The justification for this rebellion appeared urgent and spontaneous an apparent air strike on a Wagner camp in the forest, which the Russian Ministry of Defence has denied appeared hours after a dissection of the rationale behind the war by Prigozhin, CNN reported.
He partially spoke the truth about the war's disastrous beginnings: Russia was not under threat from NATO attack, and Russians were not being persecuted. The one deceit he maintained was to suggest Russia's top brass was behind the invasion plan, and not Putin himself. Wagner's forces have pulled themselves together very fast and moved quickly into Rostov. That's hard to do spontaneously in one afternoon, CNN reported.
Perhaps Prigozhin dreamt he could push Putin into a change at the top of a ministry of defence the Wagner chief has publicly berated for months. But Putin's address on Saturday morning has eradicated that prospect.
This is now an existential choice for Russia's elite between the president's faltering regime, and the dark, mercenary Frankenstein it created to do its dirty work, which has turned on its masters, as per CNN.
It is a moment of clarity for Russia's military too. A few years ago, Prigozhin's mild critiques would have led to elite special forces in balaclavas walking him away. But now he roams freely, with his sights openly on marching to Moscow.
