Russia has exposed its underbelly yet again. The centrepiece of the Communist empire, which stood on its own after the disintegration of the USSR in 1991, is today a picture of absolute chaos. President Vladimir Putin narrowly averted a situation of capture of capital Moscow by his one-time protégé and chef-turned businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. Prigozhin’s private military labelled Wagner reached less than 200km close to Moscow when the president of Belarus republic – which was formerly a part of the USSR – intervened and persuaded him to abandon the march to the seats of power.
The exit of Prigozhin from Russia as per a temporary truce with President Putin is by no means an end to the chaos. Prigozhin was trying to exploit a situation of the people’s growing anger against Putin, the dictator who started as a spy and then ruled Russia for about 25 years with brute force and absolute control. As a former Putin aide said, this could as well be the “beginning of the end” for the President. Putin was all-powerful until 16 months ago. His infamous undoing being that he set his sights on Ukraine — a former USSR province, like Belarus – where its president Zelensky, with generous Western military aid, effectively countered Putin. Now, with the private military that Putin majorly used to wage the (losing) war in Ukraine having turned against the “corrupt” Russian military and against Putin himself, the Russian dictator is set to suffer more reverses on the Ukrainian warfront as also domestically. Prigozhin’s main charges against the Russian military was that its “wrong” policies, pushes and actions were making his private army sitting ducks on the Ukrainian war front. Large numbers of casualties were inflicted on the Wagner private army too by reckless bombings in Ukraine by Russian fighter jets. The private army is said to be more efficient in enemy combat compared to the Russian military’s ground forces. It comprised hard-core criminals, militia, released from Russian jails, as also army deserters from nations like Syria.
The private military’s brutality is more compared to the normal army that can do fighting only in forms approved under international laws of warfare. This gave Wagner, equipped with military weapons, the extra edge. While Wagner’s chief has exited from Russia to Belarus, the fate of his private army of mercenaries is not clear yet. They can be trusted to add to the present chaos inside Russia. Putin himself is ailing, sometimes ‘not in his senses’ and the military generals are said to be guiding him the wrong way. Prima facie, the conditions are tailor-made for further disaster for Russia.
