On Friday, Evgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian private military company Wagner Group, claimed that senior Russian commanders were traitors and demanded the prosecution of Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov, the chair of the general staff.
Later in the day, Prigozhin claimed that the Russian military had attacked Wagner reserve positions. Prigozhin announced that forces loyal to him were moving towards the city of Rostov-on-Don. From all indications, Moscow appears to be their final destination.
Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin delivered a somber address to the nation and to the participants of the alleged insurgency at approximately 9pm HST (video with translation above from Sputnik News).
Addendum: The attempted insurgency was aborted early Saturday when Prigozihn agreed to “stand down.” The root of the political theater supposedly was the new requirements of the Russian Ministry of Defense for private military contractors (PMCs) effective July 1st. All criminal charges against Prigozihn were dropped, and he was given “safe passage” to Belarus. Everyone lived happily ever after.
Postscript: There have been a lot of anomalies about the events that transpired in the past two days. Something is afoot in Moscow. Maskirovka, you think? The Simplicius “blog” offers several compelling scenarios.
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