? Where is the Russian Army? Is there one?
Or has Putin been warned by his central bank and the neoliberal Russian economists not to risk the ruble and the budget deficit by spending money on the military? Surely Russia has its own David Stockman. Has Putin been convinced that the economic threat is greater than the military threat? Has Putin decided that with his vast superiority of nuclear forces over ours he doesn’t need an army? Why do Russian leaders keep warning of nuclear war if they have sufficient conventional forces?
Perhaps Putin doesn’t use sufficient conventional force to end the conflict in Ukraine because he doesn’t have the troops.
If this is the case, then the prospect for nuclear war is more likely than I have thought, and I already thought such a possibility was extremely high. If Western provocations finally cross a line that Putin cannot ignore and his only possible response is nuclear, Armageddon is upon us.
The unfortunate effect of the Russian government and media joining those of the West in proclaiming an “armed rebellion” and setting the narrative in stone is that it serves the West’s purpose of discrediting Putin and serves the neoconservatives’ propaganda that “we can win” if we fully commit to the task. Clearly, no one in the Kremlin or Russian media was thinking when they joined the propaganda against themselves by endorsing the portrait of dissent in the Russian military that threatens the regime. The picture created of internal dissent plays into the hands of the West.
The danger is that now with more confidence, the West pushes harder against Russia. This is the unfortunate result of the failure of the Russian military brass to placate Prigozhin.
In the West the misunderstanding of last Saturday’s event is total. Even normal level-headed analysts, such as Scott Ritter and Moon-of-Alabama, have contributed to the gross misunderstanding of the event. Ritter described Prigozhin as being in “Victoria Nuland’s pocket” and working with Ukrainian intelligence cells inside Russia. Moon-of-Alabama blames the event on Putin’s use of an independent military force in Ukraine.
Perhaps the most absurd of all is the self-serving claim by unidentified “sources” of “US intelligence agencies” that they had advanced knowledge of Prigozhin’s “coup.” How could they unless they were responsible for the missile strike, knowing that it would light Prigozhin’s fuse? (Even the Russian media reported this absurd claim: https://sputnikglobe.com/20230625/american-media-claim-us-intelligence-learned-about-prigozhins-plans-for-mutiny-in-mid-june-1111453277.html ).
I will end this essay, which I hope provokes thought and awareness of how much more dangerous the situation is now, with a final observation. If there was actually a coup attempt and Prigozhin and his Wagner Group troops constituted a danger to the Russian state as Russian leaders declared, why was the situation resolved by permitting Prigozhin refuge in Belarus and the Wagner troops to be enrolled in the Russian Army? Does this indicate that the Kremlin knows there was no coup? Or does it mean that the Kremlin lacked an army with which to confront the coup and had to come to terms with Prigozhin?
Is this the appropriate conclusion of a dangerous threat to Russian national existence?:
“Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Saturday evening that the criminal case against Prigozhin had been dropped and that he would leave for Belarus under guarantees given by Putin. The spokesman added that the members of the Wagner PMC involved in Saturday’s events would not be prosecuted given their distinguished service during Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.”

Posted by: Perimetr | Jun 25 2023 15:35 utc | 43

What will Russia do next?
The Kharkiv-Dnipro line, along the M18 highway, is the natural choke point between the Russian border and the Dneiper river.

Posted by: Figleaf23 | Jun 25 2023 15:44 utc | 45

Posted by: jo6pac | Jun 25 2023 15:01 utc | 32
Posted by: Browser | Jun 25 2023 15:20 utc | 41
While the 4B ruble triple agent Prigozhin debriefed Putin and Lukashenko, this happened

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya [alias Svitlana Tykhanovskaya alias Svetlana ] has called on Belarusians to not let an opportunity to save Belarus go to waste. The Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment, a group of Belarusian opposition volunteers defending Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, has said the military and civilians in Belarus should “wait for a signal”.
Source: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Telegram; the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment on Telegram (both made their appeals in Belarusian)
Quote from Tsikhanouskaya: “Putin might try to drag the Belarusian military into his own internal conflict, and make us part of this conflict. I want to call on Belarusian diplomats, the military, and law enforcement agencies to remember that we have our own national interests. Putin and Prigozhin are no friends to Belarus. You do not have to choose their side. The people of Belarus have to defend their own country.
[…]

Ex-Wagner battalion deployment from Donetsk summer camps to points west ensued.

