2023-08-25 10:15:00
Von Bedrettin Bölükbaşı
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Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary force, may have died in a plane crash. His mercenaries are already seeking revenge.
Minsk – Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner mercenary group, is believed to have died. While no official confirmation has been issued, his name appeared on the passenger list of the private plane that crashed in Tver, Russia, on Wednesday evening (23 August). The future of his mercenaries, who have been stationed in Belarus since the failed coup attempt two months ago, remains uncertain. However, early reports suggest they may seek retribution and revenge.
Prigozhin’s men seek vengeance: reports of Wagner activity in Belarus
After the crash of Prigozhin’s plane and speculation regarding his death, Ukrainian and Eastern European media, including the news portal, published Visegrad 24, a video allegedly showing Wagner mercenaries in Belarus. Three Wagner mercenaries posed for the camera while vehicles – presumably part of a convoy – can be seen in the background. “There’s a lot of talk now regarding what the Wagner group is going to do,” says one of the fighters, adding, “We’re starting, be ready for us.”
Wagner mercenaries in Belarus have hinted at retaliation following the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
© Screenshot/Twitter/@visegrad24
The testimony of the Wagner mercenary in the recording appears to be a clear suggestion of retaliation. The latest information from the National Resistance Center of Ukraine is likely to be related to this. In the evening hours, the resistance center reported on activities in the Wagner camps in Belarus. As a result, the Wagner fighters would want to form up in convoys and head towards the Russian border. “But special forces from Belarus are preventing them from leaving,” the resistance center said. It was further reported that Prigozhin’s men were already evacuating some camps. In addition, several Russian media reported that the Wagner Group had already implemented a “full mobilization” mechanism. This had been prepared beforehand in the event of Prigozhin’s death.
Kremlin might take control of Wagner: “Will be very concerned regarding it”
However, not everyone is convinced that there will be hostility between the Russian state and the Wagner mercenaries. Ilya Rozhdestvensky, a Russian investigative journalist from the opposition project The Dossier Center, rather believes in close cooperation between Wagner and the Russian Ministry of Defense should Prigozhin actually have died. He explained to Current Time TVthat the ministry in Russia has been trying for a long time to recruit Wagner fighters for its own mercenary structures.
Putin’s circle of power in the Kremlin – the confidants of the Russian President
Yevgeny Prigozhin is one of Vladimir Putin’s closest confidants. Russia’s president and the successful businessman have known each other for a long time. When Putin was still a KGB officer and worked in the St. Petersburg city administration, he is said to have stopped off at Prigozhin’s restaurant. That is why the 61-year-old, who became wealthy in Russia in the chaotic 1990s, is nicknamed “Putin’s cook”. He was also in prison for robbery. © Mikhail Metzel/imago In the meantime, Prigozhin is feared internationally above all as a warlord of the notorious shadow arm “Wagner” on behalf of the Kremlin. Putin lets him do his thing as if this shadow army, a paramilitary organization with many convicted criminals, has long held the scepter of power. Prigozhin avoided the public for a long time. It was only in September 2022 that he committed to founding the combat group. Prigozhin explained on the website of his company Konkord that he formed the unit in 2014 for use on the Russian side in the Ukrainian Donbass. The “liberation” of many areas in Luhansk and Donetsk was due to their courage and bravery. © Vyacheslav Prokofyev/imago One of the agitators in the Ukraine war is Ramzan Kadyrov, who, as head of the Russian republic of Chechnya, commands his own troops in the North Caucasus. “Putin’s bloodhound,” known for his brutal leadership of Muslim-dominated Chechnya, has emerged as one of the most ardent supporters of war since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. After Russian defeats, he repeatedly sharply criticized his country’s military leadership and called for far-reaching consequences. © Yelena Afonina/imagoOn March 2, 2007, on Putin’s proposal, the Chechen parliament elected him president of the country following he turned 30, the minimum age for election as Chechen leader. In March 2015, Kadyrov received the Russian Order of Honor. Kadyrov’s dictatorial administration is characterized by serious human rights violations, corruption and a rampant personality cult. He has also been Colonel General of the Russian Armed Forces since October 2022. © Yelena Afonina/imagoRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is something like “Putin’s right hand”.