Charles R. Davis
Tue, 27 June 2023
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia walk with demonstrators during a 2020 march in memory of murdered Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov in downtown Moscow. He suffered a life-threatening poisoning months later, in August 2020.
Tue, 27 June 2023
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his wife Yulia walk with demonstrators during a 2020 march in memory of murdered Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov in downtown Moscow. He suffered a life-threatening poisoning months later, in August 2020.
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said he first thought people were joking about the Wagner rebellion.
Navalny is currently in a Russian prison, accused of "terrorism" against the state.
"I thought it was some kind of new joke or Internet meme that hadn't reached me yet," he said.
The images out of Russia this past weekend were surreal. But for jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who faces the prospect of life in prison over what are widely seen as fabricated charges of "terrorism," the news that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had pulled out of Ukraine and was marching instead on the capital of Russia was literally a joke.
"I kept expecting someone to suddenly yell 'You got punk'd'!" Navalny wrote Tuesday in a series of posts on social media, recounting how he first heard the news from lawyers ahead of a recent court appearance. "So how did martial law go for you?" one attorney had asked him, according to Navalny, who gained notoriety in Russia by campaigning against official corruption. "I thought it was some kind of new joke or Internet meme that hadn't reached me yet."
The rebellion, led by a former ally of President Vladimir Putin, began just a day after Russia's highest court ruled that Navalny — convicted of "fraud" after returning to Russia following an apparently state-sponsored attempt on his life — could continue to be denied a pen and paper while behind bars. His social media missives are communicated to his legal team and posted by staff outside of Russia.
The irony of it all is not lost on Navalny, who on Tuesday noted that he stands "accused of forming an organization to overthrow President Putin by violent means," even as Prigozhin, whose mercenaries shot down more than a half-dozen Russian military aircraft on Saturday, killing service members, had the criminal case against him dropped within 48 hours of launching an armed insurrection, despite very publicly threatening the life of Russia's minister of defense, Sergei Shoigu.
"It was Putin personally who did this," Navalny said, noting that rebellion was led by an erstwhile ally and that Putin himself "pardoned all those convicts who were on their way to assassinate Shoigu and whoever else they wanted to kill."
The lesson, he continued, is that change in Russian cannot come through violent means — nor can stability be delivered by an autocrat — but rather through a commitment to free and fair elections. Russia's next presidential contest is scheduled for March 2024, even as Navalny faces the new charges that could extend his sentence by decades.
"It is not democracy, human rights and parliamentarism that make the regime weak and lead to turmoil. It is dictators and usurpation of power that lead to mess, weak government and chaos," Navalny said. "Always has been."
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said he first thought people were joking about the Wagner rebellion.
Navalny is currently in a Russian prison, accused of "terrorism" against the state.
"I thought it was some kind of new joke or Internet meme that hadn't reached me yet," he said.
The images out of Russia this past weekend were surreal. But for jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who faces the prospect of life in prison over what are widely seen as fabricated charges of "terrorism," the news that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had pulled out of Ukraine and was marching instead on the capital of Russia was literally a joke.
"I kept expecting someone to suddenly yell 'You got punk'd'!" Navalny wrote Tuesday in a series of posts on social media, recounting how he first heard the news from lawyers ahead of a recent court appearance. "So how did martial law go for you?" one attorney had asked him, according to Navalny, who gained notoriety in Russia by campaigning against official corruption. "I thought it was some kind of new joke or Internet meme that hadn't reached me yet."
The rebellion, led by a former ally of President Vladimir Putin, began just a day after Russia's highest court ruled that Navalny — convicted of "fraud" after returning to Russia following an apparently state-sponsored attempt on his life — could continue to be denied a pen and paper while behind bars. His social media missives are communicated to his legal team and posted by staff outside of Russia.
The irony of it all is not lost on Navalny, who on Tuesday noted that he stands "accused of forming an organization to overthrow President Putin by violent means," even as Prigozhin, whose mercenaries shot down more than a half-dozen Russian military aircraft on Saturday, killing service members, had the criminal case against him dropped within 48 hours of launching an armed insurrection, despite very publicly threatening the life of Russia's minister of defense, Sergei Shoigu.
"It was Putin personally who did this," Navalny said, noting that rebellion was led by an erstwhile ally and that Putin himself "pardoned all those convicts who were on their way to assassinate Shoigu and whoever else they wanted to kill."
The lesson, he continued, is that change in Russian cannot come through violent means — nor can stability be delivered by an autocrat — but rather through a commitment to free and fair elections. Russia's next presidential contest is scheduled for March 2024, even as Navalny faces the new charges that could extend his sentence by decades.
"It is not democracy, human rights and parliamentarism that make the regime weak and lead to turmoil. It is dictators and usurpation of power that lead to mess, weak government and chaos," Navalny said. "Always has been."
