Got a big belly laugh out courtesy of Bojan Pancevski, a European based correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, who wrote the article, Wagner’s Prigozhin Planned to Capture Russian Military Leaders. He claims to have the inside scoop on how Western intelligence agencies knew in advance that Prigozhin was going full Benedict Arnold, but is so naive that he did not realize he was being fed a fairy tale. He wrote:
Western intelligence agencies also found out early about the plans by Prigozhin, Putin’s former confidant, by analyzing electronic communications intercepts and satellite imagery, according to a person familiar with the findings. Western officials said they believe the original plot had a good chance of success but failed after the conspiracy was leaked, forcing Prigozhin to improvise an alternative plan.
This is a pitiful cover story. It is an insult to your intelligence to ask you to believe that the West’s intel folks discovered that Prigozhin was going rogue by “analyzing electronic communications intercepts and satellite imagery.” Exactly how does “satellite imagery” tell some photo interpreter that a coup is about to happen? Did Prigozhin scribble out his intentions on a big sign and carry it around outside for all to read? Maybe he was trying to recruit some muscle for the trip to Moscow. “Hey, I’m Going to Moscow to Grab Shoigu. Join Me!”
In my experience, coup plotters are careful not to put their plans in writing or to talk openly about them on phones or radios. A genuine coup starts with the assumption by the plotters that they could die if the plan does not succeed. That sobering thought tends to be accompanied by cautious, subdued activity, not reckless bragging or boasting. That includes shying away from the prolific use of texts or emails.
Do you remember the first rule of Fight Club? You don’t talk about Fight Club. Well, the first rule of espionage is that YOU DO NOT REVEAL YOUR SOURCES. Come to think of it, that used to be the cardinal rule of journalism as well. The “official” who fed Pancevski the “secret” account of how intrepid Western intelligence analysts solved the Prigozhin putsch puzzle broke that rule. Looks to me like he was confident that he had a willing tool in Pancevski and could count on him to persuade a gullible public that the CIA is really good at eavesdropping.
The fact that the CIA briefed the Gang of Eight in Congress on Prigozhin’s planned uprising two days prior means that the CIA had information from a human source. It could have been a recruited CIA asset or someone recruited and controlled by a foreign intelligence organization. But someone close to Prigozhin was blabbing. Or maybe it was Prigozhin himself.
I find it noteworthy that the Biden Administration went to extraordinary lengths to insist it knew nothing about the coup and certainly did not encourage it or support it. Oh no. Biden, Blinken and Nuland do not want Putin overthrown by force. Perish the thought.
I think this leak to Pancevski provides additional confirmation that Prigozhin was acting in concert with Western intelligence operatives. What remains unknown is whether Prigozhin was genuinely cooperating with the West or pretending to spy for the West while actually being controlled by Russian authorities. I continue to believe it is the latter. If Prigozhin committed treason then Putin’s decision to go unscathed into exile in Belarus sends the message that you can go after Putin and live. That is not being magnanimous, that is madness.
My read of the Wall Street Journal article is that it is the latest iteration of the West’s covert action to shape public opinion as well as damage control. It is no coincidence that Pancevski is told that other Russian Generals are under a cloud of suspicion:
Made aware of the leak, Prigozhin was then forced to act sooner than planned on Friday and managed to capture the southern Russian city of Rostov, a key command point for the invasion of Ukraine. The ease with which Wagner’s troops took the city of one million that is home to a large military airport suggests that some regular forces commanders could have been part of the plot, according to Western intelligence.
Western officials said they believe Prigozhin had communicated his intentions to senior military officers, possibly including Gen. Sergei Surovikin, commander of the Russian aerospace force. It couldn’t be determined whether Surovikin passed this information on to the FSB, or how the agency found out about Prigozhin’s plans.
Yep, toss Surovikin under the suspicion bus. Why in the world would the CIA or MI6 want to cast doubts on Surovikin? That could weaken him and affect his ability to counter the Ukrainian offensive. Oh, I got it. Never mind. This article is a graphic example that the West is not going to let up in its campaign to destroy Russia regardless of setbacks on the ground in Ukraine. I wonder if Putin, Gerasimov and Shoigu understand that fact.
What seems clear from all this and from other intel-generated stories like the crap about yacht sailors blowing up Nordstream or Russia missing the targeted Patriot junk in Kiev is that the CIA isn’t a very good story telling entity. They must think we’re cretins to believe we’ll swallow this low level of bullshit as long as it’s printed in the NYT, WaPo, or the WSJ.
You might not swallow it but most people will.
Since the CIA has become the biggest drug-dealing cartel worldwide, they’re probably sampling a lot of their inventory themselves….it would certainly account for their addled brains and diminishing intelligence.
They are still grieving over Afghanistan. The Taliban have once again banned growing poppies.
https://www.sott.net/article/481413-The-Talibans-successful-opium-ban-is-bad-for-Afghans-and-the-world-sez-the-US
hmmm, what profit stream can Big Pharma turn to now that opium prices will be rising?
“The fact that the CIA briefed the Gang of Eight on Prigozhin’s planned uprising two days prior means that Someone close to Prigozhin was blabbing, or it was Prigozhin himself.”
But the uprising could also have been ordered from the WH, as the west now had confirmation that the BRICKS nations would attend the Copenhagen summit.
The summit was planned so that an uprising in Russia would happen simultaneously with the BRICKS summit in order to sow distrust in the Russian government, in order to sway the BRICKS attendants to ditch their support for Russia.
The Copenhagen summit was hosted by the Danish Foreign Minister, who has previous experience with the CIA.
https://politiken.dk/indland/art4800977/Løkke-på-mission-med-formand-for-udskældt-muslimsk-råd
Funny, but all Western media has gone totally silent on the Copenhagen Summit.
However one of the readers of the Sonar 21 claimed in his post, that when it was clear that Pregozhin´s mutiny had failed in Russia, Germany changed stance during the Copenhagen summit, and suddenly proposed a peace plan on behalf of a handful of EU Nations.
Afterwards, both Biden, Stoltenberg and Macron went to extraordinary lengths to insist they knew absolutely nothing about the coup and certainly did not encourage it or support it.
I think that the US and NATO protested too much.
“I think that the US and NATO protested too much.”
Methinks.
Unfortunately Jack there are an awful lot of cretins that ARE believing it. Even though the ‘background narrative’ is starting to crumble, your average TV & social media consuming ‘Blue Pill-ers’ are stuck in the narrative. They might have a sorta gut feeling something is ‘off’ but if they don’t know where to look we have to step in even though sometimes it’s not easy turning them – takes work. You need to have a spiel with facts & questions to ‘plant’ cause sometimes ya only get one chance & ya gotta hook them. Positive side, more & more know the media is feeding them bullshit & half truths. Cheers
“ They must think we’re cretins…”
Unfortunately, with good reason. In the collective West, the cretins far outnumber the people who can can see and think for themselves. The education system and the media are designed to churn out cretins, the kind that can be used as cannon fodder.
As Charles Bukowski noted, “Slavery was never really abolished. It was simply extended to all the races.”
As Charles Bukowski noted, “Slavery was never really abolished. It was simply extended to all the races.”
All Races? There is only one race, the human race, don’t fall into the traps set by others.
And only one sex, too?
Let’s not confuse the spirit of brotherhood /sisterhood and humanity with biology. There are clear differences in people from having evolved in different geographical environs and gene pools over the millennia.
Btw – I was called racist the other day at an airline counter because the attendant was speaking louder and louder (shouting) at a person arriving from Asia who couldn’t understand what was being said.
I pointed out to the attendant that the person was Chinese and didn’t speak English. For this the attendant said I was being racist for calling him Chinese. 😂😂😂
That’s woke for you, M. Imp. Don’t be like that. Read some Bukowski and get some depth of soul.
Slavery was sold to all the races as “freedom”, aka the right to vote for your slave masters/”representatives”. Democracy obscures this truth.
You are confusing species and races.
Jack Gordon, I think this is what the old books told them in CIA, that if you tell any BS through the right media, it will automatically be considered the golden truth. But now we have whole communities that found each other through the internet, relaying and processing information across the globe, just in time, straight from the front.
Maybe those old books used to work some 30 years ago. Larry could tell us some stories about it, so we could compare the ‘evolution’.
