...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...fled Moscow in his presidential plane as the Wagner Group’s mercenary forces advanced toward Moscow Saturday, according to reports.
Putin’s whereabouts have been thrown into question after an aircraft belonging to the president was spotted flying from Moscow to St Petersburg, and then disappeared from radar, according to Flight Radar. However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
his spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, denied Putin had fled the capital and told news hounds the president "is working at the Kremlin."
Meanwhile Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said his forces are coming to help Russia put down the mutiny by the private Wagner Group, which has taken control of one Russian city and gained a foothold in another, creating the biggest threat to Putin’s presidency in his long career.
It was a clash of Russian titans, as Wagner head and one-time Putin-ally Yevgeny Prigozhin’s hardened fighters from his private militia seized control of Rostov-on-Don, a city of nearly a million people on the Ukraine border that serves as the logistical hub for Russia’s entire invasion force, and were moving rapidly north through western Russia.
Wagner also appeared to have moved through Voronezh, about 385 miles from Moscow, according to multiple reports.
Scenes that could have been out of a video game erupted as Russian military helicopters took aim at a convoy of rebel mercenaries moving through Voronezh.
The Wagner forces included troop carriers and at least one tank on a flatbed truck.
Seems a RuAf helicopter bombed the fuel base at Voronezh. pic.twitter.com/Sc4mc9j0Oz
— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) June 24, 2023
#Russia: A helicopter (presumably Mi-8MTPR-1) of the Russian Ministry of Defense was shot down by Wagner forces today in #Voronezh Oblast.
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 24, 2023
Two of these electronic warfare helicopters were reportedly shot down in total. pic.twitter.com/mJfIsP41mU
BREAKINGâš¡âš¡
— Vivek Singh (@VivekSi85847001) June 24, 2023
Pro #Russian Chechen Fighters starts moving towards city of Rostow on the call of #Kadyrov to crush the mutiny of #Wagner & their head #Prighozin 🇷🇺
Kadyrov said We support #Putin as always & will wipe out all the trait0rs against #Russia & #Putin #WagnerGroup pic.twitter.com/u6MtvdpdLN
Life is about to become very precarious for every Russian high ranking official and oligarch. If they declare allegiance to Putin and Prighozin prevails, they will be purged by Prighozin. And vice versa. There’s little chance of being wrong and emerging unscathed https://t.co/k9ZD3mI99g
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) June 24, 2023
Rostov has reportedly canceled all inbound and outbound trains, and, well, you can guess what it looks like on the ground. https://t.co/MPHmXxEr5u pic.twitter.com/nrQ0PZ2PhS
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) June 24, 2023