The Wagner uprising: 24 hours that shook Russia
Driven by his feud with the defence minister, Yevgeny Prigozhin's rebellion has petered out ... for now
Last Thursday Yevgeny Prigozhin let rip on his favourite subject: the incompetence and vanity of Russia's defence minister, Sergei Shoigu. Seated in front of a Wagner flag and sipping from a mug of tea, he called his bitter enemy a scumbag. Shoigu was a craven PR man and oligarch who had never held a weapon in his life, he raged.
The defence ministry had duped Vladimir Putin into last year's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Prigozhin added. The decision had nothing to do with denazification" or demilitarisation", or an imminent Nato attack on Russia - the official reasons for the war. It was all about Shoigu's wish for a second hero of Russia" medal, he claimed.
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