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is something like “Putin’s right hand”. In office since March 2004, Lavrov has repeatedly defended the claim that Russia wants to liberate Ukraine from the Nazis who rule there since the beginning of the Ukraine war. In early May 2022, Lavrov tried to refute the argument on Italian television that, as a Jew, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy might not be a Nazi: “Adolf Hitler also had Jewish blood. That means nothing at all. The wise Jewish people say that the most zealous anti-Semites are usually Jews.” © ImagoSince the beginning of the Ukraine war, Lavrov has been repeating his accusations that the West is at war with Russia in Ukraine.Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, Lavrov has been repeating his accusations that the West is at war with Russia in Ukraine. “When we talk regarding what’s going on in Ukraine, it’s not a hybrid war, it’s almost a real war that the West has been preparing once morest Russia for a long time,” Lavrov said during a trip to Africa in January 2023 also led to Angola. According to Lavrov, the West wants to destroy everything Russian, from the language to the culture. © ImagoDmitri Medvedev can be considered “Putin’s puppet”.Dmitri Medvedev can be considered “Putin’s puppet”. The henchman of the Russian President was President of Russia from 2008 to 2012 and then Prime Minister of the Russian Federation until 2020. Since the start of the Ukraine war, Medvedev, now deputy chief of the Russian Security Council, has repeatedly drawn attention to himself with stories of conspiracies and martial statements regarding Ukraine and the West. Among other things, he threatened to “disappear Ukraine from the map”. © Artyom Geodakyan/imagoThe doctor of law, who was once considered the voice of reason, has now developed into a radical agitator. The doctor of law, who was once considered the voice of reason, has now developed into a radical agitator. The deputy chief of the Russian Security Council is happy to threaten the NATO countries with an attack or even with nuclear strikes. In the summer of 2022 he described the government in Kiev as “isolated freaks calling themselves the ‘Ukrainian government'” and the US government as “puppeteers across the ocean with clear signs of senile madness”. At the end of 2022, he tried to be a prophet for the year 2023: According to this, a “Fourth Reich” was being created in Germany, the EU was falling apart, and a civil war was breaking out in the USA. © Yekaterina Shtukina/imagoAlina Kabaeva is probably something like “Putin’s Ballerina”. Alina Kabaeva is probably something like “Putin’s ballerina”. The former top athlete was considered the ultimate in rhythmic gymnastics for years. Her successes (Olympic gold 2004 in Athens, nine world championships and 15 European titles) speak for themselves. From 2007 to 2014 she was a deputy of the Russian State Duma for the party “United Russia”, since September 2014 she has been the chairwoman of the board of directors of the National Media Group (NMG). According to media reports, she is considered the lover of the Russian President and is said to have several children with him, which Kabaeva and Russian government officials have denied. © Imago Kabaeva has been considered the secret lover or even wife of the Russian President for years. Kabaeva has been considered the secret lover or even wife of the Russian President for years. However, there has never been an official confirmation from Russia. According to the British government, she has “close personal ties to Putin”. Kabaeva is said to have several of Putin’s children, but this has been denied by Kabaeva and Russian government officials. In 2015 she is said to have given birth to twins in Lugano, other sources report the birth of a boy in the canton of Ticino and another birth of a son in Moscow. What is certain is that Kabaeva disappeared from the public limelight for a few years following 2015 and even today only appears in public very rarely. © Valery Sharifulin/imagoVladimir Solovyov is Putin’s chief propagandist in the Ukraine war.Vladimir Solovyov is Putin’s chief propagandist in the Ukraine war. His political talk show “Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov”, which has been broadcast on the Rossiya 1 channel since 2012, is considered perhaps