Posted by: sln2002 | Jun 25 2023 15:54 utc | 47

Posted by: sln2002 | Jun 25 2023 15:54 utc | 46
The main question is, did the west shoot their wad re. Belarus and how much was exposed? The “Kastus Kalinouski” regiment?
If they can nab some corrupt officials or foreign fighters it would be very good. The tree has no doubt been shaken in both countries, how much liberal rot fell out is the million dollar question.

Posted by: unimperator | Jun 25 2023 16:02 utc | 49

The Prigozhin fiasco has turned out just as b predicted. What remains to be seen is who or what lured Prigozhin into performing such a high stakes operation. Was it NATO seeking to disrupt Russian supply lines in an effort to enable their counteroffensive in Zaporizhia? Or was it a psyop by the Kremlin in order to root out traitors and mask the movement of troops and material? If the former is the case, Russian supply lines would have been severely disrupted by this nonsense, cutting off east from west in a line from Rostov-on-Don to Voronezh. Although the Ukrainian offensive seems to have turned out to be failure, it looks like a salient is beginning to form towards Tokmak. If they get through Tokmak and reach Melitopol, it will be a great victory for the Ukrainians, as the rest of the Kherson oblast will likely fall shortly after.
However, if the Prigozhin case turns out to be an element of psychological warfare on the part of the Russians, then they are preparing to drop the hammer on the anvil. NATO satellites will not be able to tell where troops and material are heading; to the frontline or to deal with the armed rebellion? A huge shuffle of men and equipment will enable Russia to mass troops in the north and sweep down south against the anvil they have formed in Zaporizhia. The jaws of death will close on the Donbas.
Even if the last couple of days turn out to have been in the Kiev regime’s favor, it will only delay their inevitable defeat.

Posted by: DeathToAmerica | Jun 25 2023 16:09 utc | 51

Posted by: Perimetr | Jun 25 2023 15:35 utc | 43
I normally have a great deal of respect for Paul Craig Roberts…but in his own words “This makes no sense. It serves no Russian purpose. Why is Putin fighting a dangerous conflict not merely with Ukraine but with the West with a small private military group and Donbass militias? Where is the Russian Army? Is there one?”
I also disagree with his conclusion…
“I will end this essay, which I hope provokes thought and awareness of how much more dangerous the situation is now”
I think the situation is far less dangerous, cos the survivors on both sides, are aware of this mass human tragedy with many thousands of soldiers – mostly young kids – dead and wounded on both sides (in reality the same side – I can’t tell the difference between a Russian and a Ukrainian) – Can You?
And they have had enough of killing each other.
They want Peace and want to bring The American and British War Criminals in control to Justice.
Don’t blame me for being British. I didn’t vote for any of these psychopathic cretins trying to kill us all.
Tony

Posted by: tonyopmoc | Jun 25 2023 16:18 utc | 53

51 – You must mean 26th June.

Posted by: Waldorf | Jun 25 2023 16:20 utc | 55

From where I sit I have no clue as to what is happening, but I suspect that it in large part has to do with repositioning the Russian army, maybe to push against Kiev proper. I don’t know what Ukro units are left there to fight, but I suspect a big push from the north will have a gravitational affect on other Ukro forces along their very thin lines to the south. You wonder if suddenly the datelines for Ukrainian government press releases will be coming from Lvov.

