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#Prigozhinhelpus...Russians under siege trust the Wagner guy more than Putin
Link to tweet
?s=61&t=EcvWMxA1syxTf8zqNwq-IA
“The situation in Shebekino is bad,” Sergei Apanasenko, a resident, told the Guardian. “I have evacuated 20 people since last week. There is a feeling that people are forgotten and the authorities aren’t helping with evacuations. We have to do everything ourselves.”
…Inside the city, locals have grown so desperate that many are beginning to call for Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Putin-connected warlord, to take over its defence. “Shebekino is destroyed. It feels like Moscow has forgotten that Shebekino is Russia. We would like for Prigozhin to come and help us,” Evgeny, a local who had also shared a post saying #Prigozhinhelpus, told the Guardian.
Prigozhin has increasingly thumbed his nose at the military leadership, ridiculing them for failing to stop last week’s drone attacks against Moscow and for a recent video of the purported destruction of a Leopard tank that he said looked more like a Ukrainian combine harvester. In the biggest sign of a schism, Wagner troops beat and humiliated a serving Russian officer in command of the 72nd Brigade for allegedly ordering his soldiers to fire on a Wagner convoy. The rifts in Russia’s war machine have grown as Wagner has pulled out of positions in Bakhmut after spending eight months to take the city, leaving regular troops to guard the frontlines while his mercenaries may seek to avoid the opening blows of Ukraine’s coming counteroffensive.
“The Russian army will now be properly tested, they won’t be able to hide behind Wagner like they did in Bakhmut,” said Marat Gabidullin, a former Wagner mercenary who knows Prigozhin. He has written a memoir about his time in the paramilitary organisation. “Prigozhin has built a very strong personal brand. He has positioned himself as the leader of the silent majority that isn’t heard. Many trust him more than the defence ministry. They see Prigozhin as their saviour.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/07/chaos-on-frontlines-as-ukraine-war-threatens-to-come-home-for-russia?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
…Inside the city, locals have grown so desperate that many are beginning to call for Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Putin-connected warlord, to take over its defence. “Shebekino is destroyed. It feels like Moscow has forgotten that Shebekino is Russia. We would like for Prigozhin to come and help us,” Evgeny, a local who had also shared a post saying #Prigozhinhelpus, told the Guardian.
Prigozhin has increasingly thumbed his nose at the military leadership, ridiculing them for failing to stop last week’s drone attacks against Moscow and for a recent video of the purported destruction of a Leopard tank that he said looked more like a Ukrainian combine harvester. In the biggest sign of a schism, Wagner troops beat and humiliated a serving Russian officer in command of the 72nd Brigade for allegedly ordering his soldiers to fire on a Wagner convoy. The rifts in Russia’s war machine have grown as Wagner has pulled out of positions in Bakhmut after spending eight months to take the city, leaving regular troops to guard the frontlines while his mercenaries may seek to avoid the opening blows of Ukraine’s coming counteroffensive.
“The Russian army will now be properly tested, they won’t be able to hide behind Wagner like they did in Bakhmut,” said Marat Gabidullin, a former Wagner mercenary who knows Prigozhin. He has written a memoir about his time in the paramilitary organisation. “Prigozhin has built a very strong personal brand. He has positioned himself as the leader of the silent majority that isn’t heard. Many trust him more than the defence ministry. They see Prigozhin as their saviour.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/07/chaos-on-frontlines-as-ukraine-war-threatens-to-come-home-for-russia?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
1 replies
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