But I think even today it works as, at the same time, the MSM is just a coordinated extension of those “intelligence” offices. And the regular laypeople who are fed in the other side are increasingly indoctrinated to know to read but not read, to know some basic math, but not do the math. The layman don’t apply these skills in real life, but strictly only where the masters wanted it to be applied.
The truth is that it still works, this stupid war is out there exterminating ukraine people for the sake of protecting the interests of half a dozen (or a little more) in Washington. Where is the American and European people? Reading the news and screaming “slava ukraine”.
Am I wrong?
The coordinated nature of MSM reporting is a huge red flag that they represent a single source. Impossible to miss (I would think).
It’s because Hollywood scriptwriters are on strike. Once it ends, they’ll get back to regular fantasy-stuff-translated-to-real-life programming (Ghost of Kiev, Orcs, Bandera Skywalker, etc.).
I canceled the WSJ because I thought their Ukraine reporting insulted my intelligence. I thought they were a credible news source. If they turn out correct on their Ukraine reporting then I am an idiot. Their entire news credibility is suspect to me.
I believe they are a source to throw BS for Wall Street-big finance companies.
Their reporters are worthless.
Rupert Murdoch fired Tucker Carlson because of his beliefs so why do you expect WSJ to be other than Rupert‘s Russophobic yellow press ?
The oversized headlines about this ‘coup’ were really over the top. I find even the NYTimes reporting to be slightly more believable. Going to cancel mine as well. I do like to monitor the comments to see what people are thinking, but lately many of the commenters are just plain nuts.
“but lately many of the commenters are just plain nuts.”
That is by design….
Oh yes it is !! Filter out anything cogent or insightful (or both) in the way of comments, push ranters to the fore . . . or invent them & the BS is all encompassing. Everyone is under psychological attack on multiple fronts & the beginnings of the physical can be seen. Power stations shutting throughout the Western world, food producers shutting AND being burnt down apace, plus having planes flying into them . . . 3 times !! (9/11 showed us ‘planes-into-buildings is officially “a thing” so it’s now totally normal). Banks are limiting money supply, there’s news of Pfizer running out of antibiotics – how long before an upgraded XXIst century “Duck & Cover” is introduced. With the US/NATOs & ‘Elenskis escalatory actions bordering on the criminally insane & a nuclear power station sitting in the mix, fuck knows how this will end.
I cancelled my Times and Telegraph subscriptions about a month after ghe SMO started fir the same reason. Just ciuldnt stomach the lies and insanity in the comments sections.
There are no MSM outlets in America that are not puppets. Only repeal of Smith-Mundt Act of 2012 would even begin to repair damage that would last a generation. Epoch Times started off a few years ago to be an exception, but they’ve recently joined the dark side as well. I guess trying to hang with the cool people was too much temptation for there intrepid integrity to withstand
I did the same. The WSJ has become unreadable because of its unrelenting lying about everything.
Nowadays, I do not read any newspaper, nor do I watch any news program on TV or cable.
Yes, doubling down on insanity it is, well, beyond insane, isnt it?
Dealing with a nucear power, the premiere nuclear power on the planet, by constant provocations, escalations, attacks is not the sign of a rational foriegn policy.
Could it be that Yevgenii is still above ground not only because he played double agent in that he cooperated with GRU, SVR, with the details of his contacts with MI-6, et al.; but also because he has and continues to detail his contacts with other disaffected elements of 5th, 6th columnists? Might he come out of this, after all?
And, there is still the threat to ZNPP to keep awake over!
I think they do understand it. Perhaps this operation demonstrated what most of us know. You can’t trust us. They have known since 2014, no, 1992 that what is said isn’t done. What is guaranteed is not a guarantee at all.
I think we have seen enough to think that the original SMO is still alive and well because it is the only thing that will insure neutrality and victory. They can’t allow the black sea to be subject to the new nazis. What good is it if they don’t de militarize and de nazify the rump? But that a just seems logical and war isn’t.
Watched a video of the Moscow highway being blocked and keys confiscated by police.
Later read that private companies passed out weapons and told those with military/security training to patrol the surrounding area.
Workers said, we will defend to the last cartridge.
Does that sound like chaos and disunity?
The fact?!? Surely you jest.
Let me rephrase your sentence.
“The fact that the CIA claims to have briefed the Gang of Eight in Congress on Prigozhin’s planned uprising two days prior means that the CIA planted a story to give its paymasters the impression that it had information from a human source.”
If the CIA knew in advance of the Prigoputsch, in what parallel universe would it not have ordered its Ukranazi puppets to be ready to hit Russia with everything they had as soon as the coup got rolling?
I think the two realities you talk about are true. I also don’t believe in the Gang of 8 story, which if true would never be admitted 48 hours later. But in fact there are several credible testimonies that the AFU was prepared to consolidate gains if the Russian defense had faltered with the rebellion! Several very credible military testimonies of ukie maneuvers at the front!
And still about the gang of eight I had never heard of such an obscure process in Democracy. Because CIA and deep state power was impossible in Europe. The following day they were giving accounts in Parliament televised across the country. Obscurantism that also derives a lot from the type of Presidential Democracy. Which meanwhile skidded into a Plutocracy. Notice how we can say a lot about England but during the conflict in Ukraine they are already in the 3rd government. While in the US they can’t even get rid of a totally demented President. What once again is foreseen in the Constitution of any Parliamentary Democracy. Biden in Europe never took office!
Oh, NO! Not the Gang of Eight!
Biswapriya Purkayastha says
“The fact that the CIA claims to have briefed the Gang of Eight in Congress on Prigozhin’s planned uprising two days prior means that the CIA planted a story to give its paymasters the impression that it had information from a human source.”
My comment.
If that were the case, why did Biden and Blinken brag publicly about a pending uprising against president Putin, a month before it actually took place?
I believe the mutiny was planned as part of the counter offensive, in concert with acts of terrorism and sabotage which the FSB foiled a few days before. That’s why the US and NATO were getting antsy about the counteroffensive being launched and pushing Ukraine to do start it.
Nothing happens in this proxy war that is not hatched by the CIA and M16, and signed off by Washington and London. We need to stop thinking that Russia is fighting Ukraine, or that this is even about Ukraine anymore. When the F-16’s fly, they will be NATO pilots in the, regardless of the paint on the aircraft or uniform of the pilots.
Purkayastha wrote:
“The fact?!? Surely you jest.
Let me rephrase your sentence.”
***
Thank you.
Gregory: Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?
Holmes: To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.
Gregory: The dog did nothing in the night-time.
Holmes: That was the curious incident.
The internet is one big rumor mill. Hog heaven for CI.
Regards,
dje
“The fact that the CIA claims to have briefed the Gang of Eight in Congress….
But, of course they did. Would the CIA lie? Why, Mr. Pompeo, himself, said …. Oh never mind.
With impeccable sources saying they didn’t know or support the coup, like Biden, Blinken, or Nuland, Larry Johnson must be wrong! 💩🤡😇
The irony of this situation is that much like the sanctions against Russia that backfired badly for the Western world, this whole incident could very well leave Putin in a stronger position.
Although the Western media doesn’t want to report the truth, after the ill-fated Prigozhin mutiny attempt, the Russian people rallied around Putin and his government.
The Western nations may very well have compromised quite a few of their intelligence assets within Russia itself in an attempt to stage this whole affair. We don’t know and of course, we won’t hear about it.
It also shows how strong the support is for Putin within Russia. The whole concept is alien to Western leaders, because they are corrupt, Putin is genuinely popular in Russia because he did a good job in the past 2 decades or so building up Russia and recovering it from the damage the Western world did to Russia in the 1990s. That’s what leaders are supposed to be, people who are competent and who genuinely care about their nation. I suspect that this is why the Western ruling class hates Putin so much, because his actions reflect so poorly on them.
So we will see more cope in the Western media. I suspect that this is going to be ongoing and will not fade. It will be likely the Syrian civil war and they’ll try to sweep it away when the failure becomes undeniable.
This is a very clear and accurate synopsis in my opinion!
You seem to have hit the mark.
It is so sad to be an American these days. Clowns at the controls, driving us straight off the cliff. Not the country I wanted to leave to my children. No country for old men..
Seconded.
Putin reminds me of Shakespeare’s description and celebration of a man who has claws but does not use them. What Nietzsche described as the “Roman Caesar with Christ’s soul”. In that same sonnet (Sonnet 94) he describes what the current Western political leadership has become: festering lilies that smell far worse than weeds.
