“For several days now, investigators and representatives of the FSO (Federal Guard Service or Federal Protective Service) have been working both on the leadership of military command and control bodies and on unit commanders,” Rybar claimed. One popular blogger going by the name Rybar wrote Wednesday that a purge was already underway and had affected mid-level commanders who had declined to shoot at Wagner columns where civilians might get hurt. Some Russian military bloggers with substantial followings expect a serious reshuffle of the military in the light of the Wagner uprising, and perhaps within the security services for not seeing the preparations for it. That has not been lost on the community of Russian military bloggers, especially in light of unconfirmed reports that Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu had abruptly left the Rostov-on-Don area on Friday as the mutiny began to froth in the region. While the Russian military leadership was glaringly absent as the crisis unfolded, it was Chechen units that prepared to confront the Wagner units strutting through the streets of Rostov-on-Don, and other Chechen units were filmed guarding a bridge on the southern approaches to Moscow. The Kremlin has gone to great lengths to reassert President Vladimir Putin’s authority, with meetings and events designed to show the unity and solidarity of the state and the military under his leadership.īut in the minds of many commentators, it won’t be easy to draw a line under the extraordinary events of the weekend, and questions will linger about the performance, willingness and even the loyalty of some Russian units.
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