Ex-CIA analyst claims Putin ‘orchestrated’ Wagner coup with Prigozhin as ‘classic false flag’
A former CIA analyst has claimed that Vladimir Putin “orchestrated” the coup with Wagner’s chief mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhy. a “classic false flag” to try to make the West believe its military has been weakened.
Rebecca Koffler told Fox News’ Eric Schon on Saturday that the coup was staged as a means for the Russian leader to expand his political energy and that he would finally “seize the momentum, mobilize additional personnel and revive the offensive against Ukraine.” blow in’.
Prigozhin’s troops moved into Russia from their camps in Ukraine on Friday, taking command of the regional fleet in the southern metropolis of Rostov-on-Don faster than advancing toward Moscow.
Just as immediately, the advance was called off on Saturday, with Russian state media suggesting that Wagner’s forces would return to Ukraine, while Prigozhin would flee to neighboring Belarus.
“So again, what’s changed in this area in the last few hours? All of a sudden he decided to turn around his troops and make this deal? No, it’s all staged,” Koffler said, including that Putin wants us to think he’s weak .
Former CIA analyst Rebecca Koffler claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin “orchestrated” the coup with Wagner’s mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin as a “classic false flag.”
Koffler said Saturday that the coup was staged as a means for Putin to expand his political energy and that he would finally “seize the momentum, mobilize additional personnel and revive the offensive against Ukraine.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin (pictured Saturday) will travel to Belarus free of charge after what he called his troops’ advance on Moscow, Russian authorities said, easing the country’s worst security disaster in a long time.
“Putin wants us to believe that he is weak, that there is a constant threat of a military coup,” Koffler said.
While Koffler’s credentials are bona fide, it’s not clear why Putin let it get this far.
She continued: “So this is an excuse to declare martial law, which Putin has already done. He introduced an amendment today that anyone who violates martial law will be jailed for 30 days. Another very interesting and revealing fact is that Putin has just given permission to men with criminal records to join the army.
“So this justifies the additional mobilization of the Russian armed forces to send them to the meat grinder in Ukraine. It is also to show President Biden that Russia is not a threat. Russia is actually engaged in its own internal turmoil. But this is all classic distraction and classic Putin,” she mentioned.
“Prigozhin is not a stupid person. He is a very intelligent ex-convict. He transformed his life from a prisoner to a hot dog stand owner to a multi-million dollar business that caters to the Kremlin, including Putin himself.
A Russian soldier manned a machine gun in southern Moscow ahead of the expected arrival of Prigozhin and Wagner’s troops. But Prigozhin has confirmed that he ordered his mercenaries to stop the march
Tanks have been withdrawn from the southern metropolis of Rostov as Prigozhin’s troops withdraw from Rostov
Huge crowds gathered in Rostov-on-Don as Wagner’s tanks rolled out of the city
People gathered to say goodbye to Prigozhin, and one man even climbed out of a car window to shake his fingers at Wagner’s exiled boss.
The Kremlin is dealing with a “deeply unstable” scenario after Wagner’s rebellion “exposed the regime’s weakness”, analysts warn.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) say an apparent “short-term solution” to a truce with Wagner’s group could “significantly harm” Putin’s authorities and conflict efforts. quickly repel insider threats.
It came as Putin’s Chechen leader and longtime ally Ramzan Kadyrov criticized Prigozhin’s “arrogance” and claimed his actions could lead to “dangerous consequences.”
Wagner’s fighters left Russia’s southern Voronezh region on Sunday, the local governor said, after the group halted a dramatic uprising to destroy Russia’s high energy and marched on Moscow.
“The movement of Wagner’s units through the Voronezh region is coming to an end,” says Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev.
“It is proceeding normally and without incident,” Gusev added, saying that the restrictions on movement imposed during Saturday’s operation, which contradicted the riot, were likely to be lifted once “the situation is finally resolved”.
ISW analysts say the apparent truce with Wagner’s forces is “a short-term solution, not a long-term solution.”
They argued: “The uprising exposed the weakness of Russia’s security forces and demonstrated Putin’s inability to deploy his forces in a well-timed manner to counter internal threats and undermined his monopoly on violence.
US intelligence services received warnings several days in advance that Prigozhin was preparing to rebel against the Russian defense establishment, US media reported on Saturday.
A full day earlier than what happened, intelligence officials at the White House, the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill about possible unrest in nuclear-armed Russia, according to the Washington Post and New York Times.
Intelligence companies first began monitoring evidence that Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries were plotting to confront Russia’s naval leadership in mid-June, the Post reported.
The Times said the mid-week data was strong and alarming, prompting a flurry of news reports.
Prigozhin’s troops entered Russia on Friday and seized regional naval command in Rostov-on-Don amid a breakneck uprising.
The advance was called off on Saturday after Russian state media reported that Wagner’s troops would return to Ukraine, while Prigozhin fled to Belarus.
The Kremlin said it would not prosecute Prigozhin or the armed members of Wagner’s group.
When U.S. intelligence got word that Prigozhin was preparing a fleet move, they became alarmed at the chaos in a country with a powerful nuclear arsenal, the Times reported.
Prigozhin also claimed that he had shot down a Russian Navy helicopter in the metropolis – the residence of the Kremlin’s Ukrainian military headquarters.
Armored vehicles blocked a road in the Rostov metropolis as solar power rose on Saturday
US intelligence agencies believe that Putin himself knew that Prigozhin, once a close ally, planned his coup at least a day before it happened, the Post reports.
Prigozhin will travel to Belarus without expenses after what he called his troops’ advance on Moscow, Russian authorities said, marking the country’s worst security disaster in a long time.
The feud between Prigozhin and the Russian navy reached a violent climax here the previous day, with his troops seizing a key military headquarters in southern Russia on Saturday before moving north to threaten the capital.
Within hours of Prigozhin’s removal, the Kremlin announced that he could go to Belarus and that Russia would not sue him or Wagner’s associates.
It was a dramatic day, with President Vladimir Putin warning of civil conflict, Moscow telling locals to stay off the streets and Kiev rejoicing in the chaos that engulfed its enemy.
The tide turned immediately when Prigozhin made the beautiful announcement that his troops were “turning our columns around and going back to their field camps” to avoid bloodshed in the Russian capital.
Prigozhin, who has been at loggerheads with Moscow’s naval leadership at the same time his unit led components of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, said he understood the importance of the second and did not want to “shed Russian blood.”
