Wagner Convoys Advancing Towards Russian Capital, Chechens Loyal To Putin En Route
BY Zero Hedge - TYLER DURDEN - JUN 24, 2023 - 12:20 PM
Update(1120ET): Wagner Group is making a move on the Russian capital, with multiple reports and videos now confirming Wagner convoys are headed toward Moscow, going north from the Rostov region.
At the same time, Chechen groups loyal to Putin are now sending their own armed convoys toward Rostov-on-Don, which has several key installations under the control of Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused of 'treason' by the Kremlin.
Reuters is reporting, "Mutinous Russian mercenary fighters barreled towards Moscow on Saturday after seizing a southern city overnight, with Russia’s military firing on them from the air but seemingly incapable of slowing their lightning advance." Little to no significant resistance is being observed while Wagner convoys blow through makeshift roadblocks. Some observers say Wagner fighters have been spotted within a mere few hours outside the capital.
Another eyewitness video of a Wagner convoy reportedly breaking through then "truck obstacles" on the way to Moscow - the types of obstacles I posted above that are supposed to protect Moscow highways. https://t.co/MMdcEaNOQ7 pic.twitter.com/BaVpwxfg6U June 24, 2023
"Reuters saw troop carriers and a flatbed truck carrying a tank careening past the city of Voronezh more than halfway to Moscow, where a helicopter fired on them," the outlet noted. "But there were no reports of the rebels meeting any substantial resistance on the highway."
The Lipetsk governor has also confirmed armed Wagner forces are rapidly moving across the region, advancing in the direction of Moscow.
Along with roadblocks of construction trucks and 18-wheelers, there are reports suggesting roads are being destroyed to block the insurrectionists' progress:
Roads are being destroyed in the Lipetsk region in an attempt to stop Wagner forces driving to Moscow pic.twitter.com/Y0olMJA2Zn June 24, 2023
Per regional reports:
NEXTA, an independent media outlet founded in Belarus that covers news in eastern Europe and Russia, reported that authorities were destroying the main roads in the Lipetsk region to keep Wagner Group tanks and vehicles from approaching Moscow. Other sources have published similar videos of excavators tearing up roadways.
Alternative methods to block the roads when trucks are not an obstacle for Wagner: simply dig them up
Video via SOTA pic.twitter.com/P4FN6XgqUf June 24, 2023
Notes on recent updates, and a word of caution, over the last two hours via Mario Nawfal:
- Worries of the Russian Nuclear Warheads moved to Belarus weeks ago
- Wagner forces continue their advance to Moscow with limited strikes by the Russian Air Force
- Reports of Putin and other officials leaving Moscow and heading to Saint Petersburg based on the movement of Military VIP aircraft. TASS, which is Gov controlled media outlet, reported that Putin is heading to Saint Petersburg, but Putin's Press Secretary refuted those reports. It is very unusual and rare to see such a disconnect between TASS and the Kremlin.
MY THOUGHTS:
- This is a military coup, we can no longer dispute this, and things are moving VERY rapidly and are not looking good for Putin.
- We are seeing limited military clashes, showing likely defections among Russian forces
- Almost EVERYTHING right now can't be verified and should be taken with a grain of salt
Meanwhile, clashes could be imminent between Chechens loyal to Putin and Wagner mercenaries, which will be a nightmare scenario for surrounding civilians in the Rostov region...
⚡️Chechen troops in the suburbs of Rostov pic.twitter.com/VMiDCwjrhH June 24, 2023
Unverified reports that Wagner has begun arrests of Chechen and other military forces...
⚡️Ukrainian sources claim this video shows Wagner troops confronting Chechen troops in Rostov. Awaiting confirmation. pic.twitter.com/P1aD19sSgh June 24, 2023
* * *
In his first speech addressing the crisis of Wagner's armed rebellion on Saturday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to crush what he called Yevgeny Prigozhin's "betrayal". Southern governors, for example, Alexander Gusev who oversees the city of Voronezh, have since confirmed armed clashes between regular military forces and Wagner fighters within Russian territory. He described necessary "combat measures" as part of counter-terror operations in the southern region.
What was unclear by Friday night is now becoming very clear as of Saturday: all hell is breaking loose in this first significant moment in over two decades of Putin's iron grip on power being threatened by armed mutiny. "Any internal turmoil is a deadly threat to our statehood and to us as a nation. This is a blow to Russia and to our people," Putin said in the televised speech. "This battle, when the fate of our people is being decided, requires the unification of all forces."
