Russian military blogger Igor Girkin said the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, may face pressure from his inner circle to end the invasion of Ukraine. The blogger, who has played a key role in the conflict in Ukraine’s Donbass region since 2014, said it could lead to his removal from the presidency.
Igor Girkin said the rebellion by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigoshin, who seized military facilities in Rostov-on-Don and marched on Moscow, weakened the positions of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and succeeded by redistributing power. Moscow Regional Governor Andrei Vorobyov and Moscow City Mayor Sergey Sobyanin.
A group of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle known as the “Ozero (Lake) Cooperation” based in Leningrad Oblast wants to oust the president, Igor Girkin said. He claimed the group wanted to sabotage Russia’s military operations and defense industrial base and break control of the rear in the war, and would also target the Defense Ministry, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, and the FSB. Government structures.
What did think tank ISW say about the challenges facing Vladimir Putin?
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said there should be a sustained war effort in Ukraine and no freezing of lines. Igor Girk’s claims seek to paint the Wagner founder as a threat to Putin’s regime, “to encourage a tough Kremlin crackdown on Prigog and to discourage efforts to freeze the front in Ukraine,” the think tank said.
What did the expert say about Russia and Vladimir Putin’s leadership?
“The revolt exposed dissent and instability among Russia’s elite, including the military leadership and Putin’s own leadership, predicated on the idea that he is a guarantor of stability,” said Tom Roberts, assistant professor of Russian, East European and Eurasian studies at Smith College. “Putin’s actions since June 24 also seem to confirm this, as the president has been eager to demonstrate control of the armed forces and declare that national unity ensured the defeat of the insurgency.”