Member-only story
Stolen Justice
What Prigozhin’s Rebellion Means for Russia’s Future
The “Justice March”, organized by Evgeny Prigozhin, ended as suddenly as it began. Tanks, artillery, armored vehicles and multiple missile launchers of the Wagner PMC turned back at the moment when the confused and disorganized security forces were preparing to fight at the entrances to Moscow. And the elites were leaving the capital in panic. The psychological and demoralizing effect of this “special military operation” surpassed all expectations.
As one of the best informed commentators, the infamous Igor Strelkov, noted, the authorities in Moscow, not understanding what was happening, “started running around like a chicken without a head”.
Russian security forces (Rosgvardia, FSB, police, army) were not prepared to defend Moscow. Chaotic reports of a military coup took them by surprise. By Saturday afternoon, when the tanks of the Wagner PMC were 200 kilometers from the capital, there were checkpoints at all the entrances to the city from the south, southwest and southeast. There were only 10–20 soldiers and about 10 police officers at each checkpoint. They were going to stop Wagner’s armored vehicles with utility trucks. And temporary fortifications of sandbags. Machine guns and automatic grenade launchers were visible on some of them. At all the other checkpoints the…