‘This article is a graphic example that the West is not going to let up in its campaign to destroy Russia regardless of setbacks on the ground in Ukraine. I wonder if Putin, Gerasimov and Shoigu understand that fact.’
The second sentence is cute… They couldn’t possibly because they’re not as smart as Larry… but let us hope Andrei M. forwards this articled to the FSB and GRU.
Looks to me that Larry’s conclusion, from which you quoted, is dripping with sarcasm. If you aren’t a native English speaker, perhaps it is not so easy to decipher as such? The aggressive tone isn’t necessary, but you certainly are free to express yourself however you wish.
If you detect sarcasm in ” I wonder if Putin, Gerasimov and Shoigu understand that fact,” let alone “dripping sarcasm,” then your understanding of “sarcasm” is faulty.
I don’t, however, ascribe it to your not being “a native English speaker,” but rather to your young age, given the deteriorating level of education in American schools over the past decades.
Perhaps, just maybe, you confuse sarcasm, with irony. There is a chance Larry was trying to use irony.
As for my alleged “aggressive tone,” that again makes me think you are young and intimidated and over-sensitized by “microaggression” and “hate speech” accusations flying left and right.
Nevertheless, your spirited defense of Larry’s comment is not completely without merit. (That’s of an example litotes for you, a little lagniappe I’m throwing in ). It shows loyalty.
To borrow a phrase from Andrei M’s, do I detect a bit of “butt-hurt” in your tone over the failed clown-circus “coup”.
Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein? You seem to be a movie buff, so I kindly ask your opinion to settle a 3-decade argument.
Would the CIA dare admit it had no idea about what was happening among high-level leaders in Russia? I doubt it.
That’s why they need to pretend they knew about it.
Obviously.
I agree that Western secret services are tired of saying shit to try to take advantage of the situation since Saturday afternoon, when it all ended. As suddenly as when it started. Surovikin is just one more example. I myself made fun of Shoigu’s kidnapping in the previous post. But I don’t think the kidnapping theory is any more ridiculous than the maskirovka to move troops that would be detected by satellites. Ou took Rostov as Prigozhin said without firing a shot. Prigozhin entered the Southern Military District Headquarters because the Kremlin did not want to see blood in the streets! Nor do I believe in the CIA’s communication to the gang of eight because if true it would never be admitted but kept secret.
In short, the internet is full of shitty theories. I think that at the limit agencies like the CIA or MI6 tried to take advantage of the situation in real time while the attempted rebellion was taking place. It wasn’t the first time that agencies like the CIA had parasitized an asset like Prigozhin without the asset’s knowledge. Who just wanted to save a Million business. And I also think it’s impossible that the CIA tries to overthrow Putin since he got to the Presidency and doesn’t have several sleeper cells in Moscow. Even after Putin pushed out most NGOs. In short, I also like Thierry Meyssan’s theory of Prigozhin, a patriot and crook on Voltaire:
https://www.voltairenet.org/article219564.html
“According to Lavrov, the Americans have been too vehement in their denials about having nothing to do with the June 24 mutiny in Russia, while “the Europeans were much more explicit about their interests in this particular situation.”
https://jamesburrillangell.substack.com/p/strange-diplomacy-victoria-fck-the
“Having nothing to do with” but they were aware and warned the gang of eight. 😂They worship President Putin!
Talking about the status of Wagner… Plausible Deniability has always been Putin’s stance with this PMC. One interesting event in Syria adds to this understanding …when some time ago 200+ Wagner fighters were operating behind the lines in the US controlled region of Eastern Syria. Spotted by American ISR, a back channel communication to the Kremlin asked if these troops were operating under Russian supervision…. astonishingly the answer was NIET, we do not know who these people are… With that green light, the US military then attacked and eliminated all the Wagner team. Affaire classée….
This is how Plausible Deniability works… bare no responsibility for actions that may cross the Red Line…
The famous French mercenary Bob Denard was also under the same sort of « Gone Rogue » status. He too finished up with judicial problems..
This modus operandi for Wagner has been updated & rebooted with the latest PR theatrics in Russia…
Larry, here is another Russian who would like to post few comments on your blog. I see name “Galina” is already taken, and although that is my name, I would propose to post under my moniker – Katerina. Same as I did for Saker blog, which is now frozen but he still maintains his vast archive which one can easily access. By simply typing “Katerina” in search there would bring up my four essays to read. These, to my surprise, haven’t dated, despite the fact that all had been written during the end of 2021- the hight of plandemic.
The titles are:
The Relentless March
Presidents That Play Chess
The Mortal Battle Of Perfidious Albion
The Great Reset
All of these are still up to date and also give one a much clearer reality of today’s Russia.
I would say that getting an actual picture of american administration designated “enemy” would be extremely helpful in showing american people that everything that they had been brainwashed with regarding Russia, has been total and absolute BULLSHIT! I am not even using the polite “BS” expression here!
Velcome Katerina.
I have unfortunately missed your Articles on the Saker blog, but have just read you article: The great Reset.
And MY Good you hit the nail on the head regarding the whole transformation of western society throughout 2 generations, including the the post USSR transformation of Russia.
I fully agree with your solution to the problems we face today.
“You, Americans, need to stop these madmen who actually BELIEVE that they can win a war against Russia.
You had a great tradition of demonstrating against US instigated wars around the world – bring back that tradition. Right now this is needed more than ever!
You can also go out on the streets and demand that the mind-boggling, trillions of $ worth of military spending budget be spent on adequate health care, on crumbling infrastructure, on proper education, on re-building your economy, reducing massive unemployment (what figures you are fed there is another BS) and to reduce the hardships for the families that lots of them will be facing after this scamdemic is over. The world’s big hope is for US to get itself back to what it used to be.”
Here is a link to the article: https://thesaker.is/the-great-reset-our-way/
Nice to meet you again.
Здравствуйте!
Here’s a link to all 4 articles:
http://thesaker.is/tag/katerina/
Excellent articles. Thanks for writing them.
@Galina/Katerina
Plandemia .. great reset .. you will feel here at home, no doubt.
I have many friends in SPB. When I tell them that you russians are more similar to usa citizens that you would like to admit, they can only agree …
(Citizens of powerful countries. That is, you are right most of the times. You have the force, therefore you have the truth).
Talking about the “plandemia”: you tried it really hard, but in the end you could not surpass USA as the country in the world with the highest number of covid victims. Anyone, you reached a very honorable position in the top 5, I think.
>> I see name “Galina” is already taken, …
Yea, by a 6th columnist, or maybe Kiev psyops operator pretending to be a 6th columnist.
The Wall Street Journal article and similar reports from the west aim at sowing fear and distrust among Russians as if millions of spies roaming all over the place even hiding under pillow etc. Putin and Russians know full well where those 5th-6th columns are and how to deal with them.
The problem with the Rostov story is: there were no Wagner banners, flags and other its marks during that special day. So who really were those men taking control of buildings in city?
Prigozhin is an ambitious character of businessman turned oligarch, and de facto has been conferred far too much leverage over the years. Naturally enough, he has come to see himself as indispensable, and he has been overplaying his hand more and more in escalating self complacency.
His personal frustration about the planned ‘disbanding’ of the Wagner PMC, is certainly genuine. He is not happy either about losing his catering contract with the Russian Army.
He has been trying – unsuccessfully – to capitalise on the patriotic dissatisfaction among a certain number of Russians in order to enhance his image and profile himself politically.
Although he has grossly overestimated himself, the event has shown a potential for damage that can no longer be ignored or dismissed.
Now as correctly stated by Putin, Prigozhin’s behaviour amounts to treason. That is an objective assessment. The loud cheers from the West have confirmed this.
Even if dealt with appropriately and skilfully by the Kremlin and its allies, the man is still able to wreak some kind of havoc behind the scenes, in Minsk but also in Syria and elsewhere. The particular episode is over but the Wagner PMC has morphed from asset into a liability.
