Ukraine

[jamcg]

Or maybe international sanctions meaning no foreign money coming into the country has meant the payments haven’t gone through to a mercenary group loyal to whoever pays them

[IanF]

Prigozhin will be pacified by becoming Head of Armed Forces or Defence Minister. Putin gets a war hero, they can pretend they won in Ukraine and this will nicely line Prig up as successor to Putin.

Probably a few shots/sacrifices along the way but meh, cost of doing business over there. (In P&Ps minds at least)

And yes, CIA could laugh and pay Wagner to fight against Putin, but I think that’s an Act of War, and so the Americans would never do that!

[Sundayjumper]

[Sundayjumper]

And this video is getting a LOT of views

[duncs500]

Mike Martin seems to think Russian military units are flipping everywhere and it's all over for Russia in terms of Ukraine now. Not sure what his sources are as MSM isn't reporting anything to that effect.

One would imagine Ukraine will be planning a major advance in the next day or so though.

[Swervin_Mervin]

And now the Chechens are en route to Rostov. Question is, to fight Wagner or join them?

Lukashenko has buggered off to Turkey and the Belarusians are seemingly getting ready for a coup as well

[Zonda_]

Reports that Putins left Moscow.

[Beany]

[Beany]

And now the Chechens are en route to Rostov. Question is, to fight Wagner or join them?

I'm pretty sure Wagner wouldn't piss on Kadyrovs men to put them out if they were on fire - his beef is apparently with poor command and the obvious bullshit propaganda that Russia has been pushing about the Ukraine conflict, and Kadyrovs lot have been lapping that up and doing that for the Russians at any opportunity.

Given Wagners....operational history [read - litany of war crimes] I'd not want to be a Chechen fighter right now.

[Sundayjumper]

It's reported that his conversation with the president of Kazakhstan went very similarly.

Kazakhstan President Tokayev commented: "The current events are russia's internal affair."

[Sundayjumper]

It's thoroughly confusing to be rooting for Prigozhin today as he's clearly Not A Nice Person, and him being president (If that's his aim ? It's not entirely clear. He's said it's not a coup but Putin & pals have all legged it out of Moscow pretty bloody sharpish so I guess he's not just popping in for afternoon tea) would be even more dangerous than Putin, but let's all just enjoy the news of the dildo of consequences for now.

[Beany]

Yeah, Wagner are basically ISIS with heavy equipment and arms, and military doctrine, but without the religious ideology (other than, you know, a rather serious neo-nazi bent) so them getting anything close to power would be, in short, not good. As a reminder, these are people who think sledgehammers to the head are a good treatment for injured PoWs. And have gleefully filmed it and shared it.

The confusion being sewn by it all though, that's not a bad thing.

Belarus seperatists are getting excited at the moment too. So Lukashenko, who spends 90% of his time deepthroating Putins boot, might be in for a bad time, too.

Oh no, what a shame, never mind.

[jamcg]

They’re apparently digging up the roads on the way into Moscow, to stop those famously road biased military vehicles

[Sundayjumper]

Belarus seperatists are getting excited at the moment too. So Lukashenko, who spends 90% of his time deepthroating Putins boot, might be in for a bad time, too.

Lukashenko has also, reportedly, fled his country.

Zelensky in 2022 as the Russians approached - "I need ammo, not a ride"

Putin & Lukashenko in 2023 as the Russians approached - "I need a ride"

I'm thinking that long term this move by Prigozhin could prove more significant than the original invasion. Enabled by the invasion, of course, but all that was achieving was turning Russia into NK 2.0. This is a wildcard. Putin longs for the restoration of the USSR*. Prigozhin is a businessman. He'll be more clear-eyed about getting things done. The question is exactly what he wants to get done.

[Sundayjumper]

* lifted from Twitter:

Putin dreamt of re-establishing the Soviet Union. He just didn't consider the possibility he takes the role of the Czar in those events.

[jamcg]

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has held talks with Wagner mercenary group head Yevgeny Prigozhin during which Prigozhin agreed to stop his troops and "de-escalate the situation", Rossiya 24 news channel said.

"Prigozhin accepted Lukashenko's proposal to stop the movement of Wagner in Russian territory and on further steps to de-escalate tension," Rossiya 24 said, quoting Lukashenko's press service.

It also said it was proving "possible to find an acceptable variant of de-escalating [the situation] with security guarantees for Wagner PMC's fighters".

Rossiya 24 said the conversation had been agreed with Putin.

[duncs500]

Maybe it will fizzle out, but has it opened the door for a rapid advance by Ukraine?

[Explosive Newt]

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has held talks with Wagner mercenary group head Yevgeny Prigozhin during which Prigozhin agreed to stop his troops and "de-escalate the situation", Rossiya 24 news channel said.

"Prigozhin accepted Lukashenko's proposal to stop the movement of Wagner in Russian territory and on further steps to de-escalate tension," Rossiya 24 said, quoting Lukashenko's press service.

It also said it was proving "possible to find an acceptable variant of de-escalating [the situation] with security guarantees for Wagner PMC's fighters".

Rossiya 24 said the conversation had been agreed with Putin.

I can’t quite get my head around why it was Lukashenko acting as intermediary.

[Beany]

Holy shit.

Wagner might just have destroyed Putin with barely any fighting.

Wagner rolls a battalion up the equivelent of the M1.

Reportedly he's said (And major paraphrasing here) "we could carry on and slit your throats, but maybe now you'll send us shells that fucking fire, eh?"

Putin, like the little pissbaby he is, first thing he did at the first sign of trouble was to flee Moscow with a stream of steaming urine in his wake.

He's no longer a stronk man. He's a demonstrable coward.

Being a Stronk Man Leader was all he had - most Russian interventions have happened as soon as his approval rating started slipping, he'd make up a problem and then roll in the T72s to whatever local area wasn't expecting it - see Georgia, etc. Stronk Man Save Russia from [monster of the week], domestically etc.

He's so fucked now.

Re Lukashenko, the head of Wagner has laughed that off, never happened apparently. Likely propaganda to destabilise Russia/Belarus' relationship.

[duncs500]

It does appear to have been far too easy to get Putin running scared. Seems bizarre really.