In June, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin kept Russia in suspense with his uprising. The mutiny against the leadership in Moscow lasted about 24 hours. Then it ended as surprisingly as it began.
To this day, this mini-rebellion leaves many questions. Was it real or just staged? What were Prigozhin’s intentions when he rebelled against Putin? Apparently, the events leave not only the world, but also the Wagner fighters themselves with questions.
“We had no idea what was going on,” explained a Wagner commander in an interview with the British broadcaster BBC. He provides insight into what happened behind the scenes at least in his unit.
Wagner’s column encountered no resistance
Wagner mercenary Gleb – whose name was changed for security reasons – was with his unit in a barracks in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region when the mutiny began. At least that’s what he tells the BBC. Thus, early in the morning of 23 June, they were ordered to join a column of Wagner fighters leaving Ukraine.
“We’re forming a column, let’s go,” Gleb said. No one said a word about where the column would go. However, Gleb was surprised that they moved away from the front line.
When the Wagner fighters crossed the Russian border into the Rostov region, they encountered no resistance, he says. “I didn’t see any border guards,” he recalls. “But the traffic police greeted us on the way.”
Contact the local intelligence service in Rostov-on-Don
Near Rostov-on-Don, militants were ordered to surround all law enforcement buildings in the city and occupy the military airport. Gleb’s unit was ordered to take control of the regional offices of the Russian Secret Service (FSB). As they approached the building, it seemed completely closed off and empty.
Yet a door opened and two people stepped out into the street. “They said, ‘Guys, let’s make a deal,'” says Gleb. “I said: ‘What is there to negotiate? This is our city’». So we agreed to leave each other alone, says the Wagner hunter. “But occasionally they came outside to smoke,” he continues.
During all this, Wagner boss Prigozhin negotiated with Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister, Lieutenant General Yunus-bek Yevkurov, and Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, according to the BBC, according to the BBC. His demand was: extradition of Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
At the same time, another column of Wagner fighters was on the way, says Gleb. According to him, this column was on the main road towards Voronezh and was apparently on its way to Moscow. Still, Gleb insists he had no idea what was going on.
Wagner-Kkampfer had no idea what was going on
According to Gleb, he and his comrades received information through the Telegram messaging service. Eventually images of the uprising in Russia went around the world. Especially those shots of local citizens and sometimes journalists taking pictures and chatting with the rather reserved Wagner fighters.
“They were ex-prisoners,” says Gleb, referring to the many inmates or convicts who were called into Wagner’s home last year. “Nobody told them not to do it, nobody cares about them.” For veteran fighters like Gleb, who were recruited in Ukraine long before the war, the rules are clearer: anyone who speaks to the media is “eliminated,” that is, killed.
On the evening of June 24, the uprising came to a sudden end – also to Gleb’s surprise. His superiors told him without explanation that he and his unit should now return to the base in Luhansk. It was only on his way back to the barracks that he was able to capture the full extent of the uprising through the telegram messages.
Suppose the Kremlin had dropped the criminal case against Prigozhin and he was now going to Belarus. Also that the Wagner fighters would not be held accountable for their “services in battle”. Nevertheless, the future for Gleb and his unit is still unclear.
When asked why he is not leaving Wagner, he has a pragmatic answer: “My contract is not up yet.”
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