Posted by: Bob In Portland, Ore | Jun 25 2023 16:23 utc | 57

According to Caroline Galactéros,
Colonel in the Reserves, French Army, Science Politic, PhD,; professor at,l’École de Guerre et à HEC,the french equivalent of the american War college, teaching the ethics of Conflicts and contemporary International relations and Strategy
https://twitter.com/CGalacteros
this article reporting on the actual confirmed numbers of Ukrainians casualties, as of January 2023, was leaked to the Turkish media by the Israely
Mossad:
https://archive.is/OuoQf
https://orientalreview.org/2023/02/13/leaked-from-mossad-war-losses-of-russia-ukraine/
On January 25th, Turkiye’s Hürseda Haber somehow leaked online, allegedly from Israel’s Mossad, the losses by both Ukraine and Russia, thus far in
Ukraine’s war:
UKRAINE:
157,000 Dead
234,000 injured
17,230 Captives
234 Dead – NATO military trainers (US and UK)
2,458 Dead – NATO soldiers (Germany, Poland, Lithuania, …)
5,360 Dead – Mercenaries
302 Planes
212 Helicopters
497 Air defense systems
2,750 (S)UAV
6,320 Tanks and armored vehicles
7,360 Howitzer (Artillery systems)
RUSSIA:
18,480 dead
44,500 Injured
323 Captives
23 Planes
56 helicopters
12 Air defense systems
200 (S)UAV
889 Tanks and armored vehicles
427 Howitzer (Artillery systems)
https://youtu.be/pzPv6wXnbHc?t=293
https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-war-scale-out-of-proportion-with-nato-planning-cavoli-2023-2?op=1
According to Caroline Galactéros,
Colin the Frenarmy Reserves Science Po, PhD,; prof at,l’École de Guerre et à HEC,the french War college,
https://twitter.com/CGalacteros
https://archive.is/OuoQf
https://orientalreview.org/2023/02/13/leaked-from-mossad-war-losses-of-russia-ukraine/
https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-war-scale-out-of-proportion-with-nato-planning-cavoli-2023-2?op=1

Posted by: Jesuis SansNom | Jun 25 2023 16:26 utc | 59

Twelve hours by car at highway speeds to Moscow from Rostov on Don. The Wagner Soldiers never got anywhere near to a “march on Moscow”.

Posted by: Chaka Khagan | Jun 25 2023 16:37 utc | 61

60 – Knowing something of Russia’s geography, I agree with you. An attempt was being made to suggest an inexorable advance by Wagner troops. An advance at a speed basically impossible.

Posted by: Waldorf | Jun 25 2023 16:46 utc | 63

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jun 25 2023 16:28 utc | 59
If you pull out a gun at a crowded event and pulled the trigger and suffer however a misfire, the following statements are true
1. Only those who were close or watching in your direction would have seen anything. Even then, some observers would not realise what they were seeing.
2. Some spectators in the above category would say someone pulled out a gun but they did not fire it
3. Most spectators would say they never heard anyone shooting a gun
3. A tiny fraction of spectators, who were very close and knowledgeable would have said somebody tried to shoot a gun
4. You did pull out a gun and did intend to shoot it
5. The vast majority of the crowd would say no one had tried to shoot a gun.
Stating that an event’s intent can be determined by its outcome is an analytical exercise that generates conclusions that are somewhat flawed.

Posted by: Milites | Jun 25 2023 16:54 utc | 65

I still think all this performance was a maskirovka. Russia doesn’t pardon traitors, you know.

Posted by: ostro | Jun 25 2023 16:59 utc | 67

I severely suggest readers go to the new open thread and read the entry S has made as it adds crucial context to Prigozhin’s behavior and proves some of his duplicity.
Ghost of Zanon | Jun 25 2023 15:31 utc | 42–
Thanks much for your appraisal.
Exile | Jun 25 2023 14:01 utc | 19–
No, aside from a clearer view of which nations decisively support Russia.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 25 2023 17:00 utc | 69

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 25 2023 15:47 utc | 45
>Has anyone else noticed that there’s very little if any conversation with or among actual Russian people about the “coup” available? Why is that? Let me hear it from a Russian
On another forum, there’s this Australian guy with a Russian girlfriend (he has visited her several times and had sex with her, so not some online only relationship) and he says her whole family is/was in a tizzy, planning to flee to their dacha with a big load of dried buckwheat and canned food until the storm passed. Which is to be expected. If most of MoA is running around like chickens with their heads cut off, obviously panic among some locals must have reached hysteria levels. Meanwhile other locals rushed to get as close to the action as possible. Like Jan 6, 2021, except Prigozhin replaces the Shaman with painted face and buffalo horns on his head.

