Recently, a piece of news that shook the world shocked the world. The Wagner mercenaries, who were extremely brave on the battlefield between Russia and Ukraine, suddenly launched a military attack, returned to Russia from the battlefield in Ukraine, and approached Moscow.
They claimed to purge the cronies around them and demanded that Putin remove the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff. In response, Putin has declared Wagner's boss Prigozhin a traitor and Wagner a rebel and warned that they will pay for their actions.
Who exactly is Prigozhin? Why did he commit such an act of betrayal? Why is Putin so angry about this? Will the rebellion of "Wagner" change the situation of the Russian-Ukrainian war?
Lao Pu was born in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, a city known for its "gangsters". His father died when he was very young, and his mother worked hard in a hospital while also taking care of her elderly grandmother.
She is a virtuous woman, so Lao Pu has understood the importance of money since he was a child. However, he did not study well during the Soviet era and was unable to pass the exams to achieve a "class jump".
Fortunately, the Soviet Union was a sports powerhouse, and becoming an athlete was also a viable way out. Influenced by his stepfather, Lao Pu dreamed of becoming a skier from an early age. However, his stepfather was an alcoholic and had a strong tendency to violence, often beating him when he was drunk.
Therefore, Lao Pu has had a strong sense of resistance since he was a child.
However, this did not prevent him from successfully entering the Leningrad 62nd Sports Boarding School, which produced many famous athletes from the former Soviet Union. Everyone has their own stage, just like every crow has its own branches.
Lao Pu started his sports career with excellent results, but fate played a joke on him, he had to end his sports dream early due to injury and live an idle life.
In 1979, 18-year-old Pu was sentenced to two years of probation for stealing, and he should have taken the opportunity to mend his ways, but while on probation, he colluded with criminals and committed more crimes.
In February 1980, he and his accomplices infiltrated an apartment and stole a vase, a napkin holder and six water glasses, which emboldened him even more, and he was eventually sentenced to 12 years in prison for a roadblock.
Lao Pu excelled in prison and was released early in 1990. However, due to the lack of a good education and experience, it was difficult for him to find a job. At this time, he was keenly aware of the hot business of the first McDonald's in Moscow before the collapse of the Soviet Union, so he returned to Leningrad and opened his own food stall, ** high imitation McDonald's, with a monthly income of up to $1,000.
He said he was making money faster than his mother could have reacted. However, Lao Pu was not satisfied with this, he believed that only through "crooked ways" could he make a fortune.
In addition, he is also very good at making friends with people with strong connections.
Lao Pu made his fortune from pirated McDonald's, and then opened the first supermarket chain in St. Petersburg, and ventured into gray industries such as gambling to make quick profits. In 1995, he took an important step in his life by opening the high-end restaurant "Old Taste".
Four years later, he bought an old yacht for $400,000 and transformed it into a luxury mobile restaurant "New Island", which attracted the socialites of St. Petersburg. In "New Island", he got acquainted with Putin, then deputy mayor.
In 2000, Putin was elected as the first in Russia, and since then, his catering career has also shown a thriving scene, becoming the host of many important banquets in Russia.
In the restaurant, Putin often receives dignitaries from various countries, such as George W. Bush of the United States and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. Each time, Lao Pu will personally serve food to the guests and accompany Putin.
As a result, he got a brand new nickname - "The Cook".
In the past 20 years, Lao Pu has successfully become a new generation of political and business oligarchs in Russia with his unremitting efforts. However, his ambitions go far beyond that, and he wants to be able to make a greater contribution to Putin** and not be limited to the role of "cook".
In a ** interview, the mercenary leader Lao Pu once said: "At that time, he realized that I was not just an unknown little person. He really liked my unique style. ”
Lao Pu is a bold and careful person, he dares to challenge the country's laws and regulations, and participates in various conflicts, but he never touches his bottom line. He is smart and capable, a good learner, and has been able to achieve amazing success, both in relationships and across industries.
He was positive and climbed from a low-level gangster to the top of society. His insight and ability to grasp opportunities are also unique, and whenever he has the opportunity, he will seize it.
After defeating the old oligarchs who did not obey discipline, Putin began to support a new group of right and left hands, and Lao Pu was the most important member of them. He began to make a name for himself in the construction, internet, energy and other industries.
In 2018, the United States imposed sanctions on Russian IRA companies, accusing them of trying to manipulate and influence the United States. In February 2022, Putin admitted that he had founded the IRA.
As a former KGB officer, Putin is well aware of "how things work under the table." When considering national interests, there are some things that really need to be handled this way. However, this approach is a "grey area", controversial and not protected by international law.
To facilitate implementation, Putin founded the mercenary group "Wagner" on May 1, 2014, after the German composer Wagner. The members of the group are not street bullies, but are made up of retired servicemen from all branches of the Russian military, including many former special forces elites.
Lao Pu is a boss who attaches great importance to the safety of employees, and he personally designs body armor to reduce the risk of employees as much as possible. He also cares about his employees and cares about their lives and work.
After the Crimean crisis erupted in 2014, Putin needed an army to fight without legal obstacles and regulations. As a result, Wagner appeared as the vanguard force, with Lao Pu's close comrade-in-arms Utkin as the commander-in-chief, and personally led his subordinates to secretly go to the eastern region of Ukraine to fight.