the most important domestic propaganda program. In December 2022, he threatened numerous European countries with military intervention there because they supported Ukraine and were part of European Nazism. He also repeatedly called for the use of Russian atomic bombs once morest NATO countries. In April 2022, he described the Butscha and Srebrenica massacres as staged. © Sergei Karpukhin/imago Solovyov is often loud on his show Solovyov is often loud on his show, insulting the German government, throwing in German words and imitating a harsh Nazi pronunciation. He once referred to Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) as “Miss Ribbentrop”. Joachim von Ribbentrop was German Foreign Minister under Adolf Hitler, whom Solovyov once described in his broadcast in February 2021 as a “very brave man” and “brave soldier”. After the Euromaidan, the revolution of dignity, he quickly distanced himself from his opinion expressed in 2014 that “God forbids Crimea to return to Russia”. © Artyom Geodakyan/imagoThe Russian domestic intelligence service FSB is headed by a close associate of the president.The Russian domestic intelligence agency FSB is headed by a close associate of the president. As early as the 1970s, Alexander Bortnikov was deployed to the KGB at the same time as Putin in St. Petersburg. Putin, who was once director of the FSB himself, appointed him head of the intelligence service in May 2008, ensuring maximum influence. It is taken for granted that Putin himself, even as president, will transmit decisive orders. © Alexei Druzhinin/imago The primary purpose of the FSB is to suppress opposition to Putin’s power elite. The primary purpose of the FSB is to suppress opposition to Putin’s power elite. One example is the attack on Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who, according to the Bellingcat research collective, had previously been pursued by FSB agents for months. Under Bortnikov, the FSB’s power was steadily expanded through several reforms. In addition, the FSB is said to have supported the pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country. After the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, the FSB took action once morest the media and culture. © Mikhail Metzel/imago Since November 2012, Army General Sergei Shoigu has held the post of Russian Defense Minister. Since November 2012, Army General Sergei Shoigu has held the post of Russian Defense Minister. Shoigu’s term in office initially included military support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Russia’s intervention in the Syrian civil war on the side of the Assad regime. In 2014, Ukraine opened a criminal investigation once morest him for intervening in favor of the separatists in Donbass. Since February, Shoigu has been in charge of the Russian troops in the Ukraine war as defense minister. © Pavel Golovkin/dpa Shoigu’s relationship with Putin has so far been considered very close. Shoigu’s relationship with Putin has so far been considered very close. He regularly spends his summer vacation with the Russian President in Tuva in southern Siberia – Shoigu’s home region, where the two of them, like here in 2017, sometimes treat themselves to sunbathing during a break from fishing. Whether this will remain the case in the future remains to be seen. In a report in autumn 2022, the “Institute for the Study of War” pointed out that Putin blamed Shoigu for the mistakes in the Ukraine war. It cannot be ruled out that Putin will make his confidante a scapegoat following all. © Alexei Nikolsky/dpaThe head of the Russian Orthodox Church is now only known by his name Kirill I. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church is now only known by his name Kirill I. The patriarch’s real name, however, is Vladimir Gundjajew – and he has an eventful past. According to the Swiss Federal Archives, he worked under the alias “Mikhailov” in Geneva in the 1970s as an agent for the former Soviet foreign secret service KGB. This past connects him with Russian President Vladimir Putin. © Sergei Chirikov/dpa Gunyaev has been Patriarch of Moscow and all of Russia since February 2009 as Cyril I, and thus the head of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Russian Orthodox Church. He is considered a close ally of Putin, whose reign he described in the course of the 2012 presidential election in Russia as a “miracle of God”. Since the start of the Ukraine war, he has increasingly been known for his hate speech. He once described Russia’s opponents as “forces of evil” and denied Ukraine’s right to exist. In contrast to April 2017 in Moscow, Kyril I. verbally lets no pigeons fly. © Alexander Zemlianichenko/dpaThe right-wing nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin can confidently be called “Putin’s thinker”.The right-wing nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin can confidently be called “Putin’s thinker”. Dugin, who has written many books, is considered an anti-Western hate preacher and campaigner for the idea of a Slavic superpower. In his book Fundamentals of Geopolitics, he spoke out once morest Ukraine as a sovereign state. Shortly before the beginning of the Ukraine war, this rhetoric was taken up when Putin questioned the Ukrainian state territory in an essay. © Kirill Kudryavtsev/afpDugin became a member of the radical nationalist and anti-Semitic group Pamjat in 1987Dugin became a member of the radical nationalist and anti-Semitic group Pamjat in 1987. He gained greater notoriety in the 1990s when he spread his ideology on radio and television. At the same time, Dugin was also a member of esoteric and occult circles. It is unclear how close Dugin is to the Russian president. But Putin’s statements often echo Dugin’s rhetoric. An example is the concept of “Novorossiya” (“New Russia”), which Russia used to justify the annexation of Crimea. At that time, Dugin also made it clear in an interview how to proceed: “Kill, kill, kill, that’s my opinion as a professor.” Nikolai Patrushev also belongs to the closest circle of Putin. Nikolai Patrushev also belongs to the closest circle of Putin . The secretary of the Russian Security Council was head of the domestic secret service FSB for many years and is considered a radical, anti-European hardliner. Patrushev has a lot in common with Putin: They are regarding the same age, both come from what is now Saint Petersburg, but above all they both come from the Soviet secret service KGB. Patrushev is perceived as Putin’s closest confidant and is said to have been chosen by him as his deputy in the event that he was temporarily prevented from exercising his office. © Zubair Bairakov/imago Patrushev is described as the “hawk” of the East. Patrushev is described as the “hawk” of the East. In autumn 2021 he described Ukrainians as “non-humans”. At the end of January 2022, he still denied any intention of Russia to go to war as “complete absurdity”. At the end of February 2022, in a manifesto, he accused the USA and the EU of supporting a “neo-Nazism ideology” in Ukraine. © Aram Nersesyan/imagoAs head of the Russian foreign intelligence service SVR, Sergei Naryshkin is known for his scathing comments.As head of the Russian foreign intelligence service SWR, Sergei Naryshkin is known for his scathing comments. Shortly following the start of the Ukraine war, he accused the USA and other western states of wanting to destroy Russia: “The masks have fallen. The West doesn’t just want to surround Russia with a new Iron Curtain,” SWR quoted its boss as saying in early March 2022. “We are talking regarding attempts to destroy our state, regarding its ‘cancellation’, as is said nowadays in a ‘tolerant’ liberal-fascist environment.” hot war”. © Alexander Zemlianichenko/dpa A few days before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Naryshkin had started to falter in conversations with Vladimir Putin. A few days before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Naryshkin had found himself reeling in conversations with Vladimir Putin. At the time, the SWR boss inadvertently spoke out in favor of a Russian incorporation of the People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk. Putin corrected him at the session broadcast on state television, stressing that the question had not been asked. “We’re talking regarding recognizing their independence or not,” Putin scolded the SWR boss. © Valery Sharifulin/imago
Rozhdestvensky described the supposed death of Prigozhin as a “key moment” in this context. The mercenaries, now without a leader, would have to look for a new “employer,” Rozhdestvensky said: “And in this case, the Ministry of Defense is the most likely candidate.” He believes that even those who were loyal to Prigozhin now want him as “traitors” and turn away from the cause.
Leon Panetta, the former head of the CIA, told the US broadcaster CNN that Moscow might now try to take control of the Wagner mercenaries in Africa, Asia and other locations. “I think they (Russian leadership, ed.) will be very concerned regarding allowing these people (Wagner-Söldner, ed.) to operate independently,” said the former head of the US – Secret Service. (bb)
This article was created with the help of machines and edited by the editor before publication
Bedrettin Bölükbasi carefully checked.
Rubriklistbild: © Screenshot/Twitter/@visegrad24
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