As of sunset in Moscow on Saturday, June 26, 2023, the British 24-hour news network TalkTV is reporting that the Wagner armed columns roughly 50 miles south of Moscow have supposedly ceased their coup attempt.
As seen in the video below, TalkTV is citing that some sort of deal has been struck for the Wagner mercenaries to head back to their bases in the east of Russian-occupied of Ukraine.
Nonetheless, TalkTV is also noting that this may all just be a ruse by the Wagner Group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, perhaps in a move to consolidate his forces as night falls (Moscow is seven hours ahead of the US Eastern Time Zone).
As anyone who’s ever been in a war zone knows, “initial reports” are usually wrong.
If the first reports are true, Prigozhin’s a marked man. No way in hell Putin will ever let this slide.
If Prigozhin is really using the next 12-hours of night to actually muscle-up before marching on Moscow, then Russia is now the world’s most dangerous wild card. Don’t forget… Russia has more nukes than the United States does.
Just me, but I’m guessing the only winner to come out of this is Ukraine. Let’s be honest, Wagner is the only Russian force to actually chalk-up any wins. But then again, if Russia starts slinging nukes everywhere in the region, all bets are off.
In the last 12-hours, here are just a handful of headlines illustrating how fast the situation is changing on the ground;
New York Post – Vladimir Putin reportedly flees Moscow as Wagner forces advance in Russia
CNN – Prigozhin says Russian military are joining Wagner as they greet their convoy
Washington Examiner – Russia coup: Moscow mayor declares Monday a non-work day as Wagner forces advance toward city
In the meantime, a number of sources are posting some rather interesting posts and photos to Twitter;
Map from Rybar telegram channel. Top left corner shows the Oka river (blue line south of Moscow) which the channel says is going to be the fortification line as Wagner heads north pic.twitter.com/gVWFmLPCMK
— Polina Ivanova (@polinaivanovva) June 24, 2023
A machine gun nest on Moscow’s ring road.
The weirdest part is this is being reported by RIA Novosti—state news are not pretending that nothings going on pic.twitter.com/kOHPAyv2rB— Alec Luhn (@AlecLuhn) June 24, 2023
MOSCOW, June 24 (Reuters) – Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Saturday asked people to refrain from trips around the city as far as possible given a counter-terrorism operation had been declared and said the situation was “difficult.”
— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) June 24, 2023
Local authorities have apparently resorted to digging up roads to try to stop the Wagner advance on Moscow. This near Chaplygin, Lipetsk region pic.twitter.com/jjEn7L9SLP
— Alec Luhn (@AlecLuhn) June 24, 2023
