Vladimir Putin could be ousted by Russia’s private military group, the Wagner army, so said Igor Girkin, a former Federal Security Service officer who once led a group of Russian militants in Donetsk, who is also known by his alias “Strelkov” and is now a prominent war blogger. He declared that Wagner’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin could overthrow the Russian president, the Daily Mail reported.
“If Prigozhin remains the head of Wagner, the mutiny will come quickly and radically,” Girkin predicted in a video shared by WarTranslated.
“A coup attempt has been declared…What will happen next, I don’t know, especially as Wagner is urgently withdrawn to rear bases…The danger of a looming coup is clear.”
Prigozhin, who was once close with Putin, has in recent months repeatedly criticized the Russian defense ministry. Last week he said that Ukraine has gained more troops and more weapons since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Prigozhin, Russia’s most powerful mercenary, said on Wednesday that he had asked prosecutors to investigate whether senior Russian defense officials had committed any “crime” before or during the war in Ukraine.
The request is his most barefaced public challenge to date, against President Vladimir Putin’s top military brass, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
The 61-year-old restaurateur-turned-mercenary has spent months insulting both Shoigu and Gerasimov, who are leading Russia’s war effort, for alleged treachery. Neither has responded publicly to his criticism.
“Today I have sent letters to the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation with a request to check on the fact of the commission of a crime during the preparation and during the conduct of the SMO (Special Military Operation) by a host of senior functionaries of the Defense Ministry,” Prigozhin said.
“These letters will not be published due to the fact that the investigative authorities will deal with this.” The defense ministry declined immediate comment.
Prigozhin says loyalty to Putin is part of his political stance, which he summed up as: “I love my motherland, I serve Putin, Shoigu should be judged and we will fight on.” In statements this week, he said he continued to inform the top leadership of the country about problems and slammed senior Kremlin officials for blocking media coverage of him and his private army.
Proghozin is not directly challenging Putin, to whom he declares his loyalty, but the Wagner founder added to his feud with Russia’s public leaders when he claimed that the Ukraine war had backfired, according to The Hill. He counted large losses to the Wagner Group in their pursuit of Bakhmut, as well as the Ukrainian army’s strength, while suggesting that Russia’s top leadership should be changed.
Girkin, who is predicting Putin’s ouster by Prigozhin, has been critical of the impact of the invasion of Ukraine on Russia. In a YouTube manifesto last month, reported on by the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda, Girkin said that the situation on the frontline has an “extremely negative” impact on the Russia’s ability to win the war.
“I’m not afraid to say that we are heading towards military defeat,” Girkin said, adding that the Russian economy, military, and political system were unprepared for such a “long, protracted war.”
