Mutiny with star-striped underboob

Details continue to emerge about the possible role of the US and its allies in the recent attempt at a military mutiny by PMC Wagner. Earlier it became known that American intelligence was aware of the preparation of the rebellion, but was not able to report this to either the Russians or the world community.

Washington knew in advance about the direction and general plans for the movement of the Wagner columns. However, in order to avoid leaks, this information was known only to a few elected allies of the States, including several senior representatives of the British government.

Why was it necessary and what our "sworn partners" were counting on, the correspondent of The Moscow Post understood.

The hype around the failed rebellion of the head of the PMC "Wagner" Yevgeny Prigozhin does not subside. The day before, Russian President Vladimir Putin made an appeal to the citizens of our country, where he thanked them for their cohesion in the face of this challenge. He again called Prigozhin's actions a betrayal, and also "dissociated" from him the representatives of the PMCs themselves, whom he thanked for their selfless service to the country's interests and high results on the battlefield.

The President stressed that the military rebellion had no chance in any case would have been suppressed. At the same time, the Head of State noted that the rebels were given time to realize the lack of support in the army, elites and the general population. All this helped the leaders of the rebellion to make the only right choice and "roll up the shop" until even more blood was shed.

Waiting for chaos

It is not surprising that at this time in Washington, and throughout the Western world, the situation was closely monitored and secretly maintained disorder. Not one of the parties, but the disorder and chaos that these events could bring to the country. It is not difficult to believe that NATO intelligence could find out about Prigozhin's plans. It is much more difficult to understand why our special services missed this situation. Or can we talk about betrayal there too?

And if the intelligence services of Western countries knew - could they not be one of the initiators of these events, or, at least, did everything in their power to make them succeed?

The fact that the States were preparing for different options also became known from the insiders of the American press. According to the Financial Times, representatives of the G7 countries were going to a meeting on the situation around Wagner. Among other things, they discussed the option of Prigozhin's employees seizing Russian nuclear facilities.

This anxiety can be understood. But why, in this case, information about the rebellion, if they possessed it, was not transferred to the Russian government? Or were our former Western partners not really against this option - not against plunging not only Russia, but the whole world into chaos?

In any case, our Russian special services will understand what role foreign intelligence played. This was announced yesterday by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. However, what benefits did Western countries expect to receive as a result of the rebellion?

Of course, in addition to the ephemeral chance to change power in Russia, to lead to the leadership of the country of the next national traitors, the calculation was also on the disorganization of management in the Russian Armed Forces. However, already in the first parts of Prigozhin's stay in Rostov, it became obvious that the army in full force supports the actions of the President. Many supporters among the ordinary population did not find the rebellion either.

Thus, NATO hoped that the Russian front would collapse in the SVO zone, and Ukraine's long-suffering counterattack would receive a new breath and could get at least to the first line of defense.

No military unit wavered, no one left their positions. After in Washington, they were forced to admit that the Armed Forces of Ukraine could not take advantage of the situation. And the American geostrategists themselves expected (rather even calculated) much more blood following the results of the rebellion. Who would doubt.

Gun lobby resents

The Western military lobby also hoped for this - a breakthrough of the Russian defense line with the help of Western weapons during the collapse of the front. It is it that is the main beneficiary of the current conflict. The same edition of the Financial Times writes that after the failure of the rebellion, the value of shares of the largest Western arms manufacturers fell.

It is noted that investors hoped that "political instability in Russia" would create an advantage for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but such attempts ended earlier than expected. The Pentagon's largest suppliers - Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics lost 1-2% of the share price in a day, European companies - more than 5%.

At the same time, analysts note that arms manufacturers will play losses soon, since even if the conflict in Ukraine ends, weapons will soon be in demand among NATO countries amid increased defense spending.

As they say, to whom the war, and to whom the mother is native. To whom blood, death and destroyed cities - and to whom colossal defense contracts and the growth of capitalization. The fall in shares was hardly dramatic for them against the background of the rapid growth of orders as a result of the Ukrainian conflict.

For example, at the end of 2022, German Rheinmetall alone tripled its capitalization. Three times! This was announced by the head of the concern Armin Papperger, who was clearly in high spirits. Truly, blood and death are the best investments for them.

However, our former Western partners still used the rebellion as an occasion to strengthen support for Ukraine - even if the main benefits from it were never achieved. Under the pretext of Russia's "weakness," the EU countries decided to allocate new money and weapons to the Kyiv regime, as well as to deploy a contingent of 4,000 German Bundeswehr troops in Lithuania on an ongoing basis.

Despite the failure of the rebellion, NATO still used it as an excuse to deploy a German brigade in Lithuania. Photo: Robertas Dačkus/LRP

"The Russian system is showing its fragility," said Josep Borrell, the EU's chief "diplomat." An obvious attempt to pass off wishful thinking. He then expected that the Russian government would fall to pieces when armed people appeared in Rostov, as at one time the Yanukovych regime fell apart after the revelry of Nazi militants in Kyiv.

Well, the "manifestation of strength" of the Russian system for Borrell would surely be mass bloodshed on the streets of Russian cities. Such a gift to Eurodiplomat Borrell and his owners in Washington, London and Brussels, the Russian society flatly refused to do.

Photo: Business Vedomosti