I was in the top echelon of a significant militant organization until 1997, therefore I am familiar with their organizational structures, psychological tendencies, corruption, and general lack of knowledge. This is the reason why I never became a part of it after I separated from it in 1997 at the age of 27. Certainly, I have witnessed some really foolish leaders of militant groups. Even seen a grocer as the head of a militant group, but I haven’t come across somebody as stupid as Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Wagner Group currently employs between 5,000 and 6,000 people in total. And it is sheer idiocy to start a rebellion against a Russian state that is destroying the entire West in Ukraine. Russia has established a front line of three defensive lines. The Ukrainian troops have been striking in massive numbers for the past three weeks, but they have not even been able to reach the Russian army’s first line of defense. Russia has destroyed 280 Ukrainian tanks in just those three weeks. You don’t have to count the armed vehicles and trucks. Over 14,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed so far in the so-called Ukrainian offensive.
The reality is that Russian President Vladimir Putin has demonstrated greater stupidity than Prigozhin. It was a terrible mistake to arm a private military group with heavy weapons. When you consider whether the leader of this organization is creating his idol on his own, he should have been frightened, but he wasn’t. This was not the end of the issue. At that point, Prigozhin began posting videos critcizing the Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu. Yevgeny Prigozhin should have been arrested then but they chose not to.
Armies all across the world are armed with lethal weapons. Nuclear weapons are present in seven countries. But neither the people nor the government have ever been attacked with these weapons, why? Because, these soldiers have very sophisticated training. It incorporates a lot of psychological training in addition to teaching combat techniques and the use of weapons. Additionally, the army’s command and control system is impregnable. Weapons are only utilized against the adversary when you have a high level of training and order.
However, if the training lasts for four to six months, and majority of this training is focused on using firearms. It is like giving a razor to a monkey because there is no psychological training, no discipline, and no lesson.
Vladimir Putin himself would have guessed this watching those videos, where there were scenes of Wagner’s convoy of trawlers bearing tanks making its way into Moscow. The fact that the tanks on trucks are useless and can only be targeted gives an indication of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s idiocy. Putin chose bloodshed as the final resort even though the Russian Air Force could have easily taken them out.
Wagner had peacefully taken the border city of Rostov-on-Don before marching on Moscow. The Russian troops was told not to engage when Wagner invaded that area. Putin then gave the command for the Chechen troops to besiege Rostov after Wagner’s portion of the corps left for Moscow. The Chechens encircled Rostov in the hours that followed.
Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, contacted Wagner head Prigozhin while his convoy was 200 km from Moscow and told him to surrender. The potential repercussions of Prigozhin rejecting the offer must have been discussed by Lukashenko with him. Without a doubt, Putin would not have permitted anyone to travel to Moscow. Wanger would have been wiped out on the road to Moscow. Taking out a few thousands mercenaries really isn’t a problem for a super power. Thank goodness that the man who lost control after Bakhmut’s triumph abandoned his plan to seize Moscow. The Wagner Group will now be integrated into the Russian military, and Prigozhin will live out the rest of his days in Belarus.
When Prigozhin made U-turn 200 kilometers from Moscow, the Western media went into mourning. They spent the entire day salivating while fabricating news that Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, and Vladimir Putin had both fled their respective capitals.
It’s remarkable that for 25 years, Western media documentaries have led the world to believe that the President Vladimir Putin possesses great power. Nobody in Russia is willing to criticize him. After Wagner’s speech, the media, forgetting their own propaganda of yesteryears, was persuaded by retired American generals saying that that President Vladimir Putin is not a powerful man.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president of Turkey, is the first foreign leader to emerge throughout the crisis as a prudent man. Putin received a call from Erdoğan assuring him of Turkey’s support. Of course, this move amounted to rubbing salt in the wounds of the West considering Turkey being a member of NATO. However, Tayyip Erdoğan could not have forgotten Putin’s generosity given that he was instrumental in defeating Turkish military’s coup against Erdoğan. The same applies to Lukashenko. America and other Western nations attempted to recreate the history of Ukraine in Belarus in 2020. President Putin also helped Lukashenko defeat the so-called orange revolution. Additionally, Belarus has now received nuclear weapons from President Putin.
Both Russians and the rest of the world can learn a lot from this crisis. In the 20th century, the United States and Russia were the first nations to use private military companies; other nations quickly followed. These groups are widely used as foreign policy tools. However, the lesson from the Russian incident is that banning private military contractors is necessary now to prevent a worse tragedy in the future. (Concluded)