Rumors started to circulated via The Moscow Times that Surovikin was arrested. They quickly followed The Guardian’s news that the general has disappeared. I mean this is beyond hilarious. If Surovikin knew it was because GRU told him, and likely kept him in the loop probably for quite a while. I am now more or less convinced that Prigozhin and Utkin went rogue for real, but were caught by the GRU/FSB early on and made an offer they could not refuse. I doubt very much that Putin would have agreed to a psyop without the two guys actually getting caught in a heavy “kompromat” in the first place. Listen to his speeches! I can’t imagine Putin resorting to the kind of character assassination rhetoric he used if these guys were clean. That’s not how he operates. The second thing is, that agreeing to this “supervised mutiny” to go on, he was taking a heavy hit in his foreign policy. As Alexander Mercouris pointed out, the hit he was taking was not from the West,(he can’t care less), but with his allies (read China) and secret sympathizers. He would not have agreed to this charade, if there was not a big payoff issuing from it in terms of intelligence. I think he is really concerned at the degree Russia (Moscow/St.Petersburg) has been penetrated by the western and Ukrainian operatives. If the western agencies believed this event was real, there would be a great increase in communications “chatter” which could give the GRU, FSB and SVR a great deal of essential info about what they are facing. I think this also is the reason Putin allowed two of the top dogs (Shoigu’s deputy Yevkurov, and GRU No.2 Alexeyev) to go to Rostov to meet Prigozhin on Saturday. He would not have risked two of his most senior officers to meet a guy who apparently lost his marbles and could kill them or take them hostage. Sending those two however was to convince western intelligence that Putin was afraid and was ready to make major concessions to Prigozhin. The other big “mystery” that finally convinced me that this was a psyop, were the Wagner officers who stayed behind en masse. So who told them not to go? How do you address hundreds of officers in a way it convinces them all(!) that they should not follow their boss? Who would do that? Who other than Prigozhin knew there was going to be a “March of Justice”, anyway? And how can you keep a mutiny organized without your officers? Who would be in charge and coordinating the units? Last such leaderless event in Russia took place in the Kronstadt Rebellion in 1921, where the Red sailors actually killed off most of their officers in the revolt against the Bolshevik military. They were then massacred by Trotsky’s troops on short order. Anyone in Russia who went to a military academy remembers Kronstadt.
If anyone thinks FSB was not infiltrated into the wagner then they are childish.
Even me as a mid level manager in corporate world I keep my informants in the teams among the managers all three levels below me. As does most of Upper Management.
To think that the military will solely depend on chain of command to get information on the happenings in the front line is naive.
Prigozhin definitely had to have sufficient penetration of the FSB at all levels of the organization. Plus signals intelligence, ISR, mundane reporting from land based assets especially on oblasts which till recently were under Ukrainian control is to be expected.
Whatever the argument that Prigozhin was a double agent or not. He certainly stirred the pot since 4 months back.
The top brass including intelligence agencies and Putin would have kept a close watch on Prigozhin and Wagner no matter if he was acting independently or was a double agent.
They definitely would have loved to know who will cooperate with him and give him a long rope knowing very well they can manage the after effects if he goes Rouge.
Of course nothing is cut and dried there are risks involved. Common people allying with his view point is a definite risk apart from elite malcontents.
It had a plus in shocking Russians into considering that this war is not free, it can come home to you. So be prepared to make tough sacrifices. Russians have a different way of rallying people towards the govts goals.
Media in non west countries is largely out of govt control and attempts to control it will back fire and any govt controlled media will loose legitimacy.
So Russia uses other means to rally people. This is more effective for their situation.
Prigozhin, attacks on Donetsk, drones on Moscow help.
Prigozhin brought the war home to Russians and made them resonate with the grunt on the frontline. They let him do it even while he was ranting against the MOD then instead of disappearing him or cutting him down to size they let him expose himself to the people.
The connection with the front line he brought to the Russians remains but he himself is disgraced and exiled, no possibility of being a martyr his economic activities exposed and the slow de legitmisation of his brand on stealing from the money provided by the state to be disbursed to the Wagner soldiers will complete the picture.
“If Prigozhin committed treason then Putin’s decision to go unscathed into exile in Belarus sends the message that you can go after Putin and live.”
Yet, if this be a pre-planned, highly sophisticated Russian maskirovka operation, that is precisely the image that has been left in the public eye – you can go after Putin and live.
There is a huge ambiguity forming here that needs explanation but none is being offered by Russian authorities. According to many reputable Russian sources, Wagner is to be disbanded as a PMC. Yet Wagner has built up an 8000 man force in Belarus near the Polish border close to the Suwalki Corridor that has NATO suddenly very concerned. Also, Priggy has been “exiled” to Belarus but seems to be nowhere to be seen. Is he in charge of the Wagner grouping in Belarus now, or is he under house arrest? No one seems to know.
This entire affair just does not smell right – which perhaps, is exactly what Putin wants.
I tend to believe that Wagner will no longer be operating in Ukraine, but will exist in other countries, including Belarus as they are a very useful organisation fro certain operations. And I think Priggy is a criminal and always has been, and is now a traitor to Russia. Perhaps he is still alive only because he has information about Western involvement in the coup – I don’t know. But I suspect that his life expectancy has dwindled significantly.
“Yet Wagner has built up an 8000 man force in Belarus near the Polish border close to the Suwalki Corridor that has NATO suddenly very concerned.”
Well, they should be concerned because this amounts to a Motor Rifle Division with combat experience. And in January there were a lot of trains transporting tanks, armored vehicles, trucks, etc. to Belarus for future use. Maybe Lukashenko will let them sign out the equipment from a local depot and do the 100km run to Kiev during the upcoming collapse and coup of the Ze Regime.
Thomas
I totally agree with you ! Despite the failure of the operation, they try to create as much damage as possible by discrediting the military leaders around Putin and claiming that Putin is now weak. In the midst of a multitude of generals, it is curious that they have been targeting Surovikin (aka “General Armageddon”) the very one who changed the course of the war in Ukraine.
Who dissolves the best offensive fighting force in the middle of a war? Like Wagner? That creates bespoke solutions, records all assaults and adjusts based on immediate post assault analysis ? a Russian MoD apparently, demanding that all Wagners need to sign INDIVIDUAL contracts by July 1st. …
No punishing Wagner indicated that there was merit to their complaint and it was not just Prighozin, who showed to Wagner fighters that he will risk his head to stand up for Wagner he does not need to make a living … it seems that MoD would rather disband Wagner than gets its act together.
Have you understood anything?
Military contractors such as Executive Outcomes, Blackwater and Wagner are generally not allowed to operate on their own country’s soil. Since Russia annexed Donbass etc Wagner had to move. The exit plan was structured in such a way as to limit negative outfall on Wagner’s foreign (and specifically future market) customers such as Mali. My experience is that all three organizations have leaders that like to talk a lot ie Eeben Barlow, Erik Prins and of course Prigozin. Just saying. Things may turn out differently, but I doubt it. There is too much money in “vigilantes” and the market is exploding. Military-Diplomacy is busy replacing Trade-Diplomacy.
The wsj has a history of wack writers with stupid, naive and ignorant op-eds and ‘investigative journalusm’ . Did they not have a guy recently saying we should give ukraine nukes; and in another article some guy was pushing for the US to prepare to win a nuclear war. They seem to get these hacks from the cockroach gutter, no offense to cockies. Stick to finance and money matters.
Prigozhin backed by the West? Then why is he in Belarus – a country the West is trying overthrow?
We always like to make things about “us”.
My interpretation:
Prigozhin had reasons of his own to rebel. The MoD was cutting off his income stream and fiefdom by getting Wagner personnel to sign contracts with them. It was also, it seems, usurping his unique channel to hire convicts. These reasons, combined with specific personality traits were probably enough for him to throw the dice.
At the same time, it is very possible that he was talking with the Ukrainian intelligence agency. All wars seem to be marked by people talking with each other across the firing line. Even in WW2, for example, there was far more contact between Britain and Germany than our officialdom often likes to acknowledge. This does not mean though that the west created the coup, but they likely realised it might happen and had incentives to support anything that could destabilise Russia.
Seems clear too that the Russian MoD expected something like this, so western intelligence was hardly omnipotent.
As an aside, I cannot believe that any of this was a psy-op by Russia. I originally thought that was Progozhin’s role. But this went too far. Putin’s source of legitimacy in Russia is stability and relative prosperity after the drama of the Yeltsin era. He is also famously risk averse, despite western propaganda that seeks to say otherwise. The idea that Putin would take the risk of manufacturing a coup that is the antithesis of stability and which could easily get out of control if the choreography went wrong on the ground (not everyone involved would know it was an act!) feels very fanciful to me. At the same time, Putin may still have achieved some positive outcomes from the failed coup but the fact it could happen at all was a Russian state failure. Although we cannot be too smug about that in the west either, given our various internal dramas.
