We use cookies on this website. By continuing to use this site without changing your cookie settings, you agree that you are happy to accept our privacy policy and for us to access our cookies on your device.
Kremlin Fights to Salvage Putin’s Image after Wagner Mutiny
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/ScriptUSAGM SHARE
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: RUSSIA WAGNER
HEADLINE: Kremlin Fights to Salvage Putin’s Image after Wagner Mutiny
TEASER: Brief rebellion leaves big questions about the direction of Russia’s operations in Ukraine - Putin’s political future
PUBLISHED AT: 6/26/23 at 11:50am
BYLINE: VOA Moscow Bureau
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Moscow
VIDEOGRAPHER: Ricardo Marquina, Agency
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: LR, DLJ
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA Original, REUTERS
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 2:53
VID APPROVED BY: MAS
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((INTRO)) [[Russia experienced the most serious threat to the state in decades when the mercenary Wagner group mutinied, and its leader threatened to storm Moscow and remove President Vladimir Putin from power. The episode was brief, lasting fewer than 24 hours, but leaves big questions about the direction of Russia’s operations in Ukraine and of Putin’s political future. Jonathan Spier narrates this report from the VOA Moscow Bureau.]]
((NARRATOR))
Wagner mercenary troops occupied the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Saturday for about 12 hours, encountering little resistance as they seized the local military headquarters.
Now, after an agreement with the Kremlin, they will return to their bases in the territory that Russia occupies in Ukraine with promises of no retribution.
The group’s leader, Yevgueni Prigozhin, is going into exile in Belarus under the auspices of President Alexander Lukashenko, a Putin ally.
The Wagner mutiny threatened the Russian capital and prompted harsh words from Putin to against its perpetrators in an address to the nation.
((Vladimir Putin, Russian President - MALE, IN RUSSIAN, REUTERS))
“What we’re facing is exactly internal betrayal. Extraordinary ambitions and personal interests led to treason. Treason of their own country and people and of the case that fighters of Wagner were dying for alongside our soldiers.”
[[RADIO VERSION: The Russian leader said what his government is facing now is treason and what he described as unreasonable ambitions and personal interests of the mutineers that lead to treachery, treason, and betrayal of the Russian people.”]]
((NARRATOR))
Russian officials have flooded the media with assurances that Putin emerged stronger from this short crisis. But international observers say on the contrary, the Russian leader’s weaknesses have been irreversibly exposed.
[[RADIO VERSION: Keir Giles is a senior consulting fellow on the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House in London.]]
((Keir Giles, Chatham House – MALE IN ENGLISH]] ((Mandatory courtesy: Keir Giles))
“This destroys the myth that Putin has cultivated so hard of being completely in control and having a firm grip of power throughout the country. That is plainly no longer the case. And the Prigozhin incident sets an extremely dangerous precedent for power in Russia. Once other people see that this can be done and it can be survived, there will be other challenges.”
((NARRATOR))
Now the Russian authorities are working to cover up the tracks of the Wagner Group, which until last week was praised by Kremlin propaganda.
Prigozhin has challenged Moscow’s narrative, speaking of the precarious situation of the Russian army in Ukraine -- one of the reasons why, Prigozhin says, he launched the mutiny.
((Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner Group Leader MALE, IN RUSSIAN, REUTERS))
“We have daily losses of up to 1,000 people. This includes those killed, those missing and those injured and those who are refusing - who don't want to fight: not because they are cowards but because they have no choice, no weapons supplies, no command structure."
[[RADIO VERSION: Prigozhin says the Russian side has had daily losses of up to one thousand people. This, he says, includes those killed, those missing, and those injured who are refusing to fight. Not because they are cowards – he says – but because they have no choice, no weapons, no supplies, and no command structure.]]
((NARRATOR))
Observers believe that whatever deal Putin has made with Prigozhin, a dark future awaits the mercenary leader.
[[RADIO VERSION: Keir Giles of Chatham House.]]
((Keir Giles, Chatham House – MALE IN ENGLISH]] ((Mandatory courtesy: Keir Giles))
“Whatever happens, for the rest of his life he will be a man looking over his shoulder because he will now be “a marked man.” He has challenged power in Russia and so far, survived. The question is for how long?”
((NARRATOR))
Calm has returned, at least for the moment, to the streets in Russia, but after the acute crisis last weekend, analysts say the events of the last few days may be a precursor to something bigger.
((For the VOA Moscow Bureau, Jonathan Spier, VOA News))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media