As of June 23, the founder of the Wagner military company Yevgeny Prigozhin is on the verge of ordering his fighters to march on Moscow to oust the defense minister after months of mounting tensions, The Moscow Times reported.
Meanwhile, in the imposing building of the State Duma, a few hundred meters from the Kremlin, a seemingly unremarkable event is unfolding, which almost turned into an unprecedented political scandal, reports “Focus”.
Around 17:00 Moscow time, several dozen people gathered at a round table in the small hall of the Russian Parliament.
Putin made revelations about Prigozhin’s death
Sergei Mironov, head of the Just Russia party and a longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin, opened the meeting with a pre-recorded video message, which was followed by speeches from several other lawmakers and officials.
They criticized Moscow’s lack of support for the mobilized and volunteer soldiers fighting in Ukraine, proposing the introduction of government bonds and a state monopoly on alcohol to increase funding for the army.
Prigozhin had secretly planned to attend this session to deliver a scathing critique of the Russian military leadership from the State Duma rostrum in a last-ditch effort to win back Putin’s approval, but his plans changed at the last minute.
These plans were disclosed on condition of anonymity by a person familiar with Prigozhin’s actions and by a source in the State Duma. A person close to the leadership of the Just Russia party confirmed that “he was going to expose the whole range of problems with the special military operation, with the Ministry of Defense, the real number of casualties among our fighters, etc. The whole shit work, actually. His aides were preparing his visit.”
Prigozhin considered him a traitor, Putin nominated him as his successor
“>Prigozhin considered him a traitor, Putin nominated him as his successor
As Prigozhin’s conflict with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov reached its peak, the informal influence that had always been one of his strengths disappeared. The head of “Wagner” is deprived of the opportunity to personally discuss and solve problems with the Kremlin and the government and loses his access to Putin.
“Even those offices where he could literally kick the door open were off-limits to him,” a government source told The Moscow Times.
“The word, although he does not make such decisions, seemed to him in a sense an opportunity to jump on the last carriage of the departing train,” says a person close to the leadership of the United Russia party.
Prigogine visited the State Duma in the spring to request permission to speak from the rostrum. However, the Speaker of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, rejected his request.
“Volodin rejected this because there was a Kremlin ban on any activity by ‘Putin’s cook,'” a Duma source told The Moscow Times.
It was then decided to organize Prigozhin’s presentation with the help of his allies from the Just Russia party.
He should have entered the Duma at the invitation of a deputy. The possibility of being accompanied by a gen. Sergey Surovikin to make his address more convincing.
“Prigozhin needed a high-status official platform with the Russian hierarchy. According to his plan, in this case his uncensored statements would definitely be brought and placed directly on Putin’s desk,” the source told The Moscow Times.
On June 22, the day before the scheduled speech, Prigozhin’s participation in the round table meeting was canceled without explanation, and a few hours later he announced his march to Moscow.
Source: Focus
2023-11-23 17:47:55
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