Completely agree.
I have opined along these lines below (still under review).
“If Prigozhin committed treason then Putin’s decision to go unscathed into exile in Belarus sends the message that you can go after Putin and live. That is not being magnanimous, that is madness.”
Let’s see if Prigozhin is still in the land of the living in a few months time.
The over-riding imperative once the coup/mutiny started was to stop it with as little violence (which could have spilled out of control) as quickly as possible, with whatever supposed “deals” were necessary for the moment.
If Prigozhin was engaged in treason, as appears highly likely and Putin implied in his subsequent speech, the “deal” will not stand. Somehow, in some way, someone will eliminate Prigozhin and everyone will know why and get the warning.
In the meantime, everyone should be very careful about getting into a plane or any sort of vehicle carrying Prigozhin.
Larry writes: “What remains unknown is whether Prigozhin was genuinely cooperating with the West or pretending to spy for the West.”
How, exactly, would Prigozhin still even be alive if he had been “genuinely cooperating with the West”, one wonders.
Death can be a slow process. Awaiting it can be more painful than the dying.
One should not presume the last chapter has been written on this story.
I wonder if this site does not completely underestimate the Russian ability to carry out a perfect fake mutiny with military and psychological precision. If a mutiny wants to have even a small chance of succeeding, it must be able to disrupt and hijack the Line of Command. (Kill the captain). Otherwise, the Empire will inevitably and brutally strike back.
And someone like Prigozhin has the intelligence to understand this!!
He never had a chance to achieve a change of power, unless SEVERAL people in the immediate vicinity of Putin conspired and at the same time participated in the mutiny.
Only in Africa, such upheavals are possible:
(1) if palace guards are poorly conducted,
(2) rebels can be supplied with Western arms supplies,
(3) different ethnicities compete for power
(4) Rebels can still be lured with a lot of money.
All these conditions do not apply in the case of Prigozhin and Russia. Russia has a homogeneous ethnicity and a dense network of power structures that no one can take in an onslaught.
It is also worth remembering the August coup in 1991, which was unsuccessful because the armed forces refused to follow the coup plotters.
All that remains is the realization that Russia has staged this fake coup in an extremely sophisticated way. These include ‘real’, interceptible communication, real reports from spies of the West in the ranks of Wagner and Russian intelligence/military, and real orders to shoot down helicopters, for example.
The crucial sticking point is indeed the bloodshed.
And here, apart from Putin’s admission that some helicopter pilots have fallen, possibly apart from accidents, there is no evidence of deaths.
Although I assume that Putin, as a rule, does not lie, I disagree in this case. I would also like to give him credit for the fact that he would never recklessly risk the lives of his soldiers.
On the other hand, Russia is at war. And this Prigozhin mutiny was actually a special operation of the Russian Armed Forces, with the Wagner Group as the main actor, but within the SMO, quasi an S²MO.
In military operations, soldiers usually fall, and the strategic/tactical advantage from this “mutiny” could easily outweigh the loss of these pilots.
If I had had to plan this S²MO, I would have prescribed an individual playbook for each person, e.g. Surovikin, Gerasimov, Shoigu, etc., who could have given the West clues to cracks in the Russian power structure.
After this S²MO is completed, and the Russian army has reaped the expected success, Russia could drop the mask, also to humiliate the West.
Surely, it doesn’t. For the deception of the Western centers of power, which can only endure reality with self-deception, and even of the usually astute and competent observers, has been so successful that similar operations seem possible again in the future.
“Exactly how does “satellite imagery” tell some photo interpreter that a coup is about to happen?”
Tactical indicators, my friend. The coolers full of sandwiches waiting to be loaded onto the trucks was a dead giveaway of a long road-trip.
And no beer.
Prigozhin (possibly) has been cooperating with Western intelligence, but indirectly and (possibly) without being fully aware of it.
With whom (for sure) Prigozhin has been cooperating is with other liberal oligarchs (Rostov has not been a randomly chosen destination) inside Russia or who have left Russia and have settled abroad, and who are sickly opposed to Putin for the reasons that everybody can deduce. These liberal oligarchs are the ones who for their part will have been in contact with Western Intelligence, from which they need favors to live/survive outside Russia.
That some senior military officers, including Sergey Surovikin, are under suspicion is a point that will become clear shortly. However, in my view, the West is trying to draw attention to Surovikin to move the spotlight away from the real traitors. Obviously this may confuse the public in the West (even in Russia), but it will not confuse the Russian secret services (FSB, SVR, FSO. G.U. etc.)
In any case, I fully agree with Mr. Johnson that “If Prigozhin committed treason then Putin’s decision to go unscathed into exile in Belarus sends the message that you can go after Putin and live. That is not being magnanimous, that is madness.”
As I commented in another post: ”Mr. Prigozhin, and those behind him (5th and 6th columns), sooner or later, will pay for this betrayal, or otherwise Russia may have just suffered a major demoralizing blow. Putin and his command may have been gravely weakened due to the perception that Prigozhin “won” and no one was punished for what he did.”
Just my opinion…
If Prigozhine was a real CIA/MI6 “asset”, really working for them, it seems to me a weird calculus from the west to let him destroy 30-40k ukrainians KIA in Bakhmut (just for credibility’s sake and protect the asset?)
I understand during WWII that the west was OK to loose a boat and his crew, not to let the germans know they had cracked the enigma machine, but to loose 30k soldiers killed by your asset is another scale of sacrifice!
A better plan would have been for him to rant about not enough ammo, and then let the ukrainians take back bakhmut and advance as far as they can, blame it even more on RF army, and then turn the wagner on to moskow to reign in the mess over there, etc… why not?
But to try this now, I don’t get the rationale behind it if it’s a master western plan.
So to me, this rules out the possibility of Prigozhine being for a long time a western asset.
Other than that, this whole story is so weird that I am really clueless.
I always analyse things believing that people at this level are clever (if not, they would not be there) and are thinking thoroughly before acting, specially at this level of the game.
So even with a huge hubris, and a grain of madness in them (that you need also to reach theses levels), they still evaluate risks, balance benefits, etc…
That’s maybe where I am wrong, underestimate the psychology and strength of hubris that can embark you on the craziest of plans, with no chance of success.
I live in Tangier, Morroco, and met a russian who fled Russia, and wanted badly to go to spain, don’t know why but that’s his dream. And he really tried to go there swimming, despite all we could tell him against this mad plan. Luckily the morrocan coasts guards fished him out of water before he died of hypothermia and drowning. So I can confirm that some russians have a bit of madness in their spirit, and can embark on crazy adventures.
so back to wagner, it is almost sure that within their ranks, there were plenty of FSB informants, and very probably too some CIA/MI6 informants. the recrutment of fighters for PMC probably did’nt check much the background of everyone. But to what level these people were in the managing of the PMC, how close of Prigozhine / Utkin, and privvy to their intimate plans these people manage to be? Hard to tell. Why is there so little talk around utkin, and his stance during all these events?
I stop there, I tend to be too long!
And exactly how long are we going to beat the Prigozhin dead horse for, Larry.
At this point this whole “war” is a whole herd of dead ponies. Friday afternoon is around the corner so expect some other form of drama to surface to divert the cult and sheep for the weekend. Sure would be nice if someone had a connection with Kreskin and this all could be put to rest. Fair point the blame-e.
According to Mitchell Henderson, the US and its Langley handlers got played little little school boys by the Russian GRU to the tune of 6 dead US imbedded mercs in the organization. Oh, and another thing, this operation cost the US $6 Billion and they have nothing to show for it.
Here’s the interview which reveals the operation:
https://mediaarchives.gsradio.net/rense/special/rense_062723_hr2.mp3
Clayton Morris’s REDACTED runs a preshow video every day. It has lots of vintage black and white video clips including CIA officer John Stockwell detailing ” A major function of the CIA is influencing people’s minds with false information.” He gives an example of how he ran fake stories in Nairobi and Zambian newspapers about Cuban solidiers raping young girls. ” As far as we knew the cubans did not commit a single atrocity.” A sequel storyhad local angolan women castrating and killing the cubans (tribal justice).
Anyway this shows this has been going on a long time and the Andromeda story is just another example.
