Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner, staged an armed mutiny over the weekend Photo: Anadolu agency
Leading Russian newspapers rarely criticized the authorities directly after Yevgeny Prigozhin's failed coup, with one headline from Moscow saying that Russia «has demonstrated its vulnerability — to the whole world and to itself.»
Newspapers questioned the Kremlin's response and the Defense Ministry led Wagner in an armed mutiny over the weekend when a private military company occupied two cities in southern Russia and moved towards Moscow before Prigozhin made a deal with Vladimir Putin.
Moskovsky Komsomolets, a daily newspaper based in the Russian capital, declared that the failed coup would have “profound political consequences.”
It added that “the highest authorities in the country have forgotten the fundamental incompatibility of the letters R and M, the concepts «private» and «military».
It said, “Monopoly is almost always bad. But there is one good, even necessary, monopoly—the monopoly of the state on legalized violence. If there is no such monopoly, then, as we have just seen, the very existence of the state is in danger. «Moskovsky Komsomolets» Mikhail Rostovsky wrote: «Russia ran with all speed to the very edge of the abyss and retreated from it with the same speed.»
He referred to the book «Ten Days» in which the world shook, written by the American journalist John Reed about the October 1917 revolution, and said: «In this case, the world — or at least Russia — was shaken for a little more than a day.»< /p>< p>There were also questions about how Prigozhin could “with impunity” verbally attack Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in the months leading up to the mutiny.
“There were no clear answers. This created an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty and trampled down the reputation of the authorities,” he wrote.
viewed from a military vehicle in Rostov-on-Don on Saturday. Photo: Roman Romokhov/AFP
On the news that Prigozhin is moving to Belarus as part of a deal brokered by the leader of this nation, Alexander Lukashenko, the newspaper noted: “Yevgeny Prigozhin will leave for Belarus, but the problems created by him (we will ) will remain.”
“Russia has shown its vulnerability – to the whole world and to itself.”
Elsewhere, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, a Russian daily newspaper, stated: “Neither the Kremlin nor the Ministry of Defense gave a clear answer to the question of how 25,000 fighter jets and more than 1,500 Wagner vehicles … could advance unhindered in columns from field camps near Lugansk, occupy Headquarters of the Southern Military District and within 24 hours be 200 km from Moscow.”
In another article, the newspaper reported: “The case against Prigozhin allegedly disappeared from the law enforcement system, and the legal system once again showed flexibility up to complete her absence.”
The State Information Agency later on Monday reported that the case against Chief Wagner was still open.
However, other major media outlets remained firmly behind the Kremlin in their response to the weekend's news.
Observer Alexander Gushin wrote in Komsomolskaya Pravda on Sunday that “after [Saturday], the confidence that our country has exactly the leader we need has only grown stronger. Thank God, Putin is there.”
Victoria Nikiforova, in an article for the state news agency RIA Novosti, criticized the Western media's reaction to the insurgency, saying: “It is foolish to think that after the neutralization of Prigozhin, the West will give up trying to rock our boat.< /p>
“After the failure of sanctions and military failures, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are their only chance for success. They are simply unable not to use it.
“The only thing that inspires hope is that Wagner's performance showed well that our people do not need a civil war in any form. The Russians categorically do not want to kill each other to the delight of Washington and London.”
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