Despite the fact that this incident caused a lot of discontent in the Russian Ministry of Defense, Lao Pu still insisted on his orders, because he believed that it was for the good of the country.
Daddy"It is Putin's nickname for Lao Pu, and Putin always uses this word whenever Lao Pu is mentioned. Although this is not to recognize Lao Pu as a godfather, it is like the Kuomintang people shouting Chiang Kai-shek"Old man"Again, the word is full of intimacy and respect.
Wagner's outstanding performance in the eastern part of Ukraine has earned Putin's trust and has the potential to become the most powerful mercenary group in the world. In 2015, Wagner took another step forward when Russia sent troops to Syria to help Bashar al-Assad fight ISIS
Special means are needed to deal with ***, so Wagner went out again and assisted the Syrian ** army to turn the tide of the war on the front line. Since then, Wagner has made international parity.
In addition, Wagner is also very active in Africa, and its elite fighters have helped Sudan, Central Africa and other countries solve many difficult problems, and also obtained the mining rights of several large mines, which has become a strong economic foundation for Wagner's continuous development.
The Wagner Group, as Russia's right-hand man, has solved many problems that are inconvenient to solve. After the tempering of actual combat, the combat effectiveness of Wagner's mercenaries has increased day by day, and the company's income has also increased.
At the same time, Wagner also played the role of defending Russia's national interests to some extent. And Putin** has also become a high-profile figure in Moscow with his outstanding performance.
He was successfully promoted from a "chef" to a "sword". It all seemed so natural. However, with the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the situation began to change.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Ukraine did not succumb to the Russian threat, but showed a tenacious spirit of resistance, inflicting heavy losses on the Russian army. This has brought two major problems to Putin: first, the problem of insufficient Russian troops, only 200,000 contract soldiers can go out to fight, with the attrition of the war and the expansion of the theater of operations, the available strength of the Russian army has been very limited; The second is the issue of Russia's national image, as the world's top military power, if the Russian army continues to suffer heavy losses in the continuous vicious war, it will undoubtedly seriously damage Russia's face.
In this case, Wagner again accepted the task and marched into Ukraine. This time, Putin personally commanded and rushed to the front. This move was highly praised by Putin.
Due to their corporate nature and clear operational objectives, Wagner mercenaries are mainly focused on completing KPIs and obtaining bonuses, so their combat efficiency is extremely high, but the price they pay is also very heavy.
For example, after winning the Battle of Mut, the 50,000 members of the Wagner mercenaries outnumbered more than 20,000. To this end, Russia's ** Putin approved the decision to recruit felons from prisons to replenish the Wagner forces.
With the successive victories on the battlefield in Ukraine, Lao Pu's criticism of the Russian Ministry of Defense has also increased. He openly blamed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov and believed that they cut off Wagner's supplies.
In addition, Lao Pu also expressed the desire to lead the Russian army in the fight in Ukraine. However, this behavior of his does not seem to be consistent with his steadfast image in the past. What's worse is that he seems to have forgotten the taboo of high merit and master.
You know, no leader of a great power would allow an uncontrolled armed force to exist around him.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that mercenary groups participating in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict must sign a contract before they can continue their missions. The Chechen mercenary regiment of the small Ka was soon signed, but Putin was unhappy about this, because he did not want to be under the control of the Ministry of Defense.
He offered to sign a contract directly with Russia ** and be under Putin's command, but this proposal was rejected. This led to an exchange of fire between Wagner and Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.
Seeing the Russian Ministry of Defense pressing forward step by step, Putin finally couldn't bear it anymore and decided to take back control of Wagner. On June 24, Wagner returned to Russia, occupied Rostov-on-Don, and shot down 3 Russian ***
In a key statement, Putin said Wagner would target Moscow to purge him of internal opposition members Shoigu and Gerasimov. This incident reminds people of the "Anshi Rebellion" in the history of the Tang Dynasty.
At present, the Russian army is under tremendous pressure in Ukraine, and Western countries in more than 50 countries have given Ukraine assistance, and the progress of the war may be unfavorable for Russia.
However, at this very moment, Putin commanded the elite forces of the Wagner army to openly rebel at home and exchange fire with the Russian army.
If Wagner provokes a civil war within Russia, the Russian army will have to transfer its forces back to defend its country, thus distracting itself from the war in Ukraine. This could lead not only to the loss of the four occupied regions of eastern Ukraine, but also to Crimea.
Russia's efforts over the past 10 years could be in vain. What's more serious is that after losing the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia's international image will be greatly damaged, and its geopolitics will further deteriorate.
The civil war could also further worsen the Russian economy, which is currently under sweeping sanctions from the West, and trigger a serious political crisis. Therefore, it is impossible not to be outraged by the blatant rebellion of the once trusted "sharp blade".
However, judging from the current situation, Wagner's forces are limited and may not be able to withstand the three-dimensional strikes of hundreds of thousands of Russian troops. In addition, there are many veterans of the Russian army within Wagner, and emotionally speaking, they should not be enemies of the state.
Russia** put forward the conditions of peace talks, Wagner, which did not participate in the rebellion, could continue to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, and those who participated in the rebellion could be forgiven. Putin has already ordered Wagner to return to the camp.
Still, this tactic of ** undoubtedly bothered Putin. In any case, we hope that Russia and Putin will be able to come out of this crisis as soon as possible.