Wagner chief Prigozhin appears in first video since Russian mutiny

MicroWave@lemm.ee to World News@lemmy.world – 105 points – Wagner chief Prigozhin appears in first video since Russian mutiny
nbcnews.com

In a brief video shared by Russian social media channels, a person who appears to be the exiled mercenary chief says he is recruiting “real strong men.”

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How many strongholds did he storm before taking that pic? 2? Maybe 3?

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Vowing to make Africa “more free” and “Russia even greater on every continent,” a person who appears to be Prigozhin hints at his location in the 41-second clip, which was published by several Telegram channels affiliated with Wagner on Monday.

The U.S. government and human rights groups have accused Prigozhin’s mercenary force of committing atrocities on the continent and of exploiting countries’ gold and diamond mines in return for military support.

On June 23, Prigozhin led his Wagner fighters to capture the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and threatened to march on Moscow before standing down after an alleged deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Although Vladimir Putin called Wagner’s rebellion treason and a criminal investigation was initially launched, it does not appear that Prigozhin is facing charges or any real punishment for his stunning challenge to the Russian president’s authority.

Putin praised the Russian military for stopping Prigozhin’s forces and averting a “civil war,” while the mercenary chief has been battered by the Kremlin’s propaganda as a self-centered traitor, exposing his lavish style.

In them, he claimed that he never meant to topple the Putin regime, but that he was motivated by the desire to preserve his mercenary force — a marked departure for a man who used to dominate Russian social media space with almost daily video and audio messages from the front lines in Ukraine often laced with profanities.

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Is it real? Is he actually still alive?

It makes sense. He is the “manager” of Russian operations in Africa, whether those are mining or military oriented. Prigozhin has established a lot of connections there, ranging from warlords to politicians, and plenty of leaders are quite pleased with Russia. The Wagner group function as bodyguards for aforementioned leaders and help with “peacekeeping” creating a dependency that can be exploited in exchange for natural resources and political influence. His defenestration would do little to mitigate the Kremlin’s perceived vulnerability after the coup attempt, while being an enormous setback to their recent expansion.

EDIT: I was wrong, it seems that has become useless in the end

I agree with most of what you said. Wagner provides contract security support for African dictators, often aligning with the Kremlin's interests. But

His defenestration would do little to mitigate the Kremlin’s perceived vulnerability after the coup attempt

I think taking him out dissuades other dissidents. Why let him live?

Is Putin too weak to take him out because Prigozhin has popular support from ultra-nationalists? Was the whole thing a farce to expose actual traitors?

Put it this way, Lavrov was on the phone to DRCongo within days of the coup to reassure Touadera that it would be business as usual.