Posted by: Revelo | Jun 25 2023 17:03 utc | 71

3. ?
Posted by: unimperator | Jun 25 2023 16:20 utc | 55
PROFIT!

Posted by: sln2002 | Jun 25 2023 17:11 utc | 73

A conspiracy theory:
Prigozhin is unstable and likely psychologically broken (rumors of business not being good these days, personally) but he is a patriot. If someone near him was working for GUR or the west, and this doesn’t have to be someone inside Wagner, it wouldn’t be hard to push him over the edge. In fact, his psychology makes him a perfect target for an intelligence influence op. His position even more so. He became increasingly more disturbed over the last few months and his spat with MoD only increased. Paranoid, delusions of grandeur and the like he almost certainly assumed he was being watched/listened to. That shrinks his circle of trust and lets whoever was trying to manipulate him gain more power. The last communications were almost directly western propaganda.
The mutiny was planned, not spontaneous. That is clear from multiple evidence sources. It’s probably safe to assume that the Kremlin knew at least some of this. After all, Wagner is absolutely full of “ex-GRU”. But you can’t just go arrest him at a Wagner camp. That could go very bad, up to and including a shootout between FSB and Wagner.
So if you’re Putin you do what you can to isolate the Prigozhin clique inside Wagner. And this appears to have been the case. You have to let it play out and try to manage it, which can probably be successful because Prigozhin is a patriot but to manage him he has to be isolated and communicating with people who he can give some trust to. You can’t let it spill into bloodshed if possible because that’s the kind of thing that might start a cascading failure of loyalty leading to civil war.
By all accounts Putin did not speak to Prigozhin at all. Strange with a long relationship you’d think Putin could have solved it. (Less strange because Putin’s MO is to be above the fray not in it.) Refusing to have Putin communicate could be to reinforce how isolated Prigozhin was but also if there’s a chance he was turned – directly or indirectly – Putin can’t get close.
The helicopters are suggestive. No reason for all the EW units to be used against Wagner really. No reason for Wagner to target them specifically, unless there was a western op angle here or even a western op using it as cover. Though all the EW air assets could also be maskirovka since it’s odd that Russia wouldn’t do its best to hide those losses.
In any case, with the immediate emergency defused the hard work will begin. Prigozhin may even be salvaged. Like if he is actually medicated bi-polar getting back on his meds and some quiet time brings him back. His being alive but isolated with Uncle Sasha is better than dead or arrested. Anyone who was using him has to be terrified and can be flushed out.

Posted by: Lex | Jun 25 2023 17:17 utc | 75

Either consciously or as an accident of circumstance Prigozhin assumed the role of a Pompey Magnus or even a Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon (or the Don in this case) and heading to Rome (Moscow) to put order to the state for the sake of the same, but, above all, for the sake of the people of the Third Rome. However as Marx noted specifically in reference to Napoleon himself: history repeats itself, first as tragedy (the noble Julius Caesar), then as farce: Prigozhin the Cook. Ironically it appears the circus was in town in Rostov on the very days Prigozhin and his legionnaires returned triumphantly from Gaul, er I mean, Ukraine: bread and circuses indeed! But what was Prigozhin cooking, did he even know, was it and hoc dish, mighty risky considering it was his head that could have easily ended up on a platter…But, more to the point, is it possible Prigozhin was just a sous chef in this affair, with the true gastronomic experts (seemingly intent on giving the Kremlin indigestion) being the guys at the world famous Langley School of Insurrectionary Arts?