There is another good video on the fake Gulf Of Tonkin incident and how Johnson and MacNamera lied to get congress to give them a carte blanche for Vietnam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXnatxkUnaE
I try and share things that were germinal in my awareness of what is really going on. Ukraine is no different. At first I thought it possible the Russians were doing bad things but after researching it (I found Larry and other sources) I decided it was in fact Ukraine who were the bad actors. Bucha was a psyopt probably by UK and CIA. It was clearly revenge and false flag operation by Ukraine extreme elements.
It make me angry that the real war criminal is Zelenski and he gets away with it.
Oh, for an American President with the wisdom of George Washington!
Our foreign entanglements are asphyxiating us.
Despite all info published, Putin and his military staff know exactly what happened and certainly actions will be executed to punish the responsible. No one try to make a coup against the Russian government and remains unpunished.
Wagner is never as bad as it sounds.
Washington insists it knew nothing about the coup and certainly did not encourage it or support it but “not a peep” from London. I remember wet lettuce premier (for a week) Liz Truss who in a tense meeting with Lavrov in Moscow asserted that UK did not recognise Russian sovereignty over Russian regions of Voronezh and Rostov. She allegedly confused these border regions with Ukraine but nonetheless Prigozhin’s mutiny must have been like the culmination of a wet dream (or a progenitor of MI6) especially when Western MSM reported that the Russian mercenaries took over the cities of Rostov on Don and Voronezh. Again a puppets gaffe to the embarrassment of the puppeteer!
Good lord, you don’t think Liz Truss planed the coup do you? That would explain a lot of our confusion. She may have thought that Rostov-on-Don was the capital of Russia rather than of the Rostov Oblast.
I reached the same conclusion as Larry and was surprised that all the other folks I read/watch on the internet did not agree. As I followed the reported events on the internet I informed my wife as to what was happening and she opined that “no, that’s just too wild to believe, fake news”. I then turned on the Fox news TV and it was full blown coverage with “retired military experts” all lined up and talking up a storm. The TV people were told in advance to cover this in detail, I’m sure of it. As the event went on it was all smiles and accolades for the now heroic Wagner group until it wasn’t. The moment reminded me of Wolf Blitzer years ago telling me Trump was toast on election night only to realize Trump had won. The shock was palpable then and it was again now to the TV folks. Prigozhin/Putin played the West and I’m sure this will be borne out in the coming months when Prigozhin once again plays a leading role directing Wagner forces from Belarus. The people in the Biden administration are so extremely hateful of Russia and that hatred makes them blind to reality – they are not “level-headed” and that makes them dangerous.
Note the following from John Helmer:
“While Prigozhin was announcing, and western media megaphoning, that he had taken control of Rostov, Prigozhin didn’t know that Shoigu was in Rostov; controlled the city; and with the General Staff decided on the tactics which quickly scattered the Wagner forces, halted Prigozhin’s public relations campaign, and cut off his money supply.”
Get that: Shoigu was in Rostov and controlled the city!
https://johnhelmer.net/political-power-out-of-the-gun-barrel-billions-of-dollars-too-gorilla-radio-investigates-the-end-of-all-three-for-yevgeny-prigozhin-mikhail-khodorkovsky-too/
Shoigu was hiding in the closet, while Progozhin was walking around with a kitchen knife in his hand.
John Helmer, whom I read assiduously and with whom I usually agree, may have reliable information that Shoigu was in Rostov. Another very different thing is that Shoigu controlled a city of more than 1,200,000 souls.
If Shoigu really controlled Rostov, Putin would never have let Prigozhin leave, unless in a horizontal position, with his feet first… That is not to say that the Russian army would not have crushed Prigozhin (in time and with a bloodbath).
Hence Putin made the right immediate decision.
We will see if in the short/medium term this decision holds right….Letting a coup leader go without punishment does not look good, from my point of view.
For all that, that Shoigu was (or was not) in Rostov makes no difference.
More important is the gold, wholesale drugs, and barrels of dollars found in Wagner HQ, at the end of the article. Indicates Prig was a double but not triple agent.
LJ: “What remains unknown is whether Prigozhin was genuinely cooperating with the West or pretending to spy for the West while actually being controlled by Russian authorities. I continue to believe it is the latter.”
So do many, LJ. Because unless Priggy gets “offed” in a few months, this will remain the only assumption to keep.
In fact, I fully expect Wagner to become operational in Belarus in the not-too-distant future. Even Lukashenko a day or two ago said he could really use a group like Wagner. Not only that, but Wagner was not really allowed to legally operate on Russian soil (which the Donbass now is). But in Belarus… and then Kiev ? Sure. Totally legal.
Time will tell, and we will know not too long from now.
Wagner in Belarus is making NATO nervous:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nato-vows-defense-threat-wagner-forces-belarus
All according to the (Russian) plan ?
Time will tell.
ight be more relevant than Prigozhin himself… Actually, He “went” or “was sent” in exile in Belarus… He will be well protect there…
Ahahah!
Who are you, Dmitry Utkin?
In fact, it was not Prigozhin who commanded the PMC Wagner fighters
Vladimir Malyshev
29.06.2023
Who are you, Dmitry Utkin?
“Who is Dmitry Utkin, commander of the Wagner” – under this headline, the Italian newspaper Giornale published an article in which it claims that the Wagner PMC fighters were actually commanded by a veteran of the wars in Chechnya, a former officer of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense (GRU) Dmitry Utkin (pictured on the far right).
“Utkin, “the newspaper writes,” brought military skills and leadership qualities to the group and was the person who led the march to Moscow of the 5 — thousandth Wagner column, which stopped 200 km from the capital.” And Evgeny Prigozhin himself was in Rostov at that time and did not participate in the adventurous “campaign to Moscow”.
Indeed, many in Russia have long been asking perplexed questions: how could Prigozhin, a former criminal convicted of robbery, who has no military education and did not serve in the army, but a pharmacist-pharmacist by profession, command the fighters in Artemovsk and achieve a sensational victory there? And he didn’t command them. They were commanded by retired GRU combat Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Utkin, an experienced veteran of Chechen companies and the war in Syria. But he kept a low profile, while Prigozhin posed for movie cameras in a military uniform and with a submachine gun, made threatening statements and publicly scolded the Ministry of Defense.
Moreover, the Wagner PMC, which is called the most successful and powerful military unit not only in Russia, but also in the world, was created by more than one Prigozhin. He did it together with Utkin. Even the very name of the Wagner PMC is the code call sign of Utkin’s army radio service at the place of his former service, according to the American newspaper New Yorker. Prigozhin, along with Putin, can only be seen in the photo, where he serves the head of state in the form of a waiter at receptions, for which he is called “Putin’s cook”in the West. But Utkin can be seen in the only photo of him that appeared in print, where he stands in a row of awardees at a reception in the Kremlin, when he was awarded the next (out of four) Orders of Courage.
It turns out that in fact Prigozhin PMC only financed, acted on his behalf, and commanded the heroic fighters of “Wagner” professional military Dmitry Utkin?
By the way, to the question of financing Wagner, which is attributed to Prigozhin. At a meeting in the Kremlin with military personnel of the Ministry of Defense, Vladimir Putin said that the maintenance of the entire Wagner Group was actually fully funded by the state — from the state budget and the budget of the Ministry of Defense.
“Only from May 2022 to May 2023, the state paid 86 billion 262 million rubles for monetary maintenance and incentive payments to Wagner. Of these, monetary support — 70 billion 384 million, incentive payments-15 billion 877 million. Insurance payments — 110 billion 179 million.”
And what about Prigogine? After all, then it turns out that his role was limited to statements in front of TV cameras? Well, who then is this Dmitry Utkin, who, as you can see, is the real leader of the Wagner group, a successful military unit?
According to one version, Dmitry Valeryevich Utkin, according to Wikipedia, was born in the family of a geologist in the city of Asbestos, Sverdlovsk region, on June 11, 1970. According to other sources, his hometown was Kirovohrad of the Ukrainian SSR or the village of Smolino near Kirovohrad. After graduating from the Smolinsky school, Utkin left the village for Leningrad, where he entered a military school.
Until 2013, he was the commander of the 700th separate special Forces Detachment of the 2nd separate Special Forces Brigade of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (stationed in the city of Pechora, Pskov region). He retired with the rank of lieutenant Colonel. He took part in two Chechen campaigns.
