In June, the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC Wagner) declared a rebellion against the Russian government. How did it play out? Let’s find out.
Since way before the Russo-Ukrainian War started, tensions sprang up between the PMC Wagner and the Russian government, though it escalated throughout the war. This was mostly because PMC Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin constantly blamed the Russian Ministry of Defense for the mass killing of some of his troops. Finally, Prigozhin decided to rebel. On June 23, PMC Wagner paramilitary troops captured the city of Rostov-on-Don. Some sources report that the citizens of the city actually welcomed the PMC Wagner troops. Then they moved onto capturing Moscow. But when they got there, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko called a temporary truce and held a meeting with Prigozhin. There, Lukashenko was able to convince Prigozhin to withdraw his troops from both cities. This resulted in the “invasion” lasting only 2 days. Prigozhin went into exile in Belarus, and everything went back to 'normal' wartime life.
However, Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, is now coming under criticism for appearing as 'weak,' as he needed the Belarusian president to step in for the crisis to be averted.
By Mihir Gupta and Armaan Dhawan
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