"What we have been faced with is exactly betrayal. Extravagant ambitions and personal interests led to treason," Putin said, referring to Prigozhin, head of the most powerful private military firm in Russia. "All those who consciously stood on the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed rebellion, stood on the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment, before the law and before our people," Putin vowed.
He further in fiery language denounced the "stab in the back of our country and our people," after Prigozhin the day prior declared war against the defense ministry, urging all Russians to join his 25,000 fighters as they seek to "stop" and overthrow Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other top commanders.
In response to Putin's blistering speech, Prigozhin released a Telegram statement calling the president "deeply mistaken" regarding his assessment of betrayal of the motherland, refusing to surrender. The audio message released by his press service said as follows:
"Regarding the ‘betrayal of the motherland,’ the president is deeply mistaken. We are patriots of our Motherland, we fought and are fighting, all the fighters of the PMC Wagner."
“And no one is going to turn themselves in at the request of the president, the FSB or anyone else,” he added.
BREAKING: Putin addresses nation, responds to Wagner threats: "This is a criminal campaign. It is equivalent to armed mutiny. Russia will defend itself and repel this move. We are fighting for the life and security of our citizens."pic.twitter.com/GNzPsNWMWB June 24, 2023
This marks the first time he's directed criticism precisely in response to Putin, as before he appeared to carefully avoid direct references to the Russian leader in his denunciations of military planning and Kremlin decision-making.
Below summarizes fast-moving events of the last few hours:
- Putin 5 min speech: accuses Prigozhin of betrayal, vows decisive action
- Wagner controls facilities in Rostov & Voronezh, M4 highway was disrupted. Rebellion continues
- Chechen Kadyrov mobilizes to help Putin. Russia FM Warns of ‘civil strife’
The Wagner PMC Group has announced that they have Captured the Southern Military District Headquarters within the the City of Rostov-on-Don in the Rostov Region of Southwestern Russia. pic.twitter.com/730rL9uetq June 24, 2023
Civilians have reportedly been ordered away from all military command centers in the now Wagner-held city center of Rostov-on-Don.
In Rostov (not sure what time) they ran from an explosion near the military district that Wagner took over. The interview following is in English. pic.twitter.com/PJfCq5qlYp June 24, 2023
The Wagner chief in his response harped on the familiar theme of the defense ministry's "corruption, deceit, and bureaucracy" and emphasized that his own fighters are patriotic and doing their duty.
“When we were told that we were at war with Ukraine, we went and fought. But it turned out that ammunition, weapons, all the money that was allocated is also being stolen, and the bureaucrats are sitting [idly], saving it for themselves, just for the occasion that happened today, when someone [is] marching to Moscow," he said.
It is the second time since Russian authorities (the FSB) declared Prigozhin was engaging in 'armed immunity that the Wagner chief declared a "march of justice" on Moscow. As for the capital (and other major cities), the military and security services have been ordered by the Kremlin to secure the streets and beef up their presence.
⚡️Wagner troops sitting at a restaurant in the centre of Rostov after they occupied the city.
June 24, 2023. pic.twitter.com/tJUS9Ui2sU June 24, 2023
Crucially, Wagner has declared control of the military command center and bases in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, a claim to which some emerging videos appear to give some degree of authentication...
"Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, once a close Putin ally, said his troops had taken control of the military command centre and bases in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, the nerve centre of Russia's offensive in Ukraine, and vowed to topple Moscow's top military leaders," AFP is noting.
The fight is on, and could spread further north, engaging political centers of the country:
Further north, on Wagner's possible route towards Moscow, the governor of Russia's Voronezh region said the armed forces had launched a "counter-terrorist operation" to suppress the revolt. A fuel depot on Voronezh city was on fire, he said.
The FSB security service accused Prigozhin of attempting to launch a "civil conflict" and urged Wagner fighters to detain him.
Russian police have moved against Wagner's headquarters in St. Petersburg, where things have been largely without incident thus far:
BREAKING: Russian police have surrounded the Wagner centre in St Petersburg.
It comes as Wagner fighters have taken control of Rostov, home to Russian military headquarters that oversees the fighting in Ukraine.
Latest:
📺 Sky 501 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/AOi4c2KXo5 June 24, 2023
Active fighting, even including with air power, has erupted as Wagner convoys seek to make their way north, deeper into Russia...
⚡️Russian airforce targeting a convoy of Wagner equipment on the M-4 highway in Voronezh region this morning pic.twitter.com/4tpgVqjYmx June 24, 2023
Meanwhile, this will without doubt be a huge blow to the morale of both Russian troops and Wagner fighters alike along the frontlines inside Ukraine. It's as yet unclear the degree to which Wagner has withdrawn from the Eastern Ukraine theatre, though it's now been confirmed that Wagner's forces had marched into Rostov overnight.
