Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenaries took over a military barracks and marched towards Moscow, but they called off their mutiny after a few hours.
It has been a year since mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin mounted his brief armed rebellion in Russia, directly challenging the Government of Vladimir Putin.
He leader of the Wagner Groupsponsored by the Kremlin, seized a military barracks in the south and began marching towards Moscow to overthrow the leaders of the Ministry of Defense.
For months in 2023, Prigozhin complained bitterly that military commanders denied their forces ammunition which, according to him, was in short supply in Ukraine. In an open political internal struggle, he lashed out at then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of the General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, in profane insults on social media, blaming them for military setbacks and accusing them of corruption.
The order of the Ministry of Defense that Wagner will sign contracts with the regular military seemed to be the final trigger for the Prigozhin rebellion on June 23 and 24, 2023.
His mercenaries quickly seized the southern Russian headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, apparently hoping to capture Shoigu and Gerasimov. But they weren’t there.
Prigozhin ordered his forces to advance towards Moscow, stating that It was not a military coup, but a “march of justice” to overthrow his enemies. The mercenaries shot down several military planes en route, killing more than a dozen pilots. Moscow’s security forces were put on alert and checkpoints were established on the southern periphery.
At the height of the crisis, Putin went on television and called his former protégé’s rebellion “betrayal”. He promised to punish those responsible.
But Prigozhin abruptly aborted the march hours later in an amnesty deal reportedly brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Mercenary forces were offered the option to move to Belarusrwithdraw from service o sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Prigozhin later stated that had started the uprising after “losing his temper” in internal struggles with his enemies. Some commentators claim that he apparently hoped to convince Putin to side with him vis-à-vis the military leadership.
Prigozhin dies in plane crash
Two months after the rebellion, a business plane carrying Prigozhin and his top collaborators crashed while flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg, causing the death of all seven passengers and three crew members.
State investigators have not yet explained the cause of the accident.
A preliminary assessment by US intelligence services concluded that there was an intentional explosion on board. Western officials pointed to a long list of Putin’s enemies who have been killed.
The Kremlin has denied its involvement and rejected the accusations that Putin was behind it as an “absolute lie.”
Prigozhin was buried in his hometown of St. Petersburg in a private ceremony.
