Power Struggle is the urge or desire to control an area between two powerful groups. Wherever there is a power struggle, a fight is always expected. History shows that power is an addiction that can turn real brothers into enemies and enemies into brothers. Any living person desires influence, power, and control, but this becomes the reason for damage or destruction when it exceeds the limit of tolerance and acceptability.
Russia has a proxy group named Wagner, which is used mainly by Russia to gain military benefits by supporting the Wagner group to fight on their behalf.
During the Russia and Ukraine war, Bakhmut (a city on the eastern side of Ukraine) was challenging for the Russian armed forces to conquer. Then Bakhmut was captured with the help of the Mercenary Arm Wagner Group. The Russian government provides the Wagner group full arm support along with the fighters. Even the terrorists from different jails were accompanied by the Wagner group to fight alongside them to capture Bakhmut. The conquer of Bakhmut was an outstanding achievement of the Wagner group that gave them massive publicity worldwide, and everyone was aware of the Wagner group.
Yevgeny Prigozhin is the present leader of the Wagner group. In Russia, the defense minister is military personnel, and Prigozhin has extreme clashes with the defense minister of Russia and Russia’s army chief. Prigozhin claims that the Wagner group is now under victimization by the Russian army, and no justice exists for them. Prighozin believes that Russia has used the Wagner Group, but now Russia is not providing arms, ammunition, and other perks to the Wagner Group. Prigozhin considers the military leadership of Russia responsible for such atrocities and indirectly complains to Putin about the present behavior of Russian military leadership.
History tells us that whenever a mercenary group is backed up by power, it usually creates hurdles after a few achievements. Likewise, the Wagner Group captured Bakhmut city, and after this, they started to blackmail the Russian government for their fair share in the government. For this, they mostly use false excuses like Prigozhin is using. The Wagner Group is not an official part of the Russian military, so the armed forces do not respect this group to the extent it demands. This also results in poor food and ammunition supply to the Wagner Group. This is reflected in the form of frustration by Prigozhin. Prigozhin does not have a noble track record; he is very close to Putin and has his support towards becoming Wagner’s chief.
Prigozhin has stated that he has threatened the Russian government that if they abandon him and his group, they will become ulcerous for Russia. Prigozhin has also used Wagner’s group strength (25000) to strengthen his threat.
As a result of all these frustrations, The Wagner Group attacked the southern city of Russia, Rostov-on-Don, with all their tanks and military strength. The Wagner Group claims that they have complete control of military facilities in Rostov-on-Don. The Wagner Group had previous fortifications in Luhansk and Dunask. The Wagner Group has moved towards the southern part of Russia from these areas.
This Mercenary group also claimed that the Russian armed forces failed to provide us with the basic facilities and started to crush us by killing our soldiers. There are chances that Prigozhin’s claims are valid to some extent because the Russian military leadership felt threatened after Wagner’s attack. So, some civil war-like situation is now being faced by Russia.
A similar situation took place in Sudan that we have discussed in our article Behind The Sudan Crisis, where there was a power conflict between the military and the proxy group of Sudan. The RSF group of Sudan has a more significant influence in Sudan than Wagner’s influence in Russia.
Western Media has claimed this was a coup attempt in Russia. Before going into their claim’s authenticity, recall A Coup Attempt.
What is A Coup Attempt?
A Coup Attempt is generally considered an attempt from the military or other bureaucratic elite to overthrow a lawful government illegally. Martial Law is a suitable example of a Coup Attempt.
So, in short, for a coup attempt, the irrupting body should be a member of the government or its bodies. As Wagner’s group is non-official and not part of the Russian military, so to call its attack a coup attempt is not valid. So, this propaganda needs to be corrected from the Western side.
There is a strong reaction from the Russian Military, and according to the news, the Wagner Group has destroyed one helicopter of the Russian armed forces. So, a chaotic situation exists in Russia after the emergence of this power struggle.
A strong reaction was expected from Putin. Putin strongly condemns Wagner’s anti-state act and orders the military to take every possible step to crush the Wagners Group. Putin considered this anti-state act from the Wagners as an act of treason. Putin believes that we must be united in this crucial situation, but this act from Prighozin is not tolerable, and we will crush them at all costs.
This is human nature that the power dynamics game starts whenever there is a chaotic situation.
As the Western media claims, this attempt is a severe threat to Putin’s government, but it is not a direct threat nor too much serious a threat to Putin. Presently, all the bureaucracy and military are under Putin’s control. This act can be a serious threat to some extent, as this can create a sense of fear in Putin’s heart, and he may think about what will happen if any serving general from the Russian military stands against him.
This was expected because there was an imbalance of power; whenever a power imbalance occurs, there are chances of civil wars. In actuality, this is how civil war starts. This anti-state act from the Wagner group may be a form of minor civil war, but it is still a solid hit to Russia. Russian intelligence agencies have claimed to have started severe actions against the Wagner group. Let’s see what happens next.