Wagner Group rebellion presents further serious difficulties for Putin
Seems that Vlad the Invader and the leader mercenary army he hired to bolster his own failing army in Ukraine have had a major falling out. Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claims that Russia bombed his Ukraine HQ killing 2000 of his men and has vowed revenge. He’s even asking Russian solders to desert and join his Wagner Group instead. Reports indicate that when Prigozhin’s men crossed the Ukrainian/Russian border and took over Rostov last night (2023-06-23), Russian soldiers were ordered to stop them. However, Russia’s mostly conscript army just stood by and let them in, unopposed.
Prigozhin say his men are now on their way to Moscow to take control of the Russian Army.
Wagner military column passes Russian city of Voronezh, en route to Moscow. Photograph: Reuters
Hard to say how this will pan out or how much it will help Ukraine. Fact is that Putin and Prigozhin are both mass murdering fuckheads within a military structure that is literally falling apart at the seams, due to endemic corruption on an industrial scale. Main difference between Putin and Prigozhin is Prigozhin enjoys doing the murdering and torturing personally, whereas Putin prefers paying others to do it for him while he lives a nice long way away, in total luxury.
Putin has called for Prigozhin’s arrest – effectively putting Prigozhin in a situation where he either fights or dies. Meantime, seems Prigozhin is a former cold-war era convict who really enjoys fighting and killing people. Which means that even if his coup is successful, it doesn’t necessarily let Ukraine off the hook. Prigozhin is a bloodthirsty bastard and I’m sure he’d like to continue attacking Ukraine with even greater brutality. However, it seems he might have his hands full simply stopping the Russian republics breaking away.
Meantime, if I were Pootie, I think I’d have my mistress pack our bags, empty our Russian bank accounts and gather up any portable high-value items we could lay our hands on. Then I’d be on the blower to arrange an urgent “unscheduled diplomatic state visit” to Turkey, or Iran, or anywhere, while we still have the chance to do so. lol 
And this scenario is not as fanciful as it may at first seem. Recent FlightRadar flightplans indicate than many private jets are currently leaving Moscow with either destination “Turkey” or “unknown”.
Some other relevant links…
And almost minute-by-minute updates on the current situation as Wagner mercenaries make their 1150km journey from Rostov up the E115 motorway to Moscow…