On June 25, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoiga made his first public appearance since the military mutiny of the PIK Wagner.
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But, according to pro-Russian military correspondents, the video with him was recorded on Friday. The publication of such a video on Monday may indicate that Shoigu will retain his post, according to the Agency.
The propaganda TV channel of the Russian Defense Ministry Zvezda published a video of Shoigu’s trip to the command post of the Western Group of Forces in the combat zone. The footage shows the flight and meeting, but the video is muted.
The telegram channel Rybar, close to the Ministry of Defense, suggested that the video was “canned” (this is how pre-recorded videos are called, later issued by the authorities for those taken on later dates).
“Rybar” believes that the video was filmed before the start of Prigozhin’s rebellion. In its conclusions, the channel cites information from the military blogger Boris Rozhin. On Friday, he reported on Shoigu’s visit to the Belgorod region.
Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul responded to this event. He tweeted that the appearance of the video with Shoigu is a signal that he will not be removed.
At least not now,” he elaborated in another post.
The presence on the footage, along with Shoigu, Yevgeny Nikiforov and Mikhail Zusko, indicates that they retained the positions of commander and chief of staff of the Western Military District,” military analyst Rob Lee also wrote.
Shoigu and Gerasimova, whom Prigozhin blamed for the failures of the Russian army, have not been seen since the beginning of the riot. This even outraged the rumors among military correspondents that Shoigu would be removed from the post of minister, and Alexei Dyumin, the governor of the Tula region, who also conducted negotiations between the Kremlin and Prigogine, would take his place.
Only once did Vladimir Putin himself appear during the riot. He recorded the appeal on camera from an unknown location. No meetings were shown with his participation. An analysis of the video of the flights of the presidential planes over the weekend may indicate that the Russian president left for his residence in Valdai on Saturday.
Since Saturday evening, there have been no messages in the telegram channel of the press service of Prigogine. Attempts by journalists to contact him ended in failure.
As it became known to Kommersant, by the morning of June 26, the criminal case on the organization of an armed rebellion (Article 279 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the main person involved in which was the founder of the Wagner PPK, Prigozhin, had not been stopped.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.