Kyiv will smell a grand 'opportunity'. It along with its Western backers is closely monitoring, with Ukraine officials saying this "rebellion" is a "sign of the collapse of the Putin regime."
"The internal Russian confrontation between the leader of the so-called Wagner PMC Prigozhin and the military and political leadership of the aggressor state is a sign of the collapse of the Putin regime," a statement by the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine said.
"First of all, we must understand that this is an internal Russian conflict and confrontation which are a direct consequence of the Putin regime's criminal military aggression against Ukraine," the statement cited in CNN added.
⚡️#UPDATE Incredible video showing flares from a Ka-52 helicopter deflect a Wagner anti aircraft missile https://t.co/0UsXXuDQSl pic.twitter.com/9uPpEHbnZf June 24, 2023
It must be remembered that these shocking events which threaten to unleash chaos within Russia come at a moment when by many accounts Ukraine's counteroffensive appeared to be failing. President Zelensky himself at the start of the week had conceded a "slower than desired" start to the offensive. But now this could breathe new life into it amid reports Ukraine is taking the opportunity to assault the front lines.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Zelensky, told a Saturday press conference: "The launch of the Ukrainian counteroffensive has finally destabilized the Russian elites, exacerbating the internal split that emerged after the defeat in Ukraine." Time will tell if Russian commanders can keep their frontlines unified even as things crumble with the Wagner situation.
* * *
Below are key excerpts from Putin's Saturday speech vowing to crush the Wagner rebellion, as translated and compiled by state-run RT:
Importance of unity
President Putin argued that “Russia is today waging a grueling fight for its future,” facing off with the “neo-Nazis and their masters.” He went on to stress that “essentially the entire might of the West’s military, economic and information machine” is being directed against the country.
“This battle, when the fate of our people is being decided,” calls for national unity and consolidation, Putin said in his address. According to the president, all internal conflicts and bickering must be put aside at present as “our external enemies can and use them to undermine us internally.”
The Russian head of state emphasized that any actions driving a wedge between Russians are nothing short of “backstabbing of our country and our people.”
Bitter history lessons
Putin reminded Russians that a similar scenario played out in the country in 1917, when it was in the middle of World War I. He recounted how “intrigues, bickering, politicking behind the army’s and the people’s back” led to the “collapse of the state,” and the “tragedy of the Civil War.”
“Russians were killing Russians, brothers were killing brothers, while various political adventurers and foreign powers were capitalizing on it,” the president said.
Putin vowed to prevent this from happening as well as to defend Russia and its people, “including from internal mutiny.”
Nature of the threat
In his address, Putin clearly labeled the PMC coup attempt as a “betrayal.” He cited the “enormous ambitions and personal interests” of certain individuals as the reasons behind this “betrayal of their country and its people.” He went on to accuse those responsible, without naming Prigozhin in particular, of turning their back on the joint military cause in Ukraine and the memory of the fallen fighters.
If successful, the coup would lead to “anarchy and fratricide,” resulting, in the long run, in Russia’s “defeat” and “capitulation,” according to Putin.
The president characterized “any internal mutiny” as a death threat to the Russian state and nation. The president pledged to take “tough measures” against the mutineers, who have “willingly entered the path of betrayal” and prepared “armed insurrection.”
Those responsible will be brought to account before the Russian people, the president assured the public.
RUSSIAN MUTINY: Khazarian Coup, Chess Trap, Martial Law, Or……..
Posted on June 24, 2023, by State of the Nation
..All Three Since They Are Not Necessarily Mutually Exclusive
State of the Nation
Time will soon tell what the real story is behind this ongoing military coup in Russia.
In the meantime, there are only these three possibilities. First, we are witnessing a very serious Khazarian-directed coup against the Putin administration and especially the Russian military establishment.
The Global Power Structure of the Khazarian Mafia & Khazarian Cabal
From a strictly military perspective, such a move makes absolutely no sense since the Wagner Group relies 100% on logistical and material support from the Russian military. Not only that, but the Russian Armed Forces control all air power, naval power, satellite power, etc. The Wagner mutineers could be wiped out in a Moscow moment if Putin wanted to.
However, the apparently avaricious leader of the Wagner Group — Yevgeny Prigozhin — is a hardcore Jewish businessman first, second, and third. This Russian oligarch became rich by owning restaurants and catering companies that provide services for the Kremlin, among several other highly profitable commercial interests. The nationally acclaimed chef Prigozhin evidently knew that the best way to Putin’s heart was through his stomach (What future ‘wife’ doesn’t know that?).
Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, left, serves food to Putin, center, during dinner at Prigozhin’s restaurant outside Moscow [File: Misha Japaridze/AP]
Of course, as the founder of the top mercenary group in Russia, Prigozhin has proven himself to be a soldier of fortune first and a patriot second. This means that he is also quite susceptible to contracting out his services to the highest bidder, something that the Western Intelligence Community would know and attempt to take full advantage of … making this revolt a classic JEW COUP.
The Khazarian Cabal does have access to unlimited wealth and funding across planet Earth, so throwing US dollars at a money-grubbing Prigozhin and his fellow mercenaries is easy-peasy. And, if the Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis are all in with this strategy, then Putin et al. are in for a nationwide revolutionary strategy of nonstop chaos, confusion, and conflict Bolshevik Revolution-style.
This very possible scenario would also fit hand-in-glove with Ukraine’s much heralded Spring counter-offensive, which was obviously sabotaged ON PURPOSE by the NATO bigwigs. Only after this coup in Russia would the real counter-offensive start in earnest.
Secondly, the Kremlin is quite masterfully setting up a Sun Tzu-inspired chess trap as articulated in the graphic above.
In this case, it has already been shown that Ukraine and their US, UK and NATO masters are quite vulnerable to feints by the Russian military. Several deceptive military moves and maneuvers by Russia have already proven to be very successful, especially the pullbacks from Kyiv at the beginning and the pretended retreat from Artemovsk (aka Bakhmut). A similar trick was played around the region of the highly consequential and geostrategic Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station.
After all, systematically drawing out their Nazi enemies is now at the very core of Russia’s demilitarization and denazification mandate for the whole of Ukraine. In this regard, Ukraine’s military recruitment efforts have served as an excellent vacuum cleaner sucking up all the Nazi wannabes so they can be swiftly dispatched to the netherworld by the Russian Armed Forces.
No one plays military chess as the Kremlin does, and no other national character is likely to think so way outside the box as the Russians do, especially when they facing extreme existential threats as they are today and for the foreseeable future.
In fact, given that the US, UK, EU, and NATO have collectively declared war on Russia, the world community of nations should not be shocked by anything Moscow does to save the Russian Federation … … … so that the Russkies can lead the way to saving the entire planetary civilization.
Thirdly, this rebellion may be a highly planned fake insurrection designed to provide a sufficient justification to impose martial law across the entire Russian Motherland. It would also afford Russia’s military leadership a perfect reason for the full mobilization of all of the Russian Armed Forces via mandatory conscription.
The stark reality for Russia is that the whole country has been under dire threat from every type of terrorism since the very beginning of the Special Military Operation. In point of fact, there have already been numerous acts of all sorts of terrorism (including biological, chemical and nuclear) carried out on Russian soil by NATO (aka North Atlantic Terrorist Organization) since 24 February 2022, most of which have gone unreported so as not to alarm the populace.
Therefore, the specter of a counterfeit coup would furnish the necessary rationale to lock down the vast and highly exposed Russian territory in order to put every citizen on guard and every institution on high alert. Russia knows that their longest borders on Earth require a herculean effort to defend and such a move would make every Russian citizen both a defender of the faith and a protector of the realm.
In light of the unparalleled implosion of the Biden Administration, there is a fourth possibility here. The Hollywood-level directors within the Khazarian Cabal are the absolute best at creating the most captivating distractions when they’re needed the most.
For example, the Khazarian perps just pulled off the Titan sub super psyop right as Special Counsel John Durham officially exposed the vast institutional corruption and brazen criminality throughout the FBI and DoJ. (FALSE FLAG TITANIC SUB PSYOP: It’s much more than you think!)
In short, there’s nothing the Khazarians won’t do to distract from their countless crime sprees against the American people; and to divert global attention away from their egregious crime waves committed against all of humanity. Really, is there any better distraction from the Khazarian’s Covid global depopulation scheme than a Russian civil war?!
Hence, the exact timing of this alleged military coup is way too suspicious to overlook as yet another HUGE act of fakery in a long line of fastidiously choreographed psyops to ‘distract, divert and misdirect”. For there could be no more effective weapon of mass distraction, particularly at this critical point of the Ukraine War, than a Russian military coup whether real or bogus.
Now, if you think those scenarios each complicate (or simplify) the whole Ukraine War situation, take a close look at this perceptive and potentially very prescient analysis.
Special Report: Emergency Situation as Prigozhin Goes Nuclear Option.
To be continued —
State of the Nation June 24, 2023