CONSIDERING HOW MANY INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES KNEW ABOUT IT WE CAN NOW CALL IT; A FALSE FLAG
British spies had ‘extremely detailed picture’ of Wagner’s mutiny plans
Joe Barnes
Tue, 27 June 2023
Yevgeny Prigozhin launched a shot-lived coup in Russia - AP
British officials had “an extremely detailed and accurate picture” of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny plans before his troops began to advance, according to reports.
The details were shared by US intelligence officials ahead of the short-lived insurrection, and contained information of where and how Wagner Group mercenaries planned to move.
Britain was one of the few allied countries to be handed the details, as Washington avoided circulating its reports to a wider group of Nato allies.
The intelligence, according to CNN, was kept so secret within the US that it was only briefed to the most senior officials and the so-called “Group of Eight” members of Congress, who have access to highly sensitive intelligence details.
“It was an extremely tight hold,” a source said.
The secrecy of the information was blamed for US and European officials being caught off guard when Prigozhin seized control of Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia before marching toward Moscow, other sources said.
Some Nato officials have expressed frustration that the intelligence was not shared in advance of the attempted mutiny, which eventually fizzled out after an agreement to end it.
Ukraine was also kept in the dark amid fears the information could be leaked to adversaries listening into calls between Washington and Kyiv.
Separately, Kyiv was urged not to launch strikes within Russia during the rebellion amid fears it could trigger an escalation in the conflict by Moscow, a Western official told CNN.
“The message was don’t rock the boat here,” the official said.
“Ukrainians were being cautioned by allies not to provoke the situation. Make hay of opportunities on Ukrainian territory but don’t get drawn into internal matters or strike at offensive military assets inside of Russia.”
After the attempted mutiny was launched, Joe Biden, the US president, was keen to stress that the US or other Nato allies had played no role in trying to oust Vladimir Putin’s most senior military officials.
Washington had been tracking Prigozhin’s mounting feud with the Russian defence ministry for many months.
Intelligence officials picked up information that his Wagner mercenaries were stockpiling weapons and ammunition leading up to the rebellion.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, a member of the Gang of Eight, said the mutiny “was almost hiding in plain sight”.
“Putin of 10 years ago would have never allowed this to play out the way it did,” he told CNN, adding that the Russian president is “clearly weakened” by the incident.
“The fact that you have a mercenary group, that I don’t think had a full 25,000 troops the way Prigozhin claimed, but was able to literally march into Rostov, a city of a million people which was the command and control for the whole Ukrainian war, and take it over with barely a shot fired – that is unprecedented, to say the least,” Mr Warner said.
Joe Barnes
Tue, 27 June 2023
Yevgeny Prigozhin launched a shot-lived coup in Russia - AP
British officials had “an extremely detailed and accurate picture” of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny plans before his troops began to advance, according to reports.
The details were shared by US intelligence officials ahead of the short-lived insurrection, and contained information of where and how Wagner Group mercenaries planned to move.
Britain was one of the few allied countries to be handed the details, as Washington avoided circulating its reports to a wider group of Nato allies.
The intelligence, according to CNN, was kept so secret within the US that it was only briefed to the most senior officials and the so-called “Group of Eight” members of Congress, who have access to highly sensitive intelligence details.
“It was an extremely tight hold,” a source said.
The secrecy of the information was blamed for US and European officials being caught off guard when Prigozhin seized control of Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia before marching toward Moscow, other sources said.
Some Nato officials have expressed frustration that the intelligence was not shared in advance of the attempted mutiny, which eventually fizzled out after an agreement to end it.
Ukraine was also kept in the dark amid fears the information could be leaked to adversaries listening into calls between Washington and Kyiv.
Separately, Kyiv was urged not to launch strikes within Russia during the rebellion amid fears it could trigger an escalation in the conflict by Moscow, a Western official told CNN.
“The message was don’t rock the boat here,” the official said.
“Ukrainians were being cautioned by allies not to provoke the situation. Make hay of opportunities on Ukrainian territory but don’t get drawn into internal matters or strike at offensive military assets inside of Russia.”
After the attempted mutiny was launched, Joe Biden, the US president, was keen to stress that the US or other Nato allies had played no role in trying to oust Vladimir Putin’s most senior military officials.
Washington had been tracking Prigozhin’s mounting feud with the Russian defence ministry for many months.
Intelligence officials picked up information that his Wagner mercenaries were stockpiling weapons and ammunition leading up to the rebellion.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, a member of the Gang of Eight, said the mutiny “was almost hiding in plain sight”.
“Putin of 10 years ago would have never allowed this to play out the way it did,” he told CNN, adding that the Russian president is “clearly weakened” by the incident.
“The fact that you have a mercenary group, that I don’t think had a full 25,000 troops the way Prigozhin claimed, but was able to literally march into Rostov, a city of a million people which was the command and control for the whole Ukrainian war, and take it over with barely a shot fired – that is unprecedented, to say the least,” Mr Warner said.
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