"Facing a military revolt": Is the end of Putin's rule in Russia near?

Russia-Ukraine war: former security service man, and who served as the commander of the armed forces of the People's Republic of Donetsk, Igor Girkin , warned today (Saturday) that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin , is facing a "military revolt". The former close associate of Putin, and who recently voiced quite a bit of criticism of him, emphasized that the rebellion could come from the armed militia "Wagner Group", headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin .

In a post he wrote on his Telegram account, Gorkin referred to the call to withdraw units from the front, for the purpose of reorganizing, without the consent of the High Command, and emphasized that it was a rebellion. He also claimed that "Prygozhin is aware that the withdrawal of his troops could lead to catastrophic results for Russia in preparation for Ukraine's counterattack, which is expected to take place this spring. The West, including the United States, provided the Ukrainian forces with advanced military equipment, tanks and artillery." Gorkin added that Prigozhin warned against moving his troops in a letter sent to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

The "Wagner" group in the war in Ukraine (Photo: Vertical)

Gorkin, who was accused by a number of human rights organizations of a flagrant violation of human rights, added that " Prygozhin previously spoke out harshly against the Russian command and the army as a whole. Since the rumors about his political ambitions, damage has been done to Wagner's power and the ability to achieve victory in Ukraine." This, after the Reuters news agency reported last night that Prizhozin again criticized the Russian command, accusing the Ministry of Defense of not supporting the Wagner force on the battlefield.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, who heads Russia's mercenary force "The Wagner Group", is gaining popularity in Russia, and some have already marked him as Putin's successor . CNN recently noted that "it's really interesting, it's the hottest topic of conversation in Moscow. After 22 years of Putin's rule, there is now a man who still claims to be a supporter of Putin, but he may have the ability to challenge Putin and he has already managed to gather supporters around him . He is seen as a hero for a large part of the fascist and illiberal part of Russian society."

The Russian businessman also recently spoke out publicly against President Putin, saying that "Moscow's monstrous bureaucracy is to blame for slowing down military achievements and it may take months until the city of Akhmat is conquered." According to Prigozhin, the conquest of the city of Akhmat is delayed, "to conquer it, you have to cut all the supply routes, this is a significant task, the progress is not as fast as we would like." Prigozhin added that "there are a huge number of problems that need to be solved, of course it also depends on the number of losses on our side. However, we must also recognize the successes of the enemy, there is indeed a regular Russian army here and the Ukrainians have accurate artillery."