Wagner Group's Prigozhin rebels against Putin

Later the Wagner chief said that his troops were halting their march to Moscow to avoid bloodshed.

- AJAY SINGH

The war in which little has gone as per plan, received another twist in the tale, when Yevgeny Prigozhin gave a call to his Wagner Group to withdraw from their positions and march on to Moscow, against “the corrupt, self-serving generals and ministers.” But adding another twist later in the day, he ordered his soldiers to pull back from their march to Moscow, so as not to escalate the crisis.

By then Wagner’s moves had sent tremors in the Kremlin and for the first time, struck directly at Vladimir Putin’s hold on power.

Just two months ago, Prigozhin and his group were feted as heroes after their successful capture of Bakhmut. But even then, the rift was apparent. Prigozhin had repeatedly accused Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and armed forces Chief General Valery Gerasimov, of conspiring to undermine his group and denying them supplies and ammunition. His comments that "the generals should be shot for their handling of the war" ruffled quite a few feathers as well. Perhaps he was getting too big for his own boots and in June, a proposal was put up by the Defence Minister to amalgamate the Wagner Group into the Russian military by 1 July. This move-supported by Putin himself-would put Prigozhin directly under the Defence Minister and weaken his own position.