After leaving the reserve, he worked for Moran Security Group, participated in the Syrian expedition of the Slavic Corps in 2013. In 2014, he was in the Crimea as part of the Russian troops. In May 2014, together with a group of veteran instructors near Rostov-on-Don, he organized a training base for fighters and became the commander of his own unit, which, according to his call sign, received the conditional name of PMC Wagner. In the summer of 2014, he took an active part in the battles near the village of Metalist in the LPR, and the battles for the Luhansk airport, in January 2015, he participated in the disarmament of ObrON “Odessa” in Krasnodon, then in the battles for Debaltseve. Since the fall of 2015, the activities of PMC Wagner have been transferred to Syria. It is believed that this particular unit played a crucial role in the assault on Palmyra.
In December 2016, Dmitry Utkin first appeared in the public space. He was seen at a reception in the Kremlin in honor of the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland. Later, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Utkin attended the banquet among those invited from the Novgorod region, as he is a “knight of the Order of Courage”.
In November 2017, RBC announced the appointment of Utkin as CEO of Concord Management and Consulting, the management company of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s restaurant holding. It was reported that in 2018, Prigozhin removed Utkin from his post at Concord .
In June 2017, the United States imposed sanctions against Dmitry Utkin as the head of PMC Wagner. In 2018, he was banned from entering the territory of Ukraine. On December 13, 2021, the Council of the European Union imposed restrictive measures against Utkin and other persons associated with the Wagner Group.
About Utkin’s activities in the Wagner group, as well as about what is happening in the group in general, nothing is officially known. According to the media, all its participants sign a non-disclosure agreement. It is unclear exactly what Utkin did during the mutiny and what role he played in it. Therefore, all sorts of fantastic assumptions are made about this.
For example, the portal AftershokNews claims that ” Prigozhin’s mutiny was a cover for Utkin’s action.” According to the portal, while Prigozhin was sitting in Rostov, one of the rebel columns led by Utkin “moved not to Moscow at all, but to the east, in the direction of Buturlinovka, as they thought — to the military airfield. But it passed by, even further – to Borisoglebsk-45, to the nuclear arsenal.”
This was followed by a speech by Deputy Head of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev: “We understand the consequences of a coup d’etat in a major nuclear power. In the history of mankind, there has never been such a thing that the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons was under the control of bandits. Such a crisis will obviously not be limited to a single country. The world will be brought to the brink of destruction.”
Washington was concerned about how the actions of the founder of PMCs would affect the control of Russia’s nuclear arsenal, as the New York Times reported. And as reported by Italian Repubblica, the United States, France and Germany urgently used direct communication mechanisms with the Kremlin in connection with the threat to the security control of military bases with nuclear weapons in the Voronezh Region.
Offensive actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine immediately completely stopped, a dead calm came at the front, instead of taking advantage of the situation, as Kiev really wanted. As if it was after this that the negotiations between the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and the rebels began, after which their columns began to return back and the agreements reached were announced. Whether this was actually the case, of course, is unknown. In any case, there is much that is unclear about the history of this coup adventure. Or maybe something we’ll never know about.
But it is already clear that the termination of the Wagner Group’s activities not only in Ukraine, but also abroad is beneficial to the United States. According to the influential American newspaper Politico, “if Wagner is withdrawn from some of the countries where it currently operates, this could create an opportunity for a US diplomatic blitz to help figure out how to fill the power vacuum and restore influence in these areas. In particular, in some African countries, there may be an opportunity for Washington to offer security cooperation or establish partnerships in exchange for promises to move towards democratic or good governance initiatives. As China also invades Africa, the United States should not miss this opportunity.”
And the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense, Andrei Kartapolov, in an interview with the Vedomosti newspaper, we recall, said that he sees no reason to ban the private military company Wagner in Russia. “Why ban it? Here, after all, all the questions to the head of the PMCs. Joseph Vissarionovich [Stalin] said that children are not responsible for their parents. The one who raised a rebellion, he must answer, ” the deputy said.
At the same time, Kartapolov called the Wagner PMC the most combat-ready unit in the country today. “And take them and disarm them and disperse them — you can’t think of a better gift for NATO and the Ukrainians. This should not be done, ” the politician believes. However, as announced, the Wagnerites are already surrendering their heavy weapons…
After all, there are many other real heroes among the Wagnerists. The media name some of those who headed the headquarters and assault groups of Wagner. Among them is Andrey Troshev, Hero of Russia, full Knight of the Order of Courage, Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He went through Afghanistan, two wars in Chechnya, and received a Hero for Syria. Andrey Bogatov, Hero of Russia, fought in Afghanistan in the DSHB, in Yugoslavia. In Syria, he was seriously wounded, lost an arm, but returned to the ranks. Received the title of Hero, 4 Orders of Courage. It was his squad that finally knocked out the APU from Artemivsk. Alexander Kuznetsov. He has four Orders of Courage, Hero of Russia. A career soldier, he went through two Chechen wars, Syria, and Libya. In Bakhmut, he was seriously wounded. The Golden Star of the Hero of the Russian Federation was awarded by a closed Decree of the President of the Russian Federation…
Especially for the “Century” https://www.stoletie.ru/tekuschiiy_moment/zagadka_dmitrija_utkina_420.htm
Is Utkin the commander otherwise known as “lotus”?
Lotus has hair. 🙂
https://youtu.be/bkqNfIkfH-M?t=815
P.S. I wonder if anyone read that wall of text.
Of course the US knew. They undoubtedly made a cash transfer to Prighozin after media confirmed the “coup”. Then Prig immediately “stood down”. The aircraft shootdowns may mean the russian govt was unaware, or screwed up if they were aware. It was either a russian op against a US op, or a US failed op. Either way, duped or not, the US was involved.
Assuming that this was a real attempted coup directed by Western intelligence, it is very unlikely that they supported the plan without having solid guarantees of success. In fact, almost no one in the Russian military & intelligence agencies supported the insurrection. This excludes, in my view, that this was a real coup attempt and that this was directed from abroad.
It is still too early to interpret the issue concerning Surovikin but it is likely that it is a continuation of the same internal operation that began on June 24. The following pattern is interesting: Westerners insinuate that Surovikin was involved, so they want to make believe that the attempted coup was authentic (and this alone suggests that the opposite is true). Immediately afterwards the rumor circulates, probably false, of his arrest: I do not exclude that these rumors about the arrest of Surovikin were circulated by the Russian intelligence (moreover through a pro-Western newspaper like the Moskow Times): it is as if the Russians were playing into the hands of the West, perhaps to continue the internal operation of identification of infiltrators, Or perhaps to induce the Ukrainians to keep coming out in the open on the war front.
I add one last consideration: the “dismantling” of Wagner could represent its transformation into a military “black-agency” that officially “does not exist”: that is, a way to use the unit in highly classified clandestine operations of unconventional warfare, similar to the American MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War. It is no coincidence that on the NATO side everyone is quite scared about the possible deployment of the “former” Wagner unit in Belarus.
“Exactly how does “satellite imagery” tell some photo interpreter that a coup is about to happen? Did Prigozhin scribble out his intentions on a big sign and carry it around outside for all to read?”
He wrote HELP with logs on the beach.
Didn’t have time to read all the comments, somebody may already have noted this.
US supposedly alt-right news outlet The Daily Wire has picked up a Moscow Times report claiming Surovikin has been arrested for collaborating with Prigozhin. Apparently the reporter thinks Moscow Times is based in Moscow and is a legitimate news outlet.
It’s likely fake news, part of the CIA effort to sow discord and suspicion in the aftermath of their failed coup.
I guess there’s a small chance it’s true. Keep an eye on it.
That “news” appeared first at Ukraininan Telegram channels. Then Russian Telegram channels reported what Ukrainians are writing. Then Ukraininan Telegram channels cited the “news” from Russian sources. I guess that Moscow Times joined in at that point.
If you’re right Larry, it seems like there’s a lot of multitasking going on. Prigozhin the Jewish billionaire trying to shake up things so that he can continue to rake it in is at the same time, talking to the West and playing Luca Brasi?
