British general: PMCs can attack Kiev from Belarus
The owner of Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, after a failed rebellion in Russia, may lead an attack on Ukraine from Belarus, warns a former British general, who headed the General Staff of the British Armed Forces, Richard Dannat. “The fact that he has left for Belarus is cause for some concern,” a member of the House of Lords told Sky News on Sunday 25 June.
If Prigozhin “still concentrates combat-ready combat units around him, he again poses a threat to the Ukrainian flank closest to Kiev,” Dannat said. He considers it “quite possible” that the Russian leadership could use the Wagner PMC to carry out a new attempt to take Kiev.
At the same time, Dannat expressed confidence that the consequences of the rebellion would be felt for a long time to come. At the same time, neither side directly benefited from the coup attempt, he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s positions “are undoubtedly significantly weakened” and the Russian military, as a result of yesterday’s events, “is in some confusion,” Dannat said.
Days of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Rebellion
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion began in the late evening of June 23 and lasted just under a day. He accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his agency of attacking PMC camps, in which he said “many” people died. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation rejected this information. Prigozhin announced that the Wagner Group had decided to “stop the evil that the country’s military leadership is carrying”, calling this attack a “March of Justice” and called on security forces to side with him. The FSB of the Russian Federation reported that a case had been opened against Prigozhin for organizing an armed rebellion and called on Wagner PMC militants to stop him. In the evening, military equipment appeared on the streets of Moscow, and the militants seized military installations in Rostov-on-Don and moved to Moscow.
On the night of June 24, Prigozhin unexpectedly announced that he was turning his columns and leaving for the field camps, pointing out the threat of bloodshed. At the same time, the ruler of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said that he held talks with Yevgeny Prigozhin at the request of Vladimir Putin and agreed to stop the movement of militants from Wagner to Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on the night of June 24 that Prigozhin would leave for Belarus. At the same time, neither Prigozhin himself nor the Wagner PMC mercenaries who participated in the rebellion will be subject to criminal prosecution, he promised.
Source: DW
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