Posted by: Jupiter | Jun 25 2023 17:23 utc | 77

Karlof,
Indeed the Barfleas seem to have clocked in late this Sunday. Management must be cutting overtime.

Posted by: Exile | Jun 25 2023 17:29 utc | 79

“Appear far away when you are near, and near when you are far away.”
― Sun Tzu
It occurs to me that there are suddenly many Wagner troops near Kharkov.

Posted by: William Gruff | Jun 25 2023 17:31 utc | 81

In the videos from Rostov with Wagner tanks and troops there, you might’ve seen ordinary people just walking by, taking pictures from mobile phones etc. Wagner troops were quite careful notto hurt anyone, even when they left the city. They had to do everything when leaving the city, very slowly.
But the fools in Washington, Pentagon, NATO and other ‘leading’ places got simply fooled!

Posted by: ostro | Jun 25 2023 17:40 utc | 83

It is soooo funny that the US ‘establishment’ knew about Prigozin’s ‘coup’ weeks ago! What nuts are running the ‘west’.

Posted by: ostro | Jun 25 2023 17:43 utc | 85

Eighthman | Jun 25 2023 17:42 utc | 83
————–
You just cannot compare Shoigu’s position the Russian Army to any ‘general’ of German or American army, even if one of those general became the US president… 🙂

Posted by: ostro | Jun 25 2023 17:46 utc | 87

Chaka Khagan | Jun 25 2023 17:44 utc | 85
—————
The US is full of fools!

Posted by: ostro | Jun 25 2023 17:48 utc | 89

It’s a STING….
Go watch the movie starring Paul Neuman….
This op is not over….
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Jun 25 2023 17:50 utc | 91

Posted by: Eighthman | Jun 25 2023 17:42 utc | 83
In regard to the conduct of the war, this campaign has been an historic annihilation of the Ukrainian forces that will rewrite the text books. That was not due to Wagner LOL!! It was due to Gerasimov and Shoigu. Reflecting on that may sober some people up.

Posted by: Tim | Jun 25 2023 17:59 utc | 93

CRAZIES
So much confusion on the Russo/Ukrainian war is going on at present.
It looks to be crazy in the West and now crazy in Russia too.
While the crazies are at work, it now looks like the US Senate wants to also join the game. US senators Lindsey Graham (R) and Richard Blumenthal(D) want to lower the threshold of what would trigger NATO’s article 5.
According to them, any release of radiation should automatically be considered to be Russia’s fault before any investigation could be conducted. After such a release, they are saying this should trigger NATO’s article 5.
Interesting that the West recently installed radiation detectors throughout Ukraine.
Once article 5 is triggered, NATO would directly enter the Russo/Ukrainian conflict. I don’t doubt that this would include direct attacks upon the Russian Federation.
The Russians would respond accordingly.
No wonder that Lindsey Graham’s body language spoke a lot of uncertainty and even horror during his speech in delivering this message with Richard Blumenthal.
It appears that the West is itching to further escalate beyond Western tanks and F-16s and long range missiles.
I don’t think this itch is going away anytime soon. Too many crazies running and world.

Posted by: young | Jun 25 2023 18:07 utc | 95

Once article 5 is triggered, NATO would directly enter the Russo/Ukrainian conflict. I don’t doubt that this would include direct attacks upon the Russian Federation.
Posted by: young | Jun 25 2023 18:07 utc | 94
——————
Who the f..k going to ‘invoke’ Article 5? Luxembourg, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, eh?
Or maybe, Poland, Germany or France?
NATO would simply disintegrate!

Posted by: ostro | Jun 25 2023 18:36 utc | 97

NATO’s next steps ?
1) Destablize Russia’s periphery
2) Continue to train/fund Russian color revolutionaries
3) keep fighting to the last Ukrainian

Posted by: Exile | Jun 25 2023 18:40 utc | 99