Back to Normal: What’s Going on in Moscow & Beyond After Wagner’s Aborted Mutiny Gamble?
14:39 GMT 26.06.2023 (Updated: 14:57 GMT 26.06.2023)
© Sputnik / Mikhail Voskresensky
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An armed mutiny plot staged over the weekend by PMC Wagner ended up being aborted, and now life is returning to normal in and around Moscow, as well as the other Russian regions, where temporary restrictive measures were in place. So what is precisely happening? Sputnik has all the details.
No More Counter-Terror Regime in Moscow
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced on Monday that he was cancelling a counter-terrorism regime imposed in the Russian capital amid the Wagner private military company (PMC)’s aborted mutiny plot late last week.
The Federal Security Service (FSB), for its part, said that similar regimes had been canceled in the Moscow and Voronezh regions, with the country’s National Anti-Terror Committee separately stating that the situation in the country is "stable".
On Saturday, the committee stated that the counter-terror regime had been introduced in the Russian capital, as well as the Moscow and Voronezh regions “in order to thwart potential terror attacks."
24 June 2023, 07:07 GMT
The regime, which has been introduced for the first time, stipulated a whole array of measures and temporary restrictions, such as conducting identity checks, exercising control of phone calls, suspending hazardous production facilities, and restricting traffic of transport means and pedestrians on streets.
Russian PM Praises Government's Work
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has, meanwhile, heaped praise on the work of the Cabinet of Ministers during Wagner’s armed mutiny plot.
He underscored that all members of the government were at their workstations on the day and acted in a coordinated manner to stabilize the situation.
“These days, the country faced another challenge as an attempt was made to destabilize the internal situation in Russia. Under the leadership of the president, the government maintained stability at all levels in order to prevent aggravation of the situation and protect citizens from all emerging possible threats," Mishustin pointed out.
He stressed that "under these conditions, the main thing is to ensure the sovereignty and independence of our country, as well as the security and well-being of citizens."
"For this to happen, the consolidation of the whole society is especially important. We need to act together as one team and maintain the unity of all forces, rallying around the president and making well-considered joint decisions to effectively fulfill the tasks set by the head of state," the Russian prime minister said.
Mishustin also noted that Russia is now going through an important period in its history, adding that "Practically the entire military, economic, and information machine of the West is directed against us.”
“In fact, there is a struggle for the right to choose our own path, something that is based on national interests for the benefit of our people," he concluded.
Damaged Roads to Be Restored
In a separate development, Mishustin instructed Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin to keep an eye on the work to restore some roads that were damaged as a result of PMC Wagner’s aborted mutiny plot.
“Marat Shakirzyanovich, please take control of the restoration of road facilities, respectively. I know that you are already dealing with doing this,” the Russian prime minister added.
The authorities of a number of Russian regions earlier gave orders to dig up sections of the main roads to impede the movement of Wagner's military columns. Rostov-on-Don Mayor Alexey Logvinenko, for his part, reported that PMC Wagner tanks had damaged 10,000 square meters of the roadway in his city and promised to repair the roads in two days.
Shoigu Visits Battleground Command Post
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has inspected Battlegroup Zapad's frontline command post, ordering commanders to continue reconnaissance to uncover and suppress enemy plans, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) said in a statement on Monday.
"In the course of work in the special military operation zone […] Shoigu checked the forward command post of one of the formations of Battlegroup Zapad's Forces. At the command post, the head of the Russian military department heard a report… on the current situation, the nature of the enemy’s actions and the performance of combat missions by Russian troops in the main tactical directions," the MoD added.
According to the statement, Shoigu spotlighted the battlegroup's effectiveness in pinpointing and destroying military equipment and concentrations of enemy personnel in the tactical areas of the Zapad formation’s area of responsibility.
"The commanders of Battlegroup Zapad's Forces were tasked with continuing active reconnaissance in order to reveal the enemy's plans in advance and prevent their implementation on the distant approaches to the line of contact," the MoD said.
24 June 2023, 11:36 GMT
The statement comes as Russian troops successfully repulsed an array of attacks staged by the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) who tried to resume their counteroffensive in the Donetsk, Krasny Liman and Yuzhny Donetsk directions, as per the MoD.
In the Krasny Liman direction, units of the Russian Tsentr (Center) battlegroup used aviation, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems to defeat the UAF’s 21st and the 63rd Mechanized Brigades, the MoD said.
The ministry added that over the past twenty four hours, Russian troops have destroyed more than 90 Ukrainian soldiers, three armored combat vehicles, five pickup trucks, an Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system and a D-30 howitzer.
What Happened Last Weekend
On Friday, PMC Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian military of conducting a strike against a Wagner camp, even though the country’s Ministry of Defense denied his allegations.
Shortly after, the PMC chief announced that after consulting, the council of Wagner commanders had made the decision to "stop" the "evil" being "carried by the military leadership of the country," warning that he and his 25,000 men would go to Moscow to "sort out" what happened to their comrades killed in the missile attack. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) opened a criminal case against Prigozhin for inciting armed mutiny.
The Defense Ministry in turn said in a statement at the time that "all messages and videos distributed on social media on behalf of Prigozhin about alleged ‘strikes by the Russian Defense Ministry on rear camps of PMC Wagner’ do not correspond to reality and are an informational provocation."
In the early hours of Saturday, a contingent of Wagner forces seized control of several administrative buildings in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and kicked off an advance on Moscow to "sort out" the Russian Defense Ministry’s top brass over what Prigozhin described as a purported missile attack on Wagner positions.
In the June 24 televised address to the nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, stressed that at a time when "the entire military, economic and informational machine of the West" was directed against Russia, Wagner's mutiny constituted a "knife in the back of our country and our people," and that the situation threatened to result in a repeat of the political and civil strife that Russia experienced in the first part of the 20th century.
Putin described the actions of PMC Wagner as an armed mutiny and treason, pledging tough measures against the insurgents.
24 June 2023, 21:29 GMT
Also on Saturday, Belarus' Security Council issued a statement expressing concerns about the situation involving Prigozhin and his conflict with the Russian military's leadership, warning that "any provocation" would prove a "gift to the collective West" and stressing that Minsk was and will always remain Russia's ally.
The situation finally de-escalated later on Saturday, when Minsk said that Prigozhin had accepted Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's proposal to stop the movement of Wagner troops in Russia. Belarusian media cited the presidential press office that the Wagner chief had agreed during negotiations mediated by Lukashenko that "unleashing a bloody massacre on Russian territory" would be "inadmissible."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov then told reporters that the criminal case against Prigozhin would be lifted and that he would leave for Belarus under guarantees given by Putin.