A very plausible version of events comes from John Helmer. Basically, the Russian General Staff were fully aware of Prighozin’s plans and allowed him to proceed up to a point where he would be fully exposed before they moved to end the operation. Still, it is puzzling that Prigho’s head is still attached to his neck (figuratively and perhaps literally).
https://johnhelmer.net/political-power-out-of-the-gun-barrel-billions-of-dollars-too-gorilla-radio-investigates-the-end-of-all-three-for-yevgeny-prigozhin-mikhail-khodorkovsky-too/
It appears that Russia has already distributed the medals to the foreign agents involved in Prigozhin’s attempted rebellion. Yesterday at a Pizzeria in Kramatorsk. What a strange place to decorate foreign agents.
P.S. Everything we read in the Western media about the conflict in Ukraine is shit since February 2021! But nothing goes beyond the declarations of the clown Brandon who says that they knew about the rebellion attempt but did not interfere because it is an internal matter of Russia! God Save the Queen!
LJ, if you are reading this, you might find this amusing:
https://www.military.com/off-duty/2023/06/28/anheuser-busch-ceo-and-marine-vet-answers-hard-questions-about-bud-light-marketing.html
I am sure every male in America has heard of the Dylan Mulvaney fiasco.
“This article is a graphic example that the West is not going to let up in its campaign to destroy Russia regardless of setbacks on the ground in Ukraine. I wonder if Putin, Gerasimov and Shoigu understand that fact.”
The Kremlin is well informed. As Dr. Sergei Glazyev of the EAEU, EurasianEconomicUnion, on his channel : https://t.me/s/glazieview
“The only healthy alternative for us would be to completely move away from quotes in dollars. The transition to rubles, the creation of their own counting system, without relying on Western analytical agencies. Thinking within the framework of half measures will not allow us to create our own currency area after the final collapse of the current system.”
After all it was the EAEU deal with Yanukovych that sparked the Maidan Nuland Obama violence.
https://thecradle.co/article-view/9135 Exclusive: Russia’s Sergey Glazyev introduces the new global financial system
And this especially :
“Western support for Ukrainian neo-Nazis naturally led to an increase in the popularity of Nazi ideology in Europe itself.
POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE IN GERMANY:
This German earthquake could lead to a Bismarckian Treaty with Russia ending NATO as Eurasia joins together with Germany (EU), Russia and China. It would end the US as controller of the world.”
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-far-right-afd-victory-prompts-political-earthquake/a-66036146
Hersh: At the current pace, it may take 117 years for Kyiv to return the territories
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/prigozhins-folly
Picked up on RT Russia…
D.C.is slowly cottoning on!
“Prigozhin’s Folly – The Russian ‘revolt’ that wasn’t strengthens Putin’s hand”
by Seymour Hersh:
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/prigozhins-folly?utm_source=substack&publication_id=1377040&post_id=131690721&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true
Does anyone really thinks, with all the existing surveillance of the battle field, that no one noticed, when that Wagner column began to form and move? From this data point, let us reconstruct our narrative and can we conclud? Do not say Putin didn’t know. This was at least a scandal exposing to the world those who’s habit is regime change.
Expect attempted regime change operations in European capitals and even in 2024. Will anybody buy another “the Russians interfered in our election story.” Should it be against the WEF franchisee Biden, will anybody care? Maybe they will interfere on JFK Jr. behalf. Did you see this 70 year old push up and bench press? Biden said Putin is losing the war in Iraq!
Why do you think, this shit show is being documented world wide. Russia is not embarrassed about another MI666, 007 script, with Western moronic outlets taking credit for the attempted ” Coup.”
Instead Russia is signaling the gloves are off. After all, which populations, hungry and cold next winter, will be ready for a revolt?
“This article is a graphic example that the West is not going to let up in its campaign to destroy Russia regardless of setbacks on the ground in Ukraine. I wonder if Putin, Gerasimov and Shoigu understand that fact.”
I suspect they do.
No approval from Turkey and Hungary, for Sweden to go Nato, in
Vilnius, July. Still postponed, because of support for the Kurds,
and PKK, and that some ” free speech people will burn The Al Quran, in public outside the Turkish embassy,and mosques
But the police tried many times, to stop these freespeach events without legal support, so they were accused of influencing the basic laws, by bureaucratical means. Not good. But today the Swedish embassy in Bagdad was stormed, like Alamo.
But I’m seeing some Tao teaching,
here in work: ‘ The one who very fast, will go from the last position – at the bottom,to the top first..is dead.’
Think three birds, in one MIRV- shot:
1. Ukraine.
2. Sweden.
3. Prigoshin.
…. hanging there to dry.
They are burning those books in order to piss off Turks, and not get into NATO. It makes Finns look like real idiots, because not even one could think of doing that. The funny thing would be, after the war is over, for Ramzan Kadyrov to give a medal to that guy.
If the Prigozhin as CIA asset angle turns out to be true, it just reinforces, in Russian thinking, that the war cannot be wonjust by defeating Ukraine but will require a broader resolution with Nato.
Not necessarily a CIA asset. More likely MI6 (i.e., British)
“More likely MI6 (i.e., British)”
That makes the transition from waiter to “steak” a “special relationship”.
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Economy/reuters-bloomberg-wsj-not-invited-by-opec-to-july-oil-confer
Meanwhile , might confirm to us all that the media block on western sources is happening quicker than we thought.
Reuters, Bloomberg, WSJ not invited by OPEC to July oil conference
By
Al Mayadeen English
Source: News Websites
Today 17:47
Other media outlets like Financial Times, Argus, and Platts were formally invited to the event.
I believe the quality of intelligence the Russians have a their fingertips surpasses that of the collective West by several degrees of magnitude, and what the clowns at the State Dept think they know about Russia is a mixture of complete BS and what the Russians feed them without their realizing it.
To my knowledge the Russians never tried to attack a command center and by error hit a civilian location. Take the most recent attack on the Pizzeria that killed a large number of Ukrainian officers (possibly two generals among them) and foreign mercenaries/’advisers.” It would not surprise me if the Russians knew not only exactly who was likely to be there at the time but also how many ordered “extra cheese.”
>> It would not surprise me if the Russians knew not only exactly
>> who was likely to be there at the time but also how many ordered
>> “extra cheese.”
Everyone can do that just by following Instagram. There is an actual photo of a pizza with “extra cheese” and soldiers in the background, made 10 minutes before the attack. The whole thing was just one big Darwin Awards ceremony. One of them even filmed aftermath and said that there are many soldiers burried undereneath.
And meanwhile. There is no movement on the UkroNazi offensive. The Russians continue to pound Western armaments (with their very last missiles). The Russian economy is thriving. Oh, and whatever this Prizoghin thing was? It unified Russian society. I imagine Western worshipping college students in Russian bar’s are keeping their voices low. The Poles and yapping Balt’s seem to be stepping back now that they realize they are the West’s next blood sacrifice. The UK economy is a sucking black hole of despair. The US is still spending the last of the stimmy money, but the Thelma and Louise cliff doth approach. Oh, and France is burning. And Germany continues their economic seppuku.
And tomorrow the Supreme Court will hopefully rule the student loan deadbeats will have to start paying their loans back. Which will suck the last of the discretionary spending out of the US ponzi economy. And it was damn hot in Oklahoma today. But not as hot as Texas.
Great article, Larry. Lots of good points. Generally, I try not to assume anything, but most of the time, I come to an idea about something that I just can’t shake. I am an American, at least I am right this minute, but I am thinking the US had something major to do with the Proghozin event, in “cahoots” with Kiev and perhaps some anti-Putin “quiet” undercover enthusiasts within Russia. Oh, oh. I guess maybe I’ve been reading too many Baldacci and Grisham novels. Best regards.
*** Wagner Forces Shoot Down Russian Airborne Command Post Inside Russia ***
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/budget-policy-operations/wagner-forces-shoot-down-russian-airborne-command-post
Since I’ve learned about this event I’ve come to believe the Russian Coup attempt was a much bigger affair than anybody has let on.
IMO somebody besides Wagner shot down this airplane, for I can’t imagine why it would have been within range of any relatively short-range anti-air weapons the rebels had with them. An alternative is that there was a bomb on board. Would Putin have been expected to use this “command” airplane during the emergency?
I’ve no idea what involvement the West had in the Coup, but it’s well known that ordinarily normal people will do strange and unexpected things in exchange for monstrous sums of money. The Neocons have access to truckloads of baled $100 bills.
If my theory has any validity, watch for some strange upcoming developments on the Russian Home Front.